Reading the Bible Through

Mark 10 - 14   Just now, in thinking about the fig tree, I am struck by the power our words have.  I thought this was interesting regarding what the  Abomination of Desolation  might be. 

Mark 7 - 9   Mark's gospel moves along very quickly. We are already at the transfiguration.  "Help my unbelief" is often my prayer, too.  I find it interesting the  Gehenna clearly has theological connotations, but was also a real place outside of Jerusalem. 

Mark 4 - 6   It seems to me that I have heard these stories already. I'd guess that to be because the book of Mark is often thought to be the original source for the other gospels, at least the synoptic gospels.  However, I don't recall the story of Jesus raising the dead girl. I find myself wondering why the original word that Jesus said meaning "Little girl, get up" make it down to us today not in English.  I still wonder why there was a heard of pigs near the demon possessed man where Jesus went. Pigs were unclean. Jews couldn't touch pigs. After the demon possessed man was healed he was told to go to his family and friends. Jesus sent this man to the Decapolis. A quick google search tells me that " one of the few regions where Jesus travelled in which  Gentiles  were in the majority." Maybe that explains the pigs. There were more Gentiles than Jews there. 

Mark 1 - 3   Mark's beginning seems anticlimactic to me. No shepherds, no angels, no Magi, no Bethlehem, no stable, just: here's some things that happened. This evening I am struck that, in the first 3 chapters, we learn that Judas Iscariot will betray Jesus. It's kinda like watching Columbo.  When I hear of the story of the paralyzed man, I like to think  of this song:  My Name is Lazarus

Matthew 26 - 28   Just this evening, I am struck by the perfect timing that had Jesus slaughtered during Passover as the Lamb. 

Matthew 23 - 25   I am struck by how the woes of the pharisees come after Jesus recently stopped allowing anyone to question him. The woes kinda seem like a tirade regarding that. 

Matthew 20 - 22 The laborers in the vineyard doesn't seem fair, yet they received the payment that had been arranged.  I am struck by the parables in this passage followed by persistent questions by various groups trying to trip Jesus up. 

Matthew 15 - 19   There is so much meat in these chapters that I would find it overwhelming to comment on it all.

Matthew 12 - 14   Many miracles and many parables here. I also note 2 things: the fulfilling of some of the prophecies of Isaiah mentioned and asking for John the Baptists head on a platter seems in keeping with what seem to be the cruelties of the Old Testament. 

Matthew 9 – 11   Lots of meat here. Lots of healings and then the disciples are sent out. God seems much gentler here than God in the Old Testament. 

Matthew 6 - 8   There is so much to say here that I cannot began to say it! Don't judge because you may be judged, too. Perhaps, judge others as you would have yourself judged.  Forgive others to be forgiven by God. Forgiving is hard work. Not forgiving seems to hurt the offender, but it really poisons us.  I find this story involving pigs curious. Pigs are unclean. Why are people herding them? Why do the demons want to go into the pigs and then just kill the pigs? Weird. 

Matthew 3-5  This scripture covered a lot of ground: John the Baptist, Jesus' baptism, the Sermon on the Mount.  As I age and reflect on verses 5:40 & 41, I realize that going the extra mile and giving the cloak as well as the tunic, is a way of taking your power back. They can force you to do certain things, but when you do the same of your own free will, you have taken your power back. 

Malachi 4 -Matthew 2   This evening, I am struck by Joseph's faith. He has a bizarre dream and acts on it. In the dream God tells Joseph that Mary is pregnant by God himself. Would most of us wake up shaking our heads declaring that's impossible?? The wise men, too, respond to a dream. I always wonder who these wise men were. I recently read that they may have been Chaldeans as the Chaldeans would have been familiar with Israelite prophecy from when Israel was captive in Babylon.  Joseph, yet again, is obedient to a dream and still another time.

Malachi 1 – 3   “Behold, I send  my messenger, and  he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord  whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and  the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the  Lord  of hosts." I take these verses to refer to John the Baptist and Jesus.  This evening, as Hamas has very recently attacked Israel, I find myself wondering if we are seeing prophecy fulfilled. Maybe. I don't know. 

Zechariah 10 - 14   Zechariah 11 prophecies Judas betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and then throwing it back in to the temple and they bought a potter's field with it. 

Zechariah 7 - 9   The King comes humble and riding on a donkey. The prophecy of Palm Sunday. 

  Zechariah 4 - 6 As I have read my way through the Old Testament this time, I can surely see why the Israelites thought the Messiah would be a warrior/political ruler.  Zechariah 4:6b helps me to see how the Christian view of the prophecies of the old testament might be true: " Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the  Lord  of hosts." 4:14 Clearly shows me why the Israelites thought 2 men were prophesied to come. Just now, I find myself wondering if 1 was John the Baptist. Jesus would be the other.  This talk of Wickedness as a woman in a basket reminds me of the great prostitute in The Book of Revelation. I though that the great prostitute had something to do with a basket. I must have been wrong because I sure can't find that now.  6:12 Makes it sound like  Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest is the Branch. I believe Jesus is the Branch. Maybe  Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest is in Jesus ancestral lineage?...

Zechariah 1 - 3   This first part of this passage reminded me of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse.  Then, when it talked about Joshua the high priest, I thought it meant Jesus until it said, " I will bring  my servant  the Branch." Jesus is the Branch.  A quick google search to Wikipedia says that Joshua was the first high priest after the return from Babylon. 

Zephaniah 3 - Haggai 2   The Lord will deliver Israel from herself.  I find the prophets to be difficult reading. My pastor suggested that the prophets are easier to read if read along with the time periods they occurred in. I think I will read that Bible through next year chronologically rather than from cover to cover. I've never done that. 

Habakkuk 3 - Zephaniah 2   What is a shigionoth? Click here Some old traditions posit that Habakkuk is the son of the Shunamite woman that Elisha raised from the dead. It doesn't see there is anything to substantiate this. Click the following link for one explanation of the phrase:  God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.  

Nahum 3 - Habakkuk 2   Habakkuk's complaints are answered by the Lord. I find myself comparing this to the end of the book of Job. Job's queries were not answered except to say that the Lord is greater than humankind.  The righteous will live by faith. 

Micah 5 – 7 & Nahum 1- 2   I can kinda see why it was believed that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem when Herod asked for the Wise Men.  I find myself wondering if Nahum was written before or after Jonah went to Nineveh?