God Sightings Week 8, Feb. 22nd – 28th. 2010

Old Testament: Lev. 13:1 – 23:44

 
• Even though reading through the ritual cleansings can seem a little long and dry; there are some interesting observations. One of my favorites has always been chapter 14 of Leviticus. Within it we see God giving the instructions for what to do when a leper has been healed. God has always moved to heal his people. We can’t force it, or promise everyone that God will always do that for them in this life. But even at that time, before Jesus, we see God moving to heal. In Matt. 8:2-4 we see Jesus reference these commandments when He healed the leper.

 

• In chapter 17 we start to really see the importance of blood. God places a high value on the blood of people and animals. Of course, many, many years later we will see the ultimate price and value of the blood when Jesus dies for us. At that point, no more blood will ever need to be shed; his was so valuable.

 

• In 20:10 we find part of the issue that Jesus was dealing with concerning the woman caught in adultery in John 8. If you remember the story; they only brought the woman – even though they supposedly caught her “in the act.” Without bringing the man, Jesus, nor anyone else could have pronounced any level of judgment on her because that would have been a violation of the Law – this verse. It had to be both of them.

 

New Testament: Mark 6:1 – 10:12

 
• In 6:31 we find the importance of resting. Jesus and his disciples had been going at it day after day, and usually all day at that. Eventually Jesus tells them to come and rest for a while. It’s easy to gloss over the passages about resting. But we need to remember that in order for the disciples and Jesus to rest; people that needed help were forced to wait. In this particular case the crowd ended up beating Jesus to the other side of the lake and so He continued to minister. However, in other cases he did not. In fact, on some occasions, he left town. We read this earlier in Mark 1:35. No matter how pressing other peoples’ needs are; there always come a time when we need to rest ourselves. We aren’t the only people on the planet that God is using to help this world.

 

• I’ve always found 8:11 – 12 interesting. At this point in His ministry Jesus stops having conversations with the Pharisees. Previously, He had had several, but they never turned out well. The Pharisees only show up and ask questions for the sake of causing problems. (Historically, not all Pharisees were like this. Remember Nicodemus’s genuine curiosity. And even Paul, towards the end of his life still referred to himself as a Pharisee. But the majority of those presented in the text are certainly the type to NOT model your life after.) I find this story interesting because it shows us that we don’t “owe” everyone that comes to us a conversation. Some people only want to “converse” so that they can pull you into another argument. At some point, we have to have the wisdom to realize when a person is not coming around for honorable reasons and be willing to walk away. It’s not being weak; it’s being wise. Don’t throw your pearls before swine (as a wise man once said.)