LENT: Exodus 4

 Lenten devotions: Exodus 4 

(please read the chapter before reading this devotion)

In the previous chapter God revealed Himself as a the One who doesn’t need an “external” identity – I am who I am (Exodus 3:14). “I can not be identified by parental last name, marital status, job description, ownership of a share of a corporation etc.” He is the beginning of everything: time, space/matter, relationship. Therefore, as the beginning of everything He initiates the process of a call, call of Moses. By the end of the chapter, He tells Moses to return to Egypt, gather the elders of Israel, and tell them that they are better to ready for the Exodus (Exodus 3:16-22).

How did Moses respond? He came up with a solid excuse – what if they will not believe. A reasonable doubt – Moses already experience rejection by his brothers, and when he left there was not much faith among the Jews overall. To deal with this God gave him three special signs – staff turning into a serpent, a leprous hand placed next to heart being healed, and a reminder of the blood of babies being thrown into the Nile when water taken from the river will turn into blood on the ground (Exodus 4:1-9).

Then Moses raises less reasonable concern: I am not eloquent. Literally, he said I’m not a man of words. It was less reasonable – for the fact that Moses was taught in all the wisdom of Egypt (Acts. 7:22). But the LORD reminded Moses Who makes man’s mouth (Exodus 4:10-11).

Finally, Moses tries to play his last trump cart – or what he thought was a trump card – please send someone else? Now the anger of the LORD kindled…

We know the outcome of the story – Moses when back, endured the hardship of pharaoh’s resistance, and gloriously led people out of Egypt to Sinai to be in the covenant. When God leads you to be part of His mission you can have concerns – He will be happy to show His mighty ability to provide. When you have doubts about yourself – run to Him for proper self-identity that we find in His promises of Baptism. The only thing that can “set Him off” is our total rejection be walk the walk and to talk the talk. Pray that the LORD of life will help you to identify a place in His team.

Advent Readings: Luke 5

Luke 5

Well-structured chapter. Think about it. First Jesus calls Peter, James, and John as his first disciples. The story is structures by the usage of the word “boat(s)” – total usage 6 times! Fulness of manly impact on the world, as man was created on the sixth day.

Then Jesus heals two people – a leper (5:12-16) and a paralytic (5:17-26). Both of them re-gained access to the Temple. The first one was forbidden access for purity/cleanness reasons, while the paralytic simply couldn’t come on his own.

The third block is call of Levi – a tax collector. It is a unique call by itself – the Messiah invites as a disciple a person who collected money for the occupational forces of Rome. So scandalous! Especially taking into account the fact that he was from the tribe of Levi. He should’ve served as a local pastor of a synagogue, but the challenges of life made a correction of his path of life.

Then comes the conclusion – a parable about the Old and the New. Usually, the parable is interpreted as a strife for new things. Yet, the careful reading suggests that Jesus argues for the proper use of both. It is something new for Biblical history to call the fisherman (prior to Jesus, God more than often called shepherds: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David etc.), while calling a Levi “back” to ministry is an example of Old/good patterns (cp. Lk. 5:39). Change for a sake of change is not what Jesus is rooting for. What He introduced is an invitation of a new type of people as disciples, while maintaining the old flock close to Him. 

Gospel of Mark chapters 2 and 3

Gospel of Mark 2 and 3

Sometime ago I wrote about a possibly of 7 days of creation pattern in the Gospel of Mark chapter 1. Here are some thoughts on structure of the next block of the narrative – chapters 2-3.