April - Reading 19

Hey Clint...\

Remember the thirty or forty people who were wanting this forum? Oh well...

First of all, thank you for your consistent faithfulness here.

Here is some extra for today's study:

In Mark Jesus is going to a place near Tyre, a Gentile city located in Phoenicia (Lebanon today). One of the Gentile women (Mark refers to her as Greek, which she may have been) approaches Jesus about her demon-possessed daughter. This woman is the only one during Jesus' ministry to address him as Lord. And Jesus uses her to drive home a point to His disciples. "First let the children eat all they want," Jesus tells her, meaning that salvation starts with the Jews. The woman recognizes this and extends his parable, stating that even dogs are able to get what falls from the table.

She is not only calling Him Lord, she is declaring Him to be sufficient even in the smallest degree. If only His own people had that kind of faith!

So her precious little daughter is healed.

Please note that Jesus did NOT dispute the fact of demon-possession. He did not recommend counseling or medications. He just fixed the problem. Demon possession was real then and is real today.

The episode following this is one that fascinates me, for it is the only time Jesus seems reluctant to heal. The person is a deaf man.

I have been a deaf interpreter. Culture comes through hearing. Through language. Thus, out of necessity, the deaf have their own culture. The blind, the paralyzed, the retarded -- they are all part of our culture because they can communicate in our culture's spoken language(s). But the deaf of necessity have a world of their own.

When the deaf man wanted to hear, I know that Jesus knew he was going to be wrenched from one world to another in a way no one else who had been healed had had to cope with. And so we read in verse 43 that Jesus looked up into heaven and sighed deeply before healing the man. The miracle amazed people, but I have often wondered, since I have gotten to know the deaf, just what happened to that man afterwards. It is not easy to change cultures and never to be able to 'go home' again.

Clint summarized the famous passage in 1 Corinthians well. We are one body with different gifts/abilities. The weakest is indispensible to us. So all our brothers and sisters in Christ are to be treated with utmost respect and love and care. We do, indeed, need each other badly.

Psalm 89 is the last of Book Three of Psalms. It is by Ethan the Ezrahite. It opens with a firm declaration of God's eternal love and faithfulness. The Covenant with David regarding the ruling line is mentioned and then the psalmist begins praising God for creation as well as His protection of His people. Verse 18 closes the section chosen for today with
Indeed, our shield belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.

And dear old Samson in Judges. Indeed, if the author of Hebrews did not list him among the faithful in that book, I would have a hard time believing it! Susceptible to wine, women, temper, riddles and nagging; seemingly never learning; he was nevertheless used by God and did come to a point of wanting only to work for God. And so, with his past wiped out by our gracious God, he is enlisted in the ranks of the faithful of Hebrews 11.

That means there's hope for the rest of us, no?

 

Helen and Clint,

Just for the record I love to read what both of you have to say. Reading your commentaries is a very educational experience. I made a great effort in the beginning to do the readings, read your commentaries, then go back and read again. That didn't last long, but I am keeping up with the reading and I try to get in and read the commentaries every other day or so. There are times when I do go back after reading a commentary to make sure I have correctly understood certian points.

Unfortunatly the 30 or 40 people who said they would read with us appear to not be following along. In the Are you still reading poll, only 8 people have voted and of the 8 only 6 are still reading. That means it is Helen, Clint, Bill and three others. I pray there are more still reading with us, and if they are not I pray they are doing some other program of Bible reading.

Bill

[ April 21, 2002, 12:12 AM: Message edited by: Bible Believing Bill ]

 

I am one of those 40 who truly meant well when I said I would read along the entire year, but unfortunately things do not always go as planned. I apologize I have not been here with the reading plan regularly since after the third month. College life really gets hectic and free time seems to disappear. I'm really glad to see that their are those who are still faithfully following along with the plan though. Way to go!

UNP
Adam

 

Hello all,
I am still reading, and appreciating Clint and Helens hard work. I`m keeping up, and use the end of the month to revise. I have not voted in the `Are you still reading` poll ... or I don`t think that I have. .... going there now
Gwyneth.

 

The deaf man who wanted to hear is what touched me the most. I am hard of hearing and wear two hearing aids [which they didn't have back in Bible times, so I can imagine how alone the deaf man felt]. I could also imagine Jesus sticking his fingers in my ears and saying that word that would open my ears! Maybe the hearing aids is God's way of solving my hearing problem until Jesus returns.

 

2007
Still with this plan for reading :thumbs: thanks for your help and support.
Gwyneth

 

2008
Still with this plan for reading :thumbs: thanks for your help and support.
Gwyneth