Leviticus 13
Now, since I'm not a doctor, I won't be much help on this section, except, possibly, for comic relief.
It appears to me that this law for leprosy, really signifies that leprosy was being used by God as a kind of object lesson. Otherwise you would just say, "They didn't have a cure for leprosy like we do, and so God had to do something in the culture to make an issue about staying away from people with the disease." But the next chapter is all about leprosy, too. Why didn't God give them a chapter on cancer or heart disease? I think the reason leprosy is an issue is that God was using it as a way to visually show Israel what being "unclean" meant. He was also giving them an image of what the spread of sin looked like, physically, spiritually, or socially.
Even as disciples, we treat sin as a silly, 3-letter word "boogie man." Sin is the greatest destructive force on the planet. Paul/the Spirit says it is a spiritual force. Sin is not just "missing the mark," it is a power, pulsing in our souls that grows and creeps and infects. Leprosy is a fantastic picture. Without the indwelling Spirit and the cleansing agent of the Word, we would be absolutely "leprous;" and all that we touched would be unclean. We can still be that if we decide to ignore God enough. Look at 1 Corinthians.
What is interesting to me, and I'll probably say it tomorrow, too, that although there was a provision for being healed from leprosy, until Jesus, no Israelite was ever cleansed. Didn't the lepers come to God for healing? Maybe not. The first time Jesus gets thrown out of Nazareth, He says to the people there, "And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." Luke 4:27 And the whole synagogue went crazy. Faith was only found in Naaman the Gentile, and that only because he had good servants.
Ok, I fully agree with verse 29. If a woman has a disease on her beard, there is definitely something wrong.
Whatever happened to "The verse of the day?" This custom has fallen on hard times today, whereas in days of yesteryear many a soul has been helped by the verse of the day appearing on doors or screen savers. Years ago, I swapped out the church secretary's verse for my own (I was a seminary student then, not the pastor) out of this chapter. I like it better in the RSV, and feel free to use this where appropriate.
Leviticus 13:40 "If a man's hair has fallen from his head, he is bald but he is clean.
I never understood this stuff about leprous material or a leprous house until I lived in Texas during all the black mold stuff in 2001 and we discovered it in our house. We didn't just have black mold, but yellow and red and green…pretty stuff, cough, cough, cough.
Again, in thinking about sin, as disciples, is it possible that the disease can spread to stuff? Can stuff be polluted by our sin and can we be polluted by stuff?
Mark 6:1-29
Mark 6:1-6
This was Jesus' second visit to Nazareth. The first was at the beginning of His ministry and now He was more popular than Justin Bieber. It was a gracious thing for Jesus to return, considering they tried to kill Him the first time. Now they are simply hardened by unbelief. They know His family, and now the religious authorities have "explained" Jesus. That Jesus could not heal many, doesn't mean that His power didn't work, like he could only get "one bar" of connection to God's power or that He had a slow download speed because of their dense hearts. It means that they didn't bring many to Him, to lay hands on.
Mark 6:6-13
Jesus had prepared the 12 to do this by example. This is a good discipleship principle. Show people how to do things by example, doing it with them. Don't just teach the concepts and let them go.
Mark 6:14-29
I don't know what lessons you get from this section, but I'm always struck that John's ministry might not have been as long as his imprisonment. It's hard to find dates, but the consensus is that John sat in prison a long time.
Today, we still look at success as a measure of blessing. I think as disciples, faithfulness is our real goal in following Christ in the harvest. John was faithful in service, and then faithful in prison.
Psalm 39
The two great things I get from this Psalm are the wisdom to keep one's mouth shut, except in crying out to God. The other is to know the shortness of our days. I think both of these have done something good for my walk with God.
Proverbs 10:10
After reading this, I really have a hard time winking at people, except to encourage them. Otherwise, it smacks of deceit and hiding.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link Every Day in the Word. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those at New Song who are following a One Year Bible and involved in a discipleship cell. We're meeting weekly and discussing the texts, not necessarily my comments. We're growing together, learning to become and make disciples who make disciples. We will all be leading others in this process and training them to do likewise.
The comments I'm writing are in no way exhaustive, but meant to give some leading thoughts on how the text applies to us as disciples and to encourage and stimulate our growth in reading the Bible, with the effect that we will grow as disciples and encourage the growth of others as disciples growing in the word. If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is, the commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible, in fact, no one in our church reads the version I do, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
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