Leviticus 14:1-57
Not a high-point of scriptural revelation. It does show us though that there is nothing too minute or too mundane for the attention of God. If God is bothered about the colour of the mildew in my house then he is far more meticulous than I and, as a consequence, far more reliable than me. I can be fully assured that God is never going to be caught out by the small print! This is really amazing. God’s horizons expand so far that our eyes water just to look at them and yet his attention is on bacteria and microbes so titchy that we need a microscope to even see them. We know that He is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine but we also need to recognise that he is able to contemplate more tiny, mundane details than we could ever be bothered to think about.
Mark 13:1-31
I was reading an article about the fall of Jerusalem the other day and was shocked to find out that very few Christians were killed in the battle as they had fled at the very start of the trouble. These followers of Jesus survived one of the most ruthless and blood-thirty sieges of the Roman empire because they took seriously Jesus’ command to flee to the mountains when they saw the abomination that causes desolation (vs 14). I find this very challenging. While it is true that Jesus used some dastardly difficult language when he talked about the End of the Age he did also give some clear, practical instructions for his followers to, well, follow. He told people to be ready for trouble, to be ready to witness to some pretty senior fellows and to be ready not to worry about what to say as the Holy Spirit would provide them with their material. I seem to have spent most of my life doing the exact opposite of this; I’ve gone to lengths to avoid all trouble, I’ve generally kept schtum when around anyone important and have worried a lot about how I could tell my friends about my secret Jesus addiction. So, while I know this passage is difficult I’m determined not to get stuck in the weeds nor to ignore it all together but rather, like the early Christians who fled from Jerusalem, put into practice the simple instructions of Jesus that it contains.
Psalm 30:8-12
Some scholars are convinced that this Psalm denies any belief in resurrection (ie the answer to “will the dust praise you?” is “No”. Other scholars are convinced that the psalm affirms a belief in resurrection and that the answer to “will the dust praise you?” is “Yes”. I don’t know either way and, if I’m honest, not a lot of me cares. I do know though that in our darkest times as a family God did seem to remove our sackcloth and clothe us with joy, he did take our wailing and turn it into dancing and he has done more for us than we could ever, ever begin to thank him for.
