Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Matthew 22:37-39 NIV

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These verses are Jesus’ response to the religious leader’s question about what was the greatest commandment.  Just for your information, there are 613 commandments in the OT and the leaders wanted to know which one was the greatest.  This, of course, was a loaded question.  No matter what Jesus said, someone would have refuted His opinion.  For the religious leaders, all of the laws were equal - no one was more important than the other.

Jesus turns the tables on the leaders, as He always did.  He actually quotes an ancient and important old testament saying (called the Shema - found in Deut. 11:13-21) as His answer.  But no, He doesn’t stop there.  He adds to Shema His own twist: Love your neighbor as yourself.  So first love God, then love your neighbor.  This was a twist for the leaders. It wasn’t just about loving God, but this love had to manifest itself in love for others.  In fact, Jesus goes on to say that all of the laws are subject to this new “law” or commandment; no law is greater than this one.  This emphasis on the love of neighbor is a great example of the Kingdom of God breaking into our reality (Jesus inaugurates the Kingdom in and through His birth).

It’s one thing to go to church, Bible study, or serve in a ministry.  It’s quite another to love another because God loved you.  Who are you loving today?  Do you know that as you love others you bring the Kingdom of God more fully into reality?  

Love someone today :)

I've given my confirmation students the opportunity to ask some questions that are interesting to them and pique their interest.  Our regular material is good, but this gives them a break and allows them to engage more.  Here are some of the questions and my answers I provided:


Are there any real pictures of Jesus?

• There are actual pictures of Jesus. Obviously, there was not photography until the first picture was taken in 1826.  That being said, a lack of photographic evidence for Jesus doesn’t mean that he didn’t exist.  There are a lot of things we believe in despite photographic evidence: Egyptian kings, ancient Rome, George Washington, Plato, pyramids, etc.

 
What did God do to make Satan so mad at Him?

• According to the Bible, Satan (referred to as the “Son of the Morning”) rebelled against God.  Satan rebelled because he wanted the same authority as God.  God expelled Satan from heaven down to the earthly realms. God is the only all powerful (omnipotent), all knowing (omniscient), and all present (omnipresent).  Satan’s rebellion was about something that he could have never had in the first place. The question really is what did Satan do to make God so mad at him.

 
Is water really “holy?”

• Water is not, in its existence, truly holy.  Some traditions (like the Catholics) believe they can take regular water, pray over it, and make it “holy.”   We as Lutherans do not believe that.  What we do believe is that water, combined with the Word of God, can be used for holy thing – like baptism.

 
Were dinosaurs present in the Bible?

• Dinosaurs are not present in the Bible.  This being said, it doesn’t mean that dinosaurs did not exist.  The Bible is not meant to be a comprehensive history of the creation of the world and everything that existed.  Obviously, we have substantial evidence of dinosaurs. This evidence points overwhelming to the existence of dinosaurs.  The Bible is the story of God’s interaction with humanity, particularly His covenant with humanity and salvation through Jesus Christ.  There are many things that aren’t in the Bible that we are able to believe in: dinosaurs, the movement of tectonic plates, philosophical figures like Plato, Aristotle, the civil war, etc.

 
Where are the Ten Commandment now?

• The Ten Commandments were originally given by God to Moses in Exodus 31.  They were inscribed on two tablets.  Moses breaks the original tablets because of his anger at the Israelite people in Exodus 32.  God then gave Moses new stone tablets in Exodus 34.  According to the Bible the stones that have the Ten Commandments inscribed on them are in the Ark of the Covenant – this is seen in Exodus 40:20. We do not know where the Ark of the Covenant is.  Scholars believe that it is in a cave near Jerusalem.  The challenge is that cave has probably been buried by years of war and physical changes to the earth.

 
 
 
 
 
 

​Genesis 18:20-21–Why did the Lord have to go down to see if Sodom and Gomorrah’s sin was so bad? Did he not know everything without checking out the site?


The key to understanding this is reading it in context of Genesis 18:1-19.  In v. 1-2 it says that the “Lord” appeared to Abraham. The Bible doesn’t give us any more information about this appearance.  This appearance could have been in bodily form (probably not as God does not appear in bodily form in any OT passage that I can remember).  Most likely it was a natural appearance like the burning bush.   It then goes on to say that Abraham “saw three men standing nearby.”  By seeing the men, Abraham see the world of the Lord.  Quite often in the OT the Lord is represented by angels, etc. and the character who has seen them says that they have “seen the Lord.”  Abraham somehow knew that these men were somehow divine and representing God.  We should not make the mistake of calling them angels in the proper sense because they had bodily form and were able to eat and drink (see v. 8).  So these men were a representation of the Lord to Abraham, but they were not the Lord in the proper sense.

Now, because they are men, they walk down to Sodom and Gomorrah.  They are not privy to the knowledge of God: they are not omniscient (all knowing).  The are limited in their knowledge as created beings.  Therefore they needed to walk down and see how bad it was.

After the men go away Abraham continues to be in the presence of the Lord.  He talks to Him about Sarah and then pleads for the two cities.  Again, we don’t know the nature of this presence, but it’s clear that He was there.

​Revelation 12:7-9–War in heaven?? Thought heaven was a place of peace. Could that happen again?


Well - heaven is a place of peace, but also a place where conflict can take place, albeit on a minor scale.  We know from Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14 that the “Morning Star” (Satan) confront God in the heavenly realms and is cast out.  There is an example of conflict for us.  This conflict is not enough to change the character or nature of heaven, but there was conflict.  Secondly, this conflict doesn’t imply that God and His nature was at risk.  God was/is superior to all angels as He created them and directs them.  Satan’s challenge to God was bound to fail from the start.  But there was a conflict.  I think a lot of our images of heaven (though not all) come from popular images of heaven from popular culture.  What we do know is that God’s rule is perfect peace and where He is so peace is ruling, but not without challenge.

The “war” we see in heaven in Revelation 12:7-9 is a parallel to what we see  in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14.  It is the site for the final rebellion and the final victory of God.  To my knowledge, from my understanding of Revelation, this war mentioned in Revelation 12 is the only one that occurs.  So could it happen again, according to the Scriptures and its accounting of the final days, it won’t.  That being said, war in heaven doesn’t change its nature as a place where God resides and He is peace.  Further, the Father is joined by the Son at His right hand - the prince of peace!

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-5

Love is a tough thing. It is hard to give yourself unconditionally to another; to care for them, hold them up in prayer and in a deed and put them before yourself.  This kind of love is countercultural and only comes from Christ and the Kingdom that He set up and was inaugurated with His resurrection and the coming of the Spirit.  Love is a hallmark of this Kingdom.    Jesus points this out in the Gospel of John.  He goes as far as saying that people will believe in Him and His mission if disciples (that is us) love one another.  This love is a reflection as well as a witness to God’s love for us as evidenced in Christ; as God loves, so we are to love.  How do we “convince” people to come to church and accept the love that God has for them?  We do this by loving them.  

Who do you need to love today?  Where have you “dropped the ball” in reflecting the love of God to and for another?  If you have dropped the ball, be encouraged - your are forgiven.  Today is a new day and you have another chance to fulfill Jesus’ commandment to love one another :)!

Blessing today . . . 
​

​1 Corinthians 15:29 – Why Are/Were People Baptized for the Dead?
 
This is a curious verse as it does not easily fit into the Pauline (or overall Biblical) understanding of baptism.  The first question that arises is why are the Corinthians baptizing for the dead?  The second question here is does Paul approve of the action?
 
As one might imagine the answers to these questions are complicated.  There are a variety of answers for the first the first question, none may be satisfactory.  The most likely answer is this:  the Corinthian people hold baptism in high esteem.  This is a result of their understanding that baptism is required to enter into the Kingdom of God. This high view of baptism can be seen in 1 Cor. 1:13-17.  There seems to be a desire of the Corinthians to guarantee the save passage to the Kingdom through baptism, even after death, of their loved ones (one can imagine this happening within a family or household unit).  They are wrong in their practice, but not in their intentions. There is also know indication that this practice was common among all of the Corinthians church.  The Greek (no need to get too deep into the details on this) suggests that this was a small number of people, not a large one.
 
As to Paul’s acceptance of the practice, we must remember two things.  First, just because there is an absence of Paul’s critique of the practice doesn’t mean that Paul is accepting of it.  It is just a matter of fact, even for a small group.  Second, Paul’s silence could suggest that he sees no need to critique the practice.  All are fully aware and understand that it is not consistent with new “Christian” practices. This is the only place in the whole of Scripture where the practice is mentioned.  Further, there is no place in Scripture where it is done.  Paul just may assume that the rest of the Corinthians have been taught that the practice was aberrant.

​Reflection on the Sixth Petition
 
The sixth petition of the Lord’s Prayer can be misleading.  We know that God does not tempt us as evidenced in James 1:13.  If this is the case, what  does the phase “lead us not into temptation” mean in reference to God?
 
The Greek text reveals a clue.  The word “temptation” can also be translated as “trials.”  The kind of trials that Jesus is referring to here are trials that we are brought into by God to test and affirm our faith.  There is a constructive aspect to the idea of trials vs. temptations.  Temptations are specifically designed and send by Satan to entice us to shift our allegiance from God to him.
 
There is also an eschatological element to this as well.  Jesus encourages the disciples to ask God not to bring them into or protect them from in the time of tribulation.  Much like Jesus asks that the cup would pass from Him leading up to the crucifixion, He is encouraging the disciples to do the same thing.