God's love trumps human sin

New Guest: Like this one, most posts are devotional; those related to CAR BIZ can be found by searching for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first post in the archives, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. As you read, I encourage you to add in any reflections or comments you may have.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Saturday, March 13, 2010
Devotions: 87, 90, 136; Gen 47:27-48:7; 1 Cor 10:1-13; Mk 7:1-23

Jerusalem, God’s holy city, stands on the holy mountain. It is an honor to be born in Jerusalem, the fountainhead of song and dance, the footstool of the living God. Lord, You have been our Dwelling Place, our Home, from all generations. You are Creator and Master. We are like grass before You, a shadow before Your inexpressible light. Make us glad, O Lord, as many days as we have seen trouble and affliction. Manifest Your glory and power to Your servants. God, establish the work of my hands today, I pray. Let us thank the Lord, for He is good! He is God of gods, Lord of lords, Wonder-worker. By His understanding He made all the material universe; by His power and love, earth and sky endure. He chose and delivered His people from bondage; He cleared the Holy Land to settle them there; and we are His offspring, too, by adoption through Jesus the Messiah, God’s Son. He remembers us in our lowly estate; He feeds all living things. Let us thank the God of heaven and earth, for His steadfast love endures forever.

After Jacob settled his family in Goshen, he lived another 17 years, to 147 years of age. When his death was approaching, Jacob made Joseph swear to bury him in Canaan, with his ancestors. Joseph promised, and Israel bowed himself on the head of his bed. When Israel was dying, Joseph brought his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to their grandfather to be blessed. Jacob reviewed the promise of El Shaddai, to make him fruitful and to give the land to Jacob’s descendants. Jacob affirmed that Manasseh and Ephraim would be considered his own sons, and would inherit a full share with the other sons of Jacob. And Jacob told Joseph and his sons about burying his beloved Rachel, Joseph’s mother, along the road to Bethlehem.

Paul continued to exhort the Corinthians: Our ancestors were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; all ate the same supernatural food and drank the same supernatural drink—and the Rock from which they drank in the wilderness was the Messiah Himself. Yet most of them displeased God and fell in the wilderness. All this was to inform us, and to warn us not to desire evil. We must shun the immorality and idolatry that ensnared them—as when 23,000 Israelites were struck down in a single day. We must not put YHWH to the test, as those had done who died from serpent bites, nor grumble as they did whom the Destroyer put to death. These events warned the people of the Exodus, but they were written down to admonish the Church, upon whom the end of the ages has come. So don’t get puffed up! No temptation or trial has seized you that is not common to humankind. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted or tested beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it.

When the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem gathered with Jesus, they noted that His disciples ate without ritually rinsing their hands; they perceived this as defilement, as the elders’ traditions dictated. The Pharisees and all observant Jews have many purification rituals—washing when returning from the market, washing cups and pots and bronze vessels, and so on. The Pharisees and scribes challenged Jesus, that His followers were no living according to the elders’ traditions, but ate with defiled hands. Jesus fired back: ‘Well did Isaiah propesy of you hypocrites: “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.” You abandon God’s commandment and slavishly obey the traditions of men. How well you rejct God’s command to keep your own tradition. Moses said, “Honor your father and your mother” and “Whoever speaks evil of a parent must surely be put to death.” But you say a man may tell his parents “Whatever I would have given you is Corban—set aside for God—and you prevent him from caring for his parents, voiding God’s word through your own customs which you had on as sacred traditions. You do lots of things like this.’ Jesus called the people to Himself and told them, ‘Hear Me, all of you and understand: nothing outside a man can defile him by going into him; but people are truly defiled by what comes out from within them.’ Later, when they had left the crowds and entered their lodging, His disciples asked Jesus for clarification of this parable. He said, ‘Are you also without understanding? Don’t you see that whatever a person takes in goes through his stomach, not his heart, and passes on?’ In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean. He went on: ‘Whatever comes out of a person is what defiles that person. From within, out of the human heart, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evils come from within, and they truly defile a person.’