Jesus is Master

Monday and Tuesday, October 11-12, 2010

Devotions: Ps 1-7, 10, 11; Mic 7:1-7; Jonah 1:1-17a; Acts 26:1-27:8; Lk 8:26-56

Consider the blessed man: he avoids the counsel of the wicked, the way of sinners and the seat of mockers; he delights in YHWH's law and meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted near flowing water, yielding fruit in season, never withering. Whatever he does, prospers. YHWH watches over him and his path. Compare the wicked man: he is like windblown chaff; he cannot stand in God's judgment, nor join the righteous in their assembly. God will assure that his way perishes! Wicked nations also conspire against God and His anointed; they chafe under God's rule and seek to rebel and cast off the constraints of the Holy One. But God laughs in derision at their pretensions. He sets up a kingdom them cannot conquer or escape. He puts His anointed Son on an eternal throne, and His rule is absolute. So let human powers be wise and honor God's Son, serving Him with fear and trembling, lest God's wrath break forth upon them and they perish. Blessed are all to take refuge in Him! God, You alone know the powers arrayed against me. But You sustain me and protect me. Lord, deliver! Save now! Let Your deliverance and blessing rest on me and on all Your people. Sin not in anger; keep counsel with God on your beds, and put your trust in YHWH alone. Lord, You put more joy in my heart than the rejoicing at harvest. I have peace to rest; I have security that none can take away. Let my cries and supplication be favored with Your hearing, Lord; I worship in Your temple, with Your people. Let me in Your righteousness; stifle my enemies, and lead me in Your straight paths. Let all rejoice who take refuge in You, singing for joy. You shield us with Your favor. Lord, I'm having a hard patch—pain in my body and soul. Deliver me, for Your steadfast love's sake! Let evildoers depart from me altogether. YHWH has heard my supplications and accepts my prayers. My enemies will be cast down, but I take refuge in my God. Let the evil of the wicked come to a bitter end; let the godly repent of all sin and bow to the righteous Lord. I will praise the holy Name of YHWH, God Most High. Look how arrogantly the wicked oppress the righteous, Lord! Let his pride be cast down; take away his false prosperity. Recompense his cursing and schemes with your holy wrath. Rise up, Holy Lord; break the arms of the wicked. YHWH is King forever! Lord, hear the desires of the meek; strengthen our hearts, so that the wicked earthy men may strike terror no more.

Micah prophesied: Woe is me! I am stripped bare, like fields and orchards after the harvest. No godliness remains among mortals; we live among rapacious schemers; they lie in wait to shed innocent blood. They are diligent in doing evil; human authorities seek out bribes; confusion reigns. Community fails; families disintegrate. As for me, I put my trust in YHWH alone, and I will wait for the God of my salvation. I abide in Him!

God's word came to Jonah, son of Amittai: 'Get up! Go to Nineveh and cry against it. Their wickedness has come up before Me.' Instead, Jonah tried to run from God and His mission: he went down to Joppa and boarded a ship bound for Tarshish—as far from Nineveh as he could go. But YHW hurled a great wind upon the sea, and the ship was in danger of breaking up. All the mariners cried out to their various deities; and they cast their cargo overboard to lighten the ship. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone below decks and was fast asleep. The ship's captain roused him: 'Get up, sleeper! Call upon your god; perhaps he can help us, so that we don't perish!' The ship's company decided to cast lots, to determine on whose account they were endangered. Of course, the lot fell to Jonah; they questioned him closely, and he told them, 'I am a Hebrew; I fear YHWH, God of heaven, Who made earth and sea.' They demanded to know his business, since he was running away from his god. And they demanded of Jonah what they could do to appease the wrath of his god, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous. Jonah told them the truth: 'Throw me overboard, then the tempest will subside—it's on my account that this storm has fallen on this ship.' The crew did all they could, but the storm continued to strengthen, and they were in peril of death. Finally, they begged the Lord's pardon, and threw Jonah overboard; and the sea ceased from its raging. Seeing all this, the entire crew feard YHWH exceedingly and offered a sacrifice and vow to YHWH. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah; and he was in the fish's belly for three days and nights.

At the king's bidding, Paul began his defense before Agrippa, Bernice and the governor Festus: 'I am fortunate to have the privilege of defending myself before you, King Agrippa, because you understand well the customs and controversies of the Jews. From my youth, my life was spent among Jews and in Jerusalem; and I am known to them all. I have lived as a Pharisee, by the strictest intepretation of our religion. I stand here on trial because of the promise God made to our ancestors, the hope of all twelve tribes, for which they worship earnestly night and day. It is for this hope that I am accused by the Jews, O king! Why should any think it incredible that God raises the dead? I was completely convinced that I should do all in my power to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. I started in Jerusalem, using the high priest's authority to shut up many of the saints, followers of Jesus, in prison; and when they were tried and executed, I cast my vote against them. I continually persecuted them in all the synagogues; I did all I could to force them to blaspheme; in a raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. Doing so, I was journeying to Damascusw with the authority and commission of the chief priests. At midday, O king, a bright light from heaven shone down on me and my companions, brighter than the sun. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice calling to me in Hebrew: 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.' I said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I Am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting. But now get up on your feet; I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you to serve and bear witness to the things in which you have seen Me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you form the people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me. I was not disobedient to this heavening vision, O king, but declared first to those at Damascus and then at Jerusalem and throughout Judea to Jews and also to Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and perform deeds worthy of their repentance. It is for these things that the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. But to this day, God has helped me, and so I stand here still, testifying to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Messiah must suffer, and by being the first to rise from othe dead, He would proclaim light to both the Jews and to the Gentiles.' As Paul made his defense, Festus broke in with a loud voice: 'Paul, you are mad! Your great learning is turning you mad.' But Paul said, 'I am not mad, most excellent Festus; rather, I am speaking sober truth. The king knows about these things, so I am speaking to him freely. I am persuaded that none of these thingsg has escaped his notice—for all this took place in the open, not in a hidden corner. King Agrippa, do yhou believe the prophets? I know that you believe.' Agrippa replied to Paul, 'Do you think you can make me a Christian in so short a time?' Paul said, 'Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.' The king arose, along with Bernice and the governor and those with them. When they had withdrawn, they said to one another, 'This man is doing nothing deserving death or imprisonment.' Agrippa said to Festus, 'This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.' [Dr. Luke then takes up the narrative:] When it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort, whose name was Julius. We embarked on an Adramyttian ship, sailing for the coastal ports of Asia, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. The next day, we put in at Sidon, and Julius gave Paul leave to go to his friends and be cared for. Next, we sailed under the lee of Cypris, crossing to Myra in Lycia. There, the centurion put us on an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy. Our progress was slow, but we arrived with difficulty off Cnidus. The winds would not permit us to go further, so we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone, and sailed near the coast to Fair Havens, near Lasea.

Jesus and His close disciples sailed across the Sea of Galilee and came ashore in the country of the Gerasenes. As Jesus disembarked, a man met him who was possessed by demons. Long he had been naked, and he lived among the tombs in the open. Seeing Jesus, he fell down before Him and said loudly, 'What have You to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me.' For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. It had tormented him many times; the man was kept under guard, bound with chains and fetters, but he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the desert. Jesus asked him, 'What is your name?' And he said, 'Legion', for many demons had entered the man. They begged Jesus not command them to depart to the abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding on a nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them enter these, and He gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. Seeing this, the herdsmen fled into the city and countryside, telling everyone whoat had happened. Then the people went out to see for themselves. They found Jesus with the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at His feet, dressed and in his right mind. All this frightened the people. Eyewitnesses retold the story of his healing, and the Gerasenes asked Jesus to depart from them, for a great fear overcame them. So Jesus got into the boat to return to Galilee. The healed man begged to go with Jesus, but Jesus said, 'No, go back to your home, and tell there how much God has done for you.' And the man obeyed, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. When Jesus arrived back in Galilee, a crowd was waiting for Him. A man named Jairus, a synagogue ruler, fell at Jesus' feet and begging to to come to his house, for Jairus' only daughter, a girl of twelve, was dying. As Jesus went with Jairus, a through pressed around Him. Among them was a woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years, and no one could heal her. She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of His garment; and immediately her hemorrhaging ceased. Jesus spoke: 'Who touched Me?' No one admitted it, and Peter said, 'Master, multitudes surround You and press upon you.' But Jesus said, 'Someone touched Me; for I perceive that power has gone forth from Me.' The woman saw that she could not hide, so she came trembling and fell down before Jesus and spoke before everyone why she had touched Him and how she had been immediately healed. Jesus said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.' As Jesus was saying this, a man from the ruler's house came and said to Jairus, 'Your daughter is dead; trouble the Teacher no more.' But Jesus overheard, and said, 'Do not fear; only believe and she will be well.' When He came to the house, Jesus let no one enter with Him except Peter, James and John and the father and mother of the child. All were weeping and mourning her; but Jesus told them, 'Don't weep; for she is not dead but sleeping.' The mourners laughed in scorn, for they knew that the girl was dead. But taking her by the hand, Jesus called, 'Child, arise.' And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. He directed that something should be given her to eat. Her parents were amazed; but Jesus charged them to tell no one what had happened.