Sunday School Lesson for July 19, 2020: The Wisdom of Jesus (Mark 6:1-6)

Mark 6:1

1 Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown.

Home. There is nothing that feels quite like coming home. Whether you have been away for a few hours or a few years, there is no place like home. In this particular instance, Jesus’s return marked a brief respite from a very intensive yet fruitful ministry outreach.  Miracles, healings, deliverance; all occurred on this junket.

Mark 6:2a

 2a. The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue,...

Sometimes it is nice to come home and recharge, to reconnect with family and loved ones. It’s nice to have time for quietness, prayer, and meditation. Jesus had a few days before the next Sabbath. I’m sure it was time much appreciated. Then came the Sabbath…

Mark 6:2b

2b. and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?”

Herein lies the great wisdom of God: the Gospel. This message that Jesus preached, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” was accompanied by the power of God. It left those who heard and witnessed it amazed.

Mark 6:3

3. Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary[a] and the brother of James, Joseph,[b] Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.

Believe it or not, God is at work here. 

Acts 10:15

15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.”

Jesus encounters opposition from his neighbors. They scoff, they criticize in unbelief. Yes, they have seen the wonders by Jesus’ hand, but no, their minds, their intellect won’t accept….

• I’m in the middle of a hard curve. Give me a minute…

Mark 16:20

20 And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.

I was in a church service one Sunday. The Spirit was high.  The minister stepped from the pulpit and proclaimed, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to lay hands on the sick!” many came to be prayed for. There were two elderly women that had come in separately. Both seemed feeble and were supported by walkers. Additionally, they both were assisted by people that had accompanied them. In the case of the first sister, her two grown sons accompanied her, one on either side. When the minister made the call, she made her way to the altar, the other sister remained seated. The minister anointed her with oil and laid hands on her. After the service, that woman walked out of the service carrying that walker. When her sons approached to assist, she brushed them off. It was obvious, she got what she came for.

Mark 6:5-6

 5 And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief.

This new thing that Jesus was doing, this ‘Good News that he preached was accompanied by special miracles. The same was true for the early disciples. The onus was on the hearers of his words to simply believe the ‘Good News.’ The problem: the miracles and the bearer of the message didn’t match. Was not Jesus just a village carpenter? Were not the disciples just lowly fishermen? Has not that same complaint filled the preaching of the Gospel to this day? Israel was waiting on a King, not a carpenter. Jesus didn’t meet the description. Neither do you.

Yet, God is still using commoners to preach his Word. Jesus prepared the way for regular people like you and I to preach his Word. God is not differentiating between Jew and Greek any longer. Nor between slave or free. He does not even distinguish between male and female. All are the same in his eyes. No one is beneath the Gospel. No one is beyond salvation. Jesus showed us the way…

I Corinthians 12:31b

And yet I show you a more excellent way.

James 4:6

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud,

But gives grace to the humble.”

Beloved, let us be thankful that God devised a plan to redeem...us all.

Selah

wb

Sunday School Lesson for July 12, 2020: The Boy Jesus (Ecclesiastes 3:1,7b; Luke 2:39-52)

Ecclesiastes 3:1,7b

1 ….For everything, there is a season,

    a time for every activity under heaven.

7b.  ...A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

I find it interesting that we know nearly nothing concerning Jesus’ childhood. In the infinite wisdom of God, having this episode of Jesus’ childhood as the lone example speaks to timing and providence more so than to a simple historic rendering of young Jesus.  The Bible simply records that at the age of twelve, Jesus spoke.

Luke 2: 39-40

39 When Jesus’ parents had fulfilled all the requirements of the law of the Lord, they returned home to Nazareth in Galilee. 40 There the child grew up healthy and strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him.

This portion of the lesson directs us to the type of parents Joseph and Mary were. They took the responsibility of parenthood seriously. You must first observe that they followed the letter of the Law in raising the child Jesus. No shortcuts. No time off. Both had been instructed by God that the son they were rearing was not theirs, but that he was begotten of God and that he would be the Messiah, the hope of all Israel.

You can also see the fruit of their labor.  The Bible says that Jesus was healthy and strong. That speaks to the care with which they raised Jesus. They made sure his physical and mental needs were met. The Bible also says about the child Jesus that he was filled with wisdom and that God’s favor was upon him. That’s a little harder to pin down. You see, in order for these characteristics to be observed requires a spiritual component: discernment. 

Ecclesiastes 3:11a

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart,

Spiritual discernment is normally reserved for the spiritually mature. What you can surmise then is that these character traits, wisdom, and God’s favor, were observed by the elders in Jesus’ community.  Growing up, there were elders around us who recognized our particular talents. Some could draw, some could sing, some showed athletic promise, some showed intellectual acumen. When elders in the community saw those talents, they encouraged us and… they remembered. Not only would they remember, but they reminded us that we had a seed of greatness within us. Discernment. Luke would have had to have interviewed some aunts and uncles; some older relatives to get that information

Luke 2:41-45

41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. 42 When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. 43 After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, 44 because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.

Mark 6:3

3 Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary[a] and the brother of James, Joseph,[b] Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.

Allow me to add flavor to the episode of Jesus becoming separated from his parents on the trip home from the Passover celebration. Twelve-year-old Jesus had younger siblings. Mark and Matthew identify four of Jesus’ brothers by name and they both mention that Jesus had sisters (plural) as well. So with this in mind, be reminded that Jesus, the eldest of Joseph and Mary’s children has also gained a reputation as someone who is both strong and wise. Subsequently, it’s understandable that both mom and dad trusted him and may have given him more leeway and less direct supervision. Especially when there are younger siblings to care for.

Luke 2: 46-50

45 When they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. 46 Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

48 His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”

49 “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”[a] 50 But they didn’t understand what he meant.

Imagine their anguish when Jesus is suddenly unaccounted for. The anxiety as they begin to backtrack to Jerusalem in search of Mary’s firstborn son. Imagine their relief and growing astonishment as they return to Jerusalem and are directed to the Temple where Jesus has been recently seen. Then, as they approach the portico where the religious leaders visit to debate the scriptures and the events of the day, what are they to think when they see Jesus, sitting calmly in the midst of these august leaders of the nation of Israel. Relief? Gratitude? Consternation? All of these emotions and so many more …. in an instant. “Jesus! Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.” Note Jesus’ response:  “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 

My Father’s house. Did you hear that? My. Father’s. House. Was it always this hard to get Jesus out of the synagogue on every Sabbath? I don’t know. What I do know is that he feels entirely at home in the Temple. Every column, every vessel, every ornament, everything in the Temple must speak to Jesus’ subconscious in unimaginable ways. It must so remind him of ...home.

“In the first place..”

Did you know that the phrase, “In the first place..” is actually a mnemonic; a memory prompter the ancient  Romans would use to help them remember and deliver speeches. They would imagine a house of many rooms, then mentally place a portion of the speech in each room. When delivering the speech, they would mentally picture each room individually, thus prompting themselves to remember each part of the speech as mentally moved from room to room. Imagine then, what Jesus might have experienced as he moved around the Temple.

Luke: 2:51-52

51 Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart.

52 Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.

Proverbs 1:8-9

8 My child, listen when your father corrects you.

    Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.

 

9 What you learn from them will crown you with grace

    and be a chain of honor around your neck

Let me close with a couple of thoughts: God was not finished with Joseph and Mary. The last two verses indicate that Jesus had more learning and growing yet to do under their tutelage, not the tutelage of Israel’s religious leaders. What did Jesus learn about Love in their home? What may he have earned about Faith and Hope? How may he have seen Grace exemplified in their humble abode in Galilee? After all, a loving home should be where all of those spiritual graces are first encountered.

ADDENDUM: 

John 7:10

10 But after his brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went,...

If I were preaching this message. I would take a moment to add to my appreciation of the parenting of Joseph and Mary. After all, Jesus had four brothers, and scripture records that they were devout in their observance of the religious festivals. Where did they learn that? In the same house where Jesus was raised. I’ll further support that point by observing that two of Jesus’ brothers are forever canonized in Scripture. That’s right, both James and Jude have writings in Scripture that guide and comfort the Church to this day. Looks like God had a plan for them too. It had to be developed in the house of Joseph and Mary. What a testament to the unwavering commitment to godly parenting….    Selah

-wb

What Bible story has the greatest impact on society today?

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…” Genesis 1:1. The secular community rejects this postulate. The church accepts this postulate by faith but fails to embrace the science that lends evidence to what we believe. Both errors have contributed to the dumbing down of the society at large, which in turn contributes to much of the strife we are currently experiencing worldwide.

Take for instance the concept of Irreducible Complexity, simply termed “The Watchmaker’s Analogy”. The concept is not new and it is not exclusively Christian. Simply stated; If one found a complex mechanism in a field, one could safely assume that it did not simply grow out of the ground, but rather was created purposefully by an intelligent designer. 

To refute so simple a concept, evolutionists have substituted the elements of time (endless) and chance for a Creator. The theory of evolution, with its unprovable postulate, that everything evolved from nothing and it’s lack of evidence that any living thing is evolving, actually promotes racism through its core belief in the concept of ‘Survival of the Fittest’. 

The church, in failing to embrace the simple logic of concepts like Irreducible Complexity, end up thumping their bibles and rejecting science ‘in toto’. Thus the intellectual and faith communities unwittingly promote societal regression, with each group blaming the other for the problem..

In the vein of “The Age of Enlightenment” the faith community can correct this problem by embracing science as a pointer to the Majesty of God.

Is forgiveness the most important theme in the Bible?

I am conflicted by this question. While forgiveness is integral to the Christian

experience, the actual mechanics are difficult to navigate. Does one ever 'completely'

forgive? From a human perspective, I think not. Allow me to explain.

I grew up as the oldest of five children. The age difference between me

and my nearest sibling, my sister, is only fourteen months. Subsequently, the sibling rivalry between us was problematic, violently so at times. In essence, the tension between us could go from calm to red alert in mere seconds. The nature of our relationship shaped both of our lives. While the outcome has been positive for both of us, it has not always been healthy. Additionally, with four siblings, similar sibling tension stair-stepped its way through our entire clan.

"But when this son of yours who has squandered your property

with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!" Luke

15:30 NIV

Fast forward twenty years, and one day I'm the father of two beautiful children

who are nine months apart. Talk about Deja Vu. Their birth order was the same as my

sister and me; the boy first, then the girl. Their fighting, sometimes violent, was so

reminiscent of what my sister and I experienced. It was manageable when they were

little but very intense. So much so that my daughter once took a spanking in order to

make sure that her brother got one as well. Adolescence only made it worse. Once, when counseling my daughter as a teenager, I opened the bible and took her to the story of the prodigal son, with the intent of showing her the error of the elder son's jealousy. When she completely embraced the elder son's hurt and wholeheartedly agreed with his position, I was at a loss for words. I will try again when she's over thirty.

Forgiveness is difficult. I believe it comes with conditions. It has been my

experience that when I forgive, I put up guard rails to ensure that I don't get hurt in that

particular way again. Does that render my forgiveness imperfect? Yes. Can forgiveness

be the most important theme in the bible? In my opinion, no.

"And yet I show you a more excellent way." I Corinthians 12:31b NKJV

I believe that the commandments to love God and our neighbors are the most

critical themes in the bible. When Peter asked Jesus if forgiveness seven times was best, Jesus countered with a number that was inconceivable to Peter. Jesus

demonstrated that perfection is not attainable by human effort. Love, however imperfect,

can be realized through obedience and practice. Jesus said we would be identifiable by

our love for one another. John tells us that love is of God. Peter, much later in life,

instructed us that love would cover a multitude of sins.

Today, my sister and I are both ministers of the Gospel. Are we still rivals? No.

We celebrate one another's lives and accomplishments. Love never fails.