Reading the Bible Together

Passage for the Day

12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.

15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

 18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and do not doubt in your heart but believe that what you say will happen, it will be done for you. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25-26  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

Points of interest:

·         ‘as they were leaving Bethany’—Bethany was a suburb of Jerusalem.  Jesus has come to Jerusalem for the Passover holiday, and he’s staying with friends in Bethany.

·         ‘those who were buying and selling there’—the outer courts of the temple had become something of a bazaar.  One of the major things that happened at the temple was the sacrifice of animals, as a form of gratitude to God for provision or for answered prayer.  To facilitate these offerings, authorized dealers sold ‘pre-approved’ sacrifices in the outer courts.  It made it easier for people who had travelled a long way, plus there was no fear the priests would reject your sacrifice as blemished.  The money-changers were exchanging normal currency for the special temple currency.  Normal currencies weren’t accepted at the temple because they were stamped with the images of kings or gods, which was a violation of one of the Ten Commandments.

·         ‘a house of prayer for all nations’—Jesus is quoting Isaiah 56, our passage from March 20^th. 

·         ‘a den of robbers’—Jesus finds a thieves’ den instead of a house of prayer.  There are multiple layers of likely robbery here:

1.    Since these temple merchants have what amounts to a monopoly on sacrifices and offerings, they are charging the worshippers exorbitant prices.

2.    All of this commerce is happening in the only part of the temple foreigners where were allowed.  So, foreigners are essentially being robbed of a place to pray.  Their part of the temple has been transformed into a market place.

3.    God is being robbed of the foreigners’ prayers and of the full value of the Jewish sacrifices.

By the way, Jesus is quoting another prophet, Jeremiah (7:11).    Jeremiah’s listeners are somehow under the impression that being in the temple gives them immunity from punishment for all sorts of bad behavior, including mistreating foreigners.  Jeremiah tells them that it instead adds to their offense: besides behaving badly in other ways, they are ruining the reputation of God’s house.

·         ‘chief priests and the teachers of the law’—these are the religious professionals of Jesus’ day.  The chief priests are specifically responsible for the temple, and would have been the ones to approve of the mercantile activities in the outer courts.  They don’t take kindly to what they would see as Jesus’ meddling in their affairs.

·         ‘The fig tree you cursed has withered!’—Peter probably thought that Jesus was just venting his frustration the day before, but the tree actually dies.  It doesn’t seem quite fair of Jesus to curse the tree when the fruit isn’t even in season.  I think he does so to illustrate a point.  With the tree, he was looking for fruit, but found only leaves.  With the temple, he is looking for prayer, but finds only business.  This prayerless temple is as dispensable to him as a fruitless tree.

·         ‘if you say to this mountain’—‘this mountain’ would be Mount Zion, the holy mountain so revered by David and Isaiah.  Isaiah spoke of Zion as the place from which universal peace would emanate (Isaiah 2, March 15^th).  Now, Jesus speaks cavalierly of pitching it into the sea.  Faith is more powerful and more valuable to Jesus than the temple.  Despite all the prophecies about the temple’s importance, Jesus can do without it if he has faith.

·         ‘so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins’—the temple was the place Jews went to receive forgiveness.  If it were thrown into the sea, how could they be forgiven?  Jesus offers a new way: if we offer forgiveness, we receive forgiveness.

Taking it home:

·         For you: Jesus once again tells us that amazing things are possible for anyone with faith.  Ask God to give you an extra boost of faith today, and then try it out on something you might not normally pray for.

·         For your six: Have you had conflicts with any of your six recently?  Consider using that conflict as an opportunity to offer and experience forgiveness.  Tell God that you forgive your friend for whatever wrong they’ve done, and ask God’s forgiveness for ways you’ve mistreated your friend.  Then, pay attention to your interactions with that friend.  Can you feel any difference in how you relate?

·         For America: Pray against the power of corruption in our country.  Ask God to expose corruption in religious institutions, government, and business and to minimize the damage corruption causes innocent or defenseless people.

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

¹ As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

⁸ His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

¹⁰ “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

¹¹ He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

¹² “Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said.

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴ Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵ Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.

¹⁷ Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁹ One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” ²⁰ But who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” ²¹ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for disposal of refuse?

²² What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? ²³ What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— ²⁴ even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵ As he says in Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”

²⁶ and,
“In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ”

²⁷ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:
“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
only the remnant will be saved.

²⁸ For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”

²⁹ It is just as Isaiah said previously:
“Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.”

Israel’s Unbelief

³⁰ What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹ but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. ³² Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. ³³ As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

Two Baskets of Figs

¹ After Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the officials, the artisans and the other skilled workers of Judah were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD. ² One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

³ Then the LORD asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
“Figs,” I answered. “The good ones are very good, but the bad ones are so bad they cannot be eaten.”

⁴ Then the word of the LORD came to me: ⁵ “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. ⁶ My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. ⁷ I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.

⁸ ” ‘But like the bad figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the LORD, ’so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt. ⁹ I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, a curse and an object of ridicule, wherever I banish them. ¹⁰ I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.’ “

Of David.

¹ Contend, LORD, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me.

² Take up shield and armor;
arise and come to my aid.

³ Brandish spear and javelin
against those who pursue me.
Say to me,
“I am your salvation.”

⁴ May those who seek my life
be disgraced and put to shame;
may those who plot my ruin
be turned back in dismay.

⁵ May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the LORD driving them away;

⁶ may their path be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.

⁷ Since they hid their net for me without cause
and without cause dug a pit for me,

⁸ may ruin overtake them by surprise—
may the net they hid entangle them,
may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.

⁹ Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD
and delight in his salvation.

¹⁰ My whole being will exclaim,
“Who is like you, LORD?
You rescue the poor from those too strong for them,
the poor and needy from those who rob them.”

¹¹ Ruthless witnesses come forward;
they question me on things I know nothing about.

¹² They repay me evil for good
and leave me like one bereaved.

¹³ Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth
and humbled myself with fasting.
When my prayers returned to me unanswered,

¹⁴ I went about mourning
as though for my friend or brother.
I bowed my head in grief
as though weeping for my mother.

¹⁵ But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;
assailants gathered against me without my knowledge.
They slandered me without ceasing.

¹⁶ Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked;
they gnashed their teeth at me.

¹⁷ How long, Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from their ravages,
my precious life from these lions.

¹⁸ I will give you thanks in the great assembly;
among the throngs I will praise you.

¹⁹ Do not let those gloat over me
who are my enemies without cause;
do not let those who hate me without reason
maliciously wink the eye.

²⁰ They do not speak peaceably,
but devise false accusations
against those who live quietly in the land.

²¹ They sneer at me and say, “Aha! Aha!
With our own eyes we have seen it.”

²² LORD, you have seen this; do not be silent.
Do not be far from me, Lord.

²³ Awake, and rise to my defense!
Contend for me, my God and Lord.

²⁴ Vindicate me in your righteousness, LORD my God;
do not let them gloat over me.

²⁵ Do not let them think, “Aha, just what we wanted!”
or say, “We have swallowed him up.”

²⁶ May all who gloat over my distress
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and disgrace.

²⁷ May those who delight in my vindication
shout for joy and gladness;
may they always say, “The LORD be exalted,
who delights in the well-being of his servant.”

²⁸ My tongue will proclaim your righteousness,
your praises all day long.