Carpe Diem

S: Acts 17:16-34

O: We don’t actually know what this unknown god altar was. Some people point to a story about when Athens was experiencing a plague, and they tried to sacrifice to various gods they knew, but the plague continued. Then Epimenides of Crete advised them to release black and white sheep from the Areopagus (Mars Hill) and wherever a sheep lay down, it was sacrificed to the god related to that place. As a result, according to Diogenes Laertius, who wrote about this 3 centuries later, there’re many altars around that didn’t specify which god it was for.

Various other ancient writers talked about altars to unknown gods in Athens – but that’s gods – plural – while Acts talks about an unknown god – singular.

Another possibility was that these altars were just kiasu altars – in case they left out some god that they didn’t think of.

There are various other theories. But the important thing is, Paul saw the opportunity and used it as an opening to share the Gospel. And, like he talked about in 1 Corinthians 9:20-23, he did it in a culturally sensitive way.

This is in line with the advice he gave his protégé Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.”

We are ambassadors for Christ, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:20 – an ambassador represents their country in another country. So, we represent the Kingdom of God here on earth.

Pastor Daniel Ho of DUMC tells many stories of taking every opportunity to share the love of Christ with people – when he sits down in a food court, when he takes a grab car, when he flies in an aeroplane, etc. He admits, sometimes people don’t respond positively, but often people do.

God calls all of us to shine His light in a dark world. Not everyone can be like Pastor Daniel or Paul, but we can all share the light. We often think of evangelism as something we deliberately do. But being an ambassador for Christ is also about who we are. I remember examples like the doctor in verse 2 of this song by Carolyn Arends:

Seize the Day
by Carolyn Arends

Well I know a doctor, a fine young physician
Left his six-figure job for a mission position
He’s healing the sick in an African clinic
He works in the dirt and writes home to the cynics
He says “We work through the night so most every day
As we watch the sun rise we can say

Seize the day, seize whatever you can
‘Cause life slips away just like hourglass sand
Seize the day, pray for grace from God’s hand
Then nothing will stand in your way
Seize the day

A: This is a challenge for me. I often go through the day, busy with my work, etc. and forget that I’m an ambassador for Christ. I’m representing Jesus to everyone I meet. So I need to be walking in His ways and sharing His love.

P: Father remind me when my impulse is to reply in the flesh to an annoyance, or ignore another person, etc. Jesus, let me shine Your light. In Jesus’ name, amen.

When it’s all been said, when it’s all been done

S: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

Philippians 3:7-10a I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.

O: Years ago, we participated in a yee sang toss with friends from church, and they were saying all the traditional yee sang toss things, about wealth, prosperity, that our children will be successful, etc. and something made me say that may our children be committed to Jesus. It may have been because I had friends who were committed to Jesus, but whose children had wandered away. And I was reminded of someone who said that, if his children were prosperous, successful, etc. but did not follow Jesus, they wouldn’t really be successful.

A few days ago, my wife and I were alerted by 2 different circumstances that both our girls were walking with the Lord. That’s such a blessing to know. They’re still in their late teens, the older one in her first year of degree and the younger one in her foundation year at university, so they still have a long journey ahead of them, but it is very encouraging to us that they’re sincerely seeking God.

Philip Sandifer wrote this song:

Well I could talk for hours about His coming
But the louder that I speak
I’d just grow deaf against his call
And I could pray for years
I could bind my ails and my fears
And even believe I have the answer to it all

But when it’s all been said
And when it’s all been done He’ll ask me
Did you go my way child
Did you know my Son

And when it’s all been said
And when it’s all been done he’ll ask me
Did you find your way within my Son

A: Even at my age, I must continue daily taking the daily steps to find my way within Jesus. I still have so many flaws, so many things more to bring into conformity with Jesus.

The next day after those incidents that showed that my kids were walking with Jesus, I messed up in two different ways and had to repent of it. One of them my eldest was the one who called me on it. Thank God for her.

So, I’m still a work in progress. Daily, I must work out my salvation in fear and trembling, while being assured that God is working in me, giving me the desire and the power to do what pleases him. (Philippians 2:12-13.)

P: Father, thank You for Your grace. May I find my way within Your Son, growing in Christlikeness day by day. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Second Chances

S: Acts 13:13; Acts 15:36–41; Colossians 4:10; Philemon 1:24; 2 Timothy 4:11

O: Mark was basically one of the early second-generation Christians. Acts 12:12 says that his mother’s house was where the believers gathered in Jerusalem, and church tradition identifies it as the house that contained the κατάλυμα (guest room) in which the Last Supper was held. (This is the same word traditionally mistranslated as “inn” in the Christmas story.)

In Acts 13:13, Mark “chickened out” on Paul and Barnabas’s first missionary journey. Now, in Acts 15:36–41, Barnabas, the “Son of Encouragement,” wanted to bring him along again for their second missionary journey.

Paul didn’t want to have anything to do with that. I can imagine the argument:

Paul: I don’t want that quitter coming along again! He’s useless!
Barney: He’s young. We need to nurture him so that he will grow.
Paul: If we bring him, he’ll just chicken out again! Let him learn at home here in Jerusalem!
Barney: If we discourage him now, we could set his growth back years!
Paul: I’m not bringing him! He doesn’t have what it takes!
Barney: I love you, you love me… 🤣

Okay, maybe not exactly like that. 😊 But Luke does say, “They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas.”

Interestingly, if we move forward several years, we find Mark working alongside Paul. In Colossians 4:10, Paul mentions Mark and tells the church to welcome him. In Philemon 1:24, Paul lists Mark as one of his fellow workers.

And in 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul goes even further: “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.” What a turnaround! The man Paul once refused to take on a missionary journey had become someone he considered useful to his ministry.

A: God is a God of second chances, and we, as His people, should be willing to give others second chances, too. I know it’s not always easy, especially when someone has let us down. Sometimes, like Paul, we may have good reasons to be reluctant to trust that person again. Giving someone another chance doesn’t mean pretending that nothing happened or ignoring the need for growth and accountability. But Barney had the right idea. Paul had forgotten that he himself was one of Barney’s “encouragement projects.” I guess Paul later learned to be more like Barney, too.

Note: I wrote the first draft myself, but I did get AI to do some editing.

When Jesus is not Jesus

S: Acts 13:6-12

When Barnabas and Saul got to Paphos on Cyprus and shared the Gospel with Sergius Paulus, the sorcerer Bar-Jesus opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. But the Holy Spirit filled Saul and had him say, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”

As a result, Sergius Paulus believed in Jesus.

O: Recently Cristiano Ronaldo had a public dispute with the coach of Portugal’s national team, Jorge Jesus. Christiano accused Jesus of breaking his word twice, and there was quite a bit of public fall-out in the news.

In the above reading, Bar-Jesus (i.e. “Son of Jesus”) was clearly the bad guy, trying to stop Sergius from trusting in Jesus.

In modern times, we find a lot of people claiming Jesus but doing questionable things, especially in politics, but sometimes in other ways as well.

Paul, in 2 Corinthians 11:4 and Galatians 1:6–9, warned against people preaching a different Jesus and a different gospel.

Actually, the name Jesus is the same name as Joshua, but the fact that Jorge Jesus and Elymas Bar-Jesus happened to have that name spelled the same way, and Cristiano Ronaldo has the name of Christ, just highlights something: Someone can be called by the name of Jesus (or Christian) and not be following Jesus, or even be opposed to what Jesus wants. (Note that I’m not assuming who is right or taking sides in the Jesus vs Christiano dispute, just using the names as an illustration.)

A: We need to be authentically following Jesus if we are to call ourselves by His name, to be Christians. We must beware of others or even ourselves labelling our thing as Christian but not actually be in line with what Christ would want.

So we need to keep in fellowship with Him, read His Word, and accept correction from the Holy Spirit. Staying in fellowship with other believers who can encourage us and alert us to when we stray from Jesus is also important and helpful.

P: Lord make me like You.
Please make me like You.
You are a servant, make me one, too.
O Lord, I am willing, do what You must do
To make me like You, Lord,
Just make me like You.

Amen.

P.S. Speaking of names, it is interesting that from this point onwards, Luke refers to Saul as Paul (Latin Paulus).

Perhaps it was because of the Roman practice of adopting an adult they like and making their heir (see what happened to Judah Ben Hur after he rescued Quintus Arrius in Lew Wallace's Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ).

St. Jerome, the 4^th century theologian, historian and Bible translator, thought that Saul called himself Paul in honour of his first distinguished convert.

Other people think that Luke switched from calling him Saul to calling him Paul because he, being a Roman citizen, already had that Roman name in addition to his Hebrew name, and now he was concentrating on the Gentiles.

In all his epistles, he called himself Paul.

Pride and Prejudice

S: Acts 12:20-25

O: Herod Agrippa I was a grandson of the ruthless Herod the Great from the Christmas story. He seems to have been less notorious for cruelty than his grandfather, but he also persecuted the church. He had James son of Zebedee executed, and when he saw that this pleased the Jewish leaders, he proceeded to arrest Peter. That was calculated persecution: he used violence against Christ’s apostles to strengthen his political standing. Josephus, the Jewish historian, generally wrote positively about him but also noted that many people celebrated his death.

He also was familiar with the Jewish religion, and so would have known that it was wrong to receive worship like the Roman emperors did. Josephus portrayed him as a king who took Jewish law seriously. As a Jewish king whose position depended partly on maintaining good relations with his people, Agrippa had reason to respect their religious traditions.

Unfortunately, when the crowed proclaimed him a god, he failed to give God the glory, so God struck him down. Perhaps his earlier persecution of Christians was also relevant. Josephus said he died after 5 days of excruciating abdominal pain.

Luke supplies the detail that he was eaten by worms, which is ironic, because Josephus reported that worms was part of how his grandfather Herod the Great died as well. Josephus reports that Herod the Great's final illness was regarded by some as divine punishment for his impiety. In the surrounding account, Herod had executed Jewish teachers and their companions who opposed his placing a golden eagle above the Temple gate, an act they considered contrary to Jewish law.

The irony is striking: Agrippa seems to have taken Jewish law seriously, unlike his grandfather, yet he failed to give God the glory when the crowd acclaimed him as a god.

A: God opposes the proud and preserves His purpose. Therefore, we should remain humble, give God the glory, and take courage when worldly powers oppose the gospel. We may die like James ben Zebedee did, or be rescued like Peter, but in either case, we should stay true to Yahweh and trust that He is ultimately in control.

P: Father, help me to stay in Your ways. When I am tempted to do wrong, remind me. When I suffer for doing right, keep me faithful. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Note: I discussed these ideas with 2 different AIs and used some of their phraseology.

When God challenges your prejudices

S: Acts 10:1-11:18

O: Cornelius, a centurion in Caesarea, sincerely sought God, and God answered him, sending an angel who told him to invite Peter from Joppa, 50 km away, which back then in those conditions took roughly 12 hours to walk, but usually people would take two days.

For Peter, entering a Gentile home was not a small social adjustment. In our Malaysian setting, it may feel as difficult as asking a committed Muslim to enter a non-Muslim’s home and share a meal in a way that could bring criticism from his own community. That helps us feel the force of Peter’s obedience and the scandal it caused among the Jewish believers.

So God had to send him a vision – the animals on the sheet – to persuade him to go with the people Cornelius sent to invite him, and then when he got back to Joppa, the other Jewish Christians were scandalised, and he had to go back to Jerusalem to answer their charges. He managed to persuade them by pointing out to them that if the Holy Spirit accepted them by giving them the Gift of Tongues, who were the Jewish Christians to deny them?

Even after this, Paul still had to contend with the Judaizers. And even Peter backslid and Paul had to correct him (Galatians 2:11-14). So it was definitely not easy.

A: What prejudices do I still hold against people different from me? Who is in and who is out?

The Jewish Christians were demanding that Gentiles had to “masuk Yahudi” before they could become Christians and be saved. We must not make people feel that they have to “masuk” our culture before they can come to Christ. They do not need to become like us in order to be saved.

And, even before they’re saved, remember how Jesus accepted Gentiles like the Syrophoenician woman and others. What non-Christians are God calling for me to drop my prejudices against?

And we must be open to others’ correction, like Peter was to Paul even though he was the leader of the Apostles after Jesus’ ascension.

P: Father, open my eyes to see where my own practice of the faith needs to expand its horizons. And help me to be open to others’ correction. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Selalu manise

 

I like this song very much. It has a very Nusantara feel, rather than sounding like a Western Christian song translated into Indonesian. And the term “manise” is very interesting. Literally, it means “sweet” but in this song it is used metaphorically.

Kerja buat Tuhan
Selalu manise
Biar pikul salib
Selalu manise

Ayo, kerja buat Tuhan, sungguh senang-senange
Dipanggil Tuhan, selalu manise
Membuang diri ke ladang Tuhan, Saudara
Serta Tuhan, selalu manise

This song is in Ambon Malay, where manise can mean sweet, beautiful, pleasant, lovely, delightful, or enjoyable. So the song isn’t saying so much that “Working for God is always sweet” but more like “serving God is always wonderful” or “serving  God is always a joy.”

The line “Biar pikul salib, selalu manise” is particularly interesting: “even bearing the cross is a joy.” The song isn't saying that working for the Lord is always easy. Rather, it expresses the joy of belonging to and serving Jesus even when that service involves sacrifice.

The Fear of the Lord

S: Acts 4:32-5:11

All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.

But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest. Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”

As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.

About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?” “Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.” And Peter said, “How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too.” Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.

O: Dishonesty and desire for praise turned a commendable thing into something that strikes the fear of the Lord in the hearts of everyone in the church.

Jim Bakker was a televangelist who led the PTL (Praise The Lord) ministries but he was brought down by a sex scandal and then later put in jail for financial fraud. Later, a Christian leader, John Bevere, visited him in jail and asked him when he lost his love for Jesus, to have committed such sins. Jim said he didn’t ever lose his love for Jesus – he lost the fear of the Lord.

A: We tend to talk about the Love of God these days much more than the Fear of the Lord. Both are true. Fear of the Lord is not just awe, though that’s true as well. But Yahweh is a just God, though He is also merciful. I find it relatively easy to trust God’s love, but I must also remind myself of the Fear of the Lord.

As C. S. Lewis puts it through Mr Beaver's description of Aslan, “He’s not safe. But he’s good.” God is good, but He is not tame. His love does not make Him less holy or less worthy of reverence. I need to remind myself of the fear of the Lord—not as a rejection of His love, but as a recognition of His holiness and authority—so that I will turn away from sin rather than take His grace for granted.

P: Father, thank You that You love us. Help me to remember also to fear You, recognise Your holiness, take Your commands seriously, and stay away from sin. Remind me of this whenever temptation beckons. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Is Esther Historical?

A big objection some people have against the historicity of Esther is that secular history doesn’t seem to mention this, though there may be some allusions to it. 

Also, the idea of Haman’s proposal goes against how Persians usually treated minorities in their empire. They generally had a policy of tolerance unless you rebel. If you are willing to submit to their rule, they generally let you keep your culture, religion etc. because this makes people less likely to rebel. However, this does not mean that persecution of a particular ethnic group by an individual official would have been impossible.

So the allegation is that there was by the time of the Maccabees this festival of Purim, and Esther was a fairy tale made up to explain it.

But the lack of clear secular corroboration is not proof against Esther’s historicity. Ancient records are fragmentary, and Persian royal inscriptions were normally propaganda, celebrating kings, building works, victories, and divine favour—not palace scandal, an attempted empire-wide massacre, or a king’s humiliating reversal of policy. Herodotus is the major surviving Greek narrative source for Xerxes’ reign, but his interest was chiefly in the Persian Wars and Greek interaction with Persia; he had no reason to record every internal matter of the royal court. He mentions Amestris, a prominent queen associated with Xerxes, and some have speculated that she could be Esther. However, that identification is far from clear and is generally considered unlikely.

However, the book of Esther, both in the Hebrew version and in the extra parts found only in the Greek version, have intimate details of Achaemenid Persian courtly life and practices that the average Jews of the Maccabean period would not know. These include features such as the king’s seven senior advisers, royal banquets, the organisation of the royal women’s quarters and eunuchs, restrictions on access to the king, the golden sceptre, royal seals, written decrees sent throughout the empire, scribal practices, and other aspects of court protocol. Several of these features have parallels in what is independently known about Achaemenid Persia from Greek sources, Persian evidence, and archaeology. 

Someone familiar with the Achaemenid Persian court would have found it much easier to get such details right, whereas an ordinary Jewish writer in the Maccabean period, centuries after the fall of the Persian Empire, would have needed access to old documents or well-preserved traditions that were difficult to obtain. There was no public database, no mass printing, and no convenient library where one could simply look up Achaemenid court protocol—and, of course, no Google or AI like we have today to search for this information 😅. Records were handwritten on scrolls or tablets, scattered among official archives and elite collections, often far away and in foreign languages. Access would have required unusual connections, resources, travel, and literacy.

So while the form of Esther we have today in the Hebrew and Greek are probably from the Maccabean or Hellenistic period, the core story probably came from the Persian period. The text that Lysimachus son of Ptolemy translated into Greek probably had those details because it’s unlikely for Lysimachus to have known those details centuries after the fall of the Persian empire. In fact, Lysimachus shows his unfamiliarity with that period because he got the name of the king wrong—he wrote Artaxerxes instead of Xerxes, perhaps because of the similarity of the names in Hebrew—and yet got the Persian courtly details right. This strongly supports the idea that his source text for translating Esther had those details.

So, while from the historical evidence alone, one cannot conclusively prove Esther to be historical, I think that, given the balance of probabilities, the evidence suggests that Esther is more likely to be historical than to be a myth made up by a Maccabean-era Jew to explain the festival of Purim. Its Persian setting, courtly knowledge, administrative details, and coherent historical context are better explained by authentic tradition rooted in the Persian period.

Holier than thou?

S: Hosea 11:12 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit; and Judah is still wandering with God and is faithful to the Holy One.

2 verses later, Hosea 12:2 Yahweh has a quarrel with Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds.

O: At the end of Chapter 11, Judah was looking good compared to Ephraim (Israel). But was Judah really good? 2 verses later, the situation is revealed when Yahweh declares that He has a quarrel with Judah and will punish Jacob (all of Israel – both north and south). Judah may not have reached Ephraim’s depth of rebellion, but Judah too stands accountable before God.

A: Sometimes we look good when we compare ourselves with people who have done things that are more visibly evil than us. But as Jesus said, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). We cannot think we are good because we’re better than someone else, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  He “does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9) so we instead of trying to condemn evil people, we need to follow God in seeking their repentance.

This is not to say that there should not be laws and government action to punish crimes, but I’m speaking at an interpersonal level. We should be seeking to draw all to repentance and to follow God, rather than revenge.

P: Father, when people upset me, it’s hard to keep in mind Your desire for their repentance rather than their death. Remind me to see other people through Your compassionate eyes that do not tolerate injustice yet extends grace. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The Lord Hears the Cry of the Poor

 S: Hosea 4:14“I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because the men themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes—a people without understanding will come to ruin!”

O: Along with the incident with Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38:26 God condemns the hypocrisy of going after prostitutes instead of the pimps and johns. Most of the time, prostitutes are victims of human trafficking and/or difficult circumstances, while the pimps and johns chose to victimise them.

A: We should support ministries that rescue girls from prostitution and call men to repentance. The laws of the land should prosecute the pimps and johns rather than going after the girls. Instead, the girls should be rescued and educated. From a web search, I found various ministries that minister to the urban poor, including prostitutes: Global Shepherds, KLUrban Fellowship (KLUF), Malaysian CARE, DUMC IMPACT Beyond, Grace CommunityServices, Holy Trinity Bukit Bintang — Social Action, and many others. Secular NGOs alike Tenaganita also minister to prostitutes.

P: Father, I pray for the girls trafficked into prostitution. May we have compassion on them and rescue them. In Jesus’ name, amen.

What’s your purpose in life?

Ecclesiastes (Vanity of vanities and all kinds of vanity) by Isaak Asknaziy, 1900.

S: Ecclesiastes 1

The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

“Vanity of vanities!” says the Teacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!”

What does a person gain in all his toil with which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth stands forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down; to its place it hurries, and there it rises again. The wind goes to the south and goes around to the north; around and around it goes, and on its circuit the wind returns. All the streams flow to the sea, but the sea is never full; to the place where the streams flow, there they continue to flow.

All things toil continuously; no one can ever finish describing this. The eye is never satisfied with seeing, and the ear is never filled with hearing. What has been—it is what will be; what has been done—it is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. There is a thing of which it is said, “Look at this! This is new!” But it already existed in ages past before us. There is neither remembrance of former generations, nor will there be remembrance of future generations.

I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I applied my mind to seek and to search by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. It is a grievous task God has given to humans. I saw all the works that are done under the sun. Look! Everything is vanity and chasing wind. What is twisted cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.

I said to myself, “Look! I have become great and have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has preceded me over Jerusalem. I have acquired a great deal of wisdom and knowledge.” So I dedicated myself to learn about wisdom and to learn about delusion and folly. However, I discovered that this also is chasing wind. For in much wisdom is much frustration, and whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow.

O: Ecclesiastes chronicles the struggles Qoheleth (the Teacher in the above translation, from the Hebrew קֹהֶלֶת) as he seeks to understand the world that God had made.

If Qoheleth was Solomon, as many people have traditionally assumed, then what a tragic story it would be. Solomon started out well, asking God for wisdom, but later drifted away from Yahweh and worshipped other gods. Ecclesiastes could then be understood as the reflections of an old man looking back on a life in which he had pursued wisdom, wealth, pleasure and achievement, only to discover that none of them could provide ultimate meaning. But even if he wasn’t Solomon, the observations remain valid.

Ecclesiastes shows how meaningless life is if you don’t have God’s purpose in your life. Here in Chapter 1, like the ending lyrics of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, Qoheleth bemoans how “nothing ever matters,” because no matter how much you toil, “there is nothing new under the sun.” Like Percey Shelly points out in his classic poem Ozymandias, you can be great in your time, build great monuments to yourself, but time will erase them.

He talks about how “in wisdom there’s much frustration and whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow.” Indeed, if Qoheleth is Solomon, what a great example of that he was! God gave him great wisdom, and he squandered it as he drifted away from Yahweh.

Then in Chapter 2, he gives himself over to hedonism, the wealth acquisition (again, if Qoheleth is Solomon, this fits with the historical record of Solomon’s reign being extremely prosperous) yet even that’s no ultimate fulfilment and he ends Chapter 2 by saying it’s “chasing after the wind.”

The despair and meaninglessness go on like that in chapters 3-11, until he finally realises in chapter 12, after “all has been heard” that the conclusion is “Fear God and obey his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

A: We don’t have to live Solomon’s wayward wasted life to figure out the conclusion. Let us fear God and obey His commandments now. Then only we will live the purpose-driven life (as Rick Warren puts it.)

Where Qoheleth asks, “What is the point of life if everything ends in death?” Warren answers, “Life makes sense when you understand that it is ultimately about God, not yourself.”

It’s not about you (or me.) The way to have a meaningful life is to live for God:

• Worship: we were planned for God’s pleasure.
• Fellowship: we were formed for God’s family.
• Discipleship: we were created to become like Christ.
• Ministry: we were shaped for serving God.
• Evangelism: we were made for a mission.

So our purpose isn’t primarily to achieve, accumulate, experience pleasure, or leave a legacy, as Qoheleth struggled with. It is to God, love God, become like Christ, serve others and participate in God's mission.

And because Christ has conquered death, our labour for Him is not ultimately futile:

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.

— 1 Corinthians 15:58

P: Father, thank You that Qoheleth is wrong when he said life is vanity. Life is not vanity if we live for You. Help me to live for You. Help me encourage my family and friends to live for You. And thank You that, because of Christ, our labour in You is not in vain. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Note: I wrote this and then showed it to various AIs, both Christian and secular and made a few changes where I agreed with the Ais’ suggestions. So the ideas and most of the text is my own writing.)

Nehemiah the Imperfect

S: Nehemiah 13

O: Everyone is imperfect, but the book of Nehemiah points out Nehemiah’s imperfections a bit more starkly than most autobiographical books. It shows his insecurity, his intemperance, and his exclusionary attitude toward foreigners, 4 times he kept asking God to “remember me” (Nehemiah 5:19; 13:14, 22, 31) and various intemperate actions like beating people up and pulling out their hair (Nehemiah 13:25).

(Regarding his attitude toward foreigners: Nehemiah 13 uses sweeping reform language because Nehemiah was enforcing covenant separation from hostile and corrupting foreign influence. However, the wider witness of Scripture shows that this cannot mean the absolute exclusion of every Ammonite or Moabite who genuinely turned to Yahweh. Ruth had already demonstrated that covenant faith, not ethnic origin, determines membership among God's people. And his forcing the Jews who have married foreign wives, even those having children, to divorce them was later shown in 1 Corinthians 7:12-13 to be not the way Christ would want it.)

And yet, God remembered him and used him to further the kingdom of God.

A: Sometimes we become discouraged when we realise how imperfect we are. Yes, we should repent and get closer to the image of Christ. But we should not despair. Instead, let us continue to serve Him faithfully, trusting that He can use us despite our imperfections.

P: Father, thank You for Your grace. Help us to become more and more conformed to the image of Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Reminders

S: Nehemiah 9

The Levites recapped what Yahweh had done for Israel up to that point, how God rescued them from Egypt, but then they went and made the golden calf, yet God took the next generation to the Promised Land. But even after entering the Promised Land, they repeatedly turned away from Yahweh. Though He sent prophets to warn them and call them back, they remained stubborn, so God judged them and allowed them to be taken into exile. Yet God did not abandon them. In His mercy He brought them back to their land.

O: This reminds me of Acts 7, where Stephen also recapped the history of God saving them, culminating in the very same Jesus that they had rejected.

I am also reminded of how in Deuteronomy, Moses recapped what God had done for them up to that point. (In fact, the Malay name for Deuteronomy in the Alkitab is Ulangan, which is the same word we use for reviewing what we have learned before an exam.) And many other places in the Old Testament, they build memorials here and there to remember what God had done, e.g. 1 Samuel 7 the story of Ebenezer.

A: We need to keep reminding ourselves of what God has done, because it is so easy for us to drift away and forget how He saved us. That’s why it’s so important to study the Bible regularly, to meet with other believers among whom the Word of God is taught. As Deuteronomy 6:7 says, “And you shall recite them to your children, and you shall talk about them at the time of your living in your house and at the time of your going on the road and at the time of your lying down and at the time of your rising up” and the same instructions are repeated in Deuteronomy 11:19.

P: Father, thank You for Your salvation that You have provided us through Jesus. Help me to keep reminding myself, my family, and my community of believers of Your truths and never forget Your blessings. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Marriage

 
Picture CC0 Public Domain

S: Ezra 10 

Ezra led the returning Jews to repent of marrying foreign women, and divorce their foreign wives, even those who already had children.

O: Even in the Old Testament, it’s clear that this is not a case of racism, but of faith. The problem with the foreign wives was not race or nationality – it was that they did not follow Yahweh. There are other examples in the Old Testament where foreigners follow Yahweh and God sanctioned them marrying in, e.g. Ruth.

However, the New Testament made it even clearer: 1 Corinthians 7:39 “A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord.” The phrase “in the Lord” shows that a Christian who is free to marry must marry someone who belongs to Christ.

Note that the New Testament also makes it clear that if you’re already married to an unbeliever, you are not to initiate a divorce. 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 “Now to the rest I say—not the Lord—if any brother has an unbelieving wife and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if any wife has an unbelieving husband and he consents to live with her, she must not divorce her husband. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the brother, since otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. But if the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. The brother or the sister is not bound in such cases. But God has called us in peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?”

A: While being married to a non-believer is a problem because of the spiritual disunity, it’s even worse to break up a marriage just because the spouse is not a believer. This is especially the case when there are already children. So, what Ezra led the returning Jews to do is not what we should do as New Testament believers.

If we’re not married yet, and we want to marry, we should marry a fellow-believer. The principle from 2 Corinthians 6:14 applies: “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers, for what participation is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?” Although 1 Corinthians 6:14 is not specifically about marriage, but rather about partnerships in general, what more intimate partnership is there other than marriage? So, it also applies to marriage.

P: Father, strengthen our marriages. Give wisdom to our single brothers and sisters to find Godly spouses if they desire to marry. And help those who are already in “unequally yoked” marriages to be such a blessing to their family that they be drawn to You. As I am married to a fellow believer, I pray that I will also be a good husband; help me to love her as Christ loves the church and gave Himself up for her. In Jesus’ name, amen.

How should we treat “Samaritans”?

S: Ezra 4:1-4

Now the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple for Yahweh the God of Israel. And they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the families, and they said to them, “Let us build with you. Like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him from the days of Esarhaddon the king of Assyria who brought us up here. But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel said to them, “It is not for you but for us to build a house for our God. For we ourselves alone will build it for Yahweh the God of Israel, just as Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed officials against them to frustrate their plan for all the days of Cyrus king of Persia until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

O: This was a major step in the increase of the enmity between the Jews and the people who would be eventually known as Samaritans, to the point that by Jesus’ time, they would have nothing to do with each other. There may already have been some prejudice before that due to the fact that the Samaritans had a syncretistic form of Yahweh worship, but it certainly got a lot worse in Ezra’s time. Praise the Lord that Jesus then overcame this with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:1-42. The Samaritans came to Christ in droves as a result of that.

Because of the enmity between the Jews and Samaritans that started with Ezra above, many Jews when travelling from Judea to Galilee would actually cross over the Jordan to Perea, and travel on the east side of the Jordan till they got far enough north to cross back over to Galilee. Jesus did not do that. He deliberately travelled through Samaria and germinated the Samaritan revival.

It may have been after that Samaritan revival that Luke 9:51–56 records some Samaritans not welcoming him because he was headed for Jerusalem – the Samaritans’ own prejudices against Jews reared its ugly head. James and John, the “Sons of Thunder” as Jesus called them in Mark 3:17, in their hot-headedness, wanted to call down fire from heaven to destroy them, but Jesus rebuked them for it.

Then, not long after that, Jesus in Luke 10:25-37 makes a Samaritan the hero of the story in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Then in Luke 17:11-19 we see the healing of the ten lepers, where only the Samaritan comes back to thank Jesus. And finally in Acts 1:8, just before He gets taken up into heaven, Jesus commands His disciples to witness to Samaria as part of the Great Commission.

The result of all this was a reconciliation between at least the Christian Jews and the Christian Samaritans. Acts 8 tells the continuing story where Philip went to another city in Samaria and led many to Christ there, and Peter and John laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

A: We are surrounded by people who do not believe in Christ. Some of them are hostile to our faith. We might have prejudices against them, just like the Jews had towards Samaritans. Jesus calls us to show them His love, rather than hostility. Even as we hold firmly to Christ, we must show His mercy to all.

Related to this, see The Parable of the Good Muslim.

P: Father, help me to always be a good ambassador for Christ, and to show people Jesus’ love. Help me to overcome any prejudices I may have. In Jesus’ name, amen.

 

The Mission Is Not Yet Complete

 

S: Mark 13:9-13 “You must watch out for yourselves. You will be handed over to councils and beaten in the synagogues. You will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a witness to them. First the gospel must be preached to all nations. When they arrest you and hand you over for trial, do not worry about what to speak. But say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

O: Three major ideas here are backed up by many other parts of the New Testament:

• The Gospel will be preached to all ethnic groups. “Nations” (Greek: ἔθνη) refers not to modern countries but to ethnic groups.
• Our faith will be challenged, but we should not worry, for the Holy Spirit will guide us.
• It’s not “once saved, always saved”. While we are saved by grace through faith and not by our own works, Scripture also calls us to remain faithful to Christ to the end. You can’t say “I received Christ back then, so I’m saved no matter what I do now.”

A: I must do my part to share God’s love with people who have yet to know Him. Christ Himself told us that the Gospel must be preached to all ἔθνη – so the Church’s mission is still incomplete. This is why I am sceptical whenever people confidently insist that Jesus must return within a particular timeframe. I lived through the “88 reasons why Christ must return in 1988” craze, and such failed predictions can damage people’s faith unnecessarily.† As Augustine of Hippo wrote around 419 AD, it cannot be said that Christ's return is immediately upon us while His own sign—the preaching of the Gospel to all nations—remains unfulfilled. (Paraphrasing Augustine’s Letter 199.) This remains true today, though we are all called to do our part in proclaiming the Gospel. We are all ambassadors for Christ – it’s not only the job of the “official” evangelists to share the Gospel.

The Holy Spirit will guide us, as this and other passages promise. This is not an excuse to neglect study, wisdom, or preparation, but it does mean we need not be ruled by fear.

And finally, we must be steadfast in Christ. We must daily take up our cross and follow Him. When we sin, we must repent and turn back to Him. We must not indulge or wallow in sin. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, so let’s make sure to confess to God and repent.

P: Father, thank You for Your salvation. Thank You that when I sin, You are faithful to forgive as I repent and turn back to You. May I be Your good and faithful servant and ambassador. May my lips be guided by Your Holy Spirit to share Your good news. May I be salt and light for You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

† This should never become an excuse for complacency (see also Matthew 25:1–13). Even if Jesus does not return during your lifetime, you will still meet Him. We may "meet our Maker" today through death, so we must always remain watchful and steadfast in Christ.

The Father or the Fig Tree

S: Mark 9:14-29; Mark 11:12-26

O: In the first passage, a desperate father brought his suffering son to Jesus’ disciples, but they could not heal him. His son had suffered since childhood, so this father had likely carried years of grief, disappointment, and exhausted hope. Then he heard about this miracle-working rabbi and thought maybe this was finally a way out.

However, when he brought his son to them, the disciples failed to heal him, he was disappointed yet again. No wonder when Jesus finally showed up (after the transfiguration! But he didn’t know that) he said, “But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

Jesus almost sounded offended, “If you can? Everything is possible for one who believes.”

No wonder the father desperately cried, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” He didn’t have much faith at that point, but he was desperate, and he brought the little faith he had to the right person.

And Jesus demonstrated His power and healed the boy.

Then in the second passage, Jesus saw a fig tree that was “in leaf” but had no fruit. Fig trees of the kind found in Israel can produce early small figs, sometimes called “early figs” or “breba” fruit, before the main crop. These early figs may appear around the time the leaves come out. So, if you see a tree full of leaves before the main season, you would expect there to be some early fruit.

This became a living parable of the religious leaders and the Temple establishment. They had the appearance of faith but no spiritual fruit. They had the leaves but no figs. So they fell under the curse the same way as illustrated by the fig tree Jesus cursed.

The tree looked fruitful from a distance because it was leafy, so it invited inspection, but it proved barren—making it an apt symbol for outward religiosity without corresponding fruit.

A: In the first story, the man didn’t have any polished religious image. He had no beautiful robes, no fancy theology. Even his faith was frayed, mixed with unbelief. But he was desperate, and he put his trust in Jesus. Jesus showed mercy and healed his son, in spite of his imperfect faith.

In the second story, the priests, scribes, Sadducees and Pharisees had plenty of religious sophistication, but they rejected Jesus, having no true faith and fruit as a result – and so they fell under the curse of the fig tree. This also was repeated many times through history as churches became so caught up in the pomp and pageantry of official sanction but did not have the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, we should trust Jesus even if our faith is imperfect, rather than being caught up in religiosity. This is not to say that you cannot have true faith if you’re in a formal traditional church. You certainly can. And it’s certainly possible to have fake faith for show only in a “contemporary” church. What matters is the heart, sincere trust in Jesus, however imperfect or desperate.

P: Father, thank You for Your grace that overcomes our imperfections. I confess that my faith is often imperfect and have mixed motives. May I always be sincere and following You, even in my shortcomings. I repent of my sins and put my trust in You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Illustration created by ChatGPT.

Desperation - I believe, help my unbelief.

Today, instead of my usual Friday SOAP, my meditation on Mark 9:14-39 became the start of a song. Right now, I only have come up with the lyrics; haven’t figured out the music yet. (I might modify the lyrics when I put it to music later, I dunno yet.)

I was meditating on the passage, when it occurred to me, all the songs I know about “I believe, help my unbelief” are meditative, reflective songs. But in the original situation, the phrase is not a meditative phrase – it was a cry of desperation! The father wasn’t reflecting on faith – he was in despair that his son would ever be healed! The disciples had failed. Could Jesus do it? He didn’t know! That’s why he said what he said to Jesus. 

So I tried to come up with a song that echoed that desperation.

[Image source]

[Verse 1]

Coming down the mountainside,
The Lord beheld the scene;
The scribes and disciples argued there,
A crowd stood in between.

A father stepped before the Lord,
His voice was weak with grief:
“Teacher, I brought my only son,
But they brought no relief.”

[Verse 2]

“Since he was but a little child,
A spirit troubles him;
It casts him into fire and streams,
And leaves his body grim.

I begged Your followers for help,
To set my poor boy free;
They failed to drive the spirit out.”
He said, “Bring him to Me.”

[Chorus]

Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!
My doubt is heavy and my trust is small.
I bring no mighty faith to win relief,
Just a shattered hope, and yet I bring it all.

I am hoping against hope You are the one,
I’m holding to the fraying edge of grief;
I have nothing left to offer for my son,
But “I believe, oh, help my unbelief!”

[Verse 3]

The spirit saw the Saviour near,
And threw him to the ground;
He writhed and foamed before them all,
While crowds stood gathered round.

“How long has he been suffering so?”
The Lord in mercy said.
“Since childhood, Lord, and every year
I’ve lived with fear and dread.”

[Verse 4]

“If You can do a thing for us,
Have mercy, Lord,” he cried.
Jesus answered, “If I can?
Why let your faith now hide?

All things are possible indeed
For those who will believe.”
Then tears broke from the father’s eyes,
This mercy to receive:

[Chorus]

Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!
My doubt is heavy and my trust is small.
I bring no mighty faith to win relief,
Just a shattered hope, and yet I bring it all.

I am hoping against hope You are the one,
I’m holding to the fraying edge of grief;
I have nothing left to offer for my son,
But “I believe, oh, help my unbelief!”

[Bridge]

Not a perfect faith,
Not a fearless heart,
Just a father on his knees.
Lord, I cannot save my son,
So I beg you, Jesus, please.

[Verse 5]

Jesus saw the crowd draw near,
And spoke a stern command:
“You deaf and mute spirit, depart,
And leave at My demand.”

The spirit shrieked and left the boy,
Who lay as one long dead;
But Jesus took him by the hand,
And raised him up instead.

[Chorus 2]

Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!
When shadows fall and future trials arise,
I will remember how You brought relief,
And chased the ancient terror from his eyes.

I will anchor to the victory You have won,
How You rescued us from tragedy and grief;
When You reached Your gentle hand to raise my son,
Lord, I believe! Oh, help my unbelief!

[Outro]

In the valley after glory,
In the struggle after light,
The Saviour meets the trembling soul,
And leads it through the night.

---

Note: I used several discussions with various AIs to help work through the ideas and help me with rephrasing my ideas with rhyme and meter.

Two-stage healing

S: Mark8:22-26

²² They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. ²³ He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spat on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, ‘Do you see anything?’

²⁴ He looked up and said, ‘I see people; they look like trees walking around.’

²⁵ Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. ²⁶ Jesus sent him home, saying, ‘Don’t even go into the village.’

O: Oddly, Jesus’ healing seemed to be not complete the first time round, and he had to heal again. But this actually makes sense, given modern research.

Neurologist Oliver Sacks documented a case of Shirl Jennings, who was medically healed of blindness, but his brain had difficulty processing the visual information. It took him weeks and months to adapt to vision, and actually never managed to achieve completely normal visual processing. [1]

Others also documented other cases of people who had been healed of blindness needing time to relate objects they saw with what they had only experienced before by touch. [2]

So, perhaps Jesus healed the blind man twice because there were two things that needed fixing – first, the hardware: his physical ability to see, and second, the software: his cognitive ability to process what his eyes were seeing.

During my master's research, I worked a little with machine vision. It gave me a new appreciation for the miracle of sight. Even getting a computer to identify simple lines in engineering drawings was remarkably difficult. (This is now largely a solved problem; my research was decades ago.) If recognising lines is hard, how much more remarkable is the human ability to instantly recognise faces, trees, and people? [3]

A: Sometimes God’s work in my life unfolds in stages. I may pray for help, healing, guidance, or change, and the answer may not seem complete at first. Like the blind man, I may see something, but not yet clearly.

This passage reminds me that Jesus is not limited or struggling. He is Lord over both the miracle and the process. If His work seems gradual, there may be reasons I do not yet understand.

The blind man was honest with Jesus. He did not pretend that everything was clear. He simply said what he saw. I need to learn that kind of honesty in prayer too. Instead of pretending, giving up, or becoming quietly disappointed, I can tell Jesus where things still feel unresolved: “Lord, I can see a little, but not clearly yet.”

I also need to keep trusting Him after the first touch. Partial progress is not failure. It may be part of the process by which Jesus teaches me dependence, patience, and deeper faith. My responsibility is to stay with Him, be honest before Him, and trust Him until He brings clearer sight.

P: Father, when Your answer seems delayed, partial, or different from what I expected, help me not to give up or pretend. Teach me to be honest with You, to trust Your process, and to keep looking to Jesus until I see more clearly. In Jesus’ name, amen.

References

1.     Oliver Sacks, An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995), chap. 2, “To See and Not See.” ISBN 0-679-43785-1

2.     Held, R., Ostrovsky, Y., de Gelder, B. et al. The newly sighted fail to match seen with felt. Nat Neurosci 14, 551–553 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2795

3.     Chai, I., Dori, D. (1992). Orthogonal Zig-Zag: An Efficient Method for Extracting Straight Lines from Engineering Drawings. In: Arcelli, C., Cordella, L.P., di Baja, G.S. (eds) Visual Form. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0715-8_14

Note: The ideas are mine, but I did get some help from AIs to copyedit what I wrote.

One woman’s touch

S: Mark 5:24b-34

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realised that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

O: So many people were touching Jesus, bumping into him, jostling, etc. in the crowd as Jesus made his way from the shore to Jairus’s house. Yet one woman’s touch was different. One woman’s touch made Jesus stop in his tracks! One woman’s touch, in faith, brought healing. One woman’s touch.

It’s not that the people crowding around Jesus were not interested in Jesus. They obviously were – otherwise, why would they have come crowding around him? But there was a qualitative difference between their interest in Jesus and that one woman’s. They were interested in Jesus – she put her faith in Jesus.

The crowd pressed against Jesus with curiosity and excitement. She reached for Jesus with desperate faith. Many touched him accidentally; she touched him intentionally. For twelve years she had lived with shame, weakness, loss, and isolation. And yet Jesus didn't simply let the healing happen quietly. Instead, he called her forward so that the one who had been known by her condition would now be known by his compassion.

A: Daily I encounter Jesus. Most days, I pray and read the Bible. But often, it’s just part of my routine. Many days, I touch Jesus… like the people crowding against him as he walked from the shore to Jairus’s house. How often do I touch him like that woman touched him?

P: Psalm 27:4 says “One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life, to see Yahweh’s beauty, and to inquire in his temple.” I admit, Father, that I do not often feel like that. I’m filled with other things I’m seeking than to spend quiet time with you. Father, forgive me. May I learn to be content with you above all else. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Why Did Jesus Speak So That People Wouldn’t Understand?

S: Mark 4:9-12

⁹ Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

¹⁰ When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. ¹¹ He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables ¹² so that,

“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
    and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’^[a]”

O: Jesus quotes Isaiah 6, where Yahweh commissions Isaiah to preach to a hardened Judah. Isaiah’s preaching does not create innocent unbelief, but exposes and confirms rebellion already present. In the larger sweep of Isaiah, Judah’s refusal of God’s word leads toward national devastation, exile, ultimately culminating in the Babylonian captivity.

Jesus applies that same prophetic pattern to His own ministry: He’s announcing the Kingdom of God, but not everyone receives it. This is preceded by the Parable of the Sower – the same gospel seed is sown, but the condition of the heart determines the response. Some reject immediately, some respond shallowly, some are choked by worldly concerns, and some truly hear, accept, persevere, and bear fruit.

Jesus is not saying, “I arbitrarily do not want people forgiven.” He is saying that the mystery of the kingdom is given to those who draw near to Him in faith, humility, and repentance, while those repeating Israel’s old pattern of hardness remain blind even while hearing. The issue is not mere intelligence. The disciples themselves often misunderstand. The issue is the posture of the heart: whether one comes near, asks, listens, repents, and follows.

At the same time, a person’s heart condition is not necessarily static. People can later repent. Even in Isaiah’s larger context, judgment does not destroy God’s mercy; a remnant remains. Therefore, this passage warns us not to presume upon hearing the word, but to receive it with repentance, perseverance, and fruitfulness.

A: Spiritual understanding grows as we stay near Christ. I must not be content merely to hear God’s word outwardly. I must receive it inwardly with repentance, faith, and obedience. I should draw near to Christ in prayer, study of Scripture, and faithful living, trusting that spiritual understanding deepens as I remain close to Him and bear fruit in perseverance.

P: Lord Jesus, I thank You
with my whole life and soul, I do
My heart belongs to You,
I know You love me true

The only sacrifice
I can bring is my soul,
my body and my heart,
You can take me whole.

My riches are like rags
compared to You, my Lord
My works are not enough
the ones I could afford.

So take my heart, O Lord,
I offer it to You
Tell me now my Lord,
what You want me to do
Receive it all my Lord,
this body that was mine
until the end of time.

Amen