Dave Dishman

Guidance from Overlooked Men and Women of the Bible

Category: Bible (Page 375 of 419)

The Women Walking Beside Jesus

March 22, 2021 / / 0 Comments

The crew following Jesus numbered more than his his twelve disciples. It also included several women, who Luke identified as cured of evil spirits and diseases (a physician, Luke took special notice of such details).

Mary Magdalene walked with Jesus, along with Joanna, Susanna, and many others. These women brought influence – Joanna’s husband managed King Herod’s household – and money. The women helped support the missionary group out of their own pocketbooks.

From the very beginning, dedicated women developed and spread the Christian faith. Thank you to Luke for reminding me of a few of their names, which I can now match with their tremendous legacy.

Luke 8:1-3 in week twelve of reading the Bible cover to cover

Hear, O Israel – and the Rest of Us

March 21, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Deuteronomy 6:4&5

The importance of these words? Jesus repeats them (see Matthew 22:27-40), along with Love your neighbor as yourself, and emphasizes the truth that all the commandments of scripture hang from these.

Loving God and loving others.

So simple. So terribly difficult.

So worth pursuing, because I and you and everyone else around the world need it so much.

Week twelve of reading the Bible cover to cover

I Wish Jesus Hadn’t Said This

March 20, 2021 / / 2 Comments

Turn the other cheek.

If that’s not enough, the soliloquy in Luke 6 forges on to lash the reader with torrents of anti-comfortable messages:

Woe to you who are rich (I’m rich in comparison to the rest of the world); Woe to you who are well fed now (that’s me); Lend to your enemies without expecting to get anything back (you know you won’t); Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful, coupled with this unbelievable news – Because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

Are any teachings of Jesus harder to swallow, let along practice?

No way these divine attributes naturally bubble up within me. I need help.

As I ponder, I realize that I’m one most in need of the Lord’s mercy. Possibly, with his mercy, I might find the strength to turn my cheek and respond mercifully toward others.

Week eleven of reading the Bible cover to cover

Photo by John-Mark Smith on Unsplash

Do I Prefer My Idea of Jesus, Or Will I Consider the Actual Words of Jesus?

March 19, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Mostly I prefer my idea of Jesus, one nicely fitting my little world. Unfortunately, I sometimes read the actual words of Jesus.

Luke 6 brings a pause as I consider my relationship to this enigmatic teacher. To first show he possessed the right to challenge everything, Jesus healed a man’s withered hand on the Sabbath.

The Sabbath rules stipulated that no work could be done on that day. The Pharisees considered healing to be work, so they watched Jesus to catch him in the act. Jesus healed anyway, reminding them that it’s lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

But I don’t think healing was work at all for Jesus. Healing someone for Jesus was as easy as me telling my friend, “Grab us a couple Cokes from the fridge and come watch March Madness.” I did no work, I just directed my friend to get something we both wanted.

Healing was that easy, because Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. He created the day, thought up the idea, laid out the laws to Moses. Jesus holds the world together. How does the manipulation of bones and flesh by his spoken word constitute work?

As I read the gospels I gain glimmers. Jesus lives as so much more than an idea, or a cultural icon, or an ancient teacher to quote when making a point. Jesus is Lord, and I must consider that fact deeply.

Week eleven of reading the Bible cover to cover

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