365 Reflections

Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. The reason is simple: His ministry seemed to have no impact on the generation in which he ministered. Imagine preaching for 23 years and seeing no one respond.  Jeremiah 25:1–3 (ESV) The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 3 “For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened. Jeremiah has preached "again and again" the same word to the same people and they haven't budged. There are few clearer presentations of human hard-heartedness in the Bible. And to think the name Jeremiah is heralded now. His ministry is honored. His contrib...

The story is told that on one occasion, Karl Barth was asked why he believed in God, and he responded, "Because of Jews."  When his questioner, surprised, asked, "Why because of Jews?" Barth is said to have responded, "Find me a Hittite in New York City." David Kidner writes about Psalm 129: "Whereas most nations tend to look back on what they have achieved, Israel reflects here on what she has survived." No matter who has pursued them, killed them, exiled them, hated them or hunted them, the Jewish people are still around today... And they have their land back. What can account for this? What except the Sovereign hand of God who promised to make them a long-lasting nation of blessing. Psalm 129:1-2 (ESV)  “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”— let Israel now say— “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me." What other people from the ancient world... Perrizites or Philis...

Mark 4:35 (ESV)  On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side (of the sea).” Mark 5:1 (ESV) They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. Mark 5:21 (ESV) And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. There is something I learned recently.  The Sea of Galilee makes its first appearance in the New Testament.  Before Jesus, there is not one singe mention of this body of water.  Yet in the Synoptic Gospels, its mention is constant and central to the geographical movement of Christ with His disciples. Why? In the 1st Century, Israelites avoided traveling by sea.  You didn't do it unless you absolutely had to.  Israel was a nomadic land-loving people.  They were defined by the "Promised Land" of ages past.  They still felt a sense of belonging to the land.  Yes, four disciples w...