Anna

Women don't often get to make an appearance in the Bible. I can think of a few who are pretty famous- Ruth, Esther, Mary, Mary Magdalene, and a few others, but not many. So when I come across a woman I haven't heard of, my ear (eyes?) perk up. Today, I came across Anna. She's only given about three verses in Luke, but it's enough to get a small glimpse into who she is. She's a 84 year-old prophet (I didn't know women could be prophets). Sadly, her husband died after only seven years of marriage, so she decided to live as a widow and never leave the temple. Her devotion to God is poignantly clear in these few verses. She;s spent almost her entire life, day and night, fasting and praying. While Simeon is talking with Mary and Joseph about their son, Jesus, Mary comes up and starts praising God and talking about Jesus to all the people who had been waiting for God to rescue Jerusalem. That's all it says about her. She doesn't do anything fantastic, and her presence doesn't really even move the story along, but she got to make an appearance in the Gospels! I don't know that I have anything profound to say about her, I just wanted to write a little something because she stood out to me while I was reading. I ilke to see women in the Bible.

So God Doesn't Change His Mind?

In Numbers, King Balak of Moab begs Balaam, a man known for his curses on people, to come curse the Israelites because he is afraid of them entering his land. Balaam, being faithful to the Lord, tells Balak that he can only say what the Lord allows him to say. So when Balaam blesses Israel instead of cursing them, Balak is outraged; he tells Balaam to take the blessing back. This is Balaam's response: 

   "He is not human, so he does not change his mind. 

Has he ever promised and not carried it through?" 23:19

While the Bible may have had a different story if God had cursed Israel here, but I don't know if what Balaam is saying is true. How many times did God promise to wipe out the Israelites because of either their idol worship or their constant complaining but Moses (sometimes with the help of Aaron) change God's mind? Over and over throughout Exodus and Numbers. If Moses wrote these books, how can there be such a discrepancy in God's character? Call me anal, but I like consistency. Inconsistencies make me question the whole thing, which is it- this or that? I'm not ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet, but come on, help me out here, Moses.

Here's what I wrote a few weeks ago on the same thing: Does God Change His Mind?

Rest

"Oh, that I had wings like a dove;

    then I would fly away and rest!

I would fly far away

    to the quiet of the wilderness."     Psalm 55:6-7

I'm not surrounded by enemies or caught up in a "while storm of hatred" or even close. I'm not really even overly exhausted, but I do look forward to summer, my chance to "fly away and rest" in the "quiet of the wilderness."

Signs of a Believer

My students used to always tell me crazy things, and when I believed them, they'd say, "Man, such a believer!" That's not the same kind of believe we're talking about here, though...

"These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won't hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed." Mark 16:17-18

Well, geez, if these are the signs, maybe I don't believe, maybe I've never believed. According to Mark, these are Jesus' words. Jesus says if we believe we'll be drinking poison unharmed, handling snakes, casting out demons, and healing the sick. When I've heard about big gatherings where this is done, it generally makes me pretty uncomfortable. I've tended to think those sorts of gathers were for strange fanatics. I don't know if my mind has changed about that, but if Jesus really said these are the signs of a believer, well, maybe I need a bit of a paradigm shift. 

Sharing Burdens

Numbers 11:17 God tells Moses that he will take the Spirit that is on him and spread it out to other elders so the burden of leading Israel to the promised land (which takes 40 long years of wandering) can be shared. Interesting notion. Later in verse 25, when the Spirit rests upon the other seventy elders, they prophesy, something, it is written, that will never happen again. Strange thing is, it doesn't say what they prophesied. Why does it matter that they prophesied if we don't know what they said? What am I missing? 

Excuse the analogy here, but I've no choice but to make it. I'm reminded of Harry Potter. Harry bears a great burden, to rid the world of Voldermort, the dark and powerful antagonist of the series. Throughout the pages of seven books he carries this burden. It is prophesied that he is the only one who can and will get rid of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Name. The connection I see here is the weight of the burden, granted I realize the disparity of the two.  Harry understands he must accomplish this task even if it costs him his life, and seems willing to do it. When Hermoine and Ron (and countless others) offer Harry their help and their advice, he refuses it on several occasions, feeling that this burden is his alone. Unlike Harry, Moses begs God to relieve him of his task, he'd rather die than continue to carry the weight of whining Israel. This is when God tells Moses to gather the elders and shares the Spirit of the burden with the group. We're not meant to struggle through things alone. That's why we have people around us. That, in my opinion, is what community is all about, sharing and caring for one another's burdens. God later calls Moses the most humble man on Earth. In contrast, Harry, in an attempt to "go it alone," fails and is only successful when his friends surround and support him.

Offerings

So many offerings were brought to the Tabernacle! Burnt offerings, sin offerings, peace offerings. Silver platters, gold bowls, incense, choice flour, olive oil, rams, goats, lambs. What did they do with all of these things? Did someone get to eat them?

Reading this reminds me of the tribute that the cities conquered by the Aztec empire had to pay. Each city was responsible for bringing cloth, firewood, food, feathers, and beads. I also suppose it's not unlike the tax we pay now. Since they didn't have a monetary system (right?) back then, this was perhaps they're version of that.

I realize that what the conquered cities paid in tribute and what we pay in taxes is given to governments and leaders, but I'd say the same is true of Israel's offerings: since they were a theocracy, they presented their offering to their leader- God.

The Greatest Commandment

When one of the teacher of religious law asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, he replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:30-31). This is the God I worship. Again, so starkly different from what I read in the Old Testament. Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbor; that is what is most important. He doesn't qualify who our neighbor is. I assume he's exactly that, our neighbor, the person on the street whom we may not know, or maybe only know by acquaintance. I'd say it's selfless, but it's more than that, because we're to love them as ourselves, so it's not exactly selfless. It puts us all on the same level, all deserving of the same treatment, care, and love. That's how I want to love people.

As for the first half of those verses- the part about loving God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength- that's a big charge. What does that look like? Mother Theresa? The pios hermit hidden in the mountains? To love God with all our heart... my heart so often feels divided between many different loves, how can those loves be reconciled with a heart completely devoted to God? To love God with all my soul... how is this different from the heart? To love God with all my mind... how, when I don't even understand who God is? To love God with all my strength... in order to love God with all those other things, I think it'll take all my strength. Maybe this is just a rhetorical device used by Jesus- the message is clear: we are to love God with everything in our being.

God of the Living

I'm not sure if anyone is reading these posts, and that's okay. It's helpful to write things out, and it forces me to read and be thoughtful. I do hope, though, that if you're reading and you've got thoughts, PLEASE share them!

I came across a pretty familiar passage in Mark today that made me think. The story is the one where the Sadducees are asking Jesus about the woman whose husband dies before they have children, so his brother marries her, then he dies and the next brother marries her and so on until she's married all seven brothers. They ask him whose wife will she be in the resurrection.

At the end of his answer (which is the part that made me think), Jesus says "Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses, 'I am the God of Abraham, The God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' So he is the God of the living, not the dead." (Mark 12:26-27)

So my question is- what does this mean? Those three guys rose from the dead already? Like we die and are resurrected soon after? Are they up in heaven, hanging out with the Most Holy? That what this seems to be saying, they are no longer dead because God is only the God of the Living.

Interesting to say the least...

Send out your light and your truth;
let them guide me.

Psalm 43:3