Sunday, September 6, 2009

September 13, 2009

Breaking Open the Scriptures
Scriptures for September 13th: Proverbs 1:20-33, Psalm 19, James 3:1-12, Mark 8:27-38

Proverbs: There are some people who have a problem with wisdom being depicted as a woman. Wisdom says that she has been around since the beginning of time. She was a playmate of logos – Jesus as the word of God. Wisdom is those things that we learn from experience in life. Things that you can’t be told, you have to learn for yourselves. Wisdom is the foundation of faith. This verse reminds us that wisdom is present everywhere, even in the streets, we just have to be astute enough to recognize it when we see it. If we do recognize it, we also recognize the presence of God everywhere we go.
Mark: Jesus has gathered the disciples together, and now he has completed his public teaching and it is time for him to journey to Jerusalem. But not without one final lesson. Who is the Christ, and why has he been doing these things? There are many rumors about Jesus and what he does. But is takes a true disciple to see his identity closely. Up until now, Jesus had told everyone to tell no one who has healed them. Now it is time for his true identity to be revealed. When Jesus says that he must suffer, it is too much for the disciples. Why would their hero suffer? Why would the chose as a hero someone who must die? Because it says so in Isaiah about the suffering servant. And Jesus must fulfill the scriptures in order to transform their meaning.
Questions: If you had to give wisdom a face, what would it look like? Do you see the presence of God in your day? What makes you recognize God’s presence? What do you think of having a suffering messiah? Does that make him more or less human? Who is Jesus Christ to you?

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