September 23, 2018

Breaking Open the Scripture Scriptures for September 23rd: Proverbs 31:10-31; Psalm 1; James 3:13-4:3, 7-8; Mark 9:30-37: Let the children come! Mark: For most of Mark, the disciples are thoroughly confused about what Jesus is trying to tell them. It does not become clear to them until Jesus has been resurrected. The rest of the time, they are trying to figure it out. In this verse, Jesus has just healed a blind man and made him see. It doesn’t make any sense to the disciples. But when Jesus asks them what they are talking about, no one wants to say for real. They are silent, so Jesus heals their misunderstanding by explaining what the kingdom of heaven is like. Heaven is a place where the children come freely. So the church should also be a place there the children come freely. When we welcome the children, we welcome the face of God into our lives. Jesus welcomes us into the kingdom even when we don’t understand what is going on. We should be able to do the same. James: James continues his discussion on what it means to have common sense. And how do we apply common sense to the life of a Christian? We use wisdom, the wisdom that has been around since the beginning of time. Treat people the way you want to be treated. James says that there are actually two types of wisdom. There is the wisdom from God and the wisdom from earth. Wisdom from earth is always self serving. It causes conflict, because then we start to compete with one another. We want what we want and we don’t care who we hurt in the process. But James reminds us that we cannot control our cravings, but God can. If we draw near to God, then we will learn to live in harmony, because we are using God’s wisdom and not our own. Questions: What does it mean to let the children come? What can we as a congregation learn from our children? How do you control your cravings and desires? How do you come near to God? What is the source of wisdom?