October 3, 2021

Breaking Open the Scripture Scripture for October 3rd: Job 1:1;2:1-10, Psalm 26, Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12, Mark 10:2-16 Theme: World Communion Sunday, Song: One Bread, One Body UMH 620 Job: Have you ever had that feeling that the devil is out to get the best of you? Well that is Job’s story. He was trying to live a life of faith, and everything imaginable happen to him. All of his friends told him this was a good time to forget about God, in the way God seems to have forgotten about him. The whole book of Job is about his suffering and his struggle with being faithful in the midst of some dire circumstances. The lectionary tells this story over the next four weeks. This will be the only time that we look at Job’s story. His wife tells him that there is no hope, so he may as well just curse God and die. Job remains faithful and regains everything that he lost and more. I wish all of our lives were like that. Mark: When I was a new Christian learning about the bible, I distinctly remember that it was the book of Matthew that was very scary to me. But as we are going through the lectionary looking at Mark, it seems to have its fair share of terror text. And then there are those scriptures like this one that really mess with our modern sensibilities. Jesus talks about a number of things in this passage. But first and foremost he talks about marriage. Marriage is between a male and a female and that there is no reason for divorce. None of those things are true in the world any more. Yet we have to consider Jesus’ words in our life decisions. I am glad that is not the scripture that I am preaching on. Jesus continues to stress that who we are as disciples is determined by how we treat the little children. Questions: When was a time when bad luck turned into good luck for you? Who encourages you when you have no hope? What are you beliefs about marriage and Christianity? How are we letting the little children come to Jesus?