THIS WEEK’S SCRIPTURES: Exodus 20:1-17 | Psalm 19:7 | 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 | John 2:13-22
Exodus 20:1 Then God said all these words:
א 2 “I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the abode of slavery.
ב 3 “You are to have no other gods before me. 4 You are not to make for yourselves a carved image or any kind of representation of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath or in the water below the shoreline. 5 You are not to bow down to them or serve them; for I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but displaying grace to the thousandth generation of those who love me and obey my mitzvot.
ג 7 “You are not to use lightly the name of Adonai your God, because Adonai will not leave unpunished someone who uses his name lightly.
ד 8 “Remember the day, Shabbat, to set it apart for God. 9 You have six days to labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Shabbat for Adonai your God. On it, you are not to do any kind of work — not you, your son or your daughter, not your male or female slave, not your livestock, and not the foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property. 11 For in six days, Adonai made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. This is why Adonai blessed the day, Shabbat, and separated it for himself.
ה 12 “Honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land which Adonai your God is giving you.
ו 13 “Do not murder.
ז (14) “Do not commit adultery.
ח (15) “Do not steal.
ט (16) “Do not give false evidence against your neighbor.
י 14 (17) “Do not covet your neighbor’s house; do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
(A: vii) 15 (18) All the people experienced the thunder, the lightning, the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled. Standing at a distance, 16 (19) they said to Moshe, “You, speak with us; and we will listen. But don’t let God speak with us, or we will die.” 17 (20) Moshe answered the people, “Don’t be afraid, because God has come only to test you and make you fear him, so that you won’t commit sins.”
Psalm 19:7 (6) It rises at one side of the sky,
circles around to the other side,
and nothing escapes its heat.
Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message about the execution-stake is nonsense to those in the process of being destroyed, but to us in the process of being saved it is the power of God. 19 Indeed, the Tanakh says,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and frustrate the intelligence of the intelligent.”[a]
20 Where does that leave the philosopher, the Torah-teacher, or any of today’s thinkers? Hasn’t God made this world’s wisdom look pretty foolish? 21 For God’s wisdom ordained that the world, using its own wisdom, would not come to know him. Therefore God decided to use the “nonsense” of what we proclaim as his means of saving those who come to trust in it. 22 Precisely because Jews ask for signs and Greeks try to find wisdom, 23 we go on proclaiming a Messiah executed on a stake as a criminal! To Jews this is an obstacle, and to Greeks it is nonsense; 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, this same Messiah is God’s power and God’s wisdom! 25 For God’s “nonsense” is wiser than humanity’s “wisdom.”
And God’s “weakness” is stronger than humanity’s “strength.”[Footnotes:
1 Corinthians 1:19 Isaiah 29:14]
John 2:13 It was almost time for the festival of Pesach in Y’hudah, so Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim. 14 In the Temple grounds he found those who were selling cattle, sheep and pigeons, and others who were sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 He made a whip from cords and drove them all out of the Temple grounds, the sheep and cattle as well. He knocked over the money-changers’ tables, scattering their coins; 16 and to the pigeon-sellers he said, “Get these things out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market?” 17 (His talmidim later recalled that the Tanakh says, “Zeal for your house will devour me.” )[a] 18 So the Judeans confronted him by asking him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove you have the right to do all this?” 19 Yeshua answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.” 20 The Judeans said, “It took 46 years to build this Temple, and you’re going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the “temple” he had spoken of was his body. 22 Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his talmidim remembered that he had said this, and they trusted in the Tanakh and in what Yeshua had said.[Footnotes:
John 2:17 Psalm 69:10(9)][Complete Jewish bible]
DEVOTIONAL:
Goshen College’s Study-Service Term (SST) can be a simultaneously difficult and eye-opening experience. On SST, students spend three months in a developing country, where they live with host families, study language and history, and serve those in their host nation. During the 6-week service portion of my SST experience in Peru last summer, I found myself in the Andean city of Tarma, teaching math and English to sixth grade students. It was an assignment that often required all of my patience, but it was also perhaps the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.
I believe ‘wisdom’ is a fitting word to describe what I gained on my SST. This wisdom, however, was unlike anything I had learned in a classroom. It was a far cry from the physics formulas and programming syntax that usually fill my textbooks, and it was the kind of knowledge that required more than just my brain. The wisdom I found on SST was a wisdom gained through new experiences and unfamiliar situations. It was the result of careful observations and countless mistakes. It was wisdom bundled with love, patience and compassion.
This week’s theme is “Making wise the simple.” The Scripture verses this week show us a variety of ways that God reveals wisdom. This wisdom can come in the form of rules for our relationship with God or for our relationships with others. We are reminded that God’s wisdom is trustworthy and refreshing, even though it may be radically different from the wisdom that we encounter in the world around us. Like what I experienced on SST, it is wisdom that is intertwined with love and compassion. My simple notions of what it would be like to live in another country were transformed by the wisdom my experiences offered. As we approach Easter, this week’s Scripture prepares us to be transformed by the refreshing wisdom of God.
The post Making wise the simple appeared first on Devotions.
Goshen College’s Study-Service Term (SST) can be a simultaneously difficult and eye-opening experience. On SST, students spend three months in a developing country, where they live with host families, study language and history, and serve those in their host nation. During the 6-week service portion of my SST experience in Peru last summer, I found myself in the Andean city of Tarma, teaching math and English to sixth grade students. It was an assignment that often required all of my patience, but it was also perhaps the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.
I believe ‘wisdom’ is a fitting word to describe what I gained on my SST. This wisdom, however, was unlike anything I had learned in a classroom. It was a far cry from the physics formulas and programming syntax that usually fill my textbooks, and it was the kind of knowledge that required more than just my brain. The wisdom I found on SST was a wisdom gained through new experiences and unfamiliar situations. It was the result of careful observations and countless mistakes. It was wisdom bundled with love, patience and compassion.
This week’s theme is “Making wise the simple.” The Scripture verses this week show us a variety of ways that God reveals wisdom. This wisdom can come in the form of rules for our relationship with God or for our relationships with others. We are reminded that God’s wisdom is trustworthy and refreshing, even though it may be radically different from the wisdom that we encounter in the world around us. Like what I experienced on SST, it is wisdom that is intertwined with love and compassion. My simple notions of what it would be like to live in another country were transformed by the wisdom my experiences offered. As we approach Easter, this week’s Scripture prepares us to be transformed by the refreshing wisdom of God.
The post Making wise the simple appeared first on Devotions.
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