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Gen. 40
I watched a short video recently that pointed out something about this part of Joseph’s story that I had never noticed before. The video noted that the two men whose dreams Joseph interpreted were a baker and a cup bearer – the bread and the wine. Joseph’s life is very prophetic of Jesus, the Messiah. This detail is part of that, as Jesus referred to the bread and the wine as His body and His blood. Interestingly, the baker, representing Jesus human body, was hanged while the cup bearer, representing Jesus’ righteous blood, was forgiven. This is all representative of what God said in His law. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.” (Lev. 17:11).
Mark 10
I caught yet another little detail that I always tend to overlook in this reading this morning. Actually, I should say two details. I am well aware of Jesus’ promise that whoever and whatever we leave behind or lose due to following Him, He gives back to us in abundance. The two details I tend to breeze over in His statement, at least as recorded here in Mark, are that His abundant repayment begins in this present age and that it is accompanied by persecutions.
I guess I have always thought of this promise as confirmation that our eternal reward will far outweigh any sacrifice we make here on earth. And Jesus does note that aspect of it. But I see that His promise is also for this earthly life. It seems to me to be a reference both to the abundant blessings we receive in being part of God’s family as well as the truth that God more than satisfies all our needs. At the same time, however, Jesus makes it clear that this does not promise an easy, trouble free life. Blessing and struggle are not independent of one another. In fact the one often comes through the other. So as long as we continue to willingly sacrifice and endure for Christ’s sake, He will continue to abundantly provide all that we need for now while securely holding our eternal reward.
Job 6
I think I see these back-and-forth arguments in Job differently each time I read them. Maybe someday I’ll actually understand what is being said. Right now I see that Job made no claims in his initial lament. He was merely expressing his destress, for indeed it was great. Eliphaz’s reaction to his lament, however, was rather critical. Though I don’t fully understand Eliphaz’s message, his possible criticisms were of Job’s patience, his trust in God, and his failure to confess wrong-doing. In Job’s response to Eliphaz, then, I see a couple of things.
First, I see Job stating the justification of his misery. His life was worse than tasteless food and he was not wrong in detesting it. I then see him returning criticism to Eliphaz for his response. Interestingly, I don’t see that he ever claimed Eliphaz’s arguments to be wrong. He did, however, call them out as both painful and useless. Eliphaz did not say anything Job didn’t already know, and his words proved nothing. Job had lost everything except the one thing he justifiably no longer wished to have. He did not need a lecture. I think I would do well to remember what Job said, he needed in his distress. “For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend; so that he does not forsake the fear of the Almighty.” (Job. 6:14).