Daily Reading Passages

Click below for access to the passages. Biblegateway.com is an excellent site with many versions of the Bible. The link below opens in NIV.  Youversion.com is a new site that allows you to annotate your own Bible, make notes, and comments once you create an account. That link opens in the TNIV version. Other versions are available at both sites.

Coaching Comments

The Old Testament reading for today, Genesis 46:1-47:31, continues with the story of Joseph, one of the most in-depth personal narratives in the whole Bible. Finally his father's family arrived from Canaan and they were reunited. Jacob and his family are given property in Goshen, and all seems well. The famine gets worse, but Joseph's hard work pays off. In fact, it actually served to enrich Pharaoh quite a bit. But even with these circumstances, Jacob has in his mind the promise God made to him, his father and grandfather, and so he makes Joseph swear that he will return and bury Jacob in Canaan when the time comes.

The New Testament reading, Matthew 15:1-28, shows Jesus in conflict with the Pharisees again. They approach him asking why his disciples don't live up to some of the acceptable standards of the day. Jesus responds in kind, asking them why they go out of their way to disregard God's will in how they live. This is a classic passage about the problem of living up to trivial religious standards all the while ignoring the real principles at the core of Christianity.

At this point in Judaism the distinctions of clean and unclean were very important. "Clean" meant acceptable and appropriate religious behavior. "Unclean" meant behavior outside those boundaries, which consequently made you unworthy to approach God. But in His teaching, Jesus points out that the real source of whether something is clean or unclean is not in the exterior standard, but in the motives of the heart.

As if to illustrate this point, Matthew shows us an interaction between Jesus and a non-Jewish woman, who most certainly would have been considered unclean and unworthy of Jesus' attention. She asks Jesus to deliver her daughter from demon-possession. Jesus challenges her, asking why she thinks she deserves this. She's not a Jew. She's not righteous. This is exactly what good Jews (the Pharisees and even Jesus' disciples, at this point) would expect Jesus to do. But, after the interchange Jesus goes ahead and heals the daughter. He makes the point that she is "unclean" in the eyes of the Jews. He points out that the Messiah's first mission was to Israel. And then He fulfills her request anyway, essentially undermining the whole clean/unclean distinction.

The Psalms reading for today is Psalms 19:1-14. This Psalm is certainly in the "top ten" list of powerful and famous Psalms. If you've been around the church for any length of time, you're sure to recognize nearly every line. Lots of great hymns and worships songs have been made from these lines.

The Psalm celebrates two things that God has made -- the physical creation, and the laws that He has set out. They are both perfect, and they both reveal the character of God. The Psalm ends with a prayer asking God to keep the speaker from willful sin, and that his words and thoughts would be acceptable to God. It's inspiring stuff. This is another passage that would be great to memorize.

The reading from Proverbs, (Proverbs 4:14-19), compares the path of sin and the path of righteousness, with warnings to avoid the first, and seek out the second. This is all leading up to tomorrow's proverb, which is one of the best statements of how to live our lives found anywhere.

2007 Cohort Comments