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

 Our Old Testament reading, Leviticus 25:47 - 27:34, wraps up to book of Leviticus.

We start with one last rule about redeeming a person sold into slavery. In this passage we get a reference to the Jubilee cycle that we read about earlier. The Jubilee cycle gives an interesting window into God's perspective on ownership. In both the case of property and servants, people only owned them until the Jubilee, and when the cost was calculated, it was based not on the value of the item itself, but on the value of its productivity until the next Jubilee. So, land could be purchased or sold based on the expected value of its harvests for the remaining years until the Jubilee. In the same way, servants or slaves had their purchase price or redemption value set at the rate of the wages of a similar workman for the remaining years until the Jubilee. As the Jubilee approached, the cost of the land or servant went down, until in the year of Jubilee it was redeemed. Land returned to its original owner and slaves were set free. This is a very alien idea to us. It is the foundation of a completely different economic system. Value and wealth was build from productivity and work, rather than from passively owning property or people. Stewardship was emphasized. All this belongs to God. You only own it for a season.

Chapter 26 presents in clear language the terms of the covenant God had established with His people. If they were obedient to Him, He would abundantly bless them. If they were disobedient, there would be painful consequences. Thirty six verses lay out in graphic detail the horrible things that will happen to those people who consistently reject God and live out of alignment with His will. It's scary and dark stuff. But in verse 40 there is the promise: "But if they confess their sins..." All it takes for God to turn discipline into blessing is a humble heart willing to confess its sin and turn from it.

The final chapter of Leviticus gets into the exact formulas for determining the value of something that has been dedicated to the Lord, and what it takes to redeem it. Read through it quick, and then, surprise! You'll find yourself finished with Leviticus!

In Our New Testament reading today we see three scenes along the final trip to Jerusalem. (Mark 10:32-52) The disciples couldn't get their heads around what Jesus was saying about what awaited Him in Jerusalem. They couldn't believe that He would die; but if He was so certain that this would happen, why on earth were they still going? They were seeing as we so often do, attentive only to the short term, unaware of the long-term big-picture vision God was working toward.

Along the way James and John, sensing that big things were afoot, angled their way to get good positions in Jesus' new government. Hadn't they heard what He had just gotten done saying? Jesus challenged them, asking if they were willing to go through what He would go through. Of course, they thought they were ready. But Jesus told them that this blessing was not His to give. When the other disciples heard about this they were jealous and angry with the two brothers, and that gave Jesus an opportunity to teach them once more about what leadership looks like in His new kingdom.

We get to see one final healing on the way into Jerusalem. It's an ironic healing. Jesus restores the sight of a blind man, while at the same time his disciples (and even the other Jewish people and leaders) are blind to what is really going on, to who Jesus really is.

Psalms 45, our Psalms reading for today (Psalms 45:1-17) is an interesting passage. It's totally different from anything we've read do far. Scholars actually think this one was a song written to be performed at a king's (possibly David's) wedding feast. Much of the Psalm is praise for the man getting married and the beauty of his bride. Throughout we get some brief pictures of the character of God - His blessings, His righteousness and justice, His love for righteousness and hatred of wickedness.

The Proverbs reading today is Proverbs 10:22. It's a short and simple statement: "The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and He adds no trouble to it." But this simple verse can be troublesome. On the face of it, the meaning is that those that God blesses get wealthy. And it's certainly true that in the time of the Old Testament, it was a clear belief that material wealth was a visible manifestation of God's blessing on someone who is righteous. And yet other passages refer to the possibility of evil people being wealthy, and righteous people having to struggle. And then in the New Testament the perspective seems to change. In the New Testament wealth is seen more often as a hindrance to spiritual growth rather than a fruit of it.

What are we to do with passages like these? The first thing is that we recognize that when we do have material prosperity, that it is something God is allowing us, and thus is His blessing. It comes with great responsibility and many risks, and the way we can allow it to be a blessing to us is to live with it in an open-handed way, acknowledging God, and using it in a humble way to pursue His purposes in our lives. We do this, and it will be a blessing to us, and it will bring us no trouble.

2007 Cohort Comments