Ep.408: Old Time Religion.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In the Old Testament, Moses climbed Mt. Sinai to meet God and receive the Ten Commandments. Afterward, he built God’s tent, the tabernacle, which God filled with glory. 

In Mark 9 Jesus also climbed a mountain. God shone his glory, and Moses and Elijah came to speak with Jesus. Once again, God spoke.

But not before Peter offered his bit of wisdom. “Why don’t we build three tabernacles?  One each for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah” (Mark 9:5). 

Is Peter’s suggestion weird, or what? It’s so weird that the gospel writer apologizes on Peter’s behalf. “He didn’t know what to say, they were so frightened,” says Mark (Mark 9:6). 

For me, it’s usually better to stay silent when I’m out of my depth. But it wasn’t Peter who taught me that lesson.  

After Peter’s suggestion, God intervened saying, “This is my  son whom I love. Listen to him” (Mark 9:7). 

My comments. 

Peter partly understood what was happening. On a mountain, God gave Moses the law and blueprints for a tabernacle. On a mountain, God spoke to Elijah in a still small voice. And now, on a mountain, Jesus, Elijah, and Moses were together. Clearly, Peter was witnessing an important historical event. 

In Peter’s mind, God’s glory, the three famous men, and the history of mountain top experiences converged and stirred his imagination. His mindset: “We could start a movement here. Let’s make the tabernacle great again. Let’s make the old-time religion of Elijah great again. This time it’ll be even better because Jesus is here!”  

Peter was badly confused. Jesus’ mission was not to make Moses and Elijah great again. Jesus had a different mission, that Peter was struggling to grasp. 

Fortunately, God spoke into Peter’s confusion. He pointed to Jesus: “This is the son I love. Listen to him.” The time for Moses’ ministry and Elijah’s ministry was past. It was time to hear what Jesus had to say. 

Let’s pray. 

O father, we hear many voices in scripture. Commandments from Moses the lawgiver. Miracles and judgment from Elijah the prophet. Peter’s impulsive voice, Let’s start a Three Tents movement. 

Help us listen to Jesus, the son you love. Peter identified Jesus as your anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ. This we need. Not the law, not the prophets, but your son, setting things right for us.

Give us ears to hear his voice, discernment to understand his message, faithfulness to follow his call. Help us not to live in the past, trying to restore the religion of our fathers. Help us to face the future where Jesus is leading us. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.407: Who is the Real You?

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Today we ask, who knows the real you? Your family? Colleagues? Friends? Do you know who you are? 

My father was sometimes depressed, sometimes angry, often generous and friendly, and when impressed by God’s goodness, moved to tears. 

It was his anger that stood out to me when I was young, and I believed that was the most real part of him. But as I grew wiser, I recognized him as a complex person. Angry and tender, depressed and cheerful, unreasonable and rational; it was all part of the real him. 

Here’s what Jesus says about identity. “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” (Mark 8:35, cf. Mat 16:25). 

Consider Jesus’ prescription for finding the real you.

He warns if you try to save your life, you will lose it. 

What is this life you might try to save? It’s the person you are: your likes and dislikes, your deep longings and strong desires, how you relate to yourself and others. Your secret thoughts and your public persona. 

Jesus says the self you live with is not permanent. If you try to save it, you lose it. He doesn’t trade in self-help books that look for the authentic you deep inside. Jesus says self-help and self-preservation, trying to save your life, is the road to ruin. 

     It’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself.
      Your self will not satisfy you for long (Luke 6:25, The Message Bible).

Instead, Jesus says you find your true self by looking away from yourself. Self-analysis. Introspection. Dissection. None of them reveal the real you. 

Look at me. I spent years trying to understand the deep longings of my heart, correcting wrong assumptions in the way I think, discerning and dissecting my roots in western civilization and in western barbarity, studying and pondering how Christian teaching and Christian legalism formed the person I am. 

I did gain a measure of self-knowledge. But I remained a mystery to me. Not that way was the road to finding myself.  

Jesus invites us on a different journey of discovery. He suggests we not cling to ourselves. Rather, open yourself to his influence, let him sort through your life and your personality. Some parts you lose as he burns away sin. Some parts grow stronger as he exercises you in his goodness. All parts become clearer as he shines his light on you. 

Under Jesus’ care, you become your true self. True to him and true to you. In him you find your life. Not the life and the self you have loved and clung to and defended for many years. But a new life, a life with priorities shifted and perspectives changed and emotions reordered.  

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we read books on how to find our true self, but they leave us confused.  

Today as we listen to Jesus, may he be a mirror to show us who we really are. A refiner, who burns away the falseness in what we think. A sculptor who chisels and shapes our character. A mentor who teaches us how to live.

O Father, walk with us as Jesus sorts us out. Help us lose what he asks us to lose. Help us gain what he wants us to gain. Help us become what he wants us to become. Help us find our true selves in him. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep406: Who is the Devil Here?

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In Mark 8, Peter made his great confession, saying to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the anointed one!” Jesus responded by telling the disciples he will be rejected and crucified. 

This offended Peter. He thought Jesus was on a trajectory to success, not crucifixion. So he took Jesus aside and said, “No way. God’s anointed one doesn’t get crucified. He becomes king.”

Jesus replied, “Get behind me, Satan! You have no clue what God is doing. You’re speaking from a human perspective” (Mark 8:33). 

Ouch. Whiplash. One moment Peter speaks the revelation of God about who Jesus is, the next moment he’s giving Jesus advice from hell. This is almost as chaotic as American politics.

I present three comments about this story. 

1. The word on the street was that Jesus is Elijah or John the Baptist or a prophet. Until this point in Mark’s gospel, only God and the demons understand who Jesus really is. But finally, finally, a former fisherman clues in and says, “You are the anointed one. You are God’s man at the centre of history.” But two minutes later, Jesus is saying to that man, “Get behind me, Satan.” Did Peter understand or didn’t he? 

2. Peter’s confession comes right after the story of the blind man Jesus healed in stages. He touched the man’s eyes, and the man saw people like trees walking. Then Jesus touched him again, he had 20-20 vision. 

Similarly, when Peter declared Jesus to be the anointed one, he was seeing, but not clearly. He was correct that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, but he sure didn’t comprehend what that meant.

3. This is an interesting glimpse into Peter’s spiritual development. And into mine. 

It’s helpful to get a flash of revelation about who Jesus is, but understanding how this plays out isn’t as easy. One day I see Jesus as the world’s savior, the next day he seems absent from the mess of wars and weather and chaos on earth. Where is God’s anointed one today? What is he doing? 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, you have touched our eyes and we see people like trees walking. We see Jesus on the cross and in the tomb and out of the tomb. But current events don’t seem to change under his kingship. Every day we see social chaos, corrupt kings, and natural and man-made disasters. 

Where is the Jesus who saves from sin and promises heaven? What does it mean for us to be disciples of the anointed one and to enter his kingdom? 

Touch our eyes. Help us lose our expectations for the kind of savior we want. Help us participate in the mission of the one who was crucified, was raised, and will soon return.  

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.405: The Anointed One.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In Mark 8, we consider Peter’s great revelation about Jesus. But first, some background. 

In the Old Testament, people were anointed with oil for important jobs.
– Moses anointed Aaron as high priest (Ex 29:7).
– Samuel anointed David as king of Israel (1 Sam 10:1, 16:13).
– God called Cyrus, king of Persia, his anointed one, and Cyrus let the exiles return to Jerusalem (Isa 45:1).
– The prophet Daniel predicted a future anointed one, a new king of Israel (Dan 9:25-26). 

What word do you think the Old Testament uses for all these anointed ones? It uses the Hebrew word “mashiyach” which English borrows as our word messiah. Think of it this way: high priest Aaron a messiah. King David a messiah. Cyrus of Persia a messiah.

After Alexander the Great conquered the world, Greek became the universal language of trade and scholarship. So the Israelites translated the Old Testament into the Greek Septuagint version. But there was a problem. Greek didn’t have a word for “anointed one”. 

Solution? The translators invented a new word by creating a noun out of the Greek verb anoint. 

Their word was christos, which became our English word Christ. In the Greek version of the Old Testament, this made Aaron and David and Cyrus all christs. In the New Testament we meet Jesus Christ, Jesus the Anointed One. 

Now, back to Mark 8, where Jesus asked his disciples, ”Who do people on the street say I am?”  

They replied, “People say you’re John the Baptist, Elijah, or a prophet” (Mark 8:28). 

Then Jesus asked, “Who do you say I am?” And Peter said, “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29) 

Strangely, in my Bible Peter says, “You are the Messiah.” Translators had to decide whether to use the Greek Christ or the Hebrew Messiah translate Peter’s words into English as the anointed one.

Confusing? What does it all mean? 

It means Jesus was special. God’s power and wisdom rested on him, as it did on Aaron and David and Cyrus. 

It also means God’s promise of a Messiah in the Hebrew Old Testament, or a Christ in the Greek version of the Old Testament, was fulfilled in Jesus. 

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, we have long believed you are special. God called you his son. You took up the job of priest that Aaron didn’t finish, and the job of king that David began, and the office of prophet that Daniel honored. 

We confess with Peter that you are the one specially anointed by God–the Messiah, the Christ. You are the new prophet, the new priest, the new king. Be our king. Teach us to live in your kingdom. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.404: Why Don’t the Disciples Understand?

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Today, I point to an interesting pattern in chapters 7 to 9 of Mark’s gospel. 

In Mark 7, after feeding 5,000, Jesus walked on water and stilled a storm. The disciples were so astonished at his power over the storm that Mark comments, “Their hearts were hard. They didn’t understand about feeding the 5,000” (Mark 6:52).

Then Jesus got into an argument with the Pharisees about clean hands and clean hearts. Again the disciples didn’t understand, and Jesus said to them, “Are you so dull?” (Mark 7:18). 

Next, Jesus healed the daughter of a Gentile woman who asked him for crumbs under the Jewish table, and he healed a man who was deaf and mute. 

What an interesting sequence of stories. Throughout, the disciples have no clue what Jesus is up to as he feeds the 5,000, stills the storm, and teaches about clean hands and clean hearts. They are deaf to his message and blind to his mission. But the woman? The one who wanted crumbs from under the table? She understood, and so did the deaf and mute man who received healing. 

So . . . why doesn’t Jesus heal his disciples too, by helping them hear and understand his message. Why doesn’t he heal their blindness and deafness? 

In the next sequence of stories, Mark repeats the pattern. 

This time, Jesus fed 4,000 and argued with Pharisees. Later, he warned his disciples about the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod. The disciples still didn’t get it. “Is Jesus talking about yeast because we didn’t bring enough bread?” they asked (Mark 8:16).

Jesus replied, “Don’t your eyes see? Don’t your ears hear? There were lots of leftovers when we fed the 5,000 and the 4,000. This isn’t about bread. Don’t you understand?” (Mark 8:21). 

Then Jesus met a blind man, healed him just enough so he could see people like trees walking, and touched his eyes again to give full eyesight. 

That completes the second pattern. Jesus fed a crowd, argued with Pharisees, dealt with disciples who didn’t see or hear or understand, and then healed a blind man. 

I sympathize with the disciples. I’m not much better than they in seeing a connection between feeding 5,000 and walking on the water. Or a link between feeding 4,000 and warning about the yeast of the Pharisees. 

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, we are like your disciples. We hear the stories we have always heard, and live the lives we’ve always lived, and see the things we have always seen, and we fail to understand the life of faith you teach. 

What is the meaning of your miracles? Does healing a blind person mean you can heal our inner blindness? Does healing the deaf mand mean you can heal our spiritual deafness? 

O Jesus, open our eyes. Unstop our ears. Loosen our tongues, until we see and hear and speak for you. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube