Genesis 45; Mark 15
Daily Catechism
QUESTION 19: WHAT WAS THE SIN WHEREBY OUR FIRST PARENTS FELL FROM THE ESTATE WHEREIN THEY WERE CREATED?
Answer: The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit
Scripture: Genesis 3:6, 12, 13.
Genesis 45
Ready:
Picking up at the conclusion of Judah’s plea for mercy before Joseph after discovering the allegedly stolen cup in Benjamin’s bag.
Seeing What’s There:
To me this is a highlight of the Bible and a story that is impossible to read without tears. The things that jump out at me in this chapter are:
- Joseph’s joy and loving reception of his brothers who were so wicked to him many years earlier
- Joseph’s perception that his brother’s sinful actions were ordained by God for a purpose
- The bond between Joseph and Benjamin that 20 years cannot hinder
- Pharaoh commits a great deal of resources to bring all of Jacob’s family to Egypt and offers them the best land
- Jacob’s joy over a son resurrected by his Almighty God who can do more than we can ever ask or think
Theme:
The Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob can bring the dead to life, can restore dead relationships, and can use mankind’s worst sins to accomplish his great purposes in his people's lives and across this earth.
Thinking About the Message:
v1-15. This emotionally charged passage includes Joseph forgiving his brothers on account of the fact that what happened to him, though the immediate result of their terrible sin, was actually purposed by God in order to accomplish God’s greater purpose across the earth and in the family of Jacob. Does this sound like the promise to Abraham in Gen 12:1-3 (great name, blessing to all the families of earth)? I take it that God’s great story and the purposes that he has in this universe will be orchestrated to display his glory by his accomplishing it despite our sin and rebellion against it.
v16-24. The brothers are sent with amazing provisions and resources to help get the entire family back to Egypt. Moses adding the statement of Joseph to his brothers that they should not quarrel along the way is a nice touch to remind us that this is not a made up story but a real account of a real family and these brothers were sure to have quite the conversation on the journey as they reconsider the last 20+ years of their lives. v25-28. Jacob was trusting God but still human he was weak in spirit and sorrowful over his lost children and who knows what he was thinking regarding God’s claim to have already made a great nation out of Abraham. Was he utterly confused as he sat there looking at his grandchildren wondering if this was how it was supposed to go down? Is he supposed to lose all his children and now the grandchildren take it from here? God blows him away by, in his mind, resurrecting Joseph and providing abundantly for him and his entire household. Jacob seems now ready to die like old Simeon who was ready to go once he saw baby Jesus. Off they go to Egypt.
Meaning, Implications, and Significance
I take the main meaning of this chapter to be that God does not simply redeem our sinful actions and turn it into some good but he plans ahead of time that he will accomplish his purposes through the sin that he knows will happen. I see this not as God reacting but acting. Joseph did not say “you sent me here but God found a great use for it”. He said basically, “You did not send me here, God did. God sent me before you for a purpose.” This is quite different than "chaos from your sin hindered the plan of God but he recovered by bringing something unplanned but good from it.” The implication is that even heinous sins and injustice and suffering in this life are not without purpose and meaning. This includes the smallest imaginable circumstances like the falling of a sparrow from the sky and the hair falling from my head (Matt 10:29-30). The significance for me is that I can trust Almighty God to have all things under control and therefore there is true cause to rejoice in suffering (Rom 5:3, Col 1:24) and the be thankful in all circumstances (Eph 5:20) since I know that absolutely each and every one of them is under the sovereign reign of my loving Father who puts his omnipotent goodness to work (Eph 1:19) for my good with all his heart and soul (Jer 32:41). This knowledge is what Paul wants me to have when he prays in Ephesians 1:16-23 and this is how I can have peace beyond understanding (Phil 4:7) when I give God my cares.
Valuing the Message:
This message redeems all the “bad" things in my life. This message should have amazing significance if I understand the level of care that God takes in the smallest and biggest things that happen to me. I need to decide if indeed I take God to be exercising what seems to be a complete reign over all things or if I believe that he resists holding this kind of control for some other purpose. Many take both sides on this but I see this text today motivating my assertion that God Almighty rules his creation and accomplishes his purposes.
Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
Reflecting on this message I would need to reinterpret all the circumstances that I ever faced (like the brothers on the road back to Canaan who Joseph warned not to quarrel). I think God calls me to transform my thinking and come to a realization that he promises to do me good (Jer 32:41) and to work all things out for good (Rom 8:28) and to accomplish all his purposes (Is 46:10) and to work all things according to the counsel of his will (Eph 1:11) because he actually does this with intentionality and because he is indeed exercising sovereign rule over all things. This would change how I relate horizontally with others who hurt me. It would give me a different response to the guy cutting me off on the road or the guy swindling me out of my cash or the drunk driver. Knowing that all responsibility remains on the wrong doer and that I am to do justice and love mercy I know that fighting for justice and peace is right but I can do so without fear that evil runs out of control and actually threatens the very purposes of God in my life or in this world. This chapter helps me see that God’s purposes are even accomplished by the evil and thus Satan is God’s lackey that serves God’s cause with the worst that he can ever do (like slay his only begotten Son at the hand of his own people).
Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions. Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.
Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.
Mark 15
Ready:The previous chapter covered institution of the Lord’s Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane and the Jewish Council deciding to kill Jesus for blasphemy after he is betrayed by Judas.
Seeing What’s There:
This chapter covers the Roman trial of Jesus (but leaves out the account of Jesus before Herod- as do all the gospels except Luke), the scourging and mocking of Jesus, the crucifixion of Jesus, and finally his burial by a respected member of the Jewish Council named Joseph of Arimathea.
Key Verses:
Mark 15:1-2, 5, 9-11, 14-15, 17-18, 29-32, 33-34, 37-39, 43
Theme:
According to the will of God, the rejected King of the Jews takes the unmerited punishment of God so that his people will receive God’s unmerited favor.
Thinking About the Message:
v1. The council had determined they would kill Jesus the night before but they met again in the morning to formalize their decision without being under the cover of night to perhaps settle their own seared consciences a bit.
v2-5. Just as he did before the Jewish Council Jesus affirms statements of truth but chooses not to respond to lies and false accusations. He gives Pilate a qualified affirmation that he is indeed the King of the Jews but Mark (informed by Peter) gives an abbreviated account of this interaction, which Luke expands on by his eyewitness research (Luke 18:33-38). Jesus explains that he is indeed the King of the Jews but that his Kingdom is not of this world. He also seems to be speaking directly to Pilate because he asks Pilate if he came up with the idea that he was the King of the Jews or if the Council had told him this…but Pilate will not answer. Though Jesus never claimed to be establishing an earthly kingdom, he was probably represented that way by the Jews because they knew this was treason and the only thing that would be likely to result in death by the Romans. So Jesus was here acknowledging a true statement but correcting Pilate’s misunderstanding of the truth that he spoke.
v6-15. Pilate had begun some tradition of releasing a prisoner to the Jews during the Passover Festival, which began Friday and runs through the Sabbath for a total of seven days in remembrance of God protecting the Israelites from the last plague upon Egypt during their exodus. In this festival the passover lamb is selected on the 10th day of the month, and then slaughtered and eaten on the 14th day. I draw a parallel here since we know Jesus is himself the passover sacrifice (1 Cor 5:7) I figure it must line up with the passover festival. Jesus entered Jerusalem on the 9th day (before sundown on Sunday) and was welcomed warmly and cried out for salvation with “Hosanna!” (Mark 11:9). Then the next day (the 10th day of the month) he angered the Jewish Council by his cleansing of the temple so that they sought a way to destroy him (Mark 11:18). Jesus would take the passover meal with his disciples (Mark 14:12) on the 14th day (after sundown on Thursday) and then be killed before sundown on Friday (Mark 15:25, 33... still the 14th day) before the Sabbath begins (Mark 15:42).
v16-20. Jesus is mocked as he had prophesied (Mark 10:34) and he takes abuse from people whom he sustains by the word of his power as they rightly call him King but show him no honor and no thanks but only hatred.
v21-41. Interesting that Mark throws in the account of Simon of Cyrene carrying Jesus’ cross with his two boys watching. I wonder what sort of conversation that family had over the years! His identity and authority are openly mocked and challenged with suggestions that he rescue himself…thankfully he had settled himself the night before in the garden and he was resolute in his purpose. Even with the weaknesses of a man, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah held on with loving obedience and paid the penalty that was not his, except by his union to me! In verse 31 the curtain tears representing high point of what occurs on The Day of Atonement when the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the temple to splash the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat. Jesus demonstrates that he has entered and he has accomplished the sacrifice and satisfied God’s wrath.
v42-47. This is a neat twist that there is a man on the Jewish Council who has secretly been a follower of Jesus despite and he now takes the risk of being known and persecuted by donating his tomb to hold Jesus’ body. The other gospel accounts come together to paint the picture more fully than just this passage (Matt 27:57; Luke 23:50-52; John 19:38).
Meaning, Implications, and Significance
More here than can be said, but Jesus clearly was a willing and obedient sacrifice for his people and he took what was due to me that I might have what was only his- the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21).
Valuing the Message:
This is why there is life on earth. The cross is the center of time and the apex of the universe and all of creation hinges upon it...
Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
“20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, ESV)
Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions. Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.
Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.
Soli Deo Gloria!
