Old Testament reading: Exodus 27-29
Today’s reading continues with construction of the tabernacle, the priestly garments and the Aaronic priesthood. In John 5:39, Jesus said the Old Testament testifies of him. One help I use in getting through these less than riveting texts is to look for Jesus. It is not difficult to see Jesus in these texts. The altar of offering (Ex 27) and Aaron’s priesthood (Ex 29) easy. In Exodus 28, the garments of the high priest bear the names of the children of Israel on his shoulders (v 12) and over his heart (v 30). In like fashion, Jesus bears our sins and burdens on his shoulders as well as having us in his heart.
New Testament reading: Luke 14-16
Luke 15 contains three of our Lord’s better known parables: the Lost Sheep (vv 3-7); the Lost Coin (vv 8-10); and the Lost Sons (vv 11-32). Yes, I said lost sons (plural); I’ll get to that in a moment. The first two teach the value of a single soul. In the first the shepherd leaves the 99 and goes in search of the one lost sheep. He did not say, “I still have 99; why go to great lengths for 1?” But is this not the attitude of some brethren? Weak brethren wander from the fold of safety, and elders (and I?) are content to let them go. It seems as if so long as the budget is met and the boat isn’t rocked, things are good. In the second, the woman with ten coins must “clean house” in search of the lost coin. In both parables, there is great rejoicing with that which was lost is found. The third parable is generally called the prodigal son. The word prodigal means “wasteful.” But remember, contextually, Jesus is talking about lost souls. In the third parable, I would contend first that both sons are lost. The younger son represents the Gentiles who had long ago abandoned God, while the elder son represented the self-righteousness of the Jews (Luke 18:1ff). Like the Jews, the elder son had never left home, but he was still lost nonetheless. Second, I would contend that both sons were prodigal. While the younger wasted his father’s goods, the elder wasted his father’s love and grace. It never occurred to the elder that he did deserve to be praised or have a party thrown on his behalf for doing what he was obligated to do. We’ll read more about this tomorrow in Luke 17:7-10. See you then!
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