Thursday, August 29, 2013

Daily Gospel Devotional 2013: Seeing the point

Matthew 20:29-34 / Mark 10:46-52 / Luke 18:35-43…

Sometimes we can become so focused on minutiae that we miss the meaning of something. We miss the forest for the tress; we choke on the hors d’oeuvres, as it were, and miss the main course. Instead of being enriched by the added details we are bogged down in the incidental. And sometimes we might think that we are going deeper when we are actually becoming shallower.

Here is a case in point. In the gospel of Luke, we see Jesus healing a blind man. Mark gives his name (Mark 10:46). Yet Matthew mentions two blind men (Matthew 20:30). Mark and Matthew refer to the old Jericho, while Luke is speaking of the new Jericho, a mile or so south of the old town. Luke says He was approaching Jericho. Matthew and Mark say He was leaving Jericho. It is possible because you could be approaching the new Jericho leaving the old Jericho. We could get all worked up over some supposed contradiction between the stories instead of seeing them as complimentary. The biblical writers simply focused on different details.

The big picture is that this is actually the last of Jesus’ public miracles before reaching Jerusalem and the time of His crucifixion. The first miraculous sign Jesus performed was in the north at Cana in Galilee (John 2:1-11), and here, the last is in the south of Judea. He had filled Israel with signs and wonders, testifying to His divinity and role as Messiah. The blind beggars called out to the Messiah (son of David) and were healed. 

The crowd will try and crowd you out. But don’t let the religious crowd stop you from getting to Jesus. Using your intellect and being diligent to study are good and necessary things. However, the key to spiritual understanding is obedience and trust. Don’t be blind about how to understand spiritual truth. Get the big picture into your heart before you concern yourself with getting the details into your head.

Do you see the point?

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

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