Thursday, March 11

ZE GERMANS! ZE GERMANS IST HEIR! So we have three of them staying here and it has been a really fun first day. They got to our place around 5 and then we took them to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. They paid for us to thank us for letting them stay here. When they tried to tell us that's what they were doing, they said "We're inviting you to dinner." I thought that was very funny.

Reading for March 11
Numbers 15:17-16:40
The Rebellion
The majority of this section of text tells the story of 250 Levite men who decide they want to rebel and rise up against Moses, saying that he had 'gone too far'. They believed that everyone in the community was holy and that God was with all of them. They were upset because they believed that Moses set himself apart as special for the LORD. I suppose this came from the frustration of being so close to the promised land of Canaan, and yet unable to enjoy it. Before I talk about that story though, I want to look at a very small piece of this text - this one:

 ³² While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. ³³ Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, ³⁴ and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him.Then the LORD said to Moses, "The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp." ³⁶ So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD commanded Moses.

Geez. That's freaking harsh. Observing the Sabbath is one of the ten commandments,  but one that is punishable by death? The guy was just picking up some wood, and he gets put to death for it. I can't grasp why observing the sabbath is so important that God would need to kill someone for breaking the rule. As a deterrent? As pure punishment? I honestly don't get it. Eye for an eye this is not.

Anyway, back to the rebels. So they thought that Moses was basically working on his own accord and just sort of 'declared himself king' - so to speak - without any sort of help or influence from God. Moses made all of the rebels gather together and told them that if he really was working under the order of God, then the earth would open up and swallow all 250 of them. Guess what happened as soon as Moses finished that sentence. Yup, earthquake city - 250 Levites got sucked into a huge chasm in the earth. Deadsies.

Now I have the same problem with this as I did with the Sabbath breaker. These guys technically didn't even break a command, they just didn't trust the power chain of command. They didn't believe that God really had singled out Moses to lead the people - a fair thought, especially when things are going pretty terribly. Well, God doesn't seem to be able to handle the slightest amount of disbelief so, down to hell they go, I suppose...It just doesn't seem fair.

Mark 15:1-47
This text talks about Jesus' final trial before his crucifixion. I actually read these verses in my real, paper Bible this morning. I have a "Student Bible" which has little factoids throughout the text to provide historical context or other tidbits of info. The factoid about this text was pretty interesting. Jesus appeared before the Sanhedrin in last night's reading to be charged with his crime. The Sanhedrin was basically the Jewish court system, but they did not have the power to dole out a death penalty. That had to be handled by the Roman officials, which is why Jesus' fate ultimately rests in the hands of Pilate.

An interesting thing I saw for the first time here is that Pilate knew exactly why Jesus was on trial - because the Jewish officials were totally jealous of this guy.   

⁹"Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, ¹⁰knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.

So, in a way, Pilate knew what decision the crowd would make. That little bit of info shows that this was a calculated move on Pilate's part. I'm sure that even he felt his power threatened by Jesus' reputation and legacy.  Even though he "washed his hands" of Christ's death, I think he knew what was gonna happen the minute he brought out the "King of the Jews" and the murderer.

Psalm 54:1-7
 ⁶ I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you;
       I will praise your name, O LORD,
       for it is good.

As much as the idea of an offering to God has faded from the Christian doctrines, the idea of a sacrificial freewill offering I think is still something we should practice. Giving up simple pleasures of the world in the name of God would be mightily beneficial, I think. I wish I had the strength to really give up something I cling to - like my PS3...as much as I hate to say it - I wouldn't be able to give that up right now...I mean Final Fantasy XIII just came out!

Maybe the freewill offering is where Lent came from. As a Protestant, I don't really observe Lent, but I have no problem with the idea of it - in fact, I think its a really good thing to do...I just think too few people do it with the right mindset. Many people I know who practice Lent always complain about not being able to enjoy the thing they gave up, when they should be happy that vice is out of their lives - looking at it as an opportunity to better oneself. Not, "UGH I wish I could eat that steak, but I gave up redmeat for Lent. Stupid lent!"

Proverbs 11:5-6
 ⁵ The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them,
       but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness.
 ⁶ The righteousness of the upright delivers them,
       but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires.

Alright, time for bedsos. Gotta get up early to take ZE GERMANS to NYC.

Word, good night.

ZE GERMANS!