January 22

2009
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Genesis 44:1-45:28
(1)I love the story of Joseph..."I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you"(45:4)

(2) "But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance" (45:7)

(3) "So then it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharoah, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt...God has made me lord of all Egypt." (45:8)

(4) "And as they departed, he said to them, 'Do not quarrel on the way!'". That's gotta be funny.

Matthew 14:13-36
(1) "Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side...". (14:22) Jesus sent them into the storm. Jesus withdrew (yet again) to pray. Then goes out...walks out...to not only rescue them but to display his deity (yet again).

(2) If, as Psalm 78 shows, Jesus spoke in parables about the wonders and might of God then in this passage after he has given the parables, Jesus (a) feeds the five thousands, (b) walks out onto the stormy sea & (c) heals many people. He didn't want his disciples to be like the hardened, faithless generation who perished in the desert because they had forgotten the wonders that delivered them from slavery in Egypt.

(3) This passage always reminds me of the young man from a national parachurch organization who saw a role-model in Jesus' attempt to embarrass or humiliate the disciples for their lack of faith: the twelve empty baskets and their nautical-panic on the stormy sea. This was the same young man who relished that a speaker who chastised by humiliation a group of college students, "all you want is 'cookies & milk'ministry" (by convention refreshments were served every week after the talk) and then, when he was finished, served them all cookies & milk.

Do you ever wonder about the public punitive display of something akin to "calling down curses on themselves" by athletes, especially younger ones, after they err during competition? I did that many times playing soccer.

Unfortunately it took me a few years to leave that parachurch organization after that comment.

Psalm 18:37-50
(1) David rejoices in the victory, protection, the downfall of his foes. Imagine if we sang a hymn like this in contemporary times.

Proverbs 4:11-13


Years Read
2009, 2025