The revchristruelsen’s Podcast

Impossible Things, Revisited

Text for discussion: Mark 10:17-31.  

When we reflect on our lives, we would all like to think that we are good.  When we try to justify ourselves, a reflection on our deeds and our lives will remind us forcefully that we fall short.  In understanding this, Jesus shows us how to do the impossible: thread a camel through the eye of a needle.  

Hymn:  Built on the Rock (public domain).

Painting: Christ Weeping over Jerusalem by Ary Scheffer, 1849.  Public domain.  

 

 

A Test of Truth

Text for discussion: Numbers 5.  

In Numbers 5 we find an unusual test of truth.  The test was designed to discern guilt from innocence in regard to adultery.  

What do we make of the test; how do we bear the burden of the Law?  

Hymn: Be Still My Soul (public domain)

The artwork: The tabernacle, engraving from Robert Arnauld d'Andilly's 1683 translation of Josephus. Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons.

God in the Midst of the Wilderness

Text for Discussion: Numbers 4. 

 God makes His presence known in the midst of the Tabernacle.  In far more ancient times, He walked with humanity, but Fallenness made it so that man had to call upon God.  (Genesis 4).  Now God is in the midst of His people, but coming is the time when He will walk among humanity again, tabernacling in human flesh: the incarnation of Christ.  On a side note, in this one you will also find out what "hexaplex trunculus" is! 

The artwork: The tabernacle, engraving from Robert Arnauld d'Andilly's 1683 translation of Josephus. Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Hymn: Amazing Grace.  Public domain.  

The Origins and the Destiny of the Priesthood

Text for discussion: Numbers 3.  

Why the Levites?  Why was this tribe designated for the priesthood of Israel?  And what is the destination of the priesthood, what become of it?  It's a remarkable history, and the final destination is perhaps unexpected, but not surprising when you understand the scope of holy history.  

Hymns: Upon the Cross Extended, On My Heart Imprint Thy Image (public domain).  

The artwork: Melchizedek detail, created by the studio of FX Zettler, Munich,   from St. Mary of the Assumption Parish, Springboro, OH, Aug 31, 2023, by Nheyob.  (free to share and copy with attribution).  

In the Wilderness: The Israelites on the Move

Text for discussion: Numbers 2.  

Some scholars have doubted that such large numbers of people could have crossed the barren lands on the way from Egypt to the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey . . . . 

Though the event was miraculously guided by God, the numbers do not have to bow to the concerns of skeptics.  Comparisons with other large movements of people show that this movement is plausible and possible.  

The hymn:  Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me (public domain).  

The artwork: The tabernacle, engraving from Robert Arnauld d'Andilly's 1683 translation of Josephus. Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

 

God's Plans Unfolding: In the Wilderness

Text for discussion: Numbers 1.  

Exodus was the story of God's people coming out of Egypt.  Leviticus was about the laws and regulations and worship that God planned for the people in the desert, and for their new life in the Promised Land.  Numbers seems like a strange name among the others in the 5 Books of Moses, but it recalls the census here in chapter 1 of Numbers.  The actual Hebrew name for the book is different than the name that comes to us in English, and perhaps more descriptive of the real experiences in this book.  

The hymn: God Himself is Present (public domain)

The painting: Moses Strikes Water from the Stone by Krzysztof Lubieniecki.  1714.  (public domain).  

 

That the Dead are Raised

Text for discussion: Luke 20.  

God did not create us to die and go into black oblivion.  He gave us an eternal soul and plans to raise us one day.  We will be judged by His Son.  Many have scoffed at this very idea, but God's Son participated in the creation AND redeemed it from sin and death.  

Jesus says that even Moses in the Torah confessed that the dead are raised because he calls God the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and God is the God of the living.  

The hymn: O Love How Deep.  (Public domain).  

The art: The Ancestors of Christ: David, Solomon (Jesse is also mentioned).  Michelangelo, 1511.  (Public Domain). 

Of Big Events and Wee Little Men.

Text for discussion:  Luke 19.  

In this chapter we meet small of stature Zacchaeus, hear an alternate take on the parable of the talents, and hear of the triumphal entry of Jesus in Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday.  

The hymn:  What is the World to Me?  

The art: Christ and Zaccaeus, by Niels Larsen Stevn, 1913.  (Public domain in the US)

Beyond the Shire

Text for discussion: Luke 18.

The world is a place where we recognize that there is what seems good, and what is not as it ought to be.  We long for a better place, but it is not to be found in country or in city life.  It is not found on the earth as it is.  Where can we find a place where life is as it ought to be?  

Hymn:  All Depends on Our Possessing (public domain).

The art: The rich young ruler illustration from Harold Copping Picutres The Crown Series c, unknown date.  Public domain in the US.  

Unmistakeable

Text for discussion: Luke 17.  

As we return to the book of Luke, we look at a passage where Jesus talks about the end times.  Will folks be left behind? What does Jesus mean?  The signs spoken of here are unmistakeable!  

 

Hymn: O Love How Deep.  (Public domain).

The art: Gustave Dore, "The Darkness at the Crucifixion."  (Public domain).