Seems like Jesus is saying, "Don't be so quick to judge people as Christians or not." Be gracious. Take people's confessions at face value. It is not ours to judge.
The disciples were too quick to decide the intentions of people. We cannot know people's hearts, not really. There may be a time to correct people. But do not be too quick. The disciples just reacted. Jesus said, "If they are acting like they are part of us, even if you do not know them." They can be a part of another group.
So I will try to share some of it. There is no way I can cover it all or even do it justice.
Desperation is all around Jesus yet he remains calm. Jesus has just gone up on the mountain with Peter, James, and John and talking to Moses and Elijah. Now they come down to the crowds. Normal life. He calls them unbelieving. They are prideful and sinful as well. I can identify. But in the midst of desperation Jesus remains calm. And he holds back the healing until the right moment. He wants this to teach. He wants people, especially the father, to get all he should from this. He waits until the father is desperate, then he heals. "Lord I believe, help me in my unbelief!"
Jesus comes down and asks what is happening. It is not the disciples who respond but the father. The father is in control. With perhaps a little satisfaction he reports that he has asked, requested, this translation says "told" his disciples to cast it out and they could not. Perhaps the dad is feeling a little vindicated. He had never been able to anything to help his boy, now this great healer was stumped too. Or at least his disciples were stumped. The disciples may have held back because they felt confused and like failures.
But Jesus does not blame his disciples. Or perhaps not them solely. He cries, "Oh unbelieving generation!" Couldn't God say that about our generation? Probably all generations. He has the boy brought to him. He does not go to him. When the demon sees Jesus he manifests himself. He is obviously scared now. In other cases Jesus reacts to this behavior by immediately casting it out. But here Jesus remains calm. Almost ignoring the boy he addresses his father. "How long has this been happening to him?" It sounds like a doctor's question. "How long young man, have you been having these symptoms?" The father speaks again, this time a little less confidently. The boy has tried to kill himself many times. But his father has watched him and kept him alive all these years. They have done what they could, all that was humanly possible. They treated the symptoms, you might say, but never got to the root of the problem.
The father concludes, "if you can do anything?" Jesus responds perhaps sternly, "All things are possible for God!" This puts it in a better light. The father understand at least mentally all things are possible for God. Those of who walk with God know this is true in the theoretical. We know this is true. But we have doubt when it comes to specifics that apply directly to us. We know God parted the sea. God saved Jonah from a whale. God made the whole universe. But when it comes to a little healing we doubt.
I think God responds to the desperate. How willing are we to be desperate before God. I know I do not do it often, often enough. Some of Jesus' parables about prayer speak of desperation. The man desperately needs bread so he pounds on his neighbor's door even though it is after midnight. He does not give up until he gets a response. This is a parable about prayer to God. God waits until we express our need. Being desperate is a good thing. It puts our relationship with God in it's proper light.
So the father's cry is a cry of desperation. "Lord I believe! Help me in my unbelief!!" Jesus responds by commanding the demon to leave. To all others around the boy looks dead. But but Jesus reaches over and lifts him to his feet. I imagine his muscles are sore. He is dazed. But the implication is now he is normal. He is healed!
This story concludes with later when the disciples privately ask about it. Jesus answer has confounded people since the beginning. "This cannot come out by anything but prayer." The NASB. Some variations add, "and fasting." Does this addition help or add to the confusion? The disciples were confused about why this demon did not come for them. They had just been sent out and had success with casting out demons then. Why did it not work this time? Was it the lack of faith of the father? When Jesus says "prayer" does he mean pray harder? Didn't the disciples pray? Or did they rely on their own strength somehow forgetting only God can heal. Our faith might move God to act but it is not our faith alone that can heal. Adding the word fasting implies that they did not pray hard enough or long enough. Fasting is an addition step of discipline. But adding the expression "and fasting" changes the meaning and perhaps distorts it from Jesus original intent. I do not know.
"This cannot come out by anything but prayer" leave me feeling helpless. My response would probably be, "I thought I did pray." The answer, "This cannot come out by anything but prayer and fasting." tells me I did not do enough. I did not work hard enough at it. I need to work on my disciplines. I think they are different. What do you think?
Jesus feed the 4,000, an amazing sign. In the next sentence the Pharisees ask for a sign. Didn't they see the last one? It is irony that Jesus quickly and firmly refuses to produce on command. He produces for need. God still does that today. But Jesus could have said, "look what I just did? Didn't you see that?" He doesn't. Why?
Walking around an interesting section. It is filled with older houses. Yet these houses are fairly well kept up. Maybe because they are so much more valuable than the same houses would be in Houston. The house that DD3 rents with a family was built in the 50's. The dad proudly answers that. I think he does not see that as old. In Houston that is old and would not have been said proudly. A Houstonian would not gladly live in a house built that long ago.
Thinking like that I think LA is an older city than Houston. One might think of LA as a new city. Some parts of it must be. But a lot of greater LA is from the 50's or older. Houston houses are on average much newer. In parts of town with older houses Houston is doing a lot of tearing down and rebuilding. I do not see any of that in the section of greater LA that I have been in.
Can I make this into a coherent travelog? I pray I can. I decided to head over to the newly discovered (by foot) Harrisburg area. I am not even sure where that is but I know the area with the lettered street name is part of it. The extreme western part. So I headed up Lockwood and passed Canal then turned east. I passed Burr which I explored a few weeks ago. I basically used the north south streets between Canal and Navigation. Maybe in was Harrisburg and Navigation. I ended up almost to Wayside but not quite. I was gone close to three hours.
The weather was pretty mild. The humidity was not high. I did bring a towel and used it a lot. But I was not a sweaty as I usually am after a round of golf.
The first two streets going north and south in this area are Allen and Brady. There is a "C" street further east, but not next to it. Then other streets end in "wood". Norwood I remember because of some pictures I was inspired to take. I could look on a map something like Edgewood and at least one other "wood". I realized later Allen and Brady are not necessarily alphabetic streets. The Allen brothers established Houston and Brady's Landing was well known. So Allen and Brady were the names of early settlers.
Heading north south you run into Sherman, the Harrisburg hike/bike trail and Avenues I and J. If you continue north past Navigation to look at the ship channel as I did you also sometimes find Avenue L. It has been taken up by warehouses and businesses up close to the waterway. But it still exists as a one block street in at least one place. Navigation then must be the old Avenue K back in the day. I remember from driving around Canal Street is also renamed for one of the lettered streets. I don't remember which.
Next to the ship channel up here are lots of big piles of sand and rock. There are lots of old entrances to this area, Southern Stone (?) Further east I ran into a business with lots of cement mixers ready to roll and some mixers off their trucks. Many look broken not likely to be repaired. This was Cemex I believe.
There are lots of old houses, some in bad repair, some in pretty good shape. And there are some houses newly built on old sites. At the eastern end of Harrisburg, where the new rail line is ending some new condos have been built. A big sign advertises condos from the 160's. Some businesses are still going but there are lots of for sale signs on very large areas with big buildings and lots of paved space. They are pretty carefully fenced and locked with prominent "keep out" signs. I saw one residential property near all this with big no trespassing signs and next to it a welcome sign.
Quite a few people had signs on their houses saying "Martinez Family" or "Gomez Family" Sometimes it was on their mailbox. There are a lot of tall stately trees, obviously planted long before the present owners were born. Some are in areas otherwise not populated. But they are friendly monuments.
When you walk in Houston and you see something that looks like a hill you mark it. There is such a hill, well rather a depression as you pass Avenue J going on Brady street. You have to walk down to Avenue J and then walk back up on the other side. I know this "hill" may be only 5-6 feet high, yet for Houston this is quite a contour. This is fairly close to the ship channel, Buffalo Bayou. Could this be a former path of the bayou years ago or a tributary now filled in? Anyway I found it interesting as it is unusual.
I was amazed enough to take out my camera when I saw two century plants in bloom at Norwood and Sherman. These blooms were twenty feet tall. Very spectacular. Behind one I got the picture of a very tall palm, fifty feet high maybe. That palm has to be very old, perhaps older than any of us. It has weathered quite a few storms and freezes.
Well I have to mark the fruit and nut tree. I found a few citrus still on trees, along with the new fruit for this year. I saw an apple tree maybe not quite ripe. The apples were small and green. There were not many. I checked this year's citrus crop. I did not see any trees full of fruit. Maybe this will not be such a good year? Last week in Round Top I ran into a bunch of ripe grape vines. The fruit this year are in bunches, not single like I usually see. I picked a lot of grapes. Well some grapes. So today I ran into several big patches of grapes. Usually the grapes left are too high to reach and they are getting past peak picking time. Grapes are on the group and getting shriveled on the vine. But I did see one vine where a great harvest can be made, it was east on Harrisburg on the fence of a for sale business. They can be crushed for juice. They are really not sweet enough to eat.
Trust in the Lord with every part of your life and enjoy the adventure of faith. So says the commentator on this psalm.
We are homeward bound.
When things get tough, do not fear. Do not fear the evil that surrounds you. That is so true today. Remember you are homeward bound.
Often in hindsight we can see God's hand. When we are the midst of the conflict we often don't. We have to trust.
But God has given you the victory (5). This famous psalm bears reading carefully. Take the verses as promises for you life today. Remember God has promised us a home in heaven. He has promised us a feast. That often occurs here too. Let us be grateful for all his provision. But remember we are homeward bound.
Psalms 23:1-6 ASV A Psalm of David. Yahweh is my shepherd; I shall not want. (2) He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside still waters. (3) He restoreth my soul: He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. (4) Yea, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. (5) Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou hast anointed my head with oil; My cup runneth over. (6) Surely goodness and lovingkindness shall follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah for ever.
After the fact DW admits she did not want to go but enjoyed in immensely. Hmmm. So much for communication. I trust in heaven communication will be better. That is something I eagerly look forward to - communication.
Why is it when one gets together to pray and look at besetting sins we always stress sexual sin? People shared openly so that those there for prayer would know they were not alone. Perhaps there is an important answer. Sexual sins do not get spoken of. We are very embarrassed. I am not as embarrassed by my anger, my envy, my greediness, my gluttony. Now I am embarrassed by those things but just not as much.
OK, away from that. I mostly brought it up because the Sunday reading at the 5 PM service I attended was on Galatians 5. I thought of the weekend with the verses and the sermon that used this chapter as its basis. Galatians 5:1 Paul states, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; Therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." The preacher spent some time on what freedom was and was not, at least in the context of Paul's letter. Freedom is NOT licentiousness. Why not?
Perhaps I was seeing a contrast between Paul's attitude and the attitude of the author of the conference materials. Would AC say that one must be healed before one can be free? What would Paul say about the modern trend in some circles to seek after spiritual healing? Would he find it helpful? Paul says in 5:1 "It was for freedom that Christ set us free! Therefore keep standing firm! Paul says Christ has set us free. He is speaking to Christians who have determined to give their lives to God and walk as disciples.
The lesson read in church skips 2-15 and goes on to verse 16. So when he says you are free, he is at least first speaking of being free of the Jewish law. Verses 2-15 expands on this. The lesson read in church skips this and goes on the part about walking in the spirit and it's opposite walking in the flesh.
To Paul's mind walking in the law is close to walking in the flesh. We may not see it that way but to Paul is was very clear. A modern take is to think about creating our own laws, like laws against drinking, smoking, playing cards, going to movies, dancing, etc. These laws are often well meaning to keep us from falling into sin. But they are akin to the laws the Jews created to keep themselves holy before the Lord. Paul was very concerned about our heart attitude.
To Paul these laws were shackles, shackles that kept you from living in your freedom. However for Paul freedom was definitely not freedom to do whatever you like. I suppose the difference is mainly in the heart. Paul says "Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh!" I see that as in the same vein as Jesus' exhortation culminating in John 15:5 "I am the true vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. And apart from me you can do nothing." I think walking in the Spirit is directly linked to abiding in me (Jesus).
Paul tells them they are free. Verses 2-15 is something of an aside, working in the specific situation that he finds the Galatians, tempted to follow the Jewish law. The law seems easier for them and also for us to. Freedom is hard, its scary. We are afraid of what we are capable of if we are free to do as we like. We wish rules to make life easier.
Paul takes a different tack. Paul proclaims them free. They are free to walk in the Spirit of God. Also free to abide in Jesus. Paul is well aware of their reaction to this. So he explains what it means to walk in the flesh and what it means to walk in the Spirit. He encourages them to walk in the Spirit. Nevertheless he wants them to know that they are free. Christ Jesus set them free. If God sets you free you are free indeed!
