In our Pentateuch reading program, we took a break after Exodus 20 to read the Gospel of Matthew. Now we’re back to Exodus, and it’s an abrupt transition, right into rules about slavery. Not that uplifting on the face of it, and it causes some to question their faith.

Let me share my meditations from that reading…as well as my “alternate” reading, going through the Gospel of Mark. Remember, I suggested that you might read through Mark’s Gospel, one story at a time, when your Pentateuch reading doesn’t lend itself to meditation. (Others have suggested reading a Psalm – whatever works for you!)

So what do we learn from Exodus 21.1 – 32? My takeaway was that slaves have rights. There were limits on what slaveowners could do. In addition, shockingly, female slaves had rights to the point that they had to be set free if those rights were violated.

If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money. (Exodus 21.9 – 11, ESV)

The slavery guidelines are harsh by today’s standards, no doubt, but they were way ahead of their time.

Another thing to remember, in any event, as Andy Stanley says, you wouldn’t want to have to figure out how to apply many Old Testament commands! Different time. Different rules. We are in a new time and have new rules: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” “A new commandment I give you that you love one another.”

From Exodus 21, I went to Mark 1.14 – 28. It opens this way:

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. (Mark 1.15, LSB)

• The time is fulfilled
• The kingdom of God is at hand
• Repent
• Believe

Jesus has a ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing (see Matthew 4.23), but he has an equally important ministry of training followers to do the same:

As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed Him. And going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. And immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him. (Mark 1.16 – 20, LSB)

And “the same” included calling and training men! “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.2, NIV)

I wrote the other day about how easy it is to generate outrage. I posted a fun picture of my small dog encountering a large deer. A lady accused me of not being careful. Then others took her to task for the way she implied that people who enjoy the picture “must not be from Colorado,” etc., etc.

I discovered a few days later one reason that things escalate so quickly: people are not careful about how they say what they say.

A lady from the nearby (small, old) town of Palmer Lake posted her extreme dislike for a new sign the city had put up. It was large, ugly, didn’t fit with the town,… How did it get there? Who approved it? (By the way, the sign was erected in November 2021!)

Someone explained that it was approved by the town council after a long and public process back in 2020. That he was on the council and had voted for it. Others said they liked the sign. Still others said that there would be adjustments and they would love to have the lady’s input “if she could get over being bitter.”

Here’s the kicker: the original poster replied, “I’m not bitter.”

Well, I’m just an innocent bystander with no skin in the game, and let me tell you, she sounded bitter to me. Or angry. Or belligerent. I don’t know what word I would have used to describe her post except it wouldn’t be “pleasant.”

Is how we write part of the problem? I know that some people who post are “outraged” or angry, but some aren’t…at first. But the way they post leads people to believe that they are angry, and then others respond in kind, and it escalates.

If we’re going to post, let’s use our words carefully. I’m pleased that when I tried to tone down the rhetoric in my NextDoor string about the dog and the deer, someone posted, “I appreciate your attempted peacemaking.”

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4.5 – 6, ESV)

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. (Romans 12.18, ESV)

This falls under the category of too good not to share. Kansas City Chiefs field goal kicker Harrison Butker delivered the commencement address at his alma mater, Georgia Tech, on May 6.

Here are some of his remarks as reported by the Kansas City Star, relayed by Yahoo!Life.

I am someone not much older than all of you, yet I’ve been asked to speak, not because I am a great orator or because I have a number of impressive accolades, well, I guess I do have two Super Bowl rings. I just happen to be blessed by God to be really good at kicking a funny-shaped ball between two yellow posts. So as someone who is not paid to speak for a living, I’m about to pop off some hard truths.

I don’t care if you have a successful career. I don’t care if you have a big bank account or you fly private. Many of you in this crowd will achieve these things. Some of you maybe already have, but in the end, no matter how much money you attain, none of it will matter if you are alone and devoid of purpose.

It is important to use today as an opportunity to take stock of your mission. Our culture is suffering. We all see it. It doesn’t matter which political persuasion you sit on, or whether you are a person of deep faith or not. Anyone with eyes can see that something is off.

Studies have shown one of the many negative effects of the pandemic is that a lot of young adults feel a sense of loneliness, anxiety, and depression despite technology that has connected us more than ever before. It would seem the more connected people are to one another, the more they feel alone. I’m not sure the root of this, but at least I can offer one controversial antidote that I believe will have a lasting impact for generations to come. Get married and start a family.

…And yet all of this happiness [at winning the Super Bowl] is temporary. And the truth is none of these accomplishments mean anything compared to the happiness I have found in my marriage and in starting a family. My confidence as a husband and father, and yes, even as a football player is rooted in my marriage with my wife, as we leave our mark on future generations by the children we bring into the world. How much greater of a legacy can anyone leave than that? (emphasis mine)

It’s sad that advising graduates to “get married and start a family” can be considered a “controversial antidote.” Bravo to Harrison Butker. May his tribe increase.

Pass it on.

³  Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
⁴  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.
⁵  Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. (Psalm 127.3 – 5, ESV)

³  Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
⁴  Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD. (Psalm 28.3, 4, ESV)

If you’re following our Pentateuch in a year reading plan, you will have just finished Matthew and are heading back into some potentially tedious parts of Exodus and Leviticus. Remember, if you don’t have an applicable takeaway, you can continue through Mark’s gospel one story at a time, or you can read a Psalm.

I didn’t write about nearly all that I saw reading Matthew, and that’s OK. I do want to close out with a last look at Jesus’ chief antagonists: tax collectors and sinners? Nope: “The common people heard him gladly.” (Mark 12.37, NKJV) The Romans? Again, no. A Roman centurion was praised for his great faith in Matthew 8. Pilate was weak and caved to the crowd. What crowd? The crowd of religious leaders! Those were Jesus’ chief antagonists.

We saw how he told parables against them in Matthew 21 and 22. Then in chapter 23, he lights into them directly. Here’s a condensed list of Jesus’ condemnations (see Matthew 23.13 – 36).

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You…

• Shut off the Kingdom from people
• Devour widows’ houses
• For pretense make long prayers
• Travel to make a convert and then “make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves”
• Have silly rules on when oaths count and when they don’t
• Tithe the little things while ignoring “the important provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness”
• Look good on the outside but not on the inside
  • E.g., cups and dishes
  • E.g., whitewashed tombs
• Build the tombs of the prophets…revealing yourselves as sons of those who murdered the prophets.

Jesus’ language was stronger than you’d expect:

• Blind fools!
• Blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
• You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

It’s not just the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. In our Bible teaching traditions, we “tithe the mint and dill and cumin” by insisting on certain interpretations of very technical issues. People argue about the nature of the atonement, for example. I don’t even understand the options. While they argue these nits, they often do it in an uncharitable way. “Justice, mercy, faithfulness” are the big things.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6.8, ESV)

We see the religious leaders and their hypocrisy right through the end of Matthew. In Matthew 26.14 – 16, we see them giving Judas 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus. Then when Judas gives it back, their piety pops up:

But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” (Matthew 27.6, ESV)

Really? It’s OK to take money out of the treasury for something unlawful, but you don’t want to violate the law by putting it back in? Then, after the resurrection, they take more money out of the treasury for illicit purposes:

…behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” (Matthew 28.11 – 14, ESV)

Bribing soldiers to lie. You can’t make this stuff up!

And the opposition from religious people continues right on into the Book of Acts:

So [the religious leaders] called [Peter and John] and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” And when they had further threatened them, they let them go… (Acts 4.18 – 21, ESV)

And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. (Acts 13.49 – 50, ESV)

I mentioned at the close of yesterday’s blog that maybe one reason we don’t know about Loyalty Day is that “telling is not teaching.” The law might be on the books, but if no one is paying attention…

I was forcibly reminded a few days ago that telling is not teaching when I sat in on a web-based “training” from Mathematica, a high-end, very powerful mathematics program. I bought it several years ago, thinking it might help me in some of my data analysis projects, and I’ve used it “a little,” but not enough to take advantage of its power. So I thought the online seminar “Quick Start to Wolfram Tech” might help.

I was wrong. The lecturer (I use that word deliberately: it was a lecture, not a “training”) had sent us some Mathematica notebooks in advance, and he just stepped through them. Rapid fire. We hardly had time to even see what he had done before he was on to the next thing. And when he finally got to the third notebook, the one that might have had some useful tools in it, the one he had sent us was not the one he was using! Someone tried to tell him that, but he didn’t understand and kept right on going.

It would have been way more effective if he had covered (I use the word loosely) 1/3 or 1/4 of what he had raced through and spent more time on each part.

We in the church are often guilty of the same thing. A pastor friend of mine told me confidently that most of his people were having daily time with God: “I preach about it at least once a year.” Telling is not teaching.

Way back in the 1920s, Bishop Roland Allen of the Anglican Church wrote a provocative book Missionary Methods, St Paul’s or Ours? One of the methods he decried was his tradition’s around-the-calendar schedule for teaching major concepts over a 3-year period. The problem, as he saw it, was that a concept would be introduced, and a couple of weeks later, the church would be on to something else with no regard as to whether the people understood anything. Bishop Allen said something like, “You wouldn’t experience that too many times before you conclude that if church leadership had wanted us to understand that concept, they would have spent more time on it. Since they don’t, people conclude that they’re not supposed to understand.” Telling is not teaching.

Listening is not learning. A couple of years ago, I was working through applications of five sessions I had taught to the high school and college staff of Spring Canyon. When we got to the one on generational disciple-making, I realized that when I said “disciple-making” they heard “evangelism.” For kids that have grown up in conservative churches, this is understandable. They’ve been encouraged to “do evangelism,” but many have never seen relational disciple-making modeled, so despite what I thought were clear explanations, they weren’t making the distinction. Listening is not learning.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7.24 – 27, ESV)

But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little. (Isaiah 28.13, KJV)

Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue. (1 Corinthians 14.19, ESV)

Or, as an old Air Force master sergeant from the hills of Kentucky used to say, “Write to express, not to impress.” I came away from the Mathematica seminar impressed…but untrained.

I’m stunned. I just learned from my friend John Ed Mathison’s blog on May 10 that I missed Loyalty Day, celebrated on May 1. John Ed opens:

How did you celebrate May 1? It was designated as a special day by a lot of groups. It was Law Day—it was Met Gala Day—it was Sing Me a Song Day—and I’m sure many others.

The most important declaration was a proclamation by President Biden designating May 1, as “Loyalty Day.” This wasn’t a new designation. President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed that May 1, 1955, be observed as Loyalty Day. The U.S. Congress in 1958 made it an official recurring holiday. For 66 years every President has proclaimed May 1, as Loyalty Day.

The aim of Loyalty Day is to shine light on historic events that have led to the forming of this great nation and recognize the freedoms we enjoy.

I not only missed Loyalty Day this year, but I’ve also missed it EVERY year beginning in 1955. I’m trying to process the implications.

Loyalty Day certainly sounds important and needed. Wikipedia’s explanation opens this way:

Loyalty Day is observed on May 1 in the United States. It is a day set aside “for the reaffirmation of loyalty to the United States and for the recognition of the heritage of American freedom”. The date, May 1, was set in order to counter International Worker’s Day, and was conceived in the height of the Second Red Scare.

The enigma is, how can a “holiday” of that importance, “made an official reoccurring holiday” by the US Congress in 1958, be that obscure? I didn’t know about it. Did you?

• Is it because it’s not actually a holiday in the sense that some things shut down? We remember Martin Luther King Day, President’s Day, the Fourth of July, etc., in part because they are Federal Holidays.
• Is it a lesson in communication? A holiday no one knows about is a non-holiday. For example, churches would say they’re all about disciple-making and mission, but if all the members hear is “Show up on Sunday morning and give,” other emphases are non-existent.
• Does the ignorance of Loyalty Day remind us that law without heart change is useless? We’re seeing that in the Roe v Wade reversal, for example.
• Is Loyalty Day essentially meaningless because we’ve attached no ceremonies and rituals to it? There’s a reason why God initiated Passover, for example, and Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

“Telling is not teaching, listening is not learning.” (More about that tomorrow) Passing a law, even accompanied by an annual Presidential Declaration, does not a meaningful remembrance make.

Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. (2 Peter 1.12 – 15, ESV)

More than four years ago, my son Mark observed in a comment to a blog that “recreational outrage is America’s most popular indoor sport.” Last month, in writing about out-of-control parents at youth sports, Jason Gay also used the term “recreational outrage.”

Naturally, the participation trophy debate isn’t about the children, or even sports. It is yet another pastime for the recreationally outraged, a howl to make an easy score in the culture wars, earning back slaps from followers who think the planet is going to hell, thanks in part to socialist 7-year-old soccer programs. – Jason Gay, Wall Street Journal, April 24, 2023

It seems that no matter how innocent a post on social media starts, it can always degenerate into outrage. For example, last week, NextDoor, the neighborhood website, invited us to post a picture for the #LoveYourNeighborhoodContest. Since one of the categories was #NeighborhoodCreatures, I posted this picture of our late dog Babo encountering a deer on a morning walk:

The picture was an instantaneous hit garnering over 300 “likes” in two days. “Love this!” “That is so adorable!” “This is awesome!” “Yours is a photo I saved.” I wondered how long before someone would make a snarky comment about what a dangerous situation this was, and I wasn’t disappointed: “Not a wise decision to let that happen. Babo could be seriously injured. You got lucky he wasn’t. I don’t understand people.”

The same person deduced that someone who really liked the picture “must not be from Colorado.” Then someone piled on her: What’s wrong with you? At least some people can look at a pic and enjoy it. Do you think only people from Colorado know about wildlife? Get over yourself.”

I attempted to be a peacemaker:

Folks, can we declare a truce? It’s a cute picture of an inadvertent encounter between a small dog and a large deer. In this case, each found the other curious. As they say, “No animals were harmed in the making of this picture.” Some folks want us to understand that this is a potentially dangerous situation. I don’t think any of us needs to be in attack mode.

Sadly, the bickering continued.

I hope we as believers can avoid outrage. Breakpoint’s March 28 article on colleges closing contained this insightful paragraph:

Like with any crisis, the situation in higher education also presents opportunities. One of our mottos at the Colson Center is that “outrage is not a strategy,” and that’s just as true here as it is elsewhere. Our calling by God is not to sit back and be angry but to bring His kingdom into this world. A crisis can also be an opportunity.

Outrage is not a strategy, even if it’s an issue more important than the safety of a small dog.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5.9, 13 – 16, ESV)

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you hardworking mothers. Stay with it…your work is important:

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15.58, NIV)

Then [the older women] can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. (Titus 2.4, 5, NIV)

I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. (2 Timothy 1.5, NIV)

Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. (Proverbs 31.28 – 30, NIV)

This is NOT about one of C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia stories. It’s a feel-good story from this year’s Kentucky Derby, run on May 6. June and I enjoy the pageantry, and, of course, sometimes there are surprises. This year’s highlight was a story about a horse running in one of the preliminary races.

Cody Dorman is a profoundly disabled child who lives in Kentucky. His brain works, but not his body. He liked horse racing and expressed a desire about four years ago, when he was 13, to meet a racehorse. The top picture shows a 6-month-old colt initiating contact with Cody. Two years later, during the pandemic, Cody was depressed and said he wanted to go back and see that horse. The second picture, described as miraculous, shows that the horse, now full-grown, remembered Cody.

The story goes on. The owners named the horse Cody’s Wish, and he lost his first three races. Cody said that the horse couldn’t win unless he was there. With Cody on the scene, the horse won six of his next seven races, including the 2022 Breeder’s Cup. You can’t make this stuff up! On Derby Day, Cody’s Wish would be running in Race 5: Big Fans Dirt Mile. Cody insisted on a new suit for the occasion:

I encourage you to watch the entire video (about 11 minutes). I’m not sure I know all the takeaways: see what God says to you.

Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane? (Job 39.19, ESV)

The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD. (Proverbs 21.31, ESV)

I wrote the other day about British subjects who reject the monarchy and proclaim loudly, “Not my king!” But a way more important king was rejected: Jesus told two serious back-to-back parables about the Jewish leaders’ rejecting his kingship.

“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another…Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” …Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. (Matthew 21.33 – 43, ESV)

By this time, the leaders are beginning to figure this thing out:

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. (Matthew 21.45, ESV)

And Jesus follows up with the parable of the wedding feast (Matthew 22.1 – 14) where the invited guests spurn the invitation. (Compare Matthew 8.11, 12) The wedding feast parable contains this scary sentence:

The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. (Matthew 22.7, ESV)

Scary because it’s exactly what happened in 70 A.D. when the Romans ransacked Jerusalem. Today, an Islamic mosque sits on the site of the magnificent Jewish temple.

The wall in this picture surrounds the area called the Temple Mount built by King Herod in Jesus’ day. Today, the Islamic “Dome of the Rock” sits on the site. Herod’s temple is “a heap of rubble” just as Jesus predicted directly:

Jesus said, “You’re impressed by this grandiose architecture? There’s not a stone in the whole works that is not going to end up in a heap of rubble.” (Mark 13.2, MSG)

I’ve seen part of that heap of rubble, and I’m reminded that if God didn’t spare Jerusalem for rejecting Jesus, he won’t spare individuals or churches or nations either.

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. (Revelation 2.4, 5, ESV)

I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. (Revelation 3.1 – 3, ESV)

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven…Our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12.25…29, ESV)