Today's Scripture Reading (December 13, 2023): Luke 11
He came on a Sunday Morning. As soon
as I saw him, I admit that I recognized him, and my spirit sank. The man was a
literalist, and I must confess that literalists don't like me. But my problem
with literalism is that they often focus themselves on the wrong problem, but
they sound so reasonable.
The service ended, and I found this
gentleman in a deep discussion with a couple of men from the church. I made contact
with a few people before I prepared myself for the conversation with this man
and those he had chosen to enlighten on this Sunday morning. And as I came
within earshot, I discovered that they were talking about the sign of Jonah,
although, amazingly, the situation had been reversed. The teaching for this
meeting of the minds was that the church had the dates of crucifixion wrong.
Concentrating on the idea that Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three
days and three nights, Jesus should have been in the grave for the same amount
of time; I mean, isn't that the point of the story?
I announced my presence by saying, "No,
that is not the point of the story." However, the group quickly
disregarded me as this gentleman continued counting the days. The man announced
to his audience that the earliest that the ladies could have arrived at the
empty tomb was Monday morning, but more likely, it was Tuesday.
After the man left, one of the men
approached me and said, "You don't like him." I responded that this
person often comes up with shaky theological arguments and then moves from
church to church, spreading his shaky revelations. The biggest problem with
this person's theory was that the women came to the tomb on Sunday because they
couldn't come on the Sabbath. If Jesus hadn't risen on Sunday morning, the
women would have still come on Sunday Morning; the only difference was that
Jesus would have still been in the tomb. If the crucifixion had been earlier,
the women would have come to the tomb earlier and not waited for the Sabbath to
be over.
But more importantly, we just had a long-drawn-out
conversation about the day Jesus rose from the dead when the story's point is about
repentance. Jonah spent time inside the whale, but after that experience, Jonah
preached God's message in Nineveh, and Nineveh believed. Jesus preached a
message of life, and the people rejected him. And because of that rejection,
the people of Nineveh would rise once again to condemn the people for their
disbelief.
After all, Jonah was a flawed
prophet. Jesus was the one who was prophesied to come and save his people. And
yet, we rejected him, and even the people of Nineveh would know that that was
wrong.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew
8
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