Rabbi’s Reflections – Monday, September 7, 2020
Shalom,
Folks, I’ve got to “mail this one in.” I’m away for the holiday and out of opportunities to write. I’m sure you’ll excuse me for today and tomorrow. I’ll write again for Wednesday. In the meantime, enjoy the postings from 2 years ago for days 181 and 182. Blessings. R. Michael.
Week 37
Memory Verse: Matthew 28:18 And Yeshua came up to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach ha-Kodesh, 20 teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And remember! I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
* 181 9/07 Monday: Mark 16
182 9/08 Tuesday: Luke 24
183 9/09 Wednesday: John 20-21
184 9/10 Thursday: Matthew 28
185. 9/11 Friday: Acts 1
Question of the Day: Today we read the last chapter of Mark. The question of the day appears in verse 3. The story relates that 3 women waited until Shabbat was over. Then at sunrise on the first day of the week they went to the tomb. They wanted to prepare Yeshua’s body for a proper burial, but they had an obstacle, a large stone, preventing their access to the tomb. So they wondered aloud to each other, Mark 16:3b “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”
Answer: Who will roll away the stone for you and me? We all have obstacles obstructing our access to the Lord. Who will roll them away? Before I answer that (and the answer is quite simple), let’s answer the question, “What are the obstacles that are keeping us from being in the presence of the Lord?”
Are our “friends” holding us back? (Real friends won’t hold you back, they will help you draw near to God.) Trade them in for other friends.
Are your attitudes or behaviors holding you back? 2 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but powerful through God for the tearing down of strongholds. We are tearing down false arguments 5 and every high-minded thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Messiah— Take out your weapons and fight.
Is there anything keeping you from God? Luke 6:27 “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for the ones who mistreat you. 29 To the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. And from the one who takes your cloak, do not hold back your shirt.
Are you obsessed with something? (Games, sports, social media, a hobby?) Put God first. The Bible asks this question: Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Messiah? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? The answer comes a few verses later.
Romans 8:37 But in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.
May I get to the bottom line (tachlis in Hebrew): Joshua 24:15 If it seems bad to you to worship Adonai, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve—whether the gods that your fathers worshipped that were beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will worship Adonai!”
Oh, before we end for today. Who will roll away your stone? The same One who rolled away that stone on resurrection morning. Mark doesn’t say exactly who, but the inference is that it was done by the power of God. Submit to Him.
Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in Adonai, and He will give you the requests of your heart.