Northwoods Table Talk

L ection for Saturday of Exaudi   Numbers 20:22-21:9       Luke 20:45-21:19   There has been talk, as I mentioned in one of these missives at some point in the past, that some people see this pandemic and some other things as signs of the end of days. Now our nation is consumed with riots and other protests. Is this what Jesus means when He says that “nation will rise against nation?” There have always been wars. I am going to use this as a starting point to deviate a bit today, this is an excuse to address things that are maybe only tangentially tied to this text, but which I want to take the time to address in this space. Hey, this is after all, my blog. I will also make it devotional, a meditation upon the Word and will of God. But it will not be as tightly tied to the specific texts as you read them from above. What is happening in the Twin Cities, and has spread to other parts of the country, has arisen because there is a sickness in our countr...

Lection for Friday of Exaudi Numbers 20:1-21       Luke 20:19-49 When my grandmother died, my grandfather got remarried. The gal my grandfather married was also widowed. All three marriages where over 20 years long. All four people involved were devoted to Christ, and I have no doubt that now they have all left this veil tears, they are with the Lord. When the resurrection happens, to whom will they each be married? Their first spouses? Their second spouses? Two of them only had one spouse, so maybe that is the answer? I know people are well-intentioned when they speak of their loved ones being reunited with their beloved spouse who pre-deceased them. Indeed, they are “together” with the Lord. It begs the question though, are they together as husband and wife in heaven? Without putting to keen a point on it, NO! As much as I love people…as much as I love my boys, Nathan and Timothy…I love Pauline more. She is the one who is closest to me, she and I are “one fl...

Lection for Thursday of Exaudi  Numbers 16:41-17:13       Luke 20:1-18 From Luke's Gospel we read: Jesus began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time. 10 At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him some of the produce of the vineyard; but the vine-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 And he proceeded to send another slave; and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast out. 13 The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 But when the vine-growers saw him, they reasoned with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, w...

Lection for Wednesday of Exaudi  Numbers 16:23-42       Luke 19:29-48 Jesus comes to Jerusalem, and looking over the city, he weeps saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (vv.42-44) Jesus is speaking on two sorts of levels at the same time.  First, He is prophesying the total destruction of Jerusalem – this was a physical reality that took place in 70 AD.  It took place because the Jews rejected Jesus, and by so doing, rejected the very God of their forefathers. They rejected the One whom God had promised to send in the Garden of Eden, the One in w...

Lection for Tuesday of Exaudi  Numbers 16:1-22       Luke 19:11-28   Today, Jesus tells a parable because the people thought that God’s kingdom was going to appear at once. Today we would like it to appear at once, putting and end to COVID-19. Well, it may appear today or tomorrow or 100 years from now. So, Jesus tells this parable in which the servants did not know when the nobleman, who is none other than Jesus, would return. The Nobleman gives them minas to do business with until he gets back. Some do so, some do not. Jesus goes to receive the Kingdom. He does this by His death, resurrection and ascension. Even his enemies are his subjects, although they do not want him to be their king. He was made their king against their objections. He then returns home to see what His servants have done with what He had entrusted to them. Our parable ends with Jesus rewarding those who are faithful – way beyond what their works have earned. The unfaithful, t...

Lection for Saturday after Ascension Numbers 13:1-3, 17-33       Luke 18:1-17 (Not quite sure what happened to the original devotion... I looked at my blog today, Sunday, and saw that it was missing. I know I wrote it... I know I published it...or at least I thought I knew... this is not what I wrote previously, for that is gone. I think that was better than this. But, this is offered in it's stead, begging your forgiveness if you were searching for one on Saturday) Our reading from Luke ends: And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. 16 But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” (vv. 15-17) What was going on in this passage of Scripture? People were coming to Jesus...

Lection for Monday of Exaudi  Numbers 14:26-45       Luke 18:35-19:10 I remember an article written for pastors which I somehow I received (without my desiring to receive it), which was informing us as pastors that if we want our congregations to grow, what we need to do is go into the surrounding neighborhood and ask the unchurched about what they’d like to see happen in church. This idea was based upon the supposition that there should be a “seeker service.” What does Jesus proclaim in our text? Talking about Zaccheus, the chief tax collector, one who was an Israelite by birth, but who was not exactly seen as faithful, Jesus says, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Lk. 19:9-10) Who are the lost? All people! There are none who are not lost – according to the flesh. We are brought forth in iniquity, and conceived in sin. (Psalm 51:5) All dead...