Good morning,
I could feel the frustration of Jesus when I read Matthew 16 just now. He seems to constantly be saying to his disciples that they need to think about the things he says to them. It is like he is trying to share the greatest stories and news of the world, but can't come right out and say anything for fear of those against them. Everything is said in code.
I did have to look up one phrase this morning. Jesus tells his followers, who demand for a sign, that they have to wait for the sign of Jonah. I know the story of Jonah in the belly of fish, but I didn't know what the sign was. I looked back at Matthew 12, which I just read a few days ago. I had missed this verse altogether. The sign of Jonah represents the three days that Jonah spent inside the belly of the fish before returning to the outside world. The disciples are to wait until something like that happens again.
Jesus predicts his death in the chapter by telling his followers that he will go to Jerusalem and be killed. Peter pitches a fit, but Jesus reassures him by saying that God's ways are not the ways of man.
Genesis 17 makes me glad to be a woman. This is the chapter all about circumcision! Can you imagine living in the tent camp the day Abraham, formally Abram, walked in a told everyone that all males would be circumcised? Imagine how horrible the whole week would be?! I felt bad enough telling the doctors in the hospital to circumcise my son, who was only a day old. I couldn't imagine telling a group of grown men that they would go through that!
The other point I want to make about this chapter is Abraham's laughter. I've heard heavy criticism for Abraham for laughing at God, but I am not sure he really laughed at God. We rejoice with laughter all the time. I wonder if maybe he was just laughing because he was happy and thought the situation was funny. I don't think he laughed to be disrespectful.
Until tomorrow...
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