Be a light to others, and don’t lead anyone astray

The most important message I picked up from today’s readings overall is be a light to others, and don’t lead anyone astray.

My primary takeaway from each of the passages was this:

• Numbers 5 & 6: Regulations regarding expulsion from the camp, restitution for wrongs, the cereal offering in cases of suspicion of sin, the Nazirite vow, and the form of blessing. 
• Luke 17: Jesus warns against leading others astray, and instructs the community on how to correct each other when they are wrong. He also gives instruction about doing one’s duty without expectation of reward. He heals ten victims of a skin disease, speaks of the coming of the kingdom of God, and also of the “day of the Son of Man.”
• Psalms 61: A prayer of one in exile, and a vow.
• Proverbs 30: The sayings of Agur.

In Numbers today, we read about yet more regulations governing the minutiae of daily life. We also read about the nature and terms of the Nazirite vow. This part about the Nazirite vow is interesting because there are other places in the Bible where someone takes a Nazirite vow, and if you haven’t read Numbers 6 you won’t know what that means. Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist were all Nazirites in the Bible.

Numbers 6 is where we get a familiar blessing that is often attributed to the Irish (but they probably got their variations on this from the Bible). It is the blessing Aaron is given with which to bless the Israelites:

“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.” (verses 24-26)

That is a wonderful parting blessing for any occasion.

In Luke 17, Jesus warns people against leading others astray (away from what he’s teaching and the path to Salvation). This story comes right on the heels of the one about Abraham and Lazarus, in which he warned people against ignoring the teachings of Moses and the prophets, as well as his own teaching. He says that everyone falls down at some point in their journey toward righteousness; but he warns that anyone who intentionally causes others to fall and be led astray would be better off if they drowned themselves.

No one should ever get in between anyone and God. We are here to help each other, as Ram Dass said: “We’re all just walking each other home.” We are not here to hinder each other.

In this chapter of Luke, Jesus also heals ten people of a skin disease. He tells them to go to the temple and show themselves to the priest so they can go through the ritual of purification and be readmitted to the synagogue and the community. They do, but one of them comes back to Jesus, throws himself at his feet, prostrate, and thanks him for healing him. Jesus asks where the other nine are, since they too have been healed, and makes note of the fact that they have not come back to praise God and give thanks for being healed. He tells the one man who did to go on his way and that his faith has saved him.

How often do we call on God when we are in trouble, sick, or need healing? How often do we just go on our way afterward without giving thanks and glory to God? I call on God a lot. I do give him thanks, but I never feel that it is enough. I’m pretty private about my thanksgiving. Is God going to ding me for that? Probably not, but this story always leaves me feeling like I could be doing a lot more to show my gratitude for all the great things God has done for me.

Jesus then goes on to talk about the coming kingdom of God and “Day of the Son of Man.” This is one of the most cryptic verses in the new testament. People have speculated wildly about the meaning of this passage. In 1830 (less than two hundred years ago), someone came up with the idea of the rapture while reading this, which is something I don’t subscribe to. It made for a really entertaining (although somewhat terrifying) set of apocalyptic Christian fiction books, though.

It is possible that he might have been talking about a particular day that all of humanity would experience at once, but considering the fact that two thousand years have passed and it hasn’t happened yet, and also considering the fact that he told his disciples in Matthew 24:34 that “For sure, I tell you, the people of this day will not pass away before all these things have happened,” I don’t think that’s what he meant. All of those people did indeed pass away, and it didn’t happen before they did. However, far be it from me to say definitely that I know for sure what he meant. I wasn’t there, and these passages are the subject of much debate and speculation. I will not claim to know better than anyone else what he meant.

What I can do is speculate and, based on my own extensive reading, my take on this passage is that Jesus is talking about the end times for each of us, personally; the day we each will die. That event matches all the criteria set forth in this passage. It catches us unaware. We know neither the day nor the hour of our own death (Matthew 24:36). We will all be eating, drinking, and living our lives right up until the minute that we aren’t. As a Christian, I believe that Jesus will come to meet me when I have left this life. In fact, I believe Jesus will come to meet all of us, individually, when that happens. What happens next will depend on the way we have lived our lives.

But I can’t know that for sure, and neither can you, or anyone else. Beware of anyone who tells you they do know for sure. No one knows, but that hasn’t stopped multitudes of people from predicting the end of the world. Guess what? they were wrong. It didn’t happen.

Additionally, if we are focused too much on the meaning of cryptic passages like these, then we aren’t focused enough on what Jesus really wanted us to learn: to love one another, to be infinitely forgiving no matter how many times someone wrongs us, to feed the hungry, heal the sick, take care of the poor, and spread the good  news that he brought to us. That’s what we should be focused on. I think way too many people are more concerned with being right about what cryptic scriptures like these mean than they are about doing what Jesus taught us to do. The purpose of everything Jesus taught us was to improve ourselves and prepare for that day when we will meet him, not to go around telling everyone else how wrong they are. If your religious practice causes you to focus on what other people are doing or believing that you don’t approve of, you’re doing it wrong. In doing that, your behavior could lead others astray. You should focus on how your religious practice can make you a better person and bring you closer to God. That’s the way you “let your light shine.”

Psalms 61 is a prayer of one in exile, and a vow to sing praises to God. This is a good Psalm to pray when we feel that we are in exile of one kind or another.

Proverbs 20 is specifically attributed to someone named Agur. We get his genealogy and the specific purpose of these proverbs, but after several millennia I find that I don’t need to know who wrote it for it to be relevant. He speaks of the greatness of God being unfathomable, the wisdom of keeping to the truth, and being neither rich nor poor. The second half of this Proverb gives warnings against laziness, disobedience to one’s parents, and some other metaphors of that age which are difficult to decipher today.

That’s what I got out of it. What did you get out of the readings today?

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This post is part of the series, “Read the Bible in a Year.”

To see other posts in this series, go to the Chronological Index of Read the Bible in a Year Posts.