Day 11, Exodus 3-7, Matthew 16

Exodus 3:22
Why will the women ask the neighbors for gold and silver and jewelry? Why would a transaction like this be done through the women?

Exodus 4:14-17
God is angry with Moses for his actions, for his doubting, but God still accommodates Moses' fears. And even though Aaron is the mouthpiece, it is all still credited to Moses.

Exodus 4:24-27
This story seems so out of place and random. Why would God try to kill Moses? Why was his son not already circumcised? What does a "bridegroom of blood by circumcision " mean? Why was a foreskin touching him enough to stop God from killing him?

Exodus 7:1-2
God tells Moses that he (Moses) is like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron is his (Moses') prophet. Moses isn't just like a god to Pharaoh (with a little 'g'), he is God to Pharaoh (with a big 'G'). I don't know if this is all in the translating, but if it's not, it's intriguing.

Throughout this section of Exodus, when God calls Moses, God tells him to go to Pharaoh and ask for permission for the Israelites to take a three day journey into the wilderness in order to sacrifice and worship to God. But God is telling Moses that the Israelites will be delivered, and that they will have the land of Canaan that God promised to their ancestors. Why the differences in the messages?

Matthew 16:22-23
Peter rebukes Jesus???!!!! Seriously????!!!! Is this because Peter understands that Jesus is the Messiah, and therefore thinks that they last thing Jesus should be doing is suffering at the hands of the Romans? Then Jesus rebukes Peter, saying that Peter's mind is too caught up in human ideas of what the Messiah will do, human ideas of what power and change will look like.

Matthew 16:28
Was Jesus speaking of his death on the cross and how it brought about a new age and a new understanding of the Son of Man and the Kingdom of God?

Today's Ponderings:
What do we see as the power of Christ? Do we truly believe that it can bring about change in the world on anything past a personal and spiritual level? Or do we think of ourselves more as the agents of change for God's Kingdom in the world?

Christ is no longer physically present on this earth, and has not been for 2000+ years. But the church is still here. We are the ones who are meant to go into the world, sharing the Good News of the Gospel, baptizing in the Name of Christ, and growing the Body of Christ in all the corners of the globe.

But I wonder if Christianity would be more prevalent and "powerful" if the Messiah had looked a little bit more like the one that many Jews had anticipated. Would there even be a difference between Christianity and Judaism? Would people convert because they feared Christ the way that people in the Old Testament feared God? And would that necessarily be such a bad thing? People who feared God are credited with righteousness, they are brought into the Israelite family, even though they are not actually part of the tribes of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Also, what would our views be in regards to so called "holy wars"? Would they still be looked at as fanatical, something that many people (especially those centuries later) believe about the Crusades and other actions taken in the name of Christ. Or would they be seen as just and necessary to the Kingdom of God, converting the so called heathen and bringing them into the saving and purifying light of Christ?

Peter rebukes Jesus for implying that he (Jesus) will suffer, which was a little bit of a shocker to me, because I'd only ever heard of Jesus rebuking Peter. Jesus sets the record straight right away, nips the problem in the bud before it ever becomes anything bigger. The Messiah is not some monumental warrior, calling down fire and brimstone upon the unrighteous. The Messiah is caring, loving, a healer, and the sacrificial lamb.

Sure, we are the church now. We are the ones that are physically present in this world, called to do the acts of Christ, showing that amazing and completely unique love to the world. But we must never forget where that message, those actions, that love came from in the first place. It comes from the power that is in Jesus Christ, our one and only Savior, the Messiah. It does not come from within ourselves, but only in Christ through us.