March 5

Numbers 4:1-5:31, Mark 12:18-37, Psalm 48:1-14, Proverbs 10:26

Prayer: God gives specific duties to those serving the Levites and of the particular “clans” as it were. Each one has a specific duty in order to enable prayer and worship. The most important responsibility you and I have now is to prepare our hearts before we read scripture to hear the Words of God as they speak to us at this moment. So let’s pray, “Dear God, grant us wisdom now. Let us have ears to hear and open our eyes as You reveal Yourself to us.” In Jesus’ name.

Read: In viewing the text today we see the importance of purity in the camp. It appears to be unfair that God would send folks out of the camp but if there was a contagious disease spread by physical contact then it is paramount that young children, babies, and pregnant women not come into contact with skin disease which could infect and kill smaller children and frail adults. So, these purifying guidelines exist only to protect persons from harm from those who are sick and cannot help their illness. This does not mean the Hebrews are to forget those who are sick. But, they also are not to allow the sick to infect others.

Edify: The Marcan account of our reading states that some Sadducees came to pose a question to Jesus about whose wife will a particular woman be in heaven after she marries several brothers due to each of them dying. The irony, and Jesus fully knew this, was that the Sadducees didn’t even believe in any afterlife so the entire question was a moot point for them. But, not for Jesus, so He ran with the query only to turn it back on them by stating the obvious fact---they do not know the scriptures. They only know their own editorial portions which they bent to justify their own faith and judgmental attitudes. Jesus nailed them when He said, “God said to Moses, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. So He is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.” Now, have I made a serious error by not trusting the Word of God? Have you made a serious error by choosing to believe some of the Word of God but not all of it? 

Practice: Love your neighbor is in the Marcan account today. We are challenged to love our neighbor not just in words but in deeds. Do you have someone on your heart to invite to worship? Pray first, then do you love them enough to invite them to join you at church?