Three Man Weave

A series on the book of Hosea
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Hosea 1:1-3 

[The story about Hosea is a story about the relentless love of God. Hosea was a prophet who spoke out against the idolatry of the Israelites as they pursued the pagan gods of Baal and Asherah. His life became an allegory about the unfaithfulness of Israel and the relentless love of God.]

  

As a sophomore in high school, I made the Junior Varsity basketball team. I can still remember one of the drills that we used to practice every day. It was called the “three man weave”.

 

This is where you and two of your teammates, run the length of the court first by passing the ball to one of them. Then you run behind him. It goes back and forth like that until you reach the other basket and shoot a layup.

 

The purpose of the drill was to prepare us to run a fast break during a game. However, we never used the three man weave in an actual game. But, even though it didn’t seem to serve any purpose, we practiced it every day. We did it not just because the coach said to, but because we trusted that he knew what he was doing.

 

Sometimes obeying God is like that. We really don’t understand the reason for what is happening. It doesn’t make sense. Life feels like it’s spinning out of control. I can imagine that’s how Hosea felt to the nth degree.

 

In today’s verses, we learn that “the word of the Lord came to Hosea”. This gave him the authority to preach. Then there’s a “time stamp” given through the list of kings that ruled during Hosea’s ministry. Finally, a person’s ancestry was very important in the ancient world. Therefore, we’re also told who his father was. 

 

But then, Hosea received a very bizarre calling from the Lord.

 

² When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”     NLT

 

Wow! Can you imagine the shock that Hosea might have felt? His calling wasn’t that of a high-profile prophet who would share the word of the Lord with a Jewish king. Instead, he was to marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her.

Plus, as a single, young man, marrying a prostitute to start your family with, wouldn’t have been his lifelong dream. This was an awful calling that would lead to a lifetime of pain and heartache.

 

Questions must have flooded Hosea’s mind. “Why God? Will she be a temple prostitute? Will our children even be mine?” You also wonder if Hosea felt completely overwhelmed with doubt about God; anger towards him; and confusion about the purpose of his life.

 

Whatever the case may be… he obeyed.

 

³ So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she became pregnant and gave Hosea a son.             NLT

 

You may not have received a bizarre calling in your life from the Lord. But sometimes, like Hosea, life doesn’t go the way we plan or expect. And when that happens, we just need to keep running the three man weave, and trust that the Lord knows what He’s doing.

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

Biggest Party Ever

A Series on the parables of Jesus – Part 2
Parable of the wedding banquet
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Matthew 22:1-14 

[During the first century, it was common for a rabbi to use parables when teaching their disciples. The parables of Jesus were stories that he told to illustrate spiritual truth using some element from everyday life. Jesus used seeds, fish, trees, bread - things people could easily relate to – for a “teachable moment”.]

  

When was the last really fun party that you went to? Normally, parties are planned to celebrate a milestone. It might be for a wedding or a birthday or a retirement or maybe even an anniversary.

Next year, my wife and I will be celebrating our fiftieth anniversary. Even though our anniversary date isn’t until September, I’m planning to celebrate all year long. Officially, it will be the “year of the party”!

 

Leading up to today’s parable, Jesus has kept a relatively low profile. There were many times when he told a person not to say anything about his miracles. But now there seems to be a shift. He’s going out of his way to embrace public recognition, like his entry into Jerusalem and turning over tables in the temple.

 

Also, although Jesus never shied away from conflict with the Pharisees and other religious leaders, he now seems intent on picking a fight with them. It’s as if he is trying to provoke them to action.

 

The parable of the wedding banquet is the fourth in a series of parables that pronounces judgement on Israel’s religious leaders. In this parable, a king is hosting a great wedding banquet for his son and has invited many guests. However, when everything is ready, the guests reject the king’s invitation.

 

Angered, the king punishes them and instructs his servants to make other plans.

 

^9 ‘Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ ¹⁰ So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.           NLT

 

In the Gospel of Luke version, he puts it like this.

 

^21b ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’            NIV

 

It’s not too difficult to figure out who is who in the parable. Even though this parable appears to be only about judgement, there’s another hidden gem that you don’t want to miss.

 

¹ Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.  NIV

 

The kingdom of heaven is like a wedding banquet. You could even say, it’s like a party. The religious leaders were invited to the party, but they rejected the king. So, he invited everyone else.

 

This invitation to the party still stands today. It doesn’t matter whether you’re good or bad; poor, crippled, blind or lame. You’re invited to the biggest party ever with your loving Father and his only Son. This is a party that you don’t want to miss.

 

¹⁵ Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!”          NLT

                                                                        Luke 14

 

***

Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.

Mark 4:23 NLT

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

Oreo Cookies

A Series on the parables of Jesus – Part 2
Parable of the fig tree
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Mark 11:12-25 

[During the first century, it was common for a rabbi to use parables when teaching their disciples. The parables of Jesus were stories that he told to illustrate spiritual truth using some element from everyday life. Jesus used seeds, fish, trees, bread - things people could easily relate to – for a “teachable moment”.]

  

Do you like Oreo cookies? They’re the best! And there’s several ways to enjoy them. You can just pop one in your mouth. Or you can dip one in a glass of milk. Or you can take the Oreo apart, eat the inside cream filling and then the outside cookie. Kids don’t seem to care which method they use, as long as it involves an Oreo.

 

Like an Oreo cookie, the parable of the fig tree has two sides with a story in the middle. At the time of the parable, there were lots of exciting things happening. With Passover just a few days away, Jerusalem was jammed with pilgrims. On Sunday, with great anticipation of a Messiah, Jesus made his triumphant entry.

 

The next morning, as he and the disciples are returning to the city, Jesus is hungry. Seeing a fig tree, he goes over, only to find that there aren’t any figs. Jesus says to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”  He seems kind of cranky. Like he got up on the wrong side of the bed. But he gets worse.

 

When they arrive in the temple, because of Passover, it is full of people buying and selling and exchanging money. Imagine being one of the disciples. Everything is normal when all of sudden, Jesus, your trusted rabbi who you’ve followed for the last three years, goes off!

 

He flips tables scattering money, birds and animals. Then he starts teaching, and quotes two Old Testament verses which are pointedly aimed at the chief priests. He is judging them for betraying their faith. Humiliated by Jesus’ public criticism, the chief priests immediately begin planning how to kill him.

 

The next day, as Jesus and the disciples are going back into Jerusalem, they pass the same fig tree. This time though, it is completely dead. Even the roots are dead.

 

Everything described above… cursing the fig tree, clearing the temple and the teaching… was judgement of the chief priests. In light of this, do you think the disciples might have wondered, “If the righteous and powerful chief priests are judged unworthy, what chance do we have”?

 

But Jesus wasn’t done with the parable. It wasn’t just about judgement.

 

²² “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. ²³ “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.      NIV

 

Have you ever seen a mountain throw itself into the sea? This is hyperbole; an exaggeration to make a point. And the point is, that nothing is impossible for the person who trusts God.

 

Jesus is telling his disciples that “faith and prayer” can overcome anything. In the face of judgement, they bring hope. In the shadow of a mountain, they bring courage. In the fear of the future, they bring strength.

 

Jesus is telling us… this same message.

 

***

Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.

Mark 4:23 NLT

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

The Cornerstone

A Series on the parables of Jesus – Part 2
Parable of the tenant farmers
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Matthew 21:33-46 

[During the first century, it was common for a rabbi to use parables when teaching their disciples. The parables of Jesus were stories that he told to illustrate spiritual truth using some element from everyday life. Jesus used seeds, fish, trees, bread - things people could easily relate to – for a “teachable moment”.]

  

Can you imagine traveling without your GPS nowadays?

 

Recently, my wife and I were discussing a western vacation that we had taken thirty years ago. We went everywhere: Pikes Peak, Yellowstone NP, the Tetons, Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower and Wall Drug just to name a few.

 

As I thought about all the places that we went, I couldn’t imagine how we made our plans without the internet and Google Maps. We must have used AAA books and those darn foldable road maps that you can never get back to their original shape.

 

For sure, we needed something to guide us. You can imagine that if we had taken a couple of wrong turns here or there, we could have ended up in Texas or Oklahoma. It doesn’t take much to miss by a lot. Just ask the chief priests.

 

Preceding today’s parable, Jesus had a confrontation with the chief priests. They questioned his authority. In no uncertain terms, Jesus told them that he had authority over the kingdom of God. But wait, there’s more.

 

Following this, he told a parable about a landowner who rented his vineyard to some tenant farmers. However, when it was time to collect his rent, the tenants beat and killed his servants who he had sent. Later, they killed his son too.

 

He finished by tightening the noose around the chief priest’s neck by asking, “When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants”. They responded, “He will kill them and rent his vineyard to others who will pay what he is due”.

 

⁴² Then Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures?

‘The stone that the builders rejected
    has now become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing,
    and it is wonderful to see.’

⁴³ I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit.        NLT

 

Over the years, decades and centuries, the Jewish religious leaders had missed the mark. It was probably one little decision after another that lead them down the wrong road; that lead them to reject the cornerstone.

 

And who is the cornerstone?

 

¹⁹ So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. ²⁰ Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.          Ephesians 2    NLT

 

Despite using those antiquated travel tools of AAA books and foldable maps, we got to our destination. But life is a lot more complicated than a two week vacation. We need a cornerstone in our life to give us direction; to keep us on track.

 

What is the cornerstone of your life?

 

***

Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.

Mark 4:23 NLT

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com