Parents of the Bible Podcast

Genesis 3434 One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the young women who lived in the area. 2 But when the local prince, Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, saw Dinah, he seized her and raped her. 3 But then he fell in love with her, and he tried to win her affection with tender words. 4 He said to his father, Hamor, “Get me this young girl. I want to marry her.”5 Soon Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter, Dinah. But since his sons were out in the fields herding his livestock, he said nothing until they returned. 6 Hamor, Shechem’s father, came to discuss the matter with Jacob. 7 Meanwhile, Jacob’s sons had come in from the field as soon as they heard what had happened. They were shocked and furious that their sister had been raped. Shechem had done a disgraceful thing against Jacob’s family, something that should never be done.8 Hamor tried to speak with Jacob and his sons. “My son Shechem is truly in love with your daughter,” he said. “Please let him marry her. 9 In fact, let’s arrange other marriages, too. You give us your daughters for our sons, and we will give you our daughters for your sons. 10 And you may live among us; the land is open to you! Settle here and trade with us. And feel free to buy property in the area.”11 Then Shechem himself spoke to Dinah’s father and brothers. “Please be kind to me, and let me marry her,” he begged. “I will give you whatever you ask. 12 No matter what dowry or gift you demand, I will gladly pay it—just give me the girl as my wife.”13 But since Shechem had defiled their sister, Dinah, Jacob’s sons responded deceitfully to Shechem and his father, Hamor. 14 They said to them, “We couldn’t possibly allow this, because you’re not circumcised. It would be a disgrace for our sister to marry a man like you! 15 But here is a solution. If every man among you will be circumcised like we are, 16 then we will give you our daughters, and we’ll take your daughters for ourselves. We will live among you and become one people. 17 But if you don’t agree to be circumcised, we will take her and be on our way.”18 Hamor and his son Shechem agreed to their proposal. 19 Shechem wasted no time in acting on this request, for he wanted Jacob’s daughter desperately. Shechem was a highly respected member of his family, 20 and he went with his father, Hamor, to present this proposal to the leaders at the town gate.21 “These men are our friends,” they said. “Let’s invite them to live here among us and trade freely. Look, the land is large enough to hold them. We can take their daughters as wives and let them marry ours. 22 But they will consider staying here and becoming one people with us only if all of our men are circumcised, just as they are. 23 But if we do this, all their livestock and possessions will eventually be ours. Come, let’s agree to their terms and let them settle here among us.”24 So all the men in the town council agreed with Hamor and Shechem, and every male in the town was circumcised. 25 But three days later, when their wounds were still sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, who were Dinah’s full brothers, took their swords and entered the town without opposition. Then they slaughtered every male there, 26 including Hamor and his son Shechem. They killed them with their swords, then took Dinah from Shechem’s house and returned to their camp.27 Meanwhile, the rest of Jacob’s sons arrived. Finding the men slaughtered, they plundered the town because their sister had been defiled there. 28 They seized all the flocks and herds and donkeys—everything they could lay their hands on, both inside the town and outside in the fields. 29 They looted all their wealth and plundered their houses. They also took all their little children and wives and led them away as captives.30 Afterward Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have ruined me! You’ve made me stink among all the people of this land—among all the Canaanites and Perizzites. We are so few that they will join forces and crush us. I will be ruined, and my entire household will be wiped out!”31 “But why should we let him treat our sister like a prostitute?” they retorted angrily.Dear God,There are so many stories of Jacob as a father, I’m going to have to break them up into multiple parts.This is another Old Testament story of a father not responding to the rape of his daughter. I’m sure I will pray about David’s experience with Tamar and Amnon (and Absalom) as well. But in this case, I am going to talk about Jacob.It is interesting that the author is careful to give us only certain details. First, why tell this story except to explain why Jacob’s family ended up settling in Bethel (chapter 35)? Maybe he also wanted us to know that deceit runs in the family. From Rebekah and Laban’s generations, to Jacob’s and Leah’s and Rachel’s, and now to his sons. Lying and deceit came easily to all these people.I also wonder how much of the sons’ solution was based around defending their sister and how much was about killing the men and plundering the city. They repaid a heinous crime with a vengeance that was really over the top.Finally, while Jacob never lied about his wives and said they were his sisters (as did both his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac), he certainly did not seem too upset about what happened to Dinah. I guess it is hard for me to figure out the context of all of this because it is just hard for me to put myself in the skin of these men and how they felt about the value of a woman—even their own daughter/sister.What I do get told to me explicitly is that Levi and Simeon 1) Took the lead on avenging their sister’s rape, 2) Took it to an extreme and profited from their revenge, including taking women and children who weren’t theirs, and 3) Their father was concerned enough that, at your direction, he relocated them to Bethel. I suppose I can also surmise that Jacob’s lack of leadership in response to Dinah’s rape left the door open for his sons to go over the top and indulge their own vices and selfishness as well.Father, reveal to me any ways in which I wrongly abdicate my responsibilities as a father and husband. Give me the courage to confront when I need to confront and do what you need me to do. In fact, as I sit here now, I can think of a couple of areas that require me to step in and lead with your love and your compassion. Help me to do it and prepare the path before me.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Genesis 29:13-30,31:1-9,14-5513 As soon as Laban heard that his nephew Jacob had arrived, he ran out to meet him. He embraced and kissed him and brought him home. When Jacob had told him his story, 14 Laban exclaimed, “You really are my own flesh and blood!”After Jacob had stayed with Laban for about a month, 15 Laban said to him, “You shouldn’t work for me without pay just because we are relatives. Tell me how much your wages should be.”16 Now Laban had two daughters. The older daughter was named Leah, and the younger one was Rachel. 17 There was no sparkle in Leah’s eyes, but Rachel had a beautiful figure and a lovely face. 18 Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he told her father, “I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.”19 “Agreed!” Laban replied. “I’d rather give her to you than to anyone else. Stay and work with me.” 20 So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.21 Finally, the time came for him to marry her. “I have fulfilled my agreement,” Jacob said to Laban. “Now give me my wife so I can sleep with her.”22 So Laban invited everyone in the neighborhood and prepared a wedding feast. 23 But that night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her. 24 (Laban had given Leah a servant, Zilpah, to be her maid.)25 But when Jacob woke up in the morning—it was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked seven years for Rachel! Why have you tricked me?”26 “It’s not our custom here to marry off a younger daughter ahead of the firstborn,” Laban replied. 27 “But wait until the bridal week is over; then we’ll give you Rachel, too—provided you promise to work another seven years for me.”28 So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. A week after Jacob had married Leah, Laban gave him Rachel, too. 29 (Laban gave Rachel a servant, Bilhah, to be her maid.) 30 So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her much more than Leah. He then stayed and worked for Laban the additional seven years.Genesis 30:25-2825 Soon after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Please release me so I can go home to my own country. 26 Let me take my wives and children, for I have earned them by serving you, and let me be on my way. You certainly know how hard I have worked for you.”27 “Please listen to me,” Laban replied. “I have become wealthy, for the Lord has blessed me because of you. 28 Tell me how much I owe you. Whatever it is, I’ll pay it.”Genesis 3131 But Jacob soon learned that Laban’s sons were grumbling about him. “Jacob has robbed our father of everything!” they said. “He has gained all his wealth at our father’s expense.” 2 And Jacob began to notice a change in Laban’s attitude toward him.3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your father and grandfather and to your relatives there, and I will be with you.”4 So Jacob called Rachel and Leah out to the field where he was watching his flock. 5 He said to them, “I have noticed that your father’s attitude toward me has changed. But the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know how hard I have worked for your father, 7 but he has cheated me, changing my wages ten times. But God has not allowed him to do me any harm. 8 For if he said, ‘The speckled animals will be your wages,’ the whole flock began to produce speckled young. And when he changed his mind and said, ‘The striped animals will be your wages,’ then the whole flock produced striped young. 9 In this way, God has taken your father’s animals and given them to me.10 “One time during the mating season, I had a dream and saw that the male goats mating with the females were streaked, speckled, and spotted. 11 Then in my dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Yes, here I am.’12 “The angel said, ‘Look up, and you will see that only the streaked, speckled, and spotted males are mating with the females of your flock. For I have seen how Laban has treated you. 13 I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, the place where you anointed the pillar of stone and made your vow to me. Now get ready and leave this country and return to the land of your birth.’”14 Rachel and Leah responded, “That’s fine with us! We won’t inherit any of our father’s wealth anyway. 15 He has reduced our rights to those of foreign women. And after he sold us, he wasted the money you paid him for us. 16 All the wealth God has given you from our father legally belongs to us and our children. So go ahead and do whatever God has told you.”17 So Jacob put his wives and children on camels, 18 and he drove all his livestock in front of him. He packed all the belongings he had acquired in Paddan-aram and set out for the land of Canaan, where his father, Isaac, lived. 19 At the time they left, Laban was some distance away, shearing his sheep. Rachel stole her father’s household idols and took them with her. 20 Jacob outwitted Laban the Aramean, for they set out secretly and never told Laban they were leaving. 21 So Jacob took all his possessions with him and crossed the Euphrates River, heading for the hill country of Gilead.22 Three days later, Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23 So he gathered a group of his relatives and set out in hot pursuit. He caught up with Jacob seven days later in the hill country of Gilead. 24 But the previous night God had appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and told him, “I’m warning you—leave Jacob alone!”25 Laban caught up with Jacob as he was camped in the hill country of Gilead, and he set up his camp not far from Jacob’s. 26 “What do you mean by deceiving me like this?” Laban demanded. “How dare you drag my daughters away like prisoners of war? 27 Why did you slip away secretly? Why did you deceive me? And why didn’t you say you wanted to leave? I would have given you a farewell feast, with singing and music, accompanied by tambourines and harps. 28 Why didn’t you let me kiss my daughters and grandchildren and tell them good-bye? You have acted very foolishly! 29 I could destroy you, but the God of your father appeared to me last night and warned me, ‘Leave Jacob alone!’ 30 I can understand your feeling that you must go, and your intense longing for your father’s home. But why have you stolen my gods?”31 “I rushed away because I was afraid,” Jacob answered. “I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. 32 But as for your gods, see if you can find them, and let the person who has taken them die! And if you find anything else that belongs to you, identify it before all these relatives of ours, and I will give it back!” But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the household idols.33 Laban went first into Jacob’s tent to search there, then into Leah’s, and then the tents of the two servant wives—but he found nothing. Finally, he went into Rachel’s tent. 34 But Rachel had taken the household idols and hidden them in her camel saddle, and now she was sitting on them. When Laban had thoroughly searched her tent without finding them, 35 she said to her father, “Please, sir, forgive me if I don’t get up for you. I’m having my monthly period.” So Laban continued his search, but he could not find the household idols.36 Then Jacob became very angry, and he challenged Laban. “What’s my crime?” he demanded. “What have I done wrong to make you chase after me as though I were a criminal? 37 You have rummaged through everything I own. Now show me what you found that belongs to you! Set it out here in front of us, before our relatives, for all to see. Let them judge between us!38 “For twenty years I have been with you, caring for your flocks. In all that time your sheep and goats never miscarried. In all those years I never used a single ram of yours for food. 39 If any were attacked and killed by wild animals, I never showed you the carcass and asked you to reduce the count of your flock. No, I took the loss myself! You made me pay for every stolen animal, whether it was taken in broad daylight or in the dark of night.40 “I worked for you through the scorching heat of the day and through cold and sleepless nights. 41 Yes, for twenty years I slaved in your house! I worked for fourteen years earning your two daughters, and then six more years for your flock. And you changed my wages ten times! 42 In fact, if the God of my father had not been on my side—the God of Abraham and the fearsome God of Isaac—you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen your abuse and my hard work. That is why he appeared to you last night and rebuked you!”43 Then Laban replied to Jacob, “These women are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, and these flocks are my flocks—in fact, everything you see is mine. But what can I do now about my daughters and their children? 44 So come, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and it will be a witness to our commitment.”45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a monument. 46 Then he told his family members, “Gather some stones.” So they gathered stones and piled them in a heap. Then Jacob and Laban sat down beside the pile of stones to eat a covenant meal. 47 To commemorate the event, Laban called the place Jegar-sahadutha (which means “witness pile” in Aramaic), and Jacob called it Galeed (which means “witness pile” in Hebrew).48 Then Laban declared, “This pile of stones will stand as a witness to remind us of the covenant we have made today.” This explains why it was called Galeed—“Witness Pile.” 49 But it was also called Mizpah (which means “watchtower”), for Laban said, “May the Lord keep watch between us to make sure that we keep this covenant when we are out of each other’s sight. 50 If you mistreat my daughters or if you marry other wives, God will see it even if no one else does. He is a witness to this covenant between us.51 “See this pile of stones,” Laban continued, “and see this monument I have set between us. 52 They stand between us as witnesses of our vows. I will never pass this pile of stones to harm you, and you must never pass these stones or this monument to harm me. 53 I call on the God of our ancestors—the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of my grandfather Nahor—to serve as a judge between us.”So Jacob took an oath before the fearsome God of his father, Isaac, to respect the boundary line. 54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice to God there on the mountain and invited everyone to a covenant feast. After they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.55 Laban got up early the next morning, and he kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.Dear God,Laban and his sister, Rebekah, Jacob’s mother, were pretty deceitful people. Rebekah was willing to tell Isaac anything to get her way, and Laban acted similarly with Jacob. He knew he would never marry off Leah, so he pulled the old switch-aroo. What is interesting is how this family trait seems to filter down by generations, with Rachel stealing his gods and lying about it.So what should Laban have done with Leah? Should he have made the honest bargain up front? And how did all this impact both Leah and Rachel? Well, the jealousy is easy enough to see. But Leah must have always carried around an insecurity because she knew she was Jacob’s second choice, next to her beautiful sister. And then there was the business of having their servants sleep with Jacob to have more children. Just weird. I have to say, this is a really weird way to build a nation of your chosen people. I do not see anyone here who is really worth choosing.Laban and Rebekah had a family culture of deceit. Rachel perpetuated it to some extent. And every woman in the story felt insecure and jealous. What would their lives have been like with some simplicity and honesty? And if they had done it right, would your plan have played out?Father, like I said, all these people are interesting, and I can’t say that I would choose any of them as my people if I were you. But I am not you. I think the theme of each of these parent stories from the Bible is that so far all of them were pretty bad parents. But somehow your plan allows for that. So maybe I can take a little of the pressure off of myself and simply throw myself at your feet in worship. I will just have to trust that you have made your plan me-proof.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Genesis 25:19-21, 27-28 (New Living Translation)19 This is the account of the family of Isaac, the son of Abraham. 20 When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.21 Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins.27 As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob.Genesis 26:34-28:9 (New Living Translation)34 At the age of forty, Esau married two Hittite wives: Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon. 35 But Esau’s wives made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah.27 One day when Isaac was old and turning blind, he called for Esau, his older son, and said, “My son.”“Yes, Father?” Esau replied.2 “I am an old man now,” Isaac said, “and I don’t know when I may die. 3 Take your bow and a quiver full of arrows, and go out into the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4 Prepare my favorite dish, and bring it here for me to eat. Then I will pronounce the blessing that belongs to you, my firstborn son, before I die.”5 But Rebekah overheard what Isaac had said to his son Esau. So when Esau left to hunt for the wild game, 6 she said to her son Jacob, “Listen. I overheard your father say to Esau, 7 ‘Bring me some wild game and prepare me a delicious meal. Then I will bless you in the Lord’s presence before I die.’ 8 Now, my son, listen to me. Do exactly as I tell you. 9 Go out to the flocks, and bring me two fine young goats. I’ll use them to prepare your father’s favorite dish. 10 Then take the food to your father so he can eat it and bless you before he dies.”11 “But look,” Jacob replied to Rebekah, “my brother, Esau, is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth. 12 What if my father touches me? He’ll see that I’m trying to trick him, and then he’ll curse me instead of blessing me.”13 But his mother replied, “Then let the curse fall on me, my son! Just do what I tell you. Go out and get the goats for me!”14 So Jacob went out and got the young goats for his mother. Rebekah took them and prepared a delicious meal, just the way Isaac liked it. 15 Then she took Esau’s favorite clothes, which were there in the house, and gave them to her younger son, Jacob. 16 She covered his arms and the smooth part of his neck with the skin of the young goats. 17 Then she gave Jacob the delicious meal, including freshly baked bread.18 So Jacob took the food to his father. “My father?” he said.“Yes, my son,” Isaac answered. “Who are you—Esau or Jacob?”19 Jacob replied, “It’s Esau, your firstborn son. I’ve done as you told me. Here is the wild game. Now sit up and eat it so you can give me your blessing.”20 Isaac asked, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”“The Lord your God put it in my path!” Jacob replied.21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer so I can touch you and make sure that you really are Esau.” 22 So Jacob went closer to his father, and Isaac touched him. “The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s,” Isaac said. 23 But he did not recognize Jacob, because Jacob’s hands felt hairy just like Esau’s. So Isaac prepared to bless Jacob. 24 “But are you really my son Esau?” he asked.“Yes, I am,” Jacob replied.25 Then Isaac said, “Now, my son, bring me the wild game. Let me eat it, and then I will give you my blessing.” So Jacob took the food to his father, and Isaac ate it. He also drank the wine that Jacob served him. 26 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come a little closer and kiss me, my son.”27 So Jacob went over and kissed him. And when Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally convinced, and he blessed his son. He said, “Ah! The smell of my son is like the smell of the outdoors, which the Lord has blessed!28 “From the dew of heavenand the richness of the earth,may God always give you abundant harvests of grainand bountiful new wine.29 May many nations become your servants,and may they bow down to you.May you be the master over your brothers,and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.All who curse you will be cursed,and all who bless you will be blessed.”30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and almost before Jacob had left his father, Esau returned from his hunt. 31 Esau prepared a delicious meal and brought it to his father. Then he said, “Sit up, my father, and eat my wild game so you can give me your blessing.”32 But Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”Esau replied, “It’s your son, your firstborn son, Esau.”33 Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably and said, “Then who just served me wild game? I have already eaten it, and I blessed him just before you came. And yes, that blessing must stand!”34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry. “Oh my father, what about me? Bless me, too!” he begged.35 But Isaac said, “Your brother was here, and he tricked me. He has taken away your blessing.”36 Esau exclaimed, “No wonder his name is Jacob, for now he has cheated me twice. First he took my rights as the firstborn, and now he has stolen my blessing. Oh, haven’t you saved even one blessing for me?”37 Isaac said to Esau, “I have made Jacob your master and have declared that all his brothers will be his servants. I have guaranteed him an abundance of grain and wine—what is left for me to give you, my son?”38 Esau pleaded, “But do you have only one blessing? Oh my father, bless me, too!” Then Esau broke down and wept.39 Finally, his father, Isaac, said to him,“You will live away from the richness of the earth,and away from the dew of the heaven above.40 You will live by your sword,and you will serve your brother.But when you decide to break free,you will shake his yoke from your neck.”41 From that time on, Esau hated Jacob because their father had given Jacob the blessing. And Esau began to scheme: “I will soon be mourning my father’s death. Then I will kill my brother, Jacob.”42 But Rebekah heard about Esau’s plans. So she sent for Jacob and told him, “Listen, Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you. 43 So listen carefully, my son. Get ready and flee to my brother, Laban, in Haran. 44 Stay there with him until your brother cools off. 45 When he calms down and forgets what you have done to him, I will send for you to come back. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick and tired of these local Hittite women! I would rather die than see Jacob marry one of them.”28 So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and said, “You must not marry any of these Canaanite women. 2 Instead, go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of your uncle Laban’s daughters. 3 May God Almighty bless you and give you many children. And may your descendants multiply and become many nations! 4 May God pass on to you and your descendants the blessings he promised to Abraham. May you own this land where you are now living as a foreigner, for God gave this land to Abraham.”5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to stay with his uncle Laban, his mother’s brother, the son of Bethuel the Aramean.6 Esau knew that his father, Isaac, had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to find a wife, and that he had warned Jacob, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman.” 7 He also knew that Jacob had obeyed his parents and gone to Paddan-aram. 8 It was now very clear to Esau that his father did not like the local Canaanite women. 9 So Esau visited his uncle Ishmael’s family and married one of Ishmael’s daughters, in addition to the wives he already had. His new wife’s name was Mahalath. She was the sister of Nebaioth and the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son.Dear God,I do not know enough about these boys to judge what Isaac and Rebekah did here. Just how bad were Esau’s two wives? Just how difficult was Esau? On the other side, Jacob seems spoiled and soft. Was he really worthy of the blessing? And then you have the prophecy given to Rebekah about the boys. Did Jacob have a special place in her heart because of that?As for focusing on Isaac, there are a couple of remarkable things here. First, Esau seemed to make him prouder from a manly standpoint. The boy can hunt and be tough. The other likes to stay home. I wonder if you considered Jacob to be spoiled because his time with Laban later certainly taught him hard work. He learned how to get out beyond the tents. He learned to suffer.I talked with my sister recently about our children suffering and how hard it can be to allow it. But the struggle is what teaches us. The struggle is what makes us stronger. Yet, as parents, we tend to short circuit those lessons by intervening to make things easier. I wonder how much Isaac might have done that very thing for Jacob.Second, I also think it is interesting to see how much Rebekah manipulated and lied to Isaac. She not only participated in the blessing deception, but she also lied to Isaac about why they should send Jacob to Laban (or she at the least did not tell him the entire reason). Was Isaac too old to make that kind of judgment? Would Isaac have said that Jacob needed to face his brother? And did Rebekah not want him to?Father, parenting has never been easy, and it never will be. We just do not know how to respond to these people who walk around with free will. They are the products of our parenting and examples (good and bad), life circumstances they witness and experience, and then that strange internal structure that causes them to respond to all of this in the way that only they will. And our job is to somehow guide them into being the best possible version of themselves. Through that lens, it seems impossible. So help me to see what I really need to be doing with and for my children and what I need to not do. Be with them in ways I cannot. And help me to continue to grow into the man, husband, and father you need me to be.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Genesis 25:21-28 (New Living Translation)21 Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins. 22 But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the Lord about it. “Why is this happening to me?” she asked.23 And the Lord told her, “The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son.”24 And when the time came to give birth, Rebekah discovered that she did indeed have twins! 25 The first one was very red at birth and covered with thick hair like a fur coat. So they named him Esau. 26 Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau’s heel. So they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.27 As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob.Dear God,It is interesting that you gave Rebekah some insight into her boys while she was still pregnant with them. I mean, it is not unusual for there to be conflict between two brothers, but the part about two nations and the older will serve the younger is unique. I wonder who she told this to and when. Did she tell Isaac immediately? Did she tell both the boys? She obviously told someone because I just read about it.What an interesting thing to know about your children ahead of time. Did you tell her so that she would be more inclined to meddle in Isaac’s blessing when they were older or to change how she felt about him? I have found that you keep me on a need-to-know basis, and I rarely need to know. Apparently, Rebekah needed to know this for your plan. Interesting.I wonder if Rebekah would have favored Jacob without this prophecy. Or would his deceitfulness have driven her crazy. Of course, we will learn that Jacob comes by his deceitfulness naturally. Both his mother and her brother, Laban, are very deceitful. Perhaps they were more kindred spirits, and Esau, although not a great guy, was more straightforward and a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person.I have to admit that I have always judged Rebekah for the role she played in deceiving Isaac. Maybe Isaac was foolish and needed her to deceive him. I do not know. And maybe she was not allowed to plead her case to Isaac or make an argument for favoring Jacob, so she felt she had no other choice than deception. It does, however, leave me wondering about her relationship with Esau. Did she love him? Did she “get” him? Did she regret him and wish she had only had Jacob? A hard question for a mom to answer, but one that I suppose she did answer through her actions.Father, help me to see my own children with your eyes. I do not think either of them will lead a nation, and there should be no need for competition for power between them. They are living and leading different lives. They each have their own needs. Help me to love each of them well and to give them what you need them to have from me.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Genesis 24 New Living Translation24 Abraham was now a very old man, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 One day Abraham said to his oldest servant, the man in charge of his household, “Take an oath by putting your hand under my thigh. 3 Swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women. 4 Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son Isaac.”5 The servant asked, “But what if I can’t find a young woman who is willing to travel so far from home? Should I then take Isaac there to live among your relatives in the land you came from?”6 “No!” Abraham responded. “Be careful never to take my son there. 7 For the Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son. 8 If she is unwilling to come back with you, then you are free from this oath of mine. But under no circumstances are you to take my son there.”9 So the servant took an oath by putting his hand under the thigh of his master, Abraham. He swore to follow Abraham’s instructions. 10 Then he loaded ten of Abraham’s camels with all kinds of expensive gifts from his master, and he traveled to distant Aram-naharaim. There he went to the town where Abraham’s brother Nahor had settled. 11 He made the camels kneel beside a well just outside the town. It was evening, and the women were coming out to draw water.12 “O Lord, God of my master, Abraham,” he prayed. “Please give me success today, and show unfailing love to my master, Abraham. 13 See, I am standing here beside this spring, and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water. 14 This is my request. I will ask one of them, ‘Please give me a drink from your jug.’ If she says, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I will water your camels, too!’—let her be the one you have selected as Isaac’s wife. This is how I will know that you have shown unfailing love to my master.”15 Before he had finished praying, he saw a young woman named Rebekah coming out with her water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife, Milcah. 16 Rebekah was very beautiful and old enough to be married, but she was still a virgin. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up again. 17 Running over to her, the servant said, “Please give me a little drink of water from your jug.”18 “Yes, my lord,” she answered, “have a drink.” And she quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and gave him a drink. 19 When she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels, too, until they have had enough to drink.” 20 So she quickly emptied her jug into the watering trough and ran back to the well to draw water for all his camels.21 The servant watched her in silence, wondering whether or not the Lord had given him success in his mission. 22 Then at last, when the camels had finished drinking, he took out a gold ring for her nose and two large gold bracelets for her wrists.23 “Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “And please tell me, would your father have any room to put us up for the night?”24 “I am the daughter of Bethuel,” she replied. “My grandparents are Nahor and Milcah. 25 Yes, we have plenty of straw and feed for the camels, and we have room for guests.”26 The man bowed low and worshiped the Lord. 27 “Praise the Lord, the God of my master, Abraham,” he said. “The Lord has shown unfailing love and faithfulness to my master, for he has led me straight to my master’s relatives.”28 The young woman ran home to tell her family everything that had happened. 29 Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, who ran out to meet the man at the spring. 30 He had seen the nose-ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man had said. So he rushed out to the spring, where the man was still standing beside his camels. 31 Laban said to him, “Come and stay with us, you who are blessed by the Lord! Why are you standing here outside the town when I have a room all ready for you and a place prepared for the camels?”32 So the man went home with Laban, and Laban unloaded the camels, gave him straw for their bedding, fed them, and provided water for the man and the camel drivers to wash their feet. 33 Then food was served. But Abraham’s servant said, “I don’t want to eat until I have told you why I have come.”“All right,” Laban said, “tell us.”34 “I am Abraham’s servant,” he explained. 35 “And the Lord has greatly blessed my master; he has become a wealthy man. The Lord has given him flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, a fortune in silver and gold, and many male and female servants and camels and donkeys.36 “When Sarah, my master’s wife, was very old, she gave birth to my master’s son, and my master has given him everything he owns. 37 And my master made me take an oath. He said, ‘Do not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women. 38 Go instead to my father’s house, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son.’39 “But I said to my master, ‘What if I can’t find a young woman who is willing to go back with me?’ 40 He responded, ‘The Lord, in whose presence I have lived, will send his angel with you and will make your mission successful. Yes, you must find a wife for my son from among my relatives, from my father’s family. 41 Then you will have fulfilled your obligation. But if you go to my relatives and they refuse to let her go with you, you will be free from my oath.’42 “So today when I came to the spring, I prayed this prayer: ‘O Lord, God of my master, Abraham, please give me success on this mission. 43 See, I am standing here beside this spring. This is my request. When a young woman comes to draw water, I will say to her, “Please give me a little drink of water from your jug.” 44 If she says, “Yes, have a drink, and I will draw water for your camels, too,” let her be the one you have selected to be the wife of my master’s son.’45 “Before I had finished praying in my heart, I saw Rebekah coming out with her water jug on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ 46 She quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and said, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I will water your camels, too!’ So I drank, and then she watered the camels.47 “Then I asked, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She replied, ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel, and my grandparents are Nahor and Milcah.’ So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her wrists.48 “Then I bowed low and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master, Abraham, because he had led me straight to my master’s niece to be his son’s wife. 49 So tell me—will you or won’t you show unfailing love and faithfulness to my master? Please tell me yes or no, and then I’ll know what to do next.”50 Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “The Lord has obviously brought you here, so there is nothing we can say. 51 Here is Rebekah; take her and go. Yes, let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed.”52 When Abraham’s servant heard their answer, he bowed down to the ground and worshiped the Lord. 53 Then he brought out silver and gold jewelry and clothing and presented them to Rebekah. He also gave expensive presents to her brother and mother. 54 Then they ate their meal, and the servant and the men with him stayed there overnight.But early the next morning, Abraham’s servant said, “Send me back to my master.”55 “But we want Rebekah to stay with us at least ten days,” her brother and mother said. “Then she can go.”56 But he said, “Don’t delay me. The Lord has made my mission successful; now send me back so I can return to my master.”57 “Well,” they said, “we’ll call Rebekah and ask her what she thinks.” 58 So they called Rebekah. “Are you willing to go with this man?” they asked her.And she replied, “Yes, I will go.”59 So they said good-bye to Rebekah and sent her away with Abraham’s servant and his men. The woman who had been Rebekah’s childhood nurse went along with her. 60 They gave her this blessing as she parted:“Our sister, may you becomethe mother of many millions!May your descendants be strongand conquer the cities of their enemies.”61 Then Rebekah and her servant girls mounted the camels and followed the man. So Abraham’s servant took Rebekah and went on his way.62 Meanwhile, Isaac, whose home was in the Negev, had returned from Beer-lahai-roi. 63 One evening as he was walking and meditating in the fields, he looked up and saw the camels coming. 64 When Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she quickly dismounted from her camel. 65 “Who is that man walking through the fields to meet us?” she asked the servant.And he replied, “It is my master.” So Rebekah covered her face with her veil. 66 Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done.67 And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent, and she became his wife. He loved her deeply, and she was a special comfort to him after the death of his mother.Dear God,When comparing this story to the other stories in Genesis, it should probably not be overlooked how much space was given to this one scene. While doing these other stories, I have been struck by how economical the storytelling has been, but this one uses an entire chapter. We meet Rebekah, and we meet Laban (whom we will meet later when it is time for Jacob to marry). But there are two things I noticed about Abraham’s parenting of Isaac in this story.First, he wanted Isaac to NOT marry a Canaanite woman, but a woman from the family. He saw that it was important to find someone who would not pull Isaac away from you or the customs of worshiping you. The whole thing about keeping it in the family feels weird to me, but we will assume this was not weird at the time because no one seems to blink an eye at it.Second, he did not want Isaac to leave Canaan, but to stay there. I wonder how old Isaac was at this time. I know Sarah was 127 when she died, but I am not totally sure how they measured years at that point, and I do not know how old she was when he was born. I know that Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born and died at 175, but, again, I do not know how long a year was in their time. My point is, at that point, Abraham did not trust Isaac to make the decisions that he thought important.So this is really a story, from a parenting perspective, about putting blinders on your child to help guide them. It would be helpful to know Isaac’s age for context, but there are certainly times in raising a child when you put blinders on them, and then there are times when you take them away and let them discover their own boundaries.I once spoke with a friend about her granddaughter and the frustrating decisions she was making. The granddaughter was 20 at the time and had only been adopted by this woman’s daughter three or four years before. She had seen a lot. She had lived a more difficult life than I probably ever will. And this grandmother wanted to save her from some of the bad decisions she was making. As I talked to her, however, it became clear to me that, at this point, the best anyone could offer her, as parents or grandparents, was a safe place and a home base for her, an adult child. This young adult would have to figure out boundaries for herself. My grandmother once said that you cannot put an old head on young shoulders. So true.Father, help me to know how to parent my adult children. Help me to know what to do and what not to do. Love them through me. Parent them as you need them to be parented at this stage of their lives through me. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Genesis 21:1-5,8-14 (New Living Translation)21 The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. 2 She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. 3 And Abraham named their son Isaac. 4 Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. 5 Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.8 When Isaac grew up and was about to be weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast to celebrate the occasion. 9 But Sarah saw Ishmael—the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar—making fun of her son, Isaac.[b] 10 So she turned to Abraham and demanded, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!”11 This upset Abraham very much because Ishmael was his son. 12 But God told Abraham, “Do not be upset over the boy and your servant. Do whatever Sarah tells you, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted. 13 But I will also make a nation of the descendants of Hagar’s son because he is your son, too.”14 So Abraham got up early the next morning, prepared food and a container of water, and strapped them on Hagar’s shoulders. Then he sent her away with their son, and she wandered aimlessly in the wilderness of Beersheba.Genesis 22:1-1922 Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called.“Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”6 So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, 7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?”“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.“We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.9 When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 11 At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”15 Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven. 16 “This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that 17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. 18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”19 Then they returned to the servants and traveled back to Beersheba, where Abraham continued to live.Dear God,I cannot imagine what kind of trauma and confusion being tied up and put on the altar must have caused Isaac. From his perspective, his father lied to everyone and went crazy. His dad was old. Was he senile? How was Isaac to know? I am hopeful that you let him in on your conversation with Abraham when you told him to not hurt him and that this was only a test. For Isaac’s sake, I hope you let him hear that. I wonder if Isaac ever told Sarah about it.I want to double back to what occurred to me once when looking at the story of you telling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on the altar. I am sure the entire time between Abraham’s first conversation with you about it until the moment he found the ram in the bush, he was wondering what he had done wrong to bring this command from you. Had he made Isaac and the promise you gave him an idol? Had Issac become more important to him than you were? Did he take pride in Isaac instead of simply taking pride in being loved by you?That brings me to myself. What kinds of expectations do I, as a father, put on my children? Do I expect them to carry on my name and accomplish what I never did? Do I find my fulfillment in them? Do I allow them and their potential to replace you? Is that what Abraham had done?One thing that is clear through these stories of Abraham is that, while he loved you, obeyed you, and worshiped you, he certainly loved himself and his own self-preservation more than being noble. He lied to Pharaoh and Abimelech about Sarah not being his wife so that they wouldn’t hurt him—giving her over to them to be their wife. He listened to Sarah’s suggestion to have a child with Hagar because they were not willing to wait and see how your plan unfolded. He excommunicated Hagar and Ishmael because … well, you apparently told him to do it, but it still seems like he sent them out to die instead of giving them some servants and supplies to ensure their survival. And then you felt the need to test him and break him through this story of having to sacrifice Isaac and the promise he so badly wanted you to keep—the promise you would make his descendants a great nation.Father, I don’t know what you are calling me to do, but I pray that everything I do will be without regard to my own benefit. I suppose I need to be even more generous with my time and money because I have found myself being kind of selfish lately. I have been leaning towards being materialistic and covetous. I have been indifferent to the hardships of others. It is terrible, I know. I am sorry. Please forgive me.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Genesis 18:9-15 (New Living Translation)9 “Where is Sarah, your wife?” the visitors asked.“She’s inside the tent,” Abraham replied.10 Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!”Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. 11 Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. 12 So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?”13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”15 Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh.”But the Lord said, “No, you did laugh.”Genesis 21:1-10 (New Living Translation)21 The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. 2 She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. 3 And Abraham named their son Isaac. 4 Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. 5 Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.6 And Sarah declared, “God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me. 7 Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!”8 When Isaac grew up and was about to be weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast to celebrate the occasion. 9 But Sarah saw Ishmael—the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar—making fun of her son, Isaac. 10 So she turned to Abraham and demanded, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!”Genesis 23:1-6 (New Living Translation)23 When Sarah was 127 years old, 2 she died at Kiriath-arba (now called Hebron) in the land of Canaan. There Abraham mourned and wept for her.3 Then, leaving her body, he said to the Hittite elders, 4 “Here I am, a stranger and a foreigner among you. Please sell me a piece of land so I can give my wife a proper burial.”5 The Hittites replied to Abraham, 6 “Listen, my lord, you are an honored prince among us. Choose the finest of our tombs and bury her there. No one here will refuse to help you in this way.”Dear God,I am obviously skipping two major aspects of Sarah’s story. The first is her suggestion to Abraham that he have a child with Hagar. The other is the fact that Abraham sacrificed her for his own safety at least twice (to Pharaoh and Abimelech). Both were terrible decisions on everyone’s part. But these things happened before she became a mother.Today, I want to focus on her and Isaac. She became pregnant in an improbable way. I am sure she felt like you would never fulfill your promise to Abraham through her (see Hagar). Like she was useless, not part of the equation. Then when she hears the prophecy, she laughs. Of course she laughs again after Isaac is born. Isaac’s life and the basic fact he existed at all brought laughter to her.It is a reminder to me that there are some things that money cannot buy, but this story is also a reminder to not try to be in such control of things. I do not know what the relationship between Ishmael and Isaac was like, but it seems that the older Ishmael taunting Isaac at the celebration for his weaning was too much for Sarah to bear. Any mother of two children will tell you that the older will often tease the younger. For Abraham, this was just his older son teasing his younger son. But for Sarah, it was completely different. It was the child of that woman teasing her precious child. This was her chance to get rid of them both, and Sarah took it. I wonder how this impacted Isaac in the moment and as he grew. Was he sad to lose his big brother? How would he have been different if Ishmael had been around while he grew up? We saw that they joined together to bury their father later, so they certainly at least knew of each other. It is a hard story.Eventually, we get Sarah’s death and burial. I am sure her life did not go as planned. On the one hand, she was rich. She was given to not only Abraham in marriage, but she was beautiful enough to be given in marriage to Pharaoh and Abimelech too. I wonder if, to at least some extent, she felt like Abraham’s property. Just one more possession to serve him. Genesis does not tell us about her relationship with you. Did she worship you alongside Abraham? Did you find her special as well? She obviously hoped to be a mother but gave up on that dream. And then you brought her laughter. Perhaps she did not have much laughter before that.Father, I am not sure what there is to learn from Sarah when it comes to motherhood, but this focus on her is a good opportunity to think more about who she was, what we know about what she did, and what Abraham and others did to her. For me, help me to let go of my expectations and my attempts to plan things. Help me to simply labor as unto you. Help me to serve you through my marriage, my parenting, and my work. Help me to bring a piece of you into the world.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Genesis 16 (New Living Translation)16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. 3 So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)4 So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!”6 Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur. 8 The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?”“I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she replied.9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.” 10 Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than you can count.”11 And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress. 12 This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.”13 Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” 14 So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.15 So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.Genesis 21:8-14 (New Living Translation)8 When Isaac grew up and was about to be weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast to celebrate the occasion. 9 But Sarah saw Ishmael—the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar—making fun of her son, Isaac. 10 So she turned to Abraham and demanded, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!”11 This upset Abraham very much because Ishmael was his son. 12 But God told Abraham, “Do not be upset over the boy and your servant. Do whatever Sarah tells you, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted. 13 But I will also make a nation of the descendants of Hagar’s son because he is your son, too.”14 So Abraham got up early the next morning, prepared food and a container of water, and strapped them on Hagar’s shoulders. Then he sent her away with their son, and she wandered aimlessly in the wilderness of Beersheba.Dear God,There is so much to discuss with Abraham as a father that I thought I would split it into two parts. I will look at Ishmael first and then Isaac.What a tragedy that this even took place. I have to say that Abraham really did not seem to have much regard for women. He gave Sarai/Sarah away to other men twice out of fear for his life (to Pharaoh and Abimelech). He took the slave girl as his wife and conscripted her into being the fulfillment of your promise to him. And now he gives into Sarah’s command to send Hagar and Ishmael off into the wilderness with only some water and food. No servants to help her get established. No camels or livestock. Not any real settlement for Hagar except marching orders.So how did all of this make Ishmael feel like a son? Here are some questions:What did it teach him about how he should treat women? I suppose he saw his mother’s love for him. He had to have appreciated who she was. In fact, I would imagine he had trouble trusting men in general and Abraham in particular. But much like I think Solomon learned a lack of respect for women from his father, David, I suspect that what Abraham modeled here was not very helpful to the women who would encounter Ishmael.How did Ishmael respond to his dad? I think it is important to note that Islam tells all of this a little differently. For example, they tell the story of Abraham being tested and willing to sacrifice Isaac with Ishmael in the Isaac role. Regardless, the way Abraham sent them away into the wilderness with few resources would have to leave a child with trust issues.Did Ishmael ever get any fatherly love/nurturing from Abraham? None is really recorded. The prophecy over Ishmael is that he will have conflict with others all his life, but that is pretty much how he was raised. His mother and Sarah were in conflict, and Abraham seemed unable to control or diminish the enmity between them. He was probably treated differently by others in the clan. When he and his mother were sent away and he almost died, I’m sure it made him bitter. And then the years of struggling in the wilderness while Isaac grew up in what would have been considered luxury. Yeah, I can see where life would have left him bitter and very tough.I think the big takeaways from this thread of Abraham’s story are that we should wait on your timing. And if we get out ahead of you and make a mistake, we should humbly do our best to pay the price and accept the natural consequences of our actions and not try to mitigate their impact on our personal lives by making them someone else’s problem. Ishmael and Hagar got caught in a pretty bad web. I am sorry for them. I am also sorry for any times when I have given my own children any reason to not trust me. I am sorry for anything I have done that shifted the burden of my mistakes/sins from me to anyone else, including them. Please help me to always wait on your timing and take responsibility for the sins I commit.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Genesis 16:1-16 (New Living Translation)16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. 3 So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)4 So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!”6 Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur. 8 The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?”“I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she replied.9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.” 10 Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than you can count.”11 And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress. 12 This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.”13 Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” 14 So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.15 So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.Genesis 17:18-27 (New Living Translation)18 So Abraham said to God, “May Ishmael live under your special blessing!”19 But God replied, “No—Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant. 20 As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked. I will make him extremely fruitful and multiply his descendants. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But my covenant will be confirmed with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year.” 22 When God had finished speaking, he left Abraham.23 On that very day Abraham took his son, Ishmael, and every male in his household, including those born there and those he had bought. Then he circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins, just as God had told him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, 25 and Ishmael, his son, was thirteen. 26 Both Abraham and his son, Ishmael, were circumcised on that same day, 27 along with all the other men and boys of the household, whether they were born there or bought as servants. All were circumcised with him.Genesis 21:8-21 (New Living Translation)8 When Isaac grew up and was about to be weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast to celebrate the occasion. 9 But Sarah saw Ishmael—the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar—making fun of her son, Isaac. 10 So she turned to Abraham and demanded, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!”11 This upset Abraham very much because Ishmael was his son. 12 But God told Abraham, “Do not be upset over the boy and your servant. Do whatever Sarah tells you, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted. 13 But I will also make a nation of the descendants of Hagar’s son because he is your son, too.”14 So Abraham got up early the next morning, prepared food and a container of water, and strapped them on Hagar’s shoulders. Then he sent her away with their son, and she wandered aimlessly in the wilderness of Beersheba.15 When the water was gone, she put the boy in the shade of a bush. 16 Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards[c] away. “I don’t want to watch the boy die,” she said, as she burst into tears.17 But God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “Hagar, what’s wrong? Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants.”19 Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well full of water. She quickly filled her water container and gave the boy a drink.20 And God was with the boy as he grew up in the wilderness. He became a skillful archer, 21 and he settled in the wilderness of Paran. His mother arranged for him to marry a woman from the land of Egypt.Dear God,This was such a difficult situation, and I cannot help but think that Hagar was set up for failure in some ways. Was she mean to Sarai? It seems so. But was she also, in essence, trafficked when Sarai gave her to Abram as his “wife.” Maybe. I will skip the whole discussion of what a mess Abram created by not waiting on you to fulfill your promise because that is a whole different thing to examine. Right now, I want to see what I notice about Hagar.● She was a slave, which, in my mind, is abhorrent. And there is a lot here I do not know. Was she given any kind of choice when it came to having a child with Abram? Did any woman, including Sarai, have a choice when it came to something like that?● I think she saw her opportunity for advancement when she got pregnant. This was her chance to be treated as more than a slave. This translation says that after Hagar became pregnant, she began to treat Sarai with contempt. Well, sure. And she probably did not feel like she should be at the servant level anymore. I have seen employees treat supervisors with contempt when they felt mistreated in the workplace. And I have seen those supervisors get really mad. There were a lot of emotions happening here, and I think it has probably been pretty easy for a lot of people to criticize Hagar without seeing this unfortunate situation from her perspective.● The conflict with Sarai gets to the point where Hagar runs away, and it takes an angel visit to get her to go back. If she had not gone back, she and Ishmael (who was not yet born) likely would have died, and you obviously did not want Ishmael or Hagar to die.● Hagar goes back and submits to Sarai. (I am sure that was awkward.) She has the baby, he grows, and then Isaac is born. There is conflict between Ishmael and Isaac—as there is between any siblings, including half-siblings—with Ishmael teasing Isaac. This resulted in Hagar having water and food strapped to her shoulders and being sent away. This seems brutal. As they were dying in the wilderness, Hagar was in despair. But you encouraged her with another angel visit, gave her access to water, and she pressed on in caring for her son.● Ultimately, she raised him and arranged for him to marry a woman from Egypt.This slave girl/woman lived a difficult life, and she really had the cards stacked against her, but she was actually very faithful, especially to her son. I think Christians and Jewish people have probably been unmerciful towards her because she was mean to Sarai at the beginning and because she and Ishmael got sent away. But as I read this story, I see a slave forced into pregnancy who loved her child and spent her life trying to provide for him.Father, thank you for mothers. Thank you that you instituted something innate within most women to care for and love their children. Yes, sometimes it goes too far. Sometimes it is unhealthy. And sometimes they cannot let go when the time comes. But mothers are such a critical part of the provision you give to us, especially when we are young. Thank you for the instincts you give them to love us so well.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Genesis 9:18-27 (New Living Translation)18 The sons of Noah who came out of the boat with their father were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham is the father of Canaan.) 19 From these three sons of Noah came all the people who now populate the earth.20 After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard. 21 One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this, they looked the other way so they would not see him naked.24 When Noah woke up from his stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done. 25 Then he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham:“May Canaan be cursed! May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives.”26 Then Noah said,“May the Lord, the God of Shem, be blessed, and may Canaan be his servant!27 May God expand the territory of Japheth!May Japheth share the prosperity of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.”Dear God,This has always been a hard story for me. Even when I first read it as a child, I never liked it. But for the purposes of this series on parenthood, I think it is an important story for me to consider.We have a few things happening here. First, there is a passage of time—enough to grow grapes and then ferment them into wine. This obviously was not an immediate process. There was time for Noah and his family to struggle together. They struggled through building the ark. They struggled through the experience of living on the ark. Now they have struggled through the re-establishment of life. Did hard feelings develop over that time?The thing I see now is Ham relishing the idea of mocking his father. Knocking him down a peg or two. “Hey, guys. Wanna see dad drunk out of his mind and naked on the ground?”I think most fathers of children after a certain age have felt, at least once, disdain and bitterness from a child. As much as children might experience rejection at the hands of their father or mother, mothers and fathers have also felt rejection from their children. Sometimes the division seems insurmountable.I have never liked Noah’s response to Ham. It feels too harsh, especially to Canaan. But as I sit and think about this, how do you hurt the son who hurt you? You hurt his son. From a list of Ham’s children later, I assume Canaan was not the oldest because he is listed last (Genesis 10:6). But maybe he was the youngest and Ham’s favorite. I don’t think this was about poor Canaan. It was about causing Ham as much pain as possible.We never really get any resolution to this story. Noah lived another 350 years after the flood. What were those years like between Ham and Noah? Between Canaan and Noah? Between Canaan and his dad, Ham? Did they ever reconcile? And why did the author give us this story? Was it to explain a superiority of their lineage over the Canaanites?When it comes to my own life, how do I respond to my children’s disrespect and/or anger? The ugly truth is that the answer is all over the map. Sometimes I have responded in love. Sometimes I gave them freedom to work through their feelings about me and waited for them to mature and see things (and me) a little differently. Sometimes. Most of the time, unfortunately, I responded as Noah did—with impetuous anger. It can be hard to see myself reflected in this story that I never liked.Father, help me to respect and honor my parents. Help me to love them with your love. Help me to see them with your eyes. And with my children, help me to patiently love them as they grow. Help me to see myself through their eyes and respond to them mercifully. Help me to reveal your character to them through my responses. Draw them closer to yourself. Please do not let me do anything to get in the way of your plan for them through my own foolishness, selfishness, or insecurity.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Genesis 4:1-16, 25-26 (New Living Translation)4 Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel.When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. 3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.9 Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. 12 No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”13 Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”15 The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him. 16 So Cain left the Lord’s presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.—-25 Adam had sexual relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to another son. She named him Seth, for she said, “God has granted me another son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed.” 26 When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. At that time people first began to worship the Lord by name.Dear God,We do not really get that much about either Adam or Eve from these stories. They were not the author’s point, I suppose. But they were there. They were talking with each other about their boys. They were talking with you.It is interesting that the author does not bother to tell us anything about Adam’s sacrificing habits. Did he bring you his best? What kind of an example was he? Assuming he was a good example, was there just only so much he could do to impart his values to his sons?As a dad, I have so many of my own failings. I would love it if I could only pass on what I consider to be the positive parts of who I am to my children and skip the selfish, carnal parts. And then there is my inability to protect them from the traumas I cannot control. The pain that life can bring.I try to imagine what it was like for Adam to experience Abel’s loss, respond to Cain, and comfort Eve. Then he had to parent Seth in a world where Cain has been exiled. How did he make sense of it all?Father, parenting is so much harder than I ever imagined. It has pushed, stretched, and even broken me in ways I never thought possible. But in my better moments I remember to bring the broken pieces of my heart to you for healing and redemption. Adam needed to feel your redemption for Cain and his actions. He needed to heal. He needed Seth. And he needed Eve. I too need you and my wife and others you put around me. And I need your Holy Spirit. Teach me to be the father you need me to be for my adult children.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Genesis 4:1-16, 25-26 (New Living Translation)4 Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel.When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. 3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.9 Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. 12 No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”13 Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”15 The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him. 16 So Cain left the Lord’s presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.—-25 Adam had sexual relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to another son. She named him Seth, for she said, “God has granted me another son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed.” 26 When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. At that time people first began to worship the Lord by name.Dear God,As I watched the musical Dear Evan Hansen a few days ago, I found myself focusing on the parents. They felt such despair and confusion. The very first song is called, “Anybody Have a Map?” It made me think about parenting and how few people in the Bible are good role models for us. Then I wondered if you might have something to teach me by looking at the mothers and fathers of the Bible. Obviously, I cannot look at every single one, but there are certainly some highlights, and it starts with Eve.I wish we got more about Eve here—or Adam, for that matter. Talk about not having a map! There were no Growing Kids God’s Way or Sacred Parenting books for her to get from Amazon. There were no support groups or Sunday school classes to help teach her. To quote the song, “Anybody Have a Map?” that I mentioned above: “I’m flying blind, and I’m making this up as I go.”I wonder what it was like for her to see her two sons grow up into such different people. And I wonder how old Cain and Abel were when this story happened. Were they teenagers? Did it grieve her to see Cain hold back the best of his crops from God while Abel brought his best? Did she and Adam pray about the boys and talk to you about them? Did she learn some lessons from raising Cain that she applied to Abel? I once heard a pastor say that no two children are born to the same parents, and I am sure that is true for Cain and Abel.And then one day Cain did it. His jealousy pushed him to kill his own brother. Had any of them experienced death before? Did Cain understand what would happen when he did what he did? Did he understand that Abel would be gone forever? Did he know that was possible?As for Eve, how devastated was she? How much of a failure did she feel like? Was she inconsolable for a while? The only insight Genesis gives into this situation is her joy in Seth’s birth and then, presumably, in her grandchild’s birth. Cain had children, but we do not know if Eve ever knew them. Did she ever speak to Cain again?One thing that is interesting to point out is that, according to verse 26, this is when people began to worship you by name. Was this a lesson that Eve learned from her experience? Did she do something different with Seth that taught him to worship you by name?Father, I suspect that the ultimate theme in this series about parents of the Bible is that all of them will have made a lot of mistakes and most will experience tragedy. How foolish are we, then, to think that our mistakes will be small and our tragedies minimal? How foolish am I? So, I give all of this to you and ask that you take my best attempts and my worst mistakes and redeem them beyond what they deserve.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Advent Part 26: The father Jesus describes in the parable of the Prodigal Son strongly resembles the father God has shown Himself to be, even in the Old Testament. He gave everything for us, and that is evident through the Incarnation.Luke 15 (NLT)15 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”Dear God,I’ve been waiting to get to this one because this one is you. Maybe I should have done it first. I almost did not want to categorize this as “father” because that word just isn’t big enough for what you are. You are more than what Adam was to Seth, what Abraham was to Isaac, or even what Joseph was to Jesus. But Jesus called you his Father and our Father. He used the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son to describe your love for me. So I thought I would take some time to see who this father is and what I can learn from you about where my priorities should be as a father to my own children.First, I suppose I can look back and see consistency in this description of you and how you treated your people in the Old Testament. You gave them freedom. You gave them rope. You allowed them to go their own way, and you would hear their cry when they came back to you. Over and over again you really were this father. I am surprised I have not heard more preaching or teaching about this, but it is true.Second, I wonder if we have mis-titled this parable. Maybe it should be “The Father with Two Sons” because this story is about how you handle all your children, not just those that act out in rebellion. In fact, this parable reminds me now of the master who hired people throughout the day and gave them all the same wage, regardless of what time they were hired. That parable was about you too. You are not just the father of the prodigal. You are the father of all of us, and we all have a unique relationship with you.So now I want to look at this parable. Here are some thoughts about this whole chapter at first glance:● It’s interesting that Luke is the only one who gives us this story. It is not in the other two synoptic gospels.● Much like John 3:16 is part of a long speech Jesus gives to Nicodemus, this parable is one of three told in conjunction with one another (lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son) and they should all be considered together when looking at the context.● I might be getting too specific here, but I have always thought of Jesus telling the tax collectors and sinners this story as well as the Pharisees and scribes, but when verse 3 says, “Then Jesus told them this parable:” it is a reference to the Pharisees and scribes muttering about him hanging around the sinners. Luke’s intimation is that this was directed not at the sinners, but squarely at the Pharisees and scribes.● In all three stories something is lost, and then there is a celebration when it is found. Not just relief, but exuberant joy!● Each story intimates that the lost one who returns gives you more joy than the righteous one who stays. It makes me wonder what kind of rejoicing there was in heaven in the Old Testament times when Israel would repent and return to you.● This third story about the man with two sons is much more complicated than the first two. I suppose stories involving people would be inherently more complicated than stories involving a lamb or a coin.So what can I surmise about you when I combine these three parables with the stories about you in the Old Testament and who you proved yourself to be?● You really like us and want us around. You value our presence! You miss us. It is not just that we worship you. Yes, in each case, you are the authority (over the lamb, the coin, or the son), but when they return you do not demand anything in the moment. You just celebrate.● Your agenda for us seems to be for our good. You want us around because you know it is better for us if we are with you. The lost sheep will surely die on its own. The coin will never live out its purpose. And the son will die in misery and spiritual/emotional emptiness. When all three return, your joy is centered around the fact that it is good for them that they returned. And your joy is complete in their wholeness and the restoration of relationship.● In terms of the story of the father and his two sons, your ego does not play a role in your responses to the boys. You allow them to rebel. You allow them to insult you. You honor the concept of free will that you gave us all the way back to the beginning. This might be the biggest difference between you as a father and me as a father. None of your decisions appear to be based on how what is happening will impact you. Everything appears, instead, to be centered on how it will impact your sons.● Jesus seems to imply that you are more interested in the state of our heart than the words we conjure up. The younger son was broken and came home to submit to his father’s authority. That is all the father needed to know. That is all you need to know. It is not about what fancy words I conjure. There is not anything magical I can produce to earn your forgiveness. There was no way for the son to atone for his sins, but you were not looking for atonement. You just wanted repentance, humility, and submission. And you knew that this son was now set for a better life after having come to this point.● Then there is the older son. I am sure the Pharisees (the audience for this parable) were tracking with Jesus and maybe even buying into the idea that you would celebrate the return of the younger son. Maybe they were starting to soften their stance on Jesus trying to evangelize and bring to repentance the tax collectors and sinners. But much like Chekhov’s gun, Jesus planted an almost-forgotten character in the story, the older son, who must be addressed. He was not just a character of virtue and obedience to contrast with the younger son. He had his own issues.● Forgetting the lesson that Jesus has for the Pharisees in his decision to link who they are with this older son, I want to look as much at how you responded to the older son as I did with the younger aon. And it is simple. Only two verses (31 and 32):“My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”Again, I think I’ve read this wrong over the years. I have always thought of this little speech as a scolding, but that is not what Jesus says. He represents you as saying to the Pharisees, “Hey, you have been good, and everything I have is coming your way. But I also love that person over there. She or he is my child too. You referred to him as ‘this son of [mine].’ Well, he is not just my son. He is your brother. It is time for you to love him and celebrate with me because he is alive again. He was lost and now is found.” Jesus was not taking anything away from the Pharisees and scribes that day. He was imploring them to join him in reaching out to and loving these tax collectors and sinners. He wanted them to welcome them.So what does this have to say about me and who I am as a father? What can I learn from you, my Lord and my God?● Not always, to be sure, but I have probably made too many parenting decisions based on how my children’s behavior impacts me, my ego, feelings, and reputation.● While it is good for me to reach out (see the shepherd looking for the lost lamb or the woman looking for the lost coin), it is also right for me to let my children come to conclusions on their own. Especially as adults. I cannot force my will upon them.● Sibling rivalry is real, and I need to deal with each of my children differently while still loving both equally. And if I can somehow get them to have empathy and even mercy for each other—at least wishing for the best for them—then that should be pursued.● You never lightened the consequences for the rebel. Whether it was the Israelites in the Old Testament or the son in this story, you never eased the results of his actions. As a parent, it is very hard to watch our children suffer, even if they bring it upon themselves. But if we get in the way, then it can short circuit whatever lesson you might have for them.● You are their father as much as you are mine. Since they are adults now, at this point I am now their spiritual brother, and I should care more about their relationship with you than their relationship with me. Yes, they still need the love that an earthly father can give as long as I am alive, but this is no longer about them submitting to me. My goal should be for them to submit to you.Father, thank you for being who you are. Thank you for being the God you are. Jesus could have taken this parable in a lot of ways, and I am grateful for the portrait he painted of you. Help me to be the son you need me to be for your glory’s sake and not mine.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Advent Part 25: Mary loses Jesus again (to the ascension).Acts 1:12-26 (NLT)12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile. 13 When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying.Here are the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the zealot), and Judas (son of James). 14 They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.15 During this time, when about 120 believers were together in one place, Peter stood up and addressed them. 16 “Brothers,” he said, “the Scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Judas, who guided those who arrested Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit, speaking through King David. 17 Judas was one of us and shared in the ministry with us.”18 (Judas had bought a field with the money he received for his treachery. Falling headfirst there, his body split open, spilling out all his intestines. 19 The news of his death spread to all the people of Jerusalem, and they gave the place the Aramaic name Akeldama, which means “Field of Blood.”)20 Peter continued, “This was written in the book of Psalms, where it says, ‘Let his home become desolate, with no one living in it.’ It also says, ‘Let someone else take his position.’21 “So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were traveling with the Lord Jesus— 22 from the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us. Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus’ resurrection.”23 So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24 Then they all prayed, “O Lord, you know every heart. Show us which of these men you have chosen 25 as an apostle to replace Judas in this ministry, for he has deserted us and gone where he belongs.” 26 Then they cast lots, and Matthias was selected to become an apostle with the other eleven.Dear God,It is a little vague to me whether or not Mary, the mother of Jesus, was with Mary Magdalene at the tomb after the resurrection, but it is clear that she is with the apostles now. And her sons are there too. They are in the fold. Believers. They are ready to acknowledge that their brother was unique. They were wrong to have tried to get him out of that house. I wonder if Mary’s sister was there too. So many questions.This is our last reference to Mary in the New Testament, but I think we can assume she was with them just a little while later for Pentecost, and she was part of the church. After all, John was responsible for her now (although I would imagine Jesus’s brothers were more on board with taking care of her now too).So sometime between the desperate sorrow and loss of the Crucifixion and this moment, she found out he was alive again. I am sorry, I didn’t do that justice: HE WAS ALIVE AGAIN!! What an amazing moment that must have been. Her life went from feeling invalidated to validated. You affirmed everything good she believed about him and erased everything she doubted.And before I leave Mary, I want to sit with the idea of her sadness at having him leave again. Even though it was in glory through the Ascension, at least for the moment, she lost him again. Patty Griffin captures it well through her song “Mary.” She will see him again, but it must have been heartbreaking for her. Why couldn’t he stay? Maybe just a little longer?Father, there are things for which I pray every day that I have faith you will grant. Some are prayers for my children. And while I may live to see them come about, maybe I will not. That is okay. It is about your timing and not my ego. It is about your plan being made perfect and not my agenda. So I give this to you, and if I am not around to see the “morning,” so be it.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Advent Part 24: Mary’s son is killed. Was it all for nothing?John 19:25-42 (NLT)25 Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” 27 And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.28 Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. 30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.31 It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was Passover week). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. 33 But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. 34 One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. 35 (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also may continue to believe.) 36 These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and “They will look on the one they pierced.”38 Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. 39 With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. 40 Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. 41 The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. 42 And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover[l] and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.Dear God,There are some things in this story I never noticed before. The first thing is that Mary’s sister was there. Jesus’s aunt. I will get back to that in a second.As I focused on Mary through these prayer journals to you, I have come to see this whole experience through her eyes as a parent a little more vividly. The first thing I thought as I read this story was, “Well, this isn’t how this was supposed to work out at all.” What a devastating day! It is one thing to lose your son, but it is another to lose him so violently. And even more to have lost the man who was supposed to be the Messiah! She saw this coming. She saw the track he was on from at least the time she and his brothers tried to get him and take him home. This just was not going how she and Joseph foresaw it after they visited with the angels, with Zechariah and Elizabeth, with the shepherds, with Simeon and Anna, and with the wise men. I am sure she and Elizabeth talked a lot about who their boys would be when they grew up, and now they were both dead—killed brutally.I would imagine she wished Joseph was there to hold and comfort her. I wonder what kinds of conversations she and her sister had over the previous 34 years. I am sure the early years were filled with awe and wonder. Perhaps big dreams and Israel’s liberation through him. Then, in recent years, concern that this was all unraveling. Was this too much for her son? Maybe he had lost his mind. Now they stood there together, Mary feeling loved by her sister, but also maybe a little judged. How embarrassing to have this happen to your own son.And if you are Jesus, looking down, you see your mom, your aunt, and then John—apparently the only disciple that had the nerve to show up. It does not mention that Jesus’s brothers were there. Regardless, I think it is safe to say that Jesus did not trust them because he made John responsible for his mother’s care. I am sure their relationships were pretty strained and frayed by that point. It is all my conjecture, but the picture is pretty clear. She is standing there with her sister, with Mary Magdalene, with still another Mary, and with John. Her son’s life is over. And it sure looks like it was all a waste of time—Bethlehem, the stable, the rumors and innuendo, the flight to Egypt, the children slaughtered in Bethlehem, raising him… Now it was all over, and all she had left was to live out the rest of her life.Of course, I have the advantage of knowing that that is not the end of the story, but I want to just sit with Mary in seeming failure for another day or two. Sometimes as parents we just do not know what is going on with our children. I talked with someone today whose son ended up failing out of their first year of college. It just did not work. His mother homeschooled him, and so she, at least in part, feels like his academic failure is an indictment against her. He feels like a failure. His father feels it too. But maybe this is a door that you needed to close for him to find the path you have for him. Maybe, like Mary, they simply cannot see what you are doing.Father, help me to be at peace with the fact that sometimes things just do not go according to my plans because my plans can be vain, shortsighted, and foolish. Help me to let go of my plans and simply look to you in this moment, this day. Thank you for the things you have done that I can both see and not see, and then be at peace in your presence. Let me give my utmost for your highest, regardless of what it costs me.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Advent Part 23: Jesus dishonored at home.Matthew 13:53-58 (NLT)53 When Jesus had finished telling these stories and illustrations, he left that part of the country. 54 He returned to Nazareth, his hometown. When he taught there in the synagogue, everyone was amazed and said, “Where does he get this wisdom and the power to do miracles?” 55 Then they scoffed, “He’s just the carpenter’s son, and we know Mary, his mother, and his brothers—James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. 56 All his sisters live right here among us. Where did he learn all these things?” 57 And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.” 58 And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief.Dear God,This must have been such a confusing time for Jesus’s family and everyone who knew him growing up. It certainly seems that he was not only rejected at the synagogue, but also at home because he said, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his household.” I wonder just how much grief he caught from everyone, including his family. And what were Mary’s thoughts regarding all of this? Had she lost sight of what she had heard from the angel 30 years before? Had the years worn her down a bit? Maybe she built up in her mind what her son’s life would be, and she felt like it just was not working out like it was supposed to. Maybe his siblings were complaining to her about him, and she was succumbing to their pressure. Either way it is apparent that Jesus was not feeling affirmed and supported.This makes me think back to times when 1) I did not have my wife around to help temper my reactions to my children’s behavior, and 2) one of the children would lobby me about how I should feel about the other and I would let their perspective unfairly influence my own. The first point is especially important because sometimes we definitely need that other parent to help guide us through frustrating times with our children when our emotions overtake our judgment. I wonder how these stories might have been different if Joseph had still been around. I wonder how Joseph would have handled 30-year-old Jesus.Father, thank you for giving me a co-parent. Thank you for giving me a wise woman to help me through those times when my emotions overrode my logic. I know there were times when I still failed my children, but the incidences are much fewer because I had a great co-parent. And I am sorry for the instances I failed to give my children what you needed them to have from me. I am sorry for my impatience and for, at times, failing to give them what you needed them to have. Please guide all of us as we continue to mature in you.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Advent Part 22: Mary and Jesus’s brothers and sisters.Matthew 12:46-50 (NLT)46 As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. 47 Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak to you.”48 Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 49 Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. 50 Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”Dear God,This is really a combination story with Matthew 13, but I want to start with just this part. The order of the stories is that Jesus dissed Mary and his brothers here, then he tells a bunch of parables by the sea, and then he goes into the synagogue and is rejected (and indicates his family has rejected him as well).What a strange time this must have been for Mary. She apparently had a lot of children, both boys and girls. I wonder how much time she spent trying to calm the other children down as they dealt with Jesus as their brother. It had to have been hard for them, and it added an underappreciated layer of complexity to Mary’s life as a mother. Maybe it would have been easier for her to figure out how to be a mother to Jesus as an adult if he had been her only child, but she had other children to worry about as well. She was a mother to all of them. And I am sure sometimes she did it right by standing up to them and telling them they were wrong about Jesus, and sometimes she did it wrong and gave in to their perspective of him.Being a parent, even of adult children, is so complicated. It is true that our job to parent them is never quite over. As long as we are alive, there is a role for us to play, even if it is only to show them love. Then there are the decisions we must make regarding whether to help them or not help them in a given situation. I hate to see them suffer, but I also do not want to get in the way of how you might be working in their lives through an obstacle in front of them. If I remove that obstacle, have I gotten in your way?Father, thank you that our forebears were just people too. Thank you for giving us examples of flawed people who were as lost in their parenting as I feel sometimes. I would learn nothing if they were perfect, but none of them were. Please help my wife and me to parent our children. Counsel us through each other and through others. Raise up people in our children’s lives whom they can hear and will speak with your voice. Heal their wounds. Heal our wounds. And in the end, may our lives glorify you.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Advent Part 21: Mary parenting an adult Jesus (the wedding at Cana).John 2:1-5 (NLT)2 The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. 3 The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.”4 “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”5 But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”Dear God,It is too bad that we do not get the tone of voice in this story. It would be easy to interpret Mary’s words as bossy and impertinent. For my part, I see a meddling mother who is trying to save the day for some friends and has a son she knows can do something about it.However, when tone of voice comes into play, I like to infer a more playful tone because of how John relates this story. Mary beseeches Jesus to solve their problem. He labels it as her concern and tells her that he cannot be doing anything this public just yet. Then she turns and tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them. What is missing is Jesus’s verbal acceptance of the task. That tells me that he indicated to her that he would do it through the tone of his voice. Our automatic image of Jesus is usually stoic, but I have a feeling that he was being playful with his mother. It is certainly interesting that only John gives us this story.Okay, with all of that out of the way, what must it have been like to be a human woman and be the mother of the son of God, the Messiah? How did that work for her? Especially with Joseph seemingly gone now. She was the only one left who had experienced the angel visits about Jesus. We will assume Zechariah and Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s parents) were gone by then because they were old at the time of Gabriel’s visit to Zechariah. Mary was it. And I am sure there were confusing days. There was no one to consult with who could relate to her situation. She too was probably waiting for this young man to be the conquering Messiah. He was 30 now. It was about time he got going! He could do these miracles, but it was time for more! It was time for public leadership!Father, it can be hard to get out of our own way when it comes to the path you have for our children. It can feel like our prayers for them are going unanswered because, once again, we measure time in days, weeks, and months, and you measure it in years, decades, and centuries. So I come to you today to simply worship you, pray for my wife and my children (and myself), that we would be on the path you have for us, and that you will use our lives for your glory. And I also, once again, commit to you that I will not look to my children to fulfill my own needs for pride or achievement, but I turn them loose to live their lives.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Advent Part 20: Mary deals with her fear and anger towards Jesus.Luke 2:46-52 (NLT)46 Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.48 His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”49 “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they didn’t understand what he meant.51 Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart.52 Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.Dear God,Just this first sentence makes me think about those times when I was so mad at my children when they were little and, after I had really built up my anger towards them and was going to get onto them when I saw them. Then I would find them, hear their explanation, and realize that they had not really done anything wrong at all. Instead, they had done their best to do the right thing. I can only imagine how Mary and Joseph were feeling as they searched Jerusalem for three days. I wonder where they went. Where was the first place they looked? The second place? It took three days (coincidence?) to find him in the temple. I wonder why that was not closer to the top of their list.So they find him, and they are probably ready to let him have it. How do I know? Because we think Mary told this account to Luke, and she remembers saying, “Son, why have you treated us like this?” Forget the idea of being grateful he was alive. She was just angry at him. How could he do this to her (them)?!?To be clear, I do not blame Mary for this, and I do not think Jesus did either. He explained himself, but he also learned—as most teenagers need to learn—that his actions impacted the lives of others as well. Jesus still needed some parenting here too. He was still piecing together who he was and how he should proceed. It fits with verse 52 which says, “Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.”Father, my children are grown now and finding their own way, but as long as I am here, I think you will have some role for me to play in their lives. It might be diminishing. It might be changing. It might be to simply offer at least one source of unconditional love in their lives—one safe place. If that is what you have for me, so be it. And help me to be the son you need me to be for my parents and my wife’s father. Help me to adequately express my love for them and know how to receive from them the things you need me to have.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Advent Part 19: Feeling over your head as a father.Luke 2:46-52 (NLT)46 Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.48 His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”49 “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they didn’t understand what he meant.51 Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart.52 Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.Dear God,I want to look at the emotions used to describe Mary and Joseph in this passage:● Astonished (verse 48)● Anxious (verse 48)● Confused (verse 50: “But they did not understand…”)I know there were times when I was angry with my young children and ready to let them have it. So many times, however, I found that they had an explanation for what they had done that made perfect sense from their perspective. They were not rebellious. They were not defiant. They were just doing what they thought was right.In this story I can only imagine the fear and anxiety both Mary and Joseph felt. Who would have guessed that the boy was in the temple, holding court? I wonder if a younger Caiaphas was there too. How about a younger Nicodemus? No matter. The people who were there were “astounded” (verse 47) by his questions. It probably does not get enough attention that Jesus is not portrayed as sitting there and giving a bunch of answers. He is portrayed as asking amazing and insightful questions. He obviously had a lot on his mind that he was figuring out. Now he had an opportunity to be in the temple in Jerusalem to access the people who were supposed to know the answers. Of course, it was necessary for him to be in his father’s house!It is clear Mary and Joseph struggled to know how to raise this particular boy. His needs did not fit into any paradigm. I wonder how inadequate Joseph felt around him when it came to these types of questions. I am sure he asked them at home as well as in the temple. I wonder what kinds of conversations Mary and Joseph would have about Jesus when they were by themselves. Or even what kinds of conversations Joseph would have with his friends who knew Jesus.Father, I know I have certainly felt over my head sometimes when parenting my children. I am sure Joseph felt that much more so. He must have continuously wondered, “Am I enough for this boy? Am I adequate to raise God’s son?” I am sure that this responsibility deepened his own prayer life and his own relationship with you. How could it not have? This is our last story of Joseph. I’m sure the following years were just as overwhelming from his perspective and the early years were. Help me to follow his example and sink deeper into you as I continue to pray for my children and that you will give them what you need them to have from me, my wife, and those around them.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Advent Part 18: Mary loses her son!Luke 2:41-45 (NLT)41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. 42 When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. 43 After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, 44 because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.45 When they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there.Dear God,The last time I went through this story focusing on Joseph’s perspective, I stopped here—before they found Jesus—so I thought I would stop here for Mary too. He was a good kid, so they made a huge assumption: that he was with their traveling party. Where else would he be? He always did what he was supposed to do. But then they figured out he was not there. Oh no! What happened?!?I would bet that it never occurred to Mary that Jesus separated himself from them voluntarily. That would likely have been very out of character for him. Nom someone must have taken him, or he was hurt and could not get back to them. This woman, who fled to Egypt and then learned all the boys under 2 years old back in Bethlehem were killed after they left because someone was trying to kill her son, had now lost that boy. Where was he?!?I wonder if she and Joseph blamed each other as they went back to Jerusalem. Maybe they each blamed themselves. Maybe Mary got all of the blame since she was the mom, and moms were in charge of children back then. Either way I will bet there was a lot of fear as they went along … and a lot of silence.I have blamed myself for a lot of things with my children through the years. And I confess that I blamed my wife for things too. And she has, in turn, blamed me for some things. How can you not? We all make mistakes, and we all deserve some blame. In this case I think Mary and Joseph both fell asleep at the wheel because they had grown to trust Jesus so much. But he still needed some guidance and parenting. He was trying to figure things out and he needed their help.Father, help me to be at peace with the mistakes I have made and the mistakes my wife has made. Help me to forgive myself for anything for which I still feel shame. Help me to forgive my wife for any resentments I still have towards her. As I search my thoughts, I cannot think of any, but I am sure they are there. And help me to stay alert and vigilant as I continue to be a father to my adult children. Help me to not miss what you still need them to have from me.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Advent Part 17: Joseph loses God’s son!Luke 2:41-45 (NLT)41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. 42 When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. 43 After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, 44 because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.45 When they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there.Dear God,Before we get to the part where they find Jesus, I want to just sit with Joseph and Mary for these couple of days when Jesus was lost. After all these years. After the angel visits/warnings. After the flight to Egypt. After returning tentatively to Galilee and Nazareth. Now, thinking that everything had calmed down, Jesus was lost! I am sure they must have had other kids by now. Did they take those kids with them to look for Jesus, or did they let them go back to Nazareth with their friends and relatives? But forget all that for a moment. Jesus was lost!As they traveled during the day, slept at night (which I’m sure was fitful sleep at best), what were their conversations like with each other? What were their prayers to you? Were they repenting to you for not keeping a closer eye on him? Were they beseeching you for his safety? Were they trying to figure out where to even start looking for him? Were they afraid that he had been finally found and killed by whomever the king was at the time?Being a father (and mother) is rife with moments like this, although maybe not to this level, since Joseph knew this boy was your son. As a parent, you know you have messed up. You know that you have done the wrong thing for your child. You know they are in danger, and you did not adequately protect them. You are scared for them. It can be overwhelming.And as a child you never really appreciate what your parent is experiencing. I am at a point now, with my children being childless adults, that I know there are certain things they just will not get until they are parents themselves. And being parents will give them deeper insights into you and into my wife and me. Sometimes experience is the only thing that can teach us. In this case Jesus was about to learn a lesson in how to bless his parents.Father, help me to be at peace with my parenting mistakes. Help me to extend grace to my children. Help them to extend grace to me. Help me to reach out and love you as my own father. As much as I am able, I truly appreciate what you do for me.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Advent Part 16: Mary gets to go home.Matthew 2: 19-23 (NLT)19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. 20 “Get up!” the angel said. “Take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead.”21 So Joseph got up and returned to the land of Israel with Jesus and his mother. 22 But when he learned that the new ruler of Judea was Herod’s son Archelaus, he was afraid to go there. Then, after being warned in a dream, he left for the region of Galilee. 23 So the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said: “He will be called a Nazarene.”Dear God,Was this the dream Mary had been waiting for? Was she excited about going home or nervous? Probably both. I am sure she was glad to get back to Israel, but nervous that 1) she would have to reckon with family and friends who might judge her for having a child older than her marriage, and 2) being back in the land where her son might be in danger. But still, she was going home.I remember back in 2005 when we were trying to decide what to do about my work. Our children were 9 and 6 years old, and we lived in Waco, Texas. I was up for jobs in Waco, Tyler, Texas, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. I really wanted that Grand Rapids job. I remember wondering at the time what each path held for my children. What friends would they have in each city? Church experiences? In some ways I thought more about them than I thought about myself—at least, that is how I remember it. How would this impact them?As it turned out, our path surprisingly saw us move closer to both my wife’s and my families of origin. I went from being almost 200 miles from my parents to 45 miles, and my wife went from being a difficult 100 miles to an easier 80 miles. But even with the benefit of hindsight, I could not tell you if this was the right path for our children or not. All these years later it seems to have been the right path for me. I can even see it has been good for my wife. For my children, I trust you are leading them exactly where you need them to be regardless of whether I can see your plan with my own eyes.Father, I am sure there was a lot on Mary’s mind as they traveled back to Israel. I hope the angel’s visit was a comfort to her and Joseph. I am grateful for how you comforted me over the years too. Parenting is hard and worrying about your children is hard. But being in your presence brings me peace. Thank you for your presence.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Advent Part 15: Joseph gives everything for his and God’s son.Matthew 2:19-23 (NLT)19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. 20 “Get up!” the angel said. “Take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead.”21 So Joseph got up and returned to the land of Israel with Jesus and his mother. 22 But when he learned that the new ruler of Judea was Herod’s son Archelaus, he was afraid to go there. Then, after being warned in a dream, he left for the region of Galilee. 23 So the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said: “He will be called a Nazarene.”Dear God,I remember when my children were in grade school, and I was unemployed. As I prayed about job opportunities and what you had for us, one of the things that always stuck with me was to ask where you wanted them. Where did you want them to grow up, be in school, go to church, and make friends? They were as much a part of my decision as your call for my wife and me. And I will confess that, over the years, after we moved to this small town when they were in the fourth and first grades, there were times I wondered whether or not we made the right move. Was coming here what was best for them?I finally got to a place where I simply put my faith in you and decided that you would have closed the door or guided me in a different direction if this is not where you wanted all four of us. The path has not been straight, and there are a lot of circumstances in their being raised here that concern me. But did they need those experiences to develop something in them? Even if something looks wrong, is it exactly right? That is where I am putting my money, through my faith in you. I am betting that things have worked the way you ordained because 1) I prayed over and over again that your will would be done in all our lives, and 2) I trust you will guide us all into your plan.I say all of that because I see Joseph having to make a lot of decisions in this passage. He gets his third and fourth angel visits. The third visit instructs him to go to Egypt. The fourth, to go back to Israel. So he had some affirmation he was doing the right thing. But all of this—all of this—was for Jesus. This was not about Mary. It was not about Joseph. He did it all to keep Jesus safe. I wonder how much of this Jesus knew and how old he was when he knew it. I wonder how you used these years in Egypt to form Jesus’s love for Gentiles and for the poor. A love for foreigners and those who feel out of place. A love for the lonely and the friendless because he had to make new friends at least a couple of times.Father, thank you for the joy of learning to make decisions for the good of someone else, including our children, even though it will cost us something. In this case it cost Joseph convenience, reputation, and momentum in starting/stopping/starting/stopping/starting his business. But he did it for you. He did it for this boy. He did it for my Messiah. I hope I am man enough to make similar decisions.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Advent Part 14: The escape to Egypt.Matthew 2:13-15 (NLT)13 After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”14 That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, 15 and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”Dear God,Other than Simeon’s prophecy at the temple, I think this might be Mary’s first inkling that there could be scary parts of being Jesus’s mother. What was that conversation between her and Joseph like?Joseph: Mary! Mary, wake up!Mary: What? What is it?Joseph: We have to go.Mary: What do you mean, “We have to go”? Go where?Joseph: Egypt.Mary: Egypt?!? What are you talking about? Can’t we talk about this in the morning?Joseph: No. The angel said we have to go immediately.Mary: You saw an angel?Joseph: Yes, the angel came to me like he did before and told me, “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother. Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”Mary: What?!? Are you sure that’s what he said?Joseph: As sure as I was when he visited me last time and told me to marry you.Mary: Okay, let’s go!What was that trip like? Was it frantic? Did they finance it with the gold from the wise men? I wonder what plans they had for their lives that they now had to scrap to follow the angel’s instructions. Had Mary made friends? Had Joseph hit his stride with his work? Were they planning to raise Jesus in Bethlehem?Your call to them to raise Jesus was a call to a difficult life. I like to joke that I think Noah got one of the worst deals in the Bible because of the work he had to go through, and it would probably have been easier to just die in the flood. But Mary and Joseph also had some real obstacles of their own. It feels like their lives were all about sacrificing to fulfill this call.Then they probably heard about this after they arrived in Egypt:Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance.Matthew 2:16Survivors’ remorse? Guilt over their son’s existence having incited Herod into murdering those children? The anguish on behalf of all those parents? Relief that they were safe in Egypt? I am sure Mary experienced all these things. I wonder how this whole event changed how protective she was of Jesus for the rest of his life.Father, parenting can be scary. You can call us to sacrifice everything for the good of our children. Even when they are adults, their good can outweigh our own. And as we age into the end of our years, we need to consider how our own declines and eventual deaths will impact them. So show me at any given moment what you are calling me to do for my children. Give me great discernment between what you do and do not need them to have from me. And everything you do for them or for me, make it something that is really for you and your glory, whatever it might cost me. And help me to be willing and ready to live up to those last words I just prayed.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

We are going to close out the year by looking at 25 posts on Mary and Joseph for Advent. Part 13: Mary and the Wise Men.Matthew 2:9-11 (NLT)9 After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.Dear God,When I read this story this morning, I asked myself, “What kind of a day has it been?” Aaron Sorkin has used that as an episode title for at least four TV episodes he wrote. Every day is filled with so much, and we miss most of it. But this day for Mary must have been amazing. We are not sure how old Jesus is here, but some time has passed because they are now in a house. That tells me that they had established their lives in Bethlehem at that point. They had either figured out a way to get their own house or they were living with someone else. Either way, they were set up.I am sure the day started like any other day. She fed and changed Jesus. She kissed Joseph goodbye as he went to work. Who knows what she was going through that day. Maybe they were trying to figure out how to pay for some things. Then a knock at the door and there are some men with gifts. They were there to worship her baby and bring gifts to him. What a surreal moment for her. Maybe it was even an encouragement. I have seen my wife go through the doldrums of those first few months of having a new baby. Even the first couple of years can be hard. But then you sent her these guys. And I have wondered for several years now if these gifts helped finance their trip to Egypt. It makes sense—especially the gold. I think you were providing for them when they had no idea what was around the corner.Father, I love the idea that Mary and Joseph were just a couple of regular parents facing the psychological, mental, physical, and spiritual challenges that all of us face. You had them on a need-to-know basis, just like you do with me and the rest of us. In their case, they needed to be reassured that they had not been mistaken when they heard Gabriel’s messages. This was one more event that would carry them through what was to come—from a mental, spiritual, and psychological standpoint. Please help me to recognize when you are doing the same for me. And thank you for all that you are doing.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

We are going to close out the year by looking at 25 posts on Mary and Joseph for Advent. Part 12: The Wise men and the escape to Egypt.Matthew 2:1-15 (NLT)2 Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”9 After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.12 When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.13 After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”14 That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, 15 and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”Dear God,Here is a question that I think is not asked enough, but has a simple answer: Why did you pick someone like Joseph? Why not a person of prominence to be Jesus’s dad? Why not a religious leader? Why not a king? Why was the Messiah born to a young poor girl engaged to a carpenter?I think there are several answers. The obvious ones are that those fathers would have been a bad influence on him. We have seen how the sons of kings turn out (well, maybe except for Saul’s son Jonathan). We have seen how the sons of religious leaders like Eli and Samuel turn out. We’ve seen how Abraham’s, Isaac’s and Jacob’s sons turned out. No, there is certainly no guarantee that someone will turn out well based on who their parents are. All of us are fallible.In this case, I think you both picked the parents based on their character, regardless of what their status was, and it actually did matter because a person of position would have had much more to lose than Joseph and Mary did. Speaking of Joseph, I think it was probably easier to obey you and take Mary as his wife and then do all this moving around because he did not have a lot of encumbrances based upon his position in life. He had less to lose by taking Mary as his wife. Then he had less to lose by waking up and choosing to obey and take Mary and Jesus to Egypt.To relate this to myself, I have often wondered how much I allow myself to not obey something you called me to do because of the things I have achieved and/or acquired. I have a lovely wife. Do I want to drag her just anywhere? I have a nice home in a safe town. Am I ready to trade that security in for physical insecurity? I have a job that pays me a nice middle-class wage. Am I ready to jeopardize that for uncertainty and a life of truly living on my daily bread? No, I would never have made a good father for Jesus for a lot of reasons, but the biggest one is that I would not have been prepared to pay the price that Joseph had to pay. I wonder what it would look like if I were ready to pay that kind of price now, and what would you possibly call me to do if I were willing to completely open myself up to any possibilities you might have for me?Father, even now, I want to pray and tell you that I am willing to go wherever you want me to go and do whatever you want me to do, but I am scared. I am scared of what you might call me to do. But I am going to say it anyway. Father, I am willing to go, I am willing to do whatever you are calling me to do. I am just going to tell you that you are going to have to make it very obvious because my natural inclination will be to miss anything you call me to do that is out of my comfort zone. So make your plan for me John-proof. Help me to make each decision correctly in the moment and then have these decisions and choices add up to your will.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

We are going to close out the year by looking at 25 posts on Mary and Joseph for Advent. Part 11: Joseph needed affirmations too.Luke 2:8-35 (NLT)8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.21 Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived.22 Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. 23 The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord.” 24 So they offered the sacrifice required in the law of the Lord—“either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”25 At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him 26 and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, 28 Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,29 “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised.30 I have seen your salvation,31 which you have prepared for all people.32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!”33 Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. 35 As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”Dear God,When last we left off with Joseph, he was sitting with his wife and their new child. He was in the middle of some very weird circumstances. How was he to believe any of this? Surely that dream must have been a mistake. Surely he should not have agreed to take Mary as his wife. As he sat there, did any part of him maybe even start to wonder if Mary had truly been faithful to him? There had to have been doubts.Then you accomplished two things at once. Well, actually several things at once. You sent him and Mary some shepherds with an amazing story. What a great affirmation!! All of a sudden, all of his doubts (and hers) would be vanquished. The shepherds not only told Joseph and Mary that God had told them about the baby, but also told them who he was. They told the new parents that the angel had said where to find them. They were not alone! You knew exactly where they were. In the moments before the shepherds arrived, Mary and Joseph might have felt alone and scared, but what an amazing encouragement this must have been to them!The reason I say this accomplished several things at once is because I am sure this forever changed those shepherds’ lives too. You were just showing up and encouraging all kinds of people on that holy night.Then you sent them more encouragement: Simeon. I know this was a big deal because of verse 33: “His father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.” I’m sure the emotional roller coaster of the last several months must have worn them out. Joseph went from feeling betrayed by Mary, to relieved after the angel’s visit, to overwhelmed at the birth, to encouraged by the shepherds, to left in wonder by Simeon. Anna would come along in a bit and have something to say too.Father, help me to stay in the middle of your presence and not swing too wide in enthusiasm or despair. Help me to see every encouraging and discouraging situation with your eyes. Of course, I will never be able to know what you know—nor should I be able to—but I can surely see in the moment at least a little of what you see. Give me the serenity, the courage, and the wisdom I need to get through this day.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

We are going to close out the year by looking at 25 posts on Mary and Joseph for Advent. Part 10: More affirmations through prophecy for Mary and Joseph.Luke 2:36-38 (NLT)36 Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. 37 Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four.[c] She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. 38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.Dear God,I do not know that I had ever done the math, but Anna had to have been 105 or so. I mean, these are Genesis years. These are modern 20th and 21st century years. I wonder what it was like for Mary to have Simeon’s prophecy followed by Anna talking to others about her son. Anna was obviously well-known to everyone, since she had been at the temple for 84 years. I wonder if Mary had ever seen Anna on past trips to Jerusalem as a girl. And here she was now, in her special situation as Jesus’s mother, and Anna already knew all about it. Again, what an amazing set of affirmations you gave to her and Joseph.There are times in my life when you have brought me affirmations in the midst of struggles. Sometimes it is related to parenting. Other times it was about work or marriage. I remember when I was unemployed years ago, and you brought financial respite at just the right times. In the heart of the COVID pandemic in 2020, you helped our nonprofit with financial resources that made all the difference as we responded to the crisis. You even bring me occasional encouragements in my relationships with my wife, children, and extended family. It is quite remarkable. The scary thing is that I can see that if I were not spending time in prayer with you, I would probably take all of this for granted. It is often only when I sit down in prayer that you reveal the affirmations to me for what they are.Father, I take these affirmations and thank you. I do see good signs of your hand in my children’s lives. I see your hand in my marriage. I see your hand all over the place. No, things are not turning out how I would have thought (or how I thought I wanted), but I have faith that they are turning out just as you need them to. So I give that to you. I give you all the freedom you need to do whatever you feel is right in my life. For your glory, Lord, not mine.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

We are going to close out the year by looking at 25 posts on Mary and Joseph for Advent. Part 9: Affirmations, prophecies, and a warning.Luke 2:21-35 (NLT)21 Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived.22 Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. 23 The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord.” 24 So they offered the sacrifice required in the law of the Lord—“either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”25 At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him 26 and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, 28 Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,29 “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised.30 I have seen your salvation,31 which you have prepared for all people.32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!”33 Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. 35 As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”Dear God,I want to focus on two things about this story.First, Mary and Joseph were amazed at what Simeon said about Jesus. I would imagine that this kind of fit the narrative that had been developing over the last year. Perhaps this stuff about Gentiles was new. But glory to Israel—sure. This child was going to be special. I can just imagine Mary and Joseph making eye contact and wordlessly saying, “Can you believe this?!?”But then we get his prophecy to Mary, which brings me to my second point:“This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise.”[Okay, we can still work with this. I can see how this could be part of his destiny]“He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him.”[Excuse me. What?]“As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.”[How does that fit into all of this?]“And a sword will pierce your very soul.”[Hold it. What do you mean? This isn’t funny.]Luke 2:34-35This is obviously one of the prophecies that Mary remembered about Jesus too. And she decided to tell Luke about it as well. I just went back and looked to be sure, but this is the first time either Mary or Joseph have gotten an inkling that this son of theirs will live a less than glorious life. Even Zechariah did not get a warning from his angel visit about John the Baptist’s difficult path. It shows just how much Simeon was in tune with your Holy Spirit. His mind was open enough that he could see what others were not able to see yet. A real Messiah will not just rule superficially. He will rule in people’s hearts (“…the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.”).For Mary, this must have just been a whirlwind. She is getting affirmations all over the place, but she is also receiving pieces of a complicated jigsaw puzzle. Not so that she will know the future, but so that when the future comes 30 years later, she will have these words to hold on to. She will be able to have faith while Jesus’s Crucifixion pierces her soul.Father, thank you for not telling us too much, but you just reveal yourself to us in the moment. Help me to embrace that concept. As I move through life day by day, I want to be patient and respond to each moment without feeling the pressure of what I think I should be doing. I just want to know what you want me to do today.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

We are going to close out the year by looking at 25 posts on Mary and Joseph for Advent. Part 8: The Shepherds Give Mary Lifelong AffirmationsLuke 2:6-7,16-19 (NLT)6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.Dear God,It was a few years ago when I first started to ask “why” regarding the shepherds. Why did you disturb their sleep with this news? Why did you bring them into the loop? Why were they chosen to receive this instead of the local church or community leaders? And I have come up with some thoughts related to why the shepherds instead of anyone else, but that is not what I am looking at today. I am looking at how Mary’s story intersects with theirs. And I find the key in verse 19: “…but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.”It was a night she will never forget. She had to give birth in a stable. She was young (remembering she was likely a child by today’s standards), she was tired, scared, and going through all of this with a guy she presumably did not know as well as she later would. Was there any part of both Mary and Joseph that Satan was using to sow doubt about and distrust of the other? Just how scared and alone did Mary feel that night? Then these dirty shepherd guys show up. These unlikely heroes came in and told Mary, Joseph, and anyone who would listen about their own angel visit. But they did not get just one angel: “Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.’” (Luke 2:13-14)They got an army of angels! Mary did not get an army of angels on her visit with Gabriel. Joseph did not get one either. But these guys saw an army of angels. God’s incarnation into the world was big time!! This was an affirmation to Mary that God knew exactly what was happening. She did not have to worry about whether or not she and Joseph had done something wrong because they were not in a house or inn. You affirmed to her that you knew exactly what was going on, all the way down to Jesus lying in a manger. You sent shepherds to her and to Joseph. And as Jesus grew up, she could return to this memory, which she apparently did often.She probably did it the day the wise men came. She probably thought about the shepherds a few days later when you sent her more affirmations at the temple in Jerusalem (more on that tomorrow). She probably thought about them when Joseph woke her up in the middle of the night and told her to get Jesus ready for a trip to Egypt. She probably thought about the shepherds’ visit when she heard about Herod killing all the baby boys back in Bethlehem. She probably thought about the shepherds when they were frantically looking for Jesus when he was 12. She probably thought about them as she asked Jesus to make some wine. She probably thought about them when she stood outside a home, worried that Jesus had lost his mind. She probably thought about the shepherds when she saw Jesus crucified. And she probably thought about the shepherds after the resurrection. This memory likely stayed in her heart for the rest of her life and always comforted her.Father, help me to remember all the affirmations you have given to me through the years. My wife and I sometimes talk about the prayers we have prayed and how sometimes you say no and sometimes you say yes. What I need to do is have faith you are working things out the way you know is best. So I reiterate my faith right now. I trust you. I trust you. I trust you. Help my distrust. And help me do today what you would have me do so that your will might be done and your kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

We are going to close out the year by looking at 25 posts on Mary and Joseph for Advent. Part 7: Mary and Joseph bonding through pregnancy and traveling together.Luke 2:1-5 (NLT)2 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.Dear God,I think we tend to skip past this part of the story and get to the birth too quickly. Several years ago, there was a movie called The Nativity Story. It was a well-done movie that showed the experiences of Mary and Joseph as they led up to the birth of Jesus. I think the movie made the common mistake of showing that Mary went into labor as they rode into Bethlehem. That is not what verse 6 says at all, but it seems most of our modern representations of Jesus’s birth tell it that way.In the case of this passage, I want to just spend some time thinking about Mary and Joseph traveling together and spending alone time together, perhaps for the first time. I do not know how much they knew each other before they were engaged, but this certainly accelerated and changed any type of courtship and customary newlywed traditions. What must their conversations have been like? How did they plan for this new reality? How did they dream? Did they allow themselves to “suppose” about Jesus’s life and who he would be? Did they talk about how afraid they were when they each met Gabriel? Did they talk about Elizabeth and Zechariah, and Mary’s experience with them? Did Joseph admit to her that he was planning to divorce her quietly before Gabriel told him not to? Did they just hold onto each other because all they had was each other in this strange town? I would imagine that this was an incredible time of bonding for both of them.I remember anticipating our son’s birth. I told my wife over and over again, “I just can’t wait to meet him.” He was a stranger to me, but the most important stranger I had ever anticipated meeting. I did not have any expectations about greatness he would achieve in his life, like Mary and Joseph must have had, but I did look forward to getting to know him and his personality. The same was true for my daughter, but I am reflecting on our son because, as Jesus was for Mary and Joseph, he was our first. I remember my wife and I talking about how we felt inadequate to be parents. We were nervous. We did not have much money and did not know how we would afford things for our child. But we had a home, health insurance that provided a hospital room for the delivery, and I had a job to go to give us at least some financial stability. In short, we had all kinds of advantages over Mary and Joseph, but the anxious anticipation still gave us a special time of bonding over the pregnancy as well.Father, thank you for my wife. When she was pregnant with our son, we could feel him move. We were buying clothes and building baby furniture. And I am glad we still have those memories. They seem so long ago, and yet, I still remember some parts quite vividly. I am very grateful for what we had then and what we have now. It is a time that has wonderful potential for parents who are expecting when they both are ready to go through the experience together. I feel so sorry for those who go through it alone. I think there is definitely something precious about having someone else with you throughout the entire experience.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

We are going to close out the year by looking at 25 posts on Mary and Joseph for Advent. Part 6: Joseph’s Angel Visit.Matthew 1:20-21, 24-25 (NLT)20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.I just love this guy. “As he considered this.” I checked. This is the New Living Translation, but I wanted to see what the other translations said here. The New American Standard says, “But when he had considered this…” The New International Version says, “But after he had considered this…” They all use the word “considered.” I am not sure why I am so hung up on this word, but I feel like it helps paint a picture. This was not an impetuous decision. He did not allow himself to just react out of emotion. He considered this. As much as I have ever considered, contemplated, or wrestled with any decision, that is what Joseph did here. And his ultimate decision was to absorb the cost and still divorce her quietly. This was not a small, insecure, vindictive man. You gave Jesus as an earthly father a man who was able to love and still show mercy amid his pain.Then the angel appears to Joseph in a dream. I must admit that I had a couple of dreams last night that were pretty vivid and clear. Maybe you were talking to me through them and maybe you weren’t. They were good and affirming dreams. But I do not know if they had gone the other way and told me I was doing the wrong thing if I would have woken up and changed the course of my life. I wonder if Joseph was extra ready to believe the angel because he wanted to believe Mary. The angel told him he believe Mary, and she had not done anything wrong. In fact, quite the opposite. She had done everything so right that you wanted her to be the earthly mother of your son.We will get into this in future journals about Joseph, but this was not to be an easy path for him. It is probably a good thing he did not know how hard the path would be. If he had known what the future held for himself and Mary, he might have said no. I know I would have. That is why you keep me so ignorant about the future. It is better if I just do not know.Father, help me to spend more time in “consider” mode. Help me to stop and prayerfully consider my situations more. Speak to me through whatever means you think will reach me. Give me ears to hear, eyes to see, and courage to either act or not act. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. And please bless the path I am on for your glory. Lead me straight down that path. Do not let me falter.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

We are going to close out the year by looking at 25 posts on Mary and Joseph for Advent. Part 5: Joseph’s sacrifice.Matthew 1:18-25 (NLT)18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son,and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.Dear God,There is so much here. In fact, I could just stop at verses 18 and 19. In fact, I just might. I think it is good to sit with Joseph in the moment of verse 19 for a while.18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.What are the range of emotions this man must have experienced?● Anger● Betrayal● Confusion● Hate● Love● Compassion● MercyWhat impresses me is the last half of the list I just made triumphed over the first half of the list. In fact, I would never have suspected him of experiencing love, compassion, or mercy, except that he lived out those three emotions through his actions.As a dad, a husband, and in many other parts of my life, I have been betrayed, and there were times I did not allow love, compassion, and mercy to triumph over anger, betrayal, confusion, and hate. I have avenged myself. I have struck back. I have betrayed in return. I have done it all. Sure, sometimes I have done it right, but in light of what Joseph did here, all I can remember at the moment are my failures.So what would deciding to divorce her quietly cost him? What would mercy, compassion, and love cost him? Amid his pain, he not only chose to show her mercy, but he actually put a lot at risk as well.● Reputation. If she were to have been sent on her way, it could have been said of him that he had gotten her pregnant. Even if she moved to live with Elizabeth, rumors would have flown around town. How would that have impacted his future earnings as a carpenter? His future marriage or ability to marry? His standing in the temple?● Money. As I mentioned above, this could impact people’s willingness to do business with him. Would they see him as a barbarian who got Mary pregnant and then refused to do the right thing?● Marriage. It could have impacted his ability to court and marry another woman. Who would trust him now?● Temple. He would potentially never be respected and given any responsibilities as an upstanding member in the community.And what would have happened if he did not divorce her quietly? What if he had allowed the instincts I would have followed to rule the day? What if he gave in to the anger, betrayal, confusion, and hate? Well, the simple answer is that he could have gotten Mary and her unborn baby killed. You needed him to be the man he was for your plan to work. And you knew him.I think it is also important to point out that his angel visit came after he learned Mary was pregnant. Knowing how he responded before the angel told him it was okay reveals so much about Joseph’s character.Father, thank you for creating people like Joseph in the world. Thank you that you created him and prepared him for such a time as this. I am sorry for him that his earthly life was not easy. In fact, it was decidedly harder because of his obedience to you. It seems unfair, but none of this must be fair. It is not about us. It was not about Joseph. He probably would have been the first one to say that given his response to Mary’s pregnancy. And it is not about me either, although I am not always the first one to say that. It is all about you and the plan you have for the world through my life. Help me to live into that knowledge with my whole heart and not just my head.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

We are going to close out the year by looking at 25 posts on Mary and Joseph for Advent. Part 4: Joseph’s ancestry.Matthew 1:1-17 (NLT)1 This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham:2 Abraham was the father of Isaac.Isaac was the father of Jacob.Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar).Perez was the father of Hezron.Hezron was the father of Ram.4 Ram was the father of Amminadab.Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.Nahshon was the father of Salmon.5 Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab).Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth).Obed was the father of Jesse.6 Jesse was the father of King David.David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah).7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam.Rehoboam was the father of Abijah.Abijah was the father of Asa.8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat.Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram.Jehoram was the father of Uzziah.9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham.Jotham was the father of Ahaz.Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh.Manasseh was the father of Amon.Amon was the father of Josiah.11 Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon).12 After the Babylonian exile:Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel.Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel.13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud.Abiud was the father of Eliakim.Eliakim was the father of Azor.14 Azor was the father of Zadok.Zadok was the father of Akim.Akim was the father of Eliud.15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar.Eleazar was the father of Matthan.Matthan was the father of Jacob.16 Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.17 All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.Dear God,I wonder if Joseph grew up knowing that he was a descendant of King David. I am sure he did. I am sure that it was always passed down from generation to generation, and the exact order was laid out. I do not know if Joseph was the oldest of his siblings or not, but I am sure there was a part of the boy Joseph that walked around feeling at least a little cool that he was a direct descendant of David. It probably meant less and less as he grew, and the reality hit him that his lineage was not worth much more than a schoolyard brag—at least that is what he thought.He had no idea how his life would turn out. But the thing that fascinates me about Joseph is what a good man he was. We will get into that in future passages, but there is something unbelievably noble about him. More noble even that what I know of any of his forefathers, including David. But I am sure David would have been proud that his great, great, great … grandson turned out to be exactly the man you needed to raise Jesus.I do not know what caused Joseph to be that way. Perhaps it was his upbringing. Maybe his mother and father were just great teachers and examples for him. Maybe there was something about his nature that was humble. Maybe you prepared him specially for the life you had for him. Regardless, you already know this, but I just think the world of him.Father, I pray that you will help me to live into the life that you have for me. I have made so many mistakes at this point and missed so many opportunities, but there is not much I can do about those now other than make amends to people I have hurt. What I can do is try to love on you and love on others around me as much as possible and then trust in you that you will do with me what you need to do. Whatever that is, Father, lead me straight into that life, as much as possible.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

We are going to close out the year by looking at 25 posts on Mary and Joseph for Advent. Part 3: The MagnificatLuke 1:46-56 (NLT)46 Mary responded,“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.47 How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!48 For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.49 For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.50 He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him.51 His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.52 He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.53 He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.54 He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful.55 For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.”56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back to her own home.Dear God,My wife and I began attending Catholic church in 2011, and while I am still not Catholic, I have read the Magnificat many, many times. But I do not know that I have ever really taken these words that are attributed to Mary and looked at them from her perspective. What were the experiences and emotions that propelled these words out of her mouth? What insights was she having with you that we now get to see 2,000 years later?To set the context, Mary has just arrived at Elizabeth’s after finding out she is pregnant. We do not know if she has told anyone else yet. We do not know if anyone knows. But when she walked in the door, Elizabeth gave her all the affirmation she needed, and Mary just seems to explode with these words.● Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my savior! – This is just flat-out worship. Recognizing who you are first and foremost. Her soul magnifies you and her spirit rejoices in you.● For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, – She is in awe of you noticing her and counting her as worthy of this honor. She probably always felt like her life would be limited and humble from beginning to end.● And from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me. – She had some time since Gabriel visited to think about her new place in history. If what Gabriel said is true, then she will be known as the mother of the Messiah for eternity. She had no idea how this would play out, but in her mind, she was aware enough to know that this would elevate her to a place in history.● He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him. – She knows a savior is coming. Like Zechariah, she probably has the wrong idea about what that savior will look like, but she knows that those who hear you are within your mercy through the generations.● His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. – She might think her new baby will bring about Israel’s freedom from the rule of Rome or any other country. The new paradigm of both Israelites and Gentiles being reconciled to God through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection probably never occurred to her.● He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands. – I would imagine when you are poor and oppressed there are two main things that hit your radar: hunger and shelter. In her mind, this seems to be an outreach to the poor as well. After all, she is poor. Will the Messiah lift up and provide for the poor as well? Will he topple the wealthy? That seems to make sense to her, but that is not necessarily the way you work.● He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful. For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever – She might think revolution is coming. Just like Zechariah does not have it completely right, Mary does not yet appreciate that Jesus came for the Gentiles too.I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the link between Mary’s words and Psalm 146 and Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. She likely knew that psalm at least to some extent and that is what flowed out of her as she worshiped in that moment.Father, what I see here is a young woman figuring things out much like the rest of us do. She worships you, but without perfect knowledge. But that is okay. You will take it anyway because you know her heart is pure in that moment of worship. She will learn over the years. She will become disillusioned, just like I can be disillusioned sometimes. And I still have a long way to go. I do not understand what you are doing in my life or in the lives of my wife and children. But I am here to worship you. I give you my worship and my praise.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

We are going to close out the year by looking at 25 posts on Mary and Joseph for Advent. Part 2: Mary gets affirmation from God through Elizabeth.Luke 1:39-45 (NLT)39 A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town 40 where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. 43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”Dear God,I can only imagine the buyer’s remorse Mary felt after Gabriel left her. It is easy to say yes in the moment, but then reality starts to set in:● What will my parents say?● What will Joseph say?● What will my friends and the community say?● Will Joseph break off the engagement?● Who will ever believe me?● Will the town stone me?● How am I going to raise this baby?● How can I be the person chosen to do this?● Did I just imagine this whole thing? Am I really pregnant?● This is not how I thought my life would go at all!So she naturally set out to see Elizabeth, since Gabriel told her in verse 36 that she is pregnant too. Maybe she will understand.I am sure all of these thoughts (and more) were running through her mind as she went to see Elizabeth. Perhaps she hoped Elizabeth and Zechariah would help her with her parents. Did she plan her first words to Elizabeth and Zechariah, hoping they would believe her?But the best thing happened as soon as she walked into the room: affirmation! As soon as she got there, she never had to tell Elizabeth anything. Elizabeth just spontaneously told her, “Blessed are you among women, and your child will be blessed! How could this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside of me. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill what he has spoken in her!”Mary had to have thought, “Oh, thank goodness! I do not have to justify anything to you. I can just tell you my story and you will believe me.” I am sure Zechariah and Elizabeth had a lot of written conversations about what Gabriel had told him, and now the puzzle was starting to make sense. I want to spend some time tomorrow breaking down Mary’s response to Elizabeth, so I will do the Magnificat later. Right now, I want to just sit with the relief. To acknowledge the anxiety and then the way you alleviated her fears.I think it is interesting that Matthew gives us Gabriel’s visit to Joseph and Luke gives us his visit to Mary. Neither book gives both. Thank you for giving us both of these gospels.Father, thank you for the little affirmations you give to me. There are times when I have great anxiety, but you are faithful to me, and you are always there to comfort me. I do not always come to you for that comfort. Sometimes I am sinful and try to assuage my anxiety with self-indulgence. But when I come to you, you comfort me. You sometimes send me signs and wonders or meet a need in a miraculous way. You are good. I am truly sorry for the times when I am only looking for distractions to ease my fear instead of looking to you.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

We are going to close out the year by looking at 25 posts on Mary and Joseph for Advent. Part 1 - Gabriel Visits Mary.Luke 1:26-38 (NLT)26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail.”38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.Dear God,It is one thing to be Joseph and Jesus’s “stepfather,” if you will. It is another thing to be his actual mother. For Jesus to be flesh of her flesh. What an amazing thing for her, in a physiological and psychological sense. This child was part of her and was partly her. Her DNA was in there along with yours. It adds a whole layer to what Joseph experienced. I am sure it meant just that much more to her than to him, although I know it meant a lot to him too.I think it is interesting that Mary gets a little more latitude from the angel than Zechariah did. Zechariah asked in Luke 1:18, “How can I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” Mary asks in Luke 1:36, “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” Those questions do not appear that different to me, given each circumstance. But where Gabriel is a little harsh with Zechariah, he is gentle with Mary. I have a feeling that each actually got what they needed to prepare them for their journey. Zechariah probably needed those months (almost a year?) in silence to contemplate, study, and prepare himself to raise John the Baptist. Mary, on the other hand, needed the encouragement of Elizabeth. She needed to be able to communicate freely with Joseph. And she was just a young woman, whereas Zechariah was older. Mary deserved a little more guidance.With all of that said, that is not what hit me when I first read this passage this morning. What hit me is the idea that none of us know what we are getting into when we become parents. We can think we are ready, but we are not. We can think we do have or do not have enough money, but we are wrong. We can think we know what we are doing, but we have no idea. Even for the second or third child, we are not as prepared as we would like to be.In her case, Mary had no idea what she was saying yes to. If she had, would she have done it? Would she have signed up for giving birth in a difficult environment, abruptly moving to Egypt, moving back to Nazareth, losing Jesus when he was 12, watching a ministry from him that would lead to his Crucifixion, and then going through the Resurrection and the Ascension? She lost her son at 33. Yes, he rose again, but he was still gone 40 days later. I am sure this was not how she planned it out as she visited with Elizabeth or traveled to Bethlehem with Joseph.Father, I still do not know what being the father of my children really means, and they are in their 20s now. I do not know what they need from me today, and I have no clue what they will need tomorrow. I do not even know how much longer they will have me on this earth, nor do I know how much longer I will have them. But I know that in this moment, right now, I need to simply be your servant. I need to be your worshiper. I need you to flow through me and touch the world through me. And I need to simply rest in the knowledge that you know what my children need more than I do, and you will be responsible for giving it to them. Much like Mary did not understand what was happening with Jesus’s life most of the time, I have no idea either. Help me to use that ignorance to my advantage and build my faith in and worship of you.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

2 Timothy 1:5 (NLT)5 I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you.Dear God,When I sat down to start praying to you about these two faithful women this morning (Timothy’s grandmother and mother, respectively), I thought of the song “Legacy” by Nichole Nordeman. I like how this song begins and ends with the same line: “I don’t mind if you’ve got something nice to say about me.”I look at faithful women like Lois and Eunice, and I am sure they liked a good compliment as much as the next person. I certainly like compliments. But what is it that we remember about them 2,000 years later? And even if we did not remember them by name, what is the legacy they left? Eunice married a Gentile. How did Lois feel about that at the time? Was this a rebellious phase for Eunice? But her faith apparently became very important to her at some point because we can see it in how she raised Timothy.Being a person of faith is about just showing up and being faithful, over and over again. Loving you with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength, over and over again. Loving our spouses, children, and neighbors as ourselves. That legacy might not get attached to my name or my photograph, but it will ripple through time. Father, help me to be that person today.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

John 9 (NLT)9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. 4 We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. 5 But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”6 Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. 7 He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!8 His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!”But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!”10 They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?”11 He told them, “The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!”12 “Where is he now?” they asked.“I don’t know,” he replied.13 Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees, 14 because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him. 15 The Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them, “He put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see!”16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath.” Others said, “But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?” So there was a deep division of opinion among them.17 Then the Pharisees again questioned the man who had been blind and demanded, “What’s your opinion about this man who healed you?”The man replied, “I think he must be a prophet.”18 The Jewish leaders still refused to believe the man had been blind and could now see, so they called in his parents. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he now see?”20 His parents replied, “We know this is our son and that he was born blind, 21 but we don’t know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. 23 That’s why they said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”24 So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.”25 “I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”26 “But what did he do?” they asked. “How did he heal you?”27 “Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”28 Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.”30 “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from? 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. 32 Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.”34 “You were born a total sinner!” they answered. “Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw him out of the synagogue.35 When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”36 The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.”37 “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!”38 “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus.39 Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”40 Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re blind?”41 “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.Dear God,An entire book could probably be written about this story. You have so many interesting characters. There is the blind man. There is Jesus. There are the people who witness everything. There are the people who report it to the Pharisees since it was done on the Sabbath. Then there are the man’s parents. I want to just focus on the parents. I have never thought much about them before, other than to consider the part where they do not want anything to do with answering the Pharisees’ questions. So let’s look at the parents.As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered.Since the man was born blind, presumably before he could have committed a sin, I am sure that these parents lived with some sort of stigma that they had committed some sort of heinous sin to have caused their son to be born blind. I do not know what that was like for them. Did it impact their ability to earn income? Did it impact their standing in the church or the community? Jesus confirms that it was not anything they did, but how many decades had they lived with the shame of something they never did? How many times did they ask themselves what had they somehow done? How much did either of them suspect the other of having done something to cause all of this? I am sure it was a source of conflict for them throughout their lives. Beyond the challenges of a blind son, they had this other cloud constantly over them, even after he was out on his own.His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!” But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!”I wonder what role the parents played in his life at the time of this event. They were obviously close by, but if he was left to simply beg, did they have any role in his daily life? Was he living with them? Did they wash their hands of him, or was this how he contributed to the family? Either way, again, they must have experienced a lot of shame from their son’s situation. They were known to be the beggar’s parents. That had to be hard.The Jewish leaders still refused to believe the man had been blind and could now see, so they called in his parents. They asked them, “Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he now see?”His parents replied, “We know this is our son and that he was born blind, but we don’t know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. That’s why they said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”John 9:18-23 (NLT)I cannot imagine the mixture of joy (elation?) and fear the parents experienced at the same time. On the one hand, “Our son can see!!” On the other hand, “Oh no, we might suffer even more shame and get expelled from the synagogue.” This is what makes me wonder how close they were to their son at this point. They were willing to throw him under the bus to save themselves. They would rather he be expelled from the synagogue than them.It is easy for me to judge these people, but there are decades of actions and happenings here to which I am not privy. This boy might have rejected them and their help. He might have really hurt them. Or they might have expelled him out of self-interest. The possible scenarios could run the entire gamut. The only thing we are told is that, at this point, they were no longer willing to sacrifice for him. And when I say, “they,” I know at least the father was not willing. Perhaps the mother was just being obedient to the father. Again, we are not given that detail.Now that my children are adults, and we have a lot of history behind us, I suppose one question to ask myself in all of this is whether there is a part of me that is unwilling to sacrifice for them. Have they exhausted my good will? Have I decided to be selfish in some way at their expense? Is there any unforgiveness in my heart that keeps me from doing whatever you need me to do for them? I am not talking about spoiling them or getting in the way of any lessons you might be teaching them. But is there anything holding me back from being the dad that you need me to be for them?Father, I give you glory and praise. I thank you for helping both my wife and me see our children into their 20’s. There have been times when I confess that I was fatigued as a parent from my own personal pain. I have repented of that, but once again I tell you that I am sorry. I am sorry for any time I allowed my own feelings and wants (even needs) to get in the way of doing whatever you might have called me to do for their sake. Help me to see them with your eyes and let go of my own selfishness.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

John 6:2-13 (NLT)2 A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. 3 Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. 4 (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.) 5 Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” 6 He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.7 Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!”8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. 9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”10 “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. 12 After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.Dear God,I am going to make a couple of big assumptions here. In fact, they are so big that they probably do not warrant me even following this line of thought when I write about this story. I will just play with it and see if it goes anywhere. Who knows? What I am about to type to you might be complete heresy.Assumption #1: This boy had the fish and loaves because his mother gave them to him.It could have been his dad. It could have been his mom. Maybe an aunt or grandmother. In fact, as I think about this, it might be too much to assume that his mother gave him this food because of my second possibly erroneous assumption.Assumption #2: The five loaves and two fish were for his lunch.I guess I have been hearing this story for almost 45 years, and the image I always get is of a boy with his lunch bag who is willing to share his food with Jesus. But is that a typical amount of food for a “young boy” in that period? Would a mother send her son off for the day with some fish that can rot and five barley loaves? I do not know how much the fish or the loaves were, but that seems like a lot of food for his lunch.The truth is I do not really have enough education to answer this question. I should go and consult a biblical commentary. I will be right back…Okay, according to Roger L. Frederikson in the Communicator’s Commentary on John, “This was bread eaten by the very poor, and the fish were little more than large dried minnows.”[1] So maybe it was lunch. I guess that takes me back to mom.Now that I talked my way around that circle, I want to appreciate a woman who ensures her son (even though Frederikson indicates they are likely poor) has enough to eat for the day. This boy was there and prepared to be able to hang out all day without getting hungry. Did his mother make sure he was the most prepared person that day?Father, moms are amazing. They really are. They love and nurture in ways that, on the whole, fathers do not. Fathers tend to have a different role in their children’s lives. It is an important role. But there is just no replacing mom. And I am sure this mom had no idea that the love she showed her son that morning did not only help thousands of people that day (she likely heard about that part later), but would also be an example of humility, generosity, and your power thousands of years later. Not to mention how it might have changed her son’s life from that day forward. The faithful act of one woman one morning dominoed into a teachable moment for us all. May my small acts be pleasing to you as well.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen[1] Roger L. Frederikson. Communicator’s Commentary: John (Waco: Word Books, 1985), 125. Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

John 4:46-54 (NLT)46 As he traveled through Galilee, he came to Cana, where he had turned the water into wine. There was a government official in nearby Capernaum whose son was very sick. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Jesus to come to Capernaum to heal his son, who was about to die.48 Jesus asked, “Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?”49 The official pleaded, “Lord, please come now before my little boy dies.”50 Then Jesus told him, “Go back home. Your son will live!” And the man believed what Jesus said and started home.51 While the man was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well. 52 He asked them when the boy had begun to get better, and they replied, “Yesterday afternoon at one o’clock his fever suddenly disappeared!” 53 Then the father realized that that was the very time Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” And he and his entire household believed in Jesus. 54 This was the second miraculous sign Jesus did in Galilee after coming from Judea.Dear God,This is a father with whom I want to spend time because he was a government official. We do not know what his government job was. But that fact alone was important enough that John called it out. We are only given a father’s job title in these stories if the father was a leader in the church or a government official.This is a big guess, and it could be all wrong because I do not know my history well enough, but I would guess that Jewish locals were not allowed to be government officials. I would think that this man was a Roman who got stationed over here. He might not have been Jewish—a Gentile at the least and a Roman at most. I think that by identifying this man’s occupation, John is intimating that this father was swallowing an extra measure of pride and disbelief to come to Jesus and ask him for help. This was not just some dude. This was a man in an important position who likely had it made from a financial security standpoint. But he had a son that was sick, and, at that point, nothing else mattered.I have been there. I have had times when I was worried about my children and absolutely nothing else mattered. I would have quit my job, sold my house, and lived in a tent if I thought it would have made a difference. You get to a point where you will do anything for your children.This is the point when I start adding a layer of fiction to this story. I try to imagine how this man’s day went. First, I am sure it was a sleepless night. He and his wife were probably caring for their son. Someone who knew his son was sick mentioned to him that they heard that the guy healing people was nearby. Maybe he could get Jesus to come and heal his son. He tells his wife he is going (maybe she begs him to go) and he sets out to find Jesus. He finally finds him and begs, “Please, please, please come with me to heal my son. I am begging you to please come!”Jesus asked, “Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?”The official pleaded, “Lord, please come now before my little boy dies.”Then Jesus told him, “Go back home. Your son will live!”I can almost see a reassuring smile and twinkle in Jesus’s eyes as he says it to him. “Go back home. Your son will live!” What a beautiful moment.So the government official heads home, hopeful that his son will be healed. Otherwise, his wife will be angry that he did not bring Jesus back. But before he is even home, he finds out the good news: The boy was healed in the very hour he spoke with Jesus!Father, I need more faith. I believe, but help my unbelief. This man made a bunch of decisions, one after another. He just did what was next in front of him. He did everything he knew to do. Help me to know what to do as well. Help me to do the next thing that is in front of me and trust you for the rest.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Luke 1:57-80 (NLT)57 When it was time for Elizabeth’s baby to be born, she gave birth to a son. 58 And when her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very merciful to her, everyone rejoiced with her.59 When the baby was eight days old, they all came for the circumcision ceremony. They wanted to name him Zechariah, after his father. 60 But Elizabeth said, “No! His name is John!”61 “What?” they exclaimed. “There is no one in all your family by that name.” 62 So they used gestures to ask the baby’s father what he wanted to name him. 63 He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Instantly Zechariah could speak again, and he began praising God.65 Awe fell upon the whole neighborhood, and the news of what had happened spread throughout the Judean hills. 66 Everyone who heard about it reflected on these events and asked, “What will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was surely upon him in a special way.67 Then his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy:68 “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people.69 He has sent us a mighty Savior from the royal line of his servant David,70 just as he promised through his holy prophets long ago.71 Now we will be saved from our enemies and from all who hate us.72 He has been merciful to our ancestors by remembering his sacred covenant—73 the covenant he swore with an oath to our ancestor Abraham.74 We have been rescued from our enemies so we can serve God without fear,75 in holiness and righteousness for as long as we live.76 “And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord.77 You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins.78 Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”80 John grew up and became strong in spirit. And he lived in the wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel.Dear God,There are several parts of this story and Elizabeth’s experience I want to look at.And when her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very merciful to her, everyone rejoiced with her.When the baby was eight days old, they all came for the circumcision ceremony.Luke 1:58-59aFirst, the friends and relatives were excited for her, and they were giving glory to you for this wonderful thing. What a great time! And then for them to all gather at the bris to celebrate must have been such a joyous occasion. This must have been pure joy for Elizabeth. I cannot imagine the years and years (decades and decades?) of disappointment preceding this day. The seeming fruitlessness of her life. And now she had a baby, and she got to celebrate with her friends and family. A mother’s heart full of celebration and thankfulness!They wanted to name him Zechariah, after his father. But Elizabeth said, “No! His name is John!”“What?” they exclaimed. “There is no one in all your family by that name.” So they used gestures to ask the baby’s father what he wanted to name him.Luke 1:59b-62Uh oh. Now she is going to have some conflict. This is her baby, and they are telling her what to do. How did this make her feel as she held her child and the others were telling her she was doing it wrong? And then they decided that what really mattered was Zechariah and his opinion. Of course, Zechariah had already told her that Gabriel said they should name the boy John, so he will go on to confirm what she just said. It must have taken a little bit of luster off the moment. It is frustrating when others try to insert themselves into our lives with unsolicited advice. Then again, how often do I do that? Probably more often than I would like to admit.He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, “His name is John.” Instantly Zechariah could speak again, and he began praising God.Awe fell upon the whole neighborhood, and the news of what had happened spread throughout the Judean hills. Everyone who heard about it reflected on these events and asked, “What will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was surely upon him in a special way.Luke 1:63-66I love how “awe fell upon the whole neighborhood, and the news of what had happened spread throughout the Judean hills.” Not just their friends and neighbors, but everyone knew that this child was special—a literal miracle baby—and that there was a prophecy about him. Of course, it is only natural for Zechariah and Elizabeth to ask themselves, “What will this child turn out to be?”How hard was it to raise John the Baptist (JTB) in this environment? Whereas Mary and Joseph got to raise Jesus without too many people knowing about the prophecy (this is an assumption on my part), JTB started out a celebrity. How much unsolicited advice did Elizabeth and Zechariah get over the years? How much judgment did they receive when JTB just got stranger and stranger? Did they feel pressure to parent him differently? Did they spend most of the rest of their lives on their knees, looking for your guidance and help?Tomorrow is my daughter’s birthday. I bought her a card that is one of those “For my daughter” cards. I do not normally like those, but in this case the sentiment was perfect.Remembering the first time I saw you, I can still feel that jolt of love and amazement at what a miracle you were. And now here you are, just a quick blur of birthdays later, all grown-up and still a miracle! I’ve loved watching you discover your talents and grow into your gifts … sharing with the world the light that’s been shining inside you right from that first day.She will not fully understand those words until she has a child of her own. I would not have understood it at her age. I might have rolled my eyes at the schmaltziness of it. But I do, indeed, remember the first moment I saw her. In fact, I was the first person on earth to physically see her. I adored her then, and I adore her now. Of course, it was a challenge to know the right thing to do as a new parent of a daughter. It still is. I guess that explains why my wife and I spend so much time praying for our children, both individually and conjugally.Father, help me to ignore the world and how it sees my children or judges my parenting decisions. Help me to simply look to you, trust in you, and rest in you. Help me to hear you. Help me to see with your eyes. Help me to hear with your ears. Help me to love with your love. And do it all so that your kingdom might come and your will might be done on earth as it is in heaven.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Luke 1:57-80 (NLT)57 When it was time for Elizabeth’s baby to be born, she gave birth to a son. 58 And when her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very merciful to her, everyone rejoiced with her.59 When the baby was eight days old, they all came for the circumcision ceremony. They wanted to name him Zechariah, after his father. 60 But Elizabeth said, “No! His name is John!”61 “What?” they exclaimed. “There is no one in all your family by that name.” 62 So they used gestures to ask the baby’s father what he wanted to name him. 63 He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Instantly Zechariah could speak again, and he began praising God.65 Awe fell upon the whole neighborhood, and the news of what had happened spread throughout the Judean hills. 66 Everyone who heard about it reflected on these events and asked, “What will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was surely upon him in a special way.Zechariah’s Prophecy67 Then his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy:68 “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people.69 He has sent us a mighty Savior from the royal line of his servant David,70 just as he promised through his holy prophets long ago.71 Now we will be saved from our enemies and from all who hate us.72 He has been merciful to our ancestors by remembering his sacred covenant—73 the covenant he swore with an oath to our ancestor Abraham.74 We have been rescued from our enemies so we can serve God without fear,75 in holiness and righteousness for as long as we live.76 “And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord.77 You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins.78 Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”80 John grew up and became strong in spirit. And he lived in the wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel.Dear God,I think you used all those months of silence for Zechariah to prepare him to parent John the Baptist (JTB). He was ready to go. I would imagine he might have spent those months studying and reading. He might have been looking at the prophecies to try to figure out what this boy would be like and what being like Elijah would be all about.It is interesting that his prophecy starts with Jesus. That is what makes me think he spent a lot of time studying the texts and prophecies. The closest Gabriel gets to talking about the Messiah during his visitation is when he says, “He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord.” Everything else Gabriel says is about John, according to the text. So, when Zechariah starts prophesying about Jesus my personal opinion is that he allows some of the prophecy to be tainted by his own expectations of what the Messiah will do for Israel. For example, “Now we will be saved from our enemies and from all who hate us.” (Luke 1:71) But he knows the Messiah is coming.Then he turns his attention to JTB: “And you, my little son …” I love that little bit of adoration for his child. He does not know exactly what this all will look like. He does not know how he is going to parent this child. As the years go by, I am sure he will be confused and wonder if it was all a dream because this kid is just a little weird. And I do not know if Zechariah lived long enough to see JTB living in the wilderness, but I am sure that gave rise to questions as well.Father, I have often said that you keep us on a need-to-know basis, and we very rarely need to know. Help me to live into that spirit. Help me to meet each situation, ask your counsel, and listen for your still, small voice. I do not need to know how all of this will turn out. In fact, it is probably better if I do not know. But whatever happens, I pray that you will find me faithful in the midst of it.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Luke 1:5-7, 24-25, 39-45 (NLT)5 When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.24 Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. 25 “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.”39 A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town 40 where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. 43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”Dear God,Maybe this comment is more about Mary than it is about Elizabeth, and I am going to hold off on Mary until the end of this series, but it is so nice that you gave her Elizabeth and Zechariah. You gave her a safe place. And Gabriel told her about Elizabeth being pregnant so she would know that Elizabeth would understand what is going on. He intimated that Elizabeth would believe her. She will believe Mary because she is living in the midst of her own miracle.For those first seven or eight months of conceiving and pregnancy before Mary arrived, I wonder what Elizabeth’s communications with Zechariah were like. Did Zechariah write down what Gabriel told him for her to see? I am sure he did. Did they talk about it, with Zechariah writing his part down? I am sure they did. Did they pray to you? Did they dream of what this child would look like? Were they filled with hope and joy? Did they mistakenly dream of power and might for their child? They likely never imagined him living in the wilderness, wearing animal skins, eating bugs, and eventually being beheaded. No, they did not need to know that about him.As you usually do with me, you kept them on a need-to-know basis. They needed to know their child’s relationship and connection to the Messiah. They needed to know to not cut his hair. Knowing what they knew helped prepare them to raise this boy, but it also gave Elizabeth the intuition and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit that she needed to recognize what you were doing through Mary.A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed.”Luke 1:39-42What a great affirmation for Mary! I am sure she was scared. She knew the angel mentioned Elizabeth, so she “hurried” to Zechariah’s house. But how will she tell Elizabeth what is happening with her? How will she explain? Well, she did not have to. What a gift. You used Elizabeth’s motherhood of JTB to grow her in a new way and make her available to Mary in a way she never would have been before.Father, you certainly stretch me through my children. You love others through me because of what you have taught me as a father. You have taught me lessons I would have never otherwise learned. You continue to show me new aspects of who you are through them. And just as Zechariah and Elizabeth had no idea what JTB’s and Jesus’s futures looked like, I have no idea what the futures of my children, or even my wife and my futures, will look like. But you have shown me what I need to know for today. You have given me good work to do today. Help me to have eyes that see and ears that hear. Make me slow to speak and discerning.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Luke 1:5-25 (NLT)5 When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.8 One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. 9 As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. 10 While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.11 While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. 12 Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. 13 But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. 14 You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.[b] 16 And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. 17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,[c] and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.”19 Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news! 20 But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.”21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out of the sanctuary, wondering why he was taking so long. 22 When he finally did come out, he couldn’t speak to them. Then they realized from his gestures and his silence that he must have seen a vision in the sanctuary.23 When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home. 24 Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. 25 “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.”Dear God,I am going to do Zechariah in two parts. There is too much good stuff here. But for now, I want to focus on Zechariah and this angel visit. I had two main thoughts when I read this part of the story:● He and Elizabeth had seemingly done everything right their entire lives, but I am sure they felt like you were not honoring who they were and what they did (as is evidenced by Elizabeth saying, “[The Lord] has taken away my disgrace of having no children.”) Just living faithfully day to day. What a witness!● Even when our faith is not enough, it will not get in the way of your plan. You have it covered. When Zechariah questioned Gabriel, Gabriel did not take it back and say, “Never mind.” No, Zechariah did not have to have enough faith in that moment. He just had to be the kind of man that you needed to raise John the Baptist (JTB).As I type all of this, I am now starting to wonder what those months before John was born were like for Zechariah. Did he try to write down everything Gabriel said so he would not forget? Did he think about what kind of person JTB would be? Was he intimidated by the thought of raising a prophet who would have the spirit and power of Elijah (the most special of all prophets to the Jewish people)? Maybe you needed him to have those months alone with his thoughts. Maybe he spent most of that time in prayer, preparing for his new role as father to the prophet.Father, you can do all of what you want to do with me either with me or without me. I can be all yours or I can lose all my faith, and you will have it covered. I can do the right thing for the rest of my life and never see the fruit of it, and that can be okay. I make decisions every day as a husband and as a father. I am doing my best to listen to you. To hear your still small voice. Now help me to talk less and listen to you more. Help me to put my head into a space that is still and can hear your voice. Do it so that your glory might shine and that you might use my life to make any crisis count.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Mark 9:17-29 (NLT)17 One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. 18 And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”19 Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”20 So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22 The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”25 When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,” he said. “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!”26 Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.28 Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?”29 Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.”Dear God,This story is one of my favorites, but my favorite part is in the middle, and I will get to that in a second. First, I want to talk about the idea of “seizures” and how they could be interpreted to be demons “seizing” a person. In this case, there is a child who was apparently nonverbal. Is this a medical issue? Is it a demon? When we see someone with seizures now, is it a demon manipulating a person’s body or simply a medical condition? I do not know, and I do not know that the answer to that question is as important as the rest of the story and how this particular situation plays out.The next thing I notice about this story is Jesus’s exasperation with the disciples: “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you?” He says that to the 12. How many times, Jesus, do you look at me and shake your head? How many times do you wish I would just turn to you and pray? (Spoiler alert for the rest of the story.)The exchange with the father is my favorite part of the story. Here is a dad who feels helpless and scared.Father: “Have mercy on us, if you can.”Jesus: “If I can? Anything is possible if a person believes.”Father: “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”Boom. That’s it. That is the line I love. I do believe, Father. Help me overcome my unbelief.Then we have the casting out of the demon and a boy who appears dead. We have seen Jesus obfuscate death before. Did the demon kill him on the way out and Jesus brought him back to life, or was this simply a casting out and then regaining strength? I do not know, but it is an interesting thought.Finally, we have the disciples, chastened and embarrassed, asking why they could not cast out that evil spirit. Jesus: “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.”When my back has been up against the wall, I have taken a day to fast and pray. I do not think you have ever let me down in those times. I was thinking last night about some of the things I am afraid of. It came to me that I need to take a day to fast and pray about CoronaVirus. How it is impacting the world. How it will touch my community. How the economics of it will impact the most vulnerable. How people are losing their loved ones. How it will affect the nonprofit where I work in the practical terms of helping potential patients, protecting our staff, and in our fundraising efforts. I need to take a day to pray about it often, but I definitely need to take a day to fast and pray about it. I might just do that this Sunday. I will pray between now and then, but I will really fast and put myself before you this Sunday.Father, I love this dad. He is one of my top three or so in the Bible. I love his insight into himself. His words are what I have felt so many times. I do believe, but help my unbelief. Also, help me to turn loose of my expectations regarding how you will answer my prayers. In the words of the classic hymn, have thine own way, Lord.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Mark 6:16-29 (NLT)14 Herod Antipas, the king, soon heard about Jesus, because everyone was talking about him. Some were saying, “This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead. That is why he can do such miracles.” 15 Others said, “He’s the prophet Elijah.” Still others said, “He’s a prophet like the other great prophets of the past.”16 When Herod heard about Jesus, he said, “John, the man I beheaded, has come back from the dead.”17 For Herod had sent soldiers to arrest and imprison John as a favor to Herodias. She had been his brother Philip’s wife, but Herod had married her. 18 John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry your brother’s wife.” 19 So Herodias bore a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But without Herod’s approval she was powerless, 20 for Herod respected John; and knowing that he was a good and holy man, he protected him. Herod was greatly disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so, he liked to listen to him.21 Herodias’s chance finally came on Herod’s birthday. He gave a party for his high government officials, army officers, and the leading citizens of Galilee. 22 Then his daughter, also named Herodias, came in and performed a dance that greatly pleased Herod and his guests. “Ask me for anything you like,” the king said to the girl, “and I will give it to you.” 23 He even vowed, “I will give you whatever you ask, up to half my kingdom!”24 She went out and asked her mother, “What should I ask for?”Her mother told her, “Ask for the head of John the Baptist!”25 So the girl hurried back to the king and told him, “I want the head of John the Baptist, right now, on a tray!”26 Then the king deeply regretted what he had said; but because of the vows he had made in front of his guests, he couldn’t refuse her. 27 So he immediately sent an executioner to the prison to cut off John’s head and bring it to him. The soldier beheaded John in the prison, 28 brought his head on a tray, and gave it to the girl, who took it to her mother. 29 When John’s disciples heard what had happened, they came to get his body and buried it in a tomb.Dear God,For a short time, I debated whether to include Herod and Herodias in my Parents of the Bible series, but I decided that we see them interacting with their daughter and making decisions with her as her parents, so I guess they count. You put them and their story in here for us, so let me see what I can learn from Herod and Herodias.HerodHere is a list of what we see Herod do in this story:● He takes his brother’s wife.● He did not necessarily want to arrest John the Baptist (JTB), but he did it at the behest of his wife.● JTB made Herod uncomfortable by presenting his sin to him any chance he got, but Herod “respected John; and knowing that he was a good and holy man, he protected him.”● This part is interesting. I saw a movie about Jesus one time that showed this story. It had an adult daughter dancing seductively for Herod, her father, then showed Herod getting turned on, and then making a foolish, drunken vow to her. While that could be one interpretation, that is not what the story says. It just says his daughter “came in and performed a dance that greatly pleased Herod and his guests.” That’s it. She could have been a 10-year-old child that he was proud of. His vow was stupid, but it was not necessarily made out of lust for his daughter. It could have been simple pride in her.● He makes a foolish vow, but “because of the vows he had made in front of his guests, he couldn’t refuse her.” We’ll come back to that.● He had JTB’s head given to the girl.I guess my big thing for Herod is that he simply allowed his pride to impact his parenting. What will others think? That was a teachable moment for him with his daughter. He could have taught her not to ask for illegal and immoral things and expect to get them. But to say that in front of his guests would have been too much for him to swallow. In relating this to my own life, I can see where I might allow what others will say/think to influence my parenting decisions. Yes, this is part of Herod’s cautionary tale.HerodiasAh, Herodias. Her actions all come back to a very familiar motive: shame. I will not speculate as to what her role was in being Herod’s wife instead of Philip’s. But John the Baptist’s (JTB) rebukes obviously bothered her more than they did Herod, so I will assume (and it is a fairly big assumption) she felt some responsibility and guilt.Then her daughter, perhaps unwittingly, gets involved. She does something that pleases her father and is granted a huge favor, but she does not know how to respond. “Mom, what should I ask for?!? Servants? A city? Gold? Jewelry?” Then Herodias takes the opportunity. She has been trying to get Herod to get rid of JTB for a long time, but Herod has refused. She did not have enough leverage over him. But now her daughter did, so she used her daughter for her own gain. All to deal with her own shame.I would like to think I am above ever doing anything like that, but am I? Have I ever used my children to get my way with my spouse? Just this week, I saw a divorced couple using their children to get back at each other. I would love to judge Herodias ruthlessly for thinking of herself and her own wants/needs before her child’s, but I know I have done it to some extent, and I have seen nearly every other parent do it as well.Father, I’m glad I didn’t skip over this couple. I could see myself in him and in Herodias as much as I have seen myself in any of these other biblical parents. I am sorry for the times when I put my own needs ahead of my child’s. Maybe it is even as simple as a need to be liked by them instead of making a hard decision that will be for their best, but cause them to be angry with me. Maybe it is doing something mean out of revenge for a hurt they did to me. Guilty, guilty, guilty. I am guilty, and I am sorry. Help me to be better.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Mark 5:22-22, 35-43 (NLT)21 Jesus got into the boat again and went back to the other side of the lake, where a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. 22 Then a leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet, 23 pleading fervently with him. “My little daughter is dying,” he said. “Please come and lay your hands on her; heal her so she can live.”24 Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him.35 While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”36 But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”37 Then Jesus stopped the crowd and wouldn’t let anyone go with him except Peter, James, and John (the brother of James). 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw much commotion and weeping and wailing. 39 He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”40 The crowd laughed at him. But he made them all leave, and he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. 41 Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” 42 And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed. 43 Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what had happened, and then he told them to give her something to eat.Dear God,So much happens in this story. That is the pretty incredible thing about the Bible overall. It has some of the tightest, best writing ever. In this case, it takes just 12 verses to give us so much information. It paints quite a picture.Here are the key phrases that communicate so much:● “Leader of the local synagogue” — This was not just anyone. Jairus was someone with community standing and pride. He should be able to handle something like this on his own. Why would he need to go to a traveling rabbi for help?● “My little girl is dying” — When one becomes a parent … well, there is just a mystery there. Imprinting. Bonding. Call it whatever you want, but there is something powerful about your relationship with your child that goes beyond words.● “Heal her so she can live” — It is not like healing was common in those days. Jairus was not making a common request. He was making a desperate request. He wanted his daughter to live. He wanted it for her sake and for his own sake. I am sure he wanted it for his wife as well.● “There’s no use troubling the Teacher now” — It is one thing to heal. It is another thing to resurrect. We were now beyond healing, and resurrection was too much to expect.● “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith” — Faith in what? That you, Jesus, are going to raise her from the dead? Really? There is no way.● “The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep” — What? Was Jesus being intentionally deceptive here to prevent a furor after the resurrection that is about to take place? Did he try to protect the little girl from being the special girl who was raised from the dead, as opposed to simply being the girl who was healed? Was he protecting Jairus and his wife from that kind of attention as well? I have always seen this as Jesus being … I will say misleading. I have always seen this as a misleading that would protect Jesus from unwanted acclaim, but maybe it was for Jairus’s family’s benefit as well.● “They were overwhelmed and totally amazed” — Yeah, I would imagine so. Despair to elation. Hope. I wonder where Jairus was the week of Jesus’s Crucifixion. It is too bad we do not have any further information about him or his family. For example, I would like to know if he became like Nicodemus. It would be nice if we had that followup.● “Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what had happened” — Back to the word misleading. Or would this be more obfuscation? This is the part that must have struck Don Francisco in his song “I’ve Got to Tell Somebody.”● “Give her something to eat” — She has been sick a while. It has probably been days since she has eaten, but she is not only alive. She is not sick anymore. Give the girl something to eat.Father, I wish I knew more about Jairus. What I do know is pretty great. And I am about to go through some stories about more fathers like him. I do not have too many parents left, really, but there are several who bring their children to Jesus for healing. I was going to bunch them together, but my wife encouraged me to break them out separately to see if there is anything unique about this. In this case, I would say that Jairus being the local synagogue leader is significant. The implication of what this would mean to his position in the community is significant. And the fact that he had to keep it quiet and participate in the obfuscation is unique as well. Thank you for his example of a father who really loved his daughter beyond what it would cost him personally and professionally.I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe

Matthew 20:20-28 (NLT)20 Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. 21 “What is your request?” he asked.She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.”22 But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?”“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”23 Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”24 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 25 But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 26 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. 28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”Dear God,Parents can be so foolish. I have seen the wisest people I know lose total perspective when it comes to their children. They often give bad advice because their judgment is clouded by being a parent. We want what is best for our children. The problem is we think we know what that best is when the truth is we have no clue. I suppose it starts from knowing what is best for our children at the youngest ages. Eat now. Sleep now. Do not touch that. Clean this. We completely impose our will upon them. But at some point, in the process of letting go we fail to learn that we no longer have a clue as to what is best for them. We do not know what you might be doing in their lives that we cannot see.In this woman’s case (her name might be Salome, but we are not 100% sure), she thought she could see where all of this was going. Jesus was going to have some power, and it was time to make sure her boys were positioned to be at the top of the food chain. Maybe they were too meek for her taste. Maybe they understood more of what Jesus was teaching than she did and knew better than to ask. Maybe they were too weak to tell her no. They might have secretly wanted this honor, but they also might have just been going along with her. Either way, she made her position clear. She wanted this for her sons.Ironically, her two boys would end up being at opposite ends of the life spans for the 11 remaining disciples after Judas died by suicide. James would be the first to die as a martyr, and John would die of natural causes and be the last living of the original 12. Going back to previous studies I did on John, he was actually pretty immature and had a lot to learn from Jesus before the Crucifixion. He was ready to bring down fire from heaven to wipe out the Samaritans (Luke 9:54). Time, experience, and suffering wore down those rough edges by the time he wrote his gospel and the three letters we have from him and Revelation. No, you had a different plan for these boys’ lives than their mother did. She loved you. She believed in you. But she was very foolish at that moment. Better to love you and be foolish, I suppose, than to just be selfish all the time.I do wonder about her concern for her boys. Their father was a man of some position in that he owned a boat and had others working for him. When they left to follow Jesus, I’m sure his parents were concerned at first. How would they ever become respectable people capable of supporting a family? Maybe this request was part of her trying to answer that question for herself. Maybe she felt pressure to figure out how to calm down her husband’s disapproval about their decision to leave the boat and follow Jesus. Of course, I am guessing on all of this, but my point is that there are all kinds of reasons we act foolishly. There are all kinds of reasons that I act foolishly.Father, I think the “Serenity Prayer” from 12-Step programs is brilliant, and it encompasses most of how I should be praying for myself and my children, and how I should be acting. So as I type out this prayer now, thinking of our children: “God, give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe