#88-Mike Pence Represents Christianity
#87-They Knowingly Abetted Treason and a Coup
#86-Joe Biden’s Lovers Will Be Revealed
#85-Don’t Change What God Has Said
#84-President Trump Should Stay in Office
Mark 5
21 Once again Jesus got into the boat and crossed Lake Galilee. Then as he stood on the shore, a large crowd gathered around him. 22 The person in charge of the Jewish meeting place was also there. His name was Jairus, and when he saw Jesus, he went over to him. He knelt at Jesus’ feet 23 and started begging him for help. He said, “My daughter is about to die! Please come and touch her, so she will get well and live.” 24 Jesus went with Jairus. Many people followed along and kept crowding around.
25 In the crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had gone to many doctors, and they had not done anything except cause her a lot of pain. She had paid them all the money she had. But instead of getting better, she only got worse.
27 The woman had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him in the crowd and barely touched his clothes. 28 She had said to herself, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will get well.” 29 As soon as she touched them, her bleeding stopped, and she knew she was well.
30 At that moment Jesus felt power go out from him. He turned to the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 His disciples said to him, “Look at all these people crowding around you! How can you ask who touched you?” 32 But Jesus turned to see who had touched him.
33 The woman knew what had happened to her. She came shaking with fear and knelt down in front of Jesus. Then she told him the whole story.
34 Jesus said to the woman, “You are now well because of your faith. May God give you peace! You are healed, and you will no longer be in pain.”
35 While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from Jairus’ home and said, “Your daughter has died! Why bother the teacher anymore?”
36 Jesus heard what they said, and he said to Jairus, “Don’t worry. Just have faith!”
37 Jesus did not let anyone go with him except Peter and the two brothers, James and John. 38 They went home with Jairus and saw the people crying and making a lot of noise. 39 Then Jesus went inside and said to them, “Why are you crying and carrying on like this? The child isn’t dead. She is just asleep.” 40 But the people laughed at him.
After Jesus had sent them all out of the house, he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples and went to where she was. 41-42 He took the twelve-year-old girl by the hand and said, “Talitha, koum!” which means, “Little girl, get up!” The girl got right up and started walking around.
Everyone was greatly surprised. 43 But Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened. Then he said, “Give her something to eat.”
Richard: God gives us hope in this reading. I see three main themes, faith, resurrection and secrecy. All can be applied to the current situation in the United States.
Obadiah 1
13 They are my people,
and you were cruel to them.
You went through their towns,
sneering
and stealing
whatever was left.
14 In their time of torment,
you ambushed refugees
and handed them over
to their attackers.
15 The day is coming
when I, the Lord,
will judge the nations.
And, Edom, you will pay in full
for what you have done.
God’s Grief
2. God’s Painful Struggle to Save Humankind
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
It is natural that we want to protect our loved ones, even with our very life. Such is the original ideal of creation. The same is true for God, who loves His children. He became a sorrowful God who has had to invest His very life. (206:24, October 3, 1990)
I cannot count the days I spent in tears and lamentation after I came to know this world of God’s inner heart. Who could even dare to imagine that God was stricken with grief? He created the first human ancestors as His children and tried to raise them to be His eternal object partners in true love, yet they took the path of the Human Fall. Who could imagine God’s misery and humiliation, even as He walked His providence of salvation for tens of thousands of years? Anger exploded within Him over the injustice of it all. His heart sighed in lamentation. God should be the Father and King of glory, but the enemy Satan stole His throne and His position as Parent. Although God is clearly alive and carrying out His providence, people say, “God is dead,” and they mock and mistreat Him. Still, He perseveres on the path with patient endurance, waiting for the day when human beings will come to understand this truth.
Because God conducts His providence on a foundation of true love—which calls us to live for the sake of others—and on the basis of eternity, He does not just annihilate the universe and begin again after seeing His children descend into the bottomless pit of the Human Fall. With the power of His omniscience and omnipotence, He could have judged the world and Satan at once, smashing them to pieces. Though He has this power, He chose to absorb all the contempt and accusation into Himself. He voluntarily placed Himself in a prison-like environment, because He is our Father.
Ladies and gentlemen, have you spent even one day before our God, our Father, shedding tears of repentance because you empathize with Him? How can you stand before God and still close your eyes as if to block out how He bites His tongue and endures us human beings, who inherited the lineage of the Devil and became the tools of Satan? How can you be so insensitive to how God anxiously looks forward to the day of His liberation and release? (May 1, 2004)
When Jesus was on the cross, God had to turn away and allow His beloved Son to be killed. Who knew the wretchedness in God’s mind and heart at that moment? The Bible does not explain it, but wasn’t there some reason why God could not intervene to prevent His Son’s death?…
Likewise, we think that God should have stood on the side of His chosen ones. Seeing them suffer persecution wherever they went—beaten, decapitated, and burned in pitch—we might ask, “Why was God not able to prevent this?”32 Instead, you should think how grievous and distressed God was that He could not exercise His almighty power to save them. How can we still say that He is the Most High God? (64:222, November 12, 1972)
What kind of God is our Father? He has walked the most tragic path through the course of history. He has suffered tragedies more horrible than any human tragedy.
When God saw His children languishing in sorrow and suffering and despair, He did not say, “You deserve it.” Our Father worked to save His children pierced with sorrow by placing Himself in greater sorrow; He worked to save His children moaning in pain by going to a place of even greater pain. He did not hesitate even to go to His death to save His children who were on the verge of death.
Once we understand this, how should we live? If we see a pitiful old person on the street, bent over with age, we should think, “That is what my Father must look like as He seeks after me.”
When we see a laborer’s swollen hands, we should think, “My Father’s hands are even more torn up and swollen than his.” When we see a pitiful beggar, we should think, “This beggar is not a beggar; instead he is my Father,” and humbly bow our heads. God’s heart is embedded even in lives that appear insignificant and wretched. We should shed tears with the understanding that each of these people is our Father, and then we should cast aside our dignity and help them. This is the only way we will come to know God. (8:345-46, February 28, 1960)
