Day 1/30 – The Man Who Talked Too Much

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
The Man Who Talked Too Much
Day Thirty

“…See that you say nothing to anyone…” Mark 1:44

Jesus encounters a leper who comes to the Savior to be healed, “If you will, you can make me clean.”44 The leper saw in Jesus the power to heal, but not necessarily the willingness. The followers of Jesus know that He can; they are not sure that He will.

Moved with compassion, Jesus heals him, and then “sternly charged him… “See that you say nothing to any one…” But the cleansed leper “began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news.” The leper did not see the need to obey Jesus. The extraordinary grace Jesus bestowed on him apparently led him to believe that He could neglect the express command of Jesus.

This leper typifies many followers of Christ. They see in Jesus the solution to their problems, but see no particular need to do what He says, especially in those areas of their lives in which they are inclined to follow their own desires. Special blessing carries with it the risk of presumption. “Since I am the object of God’s favor, I can afford to ignore His commands.”

There exists a subtle form of rebellion that argues that if I am truly loved by God I can disobey him, especially if there is lacking any objective evidence that it causes harm. How can anybody fault the leper for his enthusiasm in telling others of the wonderful work of Christ? Was he not merely anticipating the Great Commission? Never assume that you can break the commandments of God for pragmatic reasons.

If Jesus has the power to save, He has the authority to command. The end does not justify the means. Anytime you use an immoral argument to prove morality, you know that your premise is wrong. Paul says it eloquently, “…Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.”45

44 Mark 1:40
45 Romans 3:8

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Exodus 23-24 Matthew 20:1-16 (New King James Version)

Exodus 23-24
Justice for All
23 “You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. 2 You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. 3 You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute.
4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.
6 “You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. 7 Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked. 8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.
9 “Also you shall not oppress a [a]stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
The Law of Sabbaths
10 “Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your [b]olive grove. 12 Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.
13 “And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.
Three Annual Feasts
14 “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty); 16 and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.
17 “Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord [c]God.
18 “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of My [d]sacrifice remain until morning. 19 The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
The Angel and the Promises
20 “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21 Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. 22 But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 23 For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will [e]cut them off. 24 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.
25 “So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. 26 No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.
27 “I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. 31 And I will set your [f]bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the [g]River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no [h]covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
Israel Affirms the Covenant
24 Now He said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.”
3 So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the [i]judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”
On the Mountain with God
9 Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very[j] heavens in its clarity. 11 But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not [k]lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank.
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”
13 So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.” 15 Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.
16 Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18 So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Footnotes:
• Exodus 23:9 sojourner
• Exodus 23:11 olive yards
• Exodus 23:17 Heb. YHWH, usually translated Lord
• Exodus 23:18 feast
• Exodus 23:23 annihilate them
• Exodus 23:31 boundaries
• Exodus 23:31 Heb. Nahar, the Euphrates
• Exodus 23:32 treaty
• Exodus 24:3 ordinances
• Exodus 24:10 Lit. substance of heaven
• Exodus 24:11 stretch out His

Matthew 20:1-16
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing [a]idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, [b]and whatever is right you will receive.’
8 “So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ 9 And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. 11 And when they had received it, they [c]complained against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ 13 But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For[d] many are called, but few chosen.”
Footnotes:
• Matthew 20:6 NU omits idle
• Matthew 20:7 NU omits the rest of v. 7.
• Matthew 20:11 grumbled
• Matthew 20:16 NU omits the rest of v. 16.