<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Mark 2;6-12<div><br></div><div><b>6. &nbsp;Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,</b></div><div><b>7. &nbsp;“Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! &nbsp;Who can forgive sins but God alone?”</b></div><div><b>8. And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them. “Why do you question thus in your hearts?</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>The ‘Divine Union’ of God and man, (also called&nbsp;‘The Incarnation,’&nbsp;meaning ‘God in flesh’) is a meta-physical truth which transcends rationality and logic. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The scribes (teachers of the Law)&nbsp;were not wrong when they said, &nbsp;<i>“Who can forgive sins but God alone?” &nbsp;</i></div><div>The scribes<i>&nbsp;</i>correctly understood that (up to the incarnation of Jesus in the womb of Mary),&nbsp;all men born of women&nbsp;were sinners. &nbsp;Therefore their conclusion that Jesus was speaking <i>“blasphemy”</i>&nbsp; <u>seemed</u>&nbsp;inescapably logical, rational, and reasonable. &nbsp;God is holy and sinless, He is perfect in righteousness, <i>“Every good endowment and every every perfect gift is from above, coming down to us from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” &nbsp;</i>(James 1;17). For the scribes, a man who can die can not be God, therefore, they ‘thought’ Jesus was a false teacher, who wrongly taught about who God is. &nbsp;They thought&nbsp;Jesus was only a man who was&nbsp;trespassing into what belonged to God only, the power to forgive.</div><div><br></div><div>The scribes understood that God is eternal, he does not change or grow old or die. &nbsp;God is eternal,&nbsp;not mortal, he does not die.&nbsp;Dying is what&nbsp;all&nbsp;mortal&nbsp;men do. &nbsp;According to <u>their</u>&nbsp;logic, we really cannot fault the scribes in their questioning in their hearts&nbsp;of Jesus. &nbsp;&nbsp;The scribes saw Jesus and perceived him as only a man, only human. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>But Jesus faults the scribes, challenging them to depart from reliance upon&nbsp;their own logic, their own powers of reason, in order to know Truth. &nbsp;Jesus expects/demands all men to embrace the word of Truth spoken by Gabriel, <i>“For with God nothing will be impossible.”</i>&nbsp; &nbsp; God’s Word demands that we stop trusting in our own selves, our own reason,&nbsp;and stop thinking that God has limits.<u></u></div><div><br></div><div>If God desires to take on mortal flesh, yet, at the same time remain fully God, He can do it! &nbsp;<i>“I believe that Jesus Christ, <u>true God</u>&nbsp;begotten of the Father from eternity, and <u>also true man,</u>&nbsp;born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord”. </i>(Luther’s Small Catechism, Meaning&nbsp;of the Second Article of the Apostles Creed)</div><div><br></div><div>Jesus rightly questions the scribes, challenging their Aristotelian Logic with the greater&nbsp;Truth of God, “<i>which surpasses knowledge”. &nbsp;</i>(Ephesians 3;19a)</div><div><br></div><div>We in the Lutheran church do to some extent embrace the meta-physical truth of the Divine Union, we also know by faith that Jesus is truly, really present in Holy Communion.&nbsp;The consecrated&nbsp;bread <u>is&nbsp;</u>truly his body while it remains true bread, the wine <u>is</u>&nbsp;truly his blood while it remain at the same time true wine. &nbsp;These truths of God we rightly&nbsp;confess.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;What we with the scribes still struggle with is believing that Christ is also truly in us, even as we remain weak and in&nbsp;mortal flesh.</div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;O most merciful Heavenly Father, deliver us from the limits of Aristotelian logic.&nbsp; There are no limits to what wonderful things You do for us, in us, and through us, who are <u>in Christ Jesus.</u></div><div><u>In Jesus</u>&nbsp;we pray, Amen.</div><div><br></div><div>Love,</div><div>Dad/Baba/Eric</div><div>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</div><div>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”</div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b><br></b><br><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Mark 2;6-12
6.  Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,7.  “Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy!  Who can forgive sins but God alone?”8. And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them. “Why do you question thus in your hearts?
The ‘Divine Union’ of God and man, (also called ‘The Incarnation,’ meaning ‘God in flesh’) is a meta-physical truth which transcends rationality and logic.  
The scribes (teachers of the Law) were not wrong when they said,  “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  The scribes correctly understood that (up to the incarnation of Jesus in the womb of Mary), all men born of women were sinners.  Therefore their conclusion that Jesus was speaking “blasphemy”  seemed inescapably logical, rational, and reasonable.  God is holy and sinless, He is perfect in righteousness, “Every good endowment and every every perfect gift is from above, coming down to us from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”  (James 1;17). For the scribes, a man who can die can not be God, therefore, they ‘thought’ Jesus was a false teacher, who wrongly taught about who God is.  They thought Jesus was only a man who was trespassing into what belonged to God only, the power to forgive.
The scribes understood that God is eternal, he does not change or grow old or die.  God is eternal, not mortal, he does not die. Dying is what all mortal men do.  According to their logic, we really cannot fault the scribes in their questioning in their hearts of Jesus.   The scribes saw Jesus and perceived him as only a man, only human.  
But Jesus faults the scribes, challenging them to depart from reliance upon their own logic, their own powers of reason, in order to know Truth.  Jesus expects/demands all men to embrace the word of Truth spoken by Gabriel, “For with God nothing will be impossible.”    God’s Word demands that we stop trusting in our own selves, our own reason, and stop thinking that God has limits.
If God desires to take on mortal flesh, yet, at the same time remain fully God, He can do it!  “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord”. (Luther’s Small Catechism, Meaning of the Second Article of the Apostles Creed)
Jesus rightly questions the scribes, challenging their Aristotelian Logic with the greater Truth of God, “which surpasses knowledge”.  (Ephesians 3;19a)
We in the Lutheran church do to some extent embrace the meta-physical truth of the Divine Union, we also know by faith that Jesus is truly, really present in Holy Communion. The consecrated bread is truly his body while it remains true bread, the wine is truly his blood while it remain at the same time true wine.  These truths of God we rightly confess. 
 What we with the scribes still struggle with is believing that Christ is also truly in us, even as we remain weak and in mortal flesh.
Prayer:  O most merciful Heavenly Father, deliver us from the limits of Aristotelian logic.  There are no limits to what wonderful things You do for us, in us, and through us, who are in Christ Jesus.In Jesus we pray, Amen.
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”




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