PSA Bible Reading Challenge 2025-2026

The Deuteronomy Scriptures contain a sort of ying and yang of what happens when you obey: you are blessed, and what happens when you disobey: you are cursed. You see the same result of both, but the opposites. Your enemies will flee from you seven different ways when you approach them one way if you obey the commandments. Or, you will flee seven different ways from your enemy when they approach you one way. The insistence of God that His people obey him never wavers in Scripture. This is a truth that we seem to have forgotten thinking that morality is relative to the individual or to the situation. No, there are mandates in Scripture that we obey God in all things and that obedience, or disobedience, has serious implications that impact and affect the rest of the life of the individual, the body, and the world. We see that in the story of the people of God, both good and bad.

In the Gospel we find ourselves in the most intense portion of Mark, and the chapters that are the longest as well. We see Jesus with his disciples on the last day of his life as he shares with them the last supper, as they head out to Gethsemane and as Peter denies him three times before the cock crows twice. The innocence of Jesus is undisputed, but also his willingness to go to the slaughter like a lamb without protest and without a fight. He clearly could have changed his station if he wanted, but he chose not to change it. This is a message for all of us who might want to change our station following a way that is clearly disobeying Scripture, but we must choose not to change it. The two Scriptures a linked by this. The obedience that Christ shows leads to the redemption of humanity, Ephesians talks about this. The obedience that we are to show will have an impact that we cannot predict, but it will be an impact that demonstrates the power and the faithfulness of God. Just obey.

The timing of Mark and Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and then going into the temple and checking things out, but because it was late, he leaves and heads out and then the next day he clears the temple, is very different from the other Gospels. In fact, one detail that Mark has, and he was not a detailed person, is that “He would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.” That’s pretty severe and a detail that none of the others contains. He was that assiduous about the temple and its purity. Something to remember.

We continue along our journey with Deuteronomy. This section identifies are number of housekeeping responsibilities that those governing Israel had to think about. It lays out the religious festivals and reminds the people of God that they are the people of God. It also lays out the protocol in conquering the lands that the Lord has given to Israel to inhabit. Interestingly, if they come across a nation that is not willing to cede to them but it is not part of the land that is given to Israel, they are to conquer the land but spare the women and children and the livestock, not the men. But if it is part of the land that they are going to inherit, it is a handful of nations that are mentioned that fall in this category, then they are not to spare anything when they conquer that nation: not children, not women, but fruit trees you can spare. Seems harsh, but necessary.

The reason given for this harshness is that the author states that if you keep those alive, then they will over time convince you to worship the gods that they worshipped and the people of Israel will fall away from worship YHWH. Sure enough, over time we see this happening, but at least here on paper there is a strategy to prevent this from happening. Kill everyone.

Again, when you have these many chapters that you are making your way through on a daily basis it is hard to focus on something specific. I was curious about the promise that one day there will be one single place where to worship the Lord. Remember, this is crucial for the people of Israel and it translates into the temple in Jerusalem, as that place that is forecasted. This Scripture speaks of the house of the Lord, the place where the Lord resides, which is such a different concept from that of Jesus being in our midst no matter where we may find ourselves. This allows for churches all over the globe in worship with God in a way that is worthy and acceptable in the presence of God. There is no single place where God resides and where God has to be worshipped. God is present in all places and with all of us but it is in community where we find the fullness of God.

Mark describes the transfiguration, where Jesus and his clothes are changed to sparkling and dazzling white. We then find Jesus, and this is a curious verse, in 9:30 that he did not want anyone to know where he was because he was: “teaching his disciples.” He wanted some time to be able to teach his disciples and spend time with them. The topic of the day was his death and resurrection. Not really something they wanted to talk about.

We begin the Old Testament reading with probably the most subsequential reading in the Old Testament with chapter 6. This beginning section of this chapter is called the Shema because it is a command that has been passed down from generation to generation to remember all that the Lord has done. Hear O Israel, is in Shema Israele, the command for the people of God to remember what God has done for them and what God expects and requires of them today, right here and now. The subsequent chapters are reminders of the works of the Lord so that as we move forward in our faith journey we reminded of all that God has done for us.

In Mark we have the second feeding of the crowd, this time it is 4,000 instead of the 5,000 from the previous reading. We also have Jesus being lifted up as the Messiah and reminding his disciples that he will have to be sacrificed and hung on a cross in order for his work to have any efficacy at all. Peter chastises Jesus and Jesus calls him Satan and reminds his disciples that we are not to focus on our future as the world focuses on its future, trying to amass as much as possible and be as safe as possible. Safety is relative to a life lived in the arms of God, which isn’t always safe.

We begin our reading today with the 10 Commandments in Deuteronomy, providing us with a recap of what we saw live in Leviticus. Again, this is a bit of a recap by Moses to the people of Israel basically explaining to them, and to himself, why they and he cannot enter the promised land. We then transition to the bulk of the life of Jesus in Mark, which is short enough to give us a lot of material in these 5 chapters. Consistently in Mark Jesus tells the people to not tell others about his powers or his miracles.

There is a constant theme in this Scripture of Jesus being surrounded by mobs of people who press in on him and so he looks for places to go and to get away from them. I often think of ministry and how there are seasons and times in ministry when there are crowds who want to be a part of the ministry that is taking place, and then, inexplicably, those crowds disappear. Jesus sees that in his hometown of Nazareth where he was amazed that the lack of faith of the people. That is something that you can feel and that you can tell is whether a people is following what you are saying and doing their “homework” or not.

We have two very different readings today, even though they both begin a new book of the Bible for us. Deuteronomy is a bit of revisionist history from the perspective of Moses. He goes over with the people a series of: “Remember when?” We hear basically all that has taken place from the perspective of Moses, even the reason why they were forced to wander and why Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land. Twice Moses says that it is your fault that not even I am allowed to enter. He even asks the Lord if there is any chance that he might be able to bend his decree by allowing Moses to enter just so that he can see the land. God says, I don’t want to hear this any more. I will allow you to climb the mountain and see the land that is before you, but you shall not enter, Joshua will do that. It is fascinating to hear the stories of the people of Israel from a very direct, singular perspective from someone who is either Moses, or someone who is definitely within the Moses camp.

I was surprised by the Gospel of Mark. It has been a while since I read that Gospel, and I had always considered it the cliff notes of the Gospels. Meaning, I had always considered it the shortened version of the Gospels that only touched upon the necessities. I’m not sure that is correct. But notice that it does not contain any of the birth narratives. We begin with John the baptist, and the first chapter includes the calling of all of the disciples. The first chapter also includes, or maybe the second, a reference to Capernaum as Jesus’ home, and the healing of the paralytic man takes place within Jesus’ home, so that is something new that I had not noticed before. I really like Mark and I am noticing things in this Gospel that I had not seen before. Enjoy!

As we close out Corinthians we find ourselves with many different cultural commands that Paul gives which remind us that we live in a day and age that is so very different from Paul’s day and age, and yet the words of the Lord stand firm and do not waver. We find the very familiar and popular I Corinthians 13, the love chapter, that leads the way. It is very similar to Psalm 23 which is one of those Scriptures that provides comfort in it’s familiarity. Do not hesitate to reflect on the words on what love truly it. It is servant love and humble love and anything else is, well, something else.

We find in Numbers more sorting out of the tribes and opportunities for God to establish that the land that he had given to the people of Israel he would surely give to them. There are a number of tribes who want to stay on the other side of the Jordan River, it would be the east side, but promised to send their armies to conquer the west side of the Jordan. They promise that they will not establish themselves until all of the land has been subdued. They will just put their women and children in temporary establishments where they will eventually settle, on the east side of the Jordan, then they will battle with all of the Israelites, and then they will return and create their cities and live. Moses gives the green light for that.

In I Corinthians we find following the chapter 10 description of the bread which you will see in my last blog, the words of institution which I use every time we have communion. They are comforting and familiar and they provide us with the understanding of what we are doing every time that we take communion. I hope you read them and find some peace in the familiarity.

The Midianites are defeated and they bring back the booty, but Moses is angry because with the booty the soldiers kept those who had tempted the Israelites into sinning. It was a planned strategy to have the Israelites wander away from God at the hands of the married women of Midian who then led the weak men of Israel into sacrificing to the idols of Midian. Moses commands the soldiers to kill all those who were married. So, these are the Scriptures that people who do not know the Lord object to. Okay, even those of us who do know the Lord can object to this Scripture as well. We do not understand why the nature of the Lord was to eliminate His enemies, in this case to massacre people who ostensibly had nothing to do with the leadership and are innocent bystanders. It doesn’t, for me at least, contradict the nature of Christ. God is a jealous God and will act to save His people from syncretism, which is the amalgamation of different religions into something that is completely unnoticeable. There is one God, and one God alone and anything that would disturb the monotheistic approach needs to be eliminated. I’m okay with that.

So we find in I Corinthians 10:17 the words that I use to describe what it means to be the body of Christ and how the bread at communion is a part of the unity. I had no idea that this was in Scripture. I know that I must have heard it somewhere, probably another past who was doing communion, and early on I liked it and I picked up and I have used it ever since. But the concept that the single loaf at communion not only is the body of Christ which is broken for us upon the cross and that the single loaf is for us the single body of Christ in the church has always been a part of the liturgy of communion for me. Now I have a Scripture from which it came. That is pretty exciting to me.