27 January 2012

Psalm 40, 54; Gen. 17:15-27; Heb. 10:11-25; John 6:1-15

Abraham no longer believes that God can do what He promised, not through weakness on the part of God but on the part of Abraham and Sarah.  The Lord announces that Sarai’s name is to be changed from my princess to princess because she is to be the princess of the nation, the matriarch.  That is now too much for Abraham to consider possible, based on the inability of a man and woman of their age to bring forth life so he laughs at the idea.  The child’s name is to be Isaac, or laughter.  The source of that laughter will be two-fold, based in the laughter of his parents when the announcement was made and their joy at the fulfillment of the promise.  Abraham’s reaction was to plead that Ishmael be acceptable as the son of promise but God said no.  The Lord appreciated Abraham’s prayer for Ishmael but he would not be the son of the covenant.  After the Lord departs why does Abraham have Ishmael circumcised in addition to all the other males?  If circumcision is the sign of the covenant and God has said no to Ishmael’s being the son through whom covenant was passed, why circumcise him? 

No one believes anything can be done about the dilemma of feeding this multitude.  Philip knows the real question isn’t where to buy food, it is that there are simply too many people there that even if there were a place to buy it the amount of money required to purchase such a supply would cost more than a half-year’s wages so it wouldn’t make any difference.  Jesus, however, is able to provide out of a very little that a boy had with him.  He has them sit in an area where John says there was much grass, thinking of “He makes me lie down in green pastures” perhaps?  Their belief is that this is the Prophet (like Moses) who was to come into the world based on providing food for multitudes, just like Moses.  Jesus’ response is to withdraw from the crowds, most of us would bask in the adulation.

The priest offering sacrifices does so in faith that they are acceptable for sin.  Jesus’ sacrifice comes with the seal of the resurrection as proof of acceptability.  We don’t hope our sins are forgiven, the resurrection tells us that they are if we repent.  Confession is the first step in the process of reconciliation with God that starts when we sin and breach the covenant.  True confession, however, leads to repentance, what we have done is so terrible to us that we can’t imagine going back to it.  It begins with seeing things God’s way.  We are in covenant with Him and yet the relationship is ruptured due to sin and the only way to heal the rupture is to go back to that place and deal with it.  We then move on together with a new desire to live differently.  Faith and hope go together in all things, for as the angel told Mary, all things are possible with God.

Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

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26 January 2012

Psalm 50; Gen. 16:15-17:14; Heb. 10:1-10; John 5:30-47

Thirteen years passed from the end of Genesis 16 to the beginning of Genesis 17, just about the same amount of time that elapsed since Genesis 12 when they started walking with God on this journey.  It seems that Sarai had no more bright ideas about how to solve the problem of a child in those years.  Here, God re-announces the covenant of children and land with the 99 year old Abram and changes his name to Abraham, father of many of many nations.  What must the man have thought when he heard this again at his advanced age.  Perhaps he simply heard, “Yada, yada, yada.”  Did he even share this conversation with his wife who was surely tired of hearing him talk about this whole idea and who had given up on this promise?  The only addition here is the commandment regarding circumcision of children.  Did Abraham continue to believe this would actually happen?

The leaders are saying, just tell us if you are the Messiah.  Show us something that will let us know.  Jesus offers various proofs like the works, the testimony of the Father, John the Baptist’s testimony, Scriptures, and Moses.  In each case, Jesus says that they don’t listen to the witnesses for one reason or another.  In His words concerning the Father Jesus says they have never heard His voice or seen His form and that the words don’t abide in them because if indeed the word was abiding in them they would recognize Jesus, the embodiment of the Word of God.  To say to a group of Jews that they don’t believe the words of Moses and the proof of that is that they don’t believe Jesus would have been an incredible affront.  Belief requires a step of choosing to believe based on the available evidence and walking in that belief.

Does God desire sacrifice or holiness?  Jesus came to do God’s will.  The sacrifices offered for sin, bulls, goats, sheep, pigeons, etc. never produced a people who were holy.  Jesus’ sacrifice makes possible something entirely new, a people for whom the law is internal because of the giving of the Holy Spirit.  Our righteousness is to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees because we know what righteousness means at a different level.  In the old covenant, circumcision was initiation into the covenant but then you were to be taught the law until you knew it well enough to pass it on to others.  Jesus, however, said that knowing the words and knowing the author aren’t the same.  The law was to lead us to knowledge of God and to life according to that knowledge but we settle for external observance and never truly grow into the likeness of God.  Righteousness is something beyond keeping the rules and regulations. 

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

Tune

25 January 2012

Psalm 119:49-72; Gen. 16:1-14; Heb. 9:15-28; John 5:19-29

Can you hear the echoes of Genesis 3 here?  The serpent tempted Eve by closely parsing her knowledge of what God had said and here Sarai does what everyone does, try to find a reason for the problem as if God would not tell them.  We have to remember, though, that many years have passed since God first promised progeny, so it isn’t as though they haven’t been patient.  Sarai works out a solution that is based in the serpent’s argument to Eve, “Did God really say…”  Maybe it is only Abram who is to be involved here as father and she is the barrier to fulfillment.  Who couldn’t see this wasn’t going to turn out well?  Sarai accuses Hagar of acting “uppity” after the tryst and conception, what a surprise.  Sarai treats Hagar so badly thereafter that she flees from her mistress.  The Lord, however, sees her and sends her back to submit to Sarai but with a promise that her son will be the father of a multitude, unfortunately he won’t be a “good” man, nor will that nation. 

Jesus’ promise regarding the resurrection of the dead is based on who has done good and who has done evil.  Again, do you hear the echo of Genesis 3 and the knowledge of good and evil?  What does it mean to do good?  Good is a work of God, all that He does is good.  Truly that is the only measure we have for good, is it what God intended.  This ties back to Jesus’ claims regarding His own work, He only does what He sees the Father doing, nothing else.  He does nothing of His own initiative, only what the Father shows Him.  If we would do good in this life we need to be a people deeply rooted in prayer and the Word of God.  Abiding in Him is the only way we can know what good is and once we know what good is then we know that anything else is at best not good.  If we seek always to know and do good then we will never settle for anything less, much less evil.

The rich young man who approached Jesus asked a strange question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  The writer of Hebrews answers that question by beginning where any question of inheritance must begin, with the death of the one who is giving the inheritance.  He begins by talking about the necessity of death even under the old covenant.  Even in that covenant the death of an animal was required to maintain the covenant from the side of mankind.  To obtain the promised forgiveness required a death, just as the mercy Adam and Eve received required the death of an animal to cover their nakedness.  Again, we return to the Platonic philosophy of earthly things being copies of the ideal in heaven and in so doing we realize that the sacrifices needed to maintain the earthly things are insufficient when we go higher to the ideal.  Jesus’ sacrifice is sufficient to the task.  What does it mean though that He appeared at the end of the ages?  Remember that the stories of Genesis are introduced with the formula “These are the generations of…”  Jesus is the end of the story of the old covenant stories and the beginning of something entirely new that will last through all eternity, therefore He indeed appeared at the end of the ages in that sense.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

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24 January 2012

Psalm 45; Gen. 15:1-11,17-21; Heb. 9:1-14; John 5:1-18

Abram’s faith in God to give a child to him and Sarai is growing weak through the passage of time.  He isn’t rejecting God but has resigned himself to not having a child according to the promise.  The Lord goes further than a promise by making this a covenant promise to Abram.  The ceremonial aspects of the covenant would be familiar to the original audience for this story.  The animals would be killed and split in half to form a walkway and this is called cutting the covenant.  Both parties would pass between the pieces and the understanding would be that if I fail to keep my obligations concerning the covenant let it be to me as it is to these animals, death.  Notice, however, that Abram is neither asked to make a vow nor to pass through the pieces.  God makes the promise and also takes the covenant vow to perform under the promise.  Ponder what it means that Jesus died on the cross for our sins in light of His divine/human nature.

Jesus does a miraculous healing of a man who had been crippled for 38 years and then adds a twist to the healing that gets Him in trouble with the Jewish leaders.  He could simply have healed the man but He didn’t, He also commanded the man to take up his bed and walk.  It would be quite an accomplishment to walk, much less carry something after 38 years of disuse of his legs.  The problem is that the man is now carrying a burden on the Sabbath which is against the restrictions to do no work.  The leaders surely recognized the man as having been at the pool for nearly four decades but that isn’t what they see, they only see a law-breaker and demand an explanation.  The man passes the blame to Jesus who told him to do this but he doesn’t even know who Jesus is until He returns and instructs the man to refrain from sin lest something worse happen to him.  What is the man’s reaction, to go and tell the leaders exactly who healed him but the focus is that Jesus is the one who caused him to sin.  Wow!  For the healing on the Sabbath they persecuted Jesus, for his answer, “My Father is working until now, and I am working”, they determined to kill him.  They couldn’t see the truth, that He is equal to the Father.  It ain’t blasphemy if you can back it up.

The covenant is better because the sacrifice is better.  The writer walks through the temple and explains that the old covenant only gives access to earthly things but the new covenant gives us access to heavenly things.  The old cannot perfect the conscience, it can only deal with outer things but the new can deal with the inside of the cup, our souls, and can perfect us (not completely) in Him.  We have been given a new heart and a new spirit.  The former sacrifices only deal with the flesh, Jesus’ sacrifice and the consequent giving of the Spirit, enable us to go from dead works to true service because our hearts are right, flesh and spirit reunited and working together for the glory of God.  The old covenant was a wonderful thing but the new is far surpassing.  He has given His life that we might share His life.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

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23 January 2012

Psalm 41, 52; Gen. 14:1-24; Heb. 8:1-13; John 4:43-54

Lot has moved from outside Sodom to dwelling in the city itself.  Apparently he was now wealthy enough that he no longer needed to be with his flocks and herds.  We have already been told of the wickedness of Sodom so why has he moved into the city?  In verse 13 we get a strange phrase, Abram the Hebrew, which means something like “other side.”  Abram doesn’t live inside the places where conflict is occurring, he lives on the other side.  He leads out his “trained men” to rescue Lot, these trained men would have been a private army of sorts, probably providing security for the nomadic family and their flocks and herds.  Here we meet the mysterious Melchizedek who receives tribute from Abram for what reasons we do not know.  The king of Sodom assumes that Abram has done this for spoil but Abram wants nothing of Sodom’s wealth and filthy lucre.  He owes that wicked place nothing at all and nothing he has gained came from such a place.

It doesn’t seem the royal official lacked faith in Jesus.  He sought Him out and implored Him to come heal his son who was at the point of death.  Jesus accepts the man’s faith and then calls him to even greater faith by sending him away without accompanying him.  The official goes at Jesus’ command in faith that this will work.  His faith is rewarded in the healing of his son.  To whom then does Jesus address His remarks about signs and wonders?  It would seem that this comment was aimed at the Jewish people who were there and in this particular way of healing they see something else about Jesus, that He is not like a wonder worker, He need not be present for healing to occur.  His powers are not limited by geography.  Faith is rewarded.

Jesus is a better high priest because he ministers not in a copy of the heavenly place here on earth but in the heavenly place itself.  There is a Platonic ideal concept in this passage that tells us that the writer must have been stepped in Greek philosophical thinking and must have assumed that his readers were as well.  In the new covenant, made possible by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the law is no longer external to God’s people.  We have been given new hearts and the law is written there. He has put within us the desire to do as He wills.  As we are beneficiaries of a better covenant, shouldn’t we be better people, people of greater faith, people who are heavenly minded?  Like Abram, we are dependent not on the world but on God alone.  Like the royal official we are to walk in faith and not by sight.  Jesus is greater than anything else we could hope for or imagine, He is able to work across space and time in our lives today. 

In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

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