17 July 2010
Psalm 30, 32; Joshua 6:1-14; Rom. 13:1-7; Matt. 26:26-35

Can’t you just imagine Joshua waiting for the battle plan, hearing from the Lord and then his reaction to the plan? You want us to do what? March around the city for six days and blow the trumpets and then on the seventh day blow the trumpets seven times and then we all shout and the walls will fall down. I am certain he was a bit reluctant to tell his warriors and the people that this was the plan. The people inside the city must surely have wondered what was up for those first six days as the people marched around without saying anything. It would have been a curious procession to say the least.

Jesus re-interprets the symbols of the Passover and Exodus in light of what will come in these next hours. His body will be given as the lamb’s body was given on the night of Passover and His blood will be our sign that we belong to the Lord. When they drank the cup they could never have known what this meant, what it symbolized, how horrible these next days would be for them. It must have been utterly shocking to them to hear Jesus say that they would all soon desert Him. Peter immediately responds that he will never fail Jesus, even if these others do. To his credit he follows longer than most, but not to the end.

Paul’s reasoning here presupposes authority and laws that are not wrong for Christians, presumes that the prevailing authority is moral. He tells the Romans to do good but Christians must know good. If the authority prescribes evil then what are we to do? If the laws of the land said to kill your neighbor if he is Jewish or to turn your neighbor in to the authorities for that reason, would a Christian be compelled to comply under this passage? No, there is that higher law we must obey. The church began in part by Peter and John defying the authority of the Sanhedrin regarding the preaching in the name of Jesus. We do have a primary obligation but to the extent that the civil law does not prescribe conduct in conflict with God’s law, we have an obligation to be good citizens.

You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy,
so that my soul* may praise you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you for ever.