24 July 2010
Psalm 55; Joshua 23:1-16; Rom. 15:25-33; Matt. 27:11-23

The community is to be a witness to the Lord and if they intermarry and intermingle with the others around them, who worship other gods, they will ultimately begin to add to their own beliefs. Inevitably, they will have other gods before Yahweh and they will be led astray. Joshua reminds them of all the Lord has done for them and the promise of all that He will do in the future, the work is not yet complete. It is not they who have conquered the Land, the Lord has given it to them and has made them all that they are today. If we remember always that all that we have and all that we are comes from Him, maybe, just maybe, we can learn to have one God and to worship Him alone.

Pilate is amazed at this man before him who is unwilling to speak in his own defense. What sort of man will not defend himself against the charges that are brought when he knows that this man, the governor, has the power of life or death if he will only speak and provide him with the basis for setting him free? His wife, however, has had a dream or vision about this man and is troubled enough to make intercession for Him, that Jesus is an innocent man and Pilate should have nothing to do with Him. He works hard to find a way to release Jesus even though he cannot try him without a defense, the charges stand if not rebutted. A solution presents itself in the form of the tradition of letting someone free during the festival as a show of good will and, amazingly, the people choose Barabbas, an insurrectionist, to be set free rather than this Jesus who has healed them and taught them and been acclaimed by them up until this day.

Paul’s plan is to go first to Jerusalem and then go to Rome by way of Spain. The plan gets ruined in Jerusalem with Paul’s arrest. He will go to Rome but not in freedom, he will go there for trial and death. There is a true irony in his words, “I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.” He will indeed do so, but it will be in chains. Paul understood the blessing of Christ to be something independent of his material circumstance, do we share that understanding? He knows that what Christ has done for him transcends earthly bounds and circumstances and will not allow his joy to be taken away by anything or anyone.

Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night’,
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.