28 August 2010
Psalm 20, 21; Job 9:1,10:1-9,16-22; Acts 11:1-18; John 8:12-20

Leave me alone! That is Job’s prayer to the Lord. Sometimes it is not good to be regarded by the Lord. Job is making his complaint directly to the Lord, not murmuring to these friends and in that he is revealing that he believes God does hear him, that God is paying attention. The problem is that God is paying too much attention to Job, who believes that God is pursuing him in judgment for sin he cannot identify. Job continues to maintain his innocence and he is, in fact, correct. Job alone has the right to pray such things to the Lord. Life, however, isn’t worth living for him under these circumstances and who can blame him. His friends condemn him but God does not. Have you ever known God’s silence in the face of your pleas? It is an awful thing to have happen and friends like these only make things worse.

Jesus speaks into the misunderstanding concerning where he is from but not to give clarity, only to expose their error in thinking and judgment. The Pharisees presume to know all about Jesus when in fact they know nothing at all that resembles the truth. Their appeal is to the law that requires more than one to testify at trial and because no one else attests to Jesus’ heavenly origins they will not receive His testimony. His statement that they do not know the Father would certainly be enough to cause them great anger, they, after all, are the righteous ones in Israel. They don’t recognize real righteousness in Him, and in that failure they prove they do not know the Father at all.

God is doing a new thing and it is bigger than anyone realized. We get a glimpse into the thought of the early church in this lesson from Acts today. They honestly didn’t understand that this message and this gift of the Holy Spirit was for Gentiles so they demand an accounting from Peter as to his activities among them. They understood this to be the fulfillment of the Jewish expectations concerning Messiah and the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth, and Gentiles didn’t fit into their picture except as those who would recognize Jewish exceptionalism and become Jews themselves. The Gentile Pentecost turned that thought on its ear and in the end became something to rejoice over but it would be a good long while before anyone really knew what to do about these Gentile Christians.

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
The Lord protects the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return, O my soul, to your rest,
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.