21 September 2010
Psalm 78:1-39; Esther 5:1-14; Acts 18:12-28; Luke 3:15-22

Pride goeth before a fall. Esther is accepted into the court of the king and makes one simple request, that he and Haman should come to a banquet that day. The king then offers again to do anything up to half his kingdom for her and she demurs and invites them again the next day. Haman is satisfied with himself and all that is in his life, he is truly a blessed man but he wants Mordecai to recognize that publicly. His obsession with Mordecai reaches its peak here and he believes he now has the power to act quickly and decisively to take care of this situation once and for all the next day. The book of Esther is intriguing in that there is no direct mention of God, the Lord, or any other title in the entire book yet it is a clear presentation of the sovereignty of God in all things and in fact forms the basis for a celebratory festival to this day, the feast of Purim.

John the Baptist pointed out the sin of Herod marrying his brother’s wife, Herodias and became a thorn in the flesh to the ruler. John was not a people-pleaser and could do nothing but speak the truth. He saw a Messiah coming in judgment and he was right, but not in the short-term. When he baptized Jesus, it was similar to Samuel’s visit to Jesse for the purpose of anointing the next king of Israel, all the people are baptized and then Jesus comes and John receives the sign for which he has been waiting, the Messiah has come. Why did Luke insert the arrest and imprisonment of John in the middle of this passage rather than after Jesus’ baptism? Apparently Herodias and Haman had something in common, they didn’t like it when the little people refused to bow to them.

The convert Paul made in our reading yesterday becomes collateral damage in the war against Paul and his message. The people want Paul either arrested or driven out of town but the governor refuses their request on the grounds that Paul hasn’t broken any laws he is charged with enforcing so the crowd’s reaction is to beat up the synagogue official who had converted to Christianity. After all these things, Paul resumes his work of starting new work and encouraging existing churches. Finally, we meet Apollos who was beginning to have a powerful ministry but there was something missing in his testimony, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What would it mean that he was preaching about Jesus but didn’t have the Holy Spirit? Do we have preachers and leaders today who have the verbal testimony of Jesus but not the baptism of the Spirit? Do we lack power for that reason?

I will not hide them from my children;
I will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.