2 February 2011

2 February 2011

Psalm 72; Isa. 54:1-10; Gal. 4:21-31; Mark 8:11-26

Like the days of Noah, the judgment of God has ended and now has come the time to be fruitful and multiply. His promise is forgiveness and fruitfulness, these days will, like the final chapter of Job’s life, be the days of abundance. It is difficult to hear such promises in the midst of destruction, difficult to see the future. The prophetic in the Old Testament nearly always included God’s blessing and His judgments on His people. His love for His people and His Name always mean that such judgments are not final, so long as they return to Him and acknowledge their sinfulness He will forgive and bless.

Immediately after the feeding of the multitude the Pharisees come and ask for a sign from heaven? Apparently they are not able to see and believe unless they control the game. The disciples don’t come off well in this passage either, appearing to be completely clueless about the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod. What was that leaven and why did they need to be careful about it? Coming as it does immediately after the request for a sign, we can assume that this leaven is a call away from faith to signs. Jesus gave signs certainly but they all called forth a response of faith to determine He was indeed Messiah. What does the sign point to? That is the central question. We can have so many signs we can’t count them and still come to wrong conclusions. We can be like the man whose sight is restored at the end of the passage, not seeing clearly, unless Jesus fully opens our eyes.

Paul makes a bold comparison, one that would certainly have been deeply offensive to those who had been leading the people astray. Only one who had been deeply immersed in Judaism could possibly compare Israel to Hagar of all people. The offense in today’s Judaism might actually be greater given the enmity between the child of Hagar and the child of Sarah. Paul is engaged in heated rhetoric in order to save them from the folly of returning to the old covenant. He says it is time to move ahead with Jesus, not backwards with the law. Is Jesus the Messiah who has delivered us from sin and death and, in fact, the law of sin and death to life or is He simply the sacrifice for our transgressions against the law. We have been born of the Spirit, let us live from the Spirit.

May his name endure forever,
his fame continue as long as the sun!
May people be blessed in him,
all nations call him blessed!