3 February 2011

3 February 2011

Psalm 70, 71; Isa. 55:1-13; Gal. 5:1-15; Mark 8:27-9:1

What are we seeking? The Lord says to come buy without price, delight ourselves in the richest fare but is He speaking of delights of the flesh and the food and drink that sates our human needs? No, He is clearly speaking of delighting ourselves in Him. In John 4 when Jesus speaks to the woman at the well the disciples implore Him to eat and he rejects their offer by saying that He has food that they know nothing about, that doing the will of the one who sent Him is true food. The woman in that story has come for water but leaves her water jar behind because she has drunk from the water of the well of which Isaiah speaks. Our Spirits are nourished by Him alone, all else is simply junk food and He calls us to Himself so that we might bear fruit and see and know true abundance and joy.

While Peter believes Jesus to be the Messiah, it seems that he is still thinking of the Messiah of this world. How often is that Messiah preached in contemporary western pulpits, the Messiah who will solve our problems in this world and prosper us? Jesus sets the record straight on what we should be seeking when we come to Him. We should understand that discipleship, following Him, means not fulfillment of our desires in this world but the very denial of those desires and the taking up of our own cross to follow Him. How could the disciples possibly fully understand the meaning of this statement prior to seeing Him on the cross but how could they not fully understand its implications after they saw Him literally on the cross?

Paul’s argument is here complete, if you accept circumcision and the law then Christ is of no advantage to you and you have severed yourself from Him (is this a pun on the physical effect of circumcision). It is not circumcision that truly matters, it is the reason for the circumcision. It has been practiced by many peoples in many times for a variety of reasons, Paul is here only arguing that if practiced in order to place them under the obligations of the old covenant then they have rejected Christ and His sacrifice in fulfillment of their obligations. In Him they have been released from the law. Paul warns them not to use their freedom for gratification of their own desires but to serve one another in love, a countercultural idea to be sure in a culture that was at least as status conscious as our own day. As he has practiced the taking up of his own cross in carrying the message of salvation to the Gentiles and bearing the disapprobation of his people, so they must carry their cross to follow Jesus in serving one another.

My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have redeemed.
And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,