6 February 2011

Psalm 93, 96; Isa. 57:14-21; Heb. 12:1-6; John 7:37-46

What does it mean to have a contrite and lowly spirit? The Lord here says that He dwells with the one who is thus described. What does contrition look like? Literally, etymologically, it means ground to pieces or crushed. In our confession we say that “We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time most grievously have committed…the remembrance of them is grievous unto us, the burden of them is intolerable.” When we can truthfully say this then we are contrite. That is how we are intended to feel about sin, the attitude that is pleasing and acceptable to God. I am not often broken in my sin and my spirit lowly due to contrition. It is more often the case that I feel lowly in spirit over my circumstances. When we come to the Lord we do indeed come as His children but I also recall many times when I came to my earthly father in contrition. We do well to come to Him knowing that at least some of the things in our lives are not pleasing to Him and desirous of change.

Jesus offers Himself to the people at the feast in fulfillment of the prophetic word, in fulfillment of the feast itself, a celebration of God’s provision of water for the crops. He says “Come, here is the water you long for.” Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 that they “all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” He has always been the source of water for them, now He appears in the flesh. There is a disagreement among them and the first two groups realize He is the promised One, whether the prophet like Moses or the Christ, the Anointed One, but the last group can’t get past what they think they know of Him and His origins. Matthew and Luke take pains to say that Jesus wasn’t from Galilee, that his birth fulfilled the prophecy about Messiah because of the census.

Because Jesus kept His eyes fixed on the joy that lay ahead He ran the race and now sits at the right hand of God. It is important for us to keep that joy fixed in our sights as well, remembering that great cloud of witnesses that has gone before us and now cheers us on as we run our race. We are called to also remember that we are children of God and that because He is loving He wants us to be all that He has created us to be and that sometimes requires discipline in order to correct the course of our lives. We must always be willing to have Him correct the sinful habits of life in order that we can run well and in the right direction.

Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come into his courts!
Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth!