24 March 2011

Psalm 70, 71; Jer. 4:9-10,19-28; Rom. 2:12-24; John 5:19-29

What Jeremiah “sees” in the prophetic sense is startling and sickening to him. First he reacts as though the Lord has deceived the people by promising it will be well with them when in fact He intends destruction but that is not the promise initially. The promise is that first He will allow them to be overrun by their enemies and then He will restore them. The destruction that Jeremiah sees is complete and yet his focus is not entirely on the destruction but on the people and what he sees is a people who have no idea what to do or where to go because they have forsaken their source of wisdom and understanding. The Lord brings the land to the point of ruin but not quite and He will not relent until the devastation is complete.

Jesus makes extraordinary claims here that would certainly have shocked his hearers. “Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” He is either speaking of Joseph, in which case the statement is silly and meaningless, or He is speaking of the Father in heaven, in which case the statement is blasphemous to the Jews. To lay claim to equality with God is to set oneself up for crucifixion. Today we would have someone locked away for such a claim but in Judaism the punishment would have been exactly what happened. He also says that as the Father has life in Himself so the Son does as well. God is the giver of life, alone in this capacity, all Jews would have known this truth. How can this man, who just recently burst on the scene and whose history is known to at least some of them (remember Jesus is in Galilee here) claim to have life in Himself? There was a time when He was not. John 1.1 provides us with the backstory but they don’t have that benefit. How could anyone hear this and believe it? Jesus was gaining a crowd through the healing of this child and now He goes and spoils it with these claims. He never makes it easy.

Is Paul arguing that something more than faith is required? He says that doing the law is righteousness. Doing is important, even those of us who have been freed from the penalty of the law. Our lives are to be lived according to God’s will and He made that will plain in the law given to Moses at Sinai. There are some aspects of the law that are no longer, such as the dietary restrictions that were done away with in Acts 10 in Peter’s vision. The moral aspects of the law continue to be in force and the two great commandments of loving God with all that we are and loving our neighbor as ourselves are to guide our conduct. If we believe in Jesus, have the faith necessary to receive the gift of life, we also receive the Holy Spirit who guides us to keep God’s law that is written on our hearts. If our lives are characterized by sinfulness and we do not see transformation, can we say we truly believe?

Surely, it is God who saves me;
I will trust in him and not be afraid.

For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense,
and he will be my Savior.

Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing
from the springs of salvation.

And on that day you shall say,
Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name;