14 April 2011

Psalm 131, 132; Jer. 26:1-16; Rom. 11:1-12; John 10:19-42

Is there something familiar about this scene from Jeremiah’s life? There certainly ought to be, it looks exactly like what happened to Jesus with the exception of the outcome. When Jesus spoke the words about tearing down the temple and rebuilding it in three days, he was accused of speaking against the temple of God and this became a major issue in His trial. Jeremiah is told to stand in the temple and prophecy against it, that God has judged His people, their leaders, their worship and their lives and will indeed bring this temple to nothing, just as He did to the earlier worship center of Shiloh which no longer serves as a place of worship. The reaction is that Jeremiah must certainly die for deigning to speak against the temple so a trial is commenced but ultimately they determine that he has spoken truth and therefore cannot be condemned to death. On what basis, I wonder, do they see his prophecy as truth?

The people cannot come to agreement on their estimate of Jesus, some believe these are the words of one possessed by a demon while others see the opposite. It is a crazy, mixed up world. Some want to stone Him, others to arrest Him and others believe Him to be Messiah. Those who speak the words of God are familiar with this mixed reaction, it happens all the time in the church when either the pastor or a lay person speaks words or initiates changes that aren’t popular. Jesus points to His works to ask them for an appraisal based not on His words but what He has done and calls them to believe based on the evidence of their eyes. Some are prepared to believe but many are not, judgment waits for a more convenient time.

Paul reaches back to Elijah to find his footing on understanding the present situation vis a vis the Jews. Elijah believed that he had stood alone in opposing Jezebel and Ahab and their drive to move the Israelites towards Baal worship. When he prayed to the Lord he essentially accused the entire nation of apostasy and set himself up as the only righteous man standing. The Lord told Elijah there is a lot you don’t know, including that there are seven thousand others who have not bent the knee to Baal. It is easy for us, under stress and any measure of persecution to believe we are alone in the world defending God’s honor and yet the truth is that God has always had a remnant of those who believe. Paul sees that the sin of the Jews allows God to give grace to the Gentiles and receive glory from them but points beyond that to the glory that awaits the full inclusion of the Jews that he is certain will come based on the eternal election of God of this people. His love for His people did not end at Calvary.

’Mid toil and tribulation,
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore;
Till, with the vision glorious,
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great Church victorious
Shall be the Church at rest.