16 February 2010
Psalm 26, 28; Prov. 30:1-4,24-33; Phil. 3:1-11; John 18:28-38

The prayer to be given neither poverty nor riches seems to me to be the petition for daily bread in the Lord’s Prayer. In the history of the people in the Old Testament we see that both these conditions are dangerous for God’s people. They didn’t handle the “poverty” of the manna well, craving meat, and they didn’t handle prosperity well at a later time, they honored God with their lips while their hearts were far from Him. Learning to be satisfied with and thankful for our daily bread is the beginning of discipleship in many ways. In the wilderness God tried to teach them to be thankful for that daily bread. If He didn’t miraculously provide for them there they would have starved to death. That time was to be the preparation for living in a land of milk and honey, provided by Him. The goal was a people that understood that it is important for us to recall that all things come from Him either directly or indirectly.

The leaders manage to maintain ritual purity to eat the feast while at the same time rejecting Jesus’ real righteousness. The irony in the first verse of this Gospel passage is thick. When Pilate asks of the charge they engage in circular logic, failing to offer a real explanation and simply arguing that if he weren’t a criminal we wouldn’t have brought him to you. Is it any wonder that Pilate’s initial response was to send them away? Pilate’s question of “Are you the king of the Jews?” is curious as we have no idea where he had heard that. As the conversation continues, Pilate asks what many would now say is the great question of postmodernity, “What is truth?” At least he is honest enough to admit he doesn’t know what truth is, and Jesus provides no verbal answer in spite of his declaration to the disciples, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

Paul says that his value system has been turned upside down by Jesus. All that he had dedicated his life to prior to his encounter with Jesus he counts as loss and rubbish for the sake of knowing Jesus. Is that our attitude towards Him? Paul would say that he has found the truth and has now devoted His life to knowing and proclaiming the truth to the world, whatever the cost to him personally. The riches that we are to seek are heavenly treasures, not earthly ones. Paul seems to have known the true value of Christ in a way that should make the rest of us hit our knees and ask the Lord for hearts like Paul’s.

Blessed be the LORD!
For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
The LORD is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.