8 June 2010
Psalm 61, 62; Eccles. 8:14-9:10; Gal. 4:21-31; Matt. 15:29-39

Solomon really finds the ragged edge in this passage. He has seen that everything “under the sun” ends the same way, there is no justice, righteousness and wickedness have the same end, and in between birth and death you can’t expect much. Is there anything in what he says that isn’t truth? We have little maxims and proverbs that say many of these same things, we acknowledge for instance that no good deed goes unpunished. We know that life doesn’t always reward us for doing the right thing, and we know that God’s ways are higher than our ways, that we can’t know what it is that He is doing under the sun at any given moment. We also know that as difficult and puzzling and painful as this life can be it is better than the alternative. Because of Jesus’ resurrection, however, we know that there is hope of a better world and belief in Him assures us that we will be there in eternity.

The crowds see in Jesus that something new has happened, all their hopes might be realized. The kingdom that is inaugurated in Jesus is a harbinger or first fruits of the kingdom that will come when He returns. All illness and infirmity is done away with and in God’s compassion and love there is no hunger, all are provided for and there is abundant provision, not scarcity or just enough to go around. Such passages as this should stir in us a deep, passionate desire to pray, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The presence of Jesus among them raised their sights from under the sun to above the sun, and we as His followers are meant to lift the heads of the downcast and help them look up to Him and set their hopes on Him.

Paul provides a useful if offensive illustration to help the Galatians see themselves more clearly. Paul compares the Jewish people who are under the law to the child of Hagar, Ishmael and the Gentiles to the child of Sara, Isaac. The tables are turned in such a way that any Jewish person reading or hearing this letter read would have immediately have reacted with anger towards Paul. Paul, however, has tried that old system of law and realized that the grace he has received in Jesus so far surpasses the old covenant that what once was life to him is now slavery and the real freedom is in Jesus alone, not Jesus and the law. In all this, Paul’s argument is not that the commandments of God are now immaterial, simply that with the gift of the Holy Spirit, we have the law written on our hearts, and we have Jesus in us to guide and direct us, we have the assurance of relationship with God by grace and not law. Why would we go back to the system that never produced righteousness when we have the option of grace?

Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I call to you,
when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I;
for you are my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.
Let me abide in your tent for ever,
find refuge under the shelter of your wings.