Psalm 26, 28; Lam. 1:1-12; 1 Cor. 15:41-50; Matt. 11:25-30
Jeremiah sees the ruin of Jerusalem but doesn’t question God’s judgment. He knows why this has happened, his post-mortem on the ruin is that this was deserved for sin. The prophet gives us an awful picture of what he sees, as only one who loved the city could possibly provide. He knows the beauty that goes beyond the physical beauty, he knows that all of this was of spiritual significance, it was ordered physically the way God prescribed and the problem is that spiritually it was not ordered as prescribed. The beauty of the temple and the city was to be transcendent, when the physical and spiritual were in alignment there was no beauty greater than the people truly worshipping Yahweh but when it became empty of spiritual vitality, its beauty was already lost and now it is simply a pitiful ruin, an empty shell, and it is not an enemy who is responsible but rather the Lord Himself who inflicted it on the day of His fierce anger.
Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. What a beautiful offer Jesus makes here. This offer of an easy yoke and a light burden is in contrast to the yoke and burdens tied up by the religious leaders. Jesus is speaking to the Jews who have indeed had unbearable burdens tied on them by the onerous laws not of God but of men. The Lord offers rest to the weary and yet we often tie up similar burdens in our legalisms in the church, whether legalisms of conduct or of worship. It is easy to make performance a burden to be carried and yet Jesus never did that. Life is meant to be lived by the Spirit, constant communion of spirit with the Father in prayer, not by keeping many rules and regulations. We don’t like freedom very well, especially in other people and it is easier for us to measure things if we have a set of rules to measure against. Jesus, however, offers His Spirit to guide us in all our lives, dare we attempt to live such a life of prayer?
This passage from Paul stands in stark contrast to the first passage we read today. Paul speaks of the glorious resurrection, what will be, as almost incomparable to the present situation concerning our body and, like Jeremiah, sees this completely as the work of the Lord not in anger but in love. We are but dust and to dust we shall return, an affirmation we make in our burial service, but from that dust and ashes to which we return we are raised to glorious life in Jesus. Paul says, “The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” We will bear the image of this man of heaven throughout all eternity. We are called both to see and understand the present as God sees it, fallen as a result of sin, but to seek the glorious and incorruptible kingdom to come. The reality is that we can’t seek the kingdom until we see this world aright and realize it is passing away. We must lose our infatuation with the earthly Jerusalem in order to truly seek the heavenly.
O quickly come, true Life of all;
For death is mighty all around;
On every home his shadows fall,
On every heart his mark is found.
O quickly come, for grief and pain
Can never cloud Thy glorious reign.
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