Psalm 146, 147; Jer. 36:1-10; Acts 14:8-18; Luke 7:36-50
Jehoiakim was the vassal of the Pharaoh of Egypt. The Pharaoh had even changed his name from Eliakim to Jehoiakim. The names mean essentially the same thing, God has raised up. The change was in the beginning of the name, “el” being the generic word for God and “Jeho” being an abbreviated version of Jehovah, the more personal name of the God of Israel. While God or Jehovah may have raised up this man, he was beholden to the Egyptians and later the Babylonians after that nation conquered the Egyptians. Jeremiah had been a prophet for a long time, dating back to the reign of Jehoiakim’s father Josiah and had served well, but now popular opinion had turned against him and he was restrained from entering the temple so he sent Baruch, his scribe, to deliver the message calling on the people to repent of their evil, a la John the Baptist. The message carried also a promise of forgiveness, predicated on their repentance. I think we all know how this turned out.
Who can forgive sins? God alone can forgive sin as sin was defined as ultimately against God. This woman clearly had not sinned against Jesus, so who was he to declare her forgiven, particularly when she had offered no sacrifice. When a worshipper made a sin offering the priest had to make a determination based on the offering whether the person had truly acknowledged and repented and only on the basis of the sacrifice and this determination could forgiveness be proclaimed. This woman made a sacrifice of great cost in the perfume in the alabaster jar, it was that which she used to make herself attractive in the sense that the smell of the perfume attracted men to her, an advertisement of her availability. When she poured this out on Jesus’ feet, it was a renunciation of her sinful life and it was made in recognition of Jesus as a special representative of God. She may not have known who He was but we can be certain that she received His gracious words of forgiveness this day.
Paul, by the power of the Holy Spirit, heals a man crippled from birth at Lystra. Luke, a physician, who writes this account, tells us that the man “sprang up” and began walking. Could a man crippled from birth literally spring up on his legs? There would have been no muscles at all to have allowed this. I have a friend who has been crippled for only ten years who works out three days a week in a gym and I saw him yesterday in his wheelchair using cables connected to a pulley system to pull himself upright from his wheelchair. He is not able to use his legs to stand, he has to use his arms to bring himself to a standing position. The healing here is truly miraculous in that this man springs up and then walks. No wonder the people make out Paul and Barnabas as “gods.” Do we have faith that God can do such things in our day?
No comments:
Post a Comment