Psalm 148, 149, 150; Amos 6:1-14; 2 Thess. 1:5-12; Luke 1:57-68
Amos speaks particularly here to the wealthy as perverting justice and having no concern beyond their own wealth and comfort. As I write this, there are people in many cities who are protesting based on the premise that the wealthy have too much and yet it doesn’t seem as though justice or righteousness are the reasons for the protest, simply redistribution. Israel was to be a theocracy and the law of the land was God’s law. That part of the law that was concerned with economics required several things: one year out of every seven was to be a year when no crops were to be planted, every fifty years all real property reverted to the original owners, going back to the original distribution in the time of Joshua, and there were multiple requirements on those who planted crops that required some of the produce be left for the poor. The law was based on the premise that some would prosper and some would not and yet there was that reset button every fifty years to flatten the curve a bit. One of the reasons for the long Babylonian exile was because they had not observed the Sabbath years and Jubilee years so the land was given its rest. We must be responsible with our use of wealth and of creation, those who have more do have a responsibility to assist others and to righteousness in all their dealings.
The birth of John the Baptist certainly raised expectations concerning this child. “What will he be?” was indeed the question of the hour. After a four hundred year prophetic silence, this dramatic birth, foretold by an angel who appeared to Zechariah as he ministered in the temple, in the holy place, surely this child would have something to say. He was given a name not by his parents but by God Himself, a name outside the family lineage as it were. The name itself means something like, “God is gracious” or “Yahweh is merciful.” Naming is always important in the Bible. When someone is given either a name or a new name by God it is a sign that they are to be used specifically by Him and it either recognizes either who they are or who they are to be. John’s message is indeed his name. The Lord is gracious and merciful on those who seek Him in truth, confessing themselves to be sinful and in need of grace and mercy.
Paul reminds the Thessalonians that their suffering in this life will be eclipsed by their reward in the life to come. Those who afflict them now will suffer in the life to come. Should that reality comfort us or cause us to pray for those who afflict us now? It should cause us to have some compassion for even those who cause us pain as we should want no one to suffer eternally, no matter what they have done to us. When we realize that the pain and difficulty of this life are due to sin and that they are temporary, we begin to see that God is indeed merciful and loving, we remember Jesus on the cross praying for His tormentors and we are restored to reality and can begin to be merciful and gracious. It isn’t easy but it is necessary.
Jesus! what a Friend for sinners!
Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,
He, my Savior, makes me whole.
Hallelujah! what a Savior!
Hallelujah! what a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.
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