28 February 2012

Psalm 45; Gen. 37:12-24; 1 Cor. 1:20-31; Mark 1:14-28  

Is Reuben a good guy here in proposing that they not kill Joseph or he is trying to curry favor with his father by rescuing his beloved son?  If I were one of the brothers I would certainly assume that Joseph was coming out on a little reconnaissance mission to report back to dad as he had previously done in giving a bad report on them.  Several times in yesterday’s passage we saw the word “hate” used to describe how the brothers felt about Joseph and now we see that, like Cain, they have made no attempt to deal with this sin in their hearts but it has overtaken them and they are prepared to do as Cain had done, murder their brother.  Their jealousy, however, is only due to their father’s favoritism, God is no part of the equation now.  Clearly the robe that Jacob/Israel had made for Joseph was a part of the problem, they stripped him of the robe, the very thing that marked him as different and dad’s favorite would become that which identified him most clearly.  How long could he last in that pit with no water?

Mark has the beginning of Jesus’ ministry after the arrest of John and Jesus begins by preaching exactly the same message as John.  The call of the disciples then begs the question, who did they think He was at that time?  What did they know of Him otherwise?  Had they heard John’s testimony about Jesus and had they heard about what happened at the baptism?  The teaching Jesus did was with authority, not like the scribes, whose appeal was to tradition and the teaching that had gone before.  Jesus made no reference to any other teacher, only to the Word of God itself.  He had a unique authority because He alone knew the letter and the spirit of the law and when He taught it was with absolute authority.  If there were any doubt about that authority it was proven in the casting out of the demon from the man in the synagogue, He spoke and there was immediate and absolute obedience.  From whence did His authority originate?  That is the question that begs to be answered.

What we think we know isn’t so.  Wisdom is not found in the world, it is found in the cross, an overturning of the world’s wisdom.  If we hoped to know the difference between good and evil we failed at the source.  We can’t imagine the cross being “good” but the resurrection says that it is.  The world’s judgment is skewed because it lacks true wisdom, the knowledge of and about God, it failed the test of true wisdom when it chose to crucify Him.  We who are recipients of divine grace in revealing that truth are truly wise no matter what the world says in opposition but that is not a reason for boasting but humility because that wisdom doesn’t originate in or with us but rather in and with God Himself who revealed it to us by the Holy Spirit.  What Joseph’s brothers did not do to him, Jesus’ brothers, His fellow Israelites, did to him and ultimately, like with Joseph’s brothers, every knee will indeed bow before Jesus and confess He is Lord.  True wisdom is doing so now not later.

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
   The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
   with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;