(Once
again my editorial comment is that the Episcopal church chooses to leave out
two verses in the lectionary, verses 26 and 27, here they are: “For this reason God gave
them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations
for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and
the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with
passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving
in themselves the due penalty for their error.” Apparently they don’t agree with Paul’s
judgment here concerning homosexuality and haven’t since 1979 when this Prayer
Book was issued. The agenda was at work
earlier than most people realize.)
The
issue that was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Moses was food, their
craving for meat. As a carnivore, I
certainly understand that craving well, but the craving wasn’t the problem so
much as their method for getting it, complaining about God’s lack of provision
rather than asking for it. Moses can
take no more and so God gives him help, taking some of the Spirit given to
Moses and giving it to the elders chosen by Moses but also revealing His own
sovereignty over the people by giving it to others not chosen by the
people. The amount of dead quail here is
stunning, three feet deep for a day’s walk all around the camp and they
gathered constantly for two solid days, gathering 60 bushels apiece. Why had the quail died, was this the reason
for the plague? Had God provided these
quail or did they simply take it up?
Humility, not seeking to be great, is the key to greatness. Is that some sort of Zen saying? Jesus showed the way to greatness was to
humble Himself to be like us that we might receive His Spirit and become like
Him. The great condescension of God
becoming man that we might take on His life is the most amazing thing in the
Gospel story to me. It is the most
amazing thing that has ever happened in human history. God’s love, His concern for our lives, us who
live on a little planet in a little solar system in a smallish galaxy in an
enormous universe, is unbelievable without the Holy Spirit being given us. That truth is humbling, or should be. If we took Jesus’ instructions re those parts
that cause temptation, what would we look like today? Most, if not all of us, would be maimed,
blind, deaf, and unable to function.
Thanks be to God that we can get forgiveness but we need to say no to
temptation more often.
My
editorial comment should not work against the reality that homosexuality is not
singled out as the worst sin. It is a
sin, the Episcopal church leaving out those verses notwithstanding, but those
next verses convict all of us, “evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of
envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, gossips, slanderers, haters of
God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.”
As Paul will say later, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God. What then shall we do, lose heart
or have faith in Jesus and glory in His Name?
Again, with Jesus, Paul tells us to struggle against temptation because
we are guilty of sin and prone to sin.
We don’t possess in our flesh the righteousness God has accounted to us,
we must now, because of His great kindness to us, work for righteousness in our
lives, hating sin and denying ourselves.
Our works don’t save us but they prove our faith.
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