31 July 2012

Psalm 61, 62; Judges 2:1-5,11-23; Rom. 16:17-27; Matt. 27:32-44

Two chapters into the book of Judges the people forsake the Lord who brought them into the Land and gave it to them and follow after the Baals, the gods of the nations around them.  Baal was typically a fertility god and the worship of Baal required temple prostitutes as the worship was something like sympathetic magic, the worshippers did what they wanted the god to do to provide fertility to the land.  Their unfaithfulness to the covenant meant that the Lord no longer protected them from their enemies.  The pattern was obvious and clear, when a judge ruled over them who followed the Lord they prospered and when no such judge ruled, they were in distress.  What we see in Solomon's blessing of the temple is apparent here.

Jesus is rejected as Messiah because He didn't do the things they wanted Him to do.  He couldn't save Himself was the charge some leveled.  The response is that He could except He loved us enough not to save Himself.  They also said that if He came down from the cross they would believe.  The response there is that if He did it wouldn't matter what they believed, the sacrifice isn't complete until He dies and until that moment their sin and ours remains.  Jesus is in command of the situation and it looks exactly the opposite.  He has to persevere despite the pain and despite the taunts if He is to complete the assignment He was given.  He will soon give an even greater sign than coming down from the cross but will they believe?  He was faithful in order to save those with a genetic predisposition to unfaithfulness.

We know the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, Jesus is the answer to the human dilemma.  There is no other Gospel and in that revelation we have been given His Spirit to testify to the truth and to keep us in that truth.  Paul expects more of Christians because we have been given the Spirit to assist us.  He is angry always with those who preach some other gospel which is no Gospel at all.  Richard Foster was right, " Superficiality is the curse of our age…. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people."  We are called to depth of commitment and depth of understanding but that requires us to put forth some effort, we won't get there without immersing ourselves in Him.

30 July 2012

Psalm 56, 57; Joshua 24:16-33; Rom. 16:1-16; Matt. 27:24-31

As Joshua departs, his farewell address is similar to Moses' in Deuteronomy.  He is skeptical about the people's commitment to the Lord, telling them time and again that they will not be steadfast in their allegiance to the covenant.  He is right, not only they, but we, have a difficult time with faithfulness.  We struggle to remain faithful in our hearts and because we do not literally see God each day we forget Him and we allow our hearts to be ruled by something or someone else.  Joshua is a wise leader, drawing forth a commitment from the people, warning them of the cost of not being faithful but reminding them that the Lord forgives if they return.  It isn't cynicism that causes this, it is a keen awareness of human nature, not particular to these people but to all people of all times.  We hear here also of the faithfulness of the people who have borne Jacob's bones these forty plus years that they now inter them in the land he had purchased in Shechem.  (This is near the well of John 4 - the well the Samaritans say their father Jacob gave to them.)

Is Pilate really innocent?  That is quite a postmodern declaration in that he had the power to release Jesus but his fear for his reputation and his future caused him to leave that decision to the Jews.  Innocence would have required him to do the right thing but he didn't.  What a horrible response the Jews make, "His blood be on us and on our children."  Little do they know that Jesus' blood is our acquittal, it is that which cleanses rather than stains.  Normally, such a statement would indicate blood guilt, and that is impossible to remove, but Jesus' blood is the sacrifice for sins.  Reading about the mockery of the soldiers and their cruel treatment of Jesus is one of the worst things we have to do.  I wonder how these men felt when they heard the rumor that the tomb of this man was found empty only three days later. 

It is amazing how many people Paul mentions by name here at the end of the epistle.  Paul seems to have truly been a shepherd, not a CEO.  We have somehow made Christian leadership into something that would be difficult for the early church to recognize.  Paul not only knows the names of this group of people, he also singles them out particularly for praise, he knows them.  The commendations here are for those who have proven themselves faithful in service to the church and the Lord.  As we say the words with the crowd on Palm Sunday, "Crucify Him!" we take on ourselves the guilt and shame of the people and on Easter we receive with joy the news of the empty tomb.  Are we capable of being steadfast to the one who is eternally faithful to the covenant? 

29 July 2012

Psalm 24, 29; Joshua 24:1-15; Acts 28:23-31; Mark 2:23-28

Joshua gathers the people in Shechem and reminded them how they got there.  He gives an overview of the history of the people and God in order to remind them that this was the promise of God to Abraham and that the only reason they possess it today is because the Lord has been faithful to them, even when they weren't faithful to Him.  Joshua tells that the fathers of the people worshipped other gods when they were beyond the River, in Egypt, something we haven't known before.  His charge is that they have a choice to make, worship some other gods, the gods their fathers worshipped in Egypt, or the gods of the Amorites, or worship the God who has delivered them and given them this Land.  He and his household will serve Yahweh, no matter what the rest may choose.

Is Jesus claiming to be the Son of Man?  It seems pretty straightforward here even early in His ministry.  The disciples are hungry and they need to rub together the kernels they are plucking in order to extract the edible part.  This has been classified as working in order to keep the command to do no work on the Sabbath.  That was part of the work of the scribes, to define terms so that they did not inadvertently sin.  Jesus compares this to David and his men eating the bread of the presence from the temple when they were hungry.  This bread was to be consumed only by the priests and yet David ate it when on the run from Saul.  When Jesus says He is Lord of the Sabbath, He is clearly making a substantial claim for Himself. 

No matter where Paul was, he was preaching the Gospel.  He knew, however, that all would not receive it.  He likened his ministry to the Jews in particular to Isaiah, who was sent to a people who would not listen to him.  He was undaunted by their disbelief, however, he persevered even in captivity in his proclamation, willing to take on all comers in debate.  Paul didn't complain about what he didn't have, he made the most of every opportunity to talk about Jesus.  Can we say the same?  What keeps us from being the "go-to" people to talk with about Him?

28 July 2012

Psalm 55; Joshua 23:1-16; Rom. 15:25-33; Matt. 27:11-23

Joshua's concern for the people is that they will not keep covenant with the Lord who has done so much for them, who has been faithful to do all He has promised.  He is concerned that they will be corrupted by the nations around them, that contact with them will defile them.  They are warned to keep clear of these surrounding nations, not to intermarry with them.  Why does it matter so much to Joshua that they keep themselves from such contact with the nations?  His concern is that they will begin following after the gods of these nations and will forsake the covenant with Yahweh.  We do need to be careful that we don't allow ourselves to become syncretists.  It is a problem even today that we bring in philosophies that are incompatible with Christianity and allow them to shape our understanding of God, ourselves, and the world around us.  Those philosophies can be anything, we can be committed to social justice rather than Jesus, capitalism rather than loving our neighbor, and so many other things.  Gods come in all shapes and sizes.

Pilate knew that it was simply envy that has caused them to deliver up Jesus, that He has committed no discernible crime against the state.  Pilate's wife knows that Jesus is a "righteous man" who has done nothing wrong.  Pilate believes that surely the people, given an obvious choice between the popular Jewish teacher and an insurrectionist, will choose the teacher to be set free.  Pilate allows his fears of a Jewish mob giving him a bad name as a leader will harm his career, and fails to lead.  They want no part of truth, no part of real righteousness, and demand that this innocent man be crucified and Barabbas to be set free.  They would rather have a criminal among them than the only truly good and righteous man who ever lived.  We make that choice all the time in our own lives.

Paul makes a plea to the church at Rome to give towards the relief of their brothers and sisters in Christ who are in Jerusalem.  Other churches have done so and Paul encourages all to give for the whole.  We are connected with one another, bound to one another in our confession of Jesus.  We are made one, whether we know one another or not and when one part of the body suffers we are meant to all suffer along with them.  To the extent that we are able we are called to ameliorate the suffering of our brothers and sisters and Paul is clear that their willingness to assist the Christians in Jerusalem is, in some ways, important to the validation of his own ministry to the Gentiles, it will show that he is not preaching some other Gospel, it will show they understand that the connection with the Jewish Christians is truly a heart connection, it will cement the bond of common faith.  It will also be a witness of love to those who are not part of the body of Christ.  We are not called to be separatists as the Jewish nation was to be, we are to be light within a dark society.

27 July 2012

Psalm 40, 54; Joshua 9:22-10:15; Rom. 15:14-24; Matt. 27:1-10

The surrounding cities of the area hear of what happened at Ai and that the Israelites have now joined forces in an alliance with the Gibeonites, whose men are warriors.  The kings of those other cities now see that they have to act quickly to cut off this new threat and so form their own alliance to go up against Gibeon and in so doing the Israelites are called to protect the Gibeonites under the terms of the covenant they have just made.  The Lord uses both the army and supernatural intervention in the form of large hail to put these to rout.  Joshua pleads that the Lord would allow more daylight, the sun to stand still, in order that this work be completed in one day, and the Lord answered that prayer.

Judas has an attack of conscience.  What brought it on?  It was when he saw that the Jews had condemned Jesus and bound Him over to Pilate.  He knew then that things had spun out of control, had gone in a direction he never imagined it would go, and he knew what he had done, "betrayed innocent blood."  We don’t know what Judas thought would happen, why he betrayed Jesus.  Did he think that he would force the issue and Jesus would then become the Messianic king in order to avert the crucifixion?  Did he think Jesus would convince the leaders if they had their private audience with Him that Judas set up?  Did he simply want the persecution to end in this way, by force of Jesus' arguments?  If so, he would have been sorely disappointed that Jesus made no defense before the Sanhedrin.  They know that the money they gave to Judas was blood money and cannot take it back, it has been tainted by the purpose.  He dies in sin and shame, no longer able to live with himself.

Paul is clear about his mission.  He is "a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God."  This is a grace given to him by God and he revels in going where no man has gone before in order that he might see the fulfillment of the prophetic word, that " “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”  Paul is the most well-trained of the disciples to be a rabbi but the Lord sent him instead to those who did not know the Law with a message that the Law wasn't the salvation of the people, it was in fact their condemnation.  That ministry, however, required the rabbinic training Paul had received as it required one familiar with the Law to understand fully the Gospel and how the two fit together.  The Law tells me of my sin and the sacrifice of Jesus tells me of the grace of the Lord, that like Abraham saw with Isaac on the mountain, the Lord provided the sacrifice for us.  He will come to our defense if we confess and call upon the Name of Jesus.