Balaam continues
to prophecy concerning the future glory of Israel, that all her enemies will be
defeated. His words begin with a
formulaic expression concerning where he gets these words, by the opening of
his eyes so that he may see the vision of the Lord and the hearing of the Lord’s
word. This would have been odd for
Balaam as we are told in yesterday’s lesson, he normally resorted to divination. He no longer needs to read signs, he receives
a vision and a true word from the Lord and faithfully delivers it. Oddly, later he will give wisdom concerning
how to conquer Israel, suggesting that intermarriage between Israelite men and
Moabite women will turn the hearts of the men and therefore the nation, away
from God. Even though this day he
prophesied good for the nation, he is one of the most reviled men among the
Israelites.
The Sadducees
ask the ridiculous question concerning marriage after death in the
resurrection. Jesus answers that this life
is not a perfect analog for the life to come.
We worry about such things when we truly have no idea what the life to
come is like. Will we have the same
passions and desires then that we have now?
Marriage is a wonderful thing but perhaps there is an even greater love
that no longer seeks to possess that is awaiting us in heaven, one that is more
like the love Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13. Jesus is also queried about the most
important commandment, a typical question one would ask of a rabbi. Rabbis always worked towards simplicity,
boiling down things to their essentials, and here Jesus summarizes the entire
law in two commandments, love God with everything you have and love your
neighbor as yourself. Love is the ethic
and loving God means loving all He commands and teaches which will guide us in
loving ourselves and our neighbor since it takes sin, morals and ethics
seriously. Love isn’t overlooking or
excusing sin and bad behavior, it is dealing with it for the love of God.
Creation and
those created in the image of God are both under a curse due to the sin of
those first image bearers. Paul says
creation groans in anticipation of the revelation of the sons of God. Creation needs true image bearers, those who
will care for God’s creation as He cares for it. It has been subjected to limitations not because
of its sin but ours. The creation is
capable of more and so suffers not being able to do all it was intended because
of us. In the new creation we will be
truly amazed at what its capabilities are once the curse is lifted. We are to long for the kingdom of God to come
that we might truly realize the blessings He intends for His people. We will see with our eyes the true goodness
of God and the true greatness of God.
Let us pray that He will open our eyes and our ears that we may see and
hear and speak as true prophets.
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