Micah is superstitious.
He has stolen a substantial sum of money from his mother, over a hundred
times the amount of money he offers the Levite whom he hires as a priest. His mother has cursed whoever stole the money
and yet now when he returns it she is thankful for him and the return of the money
and blesses him. In thanks for the
return of the money she melts down a portion of it and has an idol made which
Micah set up along with other idols and ordained a son as a priest, whatever
that may have entailed. When a Levite
looking for work came along he was happy to offer him employment as yet another
priest and counted himself as a man who would be blessed because he hired a
real religious man as a priest. Is there
any place in your life where you are thinking like Micah?
Jesus certainly says nothing about which we can be
superstitious does He? Well, yes, in a
way. We can become attached to
"believing" as the key to life without there being amendment of
life. Sacramentalists believe baptism
saves and yet some who are more protestant in orientation make a similar
mistake that if once I said the sinner's prayer I am saved forever. Jesus speaks of believing in Him as believing
in the One who sent Him as a critical thing in salvation but is that all He
said? Here He also says that judgment is
based on the "doing" of our lives.
What we do in our lives reveals more truly what we believe than our
words alone. If Jesus is not Lord of our
lives is He our savior? We aren't saved
by works but by grace but the testimony of our lives is a measure of the grace
we have received.
Stephen accused the religious leaders of superstition,
creating an idol of their own in the temple of Solomon. It is remarkable how quickly Stephen gets to
the accusation after the long build-up. Surely
they thought there was going to be a good bit more history after the building of
the temple but that is the issue on which he focuses his critique, that the
Lord doesn't live in a house built by human hands and the prophets have said
so. He also accuses them of receiving
the law but not keeping it. Their response
is equally swift judgment, stoning him even as he, like Jesus, prays that this
sin not be held against them. Then we
see Paul standing by in approval, ready now to move out in persecuting the
church whom Stephen represents.
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