First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak
out--Because I was not a Socialist. Then
they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not
a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew. Then they came
for me--and there was no one left to speak for me. - Martin Niemoller, a German
protestant pastor lecturing after WWII.
Esther apparently didn't understand the situation and
encouraged her uncle Mordecai to stop his mourning because it was
unseemly. Mordecai gave her an education
in the reality of the times but she wasn't ready or willing to take any action
due to the potential danger in doing so.
Finally, Mordecai makes it personal, you will lose your life anyway and
who knows if salvation might not come from another. He has faith in God but believes also that
Esther may well have come to this high position in order to be the
deliverer. Finally, she agrees to take
action, but asks for prayer and fasting on her behalf for three days prior to
going to the king. She has nothing to
lose in the matter.
John's message, "Repent and be baptized" is akin
to, "Save yourselves." He is
calling people to prepare for the coming judgment by turning away from sin and
publicly washing that stain from their lives.
In his statement about a brood of vipers he was judging the heart and motives
of those who were coming. His judgment
was based in the failure to have borne fruit for the kingdom. Just as we saw in James yesterday, doing is
as important as believing. When tax
collectors and soldiers came asking what they were to do, it was because they
knew that baptism alone wasn't good enough, amendment of life was necessary to
seal the repentance. Repentance,
metanoia, doesn't simply mean confession, it is a turning or changing
direction, realizing that life is headed in the wrong direction and going in
another direction. Life change and heart
change go hand in hand.
Paul's frustration with opposition by the Jews finally
reaches a boiling point in Corinth. He says
that he will no longer bother preaching to them, he will focus on the Gentiles. It must have been a painful decision for him
to abandon his own people thus but with all he had suffered at their hands for
proclaiming Jesus, it was inevitable. As
he continues his work there, the Lord blesses it and leaders of the congregation
come to faith. The Lord reassures him
that although there will be continuing opposition to the work, there will also
be fruit and so Paul continues on for 18 more months. How have we come to believe that opposition
should not be expected? In our day it
frequently comes from other Christians who would ask us to water things down,
make it more palatable, less confrontational.
Let us be like Paul, willing to work in the face of opposition, even
from within.
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