Apparently they
haven't completely left off the worship of Yahweh but they haven't given Him
their exclusive worship. They have
broken the first commandment. That
commandment is set up by the reminder that He is the One who delivered them
from Egypt. These commandments are based
in His action on their behalf in the past and this group has no historical
memory. Again, sound familiar? They continue to go through the motions of
worship to Him all the while paying homage to other gods, just as they did with
the golden calf. He promises to forgive
them if they amend their ways and return to Him. He will be faithful to His promise and His
nature but they will not hear it, they will not give up their idolatry and
worship Him only. They believe that His
love for the temple will prevail but He cares not for the temple, it has become
a "den of robbers", the very words Jesus used in clearing out the
moneychangers. The Lord tells them if
they think His feelings for the building will keep Him from allowing Jerusalem
to be overrun they should go to Shiloh and see what remains there of the
earlier worship place. Buildings don't
matter, they are inanimate structures, it is the people that matter and they
have already defamed Him, destroying the temple is a small thing.
Jesus speaks here of
the one who has sent Him. Again and
again we see that phrase in this passage.
His teaching and His works tell us who sent Him, if, He says, we desire
to do the will of the Father. If our
hearts are pointed in the right direction we will know His teaching to be
true. The implication is that these
leaders and others do not have that desire in their hearts and minds. They are seeking glory for themselves and
among themselves. The difference is that
Jesus seeks the glory of the one who sent Him.
In iconography Jesus is always pointing to the Father, just as He did in
His life. In the synoptic Gospels we
hear Jesus ask the question who do people say that I am. Here, and through all of John's Gospel, we
hear that question from the people. They
are confused and it seems no one wants to conclude what was the seemingly
obvious thing, He is Messiah. They are
looking to their leaders for that validation rather than to God. Whose opinion matters to us?
Can it be true? Can there be one who justifies the
ungodly? If so, sign me up. Faith is the key to it all. Saving faith has a particular content, that
Jesus was a completely righteous man, sinless and perfectly obedient even unto
death on the cross, and His death was actually a willing sacrifice, He gave His
life up as a sacrifice to God for the sins of those created in His image and
that His resurrection from the dead to life means that we too will have eternal
life. That transaction isn’t complete until
we couple His work with our faith. The
work we have to do is believing in Him.
That work will then enable us to do all such good works as He has
already prepared for us to walk in. We
need to turn our eyes upon Jesus and keep them there. We need to be like Him, living our lives for
His glory.
No comments:
Post a Comment