The first part of the reading from the book of Wisdom sounds
a lot like an explication of the saying of Jesus, "Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God." It
means something like an undivided heart, one that loves and trusts Him and is
not given over to false belief or to sin.
It also includes hungering and thirsting after righteousness, a life in
keeping with His Word. At the end, we
get encouragement for why to seek the Lord, "God did not make death, and
he does not delight in the death of the living. For he created all things so that they might
exist…" Righteousness bookends the
reading. Rulers of the earth are to seek
the Lord in righteousness and then at the end we are told that righteousness is
immortal. Sin, then, brings death. We know that we shall all die but indeed
righteousness is forever, and only He is righteous. Should we not seek that which is immortal?
The listeners are admonished to build their houses on rock
instead of sand. Was there some question
which would be better? No, but often we
indeed build on a less than stable and solid foundation, both in housing and in
our lives. We see that here in the
mountains when people build on steep slopes and in heavy rains some have come
crashing down off those slopes. In our
lives we frequently trust in that which is no more than sand in many ways. I have known people who have worked for years
for a good company and then suddenly that company crashed and they were left
with nothing. They built their careers
and their futures on a base of sand that looked quite substantial at the time
but, like all things of this earth, it was not perpetual. If we lost everything that gives us security
today, what would be left? Let us build
on that which we know to be immortal, the resurrected Jesus.
Shepherds, elders in the church, are called to shepherd
those given to them in order that when the Chief Shepherd comes they will
receive the unfading crown of glory.
Sounds good to me! This reward is
opposed to the earthly benefits they might otherwise seek, whatever that fading
glory may be. Peter was commissioned to
shepherd the flock and also told he would not die a natural death. Peter knew the truth that there is nothing so
precious with which we can be entrusted that the flock of the Lord, and it is
always important that we see such opportunities as a sacred trust. Too often we allow ourselves to think too
highly of our own position and fail to recall that we are but sheep ourselves,
we never outgrow that reality. We are
weak and vulnerable and we have an enemy who prowls like a roaring lion
prepared to attack the sheep. Let us
never forget those things that we might be humble before the Lord.
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