David's heart went out to Absalom, his son, but he wouldn't
bring him back because he murdered his own brother. Joab, commander of the armies, designs a way
to get David to see reason in the matter and finds a wise woman from Tekoa, the
home of the prophet Amos, and gets her to do a bit of playacting to convince
the king that bringing Absalom home from his exile is proper. She pretends to be in the same situation as
the king and asks that he make it possible for her son who murdered his brother
to return home safely, without the blood avenger (a kinsman who seeks revenge)
interfering and leaving her without any child at all. She confesses that the king is wiser than
anyone else and will be able to discern the way forward prior to saying to him
that her situation is like unto his own and he should surely have wisdom to
resolve both their problems. David immediately
discerns that Joab is behind this. Joab showed
true wisdom in several situations but was it wise for David to bring back
Absalom?
Jesus is asked a question about divorce and answers with a question,
"What did Moses say about the matter?" Jesus' answer, however, points beyond Moses
to Genesis and says that it was only after sin entered the world that divorce
became possible, God's will for marriage is that it last until death. Jesus says, in fact if you divorce your wife
and remarry you commit adultery "against' your wife and if she remarries
she commits adultery as well. We should
absolutely be cautious about the issue of divorce but instead we as a society and
we as the church have failed and instead have adopted a cavalier attitude
towards the issue to the detriment of us all.
Afterwards people are bringing children to Jesus and the disciples think
this to be a waste of His time but Jesus affirms the children. This is one of the reasons we practice infant
baptism, we don't know that there are limits on God's love and ability to work
through children, we all must receive the kingdom like children.
Paul is determined to go to Jerusalem no matter how much
people plead with him not to go. He was
once the man who was given commission to persecute the church of Jesus Christ
and now he is a hated man in his old world.
Everyone knows that the Jews despise him for his new mission not of
destroying the church but building it and extending it all over the world. He will not be dissuaded from going to the
city, refusing not the prophecy but the interpretation. The prophetic word of Agabus is indeed a true
word but does that mean that Paul should not go? We often believe that such prophetic words
are given that we may avoid pain and suffering but did the Lord promise we
would live free from pain and suffering?
Sometimes such things serve His will for our lives and for the
kingdom. Service to Him is taking up a
cross. Jesus knew exactly what He would experience
here but came anyway. Do we have the
mind of Christ?
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