Strange isn't it that the case by which Israel "stood
in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to
do justice" was a case between two prostitutes. We tend to gloss over that little detail but
you would think the test case for wisdom involved women of higher repute. God chooses the most unlikely situations in
which to glorify Himself. We saw in
yesterday's Gospel reading that the one person in the room with Jesus who seems
to have gotten it right at the home of Lazarus the leper was a prostitute. Sometimes those whose sins are more
egregious, more public than others can see more clearly the grace of God because
they see the separation their sin has caused a bit more clearly. If everyone knew our thoughts, words and
deeds, if they were all public records, wouldn't we all be separated from one
another? In the end, love won out in
this case, it revealed truth and mother and child were reconciled. Wisdom was knowing that reality, love wins.
Jesus sends the disciples on a mission to acquire the place
where they might eat their Passover meal together. People in the city were required to make room
for strangers during this feast and you can wonder why this particular man had
a vacancy as it were where Jesus and the disciples might share the meal
together, why was it not already taken. A
man carrying a large jar of water was a bit strange, mostly women bore the water
for the house, perhaps he had no family who had reserved his guest room. At any rate, the mission is successful and
they are gathered round the table celebrating the Passover and there is great
anticipation at that meal, the expectation that Elijah will come and the nation
will be restored, masters of the Land once again, the great King sitting on the
throne. Instead, Jesus speaks of
betrayal and points to one of the twelve who will do this thing. He re-interprets the symbols as His own body
and blood and says He will not eat of another Passover until He eats it in the
kingdom of God. What does He mean by
this saying? Would anyone there have believed
what was getting ready to happen?
For two weeks they have been in this horrible storm, unable
to make land. Some of the sailors
decided to abandon ship and surreptitiously let down the ship's boat (the life
boat) but Paul knows and says that saving all lives is contingent on them
remaining aboard. The soldiers now
believe Paul has some supernatural wisdom concerning the situation and the boat
is cut loose, they will live together or they will die together, free men and
prisoners alike. In this midst of all
this chaos and turmoil they have a picnic at Paul's behest, the man of peace in
the middle of the storm imparting that peace to all. Amazingly, all 276 passengers, including Luke
himself, are able to survive after the ship is crashed on the rocks, Paul's
prophecy was true. Now what? Sometimes the wisdom from above is sufficient
only unto the day, we don't get tomorrow's wisdom until we need it.
No comments:
Post a Comment