Let's imagine you are a son of a servant of the king. Further imagine that along the way you had
made a name for yourself because of your ability and you had risen to a
respected position within the nation.
Now imagine that you're going out to do your job and a prophet has
followed you on the way and suddenly tears apart the new garment he is wearing
into shreds and offers to make you the king of more than 80% of the
nation. What would you do? That is exactly what happened to
Jeroboam. He is told that Solomon has
blown it by forsaking Yahweh and worshiping other gods and that when he dies
you Jeroboam has been chosen as the king of 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel. What can he possibly do but say yes?
Jesus' strength is undiminished even at the last. He refused the typical drink of wine mixed
with myrrh which would dull the senses, including pain, that death might not be
horrible. He denied it that He might
have full use of his faculties even to the last, that He would be in control
all the way to the end. To speak of
Jesus as "in control" of this situation seems ludicrous but He was in
control. The world was going to pieces
around Him, it literally had lost its way entirely, and as He hung there in
physical agony watching them divide what little possessions He had in the
world, taunting Him to come down from the cross, in the midst of chaos He was
in control of Himself. He could come
down. He was perfectly able to come down
but He had already said He had power to lay down His life and that was what was
necessary. They had no faith He could
come down, it was nothing more than nastiness to say it. He, however, had love enough to remain and
suffer all the way to the end.
James comes down hard on those who set their store by the
things of this world. Those whose plans
are certain in their own minds should take heed that in all things God is
sovereign, our plans are to be held lightly.
This is reminiscent of Jesus' parable of the rich fool who has stored up
grain for himself for the future and found contentment for his soul in his
prosperity only to hear that this night his life will be demanded. What good has it done him? James speaks like an Old Testament prophet
concerning those whose wealth has been gained on the backs of the labor of
others who have not been paid sufficiently.
Justice is connected with how we earn our money. It isn't wrong to have wealth per se, it is
wrong if we have gained wealth unjustly.
We do have a responsibility to others and Jesus is the perfect
example. I once had someone tell me they
had been told that Jesus was upper-middle class and the proof of that was based
in the ability to give to the poor out of the money bag the disciples had. Jesus owned everything, it was created by
Him, through Him and for Him and yet when He died on the cross the soldiers
divided all His worldly goods. Even a
man sentenced to die on a cross had the right to make testamentary disposition
of His estate. What did Jesus bequeath
from the cross? His mother. The things of earth were of little concern to
Him because they weren't eternal.
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