Why would a shepherd rescue from the mouth of a lion, "two
legs, or a piece of an ear"?
Because it proved his diligence that even in a hopeless situation he was
willing to rescue what he could, willing to risk everything without regard for
himself. He would take these to the
owner of the sheep to show he had made every effort on behalf of the
sheep. It is a perfect metaphor that
only a shepherd like Amos could have come up with to describe God's love for
His own Name and the concept of why a remnant would exist. God's judgment will come but it will not
leave Him without a witness, even if that remnant looks worthless when compared
to what it was before. It helps us to
understand not only His judgment on Israel but on the world and on our own
lives. Sometimes it looks as though He
is stripping us bare by taking away all comfort and hope and leaving us in
tatters but what He is actually doing is taking us to a place where only He can
make something out of what remains.
The leaders know they didn't give Jesus the authority to act
and teach as He has done the day before in the temple so they demand now to
know where He got such authority. It is
an obnoxious question posed from arrogance that this is their domain. Jesus' response is to ask them a question
they don't want to answer concerning John's authority for baptism. They refuse to answer because either way they
are trapped between unbelief and hypocrisy.
On the grounds that they will not answer, neither does He give a direct
response to them. The parable of the two
sons provides all the answer they need concerning John. John was sent by God and many people, sinners
and the like, went out to John and believed His call to repentance and
baptism. The Pharisees did not go out
even though they pretended to. They did
not believe even after they saw the harvest, it wasn't their harvest on their
terms so they kept themselves apart from it.
I am reminded of the movie Braveheart where the nobles seemed to support
William Wallace because he was the champion of the people but in reality they
stood apart and in the end betrayed him.
This is what Jesus is saying of the leaders with respect both to John
and what is to come for Himself.
Peter knows that delay in the coming of the Lord in judgment
will bring scoffers that doubt two things, that Jesus was indeed Messiah and
that there is anything like judgment.
Indeed we see that very attitude prevalent among many today. Because it has been two thousand years since
the death and resurrection of Jesus without any coming again it is easily
doubted that He was who we believe Him to be and that there is any judgment of
God. Peter reminds us that eternity is a
long time, a concept that we can't really get our heads around and that God is
incredibly patient. He waited four
hundred years after the people went down to Egypt as the Canaanites filled the
land with sin before ejecting them and establishing His people. He waited forty years to wipe out the
generation who came out of Egypt for their failure of faith before allowing the
people to enter the Land. Though His
judgment tarries we are to wait like Habbakuk, stationing ourselves as watchmen
on the walls looking for Him. In the
meantime we are given the work not of the prophecy of judgment but the commission
of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ, baptizing believers, and making disciples. Let us be such that the world can be summoned
not to see our unrighteousness but our righteousness.
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