It seems a bit surprising that Judah is the one chosen for
the greatest blessing from his father Jacob.
He is not the eldest, his mother isn't the favored wife, he is not the
favored child, but here Jacob says he will be the ruler of the bunch. For this reason some liberal commentators
have suggested that this was imposed at a later date, when Judah became the
dominant tribe under David's rule. They
don't believe in prophecy. Jacob goes
against his own fond hopes here in this proclamation and blesses Judah as the
line from which Messiah will come, not what looks like a sure thing in his
favorite, Joseph, who has been in the role of messiah for the family in
bringing them to Egypt and providing for them lavishly. Surely he remembered his own blessing from
Isaac, the stolen blessing, and has finally learned to submit and trust the
Lord.
The key to fruit-bearing is abiding in Jesus. This concept of abiding is one that is both
passive and active but even the passive side is active, it requires attention
and intention. To abide in Jesus is to
appreciate constantly what He has done and to attend to the Spirit within us
that enables us to know as He knows and to do as He does the same way He did
with the Father. If we are to obey His
command to love one another all the time we must abide, we aren't that easy to
love. If we are to be like Him and take
up our cross and follow we must abide, our strength and resolve will not carry
us far enough and even if it does we will not have the proper spirit. Abiding in Jesus is critical. If you have a small amount of time I would highly
recommend The Practice the
Presence of God by Brother Lawrence.
The way of the Lord pervades all of life, all our
relationship and all our dealings with one another. Here, Paul speaks to husbands and wives,
fathers, children, servants and masters and says they are to be guided in their
conduct in all these relationships by the love of Christ. There is a particularly Christian way of
treating people that must have been necessary to lay out for them. Paul certainly wasn't prone to telling people
what to do when they needed no instruction.
Relationships matter and we need to heed Jesus' commands to love one
another, even the enemy, in all our social interactions. Abiding in Jesus means developing the character
that can pray others be forgiven no matter what pain and suffering we
experience from them. In all things we
are serving the Lord and retribution always comes from Him. Trusting in Him for this allows us the
freedom to love and pray for all people.
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