For two whole years Jacob sits in prison for a crime he
didn't commit, justice denied. He has
been thrown into a pit, sold as a slave, served well and profitably in every
capacity he has ever been given, and what did he have to show for it all? He was the dreamer, the one who was to be
head and now, after all these years, what had become of those dreams? Then, Pharaoh had a dream of his own and he
didn't understand it, none of the court magicians (these guys show up again in
the Exodus) could understand or interpret the dream and then, suddenly, the
cupbearer remembers there was a man with whom he was in prison who could
interpret dreams. Joseph, for all the
failure of his own dreams, was now to be called upon to interpret Pharaoh's
dream. When his own dream was so
unattainable, why did the Lord continue to call upon him in this particular
capacity?
Who in the world does this guy think he is? The nit-pickers are following Jesus and the
disciples and they seize upon the disciples using their hands to pull off
grain, rub it between their hands and release the edible portion as Sabbath
breaking. Legalism at its finest. They believe that they have caught out the
teacher as failing to teach well and true.
In response Jesus compares Himself to David, the king, the one from whom
Messiah will come. That the Sabbath was
made for man is obvious in some ways, it is the day after man was created, the
day after he was called upon to name the animals, his day of rest, a day to
contemplate. Jesus, however, then uses
the messianic designation Son of Man for Himself, taking it up one more
notch. In the second portion of the
reading they are there again, the nitpickers, waiting to see if He will heal on
the Sabbath. The law was interpreted to
allow certain things to be done for animals in trouble, doing good for one who
could not help themselves, here, Jesus does the same for one created in the image
of God.
Paul knows you have to be careful about judgment. He judged Jesus, the disciples, and the
church and decided that they were dangerous heretics, men who led people astray
from the truth. He learned on the road
to Damascus that his judgment was terribly faulty and now he warns the
Corinthians not to make judgment about men.
He is surely thinking of David and the day Samuel went to his father
Jesse's house to anoint a king to replace Saul.
Jesse trotted out the big, good looking guys and the Lord said no to all
of them. David was completely overlooked
until Samuel asked if there were any others. When the Lord says this is the one
He also says that we look too much at appearances while He looks at the
heart. Jesus is the only one who has
ever lived that we can trust to have been adjudged as faithful, true and
perfect by God because He is the only one resurrected to life. Let us turn entirely to Him for all things.
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