The people continue to rebel and complain when things get
difficult. As we are wont to do. We are impatient by nature. We are here a short time and when we aren't
moving forward towards some goal we have in mind, we complain. These people already know their lives will be
spent here in the wilderness, there is no Promised Land for them. Moses, though he will, likewise, not enter
the land, intercedes for the people so that the plague of serpents doesn't
completely destroy them and the Lord gives a strange answer, to make a bronze
serpent on which they can gaze and be healed of the bites of the real
serpents. Which serpent, then, is more
powerful, the "real" ones or the man-made one? Afterwards, the people face enemies who are
unwilling, as their kin the Edomites were, to allow them safe passage. These, however, are spoiling for a fight and
they find that though these people may be wanderers they are not pushovers in
battle. The Lord is on their side and it
is folly to oppose them.
The ruler of the synagogue is a bit disingenuous isn't
he? His anger is roused because Jesus
healed this woman on the Sabbath so he said, “There are six days in which work
ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath
day.” This woman had lived with this
condition for eighteen years prior to this encounter with Jesus. Had she simply never been to the synagogue on
one of those other six days before. If
she had, would she have gotten healing?
Nowhere do we have evidence that this or any other synagogue was a place
of healing and the fact she had been disabled for nearly two decades tells us
that this ruler was simply speaking nonsense.
Jesus points to the miracle itself and the people, but likely not the
leader, rejoice in what He has done.
Paul in Athens is troubled in his spirit because of the
idolatry in the city. (I wonder what he
would make of Asheville, particularly downtown.) His response was to preach the Gospel and the
people there wanted to hear more of this foreign God he was proclaiming. Paul's tactic was to relate to their existing
beliefs and he found a soft spot in their theological and philosophical
defenses, a shrine to an unknown god.
The gods they had, many as they were, didn't fully satisfy, there was
room for more. Paul says he is here to
proclaim the unknown God, who is the Lord of heaven and earth. That ascription would elevate Paul's God to
God of gods, He is lord of all there is.
This God is maker of all, needing nothing from those whom He
created. He sets men in their times and
places, He is sovereign over mankind, over time, over all the earth, and we are
His children. Now, Paul says, is the
time when He desires two things, to be known and to do away with ignorance of
Him and His ways. The choice is yours,
now you know. Some mocked, others wanted
to hear more. Did anyone believe that
day? If so, we aren't told, Paul was
simply sowing. We should never expect to
have fully sympathetic listeners to the Gospel, we should always expect
opposition. The Lord, however, is on our
side and we can't get impatient, all we are called to do is sow or reap, not
give growth.
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