Isaiah prophesies the fate of the northern kingdom, that it
will be taken away into Assyria. This northern
kingdom represents the tribes that followed Solomon's son Jeroboam after his
father's death. Only Judah and Benjamin
accepted Rehoboam, another of Solomon's sons, as king. This northern kingdom is referred to,
variously, as Ephraim, Samaria and Israel.
These are the peoples sometimes now referred to as the "Lost
Tribes." They had their own worship
center at Bethel and further north in the territory of the tribe of Dan to keep
their people from Jerusalem. They were
enemies of what became the nation. This judgment
of God on Israel will not be finished by the destruction of the northern kingdom
alone, it will also nearly overwhelm the southern kingdom of Judah, centered in
Jerusalem as well. They have failed to
have faith in the Lord, as evidenced by Ahaz' fear of the alliance between
Israel and Syria. He will seek his own
alliance as protection and for this failure of faith, God will come against
them.
Peter can't imagine that his faith could fail. Jesus says that He has prayed for Peter that
his faith may not fail. He also says,
"when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Did Jesus' prayer for Peter fail? Peter denied Jesus just as prophesied, and he
was restored and turned again but did Peter's faith fail? It would certainly appear that it did and
that it was important for Peter to have failed because it would make him
gentler with others. Peter had a flaw,
he believed in himself too much. He needed
to see his own weakness in order to be a true shepherd which is what Jesus
later commissioned him to be, to feed and tend His sheep. Like Jacob, Peter had to be confronted in his
strength and to see that it was insufficient and that his weakness became the
place of God's strength. Sometimes we
fail in faith and it is fatal, like king Ahaz, sometimes our faith fails and it
becomes God's way of making us truly strong.
Apparently there were some in Thessalonica who were idle and
expected the community to see to their needs.
They may have believed the end was so near that it was not worth the
effort to work and they were waiting idly for the coming of Jesus. Paul says that the community is to have
nothing to do with such people, they are not following the example he and his
team set and they are not following what Jesus taught in all the parables of
the servants awaiting the return of the master.
The time of waiting is to be filled with the mission we were given of
making disciples. Paul has no patience
with those who will not work to earn their keep and they are to have nothing to
do with them but not as enemies, as brothers under admonition. Waiting is difficult, it is tempting to set
aside that which must be done to wait for what we believe is coming. We must attend to today as we were given
gifts, talents and opportunity to do. We
are not to be idle but busy at the work of God.
Faith never means we do nothing.
No comments:
Post a Comment