When Hezekiah restored the temple he also chose to call
together the entire nation. He sent out
letters to both the northern and southern kingdoms to call them to worship for
Passover. They had to postpone its
celebration for a month because the priests had not purified themselves to
serve at the right time. The entire nation
was given a chance to prepare themselves for the celebration. Hezekiah was calling them to come based on
the original dedication of the temple when Solomon prayed that when the people
were in exile or in some other extremis, they would turn back and pray, that
the Lord would hear, redeem and restore them.
Unfortunately, many laughed the messengers to scorn in the matter but
some came and joined the people of Judah.
Hezekiah continued breaking rules by depending on the mercy of God that
the heart’s desire to celebrate the Passover would count as cleansing and the
blood thrown on the people would further do the work of preparation. (Sound familiar.) The Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the
people, rules were less important than the heart. It was certainly a Passover for the
ages.
Who is Jesus talking about not judging? He continually says “your brother” in this
passage. We are first to judge ourselves, to examine our lives, openly and
honestly and when we have done this, we can help our brother with his sin. If I fail to deal with my sin and focus only
on my brother’s sin, I will lose perspective and be unable to deal lovingly
with him. CS Lewis gained an
appreciation for loving the sinner and hating the sin when he realized he
constantly did the same in himself. When
we turn our gaze inward we lose the idea of judging our brothers and sisters
and we, instead, can act toward them in love and compassion. Verse 6 turns away from the kind of judgment
Jesus is speaking of, among brothers, to outsiders, dogs and pigs, which is
itself a judgment. After all these
teachings, Jesus teaches that the kingdom is open to those who ask, seek and
knock, but it is only for those who have heeded the prior teachings and who are
purifying themselves for the encounter.
Paul here is giving opinion not law. He is clear that this is his judgment on
matters of marriage, not some principle that must be followed. In all this writing he is trying to say, keep
your passions under control if you can in order that you may give your
undivided attention to the Lord.
Marriage, like many other things in our lives, causes us to be only
partially devoted to the Lord because we are also devoted to one another. Clearly, God has always intended marriage to
be the ideal. The first commandment was
to be fruitful and multiply and this was linked, in Genesis, with the idea of a
man leaving his parents and cleaving to his wife. Paul’s thoughts here are completely driven by
being prepared for the coming of the kingdom.
His preoccupation is the same as John the Baptist’s, to prepare a people
for the day of judgment. If we thought
Jesus was returning today, would we get married or do a great many other
things? Preparation for an encounter
with God requires an undivided mind but He also doesn’t want us to sin by
passion that He has provided a channel for in marriage.
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