The Lord speaks through Jeremiah to those who have chosen to
go to Egypt rather than to Babylon in exile.
The Lord essentially prepared a place for the exiles in Babylon and these
people chose their own path. Jeremiah’s
word to them is that they have chosen the path of death and destruction rather
than life. In Egypt they are continuing
to practice idolatry, worshiping other gods and there they will die, some by
the sword and others by famine. They
cannot escape His judgment simply because they have gone to Egypt. They are in covenant with Him and they
continue to sin against Him in their idolatry. If they had gone to Babylon
there would be hope for them but not when they stiffen their necks and go their
own way. The announcement is that none
of them will return with the exception of some “fugitives.”
The parable Jesus uses here regarding the children playing
tunes is to say that the people are non-responsive to anything. They don’t dance when the flute is played and
they don’t mourn when a dirge is sung. They
are spiritually dead. John came
preaching repentance and fasting and they didn’t respond and Jesus comes in fulfillment
of Messianic prophecy and they don’t respond to him either. Judgment is announced for those cities which
fail to respond. Jesus compares them to
cities of the Gentiles which, He says, would have repented if He had done there
what He has done among the Jews. Can you
imagine how we would react if He said the same things to the church today? Is the church spiritually alive or simply
entertained?
Paul, too, speaks to those who are spiritually dead, “Wake
up from your drunken stupor…” Some in
Corinth apparently have denied the resurrection from the dead because they do
not believe the body itself matters, only the soul. This form of dualism is no stranger to the
church today. There are those who have
no theology of the body at all, no idea that the incarnation validated this
life in this body. Yes, this one is a body of death but in it Jesus glorified
the Father and we, as those created in His image, are to do likewise. Paul says that this body is the kernel of the
glorified body, and indeed it must die in order for that one to come into being
but this life and this body is a gift from God which we are to use for His
glory. In this life we are to turn to
Him and use our lives to proclaim the kingdom wherever we are, embodiment is
important.
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