The priests didn’t know what else to do so they sent to a
woman described as a prophetess, Huldah, and inquired what it would mean that
the nation had been apostate and not kept covenant with the Lord. Her word was that the nation was under
judgment and that it would be destroyed, that disaster would come on Jerusalem
and its inhabitants. Because Josiah had
sought the Lord, had repented of the sins of the past and returned to Him, this
judgment would not be executed during his lifetime, he would live and die in
peace. Josiah then called an assembly
and read the words of the book of the Law to all the people and renewed the
covenant between himself and the Lord and the people joined. We live in a day when the word of the Lord is
neglected in the churches and wonder why the country is sliding further away on
a daily basis from what we used to believe was its Christian ethical and moral
basis. We, the church, need to repent of
the failure to teach all Jesus commanded and we need to change our ways in
accord with those teachings.
No one quite understood what Jesus was doing. The Pharisees were scandalized after the call
of Matthew, the tax collector, because Jesus and the disciples ate with other
tax collectors and sinners. Jesus’
quotation of God desiring mercy not sacrifice are from Hosea but they hearken
to other prophets as well like Amos and Isaiah.
When religion replaces relationship the entire point of the covenant is
lost. Religion has its place, the Lord
commanded the people to practice religion, acts of worship as well as mitzvoth
as acts of obedience. The rest of the
verse from Hosea is, “the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” That doesn’t mean they were no longer to
bring burnt offerings but those were to be done from the knowledge of God not
from duty and simply as a religious practice.
Jesus said He came to call sinners, not the righteous but that is no affirmation
of the Pharisees, they are to examine themselves in light of the Hosea passage
to see if they are righteous or religious.
John’s disciples don’t know what to do either. They and the Pharisees fast while Jesus’
disciples do not, who is right? Jesus
points to Himself as the reason not to fast.
If you know the bridegroom is present you don’t feast, you fast, that is
when the feast begins, when the bridegroom shows up.
Paul says that he received from the Lord the words Jesus
spoke at the Last Supper and he, Paul, has delivered these to the church. The
body and blood of Jesus are a proclamation of the Lord’s death until His
coming. Paul had a very high view of the
Eucharist, he believed that we must come having discerned the body, made our
confession with every intention of repenting, turning away from those things we
confessed. It is in the act of
confession, acknowledging that we are indeed sinners, and intentionality for
repentance that we receive mercy. Our
sacrifice is our pride and in that we receive pardon. If, however, we fail to discern the body, we
not only receive nothing, the cup becomes a cup of judgment to us, even
potentially death, from that bread and wine.
I don’t know many people who take communion as seriously as Paul. The recognition of the need for mercy ignites
the pathos of God, love and mercy for those who ask for it.
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