When we see Hasidic Jews in the United States we usually
don’t think of men like the Maccabees, men willing to risk everything and fight
for their faith. We see studious men
with pin curls and black hats. They come
from this line, however, the Maccabean line who chose to fight to save Judaism
from extinction at the hands of Antiochus Epiphanes. Those who were seeking to preserve the faith,
who would not compromise with the world in order to go along to get along, had
gone into the wilderness to keep righteousness unmolested. The king found out about it and attacked on
the Sabbath, a day of rest, when they were challenged with the decision of
whether to fight back and break Sabbath.
These chose to keep the command and were slaughtered. Mattathias, hearing of this, realized that if
he and his people chose the same path, the religiously observant Jews would all
be wiped out and they made the decision to fight, even on the Sabbath, that
Judaism itself was at stake. We need
wisdom to determine the path we are called to take in resistance.
The manager was effectively fired when he received notice to
turn in the account books. While he had
them, however, he still had an opportunity to secure some future and he seized
it. So far as the clients knew, wink,
wink, he had the authority to make the adjustments in their accounts which
would reduce the amounts owed to the landlord and they gladly accepted the
discounts. The manager thereby
ingratiated himself with the clients and earned their favor and gratitude. What is being commended, shrewdness, is not a
virtue recognized in the Bible. We can
“admire” someone for their shrewdness without condoning it. The manager was apparently already dishonest,
this was simply further evidence, but this time he used it to his own
advantage. Jesus speaks of this wealth
“failing” ultimately, and directs us not to such activities but to the eternal
dwellings, which are received after all this world’s allure is gone.
How odd is it that the leaders of the Jews in Rome know
nothing about Paul? They had received no
letters from their Judean brothers about him, nothing to indicate that Paul was
hated and that there had been a significant plot to kill him. Once he was under Roman authority and not a
free man they no longer cared, their objectives seemed to have been
accomplished. Paul assumed these Jewish
leaders knew all about his activities and that he needed to defend himself so
calls them together and gives his side of the story. All these men ask for is an accounting of
this sect, what we know as Christianity, which they have heard spoken
against. Even now, in prison, in chains,
Paul is giving testimony. We are called
to always, under any and every circumstance, speak the truth in order that some
might hear and believe. Like the
Maccabees, we are called to never surrender for the sake of truth.
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