Gospel for July 9, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Tension is increasing.  Jesus has healed the sick and performed exorcisms, and for these good works he has been called a “blasphemer,” and worse, by the scribes and Pharisees.  Now he has commissioned his disciples to go out in ministry to the lost sheep of Israel.  But he is not naive.  He knows that he faces opposition, and so will his followers.

Jesus sees that he is in a “no win” situation” with the powers and principalities of his times.  He compares them to children who want to have their own way, and to manipulate him:

But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to their companions and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned for you, and you didn’t lament.’

Jesus points out that though he and John the Baptist use different methods in their ministries, both are criticized by the religious authorities:

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.

In the passage immediately preceding today’s lectionary reading, Jesus had praised the ministry of John, and identified him as the messenger who prepared the way for the Messiah (Matthew 11:1-15).  Jesus even compares John to one of the greatest of all the Hebrew prophets, Elijah.  This is significant because Elijah’s appearance was believed to presage the coming of the Kingdom of God.

But the scribes and Pharisees can accept neither the messenger nor the Messiah — and instead they focus on John’s asceticism and the presumed moral laxity of Jesus — and find neither to be acceptable.

In his outreach to sinners, Jesus didn’t relax his call to repentance.  However, he did dine with those supposed to be sinners (tax collectors) in order to reach them.  When the self-righteous Pharisees criticized him earlier for his fellowship with sinners, Jesus said:

Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.  But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:12-13).

Our lectionary editors choose to skip over the stern words of warning that Jesus gives in response to the rejection he has experienced:

Then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they didn’t repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.  But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.  You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, you will go down to Hades.  For if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in you, it would have remained until today.  But I tell you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, on the day of judgment, than for you” (Matthew 11:20-24).

But Jesus has compassionate and gentle words for those who “get him.”  He offers a high priestly prayer:

At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight.”

Jesus recognizes that only the humble and childlike are truly teachable, as opposed to the arrogant who think that they already know.  The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church:

The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble; but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong; and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are:  that no flesh should boast before God (1 Corinthians 1:25-29).

Jesus continues with words that reveal the high Christology of Matthew’s Gospel, on par with the Gospel of John as well as the Apostle Paul:

All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.

Jesus’ self-understanding is quite clear — consistent with the message of the Gospel of John, and 1 Corinthians 15, Colossians, and other New Testament writings, Jesus knows he has received authority from the Father, and that only through him is the Father made known.  This is very reminiscent of Jesus’ words to the disciples in John’s Gospel:

If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him (John 14:7).

Jesus then offers words of deep comfort and compassion for those who seek him:

Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

This is good news for the sinner, the poor, the sick, the lame, the demon-possessed, those oppressed by Roman taxes and power, and those who are overwhelmed by the burden of religious traditions imposed by the scribes and Pharisees — in Jesus they will find rest.

However, according to his metaphor, the yoke and the burden aren’t removed, merely eased and lightened.  This suggests that the followers of Jesus are still called to work for their master.  A yoke, as Jesus the carpenter well knew, was designed to fit the neck of an ox or donkey so that the animal could pull the plow or the cart.  If the yoke was too heavy or poorly fashioned, the beast would be chafed and unable to work effectively.  The yoke that Jesus offers enables the disciple to become more effective.  A disciple is one who continues to learn from and to do the work of the master.

APPLY:  

Jesus doesn’t offer a “one size fits all” message in our Gospel this week.  To the scribes and Pharisees who are growing increasingly critical of his ministry, he makes it clear that he will not be manipulated by their expectations.

What we can learn from this is that we must be careful not to shape the Gospel of Jesus according to our own preferences and prejudices.

We have certainly seen this kind of manipulation of the Gospel throughout the history of Christianity. The Crusades, Inquisitions, the defense of slavery, and the accommodation of current cultural norms are just a few of the examples of such “message manipulation.”  We must be careful not to become the children who try to control their playmates.

We must be shaped by the Gospel message instead.  We are to be shaped by the wisdom of Jesus:

  wisdom is justified by her children.

Perhaps another way of saying this is what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount:

Even so, every good tree produces good fruit; but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit (Matthew 7:17).

Instead, we are to be like the infants to whom Jesus makes reference in this passage, to whom the mysteries of the Lord of heaven and earth are to be revealed.  These are the true children of God, who in their humility are able to change and grow, as Jesus will tell his disciples a little later in Matthew’s Gospel:

Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 18:2).

The good news for those who labor and are heavily burdened is that Jesus offers rest.  Unlike the arrogant scribes and Pharisees who impose unreasonable expectations on their followers, Jesus is gentle and humble in heart. Unlike the heavy burdens of legalistic Pharisees, Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light.

There is still work to do — human beings are most fulfilled when we have a purpose, and what purpose could be greater than working for the sake of the kingdom of God?  However, the yoke of Jesus makes that work easy and that burden light.

RESPOND: 

Years ago, when I was a busy pastor and a new parent, I began to feel overwhelmed and stressed.  Ministry wasn’t easy, and my responsibilities didn’t seem light.

Around this time I came across a talk by a Christian psychiatrist.  What I remember of his words gave me great hope.  He talked about his own experience in medical school, and the demands of study, teaching, and parenting — he admitted he was close to a nervous breakdown.

And then he re-read these words:

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

It struck him that if he was so stressed, to the point he was on the verge of a break-down, there must be something wrong.  His conclusion was that if Jesus promised that his yoke was easy and his burden was light, he must have picked up somebody else’s yoke and burden!  He needed to focus on what Jesus wanted him to do, instead of the myriad responsibilities and tasks that other people expected of him.

This led him to a re-evaluation of his priorities and tasks.  Some might say he learned to work “smarter, not harder.”  In doing so, he was able to make more time for his family, focus on medical school, and say no to those things that really were not being asked of him by Jesus.

I found that advice very helpful, and began to rank my priorities like this:

1. God is first.
2. Family is second.
3. Church and church work is third — and I must never confuse God and the church.  They aren’t the same thing.

As a consequence, I worked hard, but also made time for my family.  And I took a day off!

Lord, wisdom is known by her children.  Help me to be the kind of child that doesn’t try to manipulate others or control them through temper tantrums; instead, help me to be the kind of child who is humble and teachable, who knows you and does the work to which you call me.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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Epistle for July 9, 2023

For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice. [Romans 7:19 World English Bible]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 7:15-25a
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

In this passage, the Apostle Paul uses himself as an example.  He is speaking of the inner conflict between his will to do good and the inevitability of doing wrong instead.

There are two questions that we struggle to answer:

• Is the law a good thing or a bad thing?
• When Paul speaks of his moral failures, is he speaking in the past tense before he was a Christian, or is he speaking in the present tense after his conversion to Christ?

Paul describes what seems to be a real inner struggle:

For I don’t know what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do.

Thus begins a kind of inner argument within his own mind. He knows the right thing to do, according to the law, but he just can’t do it.

We can easily be confused by his notions about the law, and we have to realize that there are nuances in his understanding of the law, and there are even different kinds of law. So, a little background might be helpful concerning these nuances (with gratitude to The Orthodox Study Bible):

• Mosaic Law is given by God through Moses to the Jews. This law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good (Romans 7:12). However, it is impossible for humans to keep it perfectly and in its entirety.  What the law commands, it doesn’t have the power to fulfill. God’s law is good, but it is like a mirror that shows sinners their blemishes and faults.  The law is the standard, but humans cannot fulfill it.
• Natural Law is the law written on every human heart, regardless of gender, ethnicity, race, culture or nationality. It may also be called the conscience.  It is the sense of right and wrong innate to every human being (Romans 2:14-15).
• The Law of Faith (Romans 3:27) — which suggests that the only way to truly fulfill God’s law is through the righteousness that comes by faith. It is not human righteousness, but Christ’s righteousness that enables people to live into it by his grace.
• The Law of Sin (Romans 7:25) is the seemingly indomitable power of sin to twist God’s good gifts into evil, and to resist God’s pardon and power over sin. This is defined also in Romans 8:7 as the mind of the flesh:
  the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.
• And, if there is a Law of Sin, there is also its Godly counterpart — The Law of the Spirit (Romans 8:2). This describes the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the power of sin, and to complete the work of grace that is appropriated through the Law of Faith. The Holy Spirit makes righteousness real in the life of the believer, and does in the believer what has been done for the believer through Christ’s work.

Clearly, then, the struggle that Paul has is between his own nature under the Law of Sin, and the Mosaic Law — which requires complete and perfect obedience to its statutes, commandments and precepts.  And that’s the very thing he admits he can’t do perfectly:

For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good. For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice.

Curiously, Paul seems to invoke a kind of “dissociation,” long before the term was ever invented by 20th century psychologists:

But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.  I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present. For I delight in God’s law after the inward man, but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.

Paul seems to be describing a kind of disconnection between what he longs to be and who he really is — his inner desire to do good is at war with the law of sin that makes him a captive.  This dichotomy leads to an unbearable split in his consciousness, and to misery:

What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?

The antidote to his dichotomy is through the one who is perfect and holy — and who fulfills all the requirements of the law and righteousness in his own life, death and resurrection:

I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

APPLY:  

Still, we haven’t yet answered the second question — when Paul speaks of his inner conflict with sin and the flesh, is he speaking in the past tense before he was a Christian, or is he speaking in the present tense after his conversion to Christ?

Is this an autobiographical passage or is it rhetorical?  That question was posed by a close friend of mine in the ministry who asked, “was Paul speaking of himself before his encounter with Christ, or afterward?”

His opinion was that Paul was speaking of himself prior to his Damascus Road experience, and his surrender to God’s call.  My friend reasoned that if Paul had come to a saving knowledge of Christ through faith, he would no longer suffer from this inner division between his desire to do good and his fleshly gravitation toward sin.  My friend argued that Paul was using his experience “B.C.” (Before Christ) in order to instruct the Roman Christians.

I believe that both the Scriptural evidence, and Christian experience, teach us otherwise.  Look at the evidence — Paul admits elsewhere he is not perfect:

Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

This passage seems to describe the “both/and” experience of most Christians — we have been taken hold of by Christ’s grace, and yet there is still room for much growth.

In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul speaks of a thorn in the flesh from Satan, though he doesn’t explain what it may be.  But when he asks that it be removed, God invites him to struggle with the thorn, and surrender to God. God says:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Granted, this thorn may not have anything to do with sin, but it does reveal Paul’s weakness and utter dependence on God.

And finally, Paul admits to his own sinful nature:

The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief (1 Timothy 1:15).

This is not to suggest that Paul is excusing continued sin in the believer — anyone who reads Romans 6 will be cured of that notion.  But at the very least he seems to acknowledge that he is “in process.”  He hasn’t yet “arrived.”

And ultimately his wretchedness has an antidote:

What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Jesus and his grace provide the pardon from sin, and also the ongoing power over sin, through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.  Sanctification is a journey from repentance to repentance, and from grace to grace.  And this journey reminds us that we are always dependent on God, not on ourselves!

RESPOND: 

Finally, there is our own experience of sin and grace.

A few years ago our next-door neighbor was a professor at a nearby Christian University.  When he introduced himself to my son, who was then about 14, he said: “My name is Paul — like the Apostle, only not as good.”

I wonder how Paul might have responded to that.  Would the Apostle have pointed out that he himself was the chief of sinners?  Certainly he might have corrected the professor by reminding him that Paul himself was on the same journey.

My own experience is that this life in Christ truly is a journey, a continuum.  I keep coming back to an illustration I use sometimes when I am preaching about salvation:

God and his kingdom are our destination.
He is at the end of the road upon which we are embarked.

However, we find ourselves turned away from God — what is that called?
Sin!

Sin is anything that takes us away from God.
And when we are turned away, we are still moving — only now which way are we headed?
The answers are various, but you might say toward death, the devil, and/or hell.

But the Holy Spirit pursues us, and whispers to us, and gives us the opportunity to wake up to the dangers of the abyss to which we are headed.

And when we wake up, what does the Spirit enable us to do?
Turn around, of course!
This is called repentance.

And when we focus our eyes and our faith on Christ, we are “JUST-IF-IED” by faith,
which means it is “JUST as IF I’D never sinned.”

And now we can begin the journey back toward God, because we have been born again through the power of the Holy Spirit.
That journey back toward God is called sanctification, and it means we are being restored to the image of God.

I should note that in this “continuum,” or journey, we sometimes may find ourselves turning back away from God — and we will still need to repent.  However, for those who have been journeying with God for awhile, turning back toward God is much more desirable than ever, and much easier.

I find Oscar Wilde to be accurate, notwithstanding his own “thorn in the flesh”:

The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

Lord, like your servant Paul I find myself struggling with the good that I want and the flesh that so easily discourages me.  And I find that only through your grace am I able to overcome my sin and live through your power.  Command what you will and then give what you command.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

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Psalm Reading for July 9, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 45:10-17
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm was written as a wedding song for a royal marriage.

At the beginning of the Psalm the Psalmist reflects on his noble theme, which is the excellence and blessedness of the king.  The Psalmist describes the king with this phrase:

Grace has anointed your lips,
therefore God has blessed you forever (Psalm 45:2).

The king was anointed with oil as part of his coronation, therefore his anointed lips drip with grace and favor.

The Psalmist then turns his attention to the real “power behind the throne”:

Your throne, God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness.
(Psalm 45:6-7)).

The Psalmist continues his lush descriptions of the wedding garments and the beautiful palace of the king on his wedding day:

All your garments smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad (Psalm 45:8).

We can almost smell the aromas and hear the music on this festal day!

Appropriately, for a wedding Psalm, the Psalmist turns his attention to the women participating in the wedding:

Kings’ daughters are among your honorable women.
At your right hand the queen stands in gold of Ophir (Psalm 45:9).

Ophir is believed to have been in a region of Africa. It was a trading partner with Israel and was renowned for its wealth and exotic materials:

The fleet of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir, also brought in from Ophir great quantities of almug trees and precious stones (1 Kings 10:11).

The new queen-to-be is decked out in bridal clothes as fine as those of the king’s.  Note that she stands at his right hand, which suggests her own royal authority.

The Psalmist then offers advice to this newly married queen, counseling her:

Listen, daughter, consider, and turn your ear.
Forget your own people, and also your father’s house.
So the king will desire your beauty,
honor him, for he is your lord.

This is consistent with the model of marriage rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures:

Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh (Genesis 2:24).

Interestingly, the counsel from Genesis is addressed to a man, who is to realign his loyalties toward his wife over his parents.  We must remember that the Psalmist in Psalm 45 is speaking of a royal wedding — the wife is to become a wife and queen as well as a subject to her new king.  Under normal circumstances in any wedding, both bride and groom are to leave their family of origin in order to found a new family.

The queenly bride begins to experience what it means to be the king’s wife.  Princesses and nobility now come seeking the queen’s favor:

The daughter of Tyre comes with a gift.
The rich among the people entreat your favor.

Tyre was a wealthy seaport of the Phoenicians, to the north of Israel.

Then the Psalmist returns to a lavish description of the bride and her entourage as they process into the palace:

The princess inside is all glorious.
Her clothing is interwoven with gold.
She shall be led to the king in embroidered work.
The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to you.
With gladness and rejoicing they shall be led.
They shall enter into the king’s palace.

Finally, the Psalmist offers a kind of wedding blessing upon the new queen, that she may have an abundance of sons who will assume the crown in the years to come, and that she will be famous throughout history:

Your sons will take the place of your fathers.
You shall make them princes in all the earth.
 I will make your name to be remembered in all generations.
Therefore the peoples shall give you thanks forever and ever.

This is reminiscent of the promises of God to Abraham in Genesis:

I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you.  I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you.  I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God (Genesis 17:6-8).

The message is clear — the king and queen are to be a part of the covenant promises made to Abraham and Sarah, for all generations.

APPLY:  

On the one hand, this Psalm can be read as what it appears to be on the surface — a wedding Psalm that extols the wealth and beauty and character of the royal couple.

But what has that to do with us?  There is an old hymn written by Henry Barraclough that suggests the Messianic connection of this Psalm:

My Lord has garments so wondrous fine,
And myrrh their texture fills;
Its fragrance reached to this heart of mine
With joy my being thrills.

Out of the ivory palaces,
Into a world of woe,
Only His great eternal love
Made my Savior go.

The song also refers to garments dipped in cassia. The song clearly is alluding to Psalm 45.  In fact, Barraclough wrote it after hearing a sermon on Psalm 45 preached by the evangelist, Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman.

The typological Christian interpretation of this Psalm is that Jesus is the King of kings — and his bride is the church.  When Paul advises husbands to love their wives, he uses the example of Christ’s love for the church:

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:25-27, KJV).

As the newlywed queen is counseled to leave her family and realign herself with her king, and to honor him above all, so we are to forsake all things for the sake of Christ, and honor him above all else.

RESPOND: 

In the Eastern Orthodox Church there is a lovely wedding tradition.  Garland wreaths are fashioned into ornate crowns as a symbol of glory and honor, symbolizing the royalty of marriage.  During the ceremony, the priest places the crowns on the heads of the bride and groom, and the best man swaps the crowns three times on the heads of the couple.

Because I am not a member of the Orthodox Christian tradition, it would be impossible for me to adequately explain what these symbols may mean to the Orthodox Christian.  However, I can offer my own impressions of the ritual.

We are reminded in this “crowning” ceremony that Christ is often referred to as the Bridegroom and his church is his bride.  When we reflect on the future of history, we are reminded of the language of Scripture that tells us:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Revelation 21:1-2).

Whenever I have presided at a wedding, this imagery has been in my mind — that the bridegroom represents Christ, and the bride his church.  This imagery never fails to warm my heart at a wedding.

And in a sense, every Christian couple is royalty on their wedding day!

Lord, may our marriages be “royal” marriages that bring honor and glory to your church, as we look forward to the wedding feast of the Lamb that is to come.  Amen.

PHOTOS:

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Old Testament for July 9, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Old Testament lesson for this week focuses on transitions and rites of passage.  The actual lectionary reading — Genesis 24: 34-38, 42-49, 58-67 — includes only a part of the whole story.

We must begin with the back story.  Sarah, the mother of Isaac, had died at the age of 127 years at Kiriath Arba (Hebron), when her son was about 37 years old (Genesis 23:1-4).  A few years later, Isaac hadn’t yet married, and this spurs Abraham to action.  He seems to be concerned about two things:

• His own advanced age and health — perhaps he wishes to see Isaac married before his own death.
• He is concerned that Isaac should not marry a “local girl” from among the Canaanites, perhaps because of their idolatry.

So, Abraham commissions his chief servant with a very important mission — he is to return to Mesopotamia and seek a wife from amongst Abraham’s own family (apparently the prohibition against “kissing cousins” was not yet in effect).

The servant (who may well have been the Eliezer named in Genesis 15:2 as Abraham’s chief servant and heir prior to the birth of Ishmael and Isaac) makes the long journey back from Canaan to Mesopotamia, bearing with him gifts loaded on the backs of a caravan of camels.  When he arrives, presumably at the city of Haran (although it is called here the city of Nahor because it is where Nahor lives), the servant rests at the water well outside the city.  The time is in the evening, when young women come to the well to draw water for the family.  The servant prays to Yahweh, Abraham’s God, and asks for direction in finding the girl to whom Isaac is to be married.  The sign for which he asks is fulfilled — she not only draws water for the servant, she also draws water for his camels!

Our passage begins after the servant has discovered that this young woman is in fact Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor (Genesis 24:15).  Nahor was the brother of Abraham!  God has brought the servant directly to Isaac’s cousin! He honors her with a gold ring for her nose, and gold bracelets for her wrists.

When Rebekah brings the servant back to her family’s tent, there is an awful lot of “catching up” to do.  The servant fills them in with updates on Abraham and Sarah — their blessing from God, their greatness and fame, and particularly their prosperity.  And then there is the clincher — the servant reveals that he has been sent to find a wife for the boss’s son.

Then the bargaining begins. The servant says to Rebekah’s brother and father:

Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.

Unfortunately, the lectionary editors have not included one of the more interesting interactions in this account (verses 50-56).  Bethuel, who is Rebekah’s father, and Laban her brother appear to be angling for a good “bride price.”  Although they admit that what the servant has told them seems to come from Yahweh, they appear to be bargaining with the servant.  After he gives jewels and gold and clothing to Rebekah, Laban and her mother, Laban and Bethuel delay the servant’s departure.  Is this sentimentality because they want to prolong the goodbye with Rebekah, or is this a way of milking more treasure from Abraham’s servant?  Given what we learn about Laban in subsequent accounts from Genesis, particularly his rather devious and sharp dealing with Rebekah’s son Jacob years later, we may have good reason to suspect Laban of ulterior motives.

The servant finally has to demand an answer:

 He said to them, “Don’t hinder me, since Yahweh has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”

Astonishingly, in this patriarchal, male-dominated culture, they allow Rebekah to speak for herself:

They said, “We will call the young lady, and ask her.”

Rebekah reveals herself to be a person of adventurous faith.  She agrees to accompany the servant to a land she doesn’t know, in order to marry a man she has never met!

Rebekah is sent away with the family’s generous blessing:

Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them.

The journey south to Beer Lahai Roi (coincidentally, the location of the well at which Hagar was comforted by Yahweh’s Angel in Genesis 16:9-14.  Beer Lahai Roi describes the place as ‘where God lives and sees me.’) leads to one of the most romantic encounters in the Scriptures:

Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, there were camels coming.  Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel. She said to the servant, “Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?”

The servant said, “It is my master.”

She took her veil, and covered herself. The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.  Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

In this classically abbreviated Hebrew style, we see this young woman and man meet, fall in love and marry, all in just a few verses.  The phrase indicating that Isaac took her into Sarah’s tent suggests that Rebekah has filled the grief in his heart over his mother’s death.  Sarah’s empty tent, formerly a place of sadness, now becomes a place of joy.  And one wonders if this may be a part of the Jewish custom of the wedding tent even today.  Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah (Genesis 25:20).

APPLY:  

There is an old expression — “theirs is a marriage made in heaven.”  We may wonder, in these modern times when divorce seems rampant, if heaven has anything to do with marriage.

We find in the account of the relationship between Rebekah and Isaac that even a marriage “made in heaven” requires human as well as divine initiative.  We see evidence of a divine/human synergism in this account. Perhaps another way of saying this is that God plays matchmaker — but human beings must cooperate!

Abraham sees that the eligible women in Canaan are not suitable for his son Isaac — this is probably not because of ethnicity but because of their idolatrous religion. So he takes action and sends his servant back to the “home country” to find a woman.

The servant prays for a sign from Yahweh which is promptly confirmed when Rebekah appears.  But she must also exercise her own free will in order to become a part of this Abrahamic dynasty and the salvation history of Israel.

And Isaac also must consent to this “arranged marriage” and choose to love Rebekah — even when her coming was not originally his idea!

Perhaps we have a partial answer to the increase of rocky marriages today.  A common faith, prayer, and the choice to love one another are critical in strong marriages.

RESPOND: 

In some ways, this account of the arranged marriage of Isaac and Rebekah, with a servant as the yenta (the “matchmaker”), seems to come right out of the pages of a book with a title like The Art of the Deal.  It all seems so “transactional.”

The servant brings camels laden down with treasure, and then asks for the lady’s hand on behalf of his boss’s son.  It’s about a business arrangement.  And it’s about the family business.

But I wonder — is our “romantic” ideal, based on “falling love,” a preferable model?  Divorce rates suggest that many marriages based solely on “romance” don’t last very long.

As a father of two I can understand Abraham’s efforts to intervene by arranging a marriage for his son Isaac.  I joke that marriage is too important to be left to hormonal kids!  The truth is, the prayer of the servant may be the most important and most easily overlooked feature of this story.  Without deep and earnest prayer, no marriage should ever be solemnized.  It is prayer, and a strong faith in God that keeps Christian marriages together.

Lord, marriage is ultimately your idea — bringing two people together for the purpose of love, comfort, and, yes, for a legacy that will outlive that man and woman.  We pray for strong, loving, faithful marriages that bring honor to you. Amen.

PHOTOS:
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Gospel for July 9, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Tension is increasing.  Jesus has healed the sick and performed exorcisms, and for these good works he has been called a “blasphemer,” and worse,  by the scribes and Pharisees.  Now he has commissioned his disciples to go out in ministry to the lost sheep of Israel.  But he is not naive.  He knows that he faces opposition, and so will his followers.

Jesus sees that he is in a “no win” situation” with the powers and principalities of his times.  He compares them to children who want to have their own way, and to manipulate him:

But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to their companions  and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned for you, and you didn’t lament.’

Jesus points out that though he and John  the Baptist use different methods in their ministries, both are criticized by the religious authorities:

 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.

In the passage immediately preceding today’s lectionary reading, Jesus had praised the ministry of John, and identified him as the messenger who prepared the way for the Messiah  (Matthew 11:1-15).  Jesus even compares John to one of the greatest of all the Hebrew prophets, Elijah.  This is significant because Elijah’s appearance was believed to presage the coming of the Kingdom of God.

But the scribes and Pharisees can accept neither the messenger nor the Messiah — and instead they focus on John’s asceticism and the presumed moral laxity of Jesus — and find neither to be acceptable.

In his outreach to sinners, Jesus didn’t relax his call to repentance.  However, he did dine with those supposed to be sinners (tax collectors) in order to reach them.  When the self-righteous Pharisees criticized him earlier for his fellowship with sinners, Jesus said:

Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.  But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:12-13).

Our lectionary editors choose to skip over the stern words of warning that Jesus gives in response to the rejection he has experienced:

Then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they didn’t repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.  But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.  You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, you will go down to Hades.  For if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in you, it would have remained until today.  But I tell you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, on the day of judgment, than for you” (Matthew 11:20-24).

But Jesus has compassionate and gentle words for those who “get him.”  He offers a high priestly prayer:

At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight.”

Jesus recognizes that only the humble and childlike are truly teachable, as opposed to the arrogant who think that they already know.  The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church:

 The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.  For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble;  but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;  and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are:  that no flesh should boast before God (1 Corinthians 1:25-29).

Jesus continues with words that reveal the high Christology of Matthew’s Gospel, on par with the Gospel of John as well as the Apostle Paul:

All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.

Jesus’ self-understanding is quite clear — consistent with the message of the Gospel of John, and 1 Corinthians 15, Colossians and other New Testament writings, Jesus knows he has received authority from the Father, and that only through him is the Father made known.  This is very reminiscent of Jesus’ words to the disciples in John’s Gospel:

If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him (John 14:7).

Jesus then offers words of deep comfort and compassion for those who seek him:

Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

This is good news for the sinner, the poor, the sick, the lame,  the demon-possessed, those oppressed by Roman taxes and power, and those who are overwhelmed by the burden of religious traditions imposed by the scribes and Pharisees — in Jesus they will find rest.

However, according to his metaphor, the yoke and the burden aren’t removed, merely eased and lightened.  This suggests that the followers of Jesus are still called to work for their master.  A yoke, as Jesus the carpenter well knew, was designed to fit the neck of an ox or donkey so that the animal could pull the plow or the cart.  If the yoke was too heavy or poorly fashioned, the beast would be chafed and unable to work effectively.  The yoke that Jesus offers enables the disciple to become more effective.  A disciple is one who continues to learn from and to do the work of the master.

APPLY:  

Jesus doesn’t offer a “one size fits all” message in our Gospel this week.  To the scribes and Pharisees who are growing increasingly critical of his ministry, he makes it clear that he will not be manipulated by their expectations.

What we can learn from this is that we must be careful not to shape the Gospel of Jesus according to our own preferences and prejudices. We have certainly seen this kind of manipulation of the Gospel throughout the history of Christianity — the Crusades, Inquisitions, the defense of slavery, and the accommodation of current cultural norms — are just a few of the examples of such “message manipulation.”  We must be careful not to become the children who try to control their playmates.

We must be shaped by the Gospel message instead.  We are to be shaped by the wisdom of Jesus:

  wisdom is justified by her children.

Perhaps another way of saying this is what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount:

Even so, every good tree produces good fruit; but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit (Matthew 7:17).

Instead, we are to be like the infants  to whom Jesus makes reference in this passage, to whom the mysteries of the Lord of heaven and earth are to be revealed.  These are the true children of God, who in their humility are able to change and grow, as Jesus will tell his disciples a little later in Matthew’s Gospel:

Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 18:2).

The good news for those who labor and are heavily burdened is that Jesus offers rest.  Unlike the arrogant scribes and Pharisees who impose unreasonable expectations on their followers, Jesus is gentle and humble in heart. Unlike the heavy burdens of legalistic Pharisees, Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light.

There is still work to do — human beings are most fulfilled when we have a purpose, and what purpose could be greater than working for the sake of the kingdom of God?  However, the yoke of Jesus makes that work easy and that burden light.

RESPOND: 

Years ago, when I was a busy pastor and a new parent, I began to feel overwhelmed and stressed.  Ministry wasn’t easy, and my responsibilities didn’t seem light.

Around this time I came across a talk by a Christian psychiatrist.  What I remember of his words gave me great hope.  He talked about his own experience in medical school, and the demands of study, teaching, and parenting — he admitted he was close to a nervous breakdown.

And then he re-read these words:

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

It struck him that if he was so stressed, to the point he was on the verge of a break-down, there must be something wrong.  His conclusion was that if Jesus promised that his yoke was easy and his burden was light, he must have picked up somebody else’s yoke and burden!  He needed to focus on what Jesus wanted him to do, instead of the myriad responsibilities and tasks that other people expected of him.

This led him to a re-evaluation of his priorities and tasks.  Some might say he learned to work “smarter, not harder.”  In doing so, he was able to make more time for his family, focus on medical school, and say no to those things that really were not being asked of him by Jesus.

I found that advice very helpful, and began to rank my priorities like this:

1. God is first.
2. Family is second.
3. Church and church work is third — and I must never confuse God and the church.  They aren’t the same thing.

As a consequence, I worked hard, but also made time for my family.  And I took a day off!

Lord, wisdom is known by her children.  Help me to be the kind of child that doesn’t try to manipulate others or control them through temper tantrums; instead, help me to be the kind of child who is humble and teachable, who knows you and does the work to which you call me.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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Epistle for July 9, 2017

For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice. [Romans 7:19 World English Bible]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Romans 7:15-25a

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

In this passage, the Apostle Paul uses himself as an example.  He is speaking of the inner conflict between his will to do good and the inevitability of  doing wrong instead.

There are two questions that we struggle to answer:

• Is the law a good thing or a bad thing?
• When Paul speaks of his moral failures, is he speaking in the past tense before he was a Christian, or is he speaking in the present tense after his conversion to Christ?

Paul describes what seems to be a real inner struggle:

For I don’t know what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do.

Thus begins a kind of inner argument within his own mind. He knows the right thing to do, according to the law, but he just can’t do it.

We can easily be confused by his notions about the law, and we have to realize that there are nuances in his understanding of the law, and there are even different kinds of law. So, a little background might be helpful concerning these nuances (with gratitude to The Orthodox Study Bible):

• Mosaic Law is given by God through Moses to the Jews. This law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good (Romans 7:12). However, it is impossible for humans to keep it perfectly and in its entirety.  What the law commands, it doesn’t have the power to fulfill. God’s law is good, but it is like a mirror that shows sinners their blemishes and faults.  The law is the standard, but humans cannot fulfill it.
• Natural Law is the law written on every human heart, regardless of gender, ethnicity, race, culture or nationality. It may also be called the conscience.  It is the sense of right and wrong innate to every human being (Romans 2:14-15).
• The Law of Faith (Romans 3:27) — which suggests that the only way to truly fulfill God’s law is through the righteousness that comes by faith. It is not human righteousness, but Christ’s righteousness that enables people to live into it by his grace.
• The Law of Sin (Romans 7:25) is the seemingly indomitable power of sin to twist God’s good gifts into evil, and to resist God’s pardon and power over sin. This is defined also in Romans 8:7 as the mind of the flesh:
  the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.
• And, if there is a Law of Sin, there is also its Godly counterpart — The Law of the Spirit (Romans 8:2). This describes the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the power of sin, and to complete the work of grace that is appropriated through the Law of Faith. The Holy Spirit makes righteousness real in the life of the believer, and does in the believer what has been done for the believer through Christ’s work.

Clearly, then, the struggle that Paul has is between his own nature under the Law of Sin,  and the Mosaic Law — which requires complete and perfect obedience to its statutes, commandments and precepts.  And that’s the very thing he admits he can’t do perfectly:

For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good. For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice.

Curiously, Paul seems to invoke a kind of “dissociation,” long before the term was ever invented by 20th century psychologists:

But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.  I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present. For I delight in God’s law after the inward man, but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.

Paul seems to be describing a kind of disconnection between what he longs to be and who he really is — his inner desire to do good is at war with the law of sin that makes him a captive.  This dichotomy leads to an unbearable split in his consciousness, and to misery:

What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?

The antidote to his dichotomy is through the one who is perfect and holy — and who fulfills all the requirements of the law and righteousness in his own life, death and resurrection:

I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

APPLY:  

Still, we haven’t yet answered the second question — when Paul speaks of his inner conflict with sin and the flesh, is he speaking in the past tense before he was a Christian, or is he speaking in the present tense after his conversion to Christ?

Is this an autobiographical passage or is it rhetorical?  That question was posed by a close friend of mine in the ministry who asked “was Paul speaking of himself before his encounter with Christ, or afterward?”

His opinion was that Paul was speaking of himself prior to his Damascus Road experience, and his surrender to God’s call.  My friend reasoned that if Paul had come to a saving knowledge of Christ through faith, he would no longer suffer from this inner division between his desire to do good and his fleshly gravitation toward sin.  My friend argued that Paul was using his experience “B.C.” (Before Christ) in order to instruct the Roman Christians.

I believe that both the Scriptural evidence, and Christian experience, teach us otherwise.  Look at the evidence — Paul admits elsewhere he is not perfect:

Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

This passage seems to describe the “both/and” experience of most Christians — we have been taken hold of  by Christ’s grace, and yet there is still room for much growth.

In 2 Corinthians 12,  Paul speaks of a thorn in the flesh from Satan, though he doesn’t explain what it may be.  But when he asks that it be removed, God invites him to struggle with the thorn, and surrender to God. God says:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Granted, this thorn may not have anything to do with sin, but it does reveal Paul’s weakness and utter dependence on God.

And finally, Paul admits to his own sinful nature:

The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief (1 Timothy 1:15).

This is not to suggest that Paul is excusing continued sin in the believer — anyone who reads Romans 6 will be cured of that notion.  But at the very least he seems to acknowledge that he is “in process.”  He hasn’t yet “arrived.”

And ultimately his wretchedness has an antidote:

What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Jesus and his grace provide the pardon from sin, and also the ongoing power over sin, through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.  Sanctification is a journey from repentance to repentance, and from grace to grace.  And this journey reminds us that we are always dependent on God, not on ourselves!

RESPOND: 

Finally, there is our own experience of sin and grace.

A few years ago our next-door neighbor was a professor at a nearby Christian University.  When he introduced himself to my son, who was then about 14, he said: “My name is Paul — like the Apostle, only not as good.”

I wonder how Paul might have responded to that.  Would the Apostle have pointed out that he himself was the chief of sinners?  Certainly he might have corrected the professor by reminding him that Paul himself was on the same journey.

My own experience is that this life in Christ truly is a journey, a continuum.  I keep coming back to an illustration I use sometimes when I am preaching about salvation:

God and his kingdom are our destination. He is at the end of the road upon which we are embarked.  However, we find ourselves turned away from God — what is that called? Sin! Sin is anything that takes us away from God. And when we are turned away, we are still moving — only now which way are we headed? The answers are various, but you might say toward death, the devil, and/or hell.  But the Holy Spirit pursues us, and whispers to us, and gives us the opportunity to wake up to the dangers of the abyss to which we are headed.  And when we wake up, what does the Spirit enable us to do?  Turn around, of course! This is called repentance.  And when we focus our eyes and our faith on Christ, we are “just-if-ied” by faith, which means it is “just as if I never sinned.”  And now we can begin the journey back toward God, because we have been born again through the power of the Holy Spirit. That journey back toward God is called sanctification, and it means we are being restored to the image of God.

I should note that in this “continuum,” or journey, we sometimes may find ourselves turning back away from God — and we will still need to repent.  However, for those who have been journeying with God for awhile, turning back toward God is much more desirable than ever, and much easier.

I find Oscar Wilde to be accurate, notwithstanding his own “thorn in the flesh”:

The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

Lord, like your servant Paul I find myself struggling with the good that I want and the flesh that so easily discourages me.  And I find that only through your grace am I able to overcome my sin and live through your power.  Command what you will and then give what you command.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

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Psalm Reading for July 9, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 45:10-17

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm was written as a wedding song for a royal marriage.

At the beginning of the Psalm the Psalmist reflects on his noble theme, which is the excellence and blessedness of the king.  The Psalmist describes the king with this phrase:

Grace has anointed your lips,
therefore God has blessed you forever (Psalm 45:2).

The king was anointed with oil as part of his coronation, therefore his anointed lips drip with grace and favor.

The Psalmist then turns his attention to the real “power behind the throne”:

Your throne, God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness.
(Psalm 45:6-7)).

The Psalmist continues his lush descriptions of the wedding garments and the beautiful palace of the king on his wedding day:

All your garments smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad (Psalm 45:8).

We can almost smell the aromas and hear the music on this festal day!

Appropriately, for a wedding Psalm, the Psalmist turns his attention to the women participating in the wedding:

Kings’ daughters are among your honorable women.
At your right hand the queen stands in gold of Ophir (Psalm 45:9).

Ophir is believed to have been in a region of Africa. It was a trading partner with Israel and was renowned for its wealth and exotic materials:

The fleet of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir, also brought in from Ophir great quantities of almug trees and precious stones (1 Kings 10:11).

The new queen-to-be is decked out in bridal clothes as fine as those of the king’s.  Note that she stands at his right hand, which suggests her own royal authority.

The Psalmist then offers advice to this newly married queen, counseling her:

Listen, daughter, consider, and turn your ear.
Forget your own people, and also your father’s house.
So the king will desire your beauty,
honor him, for he is your lord.

This is consistent with the model of marriage rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures:

Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh (Genesis 2:24).

Interestingly, the counsel from Genesis is addressed to a man, who is to realign his loyalties toward his wife over his parents.  We must remember that the Psalmist  in Psalm 45 is speaking of a royal wedding — the wife is to become a wife and queen as well as a subject to her new king.  Under normal circumstances in any wedding, both bride and groom are to leave their family of origin in order to found a new family.

The queenly bride begins to experience what it means to be the king’s wife.  Princesses and nobility now come seeking the queen’s favor:

The daughter of Tyre comes with a gift.
The rich among the people entreat your favor.

Tyre was a wealthy seaport of the Phoenicians, to the north of Israel.

Then the Psalmist returns to a lavish description of the bride and her entourage as they process into the palace:

The princess inside is all glorious.
Her clothing is interwoven with gold.
She shall be led to the king in embroidered work.
The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to you.
With gladness and rejoicing they shall be led.
They shall enter into the king’s palace.

Finally, the Psalmist offers a kind of wedding blessing upon the new queen, that she may have an abundance of sons who will assume the crown in the years to come, and that she will be famous throughout history:

Your sons will take the place of your fathers.
You shall make them princes in all the earth.
 I will make your name to be remembered in all generations.
Therefore the peoples shall give you thanks forever and ever.

This is reminiscent of the promises of God to Abraham in Genesis:

I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you.  I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you.  I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God (Genesis 17:6-8).

The message is clear — the king and queen are to be a part of the covenant promises made to Abraham and Sarah, for all generations.

APPLY:  

On the one hand, this Psalm can be read as what it appears to be on the surface — a wedding Psalm that extols the wealth and beauty and character of the royal couple.

But what has that to do with us?  There is an old hymn written by Henry Barraclough that suggests the Messianic connection of this Psalm:

My Lord has garments so wondrous fine,
And myrrh their texture fills;
Its fragrance reached to this heart of mine
With joy my being thrills.

Out of the ivory palaces,
Into a world of woe,
Only His great eternal love
Made my Savior go.

The song also refers to garments dipped in cassia. The song clearly is alluding to Psalm 45.  In fact, Barraclough wrote it after hearing a sermon on Psalm 45 preached by the evangelist, Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman.

The typological Christian interpretation of this Psalm is that Jesus is the King of kings — and his bride is the church.  When Paul advises husbands to love their wives, he uses the example of Christ’s love for the church:

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:25-27, KJV).

As the newlywed queen is counseled to leave her family and realign herself with her king, and to honor him above all, so we are to forsake all things for the sake of Christ, and honor him above all else.

RESPOND: 

In the Eastern Orthodox Church there is a lovely wedding tradition.  Garland wreaths are fashioned into ornate crowns as a symbol of glory and honor, symbolizing the royalty of marriage.  During the ceremony, the priest places the crowns on the heads of the bride and groom, and the best man swaps the crowns three times on the heads of the couple.

Because I am not a member of the Orthodox Christian tradition, it would be impossible for me to adequately explain what these symbols may mean to the Orthodox Christian.  However, I can offer my own impressions of the ritual.

We are reminded in this “crowning” ceremony that Christ is often referred to as the Bridegroom and his church is his bride.  When we reflect on the future of history, we are reminded of the language of Scripture that tells us:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Revelation 21:1-2).

Whenever I have presided at a wedding, this imagery has been in my mind — that the bridegroom represents Christ, and the bride his church.  This imagery never fails to warm my heart at a wedding.

And in a sense, every Christian couple is royalty on their wedding day!

Lord, may our marriages be “royal”  marriages that bring honor and glory to your church, as we look forward to the wedding feast of the Lamb that is to come.  Amen.

PHOTOS:

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Old Testament for July 9, 2017

Start with Scripture:

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

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OBSERVE:

The Old Testament lesson for this week focuses on transitions and rites of passage.  The actual lectionary reading — Genesis 24: 34-38, 42-49, 58-67 — includes only a part of the whole story.

We must begin with the back story.  Sarah, the mother of Isaac, had died at the age of 127 years at Kiriath Arba (Hebron), when her son was  about 37 years old (Genesis 23:1-4).  A few years later, Isaac hadn’t yet married, and this spurs Abraham to action.  He seems to be concerned about two things:

• His own advanced age and health — perhaps he wishes to see Isaac married before his own death.
• He is concerned that Isaac should not marry a “local girl” from among the Canaanites, perhaps because of their idolatry.

So, Abraham commissions his chief servant with a very important mission — he is to return to Mesopotamia and seek a wife from amongst Abraham’s  own family (apparently the prohibition against “kissing cousins” was not yet in effect).

The servant (who may well have been the Eliezer named in Genesis 15:2 as Abraham’s chief servant and heir prior to the birth of Ishmael and Isaac)  makes the long journey back from Canaan to Mesopotamia, bearing with him gifts loaded on the backs of a caravan of camels.  When he arrives, presumably at the city of Haran (although it is called here the city of Nahor because it is where Nahor lives), the servant rests at the water well outside the city.  The time is in the evening, when young women come to the well to draw water for the family.  The servant prays to Yahweh, Abraham’s God, and asks for direction in finding the girl to whom Isaac is to be married.  The sign for which he asks is fulfilled — she not only draws water for the servant, she also draws water for his camels!

Our passage begins after the servant has discovered that this young woman is in fact Rebekah,  the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor ( Genesis 24:15).  Nahor was the brother of Abraham!    God has brought the servant directly to Isaac’s cousin! He honors her with a gold ring for her nose, and gold bracelets for her wrists.

When Rebekah brings the servant back to her family’s tent, there is an awful lot of “catching up” to do.  The servant fills them in with updates on Abraham and Sarah — their blessing from God, their greatness and fame, and particularly their prosperity.  And then there is the clincher — the servant reveals that he has been sent to find a wife for the boss’s son.

Then the bargaining begins. The servant says to Rebekah’s brother and father:

Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.

Unfortunately, the lectionary editors have not included one of the more interesting interactions in this account (verses 50-56).  Bethuel, who is Rebekah’s father, and Laban her brother appear to be angling for a good “bride price.”  Although they admit that what the servant has told them seems to come from Yahweh, they appear to be bargaining with the servant.  After he gives jewels and gold and clothing to Rebekah, Laban and her mother, Laban and Bethuel delay the servant’s departure.  Is this sentimentality because they want to prolong the goodbye with Rebekah, or is this a way of milking more treasure from Abraham’s servant?  Given what we learn about Laban in subsequent accounts from Genesis, particularly his rather devious and sharp dealing with Rebekah’s son Jacob years later, we may have good reason to suspect Laban of ulterior motives.

The servant finally has to demand an answer:

 He said to them, “Don’t hinder me, since Yahweh has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”

Astonishingly, in this patriarchal, male-dominated culture, they allow Rebekah to speak for herself:

They said, “We will call the young lady, and ask her.”

Rebekah reveals herself to be a person of adventurous faith.  She agrees to accompany the servant to a land she doesn’t know, in order to marry a man she has never met!

Rebekah is sent away with the family’s generous blessing:

Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them.

The journey south to Beer Lahai Roi (coincidentally, the location of the well at which Hagar was comforted by Yahweh’s Angel in Genesis 16:9-14.  Beer Lahai Roi describes the place as ‘where God lives and sees me.’) leads to one of the most romantic encounters in the Scriptures:

Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, there were camels coming.  Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel.  She said to the servant, “Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?”

The servant said, “It is my master.”

She took her veil, and covered herself. The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.  Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

In this classically abbreviated Hebrew style, we see this young woman and man meet, fall in love and marry, all in just a few verses.  The phrase indicating that Isaac took her into Sarah’s tent suggests that Rebekah has filled the grief in his heart over his mother’s death.  Sarah’s empty tent, formerly a place of sadness, now becomes a place of joy.  And one wonders if this may be a part of the Jewish custom of the wedding tent even today.  Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah (Genesis 25:20).

APPLY:  

There is an old expression — “theirs is a marriage made in heaven.”  We may wonder, in these modern times when divorce seems rampant, if heaven has anything to do with marriage.

We find in the account of the relationship between Rebekah and Isaac that even a marriage “made in heaven” requires human as well as divine initiative.  We see evidence of a divine/human synergism in this account. Perhaps another way of saying this is that God plays matchmaker — but human beings must cooperate!

Abraham sees that the eligible women in Canaan are not suitable for his son Isaac — this is probably  not because of ethnicity but because of their idolatrous religion. So he takes action and sends his servant back to the “home country” to find a woman.

The servant prays for a sign from Yahweh which is promptly confirmed when Rebekah appears.  But she must also exercise her own free will in order to become a part of this Abrahamic dynasty and the salvation history of Israel.

And Isaac also must consent to this “arranged marriage” and choose to love Rebekah — even when her coming was not originally his idea!

Perhaps we have a partial answer to the increase of rocky marriages today.  A common faith, prayer, and the choice to love one another are critical in strong marriages.

RESPOND: 

In some ways, this account of the arranged marriage of Isaac and Rebekah, with a servant as the yenta (the “matchmaker”), seems to come right out of the pages of a book with a title like The Art of the Deal.  It all seems so “transactional.”

The servant brings camels laden down with treasure, and then asks for the lady’s hand on behalf of his boss’s son.  It’s about a business arrangement.  And it’s about the family business.

But I wonder — is our “romantic” ideal, based on “falling love,” a preferable model?  Divorce rates suggest that  many marriages based solely on “romance” don’t last very long.

As a father of two I can understand Abraham’s efforts to intervene by arranging a marriage for his son Isaac.  I joke that marriage is too important to be left to hormonal kids!  The truth is, the prayer of the servant may be the most important and most easily overlooked feature of this story.  Without deep and earnest prayer, no marriage should ever be solemnized.  It is prayer, and a strong faith in God, that keeps Christian marriages together.

Lord, marriage is ultimately your idea — bringing two people together for the purpose of love, comfort, and, yes, for a legacy that will outlive that man and woman.  We pray for strong, loving, faithful marriages that bring honor to you. Amen.

PHOTOS:
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