Gospel for August 6, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 14:13-21
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Matthew’s Gospel narrative resumes with a focus on one of Jesus’ singular miracles — the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.  Each of the four Gospels describe the feast in the wilderness that Jesus provides near the Sea of Galilee.  In our lectionary passage, Jesus feeds five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish.  The parallel account is recorded also in Mark 6:38-44, Luke 9:13-17 and John 6:8-14.  In addition, there is another occasion when Jesus feeds the four thousand with seven loaves of bread and a few fish (Matthew 15:32-38; Mark 8:1-9).  Clearly, there were at least two separate occasions when Jesus fed the multitudes, according to a harmonization of the four Gospels — once when he fed the five thousand, and the second when he fed the four thousand.

Here is the backstory.  After Jesus completed his teachings of the parables of the Kingdom of Heaven while he was at the seashore (Matthew 13), word came to Jesus that King Herod had arrested and beheaded John the Baptist as a favor to his niece Salome (and her mother Herodias).

Jesus prudently withdraws, likely in the same boat from which he delivered his parables.  He sails across the lake with his disciples to a deserted place.  Part of this may have been because of the political heat being turned up by Herod.  Jesus isn’t afraid of Herod, but he is aware that his time hasn’t yet come.  As he says elsewhere, when warned about Herod’s plot against his own life:

Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I complete my mission.  Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, for it can’t be that a prophet perish outside of Jerusalem’ (Luke 13:32-33).

We can only speculate concerning the effect of John’s death on the emotions of Jesus.  After all, though he is the Son of God, and fully divine, Jesus is also fully human.  We know from John’s Gospel that Jesus was touched by grief when his good friend Lazarus dies (John 11:33-35).  Could it be that Jesus needed to withdraw to a deserted place in order to grieve for his cousin?

But Jesus is already the equivalent of a “rock star” in this time and place.  His healings have already gathered huge crowds.  The multitudes followed the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee in order to find Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t react with annoyance when he sees that the great multitude has found him on the other side of the Sea:

 He had compassion on them, and healed their sick.

However, the number of people and the isolation from villages and towns somewhere out in the wilderness leads to a crisis:

When evening had come, his disciples came to him, saying, “This place is deserted, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food.”

This seems practical.  These people won’t leave unless Jesus dismisses them — and the disciples know there is nothing in these hills that they can eat.  But Jesus astonishes them:

They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.

We can only imagine how taken aback the disciples must have been.  They have seen Jesus do some amazing things.  He has traveled around Galilee:

healing every disease and every sickness among the people (Matthew 4:23).

The sick, the demon possessed, epileptics and paralytics have been healed.  This is what has drawn those:

Great multitudes from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and from beyond the Jordan (Matthew 4:25).

Still, the disciples were daunted. They looked at all that they had in their hands:

 They told him, “We only have here five loaves and two fish.”

Jesus commands them to bring what they have to him, then commands the multitudes to sit down on the grass.  He takes authority, and provides order so that he may prevent mob hysteria or panic:

and he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave to the multitudes. They all ate, and were filled.

And Jesus does nothing without purpose.  The broken leftovers from the multiplied bread fill twelve baskets!  Needless to say, twelve is a significant number in Scripture, representing the twelve tribes of Israel and likely the twelve disciples themselves.  Jesus is, symbolically, feeding all of Israel.

And it should be clear that this miracle, the largest he has accomplished to this date, affects more than just five thousand:

Those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

In that patriarchal age, only the men were counted — we can only speculate about what the total numbers might have actually been.  Ten thousand? Fifteen thousand?  We just can’t know.

APPLY:  

Jesus is Lord over heaven and earth.  He is the Son of God. The Second Person of the Trinity.  He is God incarnate.  He can take little and make it much, just as God did at the dawn of time when he created the universe from nothing.

Jesus takes the bread and fish — staples in the Galilean diet — and multiplies a meager supply for thousands of people.  They are not only satisfied, there are leftovers!

When we think of how inadequate we may feel, or how insufficient our resources, we must remember the old Gospel hymn, written by Kittie Suffield in 1924:

Little is much when God is in it.

RESPOND: 

There is a joke among preachers when it comes to counting worship attendance on Sunday morning — are those real numbers, or preacher numbers?

In the case of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, and the number of people served, we have an example of growth from few to many.  From five loaves and two fish, thousands were fed.  And twelve baskets of leftovers gathered.

When I think about the needs in the world today, the needs are so great.  There is a desperate need for more disciples who make disciples; there is a need for more food for the hungry, more resources for the poor, more jobs for the unemployed. It strikes me that we seem to have a “theology of famine” instead of a “theology of abundance.”  When we consider God’s economy in comparison to our lack of faith, our problem is not with supply, it is with distribution.  God has plenty of resources.  Our lack of faith is what impoverishes us.

Lord, so often I see the glass as half-empty, and I forget that you are the one who has made all the water that fills all of the glasses.  And you can multiply all of our resources, if only we trust you.  Increase my faith!  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Jesus Feeds the Hungry (5 of 12)" by Tony Fischer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for August 6, 2023

“St. Paul” painting by El Greco (1541-1614).
“For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh, who are Israelites.”
[Romans 9:3-4 WEB]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 9:1-5
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul’s focus shifts away from the powerful climax of Romans 8, and he begins to address a subject that is painful for him — he grieves for the majority of his fellow Jews, who have rejected Jesus as the Messiah.

It is extremely important to note that the first believers in Christ were Jews — the twelve disciples, the folks in the Upper Room on Pentecost, the three thousand converted on that day, and Paul himself.  In fact, until Paul began his aggressive missionary work to the Gentiles, the new “Christian” movement centered in Jerusalem was actually somewhat reluctant to branch out beyond the Jews.

Paul has the vision to see that the Gospel is God’s gift to all people.  He wasn’t the first or the only to see that.  Peter’s vision that led to his visit with the Roman centurion, Cornelius, was a breakthrough for the early church (Acts 10).  But it is Paul who has the spiritual and intellectual gifts, and the drive, to carry the message into the Gentile world in his missionary journeys.

Nevertheless, Paul is grieved that so many of his own people have rejected the Gospel.  Throughout Romans 9 to 11, he will explore the paradox that Israel has been chosen by God, and yet has rejected God’s Messiah.

But here, he is expressing his own deep feelings:

I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.

Paul even makes this extraordinary statement:

For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh, who are Israelites…

Paul loves his own people so deeply that he is willing to be damned for their sake!

We are reminded that Paul was no marginal, cultural Jew.  He was deeply committed to Judaism prior to his Damascus Road experience and conversion (Acts 9:1-21).  Paul speaks of his own life prior to his conversion:

For you have heard of my way of living in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the assembly of God, and ravaged it.  I advanced in the Jews’ religion beyond many of my own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers (Galatians 1:13-14).

When his “credentials” are questioned by some in the Corinthian church, Paul says of himself in comparison to some of his detractors:

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the offspring of Abraham? So am I (2 Corinthians 11:22).

And when he seeks to point out that his own accomplishments are rubbish as compared to knowing Christ, he points out that his accomplishments are not meager by human standards:

If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I yet more:  circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless (Philippians 3:4-6).

And Paul does not minimize or denigrate the important relationship that God bestowed upon Israel as his chosen people:

whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises; of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.

Although Paul is very clear that salvation is not a work of the law but a work of grace received by faith (Romans 3:27), he doesn’t demean the law of Moses. The Israelites were chosen (adopted) by God, to them were entrusted the covenants of Abraham, the law of Moses, the Patriarchs. 

And, above all, Israel is the vessel through which the Messiah was to come.  The Hebrew Scriptures prophesied his coming.  Jesus is the descendant of David, according to the Scriptures, and is therefore the rightful heir of David.  Jesus is clearly the Jewish Messiah, as well as the Savior of the world.

APPLY:  

There is a tension in relations between Christianity and Judaism.  Christians were persecuted harshly by the Jewish priestly authorities early in the history of the church, and later as the Christian movement moved into the Gentile world.  Paul made it a point to go first to the synagogues in the Greek and Roman cities he visited so that he could interpret the prophecies from the Hebrew Scriptures concerning the Christ.  When he was rejected, he was free to go out among the Gentiles and evangelize.

Unfortunately, when Christianity became the dominant religion after Constantine’s ascent to Imperial status, and recognition of the church in 313 A.D., the Christian treatment of Jews has been frankly deplorable.  The Jews were expelled from Jerusalem in 325 A.D.; in 1096, one third of the Jews in Northern France and Germany were massacred.  In 1215, the Lateran Council in Rome decreed that all Jews were to wear the “badge of shame” in all Christian countries. Jews were denied all public sector employment, and were burdened with extra taxes. These, and many more persecutions, pogroms and massacres have plagued the Jews — all the way down to the Holocaust by Nazi Germany.

Paul would be appalled.  When his people did not embrace Jesus as Messiah, or his evangel, Paul’s response was not anger, but grief:

I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.

We as Christians owe a profound debt to our Jewish heritage.  From them come:

the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises.

And because of the salvation history of Israel, we are led inexorably to the coming of the Christ, who fulfills the Jewish expectations of a Messiah.

RESPOND: 

I wonder what I am willing to sacrifice for the sake of the salvation of someone I love?  Paul says:

I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh, who are Israelites.

I am reminded of a funny tale a seminary professor once told me years ago.  It seems that a young ministerial candidate in Scotland was being interviewed by the Presbytery concerning his hope for ordination.

The questioning was rigorous and critical. The young candidate was sweating.  Finally, someone asked him this question:

Are you willing to be damned for the glory of God?

The harried young man answered:

Yes, and I’d be even more willing to see the entire Presbytery damned for God’s glory.

A funny anecdote.  But there is a rather serious application.  Paul was willing to be damned for the sake of his nation.  For whom would we be willing to be damned?

I have stated often that I would be willing to take a bullet for members of my family.  Would I be willing to be damned for them?  I think so.

I know a man who was a rebel and a mocker of the Christian faith.  His father was a saintly, devout seminary professor, who from time to time would ask his son, “How is it with your soul?”  But only after his father died unexpectedly did this rebel turn to God and say: “O.K.  You have my attention.”  He returned to faith, and has lived faithfully ever since.

This seems a radical method of evangelism.  But perhaps until we are willing to die — or even be accursed for the lost — those whom we seek to save won’t really see how serious we are.  What are we really willing to pay to see the lost saved?

Jesus was willing to give his very life and, in my theology, descend into hell on our behalf.

Lord, I deeply regret the persecutions of Judaism by Christians over the centuries.  I pray that we may be a vessel of reconciliation rather than repudiation.  I also pray for those whom I love who do not have faith in you — if it is necessary that I die, or even be accursed, that they may be saved, help me to say yes to that.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

"San Pablo Apóstol" by El Greco is in the Public Domain.

Psalm Reading for August 6, 2023

As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form. [Psalm 17:15, WEB]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 17:1-7, 15 
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm of David has been called a Lament, but in many ways it seems to be a prayer of petition rounded off with a declaration of hope.  He begins with a plea:

Hear, Yahweh, my righteous plea;
Give ear to my prayer, that doesn’t go out of deceitful lips.

He is quite anxious to demonstrate that he is worthy to be heard by Yahweh.  He is asking that he be judged according to justice and equity.  David is quite sure that Yahweh has measured him and vindicated him:

You have proved my heart.
You have visited me in the night.
You have tried me, and found nothing.

Night is a time known to be sinister and dark. Yahweh visits David at night and finds that even at night-time, David is not compromised.

David asserts that he won’t speak amiss, that he will avoid gratuitous violence, and then uses a familiar Biblical metaphor about walking with God:

My steps have held fast to your paths.
My feet have not slipped.

And then David appeals to God with a pleading prayer of supplication:

I have called on you, for you will answer me, God.
Turn your ear to me.
Hear my speech.
Show your marvelous loving kindness,
you who save those who take refuge by your right hand from their enemies.

David expresses confidence that God will answer him, hear him, and reveal his loving kindness.

Finally, as the Psalm concludes in verse 15, David reiterates his confidence in God.  We are reminded of David’s earlier reference in verse 3, that God had visited him in the night, and tested his character.  Perhaps he had a dream in which God appears to him — but what really matters to him is that even after he awakens, he will see God’s form.  Perhaps this suggests that even in his waking moments, he will be keenly aware of God’s presence.

APPLY:  

David doesn’t pray from a position of humility and despair in this particular Psalm.  Here he is making a righteous plea that doesn’t come from deceitful lips. 

This may be hard for most of us to identify with in our own lives.  If we are honest with ourselves, we cry out to God more from a sense of desperate need for mercy and for help.  And, to be fair, many of David’s Psalms do reflect a sense of humility and repentance.

What it does remind us, though, is that we are called to a good life — a righteous life, a truthful life, a life that does follow the paths laid out by God’s Word.

RESPOND: 

I am drawn to David’s words about the night in this Psalm:

You have visited me in the night.
You have tried me, and found nothing.
I have resolved that my mouth shall not disobey.

The night is a common experience for all who live on planet earth — when the earth rotates away from the presence of the sun and we are plunged into darkness.  Biblically, the night is often a time of “deeds of darkness” and sexual predation and debauchery.

But paradoxically, it is also a time of sleeping and dreaming, when God often comes to those who sleep with visions.  David’s experience is the latter — when he sleeps, he senses that God has tested his character, and when he awakes he continues to sense God’s presence:

As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness.
I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.

William Wordsworth penned these lyrical words long ago:

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!

I think Wordsworth is only partly right. It isn’t some preexistence that is most important — there is little Biblical evidence that our souls exist prior to our births.  What really matters in our life with God is that we can awaken to God’s dream long after everything else is forgotten.

Lord, thank you that you hear our prayers as though there were only one of us; and yet you love all of us. May we awaken from our sleep and see you with us always.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

"Psalm 17:15"

Old Testament for August 6, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Genesis 32:22-31
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jacob experiences a climactic crisis in his relationship with Yahweh, with his brother Esau, and with himself.

Jacob worked for his uncle and kinsman Laban for twenty years (cf. Genesis 31:38).  But despite receiving his heart’s desire (the hand of Rachel, Laban’s daughter, in marriage), Jacob’s sojourn with Laban has been difficult.  Part of the difficulty has been the rivalries between the two sisters Jacob has married — Leah and Rachel.  Jealousy has been manifested by competition — who can have the most children for Jacob?  These contentious sisters have even used their maidservants (Zilpah and and Bilhah, respectively) as proxy surrogate mothers and pawns in their “game of wombs.”

Moreover, Laban has consistently cheated Jacob out of his share of the profits from Jacob’s successful management of Laban’s flocks.  Jacob has had to resort to creative breeding practices with the flocks entrusted to him in order to balance the tally.  Jacob has become aware that Laban’s attitude toward him has changed, and a dream from the angel of God has warned him to leave Haran.  So, after consulting with his wives Leah and Rachel, he returns home to Canaan.

However, Jacob is aware that Esau is waiting for him back in Canaan — Esau, who had threatened to kill him when he laid eyes on him again. He has left one stressful situation for yet another — out of the frying pan, into the fire?

Jacob has sent word to Esau ahead of his arrival that he is returning. Jacob seems to try to impress his brother:

I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight (Genesis 32:5).

But an ominous report is brought to Jacob by messengers — Esau is coming to meet him… with four hundred men! (Genesis 32:6) Jacob is understandably distressed.  This seems menacing.  Jacob divides his flocks and stock into two companies, so that if Esau hits one the other might escape.

Jacob also sends a gift — a bribe? — to his brother Esau:

two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals (Genesis 32:14-15).

All of this sets the stage for our lectionary passage for this week. The night before Jacob is to have his “reunion” with his brother Esau, Jacob sends his two wives and two servants and eleven sons across the ford of the river Jabbok, which is a tributary river feeding into the Jordan River from the east.  He has not yet even crossed over the Jordan into the land of Canaan! Presumably, Jacob sends his family from north of the river to south of the river, in the region of Gilead.

That night, Jacob is left alone with himself — and with a supernatural visitor.  We note that a little earlier, when Jacob learns that Esau is coming with a small army, he prays to Yahweh asking for deliverance from Esau, and reminding God of his promises of blessing and offspring (Genesis 32:9-12).  But we have no evidence that God responds to Jacob’s prayer — until now:

Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day.

Astonishingly, the “anonymous wrestler” cannot — or chooses not — to prevail over Jacob, until he touches the hollow of Jacob’s thigh and injures him.  If, as we suspect already, the wrestler is an angel of God or Yahweh himself, why can’t the Almighty defeat Jacob?

The answer is two-fold: first, he does deal Jacob an injury that will remain with him the rest of his life. And second, the only way God doesn’t simply destroy Jacob is because he chooses not to do so.  He limits his power in order to transform Jacob.

What happens next is spiritually significant.  The supernatural “wrestler” seems to cry “uncle”:

The man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.”

Jacob, presumably holding on to this “being” for dear life, refuses to let go until the wrestler blesses him.  The “being” asks a question to which he already knows the answer:

 He said to him, “What is your name?”

When Jacob gives his own name, the “wrestler” reveals himself clearly for the first time, and simultaneously gives Jacob his blessing:

He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

The blessing is a change in Jacob’s identity — he is to be known as Israel, which means one who prevails with God or is Triumphant with God.  Because words and names are vested with such inherent power in the Hebrew culture, this “renaming” is significant.  Jacob’s name was interpreted earlier by his brother Esau as derogatory:

Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing (Genesis 27:36).

But now Jacob is honored as Israel. 

And even this is not enough for Jacob/Israel.  He also wants to know the name of this “being” with whom he has wrestled all night long.  Again, we see the significance of a name.  To know the name of someone, especially a supernatural being, is to have a measure of power and leverage — either over them or through them.

We are reminded that many centuries later, one of the descendants of Jacob will seek the identity of God, who speaks to him through the burning bush:

Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you;’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”  (Exodus 3:13).

God’s answer there is enigmatic — God’s name is not a proper noun, like Zeus or Baal or Brahma — instead, God’s answer to Moses is more a description of his nature than a name:

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14).

And when Jesus speaks of prayer, he suggests the power that is imputed by invoking his own name:

Whatever you will ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son (John 14:13).

As it turns out, God is not overpowered by Jacob, though he allows Jacob to prevail.  What that may really mean is that Jacob is allowed to live despite the fact that he has wrestled with God.  Nor is God to be manipulated by a mortal.  He responds to Jacob’s question by asking rhetorically:

 He said, “Why is it that you ask what my name is?”

Nonetheless, God does bless Jacob.  And in keeping with the importance of language and words, Jacob memorializes this place as Peniel (which means “face of God):

 for, he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

When the day dawned, Jacob had been profoundly blessed — but he did walk away with a limp.

APPLY:  

Jacob’s story seems to be an archetypal story in many ways.  By that I mean that people of faith, and even simply people in general, can find much in Jacob with which we can identify.

After twenty years, Jacob returns for a family reunion.  An uncomfortable and tense family reunion.  Many of us can identify with tense family gatherings.  We may not face the fear of violent retribution, but we may experience passive-aggression and sarcasm.

Jacob uses common sense.  He divides his assets so he can survive a “hostile takeover.”  Those of us who have watched powerful families in the media — and the movies — can imagine such an attempt even by family members.

Jacob also attempts to placate Esau by sending him a very expensive gift — or gifts, in his case.  This may seem manipulative or cynical, but we may argue that it is practical.

But what is even more relevant is the spiritual example that this story provides.  Jacob seeks out solitude so that he may prepare for the inevitable reunion that is to take place the next day.  When we are facing an emotionally difficult time, don’t many of us find refuge in solitude, if only to prepare ourselves and think things through?

It may be argued that even before Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord, he was wrestling with himself.  Was he feeling some remorse for the ways in which he cheated Esau out of his birthright and his blessing?  Certainly, Esau’s threats against his own brother were inappropriate and excessive — but Jacob was a supplanter and a cheater!

When we begin to wrestle with our own conscience, I would argue we are beginning to wrestle with God.  And I would argue that we will always lose!  How is it, then, that Jacob prevails?

My answer is that Jacob doesn’t defeat Yahweh.  That would be impossible. No, he prevails because despite his weakness, his fallibility, and his failures, he doesn’t let go!  Through this entire experience, Jacob holds on to God as tightly as he possibly can.

I would argue that the way we can prevail, when we are filled with doubt, when we have failed, when we feel abandoned, is to never let go of God.  Hang on with every fiber of our faith!

There is one more way in which we can identify with Jacob’s experience.  When we encounter God — really encounter God — there will be transformation.  Jacob the Supplanter became Israel — Triumphant with God.

Oh, and one more thing — it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  We will be changed by our encounter with God.  And we also may be scarred or marked or damaged in some way by the experience — Jacob limps away.

RESPOND: 

It is somehow reassuring to know that the friends of God have been “wrestling” with him for millennia. Jacob’s story seems to be as modern as a Facebook post today.

Our struggles often begin with a personal crisis — like Jacob’s family dysfunctions with his father-in-law, or stress with spouses (in his case, plural!), or sibling rivalry.  And such personal crises usually are connected with a larger spiritual conflict.

I have tasted a bit of what St. John of the Cross called The Dark Night of the Soul.  He says of the Christian:

There will come a time when God will bid them to grow deeper. He will remove the previous consolation from the soul in order to teach it virtue and prevent it from developing vice.

What seems to be happening to Jacob, though, is different.  When Jacob prays for God to deliver him from the hand of his brother Esau, God instead comes and engages Jacob even more directly. Spiritually, God “wrestles” with Jacob.

The purpose for this engagement isn’t so that God can reveal his superiority.  That’s a given.  God chooses not to prevail over Jacob.  Instead, God permits Jacob to remain locked in this “wrestling match” so that Jacob can grow through the experience.  Jacob becomes Israel.

Simply put, I have learned that when I have a spiritual crisis, a dark night of the soul, a period of doubt, depression, or a sense of failure, what I must do, for my own soul’s sake, is hold on to God for all I’m worth.  Holding on to God is the only way that I may prevail.  Only by holding on can I receive God’s blessing.

And I have also learned through the years that it is imperative that I hold on to God, whatever my struggles, doubts and difficulties may be.  What I have discovered is that God is not wrestling with me — instead, God is embracing me!

Lord, life is full of crises and challenges — personal, financial, family, national.  I know of no other way that I — or any of us — can prevail unless we hold on to you.  Only then, when we stay connected to you, can we be blessed by you.  When I hold on to you, I discover that you aren’t wrestling with me — you are embracing me! Amen.  

PHOTOS:
“Don’t Let Go“

Gospel for August 14, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 12:49-56
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

How different is this Jesus from the Sunday School version that we gravitate toward!  True, he has taught and modeled love and forgiveness and healing and hope.  But the teaching of Jesus in our Gospel reading for this week reveals the prophetic side of Jesus — the realist who is warning his disciples about the inevitable divisions that will occur because of his ministry.

His warnings are dire, and they seem to hearken back to his cousin John the Baptist’s denunciations early in the Gospel of Luke.  Jesus says:

 I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!

John had forecast this prior to his arrest and execution, when he held forth at the Jordan River:

I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:16-17).

It doesn’t seem much of a stretch to imagine that Jesus is remembering John’s prophecy, and is calling attention to it.  What is this fire? According to John’s proclamation, it is associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit.

If John is a transitional character from the Old Testament to the New Testament, the prophet Malachi probably is one of the several voices that forecasts John.  In Malachi 3, he speaks of the Messenger who will come to prepare the way of the Lord.  And then he says this of the day of the Lord’s coming:

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness (Malachi 3:2-3).

Clearly, from a prophetic perspective the fire comes as a source of purification — and that is one thing that Jesus will accomplish through his death.  His baptism is not a mere ritual — it is nothing less than crucifixion.

But even more troubling than his desire that the fire may be kindled is his prediction of conflict.  He hasn’t come to bring peace, but division.  His gospel is not a “do-it-yourself” improvement project.  His teachings, and his life death and resurrection require a radical choice to follow him.  And that means a break with the status quo.

Even families will be divided:

From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.

To some extent, Jesus has faced this division even in his own household.  On one occasion, his own family was seeking “face time” with him:

Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd.  And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”  But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:19-21).

To be sure, his mother was with him in the end when he was nailed to the cross, and after the resurrection; and his brother James became not only a believer but the first leader of the church in Jerusalem.  But his message is quite clear — his true family consists of those who are radically committed to fulfilling the gospel message.  And as we see throughout the Gospels, the disciples who truly follow Jesus are willing to give up land, careers and family.

Jesus also warns the crowds that they must be astute about discerning the events that are unfolding around them.  While we might be tempted to interpret his statement along apocalyptic lines, the truth may be more immediate.  Tensions are rising between himself and the authorities in Jerusalem that he knows will end in his own crucifixion.  He is telling them that if they can forecast the weather, they should be able to see what is about to happen to him:

He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

It seems clear from the context that he is advising the crowds to interpret the present time in which they are living.  What they will witness when he arrives in Jerusalem will kindle a fire that will purify the world!

APPLY:  

It is okay to admit that there are some things that Jesus says that trouble us.  He meant to trouble us, in order to bring us to repentance and discipleship.

But Jesus isn’t necessarily gentle and meek — at least not in the modern interpretation of those words.  He yearns for the fire to be kindled.  Even if we believe that this fire represents the work of the Holy Spirit, we cannot escape the fact that the work of the Holy Spirit will only be commenced through his own death and resurrection.

Besides, fire does purify.  But it also destroys.  We remember what Paul says to the Corinthian church.  He tells them that the only foundation on which he builds the church is Jesus Christ.  But then he goes on:

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw — the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done.  If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward.  If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

What the fire doesn’t destroy will be tempered and purified.

So, we are called upon to decide — will we follow him, or will we turn away?

RESPOND: 

[Note from Celeste: Tom wrote this post in August, 2016. 2022 is not an election year, but our denomination is still facing the possibility of schism.]

We are in an election year. And my own denomination is facing the possibility of schism. Someone has said, “you can’t be a centrist anymore.  You can’t stay on the fence. You will have to decide. ”

I believe that the Scriptures are clear concerning the way of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, and the call to discipleship and holiness.  I don’t believe that there is any equivocation about right and wrong.

Still, it is up to each generation to read and apply the Scriptures to our lives and our circumstances in our present time. 

Karl Barth, the great Swiss theologian from the 20th century, was once quoted in Time magazine:

“[Barth] recalls that 40 years ago he advised young theologians ‘to take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.'” (Time, May 31, 1963).

Granted, fewer and fewer people read newspapers anymore, but the meaning is still the same — be aware of the world around you and current events as well as the Scriptures.

Let me be clear — I don’t interpret this to mean that current events and the Bible are equal.  The Bible is the timeless Word of God.  But I do believe that the Bible intersects every era of history, and challenges each generation to discipleship.

I also don’t believe that it is healthy or helpful to try to read the signs of the times concerning the Second Coming of Christ.  While I believe with all my heart in the return of Christ at the end of the age, I think there is ample evidence in Scripture that we are not to waste our time and energy with speculation and apocalypticism.

Instead, we are to be ready and faithful in our own time by applying the teachings of Scripture to our own lives and to the world around us, as we seek to evangelize the world, make disciples, feed the hungry, care for the poor, visit the sick.

Lord, sometimes your words comfort me — and sometimes your words trouble me.  I know it is not up to you to accommodate me — it is up to me to conform to your Word.  Help me to understand your Word, and then to follow it.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Luke 12 verse 49" uses this photo:
"Fire" by Al Bee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license./pre>

Epistle for August 14, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Our lectionary reading for this week’s epistle picks up the thread of last week’s epistle and continues the survey of salvation history.

Last week’s epistle reading began with creation (Hebrews 11:1) and continued with the prime example of the “man of faith,” Abraham (Hebrews 11:8-12).  As we will see, this salvation history leads us to the ultimate object of faith in the person and work of Jesus.

This week, Hebrews 11:29 picks up the litany that punctuates each Old Testament hero or saving event — by faith:

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

Here we see the heart of the salvation history of Israel — their liberation and deliverance from slavery; their conquest of Canaan represented in the conquest of Jericho.  Both of these events required the faithful response of the people, and led to supernatural intervention on their behalf.

What might seem astonishing is that even a prostitute, Rahab, is incorporated into the litany of the salvation history!  She has no ritual or moral purity of her own.  She is not an Israelite. It is her faith alone that saves her.

Hebrews then seeks to sum up the salvation history recorded throughout the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), admitting that the scope of the story of faith is overwhelming:

And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection.  Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

There are stories of prophets and others whose names are unmentioned here, but whose exploits illustrate the principle of faith that Hebrews is teaching — names like Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah.

Tales of torture and persecution are included in the Apocryphal and Deuterocanonical books, and the writer of Hebrews may be referring to some of those atrocities as a way of celebrating the faith of Jewish martyrs in the time before Christ. [The Apocryphal and Deuterocanonical books are not accepted as part of the official canon in Protestant churches, but still regarded as helpful to faith.]

And yet Hebrews tells us that though all of these men and women were people of faith, their faith wasn’t to be fully consummated quite yet.  Faith is by nature oriented toward the future:

Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

Here we come to the concept of mystery that is introduced by the Apostle Paul.  This mystery is at the heart of the salvation history, i.e., it is the disclosure of:

 the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints.  To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:26-27).

In other words, the entire salvation history is fulfilled in the coming of Christ, and the faithful response of Jews and Gentiles alike who come to faith in Christ.

Hebrews then exhorts his audience, who are believers in Christ, to follow the example of those faithful Hebrews in the past:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

There is a metaphor here that illuminates the scene.  The Christians are running a race, as though they are in the Olympics.  Athletic games of that kind were a common occurrence in that day, especially in those regions influenced by Greece.

The cloud of witnesses refers to all of the Old Testament saints that the writer has mentioned in the previous chapter.  But the picture he paints is of a great crowd, perhaps sitting in the stadium watching and cheering for the new athletes of faith.

As with runners in a race, these spiritual athletes are encouraged to lay aside weight and sin which might encumber them and prevent them from running well.

But the real object is to follow Jesus who sprints on ahead of these spiritual athletes as the pioneer and perfecter of their faith.  These two words are significant.  The word translated pioneer is the Greek word archegon; the word perfecter is from the Greek teleioten.  Literally, these words also mean first and last, and beginning and end.

Faith begins in Jesus and ends in him.  And life begins and ends in him. In the metaphor here in Hebrews, Jesus is the pioneer who leads the way in this spiritual race, and he is the perfecter — or as one translation has it, the finisher — who leads the runners across the finish line to victory.

Finally, we have the means whereby Jesus completes this race — the cross is the ordeal through which he must pass before he is seated as a champion at God’s right hand.  Note that there is a sharp contrast between the joy that is the ultimate goal of the victor and the shame of the cross.  The believers who run behind Jesus have previously been exhorted to persevere in their race, however difficult it might seem, and are following Jesus who endured the cross. 

We have the beginnings of credal statements here:

he suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead and buried.
On the third day he rose from the dead
And is seated at the right hand of the Father (excerpt from the Apostles’ Creed).

APPLY:  

Those who follow Christ by faith are by definition spiritual athletes.  The word used in Hebrews for race is agon — which is a technical term often used for athletic contests.  We note that agon is the root of agony. 

We are running a race. And we can take comfort that those who have gone before us are in some way cheering us on as the cloud of witnesses.  Witness is of course the Greek word martyrion, where we get the word, martyr.  Those who have themselves paid a price for their faith are surrounding us.

But even more comforting is the author and finisher of our faith — Jesus.  He has paved the way for us through his own agony.  But there is the sense that following Jesus does involve sacrifice.  We are told to shed every weight and sin that slows us down.  The imagery makes us think of the pounds that we pick up by self-indulgence, but also those habits that take our focus away from Jesus who runs ahead of us.

If we are to follow him across the finish line, we must keep the focus of our faith on him, and like him despise the shame for the sake of the joy set before us.

RESPOND: 

I like to think of myself as an athlete, although the truth is that the last time I was heavily involved in competitive athletics was in high school more than 42 years ago.

But some of those habits are still there.  I know that competing in games of any kind requires discipline, focus on the essentials, and the willingness to set aside those things that might distract us.

I practice spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study every day; and worship and/or preach every Sunday.  I also know that there are weights and sins that can distract me from following Jesus.  I try to cultivate a sense of detachment from the world so that possessions and things and temptations don’t distract me from running the race set before me.

What really comforts me, though, is the awareness that Jesus has already borne my sin upon the cross, and crossed the finish line, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  It is not my agony that enables me to cross the finish line, it is his!  And I follow in faith knowing that he has already completed the race on my behalf!

Lord, I thank you for despising the shame of the cross for my sake, that I might experience the joy of victory through you.  Give me the willingness to cast off the weights of this world and the sins that slow me down, so that I may follow you without encumbrance.  Amen.

 PHOTOS:
"Andrew Murray consecration Hebrews 12 1" by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for August 14, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm appeals to the Lord for intervention in a time of adversity.  It is difficult to tell from the context alone if the Psalm was written before or after the exile of Israel.  It doesn’t really matter to the reader, because it is clearly a cry for help in any event. One clue, though, might be the mention of the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, which would suggest that the Psalm was written before the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed and scattered by the Assyrians in 721 B.C.

The imagery of the Lord as Shepherd is familiar to us, and comforting; but then there is the imagery of the Lord sitting enthroned between the cherubim — those terrifying angelic figures who are depicted as the guardians of Eden with a sword of flame, and the close companions of the Lord who bear him up with wings of the wind.  This is much more intimidating.  There may also be a reference to the winged cherubim made of gold who flank the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem.

Our current lectionary reading jumps from verses 1-2 to verses 8-19.

In verses 8-19, the Psalmist introduces a familiar metaphor — Israel is compared to a vine that the Lord has brought from Egypt.  The Psalmist recounts a part of the salvation history of Israel.  In language reminiscent of Isaiah 5:1-7, he addresses his prayer to the Lord:

You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
 it sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the River.

[For more information on the vine and the vineyard as a Biblical metaphor, CLICK HERE to read the Old Testament SOAR for August 14, 2022]

In these few verses we see the sweep of Israel’s history — exodus from Egypt, the conquest of Canaan, flourishing in this new land, and the spread of the nation under the leadership of the Davidic kings.  At its height under David and Solomon, Israel’s influence had spread north to Lebanon (the mighty cedars), and from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Euphrates River.

But now circumstances have changed.  The Psalmist asks God plaintively:  

Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
 The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.

The Psalmist is writing from the perspective of one who sees his nation besieged and harassed, likely by the Assyrians in the late 8th century.  Given the references to Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh the Psalmist particularly has the Northern Kingdom in mind, not Judah.

His appeal is for the God of hosts to protect and care for his vine that has been burned and cut down by the invaders.

And what is the source of that salvation?

But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.

Is the Psalmist speaking of a king? If so, is he speaking of a king from the Davidic dynasty that rules in Judah following the separation of the Northern from the Southern Kingdoms?  Or is this, as the Christian reader might interpret, a messianic prophecy that will be fulfilled by Jesus, the Son of David?

In any event, the Psalmist vows that when deliverance comes:

Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.

Finally, the Psalmist closes with a litany that appears three times in this Psalm:

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.

This hearkens back to the priestly blessing that Aaron was instructed to give as High Priest:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
 the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26).

There may also be a reference intended to the shekinah, the glory of God that accompanies his presence, and that made the face of Moses to shine after he’d been in the presence of the Lord.

APPLY:  

At some point we all know how it feels to be defeated, demoralized, in despair — as a nation, a family, an individual.  The cry of the Psalmist isn’t far from the experience of any of us.

When we have experienced the grace of God, we know how it is to feel that we are like a vine that has been planted and watered by God, and flourished under his care.  And when life gets hard, when the “vine” in our lives is uprooted by circumstances beyond our control, we cry out just as the Psalmist does.

What we cry out for, in our nation, our church, our family, our own lives — is revival, restoration.  If we have experienced the presence of God in our lives, if we have known the “shine” of his face, and it has faded for us, we earnestly yearn for it again.

We will find it, if the Scriptures are true, in the life and the light of Christ, who brings not only salvation from our sins, but healing to our hearts, and the power to live the holy lives to which he calls us.

RESPOND: 

I find myself from time to time dealing with my own drift away from God. I have to cry out again for renewal and revival. As with the Psalmist this happens when I begin to call out his name and seek to live according to the claims of that name.

Our Lord, our nation experiences victories, but also sees defeats — the disabled veteran who wonders ‘was it worth it?’ The ambiguity of race relations in our nation today. The specter of terrorism. And our own personal struggles with grief or depression. We don’t have the wisdom to provide all the answers. But you have provided a Person who is wisdom incarnate, and salvation, and new life! May we find our source of healing and salvation in Christ! Amen.

PHOTO:
“Psalm 80_14” by Baptist Union of Great Britain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for August 14, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 5:1-7
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Isaiah uses a technique that will be very familiar to readers of the Gospels — he tells a story.  His parable of the vineyard does two things at once.  First, it initially conceals his message.  Isaiah uses his story-telling technique much the way Jesus uses parables — he “hooks” his audience. Second, he “sets the hook” with lovely descriptions, and then “reels” them in, making a rather disturbing application through his metaphor of the vineyard.

Vineyards were an important symbol of prosperity and abundance to the people of Israel.  Micah (a contemporary of Isaiah’s) describes the time of God’s future reign with this image:

…they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
and no one shall make them afraid (Micah 4:4).

Psalm 80 uses language very similar to that of Isaiah when it describes Israel.  The Psalmist addresses God and says:

You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
 You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land (Psalm 80:8-9).

In Isaiah’s vivid metaphor, he offers a similar description of Israel:

Let me sing for my beloved
my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;

So far, so good.  Everybody loves a well-planted and well-tended vineyard.  The audience in Jerusalem, hearing this lyrical love-song, is surely drawn in, congratulating themselves on all that God has done for them and for their prosperity.  This is a very positive image.

And then comes the twist.  Isaiah is singing the song on behalf of his beloved — the Lord.  But the Lord is surprised that despite all of his efforts on behalf of his vineyard, the yield is unacceptable:

he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.

Then, the Lord himself speaks directly through Isaiah to the people, and challenges them to a debate.  This seems to be a pattern.  We saw in Isaiah 1:18, that the Lord challenges his people to:

Come now, let us argue it out…

Here, he demands that the citizens of Jerusalem and Judah arbitrate his case with the vineyard that yielded wild grapes:

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?

And now God begins to reveal what he plans to do, and this is very very bad news for them:

And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.

Just in case there is any confusion, Isaiah finally reveals the “punch-line” when he makes it clear just who the vineyard represents:

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
but heard a cry!

Given the historical context of Isaiah’s time, the people of Judah would do well to heed the warning.  The Assyrians were already beginning to uproot the vineyard in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and would complete their destruction by 721 B.C.

Isaiah is warning the Southern Kingdom of Judah that they will be next unless they practice justice and righteousness.

APPLY:  

What happens when people are given every opportunity to succeed, and they squander that opportunity?  This is one application of this Song of the Vineyard.

Is it not true that God has given human beings every opportunity to succeed, to prosper, to thrive?  He has given us a world with oxygen, plentiful food and resources — ample enough to share with everyone.

What has been our response?  Where God expected justice, he saw bloodshed; and where he expected righteousness, he heard a cry!

This has been the human situation throughout history, when the resources that are available to all have been greedily acquired by the few — usually through warfare or financial manipulation.

Isaiah has already made it crystal clear what his definition of justice includes:

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow (Isaiah 1:16-17).

These are the good grapes that the vineyard was meant to yield.  Isaiah warns us that the consequences of injustice will be judgment.

RESPOND: 

I have had so many wonderful opportunities in my own life.  I had a good, solid family.  I was given a good foundation that prepared me for college and seminary.

However, I am also aware of the many opportunities that I’ve squandered.  My family lived in Spain when I was young, and I didn’t learn to speak Spanish.  My family later lived in Japan, and I didn’t learn to speak Japanese.  I’ve thought many times over the years how useful it might have been to be reasonably fluent in those languages today.

That scarcely scratches the surface of all the other “gifts” I’ve been given by God — talents untapped, or breaks that I didn’t take advantage of.  And even more than that, the grace and mercy and spiritual gifts that God has lavished on me — I become ashamed that I have been so ungrateful and un-enterprising.

Thus I am all the more grateful for God’s abundant grace that continually “replants” me where I have borne wild grapes.  But I dare not continue to presume on that grace.  When I repent, I must also heed the warning of another prophetic figure, John the Baptist:

 Bear fruits worthy of repentance… Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Luke 3:8,9).

Lord, you have planted a fruitful vineyard in our lives. Please continue to supervise and guide us so that we may bear abundant fruit for you.  Amen.   

PHOTOS:
“Isaiah 5 verse 1” uses the following photo:
“Flying over vineyards #fromwhereidrone” by Dirk Dallas is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.