I am not sure that I am going to publish this. I am not sure if I can say what is on my heart without sounding like I am blaming the victims, or blaming people who committed one sin for the acts of people who committed another sin. I am pretty sure I will change the title from “Tragedies and God” to something else if I manage to get this to come out the way it sounded in my head when I was first inspired to write this.
I was inspired to write this when I read yet another blog post discussing the meaning of the Dr. Gosnell case. I suppose I should first give people a little background on Dr. Gosnell. Dr. Gosnell was a doctor who performed abortions in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In particular, he performed primarily late term abortions on women who were members of minority groups. There were numerous complaints about him over the years submitted to many different authorities. Yet none of those authorities did anything about him until one of his employees caught the attention of the Drug Enforcement Agency for illegal dispensing of prescription narcotics. This led the DEA to launch a raid on Dr. Gosnell’s clinic, where what they found horrified them. They passed on what they found to a grand jury. In the end, the grand jury indicted Dr. Gosnell for the murder of one woman and seven babies.
The grand jury that delivered the indictments started their report with the following paragraph: “This case is about a doctor who killed babies and endangered women. What we mean is that he regularly and illegally delivered live, viable, babies in the third trimester of pregnancy – and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors. The medical practice by which he carried out this business was a filthy fraud in
which he overdosed his patients with dangerous drugs, spread venereal disease among them with infected instruments, perforated their wombs and bowels – and, on at least two occasions, caused their deaths. Over the years, many people came to know that something was going on here. But no one put a stop to it.”
Every time I read that last sentence I want to cry, no, I don’t want to cry, I start to cry. What makes me cry is the knowledge that grand jury’s previous sentence understates it; many people not only knew something was going on here, they knew that something very wrong was going on here. But for various reasons they chose to look the other way. These were the same sorts of people (and perhaps in some cases the same people) who not only looked the other way, but worked to cover up the actions of Jerry Sandusky.
In both cases, people in positions of authority knew that someone was taking advantage of and bringing harm to some of the most vulnerable in our society. Jerry Sandusky and Dr. Gosnell preyed on those whom God repeatedly warned in the Old Testament that He would come to the defense of, the widow and the fatherless. While those these two men preyed upon may not have technically been widows or fatherless, God does not withhold His judgment based on technicalities. How a society which allows such people to prosper, if only for a time, can expect to escape judgment is beyond me. And indeed we have not escaped judgment. For the same mindset that allows people to turn a blind eye to Jerry Sandusky and Dr. Gosnell leads to the school shootings at Columbine and Sandy Hook.
I did not phrase that last sentence quite right, the cultural roots that lead not only to someone doing the things that Jerry Sandusky and Dr. Gosnell did but to others turning a blind eye to it and covering it up are the same cultural roots that lead someone to cavalierly shoot as many children and other innocent people as possible before law enforcement arrives. All of these things come from a sense that the only accountability is that which might be visited on one by one’s fellow man.
I ran out of time at this point and was going to come back and write more later, but the inspiration left me. I think this is too important to leave unpublished, so I am going to publish this as it is. Perhaps God will inspire me to come back to this subject and post more on it later.
All posts by AttilaDimedici
April 28, 2013 Bible Study — Women Were the First to Believe In the Resurrection
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
After his victory the Israelites wanted to make Gideon their king and set up his family as a royal dynasty. Gideon rejected the idea of becoming king. He did, however, collect a gold earring from the plunder that each of the Israelites had taken. He took this gold and made an ephod. He placed this ephod in his hometown. However, the Israelites soon started worshiping the ephod rather than God (or perhaps in addition to God), even Gideon and his family. Nevertheless, Israel had peace for the rest of Gideon’s life.
As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites returned to worshiping Baal. One of Gideon’s sons, Abimelech, went to visit his mother’s brothers in Shechem. He asked them, as his flesh and blood, to gain the backing of the citizen’s of Shechem for him to become ruler of Israel over his half-brothers. The leaders of Shechem agreed to this and took 70 silver pieces from their temple to Baal and gave it to him. Abimelech used this money to hire a bunch of thugs (or as the passage describes them, troublemakers). He used these thugs to kill his 70 half-brothers. However, his youngest half-brother, Jotham, escaped. Then the citizen’s of Shechem and a neighboring city gathered and made Abimelech their king.
When Jotham heard what they were gathering to do, he went to the top of nearby Mount Gerizim and shouted a prophecy down to them. He compared Abimelech to a thorn-bush. The he told the people of Shechem that if they had acted honorably towards Gideon and his family that he wished them joy of Abimelech as their king. But if they had not acted honorably toward Gideon and his family (and he pointed out that they had just killed seventy of Gideon’s sons), then Jotham called for fire to come out of Abimelech to consume the citizens of Shechem and its neighboring city and for fire to come out of the citizens of Shechem and its neighboring city and consume Abimelech. Jotham then fled to another city because he was afraid of Abimelech (justifiably so).
At about noon on the day Jesus was crucified, darkness fell across the land and it remained dark until three in the afternoon. Early Christian writers reference works by pagan authors who, also talk of a long “eclipse” at that time (I put the word eclipse in quotes because Passover occurred at the full moon and eclipses can only occur at the new moon). Unfortunately, none of those works by pagan authors survive to this day. Luke tells us that the curtain in the Temple was torn asunder. Then Jesus cried out to God and breathed is last. The Roman centurion who was overseeing the crucifixion was deeply moved by what happened and praised God. The people who saw this went home greatly saddened. Meanwhile Jesus’ followers stood at a distance watching. I am not sure I understand the significance of it, but Luke makes a point of mentioning the women who followed Jesus from Galilee.
After Jesus’ death, Joseph, who we are told was a dissenting member of the Jewish high council, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body in order to bury it. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a linen cloth and placed it in a new tomb (meaning no one else was buried there yet). The women followed to see where the body was buried. Then they went home to prepare the burial spices and ointments that were traditionally applied to a loved one’s dead body at that time. They were unable to complete these preparations before sunset, which was the beginning of the Sabbath, so they did not return and apply them that day.
On the morning of the day after the Sabbath (which was the first day of the week), they returned to the tomb with their prepared spices and ointments. When they arrived, they found the stone rolled away from the entrance of the tomb. They entered the tomb and found it empty. They stood there in confusion (think about how you would have reacted in a similar situation) and suddenly two men in dazzling robes appeared. The women were frightened (another very understandable reaction) and bowed their heads to the ground. The men who had appeared asked them why they were looking for the living among the dead and reminded them that Jesus had said that He would be killed and rise on the third day. When they heard this, they remembered that Jesus had indeed said that.
The women returned to where the disciples (the Eleven and others) were gathered and told them what they had seen and heard. The men thought this sounded like nonsense and did not believe them. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he looked in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there and went away wondering what had happened.
I have several thoughts on this passage. The first is that we should take note that there were those on the Jewish high council who dissented from the decision to ask Pilate to crucify Jesus. We have no evidence that Joseph was a follower of Jesus, but he acted compassionately to mitigate a decision made by his fellows of which he disapproved. The second is that the account tells us that the first witnesses to the fact that Jesus had risen were women. Women were not considered credible witnesses in that day. It seems unlikely that a made up story would credit them as the first to believe that Jesus had risen. Finally, think about the state of Peter’s mind. He had bragged tat he would face death at Jesus’ side, yet when the time came he had denied that he even knew Him. Now, the women came claiming that Jesus had risen and when he went to see the tomb it was empty and the linen wrappings were left lying there. Peter had to be in a state of turmoil. Could he hope that Jesus was risen? But if Jesus had risen, what did that mean for him, who had denied that he knew Him? If Jesus had risen, it meant that He was the Messiah, but Peter, who had been among the first to call Him that, had abandoned Him when the chips were down. On the one hand, perhaps the man whom Peter had loved so much was not dead. On the other hand, how could Peter face Him again after failing to live up to who he had proclaimed himself to be? I can understand Peter’s turmoil.
Another psalm of praise that is a great one to read when I need a reminder to praise the Lord. One of the things I love about the read through the Bible in a year program that I am following is that it has a psalm as part of everyday. While some of the psalms are a little bit of a downer, most of them encourage me to praise God and lift my spirit. This psalm reminds us that God is a forgiving God, but will punish our misdeeds. God punishes our misdeeds, not out of spite, but in order to train us to behave in the manner that will lead to our greatest happiness. This knowledge leads me to exalt God and worship Him.
These two proverbs contain very important lessons. The first tells us that it is foolish to mock those who feel remorse for their sins, that fools mock the very idea of feeling remorse for sin. Further it tells us that the godly acknowledge what they have done wrong and strive to do what is necessary to be reconciled to those they have sinned against.
The second tells us that no one can truly understand either the bitterness or the joy of another person. While this is true, it does not mean that we should not try to understand the bitterness that others feel, nor that we should not attempt to share our joys. It is just that we should understand that in both cases we will not be completely successful.
April 27, 2013 Bible Study — Giving Credit to God for Victory
I am still trying to adjust my writing to the fact that the computer I usually compose these blogs on is down, but God has blessed me in going over these scriptures in this time. Of course, adjusting my writing to using a different computer is the fact that there have been problems at work that have disrupted my schedule as well. I hope that this has not led to a reduction in the quality of my posts (and overall I don’t think that it has, but I’m not a good judge of that).
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
After receiving the signs of the fleece, Gideon led his army out towards the Midianites. However, when they camped within striking distance of the Midianite army, God told Gideon that he had too many men. That if he went to battle with such a large army and was victorious, the Israelites were likely to take credit for the victory themselves rather than praising God. So Gideon told the army that anyone who was nervous or afraid about the coming battle should go home. This reads to me as if he said that anyone who was there because they felt an obligation to be there, but were frightened by the prospect of battle, was not obligated to remain and indeed should go home. We are told that 22,000 men left, leaving an army of 10,000.
God told Gideon that his army was still too large, so, inspired by God, Gideon devised a test. He took his remaining men down to a stream and had them drink. Those who leaned down and lapped the water out of the stream with their tongues were sent home. Those who cupped their hands and brought the water up to their mouth to drink were asked to remain. With these remaining 300 men, Gideon came up with a battle plan.
Gideon was still nervous about the attack, so he snuck down to the enemy camp. When he got close, he overheard one man in the camp tell another about a disturbing dream he had just had. The second man interpreted the dream to mean that God was going to hand the camp of the Midianites over to Gideon. Thus encouraged, Gideon returned to his camp to put his plan into action.
Gideon carefully positioned his men around the Midianite camp and had them simulate an attack by a much larger group. The Midianites panicked and began attacking one another while Gideon’s force watched. Those who were not killed fled in disarray. Gideon summoned the warriors of the surrounding Israelite tribes to pursue them. As part of this, Gideon called upon the warriors of Ephraim, who he had not summoned to his earlier muster. The warriors of Ephraim responded, controlled the crossings of the river Jordan, killed a large number of the Midianites and captured two of the Midianite leaders. When they brought the heads of the Midianite leaders to Gideon, they challenged him because he had not summoned them to his earlier muster. Gideon soothed their anger by praising their effort in holding the Jordan river and pointing out that what they had done in a supporting role was more than what he had done in the main role.
Gideon then led his 300 men in pursuit of the remaining fleeing Midianite leaders. When he crossed the Jordan, he asked for supplies from two cities on the other side (the passage is not clear, but I read these as being cities occupied by Israelites who had settled east if the Jordan River). Both cities denied him aid, saying they would give him aid when he had captured the Midianite leaders, Gideon told them that when he had defeated the Midianites completely, he would return and punish these cities. Gideon continued his pursuit of the Midianite leaders and overtook them as they camped. Gideon attacked the Midianites from an unexpected direction and defeated the remaining 15,000 men with his force of 300. Gideon then returned and carried out his promised punishment of the two cities which refused to provide him with supplies.
When Herod returned Jesus to Pilate, Pilate told the Jewish leaders that he found no basis for executing Jesus and neither had Herod. He said that he would have Jesus flogged and released. The crowd that had gathered demanded Jesus’ death. Pilate attempted twice more to ask them why they wanted Jesus killed, but the crowd got louder and more out of control. Finally, Pilate gave into to their demands and ordered that Jesus be crucified.
The soldiers took Jesus out to be crucified along with two convicted criminals. As they put Him on the cross, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Those watching sneered and said that if He was the Messiah, He should be able to save Himself. One of the two criminals being crucified with Him joined in the mockery by telling Jesus that if He was the Messiah He should save all three of them. However, the other criminal rebuked the first, admitting that he deserved to be crucified, but stating that Jesus did not. He then turned to Jesus and asked Him to remember him when He came into His kingdom. Jesus told him that he would join Him in paradise.
These two psalms are great songs of praise to God. God’s power precedes Him and destroys His enemies before He even approaches them. God does not have to take action to defeat His enemies, their destruction is a product of His essence. We should praise the Lord because His very essence spreads joy to those who love Him. If we love the Lord we will hate evil.
Let us sing a song to God, telling of His wonderful deeds. I will praise the Lord because He has done marvelous things. God will judge the world with justice and fairness bringing joy to those who love Him. These two psalms bring joy to my heart and lift me up when I feel down.
The writer advises us to stay away from fools because what they say is devoid of knowledge. He continues by telling us that the prudent look ahead carefully to see where the road they are on ends up, while the foolish convince themselves that the road they are on goes where they want to go without ever looking to see if that is so.
April 26, 2013 Bible Study — Don’t Be Afraid to Lay Out a Fleece, or Two
I am still running behind in getting these finished and published. Today it is because my main computer is not working properly. I am pretty sure I can fix it, but I did not have the time today. On the other hand, in some ways this break in my routine has helped me see these passages in a different light.
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
Once more the Israelites did evil in God’s sight and He allowed them to be oppressed by raiding peoples, primarily Midianites. Whenever the Israelites would plant crops, raiders would come and camp in the land, destroying the crops and taking the Israelites’ livestock. This left the Israelites with little to eat. They called out to the Lord for help and He heard them. God sent a prophet to tell the people how they had failed to follow His commands and had worshiped the gods of those other peoples among whom they lived.
God, also, sent a messenger to Gideon. The messenger (the word translated angel means something like “divine messenger”) told Gideon that the Lord was with him. Gideon responded that if the Lord was with him, how come the Israelites were being oppressed by the Midianites? And why didn’t they see the great miracles that their ancestors had told of? The messenger then told him to go with the strength that he had and rescue Israel from the Midianites, God was sending him. Gideon responds that he came from the weakest clan of his tribe and his family was the weakest of his clan, how could he defeat the Midianites? The messenger told Gideon that God would be with him and he would defeat the Midianites as if there was only one of them.
Gideon then asked the messenger for a sign that this was really a message from God. He requested that the messenger remain until he could return with his offering. The messenger agrees to wait for him to return. When Gideon returned with his offering (which from the description would have taken some time to prepare), the messenger told him to lay it out on a rock, pouring the broth over it. Once Gideon had done this, the messenger touched the offering with the tip of his staff and fire burst forth from the rock consuming it and the messenger disappeared. Gideon was terrified because he had seen the angel of God face to face. God told him not to be afraid, that he would not die because of this.
That night God told Gideon to destroy his father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole that was next to it. He was then to build an altar to God in its place and sacrifice one of his father’s bulls upon it, using the wood from the Asherah pole for the fire. Gideon took 10 servants and followed these instructions during the night out of fear of his family and the townspeople. When the townspeople discovered what he had done, they demanded that his father turn him over to them to be killed. His father asked them what was the point of worshiping Baal if Baal was unable to defend his altar?
Shortly after this a large force of the raiding armies invaded Israelite land once more. Gideon sent out a call to arms to the tribes in the vicinity. While Gideon was waiting for the Israelites to assemble, he asked God for a sign. Gideon placed a fleece on the ground over night. He asked God that if he, Gideon, was to rescue the Israelites from the Midianites the fleece would be wet in the morning, but the ground would be dry. In the morning, the fleece was so wet that Gideon wrung a bowl full of water out it, yet the ground was dry. But Gideon was not satisfied, he asked for a second sign. Once more he put a fleece on the ground over night. This time he asked that the ground be damp and the fleece dry. Again, Gideon received the sign he had asked for and the fleece was dry.
There is a lot in this passage. However, there is something I never noticed before. When the Israelites cried out to God for deliverance, God sent a prophet to tell them that they had sinned. A casual reading of the passage might lead one to think that the prophet was Gideon, but it does not read that way to me. As I read this passage today, I envisioned Gideon hearing this prophet speak and being inspired to serve God and turn from idol worship. Then he receives a visitor who encourages him to not only turn from idol worship, but to fight back against it. As I read the passage today, it struck me that there was a combination of actual physical messengers from God and the Spirit moving in Gideon’s heart. I think there are a series of steps we can see in this passage.
First God sent a prophet out to call the people of Israel to repentance. One of those who heard and heeded this call was Gideon. But he was not alone, others throughout Israel heard and responded to the call. However, none of them quite knew what to do. Then God sent a messenger to Gideon who told him to stand up for what he believed in, God would be with him. Thus encouraged to act, the first thing Gideon did was destroy the places where those closest to him conducted idol worship. Word certainly spread of Gideon’s actions and Gideon was emboldened by his success. When the Midianites returned once more, Gideon sent out a call to those who trusted God to join him in confronting them. The point is that when Gideon felt God’s call to serve Him, he did not start with attacking those oppressing his people. Gideon started by tearing down the altars where he and his family had worshiped idols and setting up a place to worship God in their place. He started locally and led by example.
center>Luke 22:54-23:12
Those who had accompanied Judas arrested Jesus and led Him to the high priest’s house. Peter followed behind at a distance. Some of those there lit a fire in the courtyard and Peter joined them. A servant girl saw Peter sitting there and told the others that he had been with Jesus. Peter told her emphatically that he did not know Him. After a bit, someone else said to Peter that he must be one of them. Again Peter denied it, speaking even more emphatically. About an hour later, a third person said that Peter must be one of Jesus’ followers because he was a Galilean. Peter denied this even more strongly (and possibly loudly). At that moment the rooster crowed and Jesus turned and looked at Peter. It was at that point that Peter recalled that Jesus has said that he would deny Him three times. Peter left the courtyard and wept bitterly. Do I feel the same level of shame and remorse for those times I have denied Christ? I am afraid that I do not and did not, but I am striving to learn to care so deeply that in the future I will. It seems strange to say that I wish I was more ashamed of what I had done, but perhaps we would all be better off if instead of attempting to feel less embarrassed by the bad things we have done, we strove to feel more embarrassed about them.
At daybreak the council of elders of the people met together and had Jesus brought before them. They asked Him if He was the Messiah. Jesus answered that if He told them they would not believe Him. And if He asked them they would not answer (I believe a reference to their response when He asked them by what authority John the Baptist baptized). He concluded by saying that going forward the Son of Man would be seated on the right hand of God. The council then asked if He was saying that He was the Son of God. Jesus replied, “You say that I am.” At this the council needed no more testimony, they had heard Jesus say that which they considered blasphemy.
The council took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor, and told him that Jesus was preaching insurrection against Rome. Pilate asked Jesus if He was the King of the Jews. Jesus answered Pilate, “You have said so.” Pilate returned to the Jewish council and told them that he found no basis to charge Jesus. The council replied that Jesus had stirred up riots from Galilee to Jerusalem. When Pilate realized that Jesus was a Galilean, he sent Him to Herod who was in Jerusalem at the time. Herod was happy for the chance to question Jesus, hoping that He would perform a miraculous sign. Herod questioned Jesus for some time and got no answer, while the Jewish leaders hurled accusations against Jesus. Herod and His soldiers began ridiculing and mocking Jesus. Finally Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate.
center>Psalm 95-96:13
The psalmist calls on us to joyfully sing praises to the Lord. This is another one of those psalms which I cannot summarize a lesson out of that says it any shorter than what the psalmist wrote. Let us praise the Lord and sing to Him. I will proclaim the good news that He saves. I want to learn to do this every day to anyone who will listen. I want those who know me to either be saying the same thing or, “Yeah, I got it, you think God can help me with my problems.” I not only think He can help, I know that He can help.
center>Proverbs 14:5-6
The first proverb tells us that either we are honest and do not lie or we breathe lies. I do not think it is quite that simple, but if we do not strive to always be completely honest, we will end up lying continuously.
The second proverb tells us that if we mock others in our attempt to find wisdom, wisdom will elude us. While those who strive to understand others will learn easily.
April 25, 2013 Bible Study — Pray Not to Give In to Temptation
The last couple of days have been very busy at work, so I have been getting these posted later than I would like. I hope that has not caused any problems for those close to the International date line. I will say that even though my routine has been disrupted, working on these has been an even greater blessing than usual for me.
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
After the death of Ehud, the Israelites once more sinned and God turned them over to a Canaanite king and his general, Sisera. Sisera ruthlessly oppressed the Israelite people until they cried out to God for relief. At the time, Deborah was serving as a judge for Israel. One day, at God’s instruction, she summoned Barak son of Abinoam. She told him that God commanded him to call out warriors from the tribes of Napthali and Zebulun and go to war against Sisera.
Barak said that he would only go if Deborah went with him. She responded by telling him that she would go, but as a result Barak would get no credit for the victory. Sisera would die at the hands of a woman. So Barak mustered the troops of Napthali and Zebulun. When Sisera hears that the Israelites were mustering, he gathered his forces to attack them. The Israelites ambushed Sisera’s army and threw it into disarray. Sisera escaped on foot while the Israelites killed his entire force.
Sisera ran to the tent of Jael, who was married to Heber the Kenite. Heber’s family was on friendly terms with the king who Sisera served. Jael greeted Sisera and invited him into her tent, where she covered him with a blanket. When Sisera asked her for some water to drink, she instead gave him some milk from a leather bag (this suggests to me that the writer is suggesting that the milk was fermented). Sisera told her to stand at the door of the tent and if anyone asked if someone was inside to tell them “No”. Sisera soon fell asleep from exhaustion. As soon as he did, Jael crept up to him and pounded a tent peg through his temple into the ground, killing him. Shortly after this Barak came in pursuit of Sisera. When he came by Jael’s tent, she came out and brought him in to see Sisera, dead on the floor of her tent. From that time forward the Israelites pushed back against the king that Sisera had served until they destroyed him completely.
As they are talking after the meal, Jesus asks them if when he sent them out with no money or supplies if they lacked for anything. To which the disciples replied that they did not. Jesus then tells them that now, if they have a purse they should take it with them and a bag if they have that. He goes on to say that if they do not have a sword, they should sell their cloak and get one. When His disciples tell Him that they have two swords among them He tells them that this is enough. I never before noticed that Jesus contrasted His instructions here with when He sent them out without any gear. I find that very interesting. I think at least part of the message of this passage is that while sometimes we should go forth completely relying on God to provide for us, at other times we should prepare in advance and gather what gear we need. It also seems to me that when the disciples pointed out that they had two swords, Jesus told them that was enough because they were not getting what He was saying.
When they were finished, Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives, accompanied by His disciples, as He had been doing since He arrived in Jerusalem. When they got to the Mount of Olives, Jesus told His disciples to pray that they would not fall into temptation. He then withdrew about a stone’s throw and prayed to the Father that He take the cup of suffering from Him, but also prayed that He would surrender to God’s will. The passage tells us that an angel appeared to Him and strengthened Him. He returned to where His disciples were and found them asleep. He woke them asking them why they were sleeping and told them to stay awake and pray not to fall into temptation.
While He was speaking to them a crowd led by Judas came upon them. Judas approached Jesus to kiss Him in greeting. Jesus confronted Judas that He was betraying Him with a kiss. Jesus’ disciples, remembering what He had said earlier about swords, asked if they should strike with their swords and one of them immediately did so. Jesus told them to stop and promptly healed the man His disciple had injured. Jesus then confronted the crowd, saying that He had been in the Temple every day and they made no attempt to arrest Him there. That they waited until after dark to arrest Him was very revealing of their motivations.
I read this psalm and immediately saw that it is a warning and a comfort to the righteous that God will avenge those who do wrong. It talks about how the wicked are arrogant and boast in their wickedness. Then I got to verse 7:
and murder orphans.
It goes on to say that the wicked think “God isn’t looking and besides He doesn’t care.” This made me think of the trial of Dr. Gosnell and of those who enabled him to go on for so long. He is on trial for killing a woman who could be viewed as a widow, she had no husband or father to act as her protector. She was certainly a foreigner, a refugee from Bhutan. He is also on trial for killing babies which survived his attempts to abort them. I would certainly say that by my understanding of God’s reckoning, an infant whose mother desires to kill it while it is still in the womb is an orphan. When you hear the testimony about Dr. Gosnell’s attitude towards the women who came to his “clinic” and the babies which he killed. He certainly fit the bill of one who thought that God did not care about what he was doing. Dr. Gosnell is not alone. There are others like him and there are those who chose to look the other way because it was politically advantageous to do so.
The psalmist goes on to point out what fools they are. Do they really think that the one who created their ears is deaf? Do they really think that He who made their eyes cannot see? The psalmist goes on to tell us that the wicked will receive their just reward, that those who gang up against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death will face the judgment of God. God will stand forth and protect those who call on His name. He will exact justice for the powerless and not only on those who commit the acts, but on those rulers whose edicts permit injustice. Those political leaders who found it politically expedient to turn a blind eye to those who committed evil acts, will face God’s judgment.
A fool talks big, but ends up suffering for his braggadocio. The wise are cautious in what they say and are careful to only commit to what they can accomplish.
It is easy to keep the stable clean if you don’t have oxen in it, but oxen are necessary to plant and harvest crops in any quantity.
April 24, 2013 Bible Study — The Greatest Is a Servant
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
After the generation that grew up in the wilderness died, their children did not acknowledge the Lord and took up the worship of Baal. They angered God by worshiping the gods of the people around them. God handed them over to raiders from the nations around them, when they went into battle He was not with them. The people were in great distress. This led God to raise judges for them to lead them against their enemies, but when the judges died the people went back to their evil ways.
Shortly after Joshua’s death the people of Israel were forced to serve a king of Aram for eight years. When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, He raised up Caleb’s nephew, Othniel, to lead them. God gave Othniel victory over the king of Aram. There was peace in the land for forty years. However, after Othniel’s death the people returned to doing evil in the Lord’s sight.
God gave Eglon, king of Moab, control over the people of Israel because of their sin. They served him for eighteen years being forced to pay him tribute. When the people of Israel once more cried out to God for help, He sent them a deliverer. Ehud, a left-handed man of the tribe of Benjamin, was sent to deliver the Israelite’s tribute to Eglon. Ehud made himself a long double-edged dagger and strapped it to his thigh, under his clothes. After Ehud delivered the tribute, he started home with those who had helped carry it. However, after they had gone past a point which got the others clear of Eglon’s forces, Ehud turned back. Ehud went to Eglon and told him that he had a secret message for him. Eglon commanded his servants to leave the room. As soon as they left the room, Ehud approached Eglon and told him that he had a message from God for him. Ehud then drew his dagger and buried it in Eglon’s stomach. Ehud closed and locked the doors to the room and escaped down the latrine. When the Eglon’s servants returned and found the doors locked, they thought that Eglon was using the latrine. After a long delay, they forced the doors and found Eglon dead.
Meanwhile, Ehud had fled and mustered the people of Israel. Ehud took control of the Jordan River crossings and attacked the Moabite forces west of the Jordan River killing about 10,000 of their strongest warriors. Israel had peace for eighty years after that.
As Jesus and the disciples sat down to eat the Passover meal, Jesus told His disciples that He had been eager to eat this Passover meal with them because it was the last He would eat until its meaning was fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. Jesus then took the cup and told the disciples to share it among them because He would not drink wine again until He did so in the Kingdom of Heaven. He continued by breaking bread and telling them to take it and eat it because it was His body broken for them. He then went on to tell them that one of them, sitting there with Him as a friend, would betray Him.
The disciples then began to ask each other who among them might do such a thing. This discussion deteriorated into an argument about who was the greatest among them. Jesus interrupted their argument by telling them that the rulers of this world lord it over people and then call themselves the “friend of the people”. Jesus’ followers were not to be like that. If we want to be the greatest among His followers we must take the lowest rank and be the servant of others. The greatest among us are not those who tell others, “Do this” and “Do that”. The greatest among us are those who ask others, “what can I do to serve you?” or perhaps even just go ahead and do it without asking.
Jesus then turned to Peter and told him that Satan desired to sift him like wheat. But Jesus had pleaded in prayer that his faith would not fail. That when he had repented and turned back to Jesus again, Peter would strengthen his brothers. Peter responded by telling Jesus that he would go to jail with Him, that he would even die for Him. At this Jesus told Peter that before the crow cried Peter would deny Him three times.
I will probably touch on this again, but this passage is one which gives me heart. If Peter could be forgiven for denying Christ and become such a key contributor to the early Church, then there is hope for me after the times I have failed to stand up for what I believe to avoid being thought silly or looked down on. It does not mean I can do such things with impunity but it means that I dare hope that, if I am faithful going forward, God will make some use of me to build His Kingdom.
I will proclaim God’s unfailing love in the morning and sing of His great faithfulness in the evening. When I think of what God has done for me, I am thrilled. His great works leave me in a state of awe. The Lord has given me strength and made me strong. The Lord is just and there is no evil in Him.
If you are wise, you will carefully build your house. On the other hand, those who are foolish tear it down by their foolishness.
Those who fear the Lord walk upright on a straight path. Those who sneak along in the shadows as they wind their way trying to stay out of sight despise Him.
April 23, 2013 Bible Study — Does It Matter Why Judas Betrayed Jesus?
Well, I am several days into my second year of this blog. Some days, I can tell that I see things in the passage I am writing on that I never saw before. Other days, all I get out of the passage is a reaffirmation of things I get every time I have read it. The story of the widow’s mite yesterday is a great example of this. I did not see anything new in the passage, but it still challenged me and led me to new resolve to make sacrifices in order to give to the Lord’s work.
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
I begin the book of Judges today. After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked God which tribe should first attack the Canaanites to clear their land. God told them that Judah should go first. The warriors of Judah asked the tribe of Simeon for help clearing their land, promising to help clear Simeon’s land when they were done. Together the two tribes drove out all of the Canaanites living in the hill country of the land allotted to both tribes. However, the Canaanites living on the plains had iron chariots and they were unable to drive them out. A similar pattern emerged as the other tribes renewed their drives to take control of their allotted land. The tribes conquered much of the territory but failed to completely drive the existing residents out.
God sent a messenger throughout the land of Israel, challenging the Israelites for their failure to drive the peoples out of the land and making treaties with them. God told them that since they had made treaties with the people living in the land, He would no longer drive them out ahead of the Israelites, rather those people would remain as a thorn in the side of the Israelites. Their gods would be a constant temptation to the Israelites.
Jesus tells us to be alert, to not let carousing, drunkenness, or the worries of this life dull our love for Him or cloud our minds. The Kingdom of God is near and we should pray that we remain strong enough to escape the coming horrors and to stand before God. Jesus tells us in this passage that “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.”
Every day Jesus went to the Temple to preach and in the evening He went out to the Mount of Olives to spend the night. The religious leaders were plotting how to kill Jesus without triggering a riot. In the middle of their plotting, Judas approached them with an offer to help them arrest Jesus when the people were not around. The religious leaders were delighted at this offer and promised to pay him for doing so. The passage gives us no insight into Judas’ motives. Which in itself tells us something important, God does not care why we do evil. It is not our intentions that matter, but our actions. If I do wrong for the best of motives, it is still wrong. You can never accomplish good ends by evil actions.
As the Feast of Unleavened Bread arrived, Jesus sent Peter and John to make preparations for Jesus and the disciples to eat the Passover meal. He gave them explicit instructions on how to find the person who would allow them to use his guest room. I used to read this as Jesus sending them to meet someone who He miraculously knew would allow them to eat in his guest room. However, a year or two back, I realized that Jesus’ instructions read like directions given to someone to meet at a prearranged place. I believe that Jesus had prearranged with the owner of the room for Jesus and His disciples to eat the Passover meal there.
The psalmist tells us that God has been there ruling all since before there was time. He tells us that to God, a thousand years pass as a few hours of the night to us, hardly long enough to notice. God sees our sins, even those we think we have kept carefully hidden, they are in plain view to God. Our lives are short and even our best years are filled with pain and trouble. It is only through recognition of how brief our lives are that we can learn wisdom and even that comes solely at the hand of God.
It is God who makes us glad through His unfailing love. The source of our happiness and joy are the works of God’s hands. As God shows us His power, we experience joy. It is only as we find favor with God that our efforts will be successful. When we strive to do God’s will, He will make our efforts successful. We do not accomplish anything, not even God’s will, through our own skill and power, it is God who makes our efforts successful.
In the next psalm, the psalmist tells us that God will be our shelter. IF we place our trust in God we do not need to fear the traps that are set for us, nor the terrors of the night, nor the disaster at midday. If we but open our eyes we will see how the wicked are punished. IF we make God our refuge, no evil will be able to conquer us. He will order His angels to protect us wherever we go. Let us always remember that God keeps His word and He says:
I will protect those who trust in my name.
15 When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.”
Those who love their children will discipline them, failing to discipline your child is a sign that you do not truly love them. I do not have children, but time and again I have seen how the children of those who apply stern discipline with consistency are confident of their parent’s love. But those whose parents cannot be bothered to discipline them are constantly seeking reassurance that they are loved.
April 22, 2013 Bible Study — As For Me and My Family, We Will Serve the Lord
I feel like I fell short on yesterday’s blog. I had somewhere to be early and was unable to do more than read the passages first thing in the morning. I then had a busy day and when I got back to working on it, I was rather tired. I got less out of yesterday’s passages than I have in a long time and I know that this is a product of not making it a higher priority for my day than I did. I do not know if anyone else noticed this lack, if so, I apologize for letting you down as well.
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
After speaking with the leaders of Israel, Joshua summoned all of the tribes of Israel to assemble before God. He then recounts what God has done for them as a people in rescuing them from Egypt and bringing them into this land. Joshua tells them that they must decide what god or gods they are going to server. Are they going to serve God, the Lord Almighty? Are they going to serve the gods of the people in whose lands they are living? Or are they going to serve the gods of the people of the lands from which Abraham came? Then Joshua says one of those lines that resonate through time. “But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua here is declaring that even if all of those around him choose to worship some other gods, he, and all of those he is responsible for will worship God. There are two parts worth mentioning. The first is Joshua’s determination that he will serve the Lord, no matter what the rest of the people of Israel decide to do. The other is that he felt confident enough in the training he had imparted to his children to declare that they also would serve the Lord. There is an important point here. Our society, with its emphasis on individualism, stresses to our young people that they must make their own decision about what they believe. While that is indeed true, we must each make our own decision to follow the Lord, there is often an implication that if we adopt the belief system of our parents we have not learned to think on our own. It is most interesting that those in our society who put the most emphasis on children developing their own belief system independent of that of their parents are usually people who dismiss individualism in all other aspects of life. Children should be encouraged as they mature to come to their own understanding of God and of their faith in God. But they should not be encouraged to reject the beliefs of their parents. There is a fine line between encouraging them to develop their own understanding of God and even to encouraging them to come to their own heartfelt belief in God and between encouraging them to question things they believe because they are the same as what their parents believed. Looking back I realize that many of my struggles with my faith resulted from my attempts to do as these people, many of them youth leaders in the church, told me I had to do; reject my parents’ beliefs and build my own from scratch. They told me that it was “OK” if I then came to the same beliefs as my parents (although the implication was that I would arrive at different beliefs in certain areas, such as sexual morals), but only if I first rejected them and came to them entirely on my own. The interesting thing for me is that for the most part, those beliefs of my parents which I most question today are the ones which those who told me to reject my parents’ beliefs never suggested I question.
Luke now tells one of the most powerful stories from the Gospels (also told in the Gospel of Mark), the story of the widow’s offering. It is a short passage, but is often the theme of sermons. Jesus was in the Temple watching people place money in the collection box. He saw many wealthy people place large sums of money in the collection box. Then He saw a poor widow drop two small coins in the box. Jesus turned to His disciples and told them that the widow had put in more than all of the others. The wealthy had given out of their excess, while the widow had given out of what she needed to live. This passage always challenges me to find ways to sacrifice in order to give more to God’s purposes.
As they left the Temple, some of the disciples pointed out how majestic the stonework was. Jesus responded by telling them that the time was coming that the Temple would be completely demolished. The disciples wanted to know when this would happen. Jesus told them that there would be wars and earthquakes and famines, but that they should not panic because the end would not immediately follow those. He told them that His followers would suffer great persecution. They would be dragged into synagogues and prisons and forced to stand trial before kings and governors. This would be their opportunity to testify about Jesus and preach the Gospel. They were not to worry ahead of time about what to say because God would give them the words to say and the arguments to make that their adversaries would not be able to refute. After this armies would surround Jerusalem and it would fall to the Gentiles and be controlled by Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles came to an end. Then, sometime after that, there will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars and the people of earth will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and glory.
While I believe a large portion of Jesus’ prophecy here is regarding the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and the time leading up to it, I, also, believe that some of that prophecy applies to us. We should not worry about what we will say when we are confronted by those who oppose us because we are followers of Jesus. God will give us the words to say and the arguments to make. This does not mean that we should not study God’s word and what people say against it so that we have a thorough understanding of what we believe. Remember, sometimes our answer can be as simple as the blind man Jesus healed, “I don’t know about that. All I know is that I was blind and now I see.” When confronted by those who oppose us because we follow Jesus, we must open our hearts and our minds to the Spirit’s guidance and pray to God that He manage the words that come out of our mouths, not for our glory, but for His.
I am not sure I know what to make of today’s portion of Psalm 89. The psalmist talks of how God had made a covenant with David, but now He has cast him off. It is not clear to me if this psalm is talking about a time of struggle in David’s life (such as when Absalom rebelled against him) or if it is referring to the troubles of one of David’s descendants. However, whichever it is, it talks about how life is short and all will die. There is certainly an element of Messianic foreshadowing throughout this psalm, foreshadowing that was fulfilled in Jesus. At the end, even though the psalmist wraps up with the king being mocked by those who are not only his enemies, but the enemies of God, he tells us to praise the Lord forever. I will praise the Lord, even when it appears that He has abandoned me because I know that He will turn His face to me once more.
Today’s proverb tells us to choose who we associate with carefully. If we spend time with those who are wise, we will learn wisdom and become wise(r). On the other hand if we spend time with fools, we will get caught up in their foolishness and suffer harm. Those who sin steadily will find themselves chased from one problem to another. While those who live righteous lives will see their troubles fade to be replaced by blessings.
Those who live good, wise lives will accumulate goods to pass on to their descendants, while those who are ungodly will see their goods pass to those who follow God’s paths.
God provides food for the poor, but there is still privation and hunger because human injustice takes it away from them.
April 21, 2013 Bible Study — God Is Not the God of the Dead
I don’t know if anybody remembers but I write these daily blogs the day before the date they are for. So, I am writing this the morning after they caught the younger of the two brothers who bombed the Boston Marathon. I am praying that God’s Spirit will reach him and that he will turn to the One who calls us to sacrifice our lives to bring others to Him, that this young man will see that killing others is the exact opposite of how God calls us to Him. We have a God who does not call us to follow Him by killing those who do not listen, but by dying for them.
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
The tribes east of the Jordan River defended their building of an altar as they crossed the Jordan. They told the delegation from the other tribes that they did not build it in rebellion against God’s command. They had no intention of offering sacrifices on it. Rather, they had built it as a memorial to remind all Israel that the tribes east of the Jordan were just as much a part of the Israelite people as those living west of the Jordan and had a part in the worship at the altar of God at the Tent of Meeting. When the delegation heard this they were satisfied with that answer and returned to the other tribes mustering for war. All of the tribes were satisfied with this answer, praised God and returned to their homes.
Years passed and Joshua, now a very old man, called the leaders of Israel together. He told them that they have seen what God has done for them in his lifetime and that he had allotted to them the land that was to be theirs, both that which had already been conquered and that which was still to be conquered. God would drive the remaining foreigners out of the land in front of them. However, they needed to keep the commands written in the Book of Instructions which Moses had given them. They were to not even mention the names of the gods worshiped by the people remaining in the land, let alone swear by, worship or serve those gods. Joshua instructed them to cling tightly to God and turn to neither the right nor the left from the commands He had given them.
I think that the instructions that Joshua gave the children of Israel from his death-bed applies to us today. We must cling to the Lord our God and follow His commands, turning neither to the left or the right from those commands. I don’t know how others interpret this, but to me it means neither adding additional rules to those given by God in order to keep us from violating those commands, nor loosening those commands out of false compassion.
After the failure of certain religious leaders to trap Jesus with a question about taxes to Caesar, some Sadducees tried with a question about resurrection. They told Him a story about a woman who married one of seven brothers, but did not have any children by him before he died. Another one of the brothers married her, as the law directs, and he also died without any children. One by one all seven brothers married her and died without having children. The Sadducees asked Jesus who she would be married to at the resurrection?
Jesus replied by telling them that marriage is for this age, but that those who are worthy of taking part of the age to come and the resurrection from the dead will not marry. Jesus then points out that in the account of the burning bush Moses calls God the God of Abraham, and of Isaac and of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Jesus then asked those present why The Messiah is said to be the son of David, when David calls Him Lord? How can the Messiah be the son of David if He is David’s Lord? After this, Jesus turned to His disciples and told them to beware of the teachers of religious law. They dress ostentatiously and love to be greeted respectfully by the people who meet them. In addition they want the most important seats in the synagogues and the seats of honor at banquets. Meanwhile they cheat widows out of their property but make a great show of righteousness by saying lengthy prayers. Jesus tells us that such men will be severely punished.
The psalmist tells us that righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne. Those who walk in the light of God’s presence experience joy. God has made us strong and provides us with protection. The psalmist then tells us that God will has promised that a descendant of David will rule over God’s people for all of eternity.
An unreliable messenger will end up in trouble, but a reliable messenger will bring healing. Criticism sometimes hurts and is not always helpful, but if we ignore it we will continue to do acts that will lead us to poverty and/or shame. On the other hand if we listen and follow correction we will be honored. It is pleasant to attain one’s dreams, but it is foolish to do evil to get there.
April 20, 2013 Bible Study — Do I Belong to “Caesar” Or to God?
Well, I am past my one year mark on this blog. I am excited about discovering what God has in store for me as I begin blogging about the passages a second time through. I hope that my writing has improved as I have gone along. I pray that God’s Spirit continues to move in me as I write this. The last few days the Spirit has really moved in my heart as I wrote my blog entries. I pray that He continues to do so and that I can take what the Spirit has been saying to me and put it into practice. Please pray for me on that score.
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
After land had been allocated to all of the other tribes, the tribe of Levi came to Eleazar and Joshua to remind them that God had said through Moses that they would receive towns and surrounding pasture-lands among the other tribes rather than a separate allotment of land. At this point towns and their surrounding pasture-lands were chosen from the lands of the other tribes to be given to the Levites. The Levites were spread among the other tribes in proportion to the size of the various tribes.
At this point Joshua called together the fighting men from the tribes granted lands east of the Jordan (Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh) and told them that their promise had been fulfilled and sent them home. As they returned home, the men of the tribes with lands east of the Jordan River built an altar on the west bank of the Jordan River. The rest of the tribes gathered for war because of this. They sent a delegation to the tribes east of the Jordan demanding to know why they had built an altar. They told the tribes east of the Jordan that God had commanded them to offer sacrifices at only the one altar and that the whole of the nation of Israel would suffer if those from east of the Jordan violated this command.
When Jesus was teaching in the Temple the chief priests and teachers of religious law came to Him and demanded to know by what authority He did the things which He did (the context suggests that in particular they were asking by what authority He drove the merchants out of the Temple courts)? Jesus replies by first asking them where John the Baptist’s authority to baptize came from, from heaven or from men?
The religious leaders discussed their answer among themselves. They knew that if they answered, “From heaven,” Jesus would ask them why they did not believe him? On the other hand, if they said John’s authority was merely of men, the crowd would likely assault them, since the crowd believed that John was a prophet. Even if the crowd did not react violently, the religious leaders would have lost the respect of the crowd if they declared that John’s authority merely came from men. So, they told Jesus that they did not know.
Jesus then told them that He would not answer their question either. I am pretty sure that the crowd would have interpreted Jesus’ answer as saying that His authority came from the same place as John’s. Jesus was pointing out that we have to make a decision. Either John’s (and His) teachings were merely from men and could be safely ignored, or they were from God and needed to be followed. This is too important a subject to be undecided on. This is still true today.
Jesus then tells the parable of sharecroppers who refuse to give what was due to the representatives of the landowner, even going so far as to kill his son. Jesus tells the crowd that the landowner will return, kill those sharecroppers and find others to tend the vineyards. He then quotes Psalm 118:
has now become the cornerstone.’
That anyone who stumbles over this stone will be broken to pieces and those it falls on will be crushed. I think His meaning was that if we try to build our lives without incorporating Him and His teaching we will constantly stumble over Him and be broken. And if we try to build our lives with Him at some place other than as the foundation, what we have built will come apart and He will “fall” on us, crushing us. Have I rejected the cornerstone? Or have I made it my foundation?
The leaders then sent spies pretending to not be connected to them to ask Jesus a question. They approached Him and, after proclaiming what a wonderful, honest teacher He was, they asked Him if it was right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? They were trying to trap Jesus. If He said that it was wrong to pay taxes to Caesar, they could have Him arrested and executed for sedition. On the other hand, if He said that it was right to pay taxes to Caesar, the people would lose respect for Him. Jesus knew exactly where they were going and asked them to show Him one of the coins used to pay the tax. He then asked them whose image and inscription were stamped on it. To which the questioners replied, “Caesar’s.” Jesus then told them to give to Caesar what was Caesar’s and to God what was God’s. Jesus’ answer was more than just clever. When He asked them whose image and inscription were on the coin, the words He used would have reminded His listeners of the command that they were to make no images of God and that they were to have no other gods. Jesus answer would have served two purposes. The first would have been that even carrying such a coin should be construed as idolatry by the same standard that said that it was wrong to pay taxes to Caesar.
The other purpose was more subtle and has relevance to us today. Jesus was also reminding the people that Caesar was making claims to authority that belonged to God. Caesar claimed to be the source of safety and security. He claimed that everyone owed their life to him. Caesar proclaimed that one’s primary loyalty was to him. All governments throughout history make similar claims, to some degree this is a product of the nature of government. Governments which declare that all of their citizens be part of a particular religion are attempting to get around this by saying that one’s loyalty to God (or gods) is through the government sanctioned “Church”. The Founding Fathers of the U.S. attempted to address this by placing the freedom of religion in the First Amendment to the Constitution. I do not think they were successful, but it was an attempt to address the issue of government putting itself in the place of God. It is important to realize that Jesus’ answer is not about taxes. It is about where our loyalty lies. A simplistic look at Jesus’ answer, which gets most of the point, is that the coin that is used to pay taxes to Caesar has Caesar’s image on it, so it “belongs” to him. But that YOU have God’s image on you, so you belong to God.
The psalmist declares that he will sing of God’s unfailing love and faithfulness. That he will do all in his power to see that everyone knows of God’s wonderful power. I will strive to do the same. I will declare God’s mighty power and is everlasting love. There is no being nor institution which can compare to the power of God. I will praise Him as long as I draw breath.
If we demonstrate good sense, people will respect us. On the other hand those who cannot be relied on are heading for destruction. Those who are wise think and plan before they act. The foolish not only act without examining the consequences, they are often proud of this fact.