July 1: God’s lovingkindness to humanity is expressed in so many was that we’re prone to miss. Are His words always, “peace, goodwill to men?” Not at all, and that wouldn’t be lovingkindness in the idolatrous kingdom of Israel. If America ever splits due to a civil war, it would hardly be loving of God’s people to entirely separate and cut off communication from a newly established, totalitarian, progressive state. Likewise, after centuries of a theocracy, God’s prophet’s mission to Jeroboam was not just one of wrath but mercy in warning them that their course was contrary to Him. Likewise, Jesus represents God’s peace and good will to men in bodily form, but He was there to correct their misunderstandings about the nature of their relationship with God. In a similar way, that’s the mission of the church: we must correct the misunderstanding that God is tolerant of sin, and compel them to avail themselves of the escape He has provided through Jesus.
1 Kings 13-14: I have so many questions about this narrative, but it shows God’s holiness, sovereignty and omniscience so well. The prediction about the altar’s destruction by Josiah is hundreds of years before the fact, and is fulfilled precisely as stated. Why, then, does it have no impact on Jeroboam? Why does the prophet show him mercy after he is struck with leprosy upon his attempt to command his death? Why is he careful to obey God’s command to return to Judah before eating or drinking until the lying prophet deceives him but willing to eat with that prophet? Why does God use that very lying prophet to speak judgment to him? God is the only consistent, trustworthy voice in this time of confusion.
Psalm 119:145-160: The Psalmist’s frequent pledges to keep the law adorn this Psalm but upon what basis does he hope to be heard? “According to thy lovingkindness” (v. 149, 159). His foundation is God’s Word, as in Matthew 7:24-27, but he appeals to God’s mercy, knowing salvation (Yeshua) is far from the wicked.
John 8:1-30: There’s a dispute about whether the story of the woman taken in adultery is misplaced in the Gospel of John. It’s interesting that the grace it shows also seems misplaced in the time of the Pharisees. Did Jesus have authority to show grace to the woman? Of course He did. Did the Pharisees recognize His authority as legitimate? No; they were only setting Him up, either to show mercy that could have been seen as opposing the Law of Moses, or to call for a death penalty the Jews had no authority to execute (John 18:31). Therefore, would He seek, and therefore legitimize, the Roman rule, or give up seeking the penalty? And what is the point of the writing? It is perhaps the key for why this narrative has been inserted where it has: Jeremiah 17:13 says, “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.” Considering what Jesus had said in John 7:37-39, the Pharisees had indeed forsaken the source of the living water He spoke about. The offer of living water in John 7:37 was made the last day of the feast of Tabernacles; and many make the point that there was a procession each day to the pool of Siloam to fetch water in a golden pitcher to illustrate the fate from the Rock in the wilderness. The final day of the feast lacked this part of the celebration, so Jesus used it to talk about Himself as the source of Living Water.
In John 8:12, He claims to be the Light of the World, which many take to be a reference to the lighting of the great candelabra each evening to light the temple court. If we’re to again compare this to the wilderness wandering experience, it would be the pillar of fire by night at the Tabernacle. Is there a possible reference to the preceding story, with the darkness of the Pharisees contrasted with the wisdom of Christ? Certainly as He begins to speak of judgment there’s a dramatic contrast: anyone capable of being shamed out of their judgment as they had been were without genuine conviction in it.
Comments