October 19, 2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1.27)

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.  Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca [contempt],’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” (Matthew 5.21-22)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

I would dare say we are most polluted by “the stench of death.” As a people, we are surrounded by things that cannot satisfy our needs and our wants. It would be too easy to insert ourselves into Shakespeare’s famous words uttered by Lady MacBeth who declared, “Out, out damned spot” as she wrings her hands with the blood she sees on them. It is a blood that stains and will not purify. There is only one blood that can do that: the blood shed by Jesus of Nazareth who as the Christ of God accepted crucifixion to be the initiation of God’s saving grace on all who would repent and be gathered into the household of God. His blood was shed by an act of murder by those who cried “Raca!” Those who held Jesus in contempt of the court of the Temple, an offense to their religious interpretation and sensitivity, sought to silence the messenger of God’s mercy and grace in order to avoid the consequences of the message illuminating the world of their blindness. They failed on both accounts as “What you intended for evil, God will use for good.” Yes, the very words of Joseph to his brothers as they were gathered into the court of Egypt as a means of reconciliation and healing is the intended consequence of Jesus surrendering to death. He was and is the Shepherd of God’s flock, the people of God’s hand, who Himself was and is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

The “stench of death” has always been a real part of the story of faith and faithfulness. Adam and Eve are clothed in the skins of animals which God held so dear in the Garden. But, in order to redeem the lost, He sacrificed His own. The blood of the lambs were slain because it was better for the animal to die than for God’s people into whom He invested His word of life by the Holy Spirit. The challenge is that we understand what God did as only God can do. God is self-actualized. God desires that we become the same in recognizing the God that is in us is greater than the un-god that is in the world. But, it is not so easy when there is a battle line drawn between good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness. So, outside of the Garden where Adam and Eve were raising their family “in the world,” we hear of the first murder. It was not a killing of insects or animals. It was a willful intent to end the life of another out of contempt for the other. Cain killed Abel. (Genesis 4.8) It became a sad legacy of how others legitimated their own desire to promote self over others through murder and continues to this day. “Spilled blood” cries out from the ground on which it falls. No matter how much we attempt to sanitize it, just as Lady Macbeth, the stain has soaked into the recesses of our heart, mind and soul. Only by the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ can that stain be removed: a life for a life, blood for blood. But, only pure blood and a pure life can accomplish this transformation. No such person has ever existed on earth save for Jesus Christ Himself. No amount of goodness, kindness, gentleness, meekness, mildness, love, joy, peace, self-control, money or fast talking can qualify any other human being, or the reasonable fascimile thereof, as that kind of “pure blood and pure life.”

It is critical to understand that Jesus started with this point as He moved the listeners who might be disciples from “right attitudes and thinking” to “right actions and responses.” And while it is most certainly foreshadowing coming to us with 20/20 hindsight in 2023, the shadow of death which pollutes the heart, mind, body and soul of humanity is still awfully real. War begats war. Hate begats hate. Distrust begats mistrust. Envy begats lust. Lust begats depersonalization. Depersonalization begats dehumanization. Dehumanization begats… murder. “Oh what a tangled web we weave when we continue the practice to deceive.” The sad reality is that we deceive only ourselves. God is not fooled nor is anyone else around us. We are not so invisible that our feelings, thoughts and intents are not transparent. Jesus declared, “And by this the world will know that you are My disciples: that you love one another.” Love others more than self and never more than God. Love others as God loves us and as we come to terms with loving ourselves. Far too many are in “lust” with themselves and prostitute their heart, mind, body and soul with “Raca!” More need to love themselves with the intention of actualizing the love of God for them within them. Only then can “loving others” be fully known. The consequences of both decisions is clear: the stench of death that never goes away or the fragrance of life that goes on forever.

God has chosen what is best. Will you?

PRAYER IN LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD:

Father, You have revealed to us best in Jesus the Christ. By Him and Him alone shall we gain the eternal life and our place in eternal rest, living for You always. Show us more and by Your Holy Spirit instruct us in the way we should go, the truth we should reveal and the life we shall live with you forever. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.