October 24, 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)

“First go and be reconciled to them.” (Matthew 5.24b)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

As a reminder, these reflections are centered around the question, “How do we keep ourselves from being polluted by the world?”

Yesterday I mentioned “coincidence” concerning these reflections; not that I actually believe in coincidences. I prefer “Christ-incidences” and highlight where my path and that which Christ would have been walk intersect, merge and move forward. Such an incident happened as God again heard the prayers of His people who were living in a great darkness. Their hope for authentic peace which emulates that of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven was being overshadowed by the unrighteousness of the Temple leadership and the self-centeredness of the Roman Empire. The collusion of those two entities was heading for a collision with the will of God for His people, Israel; His people, those not of Israel; and for all creation. We must not forget all the benefits of being God’s people. We dare not cast aside His creation on which we live and from which we are supplied for our physical and emotional needs leading to a greater spiritual awareness of God’s love. Sometimes, I think to myself when hearing John 3.16 “For God so loved the world (meaning the people and communities)…” that there is also the hint of Jesus coming into that world for the sake of “For God so loved the earth,” too. Yes, I know that out of the prophecy given to John which we know as The Book of Revelation, it speaks of a “new heaven, new earth and a new Jerusalem.” Jesus says “Behold, the old will pass away as the new comes into being.” We are comforted by the promise of our doxa soma, our “glory body” when we gain the full measure of Heaven upon Jesus’ return to earth. We can’t wait to get rid of the old body and all its flaws and evidences of what we ourselves have done to it apart from the brokenness caused by being in a fallen world. Let us remember, that there will be no temple in New Jerusalem because God will be there in the midst of us. Wait, didn’t Jesus say that in our faith we can now recognize that “God is in the midst of us.” His very Immanuel, God with us, is pointing us to that truth. We are already being made new. Our “creation” is being renewed every morning. So, as we pray, “Father, holy Abba, whose name is so perfect that we dare not utter it aloud lest we profane it, this we do pray for: Your Kingdom come and Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” We are praying for the glorious co-mingling and co-incidence where “at the cross” Heaven and earth collide, connect and change into that something new…and unpolluted.

So, over the weekend, as I was writing and sharing in reflection of what God was showing me that I would write down and share with others, the simple message of “how we are called to live in preparation for His coming again” was lifted up and presented in messages and sermons I heard in other venues. They were not recordings as to mark some time in the past. They were “real time” messages. I heard in them the validation of these “Christ-incidences.” It was no coincidence or happenstance that we were all meeting at the intersection of “flesh and blood” and “spirit and truth.” It was at such an intersection that Jesus directed His disciples to in the mountains north of Capernaum and Caesarea Philippi. There in the midst of other “worship expressions” Jesus asked the disciples “Who do you say I AM? Who do people say that I AM?” Yes, Jesus was not only testing for hearing but for understanding. In other words, what were the disciples “listening” to. With a variety of typical Jewish answers that seemed appropriate and perhaps advantageous to profess, Jesus stopped and made them answer for themselves. He already knew what “people” said about Him…that was the world’s expression. What He truly desired was “their” expression. “The time had come to speak of many things said the Walrus; of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings, of why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings.” (Lewis Carroll in “The Walrus and the Carpenter”) The disciples and the Carpenter were on a collision course with the truth of vital importance. The time had come for them to “put up or shut up” as we might say nowadays. Where they were was the furthest north the Kingdom on earth called Israel was extended. From that moment on, the descent to the south would lead to the ascent to Jerusalem which was far from being “A City of Peace and Light.” That is what the name Jerusalem meant and is supposed to mean even today. It probably is about as close to that now as it was in the days of Jesus. Let us reflect on the “Christ-incident” in the Temple as Jesus reclaimed it as “A House of Prayer” over and against the practiced “Den of Thieves.” Scripture tells us that Jesus was filled with anger, indignation. But, the content of His heart, mind, soul and spirit was not bent on murder, insurrection nor a war…at least not a physical one. Still, the evidence was clear that those who ruled and inhabited the Temple were not prepared for living in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. They did not recognize Him as Messiah. They did not laud Him as Messiah. They didn’t even believe, much less trust, in Him as Messiah. They actually feared that someone might believe, think and act upon the identity of Jesus as the Messiah. If that happened, then their “House of Cards” would fall and great would have been the fall of it. Of course, Jerusalem did fall and so, too, the Temple in 70 A.D. Following the reading of Flavius Josephus, Roman historian with a Jewish background, the destruction of the Temple was not by the Romans. It may certainly have been inspired by the Roman army sent to overtake and reduce the influence of Jerusalem to little more than a way station. Josephus writes that it was the “inside” people, the priests and levites and “others,” who actually looted and burned the temple. Perhaps, they feared that all the sacred objects would be taken and carried away as they had been in the days when Babylon routed Jerusalem in 587 B.C. Perhaps, they didn’t want the truth to be known about their deep engagement into darkness and collusion with the enemy. Regardless, when Jesus spoke of “tear down this temple and I will rebuild it in three days,” we can understand it figuratively as “the body of Christ crucified and resurrected on the third day” or literally as His crucifixion and resurrection would begin the Age of the Church as the replacement for the sin-fected Temple and temple worship culminating in an utter destruction in 70 A.D.

You see, Jesus highlighted that harboring anger and resentment in one’s heart could lead to the violation of the command to “not murder.” Jesus did not harbor His. Instead, He declared the truth in a very straight-forward and challenging manner. His passion for God and God’s House was prophetic as well as enigmatic. He certainly wasn’t attempting to be the Messiah General but neither was He a gentle lamb. He came in March roaring like a lion and left purring like a kitten… or a lamb led to slaughter who uttered not a word. That was the scriptural description of how Jesus bore the cross, the agony, the angst and our sins to Golgotha. But, in this we see Jesus laying down His life for our sake. What we see on the other side against Him was the “murder they wrote” design, desire and manipulation to rid themselves of the truth about themselves and about Jesus. So, for us, mighty ones of God, how is it were are living in preparation for the coming of the King, Jesus the Christ who is God’s Messiah? Are we filled with angry thoughts bordering on murderous intentions willing to sacrifice others for our own gain? Are we so motivated by the love of God for us that we are willing to lay down our lives for another in proclaiming Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords? When Jesus returns, who shall He find in us and of us? The life of righteousness or self-righteousness. The answer depends on each of us individually as individually we each will account for ourselves before the One who knows the truth before we have even spoken it. Who is it that we say Jesus is?

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.