December 4, 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 hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7.5)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

After Thanksgiving Day, I had some time to remove shrubbery that was killed by the severe winter weather from nearly a year ago. I was waiting in hope against hope that it would revive. The cold of Autumn finally convinced me otherwise. So, I began cutting away, digging around and pulling them up. Several of them were protected by the Creator with thorns much like a rosebush. Even though I had good gloves on, as I was gathering the branches I still was punctured. Some of the spines were imbedded in my fingers and hands. A few of them took careful attention to finally remove them. They were razor sharp so my vision had to be laser focused. A fitting example and life lesson to lead me in today’s reflection on Matthew 7.3-5. Jesus is the Word of Life sharper than any double-edged sword. I have written about such a sword on several occasions. The two edges provided a damaging blow to an enemy and a surgical attack. It slashes outwardly and pierces inwardly. Those who oppose such a blade were left opened to every eye. It also means that one must handle it carefully lest it turn on the wielder, too. So it was with these lessons in the Sermon on the Mount[ainside]. Everyone who heard His teaching could feel the probing of the sword of the Word of God and feel its cut.

Every sinner is an enemy of God if the sin remains unconfessed. Like the spines of the shrub in my fingers and hands, though they be tiny slivers, they could create an infection and painful swelling if not tended to. To me, the slivers are the enemy. To the shrub, I was the enemy attempting to take it by force. Of course, I was not the enemy but the gardener. Slivers and thorns from certain shrubs and bushes goes with the territory. They are, as the Creator intended, protection. Sadly, they could not protect the shrub from the sub-zero temperatures, ice and snow. However, removing them from my skin certainly relieved the inflammation and irritation. It is amazing how a so small a piece of wood can be such a problem. Greater still a problem if my own vision is distorted. Without the ability to focus clearly my hands may have been injured more in the process. It took a sharp blade to enter the skin and lift them out. I could not have done it with a butter knife or butcher knife or double-edged sword. I could not have done it as well if I was so overwrought by the pain, the annoyance or fact that I was having to do any of that at all. In that regard, it was like taking on an external enemy because I had made them my enemy or accepted them as my enemy. Someone had to be blamed for a problem but it wasn’t going to be me. I think this must have been the way the Scribes, Pharisees and Temple rulers perceived Jesus. They did not agree with Him. He was counter to their devised and accepted culture and climate. He had to be removed, excised and eliminated.

It is at that point, Jesus certainly turned the tables on them all. He turned it on us, too. Jesus spoke to everyone in attendance that day. He continues to speak to every audience who “hears” His Word today. I have a sneaking suspicion that He was talking more to “His enemies.” I surmise that by His choice of “a small sliver” in the eye of another. The Pharisees were especially adept at focusing on minutae. Because of their vested interests in “saving Israel” from all unrighteousness, the 12 Commandments became 612 commands, edicts and rules of spiritual law. The hope of controlling every aspect of life with the intention of perfect performance in the eyes of God was their ultimate goal. If Israel was righteous then it was not vulnerable to the attack and influence of the enemy. They subscribed to every “jot and tittle” of human life conforming to the will of God as understood by the Pharisees. The problem, as Jesus pronounced it, was that all these little things added up to one big thing. That big thing was their own vision of self as perfect and righteous and good. They desired to be seen as “larger than life” itself. They took it upon themselves to be judge, jury and executioner of those who transgressed the minutae forsaking the greatest commands of all: love God and one another as God loves one and others. But, let’s not blame just the Pharisees. We all may have a tendency to pharisaism. I catch myself being a “traffic pharisee.” I have to remind myself to be aware of circumstances, situations, blind eyes, etc. as I see others transgress the smallest of traffic rules of etiquette and regulations. I can hear myself mutter, “It would all be better on the road, if….”

What is your “pharisaism issue,” mighty ones of God. Is it housekeeping? Is it landscaping? Is it work environment? Is it personal space? Is it worship? Is it Biblical interpretation and application? These are but a few that I must wrestle with. Maybe we share some of them and others. The point Jesus made and continues to make is that we must “see ourselves” and discern our own attitudes and the needs they service before we start plowing in our neighbor’s field. Jesus used the word “hypocrite” when addressing those with such pharisaical issues. The intent may tend toward just and pure but what of the content of our message. How does it sound to others? To ourselves? To God? That means we say one thing and do another. Easy to understand why this lesson followed the previous about “not judging and beware of the measure you use to determine the value of your judgment.” Ouch!

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 this 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.