June 6, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“And the prophets, do they live forever? But did not my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your ancestors?” (Zechariah 1.5b-6a)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Zechariah heard the word of the Lord which had been given to Isaiah his “prophetic ancestor.” In Isaiah 40.6-8 “’All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.’ And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.” Of course, we should recognize this as a vital part of the messianic commissioning given to Isaiah. We know the introduction to these verses by the ones which John the Baptizer declared in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths before you that exist between you and Him.” We love to declare this verse on the first Sunday of Advent which in some ecclesiastic traditions is called “Hope Sunday” or “Prophecy Sunday.” As the words above were spoken to Zechariah, there is that stark reminder that the flesh passes away as grass withers and flowers fall. Prophets are human beings, too. Their flesh will reach to the end of their life and then become as “ashes to ashes and dust to dust.” However, as in 1 Peter, “The Word of God shall never pass, cease to exist or lose its authority.” God’s Word, as Paul would similarly describe authentic love, “…never fails.“

Oh, the audacity of those who think they can outlive the Word of the Lord. It’s peace surpasses all understanding and its totality endures forever as true righteousness. It is that “double-edged” sword which cuts outwardly and inwardly exercising the surgical precision of restoring life to its original state or reducing it to its essential matter. They are those, like some of our children, who threaten to hold their breath until their will is surrendered to. Of course, they can hold their breath until they turn blue and then gasp for air to restore themselves to their original state. Pity those who capitulate to their will because they cannot wait that child out. What is it that Paul said to those in the Corinthian faith community? “When I was a child, I thought and acted like a child. When I matured, I put away childish thoughts and actions and began to think as I ought.” What was the “thinking as I ought”? It was the understanding of the great commandments of old. They did not fade away. They were not overtaken by the Decalogue nor the 613 addendums of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law. They persisted as the founding framework of describing the life of righteousness: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; similarly love one another [in the community of faith of which you are a part.]”

For Zechariah, as he listened to God, the knowledge that the people of old, including the prophets of old, had passed away. Each had received the judgment according to their relationship to God and how they perceived His love for them. Those who knew of His love and abided in it there was great reward of the sanctity of life and the provision of a blessed future. For those who denied it or put themselves before God and did not fear their insurrection there was no true sense of life in the here and now or the “there and then” whatever that would be and continues to be to this day and for all eternity. God’s love never fails. And neither should we. We must persist in the words, decrees and commissioning of God’s will given to us by the Greatest Word of God that shall ever exist: Jesus the Christ. In Him we have life and have it abundantly. The judgment of man could not overtake Him. The cross could not hold Him. The grave could not conceal Him. The enemy of God and man has no authority over Him. He never fails. He always persists. So, should we as those who are in Him and allow Him to be in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. God’s Word will deal faithfully with us.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit so that others may be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind that we would know that we are Your people and that You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.