July 9, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Then I said, ‘Put a clean turban on his head.’ So, while the angel of the Lord stood by, they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him.” (Zechariah 3.5)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

If anyone tells you your insight and observations are not valued, then I would direct your attention to the verse reflected upon today. In the midst of restoring to honor and authority, Joshua as High Priest, it is Zechariah’s observation that parenthetically “puts the cherry on top.” Sure, how do we know when that ice cream sundae or banana split is finished being made? The answer is “when they put the cherry on top.” Joshua’s old clothes, symbolic of his life up to this point especially during the years of exile, are taken off and thrown away. I would imagine they are burned up or incinerated; “ashes to ashes and dust to dust.” The old life is dead and gone and the new life has begun. The putting on of clean robes (and the rest of the linen clothing included) not only must feel better but it gives a look of confidence. Joshua is being “dressed for success.” What was wrong with the old clothes? First, they were filthy rags. It wasn’t as if the “prisoners of Babylon” packed their bags and had extra changes of clothes when they left Jerusalem. They didn’t stop at the mall on the way. They didn’t have Etsy, Amazon or eBay to do online shopping with. They were in secluded camps in Babylon mostly in the area along the Chebar River. Second, it is quite possible that Joshua had put on sackcloth and ashes during those seventy years. He was in mourning for the loss they had suffered being taken away to be “strangers in a strange land.” In his desire to maintain the religious expressions of his office and his faith, he bore the weight of a people who were now uprooted and transplanted into ground that was not their own. Third, the function of the High Priest was to present before God sacrifices of thanksgiving and penance according to the acknowledgment that they were a people covered by the consequences of sinful living. If they had only remained faithful and true, then the exile would not have had to happen. Babylon was now their legacy as well as their discipline for failing to “trust in the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength as well as to love others as God had pledged His love to them.” In short, they had fallen down in their pursuit of being God’s people and now were cast out into the darkness where the sounds of weeping and gnashing of teeth were psalmic laments. They were learning the hard way what it meant to “fall short of the glory of God and be solely a community of sinners, each and every one of them.” Instead of Joshua’s head being covered with a turban, linen cloth or the priestly mitre, it was the spreading of ashes that took their place. Joshua, as were the remnant of Israel, was a mess. I think, sadly though, only Joshua probably looked this way. We must remember that those in Babylon were of the ruling elite politically, economically and religiously (I dare not say spiritually.) There may have been some accommodations made by their captors to make them “comfortable” while in exile. The real hope of the exile was to slowly enculturate them into Babylonian life. This happened to a great extent. It would have been more complete if not for Joshua (and I would include Ezekiel who was the exilic prophet in that day.) Back to Joshua, he was crowned with the sins of the people and not the crown of righteousness.

Then comes the rebirth, the transformation, the consummation of God’s faithfulness to restore Israel. The new clothes represented the new beginning. There was one thing missing and Zechariah called it to the clothier’s attention. Now whether it was an intentional omission or not on the part of God/the angel of the Lord, I do not know. Perhaps it was a test or challenge left for Zechariah himself or simply a pause in the proceedings of “fitting” Joshua for his work as Chief High Priest of Israel. Regardless, Zechariah calls to their attention the absence of the turban, the linen covering or the priestly mitre. Without it there was no sense of completion. Without it there was no sense of holiness, righteousness nor authority. Diametrically opposed to the assertion of Max Ernst concerning Freud’s thoughts on hats for men, Zechariah knew that “this hat” would make the man. The bawdiness of Joshua’s predecessors who profaned the Temple with their licentious behavior consorting with male and female prostitutes in the dark places (see Ezekiel 8) was upon the heads of their successors. Joshua was given a new covering. It represented a “new heart and a right spirit” which would lead him in leading God’s people in right worship. Right worship would lead to right service. Right service would lead to the testimony of righteousness which could only be a blessing bestowed by God. This sign of transition was “borne” by the placing of the priestly hat on Joshua’s head. The fact that Zechariah noticed this need demonstrates that stream of consciousness needed on the part of people in their commitment to serve the Lord their God in earnest. It shows respect and honor and one’s awareness of decorum in the presence of God.

Mighty ones of God, what is left for each of us to notice in our being fitted for service as a priesthood of all believers. Is there anything we are leaving out? I assert again that Paul’s “put on the full armor of God” description to the community of faith in Ephesus had this in mind. He was not merely speaking of those who were “soldiers” of the faith as he lifted up the elements of armor with spiritual connections. He was speaking of the priestly garb as well which included the “helmet of salvation.” We are to be confident in the knowledge we have of the gospel as right thinkers expressing right actions in order to be a right people (not politically right or left, mind you, as those are expressions of worldly definition of extreme choices in human terms). What we do with our “heads” is symbolic of where our hearts are. As we look to another “Joshua,” read Yeshua or Jesus, let us remember His “helmet of salvation” which was a crown of thorns. Rome mocked Jesus as “King of kings and Lord of lords” with such a crown. In their mockery, however, such piercing allowed the blood that was shed to anoint Him from “head to toe.” And so it should be for us as well to embrace the covering of grace for the whole of our lives. We are fitted for service with all our heart, all our mind, all our strength and all our soul. Nothing should be left uncovered. We should take notice to the details of who we are and whose we are. Our place matters and our awareness of what is right and good is vital to our existence not only for us but for generations to come.

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.