July 30, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“I looked again, and there before me was a flying scroll. He asked me, ‘What do you see?‘ I answered, ‘I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.’ And he said to me, ‘This is the curse that is going out over the whole land.‘” (Zechariah 5.1-3a)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

As we enter into chapter 5, we have to remember the “state of the union” which was reported to the Man in the Myrtles in the beginning. The initial report was “And they reported to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, ‘We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace.‘” (Zechariah 1.11) Isn’t this what we long for today? Isn’t this what our presidential candidates attempt to promise to the citizens of this nation and by extension to the entire world? What we want is to live in a world that is at rest and peace. What is meant by that and the means by which it is achieved become the point of contention. Even Martin Luther King, Jr., had a dream of such a time as “a whole world at rest and in peace.” However, we heard in quick response to that initial report, the response of God to the situation at hand. It was not a land or a world that was truly “at rest and at peace.” There was no “shalom” in the world because what had been created was not of God but of human beings exerting their control over other human beings. God laments in the situation saying “‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, and I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they went too far with the punishment.’” (Zechariah 1.14b-15) What the world rulers of that day thought was the fruit of their spirit of domination to have all nations subject to their rule was in actuality an act of disciplining Jerusalem, Judea and Israel for their iniquity. They wanted their freedom, or feared the loss of it, and wanted to determine for themselves the future of their choice and not God’s. Such choices were allowed by the course of freewill. However, regardless of the gift of freewill there is nothing truly free about it as there are consequences for every choice. So, the “vision of a world at rest and at peace” had to be further described. We enter into that description in chapter five.

As we read this introductory view of the world “at rest and at peace” we are given two truths: a scroll and a curse. Let’s dispense with the word curse as we too often hear it associated with things such as evil and witchcraft, etc. This “curse” is the execution of justice with the revelation of the “consequences” of the choices which the people in the land have made for themselves without God. In this same fashion, we can see “blessings” as consequences of the choices people make with God. Blessings are not earned. They are not created by works. They are, however, the realities of living in alignment with trusting and believing God and His providence over our lives. Take, for example, the blessing of the Hebrew people freed from the captivity of Egypt in the days of Moses. They were already a “blessed” people even in exile. Yet, many believed they were cursed because they were in exile. The fact was that their lives were hard. They were not treated as a “blessed by God” people by Pharaoh. We are told that this was not always the case but that the day came when Pharaoh no longer remembered Joseph. In the days of Joseph, Egypt prospered. Even when the years of famine came upon the land, not as a judgment but as a reality of life in this world, Egypt was prepared because Joseph listened to God and heeded His word. But, when Joseph died there was no righteous man to replace him. That position was filled with one of Pharaoh’s advisors who were merely extensions of his own mind and will. In other words, he did not fear God but feared men, their perceptions of him and his own desire to be a god himself. It was then that the Hebrews who were blessed and brought into Egypt in the years of famine by the goodness of Joseph and the permission of Pharaoh began to feel the curse of Pharaoh. The Hebrews were still a blessed people but they began to surrender the blessing to take on the curse. Mighty ones, we face a similar situation in our own lives in this country. We must never surrender the blessing. Jesus died on the cross so that we would understand that the blessing of God can never be taken from us. The very story of Job is built on this premise and thus is, in itself, a revelation of the Messianic promise.

So, the scroll represents the truth of God. It is the plan of consequences and the authoritarian word which is sent out across the land. It is the proclamation of the edict of God. It didn’t apply to everyone mind you. It was a curse to those who cursed God and resolved themselves to rob and steal from the people (from the greatest to the least) on the one hand. On the other hand, it was a curse to those who cursed God and resolved themselves to swear falsely. We must be careful to not misunderstand this “swearing.” There is a difference between cursing and cussing. We should refrain from both. I wish our presidential candidates would understand this! Cussing is the use of foul language. We immediately have certain words come into our mind which we call “cussing.” Sadly, many of these words have become so stylized and acceptable that they take the place of good reasoning and common sense. They are empty words like suitcases which are filled with the users own angst and inability to resolve the conflict they have in their lives. I daresay we should include in this “cussing” the sarcasm which has become so acceptable and the name-calling which it inspires that speaks of prejudice and ignorance. It is a sick form of communication which has no intent to build community but to tear it down.

Then there is “cursing.” Cursing is, I believe, at the very heart of “cussing.” Much in the same was is “the love of money is the root of all evil.” We would do better to confess that such “love of money” is actually greed and avarice. Driven by the need for more in order to support a life we do not have betrays the trust in God that is richer and more important. So what is this “heart of the matter” I propose is “cursing.” It is a spirit of judgment and condemnation. It is the speaking of the execution of others who oppose what we think about and desire for ourselves. We want “wrath” to visit them, eliminate them and in turn exalt us. We speak things as if we have the ability and the right to “lord it over” others. We fashion our thinking into this paradigm “if you don’t do this, then this is going to happen to you.” It is the exertion of our own consequences of others for not doing what we want. The greatest extension of this is when someone believes they had the right to order God to act on their behalf. Remember when the sons of Thunder, James and John, were upset at being rebuffed by the people of a certain town. Jesus had sent them in to make arrangements for Jesus and the disciples to stay there for a night. However, no one had a desire to extend such hospitality. As they reported this to Jesus, they included a desire to curse them believing they were entitled to execute such a judgment. They wanted to call down hellfire and brimstone on them as if it was Sodom and Gomorrah revisited. They believed they had the power themselves or at least the right to entreat Jesus to do so because they were offended. Jesus rebuked them and they went on to another village. (Luke 9; let us remember to read that the people of that city refused to extend hospitality because Jesus had no intention of staying there but continue on to Jerusalem. The people may have thought they would gain advantage for themselves by having Jesus become one of them.) This is the heart of cursing. It is the consideration of one’s life being greater than another. It is much like bullying in which the mantra truly is “I make myself better by making you worse or less or non-existent.”

The scroll was the execution of justice by the only one who had the right to do so: God. But the failure of the people existed in that the rulers allowed such behavior to exist for the sake of not wanting to “stir up the peace” of the land and bring judgment from the king upon them. This is what happens when we allow little things that are harmful to others to become acceptable. Then those little things take on a life of their own and become bigger things and soon they want to rule. God opposes such thinking and such actions in anyone; especially those who say they are His people. Is His scroll of truth hanging over us? This country? The world as it is today? The benchmark of such judgment is the life of Christ. He is “the way, the truth and the life” we are called to life by. A failure to do so will have serious consequences. Let us not pretend “all is at peace and rest.”

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.