November 7, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“’[On that Day] Holy to the Lord will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite [merchant, slave to another god] in the house of the Lord Almighty.‘” (Zechariah 14.20-21)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Some may think that these verses (14.20-21) are a strange way to end the prophetic word given to and through Zechariah. Are they? Are we not given a glimpse into “how it will be” on that Day when Jesus comes as Messiah, Lord and Savior? In the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven, that is what He taught us to pray for-right, we dare not define it from the world up but from Heaven down. We cannot command God to come down, we must move up and forward. Consider the following:

James and John approach Jesus with a concern that those in a certain Samaritan village would not extend hospitality to Jesus and His entourage. They are so filled with angst that they ask if they could call down fire from heaven in a holy conflagration. Jesus rebuked them and lead them to another village. (Luke 9.54) Their angst was centered in pride and social prejudice. This was a Samaritan village. The ill-will of Jews toward Samaritans had not yet been tempered enough in the lives of the disciples to see as Jesus saw. The truth in that moment was “not everyone will respond positively to the presence and will of God in Jesus Christ.” Luke contends that the Samaritans in that village refused to offer hospitality because Jesus was not planning on staying there more than overnight. Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem. It would have been a windfall for that town to have Jesus and the disciples to stay there longer. It is like most cities where major events are going to be held. They count the opportunity by how great an economic boost it will be. It probably wasn’t any different for that particular Samaritan city. It wasn’t enough for them to have said “Jesus slept here” and post a sign on one of the local inns. The Jesus agenda exceeded their agenda (both of the Samaritan city and of James and John). With that mental and spiritual redirection given (Jesus rebuked them… James and John and perhaps the leaders of that Samaritan village), they went on to another city. We do not know if the next city was one in Samaria or one populated by a majority of Samaritans. For Luke, it didn’t matter. The truth was the same “you cannot call down Heaven for your own agenda.”

There are other stories presented in the gospels but one stands out above the others for me. It was the day of crucifixion when Jesus was hung on a cross to satisfy the desire of the Jewish leadership of the Temple and Roman pride to stave off Caesar’s ire if the situation had not been handled correctly. On Golgotha’s hill, there were three men crucified that day. We do not hear of others. In truth, it is strange that three men were crucified that pre-Passover sabbath. Strange not because Rome couldn’t care less about how many people died “on their hills” that day. Strange because it was a holy week set aside by God and such holy days were respected by Rome. There was no need and no practice of crucifying more than one person if the occasion called for it. Why three? Why not five? ten? twenty? a hundred? The roads of Israel had been lined in the past with multiple crucifixions of those who rebelled against Rome. Why not just one? Of course, if there had only been Jesus crucified that day we would not have the conversation I am alluding to in this illustration. On the “one hand,” we have the thief caught in remorse for his crime and in recognition that he shares “his hill to die on” with one he comes to believe is “the Christ.” He pleads for recognition of his desire to repent and be remembered as one who repented. On the “other hand,” we have perhaps his companion in crime. They had at least shared a jail cell if not the crime itself for which they were being punished. It had to be some crime “against the state” to warrant crucifixion. We do not know more than that. What we do know is that the “other” thief railed against Jesus. He was caught up in the consternation of the Jewish leadership who hurled curses from a distance at Jesus. Maybe he was of a similar mind as Judas of Kerioth believing Jesus had failed them all by not commanding angel armies to rid Jerusalem and Israel of the Roman presence. Whatever the crime, his confession of faith bolted out “If you are the Son of Man, then let yourself down from the cross. Save yourself and us.” (Luke 23.39) His statement alone betrayed the very essence of Jesus’ purpose on earth. Jesus desired that because of His obedience to God, those on earth could be as those in heaven: truly free from the clutches of sin. By staying up on the cross, He was bringing authentic freedom trading the sins of the world for the righteousness of God. He would not and could not be “called down.”

Instead, He was high and lifted up. Jesus lifted up the penitent thief in recognition of his confession of sin and profession of faith. He spoke to God of the healing of forgiveness over all who were participants in His crucifixion. They were accomplishing, without intending to do so, the necessary means of bringing salvation into Jerusalem, Israel and the nations of the earth. They were included in the works of God as much as was Judas of Kerioth. Even the rantings of the impenitent thief served a purpose to define the full commitment of Jesus to the cross. God and His Kingdom cannot be called down in justice, whether judgment or mercy. Humanity, however, can be lifted up and offered to God for His will not ours, or theirs, be done. God remained in complete control. Jesus cemented that truth with wood and nails, the tools of a carpenter, and with chisel and mallet, the tools of a stonemason. They were not wielded by His own hands but by those who would fulfill their purposes in bringing about God’s will for salvation. Jesus, in His sacrifice, was lifting up humanity to be free from sin and covered with mercy and grace- the righteousness of God. For me, I hear the words of Isaiah in the days of mourning for King Uzziah as Isaiah entered the Temple to conduct his season of duty. It was there and then that God appeared to him (and I can imagine it was similar for Abram in his day sojourning in the Ur of the Chaldees) “high and lifted up with His train filling the Temple.” When Jesus uttered His last words and breathed out His last breath, the Temple and the Holy of Holies was so full that it burst at the seams. The foundations trembled with an earthquake (hear in Zechariah concerning the earthquake in the days of Uzziah) and the great curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple edifice was torn in two. God did not come down from Heaven in judgment but came out “in spirit and in truth.” It was not in anger but in sorrow that God’s presence was made known. How He must have been “torn Himself” to know this was the only way by which His people could again become His people.

And in the end of the prophecy offered to Zechariah, we are given the vision of the “common” being lifted up to be holy and sanctified serving the will of God. It is, as I said yesterday, a vision of “all things made new.” We hear it again in the Book of Revelation which was given to John the Elder. There, however, the old had passed away being reduced to ashes what could not survive. In its place came down from Heaven a new earth, a new Israel, a new Jerusalem, a new dwelling place where all who believed were welcomed and recognized as the people of God, the sheep of God’s pasture. The journey which the Shepherd-King, David of Bethlehem, envisioned in the 23rd Psalm was complete. “On that DAY,” we shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

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 in order that others 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 so we would know we are Your people and 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.