"You may be seated"

Here's a good reminder of why we sit at the Lord's Table.

Lectionary Thoughts: August 30

2 Samuel 13. One of the ways that exceptional authors display their genius is by introducing a particular theme and then subtly echoing that theme multiple times as their storylines develop. An example of this would be John Steinbeck’s iconic novel, East of Eden, in which the “Cain and Abel” rivalry and its devastating effects appears and reappears throughout the book. This literary echoing is difficult to do at all; nearly impossible to do well; and the Holy Spirit does it often and superbly using the forty-or-so human authors responsible for writing the sixty-six books of the one book we know as The Bible. A-Mazing!

In 2 Samuel, note how David’s sins “echo” the sins of Genesis 1-6. David’s sin of taking Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11:1-4) echoed Adam’s sin of taking the forbidden fruit. David’s exile from Jerusalem (2 Sam. 15:13-18) echoed Adam’s exile from the Garden. And the lethal rivalry of David’s sons, Amnon and Absalom (2 Sam. 13:28-29) echoed the lethal rivalry of Cain and Abel.

As Solomon repeatedly noted in his Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun.” And therefore every descendant of Adam, including King David who was “a man after God’s heart”, was doomed to rehearse and repeat the sins of the first Adam until the last Adam (the Lord Jesus Christ) would come and break the horrific cycle of sin and death.

But the last Adam has come. The cycle of sin is broken and the echoes are abating. For unlike David and the rest of the Old Testament saints, we are no longer the “slaves of sin” (Rom. 6:18.) Alleluia and amen!

HT: Peter Leithart

GH

  

Courage

We live in a time when the virtue of courage will become more and more important as we modern-day Christians learn how to cope with the rising tide of misunderstanding, slander and perhaps even overt persecution. And although we would like to think otherwise, cowardice is no mere peccadillo (a petty misdeed) and will be the reason that many are consigned to the fires of hell (Revelation 21:8).

Perhaps this is why C. S. Lewis placed such a premium on the exercise of courage when he wrote:   

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky." (from Mere Christianity)

Or as Joshua put it, "Only be strong and courageous." (Josh. 1:7) Amen!

GH

Lectionary Thoughts: August 23

1 Samuel 15 – 2 Samuel 6

The story of salvation is the story of two Adams. According to Paul in Romans 5 (and elsewhere), the first Adam plunged his descendants into sin, condemnation and death. And the second Adam (Jesus), in similar fashion, plunges his descendants into righteousness, acceptance and life.

So, not surprisingly, in the Old Testament, we see many re-tellings of the “faithless Adam” story accompanied by foreshadows of the “faithful Adam-to-come.” The story of Saul and David is one such story/foreshadowing.

Saul, like Adam, began his reign under the blessing of God. But when Saul failed to put Agag, the wicked Amalekite king to death, Saul lost both the favor of God and his place in the kingdom. Adam failed to dispatch the wicked serpent, and as a result lost the favor of God and his place in the Garden. Saul was, in the end, overcome and put to death by an Amalekite, the very enemy that he had failed to dispatch earlier (2 Samuel 1:8-10). Adam is cursed with death for heeding the wicked counsel of the enemy that he had failed to dispatch in the Garden.

David is victorious over the Amalekites, obliterating them and rescuing those of his own that had been captured by the Amalekites (1 Sam. 30:17-18). Jesus is victorious over his enemies - Satan and death -  (Heb. 2:14), rescuing those that had been imprisoned by them in the grave (Eph. 4:8-9).

Then Samuel gives us a very interesting detail as the Amalekite who slew Saul relates to David how it happened:

“So I stood beside him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown that was on his head and the armlet that was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.” (2 Samuel 1:10)

    

An Amalekite, a member of the tribe that Saul had faithlessly failed to dispatch earlier, kills Saul, removes his crown and gives it to David. Think about it: the enemy that was Saul’s undoing was the instrument that God used to transfer kingdom authority from Saul to David. And directly after he received the crown, David dispatched the one who brought it to him (2 Sam. 1:15). Eleven-hundred years later, Adam’s arch-enemies, Satan/death, were the very instruments used by God to put the crown on Jesus’ head (Philip. 2:8-9). And in Jesus’ death, the power of Satan and death were destroyed forever.

As Jesus said to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, all the Old Testament is about him. Jesus is indeed the last Adam who succeeded gloriously where the first Adam failed miserably. And the one who in his death, has conquered death for us. As the people marveled about Jesus in Mark 7:37, “He has done all things well.” Amen, and amen!

Lectionary Thought: Aug 18

Psalm 109

Psalm 109 is an intense Psalm of Lament and Imprecation. Psalms like this can be extremely grating on our modern ears. There are very few niceties at all in the Psalm but I think our temptation is to gravitate toward what is easier to hear and gloss over the heavy hitting emotional aspects of the Psalm. What do we do with the overt desire of the Psalmist to see the destruction of his enemy rather than his redemption? Is it appropriate for God’s people today to bring similar thoughts to Him in prayer against our enemies? John Calvin reminds us that the book of Psalms is “an anatomy of all parts of the soul,” reflecting the full range of human emotions as in a mirror (Tremper Longman III: Commentary on Job, pg. 321). 

It is helpful to note that the Psalmist is not asking God to give him the strength or the means to carry out the vengeance he is seeking against his enemies. Rather he commits the request to God and puts it in His hands (vs 4). Notice the basic assumption of the psalmist that he can trust God to deal justly with people. That is why he can come to God in the midst of his suffering at the hands of evil men and commit the outcome to Him. This is what Paul commends in Romans 12:19 “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’” The psalmist also demonstrates a couple of ways he appeals to God. He shows that he wants God to act retributively against his enemies and knows he would be justified in doing so (Vs. 17, 18 Let them be treated according to how they have treated others). But he appeals to God to deal with him according His names sake, out of his steadfast love (Vs. 21). He does not desire the same retributive principle to be carried out on him. Is this a double standard or a recognition that God can act with justice, God can act with mercy but God can will never act unjustly. 

I think it is also helpful to contrast the request of vengeance against his enemies that the psalmist expresses in response to their injustice with Jesus’ response to those that treated him with injustice. Jesus does not hurl imprecations at his enemies. In fact he calls upon the Father not to deal with them according to their actions against him. Rather he calls for forgiveness, “for they know not what they do.” Clearly, the hymnbook of God’s people leaves room for us to cry out to God honestly and sets the proper boundaries to do so. But, as the law of Christ became fully realized in the person of Jesus, there is a maturity that we are directed towards as God’s people responding to suffering and injustice at the hands of others. While the Psalmist responds with imprecations hurled at the assailants who caused him to be the object of scorn (vs. 25), these actions against Jesus brought him to selflessly request mercy and forgiveness on his enemies.  

Lectionary Thoughts: August 8

(1 Samuel 22:7–8) And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, people of Benjamin; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day.” 

Saul starts well as the first king of Israel, but ends tragically and horribly. And in the throws of his personal and political meltdown the Holy Spirit uses him as a foil to highlight the sterling character and faithful behavior of David.

In the above verses we see a whiny, thin-skinned ruler who knows that his people will not follow him on principle and need to be bribed with promises of wealth and positions of power. David can offer his followers neither of these enticements, and yet his band continues to swell with men perfectly willing to suffer hardship and disgrace with David in the wilderness.

Sadly, the candidates for POTUS this year seem to resemble Saul much more than they do David, who was but a faint shadow of his greater son, Jesus. May the Lord raise up candidates and elected officials who fear no one but God, who bless when they are cursed, and are quite ready to suffer derision, disgrace and even death for the sake of righteousness.