Faith

God does not just deal with our heart, he heals our heart – Friday, 3rd Week of Lent – Hosea 14:2-9/Mark 12:28-34

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/hate-in-a-holy-week/ based on the Gospel of today. Simply click on the link.

We tend to make up with people we hurt by offering them a gift; a ‘peace offering’ of sorts. Yet that is not what God desired from the people of Israel. God did not want their burnt offerings and trinkets of two candles and one garland. What he wanted was for them to say the right words to him; words of repentance for the years of disloyalty and backsliding.

Hosea’s ministry began in 760 BC and ended approximately in 720 B.C. shortly before the Assyrian conquest of Israel. He began his ministry when Jeroboam II was king of the Northern kingdom which consisted of ten tribes. Jeroboam I, was the first king of a divided Israel. It was he who led a popular revolt against the high taxation of Rehoboam, son of Solomon (1 Kings 12). This split the nation into two parts. Rehoboam ruled the nation of Judah with Jerusalem as its capital in the south and Jeroboam ruled Israel in the north with Samaria as its capital

Hosea’s ministered in the northern kingdom of Israel in the days of Jeroboam II. From a political and economic standpoint Jeroboam II was a successful and Israel prospered politically and materially under his reign. Yet from a spiritual and moral standpoint, this was a time of significant spiritual and moral decay. As a result of their political success the people just didn’t look to the Lord the way that they should. The seeds of idolatry, spiritual failure, and moral corruption sown in days of Jeroboam II produced a tragic harvest in the following years when they were taken into exile.

Turning to God is never easy especially when you have forgotten how to say you are sorry. Hosea knows that God does not desire another bull to be slaughtered as yet another meaningless gesture of the people’s repentance; this time they need to say sorry and mean it. But years of living in sin does not only make us loose our way, it makes us loose our voice.

In the reading of today, Hosea prompts the people to say the right words. “Do you need help?” the prophet seems to ask. “Are you out of practice in talking with God, or just out of practice in telling the truth when you do?” So, Hosea the prophet became a coach, giving them the words that they needed to speak; words spoken from the heart that would please God.

At the heart of these words of repentance is the admittance of guilt. Israel had trusted in the power of its alliances with Assyria rather than trust in God. Israel had fashioned idols that they had created with their hands. These idols they called “their gods.” It is for these sins that God at the start of this book, orphaned his people.

While the Prophet Hosea makes for very difficult reading because of its overt condemnatory message to a sinful nation, that tone and tenor changes as the Prophet winds down in chapter 14. The heart of God has melted. This time his heart has melted not with a bull burnt on an altar but with a humble contrite heart that speaks through words.

The heart of God not only melts it is molten with love. God makes promises to a perpetually faltering people. He says, “I will heal” “I will be like the dew.” God does not make conditions but rather promises that he will heal.

It’s interesting that God wants to heal not just deal with our heart. But he is clear what he wants to heal. He desires to heal our disloyalty, our backsliding. Even more, he promises to love us freely for he is no longer angry with Israel

However, in returning to the Lord, Israel must come back on God’s terms, not their own; the same must be said of us. When Christ called the tax collectors and sinners, he called them to repentance. It is the sinner that followed Christ and not that Christ followed the sinner. Israel his to come back to God but on his terms.

While the text of today may bring us consolation it also demands a commitment on our part. God who desires to forgive the sinner demands that the sin be abandoned. The Samaritan woman set down her pot and with it she set down her sin. Matthew left the tax collectors office; Zacchaeus returned the money he defrauded…. God cannot bless sin but he definitely desires to redeem the sinner.

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Truth has perished – Thursday, 3rd week of Lent – Jeremiah 7:23-28/ Luke 11:14-23

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/but-i-only-stole-a-pencil/ based on the Gospel of today. Simply click the link.

In school, the one day I dreaded was ‘open day.’ To those unfamiliar with Indian education systems, this was the Armageddon for students like me. I was never a bright student. To make matters worse, a traumatising math teacher had made it clear that ‘duffers’ like me would not succeed. Open day was the day when parents were called to school to meet the teacher and the report card was then presented. It was the day I always felt the smallest for my report card revealed many red lines under each grade; in short, I had not made the grade.

God is no traumatising math teacher. Quite the contrary, God was the merciful father to his errant children, Israel; he was the loving husband to an adulterous wife that prostituted herself to every nation and a shepherd to a wandering flock of sheep. Yet in the face of much love, Israel fared miserably. ‘Open day’ had dawned for the people of God and it could not have been worse for Israel. Her report card is spelt out in today’s first reading.

God is scathing in his remarks. He holds back no punches and lays every card on the table. Israel has failed miserably. She has fared ‘worse than her ancestors and is stiff knecked. She is disobedient, stubborn, evil, does not listen, follows her own counsel and had not progressed; she has moved backwards and not forwards.’ (7:24)

What has brought on all of this? Why have the people fared miserably? Chapter 7 to chapter 20 of the prophet Jeremiah takes place during the reign of King Jehoiakim (609-598) who reigned for eleven-years. Just 12 years after the death of King Jehoiakim the people of Judah will be taken into exile.

After the death of Josiah in 609 BC, his son Jehoahaz rules for three months before he is taken prisoner by Pharaoh Nico who defeated his father, Josiah in battle. Pharoah Nico now places his Jehoahaz’s brother on the throne and changes his name to Jehoiakim. While his father, Josiah, brought about great reforms in the religious life of Judah, these reforms seem to have been dependent on his own personal actions and beliefs and did not seem to have penetrated the people’s spirit who continued with their idolatrous worship.

The passage of today reflects the religious and moral state of Judah during the first five years of Jehoiakim’s eleven-year rule. The people have gone back to idol worship and disowned Yahweh. Yet there seems to be an apparent boast from the people, a false hope that has become part of their belief system; nothing could harm them as long as they had the temple.

God’s final word to the people through the prophet are words of great frustration. Jeremiah is told that while he is to speak, he will not be listened to. While he is to call, he will not be answered. Hence forever, this is a nation is to be called a disobedient nation, one that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God and did not accept discipline; truth has perished. (7:28)

May these words never be said of us when we stand before the throne of grace to be presented with our own report card.

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A prescription accompanied by a description – Wednesday, 3rd Week of Lent – Deuteronomy 4:1,5-9/ Matthew 5:17-19

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/revisiting-the-commandments-stepping-away-from-traditions/ based on the Gospel of today. Please click the link

If you read the Bible and cover the story of the people of Israel right up to the time of Jesus you will readily condemn the fickle and disobedient people of Israel and even feel a sense of ‘sorrow’ for their loving God. But why stop at the time of Jesus, humankind has changed little and has ‘forgotten the wonders of God that they have seen. They have let it slip from their minds and have failed to pass on this message to their children and their children’s children.’ (Verse 9)

The narrative of today takes us to point where Israel as a nation is poised to exit the desert, depart from the land of a king who seeks their death, and enter a land flowing with milk and honey, where rain falls from the sky. God wants Israel to attack a strong nation and to push them out of the Promised Land.

It is at this pivotal moment that Moses communicates to the people the statutes and ordinances of God that they are to observe in the land they will soon occupy. Clearly, God does not get into a negotiation with the people of Israel. They don’t have a ‘healthy debate’ over which statutes and ordinances they are to follow nor are these up for subjective interpretation.

Today, there is too much discussion about the subjective interpretations of God’s commandments. There is a growing clamour for the Church to keep up ‘with the times.’ It must be said and said clearly, the commandments of God are timeless; they are for all generations and peoples. G.K Chesterton once said, “I don’t want a church that moves with the world, I want a Church that moves the world.”

In the text of today, God clearly tells his people that the law he gives them must be observed diligently. This word ‘diligently’ is opposed to casually or even worse, indifferently. Central to the word diligent, is one’s effort that has to be put in. Commandments are not easy to keep, it requires effort on our part and God makes no bones about this to his people. But keeping his commandments diligently is not some choice given to the people of Israel for God says, “you MUST observe them diligently.” (4:6). There is a prescription accompanied by a description.

Diligent observance of God’s laws makes other sit up and take notice. Remember, keeping God’s commandments is hard work and this struggle to keep God’s commandments is a universal fact. It is easier to give up and give in but when someone goes against the grain, goes against the tide, it draws the world to ask, ‘how does he or she do it?’

Christians must be the exception not the norm. By its very nature, Christianity is counter cultural; the values of Christ stand in direct opposition to the values of the world but sadly when Christians do not live these commandments the world does not and will not sit up and say, “this is a great people that are wise and discerning” (4:6). It is ironic that we want to appear good to the world rather than be a good before God.

Finally, God reminds his people to “take care and watch themselves closely.” They were asked not to “forget the things their eyes saw or let them slip from their minds.” God commands the people to make known his commandments ‘to their children and their children’s children.’ (4:9). Satan’s great strategies is to make us remember what we should forget and forget what we should remember.

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Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us – Tuesday, 3rd Week of Lent – Daniel 3:25, 34-43/ Matthew 18:21-35

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/seven-or-seventy-seven-3/ based on the Gospel of today. Please click the link

Most of us are familiar with the Biblical narrative of Daniel in the lion’s cage. Perhaps few are aware that Daniel was not the only young man to be taken into the Babylonian captivity. The first reading of today highlights the lesser known three young men; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. These were their Babylonian names which was changed by the palace master (Daniel 1:7).

By chapter three, the three young men and Daniel had found favour with King Nebuchadnezzar. While Daniel is retained as the king’s advisor in his court, the three young men were appointed administrators over the affairs of the province of Babylon. What one needs to know at this point of time is that while this book appears to have been written in the 6th century BC ,during the time of the Babylonian captivity, in reality it was written in the second century BC during the Maccabean revolt against the Greek King, Antiochus the IV Epiphanes.

King Antiochus had decreed (Read Maccabees) that the Jewish people should worship the Greek gods by offering them incense and demanded that they eat pork which was forbidden by Jewish dietary law. Many of the Jews had succumbed to the Kings decree but a few chose to die than deny their faith.

The book of Daniel was written to give hope and encouragement to the Jews of the second century. By highlighting the examples faith such as those of these young men from a bygone era; young men who were faced with a similar situation and who did not succumb, the author of the book of Daniel hopes to revive a great zeal and fidelity for God in the midst of this second century BC persecution under another cruel king Antiochus the IV Epiphanes.

The narrative of today tells us that King Nebuchadnezzar wanted the three young men of Jewish descent to worship a statue of gold that he had set up on the plains of Dura in Babylon (Daniel 3: 1). These three devout Jewish men who by now held posts of great importance in Babylon would rather die than betray their faith (apostasy).

So enraged is Nebuchadnezzar that he orders a furnace to be heated seven times more than was customary for such an execution. The text of today is a prayer of one of the three young men, Azariah, who standing bound with his companions in the fire sing hymns of praise to God, blessing his holy name. The text of today is part of that long and moving prayer of testimony. It is a prayer of supplication, a prayer of trust, a prayer of praise and a prayer of petition. The three young men emerge unscathed and Nebuchadnezzar confess the power of Yahweh.

Nebuchadnezzar is amazed by God, not merely by the faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The latter are promoted, but not deified. Looking into the fire, Nebuchadnezzar is undone. He had sought total control. He unleashed all his destructive powers but at that very point he lost control. In addition, the officials who gathered before the king’s statue now gather to observe the failure of the king’s fire. God succeeds; Nebuchadnezzar fails and here in lies our Lenten message for today.

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The orange Brinjal – Monday, 3rd Week of Lent – 2 Kings 5:1-15a/ Luke 4:24-30

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/miracle-or-messiah/ based on the Gospel of today.

We seem to be a generation that is disdainful of the mundane, ordinary and simple. But throw a challenge, make the mole hill seem to look like a mountain or paint a Brinjal in the colour orange and every one sits up and takes notice.

We seem to attach too much importance to the spectacular; to that which is lit up in bright lights and to powder and paint. Yet much of life is simple and its truth stands out even though it may appear ordinary.

Sadly, even God is sought after only in his glorious splendour. His presence in the Eucharist is often not enough for many of us and so we seek him in miracles and great signs. Yet the Son of God, the King of Kings was born in an ordinary manger, a helpless babe, a refugee at birth. He left us ordinary signs of bread and wine as a memorial of his eternal presence. Ironically, faith is still sought after in the spectacular.

Naaman the commander of the king of Aram was clearly desperate. Leprosy was not something that you took lightly. This silent death was made even more silent by the isolation that one had to be subjected to; away from family and friend. It reduced a person to a thing and left one despised and shunned.

Naaman now comes to the King of Israel with a hope that the prophet of the people of Israel would heal him as suggested by his captive Jewish slave girl. It is clear that the heart of Naaman is tuned towards the spectacular. We are told that Naaman goes to see Elisha, but instead of meeting with him, Elisha sends a messenger to him with instructions to wash seven times in the Jordan River. Two things stand out in this series of events: first, Naaman comes to Elisha with the trappings of his greatness, “his horse and his chariot” (5:9). Second, Naaman is “at the door of the house of Elisha” (5:9), but even so, Elisha does not come out.

Naaman gets angry at this apparent snub, and the text reveals his reasons: “I thought he would come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and remove the skin disease” (5:11). To top it all he scoffs at the Jordan river as a source of his healing.

If you see the river Jordan, you would be greatly disappointed too. At several spots this river is more like a muddy brook of water and Naman wondered what was so miraculous in this river that the great rivers of Aram, the Abana and the Pharpar could not do. Because his expectation of how the God of Israel should work, he was crushed and Naaman wanted nothing to do with Elisha.

Naaman’s analysis is correct, except for one thing. They do have rivers where he lives, and he could have washed in them. But if he had done so, he would not have been healed, because he would not have been submissive to Yahweh’s will. It is not the water of the Jordan that restored his health, but submission to the will of Yahweh. It is not through the might of a flowing river but in the faith of a little heart that God often works.
At a time when Naaman is riled, it is his lowly servants who possess great love and wisdom challenging Naaman’s belief system, “If the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult would you not have done it?

Naaman’s physical submersion of his body into what he deems the deficient waters of the Jordan is what restores his flesh to that of a young boy. But this was also for Naaman an immersion in faith.

We are told that Naaman now goes back to the prophet. In this, he becomes for us a fine example of how gratitude needs to be lived. Naaman was like the one leper out of the ten Jesus healed who came back to thank Jesus (Luke 17:12-19). He was also a foreigner, like the one thankful leper of Luke 17. As his physical body was restored and made clean, he declares his revelation about the God of Israel, “Now I know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel” (2 Kings 5:15).

PRAYER
Healing God, you healed your servant Naaman of his affliction when he came to you, through Elisha, for help. Heal our afflictions, and make us faithful servants. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Amen.

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