Faith

Who is like our God? Saturday, 2nd week of Lent – Micah 7:14-15,18-20/ Luke 15:1-3,11-32

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/prodigal-son-2/ based on the Gospel of today.

In the final recorded words of the prophet Micah, we read his prayer to the Lord. In it, Micah asks the Lord to be the Shepherd of His people and care for them.

The Babylonian invasion was no longer a threat, it was imminent and the people who allowed themselves to be swayed by bad shepherd’s now had more than just a fractured relationship with God. There was a time when God’s people enjoyed a close relationship with Him. The prophet prays that God’s people will be brought back to the place they belong and the relationship which was in tatters will be restored. Micah was praying past the circumstances for a closer relationship with the shepherd and hoped it would result in great wonders in their life

Micah whose name means “who is like God” now uses his very name in verse 18 to extol God and to glorify him. He asks, “who is like our God”? The simple and most accurate answer is…No one! Micah glorifies God for his great forgiveness. He has pardoned sin and will pass over the transgressions of the remnant that will emerge from exile. Micah saw that God’s forgiveness was so great, that it can’t even be compared to what often passes for forgiveness among men.

Why does God have such great mercy and forgiveness to His people? The reasons are in Him, not in His people. It is simply because He delights in mercy. So, one is bound to ask that If God delights in mercy, then why are some men lost? God opens His hand of mercy to all who will receive it, but those who will not receive His mercy can blame only themselves.

Even so, some may ask; If God delights in mercy, then why is He not always, on every occasion merciful? Because there comes a time when the guilty must be punished. God’s judgments are in themselves expressions of mercy because they are like the cutting away of cancer. The surgery hurts but it must take place or the whole body will die.

We are also told of Gods compassion (verse 19). His compassion is shown when he treads our sins and casts our sins into the depths of the sea. This means there is no probation with God’s forgiveness. He doesn’t forgive our sins just to leave them around to hang over our head. In His compassion, He does away with our sins, casting them to the depths of the sea and then He puts a “No Fishing” sign there! He loves us as sinners but loves us too much to leave us in our sin. His compassion saves us from our sin.

– Do leave your comment or your reflections on this passage

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Faith

Dealing with the green-eyed monster – Friday, 2nd Week of Lent – Genesis 37:3-4/ Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/blood-in-the-vineyard-not-written-by-agatha-christie/ which is based on the Gospel of today.

In Just two lines, scripture strikes at our very heart. This is not some plot that has to be unraveled over a two-hour murder mystery. This is the matter of hearts; not one but several. Clearly, we are told that Jacob’s heart loved and in the same breath we are told that the hearts of Josephs’ brothers were filled with hate. The fact that his brothers hate Joseph is repeated in verses 5 and 8. They really, really hate him.

Jealousy is deadly. We call it the green-eyed monster. Jealousy is the emotion we feel when we feel fearful of losing someone or a relationship that is very important to us. Maybe we start to fear a relationship is becoming less sacred in the other person’s eyes. Maybe we fear that someone else is going to take away a connection we have with someone else.

Jealousy is not be confused with envy; many people make that mistake. Some think that they are two sides of the same coin. Envy or covetousness is when you want what someone else has, but jealousy is when you’re worried someone’s trying to take someone that you have. In any case, it’s no fun to feel envy or jealousy because both make you feel inadequate.

The story of Joseph and his brothers in Genesis 37 is a story of jealousy and sibling rivalry. The Joseph story has clear echoes back to the Cain and Abel story at the beginning of Genesis. There is discord in Jacob’s house. It is typical sibling behaviour to think a parent likes one child better than another, but Jacob proves his preference with a gift. While the brothers see only their father’s favouritism Joseph adds fuel to the fire with his youthful boasting.

Joseph’s brothers’ jealousy and hatred of Joseph grow until they feel that they must get rid of Joseph: “And they took him, and cast him into a pit” (Gen 37:23, 24). Then they sell Joseph into slavery, tricking their father into believing Joseph has been killed by an animal. His brothers seem glad to finally get rid of their little brother. Their hate consumed their lives. If Joseph’s brothers had loved and appreciated Joseph, instead of focusing on their hate and jealousy, they would have been much happier.

While most of us are naturally hard wired with jealousy it does not have to define us. Pay attention to the self-talk about how you feel about others especially those you think make you insecure. It’s hard to talk about feelings of jealousy to others because it may make you seem petty but talk about it with people you trust. Remember that jealousy snatches love away. You can’t be jealous and still love.  Jealousy always opens a new door to hate.

Finally, this is also a story of a family feud. Families are difficult. It is the rare family where there is not an estrangement of some kind or the other. Jacob’s family story offers us in the season of Lent an opportunity to speak of estrangement and the consequences of rash acts. The story lets us see all the characters and their involvement in this drama and to evaluate choices we have at hand.

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Faith

Does God curse us? Thursday, 2nd week of Lent – Jeremiah 17:5-10/Luke 16:19-31

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/the-colour-purple/ which is a reflection based on the Gospel

We live in a world where blessings are sought after. Our cultural expressions that seek a blessing may wary but the desire is the same. Whether you touch someone’s feet or join the palms of your hand or kiss a ring with reverence, the desire is simply to receive a blessing from God through your elders, teachers or a religious person.

No one actively seeks a curse or for that matter no one seeks even a negative stroke. Such a person will strike us as odd, to say the least. So, when God curses the nation of Judah one is forced to sit up and ask, why?

At the heart of it all is the lack of ‘trust’ in Yahweh. At this time on the world stage, Assyria was declining and Egypt and Babylon were each trying to dominate the fertile crescent. There were many fierce battles and many great cities fell. Judah was quite obviously anxious for its future as a nation. Jeremiah warns Judah’s leaders not to form an alliance with Egypt against the Babylonians, rather to trust in the Lord, not in political and military alliances.

Sadly, Judah had reached a point where she put all her trust in man-made security systems. Instead of walls she made deals with other countries. The nations dealings had become their god. All their energy, their loyalty and resources were directed toward the preservation of deals which were self-serving and built on fear rather than faith. As it turned out, the attempt to fight back prompted the Babylonians to tighten their grip, eventually destroying the city and temple and sending the Judeans, including Jeremiah, into exile.

The scripture text of today exhorts us to trust in the Lord and not in man made deals. Those who trust in the Lord are blessed because their roots are tapped into the stream of life. Trusting in the Lord does not take away the storms of life. Clearly, those trust in the Lord (verse7) will face ‘the heat.’ Trusting does not give us an iron shield of protection. Yet because we choose to trust, we, like the tree planted by the stream, will continue to be nourished even when the drought comes (not if the drought comes). Our leaves will continue to be green (verse 8).

To have roots is not to make deals with God. God is not a wheeler-dealer. To have roots is to keep our faith strong no matter what life brings us. We keep our roots strong by being in dialogue with God every day, not just in the foxholes. Fox hole conversions don’t last long. God needs our devotion always. When that happens, we will have life-long security.

Ironically verse 9 tells us which way the heart of Judah succumbed. They had a choice between a curse and a blessing and they still chose the curse. What we fail to understand so often in our lives is that what we desire is often not what we need.

So, did God curse Judah? It is not God who cursed Judah as much as they made a choice to call the curse upon themselves. It is for this reason that Jeremiah dwells on the ‘heart’ in verse nine. He calls the heart devious and perverse. For what else would you call one that choses to bite the hand that is raised in blessing? But then again, the prophet Jeremiah in poetic yet practical wisdom describes the leanings of men. ‘Sin’ he says, ‘makes its mark upon the human heart, with the force of an iron pen and the depth of a diamond point. (17:1) The point of the metaphors is not the hardness of the materials used, but the indelible nature of what is written.

God on the other hand, searches, tests, and knows the heart and mind. It is wise to trust what God says about us more than what we think or feel about ourselves. Jeremiah was preaching to anyone who would listen. Those who took his words to heart made sure their lives had well-watered roots. The invitation to all of us in the season of Lent is for us to water our roots.

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Faith

Why not me Lord? – Wednesday, 2nd Week of Lent – Jeremiah 18:18-20/ Matthew 20:17-28

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/mrs-zebedde/ based on the Gospel of today

Jeremiah was not loved by the people he ministered to. When you read the book, you would clearly see that ‘not being loved’ was an understatement; he was hated! Hate is a very strong word to use. When used for another person, it indicates a tremendous dislike for another. To arrive at the word hate you need to pile up several superlatives that are negative. Jeremiah found himself at the end of a very long rope of love that God had extended to his people. That rope had now become for him a noose!

Jeremiah preached during the reigns of five kings, from the reforms under King Josiah through the exile under King Zedekiah. Living during a time of political and religious upheaval, Jeremiah is called to speak an uncomfortable word, a dangerous word, a word that will call people to account. At the start of the book, Jeremiah is given a vocation “to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” His critique will leave none unscathed. The book makes it quite apparent that Jeremiah is called to deliver a message that is both difficult and unwelcome.

Obviously, his message did not endear him to his people. He was put into stocks, thrown into a pit, mocked and derided. Many people called for his execution on charges of treason. He was deeply unpopular. When he passed by in the marketplace, people pointed at him and laughed.

Not only does Jeremiah protest that he has become a “laughingstock” and an object of mockery, he accuses God of enticing and overpowering him (20:7). Like Job, he laments the day of his birth.

This is a job that Jeremiah neither seeks nor welcomes. In chapter one Jeremiah cited his young age and objects to what he clearly saw as a difficult task. God, however, will not let Jeremiah’s youth stand in the way of sending a message that the people of Israel need to hear, even if they do not want to hear it.

Jeremiah’s life was about something bigger than himself, something bigger than his own desires; it was about God’s work, and God claimed him even before he was born. God calls him to a life lived for the sake of God’s mission in the world. That is what God does with many of us; he calls us to challenging missions. Missions in Church, at our workplace, in the family and so on. Yet the book clearly tells us that Jeremiah would not be alone and by extension neither are we.

Interestingly, while God regularly seeks people to do his will, the Bible highlights how God seeks young people in particular for divine work. Jacob, Joseph, Miriam, Gideon, Joshua, Samuel, David, Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack, Abednego, Mary, Jarius’ daughter, Timothy, and Jesus at age twelve were all young when they too encountered the divine.

If it is God’s mission; God will provide us with the words to speak as he did with Jeremiah. Even more, God will be with us in the midst of every struggle. We need to say yes to his call, challenging as it may be.

Today, pray for young people to say to Jesus.

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Hit the reboot button – Tuesday, 2nd week of Lent – Isaiah 1:10,16-20/Matthew 23:1-12

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/catching-the-bull-by-its-tail/ based on the Gospel of today.

God’s love is often assumed to be unconditional; in reality it is not. Primarily, we share a relationship with God and while all relationships come with expectations, God’s love is no exception. However, God’s love does not make unreasonable demands such that one who shares in this relationship would not be able to fulfil. In fact, if you look at it, God sets the bar really low when it comes to our commitment. Yet to believe that God loves us unconditionally is foolish and unreasonable and if I dare say is rather unhealthy for any relationship. Yet we can also testify to his forgiveness each time we err.

The reading from Isaiah, which is taken from the first chapter, seems to have two groups of people whom God is addressing; Judah and Jerusalem on one hand and Sodom and Gomorrah on the other. In reality. Sodom and Gomorrah were long destroyed by God in the book of Genesis, chapter 19. Yet the people of Israel took some pride in believing that they were some sort of righteous remanent of a sinful nation whom God saved. They lived in the delusion that their burnt offerings of bulls and the blood of lambs and goats delighted God. He on the other hand was disgusted by it and in verse 14 he says, “your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates.” Read this in Hebrew and the word ‘hate’ translates as nausea; such was the disgust of God for the ‘sacrifices’ of his people.

Lent is a time when we too make sacrifices; we may not offer sacrifices but we make a sacrifice. Yet it is not what we do in Lent but who we become that matters to God. The sacrifices of the people of Israel had become to God a “burden,” one that he was “weary of bearing.” (Isaiah 1:15) God clearly says to his people, “when you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.”

It is for this reason that the text of today begins with an exhortation to all of us to “wash ourselves clean.” Covid taught us to wash our hands and scrub it clean. That’s how God wants us to approach lent. This is not a time to clean soiled souls with a wet towel but rather to drench ourselves in the mercy of God. God does not request but demands that our being is good not just our doing. He demands in the reading of today, that we cease to do evil and learn to do good.

We were made in the image and likeness of God but tarnished by original sin. It is for this reason that goodness does not come to us; goodness must be a learnt behaviour. God says to us, “learn to do good.” The evil one has so poisoned us that we are prone to doing evil faster than we even think of doing good. Lent is a time to hit the reboot button to become what God intended us to be.

I began by saying that God’s love is not unconditional but his forgiveness is offered ever so readily. That is seen in today’s reading once again. “Come” he says “let us discuss and argue it out,” you and me. “Though your sins are like scarlet they shall be like snow. Though they are red like crimson they shall become like wool….. IF you are willing, IF you are obedient. (Is 1:18-19)

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