Week
of 11 Pentecost - B
This is a Three-Year Lectionary based on the Lutheran Book of
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Day..." (Propers), p. 13-41, Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis,
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Podcast Download: Week of 11 Pentecost - B
Sunday
11 Pentecost - B
First Posted
August 16, 2009;
Podcast: Sunday 11 Pentecost - B
Exodus 16:2-15 -- Manna in the Wilderness;
Psalm 78:23-29 --The Bread of Heaven;
Ephesians 4:17-24 -- New Life in Christ;
John 6:24-35 -- The Bread of Life;
Exodus Paraphrase:
After they had crossed the Red Sea the people
came to a oasis at Elim, where there were twelve springs of water
and seventy palm trees (Exodus 15:27). The people of Israel
grumbled against Moses and Aaron there because they were hungry.
They were saying that they wished they had died in Egypt, where
there was meat and bread to eat, instead of coming into the
wilderness to starve to death.
The Lord told Moses that the Lord would rain
bread from heaven. The people were to go out daily and gather a
day’s portion, so that the Lord could test their faith to see if
they would obey his Word. On the sixth day when they prepared what
they had gathered it would by twice as much as the daily portion,
and it would not spoil overnight, so that they would have their
portion on the Sabbath, without having to gather it.
Moses told the congregation of Israel that in
the evening they would realize that it was the Lord who had
brought them out of Egypt, because the Lord would provide quail
for them to eat, and in the morning they would see the glory of
the Lord when he would give them bread from heaven. Moses warned
them that their grumbling was not really against Moses and Aaron,
but against the Lord, and the Lord had heard their grumbling.
Moses told Aaron to assemble the congregation,
and as they looked toward the wilderness they beheld the glory of
the Lord (as light) in the cloud (the pillar of cloud and fire,
which was the manifestation of God’s presence leading his people;
Exodus 13:21-22). The Lord told Moses that when they saw the
Lord’s providence of meat and bread they would realize that the
Lord was their God.
Psalm Summary:
Ephesians Paraphrase:
Christians are to no longer live according to
the standards of godless pagans in secular society. Worldly people
are living lives that are futile; they are blind in understanding
and cut off from the life of God, because of their ignorance which
is due to their hardheartedness. Worldly people have become
callous and greedy to indulge themselves, lacking any moral or
sexual restraint, eager for any uncleanness. That kind of
self-indulgent immorality is contrary to Christ’s teaching,
assuming that Christians have been taught according to Jesus.
Jesus is truth (John 14:6).
Christians are to put aside their old sinful
human nature, in which we once lived, and be renewed in spirit and
mind. Instead of living according to worldly people, we are to be
transformed into a new nature, according to the nature of God,
which is true righteousness (doing what is right in God’s
judgment) and holiness (dedication to God’s service).
John Paraphrase:
Jesus had fed five thousand with five barley
loaves and two fish (John 6:1-14), and then he withdrew because he
perceived the people were going to take him by force to make him
their (political and economic) king (John 6:15). When the people
couldn’t find Jesus they went by boat to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
When they found him at Capernaum they asked him
when he had come to Capernaum. Jesus replied that they had not
sought Jesus because they had perceived the “sign,” the miracle,
revealing who Jesus was, but because they were seeking free bread.
Jesus warned them not to pursue physical food which spoils and
only temporarily satisfies, but instead pursue (spiritual) food
which endures to eternal life, which only Jesus can provide,
because “on him God has set his seal” (John 6:27d).
They asked Jesus what they must do to be doing
“the works of God” (John 6:28). Jesus replied that it is not what
“works” we do that “saves” us and gains favor with God, but that
we have saving faith (obedient trust) in Jesus, whom God sent,
God’s anointed King and Savior; that is the work God accomplishes
in us.
So the people asked Jesus what miracle he would
do so that they could see and believe in Jesus. They said that the
Jewish Patriarchs (Moses) had given them manna in the wilderness
to eat. The Messiah was expected to reproduce the miracle of manna
(Exodus 16:4, 15; Numbers 11:8; Psalm 78:24; Psalm 105:40).
Jesus replied that it was not Moses (or the
Patriarchs) who gave Israel manna to eat in the wilderness, but
God, and manna is not the true bread from heaven; Jesus is. The
true bread from heaven comes down from heaven and gives
(spiritual) life to the world.
The people asked Jesus to give them that
“bread” always. Jesus replied, “I am the bread of (eternal) life;
he who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me
shall never thirst” (John 6:35).
The people were seeking Jesus because they
wanted free food. They were focused on their physical needs, and
didn’t realize their spiritual needs. When Jesus told them they
should seek the spiritual food which could sustain them to eternal
life, they asked him what work they should do to “earn” that
bread.
Commentary:
After the Lord had delivered the Israelites
from bondage to slavery and death in Egypt with great signs and
wonders, and had brought them through the Red Sea on dry ground
(Exodus 14:21-25), the Israelites began to long for the security
they thought they’d had in Egypt, when they began to experience
testing in the wilderness, and they complained about the
leadership of Moses and Aaron. In the new situation in the
wilderness they felt insecure about how they would find food.
Although they had experienced the miracles the Lord had done to
accomplish their release from Pharaoh, and the miraculous parting
of the Red Sea which allowed them to escape from their enemies,
they weren’t sure God would provide their food.
Moses reminded them that their complaint about
Moses and Aaron was really a complaint against God. God assured
the people, through Moses, that he would provide meat in the
evening and bread in the morning. God’s condition was that his
providence would be one day at a time, except for allowing them a
day of rest on the Sabbath. The Israelites were to learn to trust
God’s providence one day at a time.
What God promised was fulfilled. He brought
them quail in the evening, and manna, bread from heaven, in the
mornings. No matter how much or little manna they gathered it was
always sufficient to meet their needs, but it would not keep
overnight, except for the Sabbath. Psalm 78 commemorated the
saving acts of the Lord for his people.
The Lord’s plan from the very beginning of
Creation has been to create an eternal kingdom of his people who
willingly trust and obey him. Jesus has been God’s plan for the
forgiveness of our sins (disobedience of God’s Word) and salvation
(from God’s eternal condemnation) from the very beginning (John
1:1-5, 14). The history of God’s dealing with Israel has been
deliberately designed by God to accomplish that purpose, and to be
a parable and metaphor for life in this world. God’s providence of
manna in the wilderness was a foreshadowing of the promised
Messiah, Jesus Christ.
During Jesus’ earthly ministry, he
supernaturally fed large crowds (the five thousand, for example)
with physical bread. The feedings took place away from populated
areas (i.e., in the “wilderness”). His physical feeding miracles
were intended to reveal that Jesus is the Lord who spiritually
feeds his people in the wilderness of this present lifetime. The
satisfying meal in the presence of the Lord is a preview of the
fellowship we can have in his eternal kingdom.
The people of the crowd of five thousand wanted
to forcibly make Jesus their “King of Bread” (John 6:15), so Jesus
withdrew from them into the hills. When the people couldn’t find
Jesus, they went looking for him and found him in Capernaum. Jesus
told them that they had sought Jesus only because they were
interested in what Jesus could do for them physically, and not
because they had realized who Jesus was, or desired spiritual
nurture which only Jesus can provide.
Jesus told them to labor for what was eternal,
so they asked him what work they had to do for eternal, spiritual
food, and Jesus told them that eternal salvation is not what
mankind accomplishes in his own strength, but what God provides as
a free gift through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ
(Ephesians 2:8-10).
So the people asked Jesus what “work” (miracle)
Jesus would do to persuade them to believe in Jesus. They
suggested that Moses had provided manna in the wilderness, and so
Jesus should provide more physical bread. They had already
witnessed and literally tasted the “bread from heaven” which Jesus
had provided and hadn’t believed. Furthermore, it was not Moses, a
patriarch of Israel, who had provided manna, but God.
Jesus told them that it was not manna which is
the true, spiritual, eternal bread of heaven, but Jesus Christ,
himself. Jesus is the bread of eternal life, who came down from
heaven to give eternal life to all those who will receive it by
faith (obedient trust) in Jesus.
Paul (formerly Saul of Tarsus) is the prototype
of the modern, “post-resurrection,” “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8)
Christian disciple and apostle (messenger; of the Gospel) of Jesus
Christ (Acts 9:1-21). Paul had been radically transformed by the
infilling of the gift (“anointing”) of the Holy Spirit. Paul was
the chosen instrument of the Lord to take the Gospel to the
Gentiles (non-Jews; Acts 9:15). The congregation at Ephesus was
founded by Paul in fulfillment of the Lord’s call.
Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesian
Christians, teaching them to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Paul
had spent several years teaching in Ephesus, the capital of the
Roman province of Asia, on his third missionary journey (Acts
19:1-10). Paul was fulfilling Jesus’ “Great Commission” to his
“born-again” disciples to make “born-again” disciples, and teach
them to obey all that Jesus taught (Matthew 28:19-20). It was in
this context that the Letter to the Ephesians was written.
Paul warns that Christians must no longer live
like pagans; worldly people; unbelievers. Christians are to learn
Christ’s teachings; they are to be taught to trust and obey Jesus,
until they have been filled with the gift of the indwelling Holy
Spirit. Only Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34),
only his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17).
Christians are to be as radically transformed
as Paul had been, but perhaps not as quickly. It took three years
of constant fellowship with Jesus for his original Twelve to
become Apostles, and then only after they had been filled with the
Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8). Remember that Paul had
been formally educated in the Scriptures (Acts 22:3), so that in
his case, once the Messiah was revealed to him, he was immediately
ready to be “born-again” as he obeyed Jesus’ commands (Acts 9:5-9,
17-18, 20).
Jesus became the one and only sacrifice
acceptable to God, once for all time and all people, for the
forgiveness of sin, restoration of fellowship with God, and
spiritual rebirth to eternal life in the kingdom of God in heaven
(Hebrews 9:24-28), to be received by faith (obedient trust) in
Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). Jesus’ flesh sacrificed on the
Cross becomes the bread of the sacrificial meal which seals the
New Covenant of Grace (unmerited favor) through faith (obedient
trust) in Jesus Christ (Matthew 26:26-29), the “Moses,” the
mediator of that covenant. Jesus is the “bread of (eternal) life.
Monday 11 Pentecost - B
First Posted August 17, 2009;
Podcast: Monday 11 Pentecost - B
Psalm 34:1-8 - Encouragement for
the afflicted;
Background:
This Psalm is attributed to David, and the
deliverance referred to is when David feigned madness in the
presence of the Achish, King of Gath, to whom David had fled when
Saul sought to kill David.
Paraphrase:
The Psalmist will praise the Lord at all times;
his soul’s confidence is in the Lord, and all who are afflicted
should be encouraged by the Psalmist’s testimony.
When the Psalmist sought the Lord, the Lord
answered him and delivered him from all his fears. Those who look
to the Lord will be radiant with joy, and will never be ashamed.
When the Psalmist called upon the Lord, the Lord heard and saved
him from all his troubles. The Lord protects those who fear the
Lord and delivers them.
“O taste and see that the Lord is good! Happy
is the [person] who takes refuge him” (Psalm 34:8).
Commentary:
This is the personal experience and testimony
of the Psalmist, and also mine, and all who make the Lord their
refuge. When we call upon the Lord in faith (obedient trust) he
will hear and answer us (see Conditions for Answered Prayer;
sidebar top right, home). The Lord wants us to entrust ourselves
to him, so that we can learn that he is able and faithful to
protect and deliver us. The Lord invites us to call upon him so
that he can answer us. The Lord invites us to trust and obey him
so that he can show us that his will is good and our very best
interest.
This Creation and our lifetime have been
intentionally designed by God to give us the opportunity to seek
and find him; to learn to trust and obey him, by trial and error
(Acts 17:26-27). This lifetime is our opportunity to be
spiritually “reborn” (John 3:3, 5-8) to eternal life. Jesus’
Resurrection demonstrated for the world to see that his word is
absolutely true and trustworthy, and that there is existence
beyond physical death. Jesus is the only way to come to know and
experience God (John 14:6; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar,
top right, home).
The Lord is the only real security we can have
in this world. People try to find security in material things or
in worldly authorities, but that security is an illusion. When we
turn to the Lord for security we can be sure nothing in this world
can threaten our security (Romans 8:35-39). We personally
experience the risen Jesus by the gift of his indwelling Holy
Spirit, and the Holy Spirit testifies to us that we are in Christ
and have eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14;
Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy
Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making
disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus
commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you
will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
Tuesday 11 Pentecost - B
First Posted August 18, 2009;
Podcast: Tuesday 11 Pentecost - B
1 Kings 19:4-8 -- Strength for the Journey;
During the period of the divided monarchy,
Elijah, the prophet, had opposed Jezebel, the pagan wife of Ahab,
king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. She swore to kill Elijah,
and Elijah had fled south to Beer-sheba which was in the southern
portion of the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
Elijah went south from Beersheba a day’s journey into the wilderness and camped under a broom tree. He asked the Lord to allow him to die. He fell asleep under the tree, and an angel of the Lord came and gave him bread and water. Elijah ate and then went back to sleep. Again the angel came and gave him bread and water, telling him to eat, to fortify Elijah for the journey; otherwise Elijah would not be able to endure it. Elijah ate and drank what the angel provided, and that food and water sustained him for forty days in the wilderness, until Elijah reached Mt Horeb (Mt. Sinai), the mountain of God.
Commentary:
Elijah had faithfully proclaimed God’s Word in
a corrupt and idolatrous kingdom, and the Queen, Jezebel, who was
the instigator of the corruption and idolatry, had sworn to kill
him. Elijah had fled into the wilderness. The angel (manifestation
of God’s presence) gave Elijah bread and water to sustain Elijah
on his journey to the mountain of God.
Elijah felt alone in his ministry of God’s Word
and opposed by powerful worldly rulers, but God was able to
sustain him and help him to accomplish the work God intended
Elijah to do. What seems humanly impossible becomes possible as we
trust in the Lord, obey his instructions, and allow him to fortify
and strengthen us.
We can have that close personal fellowship with
the Lord through the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit which he
gives as we trust and obey Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the
supernatural sustenance which gives us strength for our journey
through the wilderness of this life. Otherwise the journey will be
too great for us to accomplish.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy
Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making
disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus
commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you
will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
Wednesday 11 Pentecost - B
First Posted August 19, 2009;
Podcast: Wednesday 11 Pentecost - B
Ephesians 4:30-5:2 -- Christian Living;
Christians are to be careful not to grieve
God’s Holy Spirit, in whom we’re sealed for the day of redemption.
So let us put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander,
and malice. Instead let us be kind, loving and tenderhearted,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven us.
So let us be imitators of God’s nature, like
beloved children emulate their father. Let us live according to
love, following the example of Christ who gave himself up for us,
becoming “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians
5:2).
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the
Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9), the third person of the Trinity
(Matthew 28:19). When we trust and obey Jesus, he “baptizes”
(“anoints”) us with the indwelling Holy Spirit. Christians are
individually and collectively the temple of God the Holy Spirit.
We are to learn to do what pleases our Lord. We are to learn to be
like God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Let our lives be a
living sacrifice to God, completing the ministry of redemption
Jesus began, and refraining from what would grieve the Holy
Spirit.
Jesus is the fulfillment, embodiment, and
illustration of God’s Word lived out in physical, human life (John
1:1-5, 14). Jesus gave up his physical life as an offering and
sacrifice for us, so that we could have eternal life in God’s
heavenly kingdom. Only Jesus gives the gift of the indwelling Holy
Spirit (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey
Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee
that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22;
Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).
The author of the Letter to the Ephesians was
the Apostle Paul (Saul of Tarsus). Paul had been a persecutor of
the Church, but was converted on the road to Damascus by the risen
Jesus (Acts 9:1-20). Paul was the first “modern,”
“post-resurrection” “born-again” Christian disciple and Apostle
(messenger; of the Gospel), and the example of what we can be.
Paul’s life after his “rebirth” was an example of a disciple of
Jesus living according to Jesus’ example and teaching. Paul was
continuing Jesus’ mission of redemption, sacrificing his own life,
so that others could be forgiven and experience the joy of being
filled and made spiritually alive by the Holy Spirit through faith
(obedient trust) in Jesus Christ.
There is a Day of Redemption coming for the
“born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) disciples of Jesus Christ, but for
those who have refused to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and have
refused to trust and obey him it will be a Day of Judgment and a
Day of Condemnation to eternal destruction (John 5:28-29; Matthew
25:31-46; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy
Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making
disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus
commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you
will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
Thursday 11 Pentecost - B
First Posted August 20, 2009;
Podcast: Thursday 11 Pentecost - B
John 6:41-51 -- Living Bread;
After Jesus had fed the five thousand in the
wilderness, the crowd sought him to make him their king for what
Jesus could do for them physically. They had seen a great “sign,”
a miracle, and yet they asked for another sign from Jesus in order
to believe (trust and obey) Jesus. When Jesus told them he had
come down from heaven, they “murmured” against Jesus among
themselves. The people knew Jesus’ mother and father, so they
couldn’t accept Jesus statement that he had come down from heaven.
Jesus told them not to “murmur” among
themselves. Jesus told them that no one can come to faith in Jesus
unless God the Father draws him, and Jesus will raise to eternal
life, at the Day of Judgment, those who have come to Jesus in this
lifetime (John 5:28-29). Jesus quoted Isaiah 54:13, saying that
the people will be taught by God, and everyone who has heard and
learned from God will come to Jesus. No one has ever seen God,
except Jesus, who is from God and has seen God (John 1:1-5, 14).
Jesus declared that he who believes (trusts and
obeys Jesus) has eternal life. Jesus declared, "I am the bread of
life.” The people had challenged Jesus to demonstrate that he was
as great as or greater than Moses (John 6:30-32). Jesus declared
that manna, which God gave them in the wilderness, sustained them
physically, but did not give them eternal life; they still died in
the wilderness. Jesus is the true bread from heaven which gives
eternal life to those who receive it, and the living bread is
Jesus’ flesh, which he gave for the world.
Commentary
God has always intended to create an eternal
kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey him. This
creation has been designed as our opportunity to seek and find God
(Acts 17:26-27), and to learn to trust and obey God, by
trial-and-error. This Creation and mankind are temporal; God is
not going to put up with sin (disobedience of God’s Word) forever.
Jesus has been God’s plan, from the beginning of Creation (John
1:1-5, 14; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right, home).
Those who have learned from God’s Word will
recognize that Jesus is the promised Messiah (Christ; both words
mean “anointed” in Hebrew and Greek, respectively). Jesus is the
Savior whom God has promised. Jesus is the “lamb” of Passover, who
was sacrificed for the forgiveness of our sins, so that the angel
of (eternal) death would “pass over” us. Jesus’ connection with
“Passover” is one example of many, showing that the record of
God’s teaching and leading of Israel, recorded in the Bible,
points to and has its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s
one and only provision for our forgiveness and eternal salvation
(Acts 4:12; John 14:6).
In Jesus Christ, God is drawing all people to
himself (John 12:32). Are we responding to his “drawing?”
Salvation from eternal condemnation and eternal death is the gift
of God to those who are willing to receive it by faith (obedient
trust) in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). Jesus promised that
those who trust and obey him will receive the gift of the
indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34),
only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17).
Jesus’ word is the Word of God; Jesus is the fulfillment,
embodiment and demonstration of God’s Word in human flesh (John
1:1-5, 14).
Jesus taught that one must be “born-again”(John
3:3, 5-8), by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, in order to
see the kingdom of God, now in this world, and ultimately in
eternal life. The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one
is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians
1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).
The people who had experienced the “sign” of
the supernatural feeding in the “wilderness” couldn’t believe that
Jesus was the Messiah whom God had sent from heaven because they
thought they knew that Joseph was Jesus’ father, and therefore God
could not have been Jesus’ father. They didn’t know that Jesus’
mother had been a virgin and that she conceived by the Holy
Spirit.(Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38). The people put their
confidence in worldly “knowledge,” rather than in the Word and
power of God.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy
Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making
disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus
commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you
will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
Friday 11 Pentecost - B
First Posted August 21, 2009;
Podcast: Friday 11 Pentecost - B
Luke 18:41-47a -- The Pharisee and the
Tax Collector;
Jesus told a parable (a fictional story of
common life experiences used to teach spiritual truth) of a
Pharisee and the Tax Collector, as a warning to those “who trusted
in themselves that they were righteous and despised others” (Luke
18:9b). Both went into the temple separately to pray. The Pharisee
prayed “with himself” (Luke 18:11a), thanking God that he was not
like other men; not like extortionists, adulterers, or tax
collectors like the one praying nearby. The Pharisee was confident
of his righteousness because he fasted twice a week, and tithed
(gave 10% to the “Church”) of all he received. The tax collector
felt unworthy even to turn his eyes upward toward heaven. He bowed
his head and beat his breast (signifying repentance), confessed
that he was a sinner, and asked God to be merciful to him. Both
men left the temple, but it was the tax collector who had been
justified (found righteous in God’s judgment), rather than the
Pharisee. Jesus declared that the humble will be exalted and those
who exalt themselves will be humbled.
Pharisees were a leading legalistic faction of
Judaism. They practiced the outward observance of Jewish Law (the
Law of Moses; the Scriptures), and by that were confident in
themselves that they were blameless in God’s judgment. Tax
collectors were hated by Jews as Jewish collaborators with the
Roman government which occupied and dominated Israel at that time.
The Pharisee’s prayer in the temple had the outward appearance of righteousness (doing what is right in God’s judgment), but all it accomplished was to add to the Pharisee’s self-confidence in his own righteousness; the Pharisee was praying with himself. The tax collector recognized his own sinfulness and confessed it to God, asking for mercy (undeserved forgiveness), and the tax collector’s prayer was heard and answered by the Lord.
According to God’s Word, we are all sinners
(have disobeyed God’s Word; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10), and the
penalty for sin is (eternal) death (Romans 6:23). Jesus is God’s
only provision for forgiveness for our sins, restoration to
fellowship with God, and eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom
(Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top
right, home). Salvation is an unmerited gift (“grace”) from God to
be received by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ, not by
works (“good deeds;” “keeping”) of the Law (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Church baptism won’t save us; church membership
won’t save us; teaching Sunday School, or singing in the choir
won’t save us. Religious ritual won’t save us. Only a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ through the gift of the indwelling
Holy Spirit will save us from God’s eternal condemnation and give
us eternal life. Only Jesus “baptizes” with the gift of the
indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only his disciples who
trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). Saving faith is faith that
trusts and obeys Jesus.
Jesus came, not to call the “righteous,” but to
call sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). We’re all sinners, but
Jesus can save only those who acknowledge and confess their sins
and come to Jesus, in obedient trust, for forgiveness. There are
lots of “Pharisees” in our world, our society and our churches
today.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy
Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making
disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus
commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you
will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
Saturday 11 Pentecost - B
First Posted August 22, 2009;
Podcast: Saturday 11 Pentecost - B
Daniel 9:15-19 -- Daniel’s Prayer of Confession;
The Book of Daniel was written in the period of
religious persecution by Antiochus Epiphanes (167-164 B.C.). It
tells several stories of the earlier Babylonian exile (587-517
B.C.), meant to encourage the people of God to remain faithful to
their God.*
Daniel, the example of a pious Jew living in
Babylonian exile, recognized that Judah’s exile was the result of
their disobedience of God’s Word and their idolatry. Since Judah
didn’t heed the warnings of the prophets, the Lord had removed his
providence and protection from them and allowed them to be
conquered and exiled by their enemy. Daniel prayed a prayer of
confession for himself and his people.
Daniel acknowledged that God had led Israel out
of bondage in Egypt (in faith that God could again deliver Israel
from captivity in Babylon). Daniel confessed that Israel had
sinned. Daniel prayed that God would turn his anger away from
Jerusalem and his people, not because his city and his people
don’t deserve it, but because of God’s own righteousness. Daniel
confessed that the sins of God’s holy city and his people had
defamed God’s name among worldly people.
Daniel prayed that instead of God’s anger, that God would again let his blessing and favor come upon God’s sanctuary, which was currently desolate. Daniel asked God to hear and see the desolation of his people and his city, to forgive and act to deliver his people from their desolation and restore them, not because of their righteousness, but because of God’s great mercy, because God’s city and his people are called by his name.
Commentary:
Throughout the history of God’s dealing with
his people, recorded in the Bible, when God’s people turned from
obedient trust in God’s Word and turned to idolatry, God removed
his protection and blessing from them and allowed them to be
oppressed by their enemies. When the people confessed their sin
(disobedience of God’s Word) and turned to him for help, God
heard, forgave their sins and delivered them from their
oppressors.
God had delivered Israel from Egypt with great
power, and he had promised to deliver Israel from Babylon
(Jeremiah 25:12). God’s people could have entered the Promised
Land directly if they had trusted and obeyed God. Because they did
not, God allowed them to wander in the wilderness for forty years,
to teach them to trust and obey God (Numbers Ch. 13 and 14,
particularly note Numbers 14:33-35).
When the spiritual leaders and God’s people confessed their sins and returned to obedient trust in God, God fulfilled his promise to deliver them from their enemy. God did deliver them from exile in Babylon after seventy years, as he had promised, and as he had delivered his people from wandering in the wilderness after forty years.
In the period of about four hundred years
between the Old Testament and the New Testament, the people of God
had been in a spiritual wilderness under the domination of their
enemies, and were hoping for the promised Messiah (Christ) whom
God had promised to deliver them. When Jesus came, Jesus did
deliver, from the spiritual wilderness of this world and bondage
to sin and death, all who trust and obey him. But many of the Jews
and their leaders refused to trust and obey Jesus, and had him
crucified.
Jesus is the new “Moses,” who frees his people
from bondage to sin and death and leads them through the
“wilderness” of this world and into the eternal Promised Land of
God’s heavenly kingdom. Jesus is the Word of God, fulfilled,
embodied and exemplified in human flesh (John 1:1-5, 14). Jesus is
God’s only provision for the forgiveness of our sins and our
restoration to eternal life in God’s kingdom (Acts 4:12; John
14:6; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right, home).
The Bible records God’s dealing with his people
for our instruction (1 Corinthians 10:1-12), and God’s Word should
be a warning to us. In a sense, America is the new “Promised
Land,” and the Church is the “New Jerusalem,” the “New People of
God.” In many ways, America and the Church, particularly in
America, are in a position very similar to that of Israel and
Judaism in the period right before Jesus’ first advent (coming).
In the period preceding Jesus' first coming,
many of the Jews had become “Hellenized;” they had adopted the
Greek culture, and had approved the incorporation of the God of
Israel into Greek polytheism, which they considered a cultural
“sophistication.” Antiochus Epiphanes rededicated the Jewish
temple (which had been built by the returning Babylonian exiles)
to Zeus Olympius in 167 B. C. This was the “desolating
abomination” referred to in Daniel 8:13, 9:27c, 11:29-31, and by
Jesus in Matthew 24:15-31, as a sign of his imminent Second
Coming.
Today parts of the (nominal) “church” have
become “Hellenized;” they’ve adopted secular culture and worldly
“intellectualism.” Parts of the “church” have incorporated the
“gods” of this world into their sanctuary. Parts of the “church”
are allowing secular leaders to influence the “church’s”
“ministry.” Parts of the “church” are teaching people that God no
longer requires obedient trust in his Word. Parts of the “church”
teach that Jesus is only one of many ways to come to God. We’re in
great need of confession and repentance; a return to obedient
trust in the Word of God in Jesus Christ.
Jesus has promised to return on the Day of
Judgment to judge the living and the dead (in both the spiritual
and physical senses). Are we any more ready for Jesus’ Second
Coming than Israel and Judaism were for Jesus’ first advent
(coming)?
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy
Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making
disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus
commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you
will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
* For historical detail, I’ve relied heavily
on:
The Oxford Annotated Bible, Revised Standard
Version, Ed. by Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, Introduction
to Daniel, p. 1067, and Survey of … Bible Lands #5:15, p.1527, New
York, Oxford University Press, 1962.
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