Thoughts for the Day

The Pharisees went out and conspired against Jesus, how to destroy him.

When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, and he ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

‘Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,
my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
He will not wrangle or cry aloud,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. 
He will not break a bruised reed
or quench a smouldering wick
until he brings justice to victory.
And in his name the Gentiles will hope.'

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Many people have said they can't see why we bother to have readings from the Hebrew bible (the Old Testament), and in many church services no psalms are heard. This has always caused me a problem, since it's impossible to fully understand our Lord if we fail to take his background into account, and can lead to the situation where we get a blond-haired, pale-skinned picture of Jesus, which is a little odd.

Some people struggle with the violence shown by God in the Old Testament, but we need to accept that human understanding of God and of sin changes over the millenia - it is not God that changes, but us. Initially God was thought to be found in water and mountains, or in a golden image. Once Yahweh (God) created a covenant with Abraham things changed. Abraham is promised that he will be made into a great nation. This nation will eventually be led into the Promised Land, and through Abraham all people of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12.1-3). There are a number of covenants and over time we can see that the understanding of God changes. For instance at first the whole nation was understood to be punished for breaking a covenant, but by the time we get to the later prophets individuals are being held responsible for their own sin.

Matthew quotes Isaiah's prophecy, above, about the coming Messiah who will bring hope to Israel, and also to the Gentiles. For Christians that Messiah who was to save His people and give hope to the Gentiles is the tiny human baby whose birth we shortly celebrate! To omit the Old Testament accounts is to omit half the story of God's rescue plan in whom we hope.

Heavenly Father,
our forebears saw You as a God of vengeance,
but we have learnt through Your Son Jesus,
that You are like a loving parent
who chides Your children
when they make mistakes,
but who welcomes them back
when they confess their sin.
May we come before You this day
in humble gratitude for all Your gifts to us,
and ask Your pardon for all that offends You.
Amen.