145 Monday, May 25, 2009

145 Isaiah 013 – 015; Luke 7.36 – 7.50

Mayhem and destruction are the bywords of the day. It is not always easy to read verses like these that contain so much violence. We, or at least I, sometimes want people to change without having to bring out the big stick. It would seem that people would want to change without having to go through so much pain. The biggest story of course has to do with Israel, God’s own people. God sent in the Assyrians and the Babylonians to punish God’s people who would not surrender. They had every chance to change, yet they chose to keep doing things their way. What we have to understand in order to understand all the violence in the Old Testament is that God really hates sin. I do not believe that most people really grasp how much God abhors sin. After God had used Babylon to judge Israel, the Lord is letting Babylon know they are not off the hook either. In the middle of what Isaiah is telling people as to what God is going to do to Babylon the Lord let’s Israel know that they will come back, but not the Babylonians. In the midst of all the hopelessness God shines His light on the promises of God. Israel, God’s people, will always be in the game. They will be there not because of their grand obedience, but because of the grace of God.

Now on a brighter note we have a woman who really gets who Jesus is and how to treat Him. The problem is this tribute to Jesus is being done by a woman who has a really bad reputation. She is paying this tribute in front of the religious crowd who ought to get who Jesus is but they are slow of mind. They are upset that Jesus is allowing her to worship him in this way. Jesus takes the Pharisee’s on in this debate and they lose hands down. The bottom line is they did not even treat him as a regular guest in their home. This woman of ill repute not only treated him as guest but as Lord as well. How do you treat the Lord? Do you treat Him as an unwanted guest? Do you treat Him as the Lord that He is?