Genesis and Matthew 31: Sons

At long last, Abraham has a son, conceived under the law. It is true that he already had a son, Ishmael, whom he loved, no doubt. But Isaac would be the son born to Abraham's wife, Sarah. He was the son of promise . . . the one through whom the faith of Abraham would be realized. The promise of land, and of a great nation, would come through the descendants of Isaac. 

But Ishmael, too, would produce a great nation. 

Like so many other cases of sets, or pairs of brothers, in the Bible, the two sons of Abraham would become rivals to each other. More often than not, their rivalry would be violent.

Cain and Abel. 

Esau and Jacob. 

Joseph and his brothers. 

Moses and the birth son of Pharaoh. 

Etc. Even our pop culture, and much temporal history, is rife with the story of rival brothers. It is something we can all relate to. 

Jesus told parables about the sons of planters; of favored sons; of sons that built the father's empire, or squandered his riches. We can relate to stories about sons.

A parent is supposed to love his children unconditionally. It must never be said that a father did not support the efforts of his children. We are told that, in the end-times, children will be estranged from their parents. It is incumbent upon all of thus - - - those that know to be on the lookout for such developments, not to the ones that fulfill the prophecy. 

In the affairs of parents and their children, we much fight to keep those connections strong. Fight the impulse to reject your child, even if his or her choices are particularly loathsome. Reject the deed. Accept the child. Very often, froward decisions on the part of the young, are precisely because they don't feel loved. 

Let that not be the case. 

Genesis and Matthew XXX! Brother

This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother."

Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

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The 2021 generation  has a penchant for believing it has had a harder time than any generation preceding it. Never before, has grievance been such a prominent calling. We seem to love labeling others - rarely do we label something good. It's always a term we have defined as the worst pox upon humanity. 

Racist.

Communist.

Misogynist.

Entitled brat. 

We love coming up with new names to label others. We have even taken to the use of a common name for women, to describe someone that is particularly obnoxious (it's not enough just to identify entire groups - we have to bring the point home by personalizing our hate). My friend Mike texted me something interesting yesterday, how Social Media has been used, not for dialogue, but for virtue signaling and to magnify separations between us. 

Prior generations used scarlet letters to divide us - a concept which has traditionally been used as a warning to us, on how not to treat each other. Today, we have learned to use a mask as a way, quickly, to judge anonymous others. Never before in history, have people so suddenly lurched into angry assessments of total strangers. 

Another friend emailed me recently, about the effect of so many current events (via happenstance as well as official governmental or corporate policies) to divide friends and families from one another. You do not have to believe it to be a conspiracy, to recognize the evil of it, and to want to work aggressively, to reverse it. 

Division and anger is a thing, in 2021. A generation that had it made, but that desperately wanted to be "Great," like it's great grandparents, has fomented a crisis - - - the first crisis generation in history, that made up its own evils to defeat: like a re-enactment of The Hunger Games, where we all get to be Katniss. 

People watch what they say, lest they be canceled. They quickly distance themselves from the ones they need the most . . . friends and family. Safety has become more important than honor. 

We must become sly as a fox, try to stay a couple moves ahead of the culture, in order not to be snared by it. Think like them . . . so that we can overcome them, and perhaps bring them around to the true safety of free and clear consciences. 

One of my cousins could put an end to a type of gossip, every quickly. If the group ever began talking about his sister, or brother, or friend, or family member - whether or not the gossip was true, or cast him/her in a negative light - he could end the discussion with a simple phrase "She's my sister."

And that would end it. Abraham did not know what he was getting into, when he wandered into Abimelech's country. He did boldly go into it . . . but he asked people to talk about his wife, Sarah, in a way that was partly true - "Tell them she's my sister." Now, there are obvious, troublesome, problems with the narrative. But Abraham knew the power of identifying someone else as your close kin. People can respect that (most people). They may leave you, and others, alone, if you align together in this way.

So many on-line angst and anger could be avoided, if we could just say "I'm not joining you in condemning this person. He's my brother."

We have to resist the urge to divide family and friends, on the basis of the fake connections of virtual media. 

Hey knock it off. She's my sister. 

Genesis and Matthew XXX: Go Out

Hurry and get out of this place . . . 

Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel . . . 

There are two cases here, in which people are instructed, by God or His Messenger, to Go out. 

The Old Testament example, of Lot in Sodom, involves a city that had become so corrupt and violent (the lines between sex and violence had become blurred . . . and possibly even confused with the definition of love), that good people were fleeing the city, for their lives. Mobs were gathering, and began to do as mobs always do . . . morphing into random masses leaving fear and destruction in their wake. 

God was going in to Sodom, to destroy it. But . . . does God actually ever have to destroy wickedness? Doesn't humanity do a good enough of a job of it, without help?

But the man Lot, Abraham's nephew, had apparently lived a safe and prosperous life in this once pristine city. Apparently, overnight, fortunes changed for the residents of that city. As the people became more and more enamored with the trappings of wealth and luxury, the sense of evil grew, all around them. But humanity does not address evil effectively. It does not root it out, before it takes hold. There are too many good feelings connected to wrongdoing. What can it hurt? Isn't everybody happier now? And besides, what someone does with their own body and life, is their own business!

If you wait too long, or look the other way, too much, you can lose your ability to fix something that is going wrong. Evil is self-oriented. It's focused on the short term, on feelings, and on the acquisition of stuff. It is sensory, rather than spirit-focused. 

This is what had happened to Sodom. Much like the "Me" movement of the 1980s, it seemed kinda cool at the moment. But it did not portend good things for the next generation, or two, out. 

Lot and his family were told to get out . . . and save themselves. 

But Jesus told His disciples to Go Out . . . and serve the lost children of Israel. The Hebrew people had been scattered abroad, thanks to countless experiences like Lot's, where it was necessary, in order for them to save themselves and preserve their nation. Nobody ever wants to leave their homes, especially in an emergency situation. 

Lot's family left suddenly, and left everything behind, to be destroyed with the rest of it. 

Jesus' disciples left all behind, as their things would just be hindrances to their ministries. 

One generation goes out, to save itself. Another goes out, to save others. One leaves danger, one courts it. Both take nothing with them.

Perhaps the takeaway is that . . . if we don't go out and minister to the world, circumstances will evolve so that we are forces to go out. The world seems to be moving fast, in 2021, in the direction of being forced out. May we be found spreading life and love, in the midst of all this fear.

Genesis and Matthew XXIX: Merciful

First published Monday, May 9, 2011

To the reader: This was the last blog post that I made, in the "Reflectionary" series, for almost two years. And it was the last one following the format of reading an Old Testament, and New Testament chapter(s) in parallel, looking for commonalities. In 2013, when I resumed Bible blogging, I began reflections based on the Common Lectionary for each successive calendar day. So, there will be no "Ten Year Reprints" for a very long time. Until then, they will be original, and I am going to try to resume the OT/NT parallel readings. Please let me know how you like the different formats. - GD

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"Now let me go down and see: if they have done according to its cry that has come to me - destruction!

"I want mercy and not sacrifice."

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"Why would God permit so many African children to die of hunger?

"Surely you're not saying the 911 attacks were God's judgment upon American immorality!"

If you apply the world's definition of love to its problems, like hunger, disease, war, natural disasters, and famine, it can get quite easy to become angry with God. Surely, would not a loving God care for His children?

The Old Testament is full of accounts of God solving problems by wiping them out entirely, then starting all over. And so the question is, how can this not be defined as merciful, or loving? When an animal is in great pain and will not recover, we advocate "mercy killing." End the pain and suffering. Sometimes the only way God can relieve people's pain, is to take their lives.

This idea of sacrifice carries with it an understanding of death. If there were no such thing as death, then sacrifice would have no meaning. If you have eternal life, you've got it all! "Sacrifice" is part of the equation that keeps the world in balance until death is destroyed at the Return of Christ. We sacrifice because it is a reminder of our mortal predicament. If we give something up, then we understand that it will help someone else who is suffering, thanks to the curse placed upon the earth since the time of Adam's disobedience.

But God prefers mercy, not sacrifice. Sacrifice is Old Testamental. It is self-focused. It is legalistic.

But mercy, which is understood by the mature believer, is New Testamental. It is outwardly-focused. It is based on freedom in Christ. It is conceived and driven in godly Love.

God heard the cry coming from Sodom and Gomorrah. There were those within its boundaries, in great pain due to its rampant sin. So it is today. God does hear the pain of those suffering in the poorest parts of the planet. He calls on us to serve, to act mercifully.

In the end, if the Church does not show up to help, God may be left with only one merciful option.

While Peter

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.  

 - From Acts 10

I'm going to break this sentence up a little bit, for it has individual words that are packed with importance. 

The subject of the sentence, or main noun, is "the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit is the main player in this sentence. The Holy Spirit does something, or acts . . . it is the agent of the main point of the sentence. 

The main verb, or the predicate, is "fell." The Holy Spirit fell. The word "fall" involves a sense of losing control. Something trips you up. Something causes you to lose balance, and then gravity takes over. Gravity is an overwhelming force that keeps us planted, keeps us earthward. Gravity stabilizes us . . . but first it reduces us to some point of fixed reference: the ground. But "to fall" is referring to a thing thart acts suddenly, naturally, and conclusively. In this case, the Holy Spirit did not just rest, or descend gently. The Holy Spirit fell. 

This alone is a fascinating image. God's power, His breath, His Word . . . came crashing down from out of nowhere, unexpectedly. And in so doing, became the dominant player in the moment. 

Upon all: But the Holy Spirit did not fall on the ground and then dissipate as a wave. It fell upon all that were standing in the vicinity. As it came crashing down, the Holy Spirit fell, not on the floor, but upon people. A force that strikes down from above, can knock you to the ground. A penny dropped from a skyscraper could do some damage if it lands solidly on your cranium. 

But not just all of the all. Some of the people standing there were unaffected by the falling Holy Spirit. Only those that heard Peter speak were affected. But not just Peter speaking . . . only the word that Peter spoke. The people in the vicinity, that heard the word of God, spoken by Peter . . . all of them . . . every one of them . . . experienced the Holy Spirit falling upon them. And it was like being knocked down. People nearby, that were distracted, even if they were standing right next to Peter, were not impacted.

All people, though. Rich, poor, young, old, from all nationalities, all races. If you heard the word that Peter spoke, in that moment, the Holy Spirit fell upon you with great force. It changed you, your heart was filled with godly love. You began to communicate with others, in perfect understanding. You were, in that moment, as Adam and Eve might have been, as they could have been forever, and we all could have been, had we not chosen sin over God. It was a moment of eternity, total knowledge, but total understanding. 

When did this happen? While Peter was still speaking. The thing that kicked it off, was Peter opening his mouth and beginning to talk. He shared his witness, his story, his account. But God took over and transitioned Peter's language into the Word of God . . . at which point it all started happening. A miracle occurred. 

People in perfect accord is miraculous. People in perfect accord do not hurt each other. They do not force others. They do not judge others. They don't break off into political opposing camps. 

All it took was for Peter to begin speaking.