Of Prophecy and Broken Government
SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Psalm 1
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Luke 6:17-26
Prayer of the Day: Living God, in Christ you make all things new. Transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace, and in the renewal of our lives make known your glory, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
“Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
and make mere flesh their strength…” Jeremiah 17:5-10.
Jeremiah had good reason to be skeptical about human leadership. The rulers of Judah, descendants of king David, had failed miserably to measure up to their great ancestor’s stature. According to the ancient covenant, kingship in Israel was not a privilege. The king, as God’s anointed one, was charged with judging the people with righteousness and the poor with justice. He was charged with defending the cause of the poor of the people, giving deliverance to the needy and crushing oppression. Psalm 72:12-14. But David’s royal descendants used their power to enrich themselves at the expense of their people, led the people into the worship of idols and pursued selfish and shortsighted foreign policies that brought Judah to the brink of extinction. This, says Jeremiah, is what comes of trusting human leadership.
I expect that the good people of Virginia are feeling much the same way. Read more
Your open letter to Franklin was profound. I truly wish every self-proclaimed Christian would take personally, the words and deeds of the Christ in the Gospels. Most fundamentalist tracts quote the Old Testament and Paul (who did not learn humility til he was very old. He even had the nerve to think he was picked by Jesus, when actually he was kicked, and he called Peter wrong, when Peter had been taught by Jesus for three years).
I wish everyone who would remember that when Jesus said no-one came to the Father but by Him, it wasn’t because He is a bouncer, it is because He is a Path! He is not a wall, but a welcome mat. Jesus is all Love!
A friend of mine from Bible study recently gave me a wonderful vision of Jesus being the way to God, the Father. God is on an island across the way. You have no way to get to him until Jesus comes along with a boat and offers you to get in, “I’ll take you to my Father”. That image is so inviting. It doesn’t matter if he parts the seas or takes you across on them, he will get you there. He invites us into the family of God; all we need to do it climb on board.