Reflecting on Christ's Reign

When reflecting on passage of Scripture, it is always helpful to know what the Bible has to say about that passage. Especially when reading the Gospels. It is always a good idea to discover what each Gospel writer might have to say, or in some cases what they do not say. Mark’s Gospel is considered by the majority of scholars to be the first of the four Gospels. Both Matthew and Luke’s Gospels quote freely from Mark’s Gospel, and in some cases they add to what Mark has recorded earlier. Now John’s Gospel is much later - and differs, often quite radically, from the other three Gospels.

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For our purposes this week we will take a closer look at the incident where Jesus is paraded before Pontus Pilate who in turn asks Jesus if he is "The King of the Jews. Each of the four Gospels offer us different perspectives on this particular incident. As you read each Gospel account note the differences.

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M. MARK 15:1-15 - AN EARLY MORNING DECISION IS MADE.
T. MATTHEW 27:11-26 - PILATE’S WIFE TRIES TO INTERVENE
W. LUKE 23:1-25 - PILATE TRIES TO PASS THE BUCK
T. JOHN 18:28-40 - PILATE TRIES TO SET JESUS FREE
F. JOHN19:1-16 - SHALL I CRUCIFY YOUR KING?
S. MATTHEW 2:1-12 - A STORY FILLED WITH KINGS.

Searching Samuel for Signs

The first chapter of the Book of Samuel is filled with the desolation and sorrow that a woman named Hannah experienced because she was unable to conceive a child. Her desolation and sorrow was all the more poignant because the story places her in the temple of the Lord Almighty and Hannah is weeping. It is a time of celebration and rejoicing as people made their way to the Temple to offer thanks for God’s care of His people during their wanderings in the desert, as they made their way to the promised. However, Hannah did not celebrate.
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There are many things that have conspired to make Hannah deeply unhappy and sorrowful to the point that bitterness filled her soul. The first, without question is her inability to conceive children. Barrenness was a great cause of shame for women like Hannah as they were usually "disgraced" by it. Secondly, husband has another wife, ( polygamy is tolerated under the law of Moses, but clearly is not the divine intention). The ‘other" woman would ridicule Hannah and provoke her to tears, leaving her unable to eat it disturbed her so.
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On this particular day, as Hannah prayed, she wept as she prayed. Now the priest, an old man by the name of Eli is standing by the Temple door watching Hannah. Hannah we are told, was praying in her heart, her lips were moving, but the sound of her voice could not be heard. The old priest thought she was drunk and said to her ‘How long will you get drunk? Get rid of your wine."
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Now it must be said that Eli, in making such a comment, seems to suggest that it was not an uncommon sight for drunken people to enter the temple sanctuary. Further evidence of this religious and moral deterioration of the time is found later in the Book of Samuel, when the old priest’s own two sons, also priests, are found guilty of sexual impropriety with some woman who work at the temple. It wasn’t the first time that those among the religious leadership would fall from grace because of inappropriate sexual conduct.
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Hannah does not protest that she was drunk, but rather she explains that she was pouring her heart out to the Lord. She explains that she was praying to the Lord out of her anguish and grief. Hannah had prayed to the Lord that she might conceive a child. She promised if she gave birth she would dedicate the child to the Lord.
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After she returned home, and in the cousr of time, Hannah gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, because she ‘asked the Lord for him."
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Samuel would be the one who would later anoint David as the King of Israel. The Book of Samuel is fascinating as like the Book of Ruth, it shows us how God is always working away, even in the midst of our pain and suffering, his plan and purpose to work.
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M. I SAMUEL 1 - HANNAH’S PRAYER AND ELI’S MISTAKE
T. 1 SAMUEL 2 - HANNAH’S PRAYER AND ELI’S WICKED SONS
W. 1 SAMUEL 3 - nTHE LORD CALLS HANNAH’S SON - SAMUEL
T. 1 SAMUEL 4 - THE ARK IS CAPTURED AND OLD ELI DIES.
F. 1 SAMUEL 5 - THE ARK IN THE HANDS OF THE PHILLIES
S. 1 SAMUEL 6 - THE ARK IS RETURNED - AND QUICKLY.

Sacrificial Giving is Real Giving

The story that Jesus told of the widow who gave an offering needs to be understood against the background of the ongoing arguments, discussions, debates and eventually divisions between Jesus and the religious eladers, particularly the Pharisees - who were known as the "set apart ones". The Pharisees would walk around in their long flowing robes, they liked to be greeted with respect in the market places and flaunt their intellectual abilities, and to have the best seats at the head table of the banquets and in the synagogues.
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However, for all their religious posturing, even as they said their long and fancy prayers were devising ways to "devour widow’s houses" meaning that they tricked the poor, especially widows, out of their money. Things are no different today. Watch any of the tele-evangelists and they all have the same message, directed to a captive audience, usually the sick and shut-ins, many are widows, and that message is "send us your money". Of course such requests are always couched in flowing, eloquent, emotional praying.
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Then Jesus sat down opposite the Temple treasury where people would drop money to help defray the cost of the sacrifices and expenses of the Temple. Some people would drop in large sums of money, but a widow came along and drops in two small copper coins, worth less than a cent, and according to Jesus, she had given more than anyone else.
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Here is the lesson in giving. Giving to be real giving must be sacrificial. For all the others, they had put money into the treasury ( read offertory plate) but they could easily spare it, and still have plenty left over. It was not in any way, considered ‘sacrificial giving" as it was really out of their wealth that they gave.
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It is not the size of the or amount of the gift that matters, but the sacrifice of the gift that matters. It is the cost to the giver that matters. Real giving, real generosity gives until it hurts. For many of us it is never a matter of giving until it hurts, because we are generally wealthy.
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There are few people who will do without their pleasures to give a little more to the work of God and to the work of the Church. So much of what happens in the Church today could be described as ‘coaxing people to give money" by way of fundraisers, dinners and other functions that offer something in return.
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Giving which is real giving has a certain recklessness to it. the widow might weel have kept one coin. It would not have been much but it was better than nothing. But no, she gave both. She gave everything she had. If we are being honest with ourselves, we always hold something back from Jesus.
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M. PSALM 68:1-6 --- GOD: DEFENDER OF WIDOWS
T. LUKE 18 --- A PERSISTENT WIDOW
W. LUKE 7:11-17 --- A WIDOW’S SON
T. LUKE 21:1-4 --- A WIDOW’S OFFERING
F. LUKE 20:1-47 --- EMPTY RITUAL & RELIGION
S. JAMES 1:26-27 -- RELIGION THAT GOD ACCEPTS.

Unswerving, selfless devotion

The Book of Ruth is about transformation. It is the story of a woman name Naomi, whose life takes a dizzy turn from full of promise to one of total emptiness. After emigrating to a far away land because of a drought in their homeland, tragedy first strikes Naomi when her husband dies. Naomi’s two sons married ‘foreign’ woman, one of whom is named Ruth. However tragedy strikes again and again, and both of Naomi’s sons die. Naomi is left "empty".
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However as the story unfolds it relates the unswerving and selfless devotion of a daughter-in-law to her mother-in-law and through this act of loyalty and love, the great story of transformation begins to unfold. Naomi moves from despair to happiness. She is helped to do this through the selfless acts of Ruth, also grieving the loss of her husband. Ruth and Naomi are transformed from the destitution and emptiness of such tragic loss to find security, hope and fullness.
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Ruth, who is not an Israelite, but a foreigner who practices another religion, exemplifies the truth that participation in the coming of God’s kingdom is decided not by blood and birth, but by the conformity of one’s life to the will of God.
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However, it is the selfless love of Ruth that fulfills God’s law and because of Ruth, and because of her actions, all nations of the world will have a place in God’s Kingdom. Ruth will become a convert to the Israelite religion and exemplify what it means to love God and to love neighbour. Ruth’s trust in God enables the transforming love of God to work in ways that can only be described as mysterious. Through Ruth, a foreigner and convert to the Isrealite religion, God will continue his purpose and plan to offer redemption through a Messiah.
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Ruth’s act of selfless love and unswerving devotion and her conformity to the will of God through obedience that comes from faith embodies the Jewish religious law. Ruth’s love and devotion also reflects God’s love and devotion to us.
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The Book of Ruth is a marvelous joining of human actions with God’s plan. I am sure that neither Naomi or Ruth could ever really understand why their husbands and Naomi’s two sons had to die. However, the Book of Ruth teaches us this powerful truth, that in those times when we do not understand what God is up to, we can be assured that God’s plan is unfolding as it should. God is always in control no matter how chaotic or disorderly life might be and God is with us.
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When Naomi returns to her homeland, she left full but returned empty. But God is at work, Ruth meets and marries a man named Boaz - a relative of Naomi. Boaz also exemplifies this same selfless love and devotion. He and Ruth will have a son who will be the grandfather of Kind David - God’s at work! As an aside, when Matthew relates the genealogy of Jesus, he names Rahab, a prostitute and Ruth who was a convert to the Jewish faith. God’s always at work.

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M. RUTH 1 ....................TRIPLE TRAGEDY - FULLNESS TO EMPTY
T. RUTH 2 ....................RUTH MEETS BOAZ - HOPE ARRIVES.
W. RUTH 3 ...................MEET NAOMI THE MATCHMAKER
T. RUTH 4 .....................BOAZ MARRIES RUTH
F. MATTHEW 1:1-17 .....DUBIOUS GENEALOGY,