Those of us who were brought up in western culture, where
a settled and revered (almost hallowed) fact of governance is the separation of
not only powers, but of religion from government, may find it a bit cumbersome
to wrap our thinking around government as a working arm of religion. This was the conglomeration of Scribes,
Pharisees, Levites, and other (lesser) rulers.
It was difficult to see where a secular decision left off from the
Scriptural interpretation. Yet, this is
what Jesus faced in Jerusalem. The Word of
God was their law; the religious leaders were charged with governing the people
theocratically, with benevolence, and strict adherence to God’s message of fairness
and kindness to all neighbors.
In centuries of men getting accustomed to power, and
lusting for even more control, obedience to the Word of God faded, and the will
of corrupt men became law. Godlessness
infiltrated Israel – to the point of placing the system ahead of everything God
had commanded. Even worship at the
temple became a business to line the pockets of the strong rulers.
Fast-forward (or rewind) to any point in history, and
the story is the same; if you have a system, those without a conscience, or
fear of God, will tweak the system to favor what pleases them. Religious or secular, the story is the same.
The point, more succinctly, is: We were never in Kansas, or Mayberry, or
Eden. We live in the sin-sick stew of
humanity, populated by beings created with the image of God stamped on our
souls, but that image incredibly darkened by our own lust for control and
self-determination.
It was to this world Jesus came, to bring holy light on
that image of God we’d lost to our spiritual blindness. And darkness refused; the plot thickened, and
Jesus died for us anyway. And now we are
offered the gift of eternal life with the light we crucified.
For You Today
When the plot thickens in Washington, or
some bomb blast in another country, or your denomination, or your local city
council meeting, and you sense that something terrible is in the works…be
of good courage; Jesus overcame the darkness with His blood; there is
nothing to fear!
There are about 2,000 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions
library. To dig deeper on
today’s topic, explore some of these: What Made Them So Angry? and Offended Pharisees
[1] Images: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
No comments:
Post a Comment