DAY 162

HOLD GENTLY

Ezra 1 & 2 and John 19:23-42

You’ve made it through 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles! Those books form a large part of the history of the Israel as it grows from wandering tribes in the desert into a prosperous nation and then sadly slips into oblivion. The span of years is from about 1050 B.C. to about 586 B.C. ~ roughly 500 years.

If you have been reading the Bible with me, then let me congratulate you for reading through this history. It is not easy, especially with the nation splitting into two, and all the kings.

The curtain falls with the people of Jerusalem being carried off into exile by Babylon as we came to the close of 2 Chronicles, BUT just before the curtain touches the floor, at the end of the 2 Chronicles the last four verses skip ahead some 50 years. Babylon has been defeated by Persia. A new empire is ruling most of the world and its king, a man named Cyrus, makes a proclamation. Cyrus says he has heard from the “Lord God” and allows some of the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem with the task of rebuilding the Temple – amazing!

To help you keep what is coming straight in your head, you can think of the people returning to Jerusalem, doing so in “three waves.” The first was lead by Zerubbabel beginning in 538 BC, the next wave was lead by Ezra in 458 BC, and the third wave was lead by Nehemiah in 445 BC. We will read the details of each of these, but I wanted to provide you this idea of “three stages.”

Central to all of this is the Temple, a source of pride and identity. Yet in the New Testament we continue reading of Jesus’ death and burial. We have read this before and we know that Jesus, while on earth, was critical of the how the “Idea of the Temple” had been handled roughly, you might say twisted. How the place from which light was to shine and living water was to flow, had turned inward, and the result was that God was being obscured by, rather than radiating from, the Temple.

So strong in the people’s mind is the idea of Nationhood (Zionism) and so fixated on the Temple are the religious of the day, that they will kill their Messiah. I am not trying to mislead you: Jesus’ death on the Cross was part of God’s plan – it pays the debt for our sin and the sins of the world and it makes a way for our relationship with God to be restored.

Yet the human beings involved in this event had completely different motives for crucifying Jesus. We can suffer the same fate. We can become full of pride about Jesus, about Christianity, about being Anglican, or Catholic, or Methodist…, or we can become full of pride about our local church. When we do, we have twisted the message and obscured God…we will have indeed killed the Messiah.

One of the biggest challenges we face today is not just religious pride, but intellectual pride. In Jesus’ day the religious thought they knew better then what their own Torah and Talmud (our Old Testament) said. They had twisted the Sacred Text to their own purposes. I don’t think they set out with malicious intent. I simply think that when challenged by difficult teachings or tempted by power, they rationalized God’s Word in order to make the text fit how they would like things to be…they formed God in their own image.

We do the same thing today with Jesus and with God. I spend a lot of my week talking to very sincere people who want to argue with me about some of Jesus’ actions and teachings. “He didn’t do those miracles, they are not possible” is one that I often hear. “I am the way, the truth, and the life…no one comes to the Father but through me” is one that is avoided. “Certainly God cannot be that mean” is the retort. When I ask, “Does everyone get into heaven?” The answer is usually “almost everyone” as hell is reserved for the really bad people, and yet “who the really bad people are” is rather vague. I could go on with examples, but I pray you see my concern.

I am trying to make a few points:

·         First, it is very important to understand Old Testament history. It allows us to see God’s faithfulness and to better appreciate Jesus’ Jewishness and His role as Messiah.

·         Second, knowing this story allows us to see the all too common mistakes that we, humans, are very prone to as we relate to God.

·         Third, make no mistake, we can in a sense “kill the Messiah;” in essence robbing the world of him. Yes He is Risen, but do people know? If they know, does it bring them into a relationship with God? Or have we so roughly handled this treasure that it has become distorted?

I have no doubt that God will prevail, but we must hold very gently this treasure we have been given. Read again how God looked down from the Cross at his human mother with tenderness. Read again how his side was pierced. Read again the words “It is finished” and then hold them gently.