Friday, September 30, 2022

Friday, September 30, 2022


Psalm 72

Ezra 3:9-4:6

Colossians 2:8-15


Observance: Jerome, priest and biblical scholar (d. 420)


...God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses...


It would not be presumptuous to claim that every human being who has, is, or will ever exist can relate to a moment when they wished the earth had swallowed them up. Embarrassment on someone else's behalf, or shame at ourselves, is something everyone has experienced. That feeling of wishing we could just leave our body and fly away to a distant land and never come back has tempted every son and daughter of Adam.


Even worse than embarrassment and shame for ourselves and our fellow humans is the sense that we have offended our loving Creator. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, our patient, kind, generous and loving God, who is always ready to hold us in His strong yet gentle arms, has been bruised and wounded time and again by those of us He came to save. The “rulers and authorities” Paul speaks of in verse 15 are the evil spirits who are more than happy to come and remind us of just how ugly our ugliness can be. They too call out to God, point out our faults, and claim justice under God's own law, and are more than happy to tell us they are dobbing us in. We wish the earth would just swallow us up, or, in Biblical language, we try to pull down mountains on top of us.


Observe the crown of King Jesus: the punishment we deserve, he bore. There is no more “dobbing us in”. We too, in our old sinful selves, were nailed to that cross. We too, in our old sinful selves, were laid in that tomb. But that tomb did not stay closed. Out came our Lord, and so too do we. Up goes Jesus, sitting at the right hand of the Father, with all the power and authority and glory and honour, not to be used to punish us, but to share with us. Who cares what the evil spirits say about us? God is our Friend, and always has been, and always will be. The earth has already swallowed us up: we have no more shame, no more embarrassment, no more guilty conscience. All that is left is God's love for us, and ours for God.



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