Thursday, December 8, 2022

 

Thursday, December 8, 2022


Psalm 9

Isaiah 9:2-17

Mark 8:1-13


Observances: Second Thursday in Advent; The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Richard Baxter, pastor and spiritual writer (d. 1691)


And He sighed deeply in His spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”


There was a great teacher of Reformed theology, now with the Lord, who was once asked if he was one of those people who took the Bible literally. “Do I take the Bible literally?” he responded, “Well of course I take the Bible literally, because it is literature.” He was the type of man who liked to pull words, phrases and thoughts apart to really dig into their meaning. But while it may be a throwaway line used to begin a public address with some levity, there has been a temptation in Christianity to over-spiritualise our faith. Perhaps not so much during the primeval church, when there were still eyewitnesses to Jesus’ time on earth. But when that generation passed into Christ’s glory, the church began to move away from the physical “realness” of the gospel into the realm of fantastical imagination and wishful thinking.


This is one of the reasons why the Reformation was such a big deal for the church. We were reminded that Jesus was a real person who really walked this earth, and He was crucified in space and time. From this materiality all the other glorious truths of the gospel were able to breathe and flourish.


Just as Jesus knows our every weakness, He also knows what it is like to be accused of not being spiritual enough. Here He was, God incarnate, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, preaching the kingdom. His upcoming crucifixion is weighing heavy on His mind, yet He cannot help but be moved with compassion for the people whom He loves. Enter the ivory tower clergymen: “Give us a sign from heaven!” The first half of Jesus’ response tells us everything we need to know about God’s opinion on sceptical mysticism: He sighed deeply in His spirit.


The question put to Jesus is particularly offensive because it follows from what was quite obviously a fulfilment of what happened to the Israelites when they were on the run from the Egyptians: a great multitude, in the desert, looking to God for food, who provided for them. That historical event was the “sign”; Jesus was the physical manifestation of its fulfilment.


We too need not look for signs, because the real thing is here. The kingdom of God is already here, already growing. God’s promise to be with us forever has already come to pass, since that first Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came into God’s people, and continues to do so today. Every mouthful of food, breath of air, smile from another person, it is all part of the fulfilment of God’s promise to be with us always.



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