Good Wednesday morning! Praise God for the new day! Quickly moving clouds have obscured our sunrise for this morning, but the joy of the Lord is in our hearts. You might recall an article on our local news station yesterday about the danger of mold this year with our unusual rainfall and humidity. The article recommended bleach as a way to remove and kill the mold. The very same day, I watched a show on television where a mold removal expert said to use any household cleaner, with the exception of bleach; never use bleach. Are we confused yet?
We get a lot of conflicting information in the news these days; Israel had a bit of a conflict too.
Then Nathanael exclaimed, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God - the King of Israel!" (John 1:49)
Nathanael, a genuine son of Israel, proclaimed Jesus as the King of Israel. Now, turn the pages of the Bible back a few centuries and we have the following:
Down with the dynasty of David! We have no interest in the son of Jesse.
Back to your homes, O Israel! Look out for your own house, O David! (1 Kings 16)
The acceptance and then rejection of the throne of David would continue into Jesus' life from the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey's colt, celebrated as Palm Sunday today, to the rejection of Jesus by the Jews in front of the Roman governor, Pilate ("We have no king but Caesar!"). The northern tribes of Israel rejected the throne of David in the days after Solomon died, and were eventually scattered by the Assyrians. The tribe of Judah remained loyal to the throne of David and became the nation we know as Israel. After the land of Judah (Judea) rejected Jesus before Pilate, they too were destroyed and scattered. Israel did not exist as a nation for centuries until 1948 when a remnant came back together. All written down by the prophets of God, and all fulfilled. Israel and the throne of David are linked together it seems, and Nathanael knew it.
The people of Nathanael's time would at least once try to take Jesus and make him king by force. Jesus escaped from them and kept his own counsel on when he would claim his throne. The people misunderstood the prophecies about the throne of David and wanted Jesus to be the king who forced the Romans out. We must believe in Jesus as who he is, not who we want him to be. Nathanael called Jesus, "Rabbi", which means 'teacher', but then made him king of the nation too. That isn't necessarily a mistake on Nathanael's part, but like him, we need to understand that Jesus is King on his own terms, not ours. Nathanael didn't try to make Jesus take the throne of Israel right then, but I think that like the other disciples and many of the people in Israel, he did think that Jesus was going to be the conquering hero-king of Israel at that time, not in the distant future after he had been crucified and rose again. The time will come when we can shout the praises of the King of kings, but for now we must follow the example of the suffering servant who died for our sins. Praise God for the good news of Jesus Christ!
Bucky
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