Good Friday morning! It's a trash day. That means we put our trash cans out on the street for collection, not that this is a day to be thrown away. The cat is calming down after the excitement of last night, although he is still a bit on the twitchy side; a bit like someone who had too much caffeine. I realized this morning that I had cleaned up the coffee pot and grounds from yesterday morning, had the filter ready to go and the coffee bag set out on the cupboard... and completely forgot to offer coffee to the guests last night. I guess I just don't associate warm evenings with coffee. We are still trying to figure out when autumn starts around here, but we may get a hint this weekend. Believe it or don't, but a drop of about 20° in the high temps between the last few days and this weekend is only a drop to our normal October temps.
In this morning's verse, Jesus sounds the retreat and quits the field of battle... or does he?
So [Jesus] left Judea and returned to Galilee. John 4:3
This verse begins with a "so", so we must go back to the verses from the past couple of days to see the reason why Jesus went back to Galilee. John 4:1 tells us that Jesus knew that the Pharisees had got wind of him and the disciples converting followers. As the self-appointed watch dogs of the Jewish religious activities, the Pharisees were concerned over any activity that might blaspheme their religion. They should have been watching for blasphemy against God, but Jesus has already shown us that they were more concerned with the appearance of religion. Blasphemy: to dishonor or revile God. I looked it up last night in my Bible concordance; probably something that was overdue for me to be doing. Of course, we are going to wonder why Jesus would retreat from the Pharisees like this. But is it a retreat?
We tend to think that to retreat is a disgrace, a sign of weakness, and in some ways it may be. But if you were to continue the attack, what might the cost be? We tend to have a wrongheaded view of a retreat, which even in military activities may be necessary to improve the position or regroup. In the case of our Lord though, he retreats to spare those who have not yet been saved. Think about it: nothing stands in the way of the Rapture, but if Jesus snatches us out of here today, the end time of the end times, the Great Tribulation will begin soon after. Many people who are unsaved now would suddenly be in mortal peril. Jesus is merciful in not charging in right now. Just as Jesus showed mercy to the Pharisees by backing off at the time we read about today. Jesus knew the Pharisees would be instrumental in his death in about three years, but if he pressed the issue right now in this verse, the timing of his death might have been thrown off. Of course we know that Jesus would never do anything that wasn't in God's perfect time. But we should not read any weakness into our Lord's retreat to Galilee.
Indeed we do not, for one of the great activities that the church engages in is the spiritual retreat, usually at a nice campground in the mountains or by the seashore. Even a gathering together for a prayer or Bible study is a kind of retreat from the world for a short time. We learn; we encourage and receive encouragement; and we show our love for God and each other in these small retreats.
Sometimes we even get to see a turncoat, literally, as we did last night when Ric changed from a K-State purple to Nebraska red shirt at halftime. I decided to ignore the neighborhood rumors of a half-naked man outside my house last night. Well, on to another exciting Friday!
Bucky
No comments:
Post a Comment