April 9
Deut 33:1-29 | PS 78:65-72 | Prov 12:25 | Luke 13:1-21
I know of a family in which one member gave another member one of her kidneys. Due to reasons in which there are multiple opinions, that donated kidney failed. The donor feels as though she offered a beautiful and precious gift which was wasted. Many parents pay great sums of money at great personal hardship to educate their children, only to have their children squander it in reckless living while away on campus. Parents are often left feeling resentment for this lack of unappreciation. Imagine you buy a house for someone, and soon afterwards you see it falling into disrepair with little care from the one who was gifted. Now consider this for a moment. God created us, personally and lovingly. He fashioned us, gave us our unique DNA, etc. He gives us a world which is rich in beauty and for many of us is full of one opportunity after another. But we are so ungrateful. Knowing this, and that we are bent on sinning and ignoring all that He has done and all that He has commanded with laws which are for our own good, He sends His only Son, having Him die on a cross for us to make the payment for our wrongdoing that only His Son, due to His perfection can offer. Yet, even after this we continue to act in wanton disregard, taking this amazing sacrifice for granted. Most fear death, and spend their whole life trying to cheat it. Jesus rose from the grave conquering our greatest fear. Yet, most despise His sacrifice and His rising. Realize despise means to take lightly.
In Luke 13:1-5, Jesus gives a couple of examples of individuals who die terrible deaths. He then asks those gathered if they feel that they perished this way because somehow their sins were worse than others, to which He told them, "I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." They failed to see themselves accurately. He then goes on to explain the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree. The fig tree and the vineyard are both used in Scripture to represent Israel. They failed to yield fruit despite all that He had lavished on them. But another chance was given them, as we read in 13:8-9, "‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ” When a woman who has been suffering in pain and deformity, is healed by Jesus on the Sabbath, the ruler of the synagogue is angered, to which Jesus responds in 13:15-16, "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”"
We are entering our high holy days. This is a time for honest reflection. we must all consider just what it is that Jesus did for you and for me. He did what no other Person could. We think we are giving, that we have acted sacrificially, that we are considerate? We are and have done nothing compared to the Son of God. He did it all. He humbled Himself in becoming a Man. He wasn't killed. He offered Himself a sacrifice for us. His suffering is impossible to comprehend as He willingly accepted the fullness of humanity's sins and God's wrath as a result of those sins, on Himself. He took away our sins, and all He asks in return from us, His often thankless recipients of His mercy and grace, is to repent, to change our minds and accept His commands instead of holding to our own sense of right and wrong. He then goes on three days later to rise from the grave taking away the sting of death, and with it the greatest fear of all men, their own sense of mortality. Conquering death, He offers each of us Paradise, when we breathe our last on earth. May we all pause and reflect, and thank Him. May we not go on, the thoughtless ingrates that we like to accuse so many others of being, lifting up the trinkets that we offer in comparison to what He offered on the cross.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: