You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. – Jeremiah 20:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 28, 2014): Jeremiah 20

In the late 1960’s, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice penned their conception of the last week of the life of Jesus Christ. “Jesus Christ, Superstar” has proven to be an enduring image, and the songs of the Rock Opera have carried the cries of the human part of Jesus to every generation since the opera was first written and performed. And one of the most moving scenes in the Webber-Rice story takes place in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is there that Jesus is confronted with the cross on which he will die, there that Jesus strains against the will of God wondering if all of this is worth it and there that he wonders about the goal that they are trying to reach, and there that he wrestles with everything that is about to happen. But near the end of the prayer, Jesus finally gives in to his Father’s plan. The words that Rice places in the mouth of Jesus at this moment are –

God thy will is hard but you hold every card
I will drink your cup of poison
Nail me to your cross and break me
Bleed me, beat me, Kill me, take me now
Before I change my mind.

The sentiments of the words are only partially the product of Rice’s imagination. The Gospel record does include that at the end, Jesus struggled with the path that he was to travel. But the reality is, as much as some portions of the Christian Church seems to want us to believe differently, sometimes God’s will is difficult. John the Baptist seemed to struggle at the end of his life wondering if Jesus was really the one that was to come – or whether they were waiting for someone else. And in this passage, it is Jeremiah that is questioning the will of God.

Specifically, Jeremiah’s complaint goes back to the beginning of Jeremiah’s prophetic writings. At the moment when Jeremiah was called, he had excused himself. He was too young and he did not have the words that were needed for such a task. But in that moment God’s reply to Jeremiah was “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you” (Jeremiah 1:7-8.) But in this moment, now years into the God mission that he had accepted, Jeremiah is not sure that God was true to his word. He spoke the words that God has placed in his heart – and yet it did not seem that God was with him – or that God had been at the ready to rescue him.

But the story was not over yet. God still had further places to carry Jeremiah. But sometimes it is in the midst of the story that we stop feeling him. And that is why faith is so important for all of us – because with the eyes of faith, we know that God is with us, even in the moments when we question him the most.     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 35      

“Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching, and say to them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. – Jeremiah 19:10-11

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 27, 2014): Jeremiah 19

In the late 18^th Century one of the most loved Nursery Rhymes was penned. The rhyme in question is “Humpty, Dumpty,” the famous egg who sat on wall. The only problem with our understanding of Humpty as being an egg is that no where in the rhyme does the poem mention this idea. It is thought that the original intention of the rhyme was that it was supposed to be a riddle – a statement in which people would be invited to guess the identity of Humpty Dumpty. But the riddle long ago turned into a children’s rhyme and the mystery in question has long since been forgotten.

But that has not stopped some from trying to guess the answer to the riddle. Among the suggested answers are King Richard III, the last king of the House of York toppled by the upstart House of Tudor, or two possible answers from the Siege of Colchester in 1648 – a battle from the middle of the English Civil War. During the war, the Royalist army found themselves hemmed in at the walled city of Colchester.  Outside the walls were the Parliamentarians. The rhyme, some assert, is about either a sniper, a man known as One-Eyed Thompson, or a cannon that was appropriately known as Humpty Dumpty that sat on the walls of a church called Mary-at-the-walls. The story that is told is of the Parliamentarians outside of the city who were able to weaken the wall underneath either the sniper or the canon causing the fall of “Humpty Dumpty.” As a result of this fall, the city of Colchester was lost – and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men – referring of course to the Royalist Army trapped inside the city, couldn’t save either the town, or Humpty Dumpty.

God seems to have the similar illustration and story for Jeremiah to tell. Again the weeping prophet is given an illustration of what is about to happen in Jerusalem. He is to go and take a jar and break it. The imagery here is not that Jeremiah would break the jar gently, leaving large pieces that might be put back together again. The imagery is of a smashed jar that has been broken into so many pieces that it is impossible to reassemble – even with all of the king’s horses and all the king’s men at the ready to do the task.

But maybe the one thing that we miss when we read this prophecy is that while in the short term the prophecy was fulfilled and Jerusalem was left in ruins, God is still the God of the impossible – and in the long-term it would seem that God himself did put the city back together again. And Jerusalem still stands today, although admittedly once again it would seem that the Holy City is broken – divided among the People of Israel, the Followers of Christ and the Followers of Islam. But no matter how broken the city might seem to be – God remains the God who can still put the pieces back together again.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 20

They said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.” – Jeremiah 18:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 26, 2014): Jeremiah 18

For generations historians have fought over the character of Richard III of England. For some, Richard III is accurately summed up by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare describes Richard III as an ambitious man who is jealous of his older brother, King Edward IV’s, success. Historians have accused Richard of being guilty of fratricide - blaming him for the death of his brother, and for the death of Edward’s sons, Edward V who was around 13 years of age and his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York. The young boys have been dubbed the “Princes of the Tower” by historians - but no one really knows what happened to the young princes after their admission into the Tower of London after the death of their Father.

But that is not the only picture that we have of Richard III. Other historians have seen the third King Richard as a fiercely loyal Man who would never consider killing his older brother – of whom he as deeply proud – let alone the murder of his young nephews. According to this group of historians, Richard was the victim of a propaganda campaign carried out by the House of Tudor, who wished to end the reign of the House of York – the House of which Edward and Richard belonged. These historians remind us that often history seems to be written by the victors, and in this case it was the House of Tudor that won the fight, and as a result the reign of the House of York was not only tarnished, but ended.

We may never know the truth about King Richard III, which might be proof of the effectiveness of the lies that our enemies can tell about us. It was a truth that Jeremiah knew first hand. Jeremiah was carrying an unfortunate message, one that the nation didn’t want to hear. They were hoping that the prophet was wrong. But early in Jeremiah’s career, his opponents had already chosen their offensive response. They were going to speak lies about Jeremiah and discredit him – and the hope was that if lies took hold, that his words would lose their strength – and the people would no longer listen to him. And maybe, their lies would also change the bleak future that Jeremiah was predicting. Basically, his opponents planned to accuse Jeremiah of being a false prophet, hoping that the accusation that had been thought up by the religious officials of Jerusalem would end up being true.

Jeremiah knew of their plot, and had decided that the problem was not his – it was the problem of the one who had given him his vision of the future. Jeremiah was confident in his God. If he was a false prophet, it would not because the officials of Jerusalem had labeled him as one, but because he had misread the movement of his God. But, once again, history is written by the victors, and in this case the victor was Jeremiah. His prediction ended up being true, and history has remembered his opponents as the ones who had lied.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 19

Personal Note: Happy Second Birthday to my Granddaughter - Emilina

Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. – Jeremiah 17:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 25, 2014): Jeremiah 17

As a kid, I loved superhero shows. I loved the “Adventures of Superman” with George Reeves (although I have to admit that I am too young to actually remember the original run of the 1950’s T.V. series, I had to be content with the reruns of the show more than a decade after the last episode of the series was shot) and I was infatuated with Adam West in “Batman.” (For those who are wondering about my “Spiderman” addiction, both Adam West and George Reeves predate my Spiderman days.) So during the day I would grab a towel and pin it around my shoulders and pretend that I was one of the heroes that I had watched on T.V.

Looking back, I still love my superheroes, although now I hope I have a much more balanced look at the role models of my youth. But one of the things that I have noticed is that the characters in the shows of my youth were fixated on the heroes of the story. In Gotham City, when trouble struck it was not marines that were called in to handle the situation – or the S.W.A.T. Team or even extra off duty police officers. The first response was to run to the roof and activate the “Batsignal” – and call the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder into the situation. No one else would do. And in the “Adventures of Superman,” Lois Lane never called for the police when she was in trouble – Lois simply whispered the name of her hero – Superman. There was no one else that could do the job – not even the pining Clark Kent that wanted nothing more but to hear Lois call his name. But as far as Lois was concerned, no one but Superman could come running at her call.

Jeremiah has fixated on his hero – his God. In the midst of the trouble of Judah, the mistrust that Jeremiah and the officials of the nation held for each other, and with the enemy about to appear on the doorstep of the city in which he lived, there really was no other authority to run to. If Jeremiah was going to be healed, there was no one else who had the ability to heal him. If Jeremiah was going to be saved, the only name that could be whispered was that of his God.

Most of us who grew up with our Superheroes have watched them tarnish over time. At some point we found out that the Batsignal only works in Gotham City and Lois is the only one that can call Superman to her side. Even George Reeves lost his race against a speeding bullet. But the God of Jeremiah still remains. He is still the only one who can heal and the only one who can save.

  Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 18

Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!” – Jeremiah 16:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 24, 2014): Jeremiah 16

“The Death of God” was a book written in 1961 by French Protestant Theologian Gabriel Vahanian. Vahanian believed that God could not survive in our modern society that had lost the capacity for the sacred. At some point our society ceased to that the capacity to imagine a God big enough to be our creator. God began to be defined by the language of our culture. According to Vahanian, our reality is that God has become nothing more than a cultural artifact in our society. But he also seemed to believe that the death of God would eventually lead us back to God. “If we can no longer assume that God is, we may once again realize that he must be. God is not necessary, but he is inevitable. He is wholly other and wholly present. Faith in him, the conversion of our human reality, both culturally and existentially, is the demand he still makes upon us.” (Gabriel Vahanian, Wait Without Idols, 1964)  It would seem that the path away from God must necessarily lead us back to God

Actually, Jeremiah would seem to agree with Vahanian. The real problem with God is that we have created him in our image. Our culture would not allow for any other kind of God. But such a God is doomed from the very beginning because this god would be much too small to fit our need. Our need has never been for a God that we could understand. In fact, any God that we could understand must be a God of our creation. And according to Jeremiah, any god of our creation is not really a god.

And, eventually, the straw gods that we create will fail. But that failure will only underscore our need for a real God – one who is beyond our understanding. God is not necessary, but he is inevitable. And all roads lead back to him, once we can discard the gods of our own creation that have cluttered up our lives and have led us in wrong directions.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 17

 

I will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem. – Jeremiah 15:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 23, 2014): Jeremiah 15

There is this idea in Western Culture that our politicians are elected to carry out the wishes of the people. It is the image that lies behind what we would consider to be true democracy – a political system where every citizens has a vote on every issue that nation had to face. But the problem with true democracy is that it is impractical in our modern nations. For every citizen to have a vote on every issue of our society would be both too slow and too costly. And, if we are honest, we have too little time to adequately research every issue that our nations have to face. So we elect representatives to vote for us. But the reality is that we elect our representatives, not just to vote as we would, but to do the research into the issues that we don’t have the time to do.

It has always been the role of the politicians to do the work that we don’t have time to do. In ancient times, this was the role of the king and his court. The king did not have to do the labor of the common man, so it was understood that he could do the work to understand the needs of the nation – and to act for the benefit of the people. Sometimes the kings, and our politicians, did exactly as they were supposed to do – they did what was best for the nation. But since the beginning of time our politicians have been tempted to follow the opinion polls instead of making the good – and often hard - decisions. And from the beginning of time, the people have rewarded bad decisions with their approval.

There is evidence that this is precisely what Jeremiah was upset about. Jeremiah’s time on the political stage had begun with the reign of Josiah. And Josiah was a good king who had implemented good policy on behalf of the people. But the people had resented the policies of the king. Instead, they refused to follow God and chose to follow their own desires. But as Jeremiah looked back into the history of the nation, he realizes that during the evil days of King Manasseh, the people had approved of the policies of the king. And to Jeremiah, none of this made any sense. How could a nation honor what was bad and rebel against what was good?

Yet that is exactly what had happened, and so God was going to allow the nation of Judah who had sewn dishonorable policies with her kings to reap dishonor. It was really the only thing a holy God could do. Jeremiah reminds the people that because they had chosen what was abhorrent, they would reap what was abhorrent. There was really no other alternative.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 16

We acknowledge our wickedness, LORD, and the guilt of our ancestors; we have indeed sinned against you. – Jeremiah 14:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 22, 2014): Jeremiah 14

There is maybe no sadder moment than realizing that you are too late. You could have changed the destination, but you didn’t. You could have changed a life, but you decided not to bother. Too often, our health suffers from the too late syndrome. We forget that we are stewards of something – until it is too late. We plan to make changes to our health routine, but wait too long. Financially, we plan to save for retirement, but we wait until retirement has almost arrived before we really start to save. Our reality is that we have let all of that potential simply slip through our fingers. Potential that is never taken advantage of is the tragic story that is above all other tragedies. It is the story of too late.

Jeremiah is just coming to this realization in regard to Judah. It is too late for the nation to repent. The moment of grace that Judah has been enjoying up until this point is about to pass, and there is nothing that Jeremiah can do about it. If only the nation had come to a point of repentance before now – had been willing to accept their own culpability in all that was happening. But they hadn’t – and now it is too late.

The reality is that while as Jeremiah writes these words using the idea of the nation praying to God, there is almost no evidence of any kind of a national revival taking place during the days of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is begging for God to change his mind, but Judah has consistently refused to change theirs. They are still content to chase after their idols and continue in their sins. No amount of pleading on the part of Jeremiah has changed anything. Judah persists in her sins while Jeremiah begs God for forgiveness. The needed change never came.

Too often we plan to change, but we never really do. And so we live through the tragedy of being too late. Reality does not have to be the way it is, but we don’t have the courage to change it until it is too late. But by that time reality is fixed – and the tragedy of too late has arrived on our doorstep.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 15

No one is like you, LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power. – Jeremiah 10:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 21, 2014): Jeremiah 10

Mercurius was born in Rome in the year 470 C.E. He chose a life in the church and quickly rose to the office of priest at the Basilica di San Clemente, a minor Basilica that had been dedicated to Pope Clement I and located in Rome. We know very little about the life or the ministry of Mercurius except that on January 2, 533 C.E. Mercurius rose to become the Bishop of Rome, a title that is more commonly known by another name – the Pope or Holy Father of the Roman Catholic Church. But Mercurius’ rise to the office of Pope presented him with an uncomfortable problem – his name. Mercurius, the name that his parents had given him at birth honored the god Mercury. Mercurius felt that the name was inappropriate for the Bishop of Rome to bear. And so Mercurius did what has become commonplace in modern times, but had never been done before the time Mercurius – he was the first Pope to change his name. The name that he chose was Pope John II. It is likely that the name was chosen in honor of Pope John I who had unjustly died in prison of neglect six and a half years earlier. After all, John I deserved to be remembered and to be remembered as an honest Pope. And to die in the service of the church was probably something that Mercurius was okay with.

Jeremiah reminds the people of Judah two things as the nation continues to walk away from God. The first is that the name of God deserved to be remembered – and the second is that there is power in the name. In the years that were to come, the people were going to have to know that – and learn to trust in the power of the name of God.

The name of God has been carefully guarded throughout history. Oh, there have been many descriptive names – Elohim (God of Power), Jehovah-Shalom (God of Peace) or El-Shaddai (God of the Mountains or God Almighty) to name but a few. But the name of God – Yahweh (YHWH) – is seldom used. It is just too sacred – and too powerful. Jewish law required that a sheet of paper that had that name written on it must be preserved - forever.

In our time, the word God is often just thrown around carelessly. It is a practice that would cause our ancestors to shake in fear. The name of God is still a name of power that needs to be honored because it belongs to the Creator of the Universe. It is something that we should maybe consider before we throw the name of power around loosely – we need to remember who it is that we are calling when we say his name – and remember the power and the promise that is contained in that name and the respect that the name has garnered throughout the generations.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 14

I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there. – Jeremiah 9:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 20, 2014): Jeremiah 9

Yann Martel’s novel, and later the movie by Ang Lee, ‘The Life of Pi,” presented the viewer with an interesting decision in the final scene. Which of the stories presented was the real story? Did Pi really end up on a lifeboat with the animals – including a man-eating Tiger, or was it the human variety of animal that caused the pain and death on the boat. Was Pi threatened by the tiger, or was he really the tiger in the boat? Was it the spotted hyena that caused the death of the other animals (other than the tiger) on the boat, or was it the cook in the human story.

But the truth is that the question is not really all that important (although movie goers tended to lean toward the human version while readers of the book accepted the animal version of the story.) The reality of the story is that if it was the hyena that was responsible for the death of the injured zebra and the orangutan on the boat before being dispatched himself by a tiger named Richard Parker, then the hyena was only doing as nature demanded. And Pi’s attempt to befriend Richard Parker later in the story was an attempt to accomplish what nature would seem to prohibit. But if the human version was true, and it was the cook that killed the sailor and Pi’s own mother before being killed by Pi, then the cook was acting more like an animal than a human, and the probability is that Pi was now left waging an inner war with his own guilt over killing of the cook. But Martel’s basic point would seem to be that both stories are essentially the same story.

Jeremiah looks forward to the future of Jerusalem with an amazing prophecy. The day was coming when only animals will inhabit Israel’s Holy City – and when all of the towns of Judah would be laid to waste. The prophecy is yet another predictive statement pointing toward the Babylonian Exile. And it would come true. The time would come when the towns would be deserted. It would seem that while some the people of Judah would be taken into exile in Babylon (among those finding their way to Babylon would have been prophets of Israel like Daniel and Ezekiel.) But a significant number of the remaining people seemed to have run away from Babylon and their Judean homeland into Egypt (and among this number was Jeremiah himself, along with his secretary Baruch.) The result is that there were very few people left in Judah. Jerusalem itself lay in ruins – and the few people left in the Judah were scattered over the country side.

But there might be another part of the prophecy. Jeremiah’s imagery might be more than just a picture of what happens when a city is left vacant. Like “The Life of Pi” stories, the reality is that Jerusalem in the days leading up to the exile was already being inhabited by animals. And Jeremiah’s message seemed to be that if the people of Judah were insist on acting like animals, then God was going to allow the city to be inhabited by real ones. In the end, there would be very little change – either way Jerusalem was being inhabited by animals – it is just a different kind of animal that inhabited Jerusalem before the exile than would inhabit the city after.

Tomorrow’s Scriptures Reading: Jeremiah 10

They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace. – Jeremiah 8:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 19, 2014): Jeremiah 8

On March 16, 1935, Adolph Hitler ignored the Treaty of Versailles and ordered Germany to begin the process of rearming the nation. In hindsight, this was one of the major signals of the battle that was to come. But the reality at the time was that there were those outside of Germany that really believed that the Treaty of Versailles was too tough on the German people. The Treaty of Versailles was the treaty that Germany had agreed to in their surrender at the end of the First War to End all Wars (World War I). But some people had already begun to ask the question – when do we allow Germany to return to business as usual. Hitler seemed to know this and he was sure in the early days of Germany’s rearmament that the world would not react as Germany began the process of remilitarizing. 

On March 7, 1936, Germany moved troops into the Rhineland – a demilitarized zone specified in the Treaty of Versailles. The act raised a few eyebrows, but no one reacted overtly to the move. At about the same time Hitler revealed to British historian Arthur Toynbee that Germany needed to make some limited expansionist moves in order to secure the future of the Greater German nation. At the time, Hitler said that he hoped that Britain would understand the need for such action in order for Germany to secure its borders.

On March 12, 1938, Austria fell to the German Empire, their territory annexed into Germany. It was a non-violent action and the world continued to stand by and watch. In September of that year, Germany turned its eyes on Czechoslovakia. The Czechs had formal ties with France and the USSR, but Hitler was convinced that they would not move against him. And again, he was right. Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, and a delegation from France signed “The Munich Agreement” which gave a portion of Czechoslovakia to Germany. The accord specified that if the Czechs did not agree with the move, the resulting war would be considered to be their fault, and therefore France and Britain would not intervene. Maybe the most telling comment about “The Munich Agreement” was that it was signed for the sake of obtaining “peace in our time.” But as events were about to reveal, peace was not an available option. Hitler was about to push the other European powers beyond the breaking point.

The events leading up to World War II seem to echo the events that Jeremiah was watching in his own day. For Jeremiah, it was not Germany that was advancing, but rather Babylon. And according to Jeremiah, no one in Israel seemed to be taking the threat seriously. They were proclaiming peace and treating the incursions of Babylon as if they were insignificant. For Jeremiah, it was not just Babylon that was moving. He saw God on the move as well. And it was precisely that because God was on the move that the Babylonian Empire needed to be treated seriously.

God has never asked us to look through the world with “rose colored glasses.” In our search for peace, we need to understand the forces in this world that prevent peace from happening. And then we need to commit ourselves to the removal of those things – especially when the opposition to the peace is occurring inside of us.    

Tomorrow’s Scriptures Reading: Jeremiah 9

Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? – Jeremiah 7:9-10

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 18, 2014): Jeremiah 7

A few years ago Craig Groeschel (Pastor of LifeChurch) wrote a book that he called “Christian Atheists.” The book was an examination of the Christian Church in Western Culture. The tag line of the book was “Believing in God but living as if he doesn’t exist.” The uncomfortable idea was that many people within the Western Christian Church led two very distinct lives. At church, and sometimes even at home, they lived as Christians. But for the rest of the time these people lived in the world as if God did not exist – and for most, they never even considered that the Christian life could be lived in any other way. It is a betrayal of the faith that the early church could not have imagined. One of the arguments of the early church was whether or not it was possible be a Christian and deny Christ under threat of death. Many Christians believed that the answer to that question was no – and they died a martyr’s death for their faith. But to deny Christ as just a part of daily life would have been simply unthinkable.

And yet that is often exactly what we do. We go to church, sing the songs and pray the prayers. We take part in the divine liturgies of the historical church that have been carefully designed to draw us into the presence of God. And yet, when we leave the church we often leave all of that belief behind – until the time comes for us to put on our “Sunday-go-to- meeting-clothes” once more, and return to the sanctuary to repeat the liturgies that we had left behind the week before. We desire to be people of two worlds – within the church we recognize that our belief in Christ saves us. And because we are saved, we think we can then leave God’s sanctuary and move into world and behave as the world demands.

It is apparently not a new phenomenon. Jeremiah looked at his own culture, 600 years before the birth of Christ, and saw his people doing the exact same thing. They gathered in the temple on the holy days and brought their sacrifices; they gathered weekly in their synagogues to hear the Word of God and participate in their liturgies – and then they left these holy places behind and went on with their daily lives as if God did not exist. It did not seem strange to them to worship at the Altar of God and then move out into the world to worship at the altar of Ba’al. But it was not just the worship of foreign gods that was at issue. The people walked out of the temple and believed that they could actively go against the directives of their God – and still be safe.

And Jeremiah wants them to examine that belief. The reality is that to follow that kind of pattern was to only partially believe in God. But the God of Israel is Jealous God – and he demands not just part of us – but all of us.

We grow in faith, sometimes our behavior does not quite measure up. We are like a child who needs to learn what it is to live the faith. But belief is never a gradient. Either we do – or we don’t. And the reality is that if we belief fully, sin – although still sometimes a part of our lives – is never a welcomed part. And when we fall short, we experience a greater pain than we would have if our belief was either partial or non-existent. And it is that pain over the sin in our lives, and in our world, that is the proof of our faith – proof of our full belief in Christ.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 8

Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. – Jeremiah 26:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 17, 2014): Jeremiah 26

Isaac Asimov postulated in his “Foundation” series that the future could be mathematically discovered. While the individual future actions of a single person might be forever enshrouded in mystery, Asimov believed the future of large groups could be plotted fairly accurately. That was, unless there was an anomalous person that stood outside of the process and had the power to change the future. For Asimov, the future was more analogous to the movement of a river – you may not be able to predict the exact movement of each drop of water, but you can know with remarkable accuracy the path that the river is going to take.

One of the open questions in theology is this – how much is God moved by our actions? It is a question that impinges on so many other issues. Does God know everything about the future? Does God ever change his mind? How much do our prayers influence God? And if there is an area of theology in which I stand with the minority, this is probably the issue. I believe that God is a very passionate and responsive God. Every story in the Bible seems to carry a promise for those who dare to follow him – and a warning for those who don’t. I believe that prayer is effective. I know that prayer often changes me; that it has a very real effect on my priorities, but I also believe that sometimes my prayers change God. And sometimes God even changes his mind. Does that mean that maybe God doesn’t know the future? I suspect that Asimov’s thoughts might be appropriate. But in the case of God, I think it is possible that he not only knows the path of the river, but he also knows all of the possible paths for each drop of water, but maybe not the precise one that the drop will eventually take.

And that seems to be the direction that this passage takes. God indicates to Josiah that his mind is made up. In spite of the good things that the King had done, God was going to send Judah into exile. But the likelihood is that this communication between God and Jeremiah took place at an earlier time – at a time when God genuinely was not sure what was going to happen next. The likelihood is that Judah’s exile was on its way. That is definitely the way that the river was flowing. But maybe there was a chance that the nation would respond to Jeremiah’s words. Maybe Jeremiah could be one of the special ones that could change the course of a raging river. And maybe Judah would turn from her ways and return to the ways of God. And if they would do that, than God says that he would turn from the course of action that he had decided to take with the nation.

For me, passages like this one just indicate the depth of the passion of God. He is moved by our actions, and he is even willing to change his mind. And there is nothing wrong with that. It in no way limits God. It does stand as a testimony of how much God cares for us – and the influence that we have with the one who created us.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 7

Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard and trample down my field; they will turn my pleasant field into a desolate wasteland. – Jeremiah 12:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 16, 2014): Jeremiah 12

Ken Blanchard, the author of “The One Minute Manager” has said that “too many leaders act as if the sheep … their people … are there for the benefit of the shepherd, not that the shepherd has responsibility for the sheep.” In other words, too many leaders are too interested in the ways that they can be served, when they should be concentrating on how they can serve. It is a trap that too many leaders fall into. Actually, it is probably better to call these people bosses rather than leaders – a boss is more concerned about simply being at the top, but a leader is going somewhere.

Jeremiah’s words would seem to be contain a double meaning. The truth was that the nation had already experienced its share of bosses that only wanted to take from the nation. Kings like Manasseh and Amon had only wanted to take from the nation throughout their reigns – although Manasseh did have a change of heart late in his reign. And it had experienced too few actual leaders that wanted to give back (Josiah and Hezekiah would have been two of the few.) And now the nation was going to go into exile. And so the second meaning of Jeremiah’s words was not a reminder of the past, but a warning for the future. For the next few generations there would be a series of kingdoms that would want to do nothing but take. These shepherds would not care about the pasture – they would simply take what it was that they needed from it – and God’s vineyard, this place that had once flowed with milk and honey would be turned into a desolate wasteland. And none of this was what God wanted. But it had to happen because the people refused to follow God – they refused the leadership of the good shepherd.

Care for our world is part of what it means to be a good shepherd and a good leader. It means that sometimes we will have to make hard choices, but those choices are always for the benefit of the sheep. And a Christian Shepherd – or leader – will also serve. Like a good shepherd, it is not what we can take from the sheep that is important. It is what we can give. We recognize that we have a responsibility for this world in which we live – and the sheep that surround us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 26

I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.” – Jeremiah 11:19

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 15, 2014): Jeremiah 11

Sometime after 49 B.C.E., Gaius Julius Caesar developed a new constitution for the Roman Empire. His purpose was to strengthen his Kingdom. He had watched the effect that a weak government had on the nation and he wanted to set up a system of government that would allow the Empire to grow and remain healthy and strong. Caesar had three goals in mind as he set up the constitution for Rome. The first was to suppress any armed resistance out in the provinces, basically resistance in those areas of the empire that existed at a distance from Rome. The aim of the first goal was to ensure that order could be established and maintained within the borders of the Empire. The second goal was that he wanted to create a strong central government. This government would be able to instill a central purpose into the empire, rather than allowing the empire to chase after smaller and more insignificant goals. And finally, he wanted to knit together the entire empire into a single cohesive unit. The Roman Empire was to be a single entity, rather than collection of smaller nations and provinces all chasing after their own desires, run by a central political body – the Senate. To a certain extent, the U.S.S.R during the 20^th century, and maybe to bit of a lesser degree the United States, were models of the type of Government that Caesar had wanted to establish. But he also had a problem. Caesar quickly realized that there was no way that he could establish the kind of empire that he had imagined unless he was unquestionably the leader of the nation. So, in order to accomplish the goals set out in the new Constitution, Caesar had himself declared dictator for life.   

While the reasons behind the appointment of Caesar as Dictator for Life was for the strength of the Empire, much of the Senate, including even some of his supporters, began to question the future of the Empire with Julius Caesar at the helm. And so they began to plot against their leader until on March 15 (the Ides of March) in the year 44 B.C.E. Gaius Julius Caesar – historically one of the great political figures of history – was assassinated. And there is every evidence that Julius Caesar was surprised by the move against him.

Jeremiah was never a dictator of Israel. In fact, he never held political power in the nation. But he did have an influence and that was part of the problem. Those that held political power were displeased by Jeremiah’s message, and so there was a plot developed against the prophet intending to take his life. We know very little about this incident, except that the plot was hatched by the people of his own hometown. It is quite possible that some of the people involved in the plot against Jeremiah would have once counted themselves among Jeremiah’s friends. And there is no doubt that even though the plot failed, Jeremiah was hurt by the attempt.

And maybe the most important thing to know about Jeremiah is this – like Julius Caesar, all Jeremiah wanted to do was to strengthen the nation. He wanted good to happen to his country and his friends, but he understood that good often only happened when hard problems are confronted and when hard decisions are made.

Most of us want to change something about ourselves or about the situation we find ourselves in. But we can never assume that change is easy. It isn’t. And confronting the demons, even in just our own lives, is going to upset some of the people around us. They are going to try to convince us that the change we are making is unnecessary. But we remember the people that are willing to sacrifice for good; the ones that stand up against the crowd and say that we are going to follow this path no matter what others might say or do. It is the stance of a hero – and the world definitely needs more heroes.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 12

To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. – Jeremiah 6:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 14, 2014): Jeremiah 6

On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart only 73 seconds into its flight, killing all of the crew members onboard. The cause of the failure of the Challenger was determined to be a defective O-ring seal. The O-ring failed at liftoff, and while none of the observers knew it, as Challenger was lifting off of the ground a more deadly countdown had already started. The reality is that even if the experts at NASA had realized what was happening at the time of the O-ring failure at liftoff, there was really nothing that could be done to stop the disaster.

But that has not stopped armchair analysts from wondering ever since the days of Challenger if there was something that should have done. Specifically the question has been, were there warning signs of the disaster that we should have noticed, but didn’t? With the incredible history of the Space Program, was there a relaxation of safety procedures? And there have been those that in hindsight have pointed to several things that should have warned us that a disaster was on its way. But the accusation is that those in charge simply refused to listen to the warnings.

Of course, this is not a new phenomenon. Every time disaster strikes, someone looks back at the situation and points out the warning signs that we should have observed, but for some reason at the time were not believed to be credible. The Challenger Disaster, the Bombing of Pearl Harbor at the beginning of World War II and the tragic events of 9/11 are all entries into a journal of what some believe should have been avoidable tragedies – if only we had watched and listened for the warning signs.

But the history of avoidable tragedies is much older than even that. Jeremiah complains that the people of his day refused to listen to the warnings of the impending disaster knocking at the door of Judah – their ears were closed to the predictions of the coming disaster. Like every other disaster in history, during the days that lead up to the Judean Exile no one really believed that God would allow Judah to go into exile. But the truth is that the solid predictors of disaster, as with the Challenger Disaster, often occur too late for appropriate counter measures. We have left things too long to avoid the events that are coming - even if we are willing to listen to the warning.

That is definitely the situation with Jeremiah. During the days of Josiah, which was also the time of the beginning of Jeremiah’s reign as a prophet (Jeremiah’s prophecy began in the thirteenth year of Josiah [Jeremiah 1:2] and at the time both Jeremiah and Josiah would have been barely into their 20’s), God had already said that the disaster that was to come to Judah was already set up – and even the good king Josiah could do nothing to change the impending disaster. And if Josiah could not change it, neither could Jeremiah. But although the deadly countdown had begun for Judah – Jeremiah wanted to make sure that the people understood why the exile was coming – and also understand that if they had listened to the words of the prophets that had preceded him, even this disaster could have been avoided.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 11

 

“Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not destroy you completely.” – Jeremiah 5:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 13, 2014): Jeremiah 5

William Shakespeare wrote in his comedy “The Merchant of Venice” that -

The quality of mercy is not strain'd.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.

It is almost a perfect description of the character of mercy. It does not work if it is forced. Mercy is a gentle shower that falls on us. And I love the Shakespeare’s concept of mercy as being twice blessed, blessing both those on the receiving end of mercy and those on the giving end. It would seem that we are no closer to the character of God than when we extend mercy.

There is no reason that God should not have destroyed Judah.  According to Nahum, God had promised to make a full end of Nineveh (Nahum 8.) There is absolutely no reason that God should stop his hand with Judah – and yet that is precisely what Jeremiah says God will do. It is one of the most predictive passages in scripture, one nation is exterminated and the other is brought to the verge of extinction only to be extended mercy and allowed to come back to life.

True mercy is only available from God. But mercy also needs a human conduit to work through. For Judah, even though the Babylonians brought the exile, there was mercy. The people were taken away, but they were also protected by Babylon. The Babylonians educated them and allowed the Jewish people to play significant roles in their government. And in the reign of the Persians, that mercy that started with Babylon was brought to its full effect by the Persians as Judah was sent back home. But the other side of the reality is that there was no one there to extend that same kind of mercy to Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians simply disappeared from the pages of history.

Mercy flows, it drops like a gentle shower. First it flows from the hand of God onto our lives. But mercy is never complete until it flows out of our lives and onto the lives of those around us. And in that moment we are the ones who are truly twice blessed, because in that moment we are both the ones who have received mercy, and the ones who have given it away.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 6

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done—burn with no one to quench it. – Jeremiah 4:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 12, 2014): Jeremiah 4

There is a bit of a misconception that the Hebrew Bible can be characterized by idea of the law, and that the Christian Bible can be said to be characterized by the idea of grace. The conception is that the premiere idea presented in the Hebrew Bible is that of the bringing of the sacrifice into the temple, that it is just this following of the rules that matters to God. And so the people of Israel came faithfully (sometimes) to the temple to present their sacrifices and fulfill the dictates of the Law of Moses.

But the reality is twofold. The first thing that we often miss is that in this sacrifice there is grace. The law in the Hebrew Bible is not devoid of the idea of grave – it is a means to obtain it. Israel did not do as they were supposed to do, they continually fell short of the behavior that God wished for them. It started in the Garden when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit and has continued down through human history. What was needed was grace – and the sacrifice of the Law of Moses was just a way of obtaining that required Grace.

The other thing that we often miss is that the law was actually a response in and of itself. The end that God desired of his children was never the law, rather, it was a people who would willingly chase after what was good and right. Often we want to ask why God would have placed the forbidden tree in the Garden in the first place – but the answer is fairly easy. As God gifted us with the ability to choose, we needed to have something that we could choose that was wrong – enter the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the forbidden fruit. The idea was that if we were to be worthy of God, we would need to be able to put behind us the thoughts and affections of things that went against God. But we failed the test, and the law entered into our experience as a way for us to find our way back to God - as a way of proving on a small basis that we were able to serve something beyond our own wants and desires.

The mark of Israel was that the males would all be circumcised on the eighth day. It marked them as a people that at least on some level wanted to chase after the things of God. To the non-Abrahamic nation, circumcision was a detestable act. But for the people of God, it was symbol of everything that they desired to be in God. But circumcision was never supposed to be the end. It was simply part of the Law of God, given through Moses, because of the way that the human race had failed. What God really wanted, and had always wanted, was that we would learn to choose well; life over death, light over darkness, God over whatever other things this world might offer. And this is what God calls the circumcision of the heart.

God is still asking us to learn to choose well – asking us to circumcise our hearts - not our bodies. But unlike the people of Jeremiah’s day, he has also given to us his Spirit to help us with the task. With his help we are able to choose, life, light and God. We really can choose well.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 5

The LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. – Jeremiah 3:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 11, 2014): Jeremiah 3

Donald Rumsfeld, the former United States Secretary of Defense, once commented on the challenges of taking over such an important position. According to Rumsfeld, you start with a “visit with your predecessors from previous administrations. They know the ropes and can help you see around some corners.” Then it is simple. “Try to make original mistakes, rather than needlessly repeating theirs.” Okay, maybe it isn’t that simple. It seems that that is one of the biggest challenges that we face in life. A person once commented to me that they cannot learn from others; that they have to make their own mistakes. I hope that that is an exaggeration because I am not sure that life is long enough for us to make all of our own mistakes. And it would seem that a major key to personal success is the ability to learn from the mistakes of others. Maybe a better adage is that “mistakes are meant for learning, not repeating.”

And that is the issue at the heart of this portion of Jeremiah. The people of Israel, whether they were residents of the Northern Kingdom of Israel or the Southern Kingdom of Judah, were never outside of God’s favor, but they were also not entitled to it simply on the basis of their relationship with the patriarchs. Forgiveness had always been available for them, although there is no indication that the Northern Kingdom of Israel ever walked through that door.

But according to Jeremiah, the Northern Kingdom of Israel was more righteous than the Southern Kingdom of Judah. And the reason is that while the Northern Kingdom rebelled and paid for their rebellion by being taken into exile by the Assyrians, the Southern Kingdom had the model of the Northern Kingdom to learn from and they refused to do it. They followed the mistakes of their northern brothers, which resulted in the Southern Kingdom being carried into exile by the successors to the Assyrian Empire – the Babylonians. So, while God was not pleased with Israel’s rebellion, he was also not the least bit amused by the rebellion of the Judah when they were fully aware of the price that Israel had already paid for their acts against God.

If we take these words of Jeremiah to heart, the lesson would seem to be that God expects us to be able to learn from the mistakes of others. In fact, in the eyes of God it is a selfish and short sighted person that is not able to learn from others mistakes. We are never outside of the favor of God, but we are also not entitled to it. God’s expectation is that we will learn from the mistakes and sins of others. In the eyes of God, mistakes really are made for learning, not repeating.      

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 4

I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. – Jeremiah 2:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 10, 2014): Jeremiah 2

From the ninth century until about the fifteenth century, the political climate in Europe was dominated by feudalism. The basic idea of feudalism is was that there was a group of people who owned the land. These were the lords – and they owned all of the land. And there was another group of people who had something to offer the society, but they needed land. And so these people would enter into agreements with the Lords for the land. They would exchange what they had to offer (maybe it was food from working the land, or if they were fighters they would agree to stand in the military defense of all of the lands that were under the control of the lord. And in return they would get a piece of the land that belonged to the lord. They did not own the land – the lord did. But they would be allowed to use the land because of what they could give to the lord. Feudalism was a response to the centralized governments of the king, but a king couldn’t control all of the nation. And so in feudalism he enlisted the help of the lords who enlisted the help of those that had need of the land in order to live, and through this system the nation was controlled. But as much a feudalism represented the decentralization of the government, considering the land that was involved it is remarkable at how few lords there really were.

Jeremiah is essentially describing the feudal relationship that Israel had with God. As Jeremiah describes the word that God is communicating to him, he says that God has brought the people of Israel from Egypt into this land. And yes, we know that God had promised the land to the descendants of Abraham, but Jeremiah is clear that it is still God’s land. God brings Israel into his land. He requires a service of Israel as the price of being able to use this land that the Bible says was flowing with milk and honey. But he had not given the land to them, IT WAS STILL HIS LAND. God was the Lord who owned the land and as long as Israel fulfilled their commitments to the Lord of the land, they were welcome. But as soon as they started to defile the land, they were starting to follow a path that would eventually end with them being kicked out of the land.

This is the message that Jeremiah is trying to impress on the people. This land was not theirs. It belonged to the one that they called Lord. And the possession of the land came with a responsibility. And it was a responsibility that was not being fulfilled. What was about to happen was their fault. They were given a chance to live in a fertile basin of land on the Shores of the Mediterranean Ocean, but they had not fulfilled their responsibilities - so that they could stay. The lord of the land was going to give the land to someone else use, someone who would respect the land and respect the lord of the land.

God is still giving to us the things that are his - and we are till a people with a choice. We can take care of the gift and the responsibility, or we can defile the gift, but either way the lord of land will respond. He has to.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 3

“Alas, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” – Jeremiah 1:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 9, 2014): Jeremiah 1

There is good news for the aging of Western Culture. Apparently we are growing up. It would seem that as the people within our culture get older, so does their view of the perfect age. In an online poll completed in 2013 (the survey was performed by Harris Interactive), people were asked what they believed was the perfect age. The results of the survey are below –

            For those aged 18-36 – Best Age = 38

            For those aged 37-48 – Best Age = 49

            For those aged 49-67 – Best Age = 55

            For those older than 68 – Best Age = 67

            Overall for Men – Best Age = 47

            Overall for Women – Best Age = 53

            Overall for everyone who took the survey – Best Age = 50

I am not sure, but something tells me that this is a change in our belief structure. We have worshipped at the altar of youth for a long time – pretending that we are younger than we really are and often suffering through depression as we get older, but maybe as our culture gets older, we are beginning to recognize the good things that come with maturity. But that attitude seems to be changing in our culture – because I think it used to be that we all wanted to be in our 20’s – and we tried to stay at that magical age of 29 for as long as we could (note – that age is totally missing from the results of the survey.)

But in the days of Jeremiah, the reverse was true. His culture worshipped at the altar of experience. The older the person was, the wiser that person was considered to be and people in that culture were more likely to listen to an older person than they would a younger one. So Jeremiah is speaking about a cultural belief.  We think that Jeremiah was about 20 years old, and his response to God is that at the age of 20, Jeremiah does not believe that he has the wisdom that is necessary to speak on behalf of God. And God’s answer to Jeremiah is that this is not about you, it is about me.

I find it interesting that Jeremiah’s excuse for not wanting to be God’s messenger, that he could not speak, was exactly the same excuse that Moses used in his argument with God at the moment that God was calling him to be his messenger. Moses was 80 years old when he used the excuse with God. So that bottom line is that it does not really matter how old you are – or how far away you might be away from the perfect age – either too young or too old. We need to forget about our preconceptions about age, both in us and in others. The only question that matters is this – what is God asking me to do? 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 2

Note: Last week's message from VantagePoint Community Church (Edmonton) - "Real Meal" from the Series "The Upside Down Kingdom" is now available on the VantagePoint Website. You can find it here - http://www.vantagepointcc.org/the-upside-down-kingdom.html

I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. – Habakkuk 3:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 8, 2014): Habakkuk 3

Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Galeano once wrote that “Utopia lies at the horizon. When I draw nearer by two steps, it retreats two steps. If I proceed ten steps forward, it swiftly slips ten steps ahead. No matter how far I go, I can never reach it. What, then, is the purpose of utopia? It is to cause us to advance.” Utopia is like the pot of gold at the end of rainbow. As much as we try to get to the rainbow’s end – it simply recedes farther away from us. The attempt to reach Utopia – or our Shangri-La – is a fool’s errand because we will never get there. And yet, we are made to try and chase it down. Utopia only exists to cause us to move forward.

And that was exactly where Habakkuk found himself. He had made a plea to God himself that the penalty that was coming to Israel could somehow be avoided – that Israel could be delivered. And God’s response to the prophet was that, for this moment, Israel’s deliverance was just not possible. Everything was already in place for the nation’s downfall. In this moment, Habakkuk’s prayer could not be granted. It was not the answer that Habakkuk wanted to hear.

So the prophet describes exactly how he was feeling in this moment of God’s “no.” His heart pounded, his lips quivered and his legs shook; for the prophet it felt as if death itself had entered into the very core of his being. It was that moment of intense disappointment that we all experience at various points in our life – moments that, when we are in disappointment’s grip, we are unsure that we will be able to live to see the other side. It is the moments of our lives when we come questioning to God – why is it that you would allow this? Where is my Utopia?

Yet Habakkuk also comes to the conclusion that he will wait. God’s anger was only for the moment. Deliverance might not come on Habakkuk’s timetable, but it would come. The God of Israel would not allow his children to suffer forever. Habakkuk’s decision is that he will put one foot in front of the other and begin to chase down the time of God’s deliverance – and the Israel’s Utopia. And although that time of Israel’s deliverance may not come in the prophet’s lifetime, still this idea of Utopia would cause him, and his brothers and sisters to move forward. In that day, those responsible for holding his nation down would stumble and fall, and God would allow Israel once more to be restored. And the hope was that if they had been faithful to God during the times of defeat and oppression, they would remember to serve their God in the joyful time of deliverance – in that time when Utopia would finally move closer to the people of God than just a dream that existed on the horizon.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 1

“Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice! – Habakkuk 2:12

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 7, 2014): Habakkuk 2

Flavias Phocus Augustus (known simply as Phocas) was the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 602 C.E. until 610. C.E. Although very little is known of Phocus prior to rise to power, we do know that he took the throne away from his predecessor, Maurice, through inciting the army to rebel against the Emperor. Maurice fled Constantinople, and Phocus was crowned as emperor in his place. Then Phocus captured Maurice, who at this point was not really a political threat to Phocus, and had him and his six sons executed. A story is told of how Phocus made Maurice watch with his own eyes as each one of his sons were executed – and then finally the executioner allowed Maurice to die. This action marked the first violent change in leadership since Constantine took power of the Empire early in the 4^th century.

In the early days of his reign, Phocus was well received by the people. He lowered the taxes (which had been high during the reign of Maurice) and even garnered praise from the reigning Pope (Gregory the Great). But there were also rumors of the way that he handled those who dared to oppose him – often dealing with his opposition in a very cruel manner. (Later histories report that he killed thousands in trying to maintain his rule of the Empire, but since no histories remain from the time of his reign, and those that have survived were written by people who had a desire to blacken Phocus’ name, we are unsure of how many were really executed by the Emperor.)

But there is no doubt that Phocus’ empire was an example of one that was built on blood. Even in an Empire that was outwardly built on Christian principles (Phocus was crowned in the church of St. John the Baptist in Constantinople) the word of the prophet Habakkuk were ignored. Phocus had built an empire on the blood of his enemies – and that empire could not stand.

And it didn’t. In 608, a rebellion began in Africa against the reign of the Byzantine Emperor. By 610, the war had been brought to the door of Constantinople. Phocus’ own personal guard (including his son-in-law) defected on mass to the rebel Heraclius – and Heraclius entered the city without resistance. And when Phocus was brought into the presence of Heraclius, the new Emperor had one question for the former ruler. It was a simple one – “Is this how you rule, wretch?” We are told that Phocus simply looked up the usurper standing in his place and responded “Will you do any better?” The answer outraged Heraclius, and he personally executed Phocus on the spot, beheading him with his sword. A reign that had begun in blood, ended the same way. And a new Emperor was given the chance to “do better.”     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Habakkuk 3

They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. – Habakkuk 1:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 6, 2014): Habakkuk 1

During the early days of the 4^th Century B.C.E., Plato dominated the world of Greek philosophy. It sometimes seemed that Plato had an opinion concerning just about everything. But where the philosopher spent a lot his time was in the area of political philosophy. The ancient Greeks regarded the best form of government to be one where the best man of the culture (or men of the culture) were the ones that ruled. Unfortunately, because this form of government was not based on any kind of rule by heritage or by family (where the throne is passed from father to son), it often left an open question as to how we can know which men are the best. Plato agreed with this line of thought, but he postulated that the absolute best kind of government would be one led by a benevolent monarch – especially one led by a philosopher king. The philosopher king would be a student of wisdom and be able to discern the most beneficial actions that need to be taken on the behalf of the people. The philosopher king would be above the law (like any other monarch of the time), but he would be wise enough to limit his action to only those things that would benefit the community as a whole.

But Plato had a student named Aristotle, and although Aristotle was heavily influenced by Plato’s ideas, in this area he vehemently disagrees with his teacher. In Aristotle’s mind, the best ruler was not a wise philosopher king that stood above the law, but rather a king that lived and ruled within the boundaries of the law – a king that lived and worked under the rule of law. Aristotle postulated that the best government was one where the main responsibility of the sovereign was to defend the law of the land instead of being the one who created the law of land.

Aristotle’s model was essentially the way that the Israel had always been designed to operate. The law was given to Moses by God. But the original idea was that the Israel would be a theocracy ruled by God who would occupy the position of the benevolent monarch, but unlike the philosopher kings of Plato’s imagination, God was a wise king who has always been bound to work within the limits of the law. (One of the explanations for Jesus sacrifice was that it fulfilled the requirements of the law – something that God had to do in order to finally set us free.) When the times of earthly kings came for Israel, these kings were also bound by the rule of law – God’s law. They had no standing and no right to be agents of change for the law. And that got more than one sovereign in Israel into deep trouble – instead of being the protectors of the law, they began to want to make changes in the law - always, of course, in their favor.

So as Habakkuk begins to consider the coming reign of the Babylonians, one of the things that bothers him is that these people are a “law to themselves” – essentially that they make up the law as they go along. There is no canon or ruler of the law against which they can measure themselves. Another way of saying this is that they were a lawless people, and that their definition of what was honorable was also defined by their own actions. There was no objective requirements. And this thought terrified the prophet.

And yet, for Habakkuk, part of the mystery was that God was going to use these people to help Israel on their journey. The Babylonians may act without the rule of law, but he knew that his God did not – and that in the end, even the action of this lawless people would somehow keep the people of Israel within the law of God. He was not sure how this was going to happen, but he trusted his God enough to know that this would come to pass.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Habakkuk 2