Today’s Scripture Reading (May 3,
2014): Ezekiel 10
I am still
having nightmares about the Toronto Raptors almost loss to the Brooklyn Nets in
Game 5 of their opening round series. To say that the Raptors won is only part
of the story. But to have watched them blow and 26 point lead halfway through
the third quarter – and a 22 point lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter
- to the point where the game was tied in the final moments and the team from
the North (We the North) finally eked out a two point win through a defensive
move in the final seconds was a scary one to watch. And as the fourth quarter
began to be played out, it was amazing to be able to physically see the fog
that had seemed to hover over the Nets for most of the game move to the side of
the Raptors. Four times in the final quarter the Raptors fouled a three point
shot producing a four point play (something I am not sure I have ever seen in
an entire game.) The confidence of the Raptors ebbed away only to be replaced
by panic. Basketball experts stress that the good thing is that the Raptor
players learned a valuable lesson without actually losing the basketball game.
And the way that things were going, a loss could have easily been a Raptor
reality.
But this, in
a number of ways, is simply life. It does not seem to take us long to go from
the top of the world to life in the pits. Everything is interconnected, and a
slide in one area of our lives quickly becomes a problem in another. And it
does not just happen to us. We watch as our mood starts to be reflected by
those closest to us, and then slowly creeps out to everyone that we have
contact with. The fog that once resided with us now resides with those around
us. But it isn’t just with the bad that this is true, it also concerns the
good. Smile at those around you and you might be surprised how little time it
takes before they are smiling back at you. We are designed to have an amazing
influence on each other – both in the arena of team sports and in life.
Ezekiel
describes a scene in Jerusalem. The Glory of the Lord begins to be on the move.
It rises like a fog from above the cherubim, most likely a reference to the precious
Ark of the Covenant that resided in the Holy of Holies. But this move of God
could not be confined in the most Holy place of the temple. It kept moving
until it had encompassed the entire temple – the very place where the priests
did their ministry before God. But even the threshold of the temple could not
stop God. From the temple the move of God spread out to the courts. It started
with the court of men where the Hebrew men gathered to worship and then moved
to the court of women where the women worshipped God. But even then then God
was not done. The Spirit then moves out into the court of the Gentiles.
Symbolically, Ezekiel’s vision meant that the move of God now occupied the
world, all of it and not just the Jewish portion of it.
This vision
is one that as Christians we understand to be the move of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. Jesus was clear, the gospel started with the Jews. But it could not be
contained there. While it started among the Jews, it spread into the court of
the Gentiles and the over the entire world. And this becomes our mission. We
are the ones who are to carry the message of Christ into the world because God
refuses to be contained. We are designed to be an influence for Christ in the
world, and if we really understand our place in the world, that is exactly what
we will be.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel
11
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