Today's Scripture Reading (January 8, 2024): Matthew 17
Order is essential to life. A lot
of the events in life are based on a specified order. Sometimes, we wish we
could step over the more challenging parts or the more tedious aspects of the
process, but the reality is that what comes before often sets up what comes
later. Grade one gives us the building blocks needed to succeed in grade two.
There is a process to starting a new job in which we learn what we will need to
know. When someone gives you directions to a specific place, they begin with a
known before moving on to the unknown. The order is essential.
My first day in a new high school
highlighted the importance of order. I was in Grade eleven, and my classmates
had already spent a year in this particular school. (Actually, it was a rural
K-12 school, so they had spent a lot longer in the school, but it was their
second year on this floor of the school.) I was new. And on the first day of
school, my Chemistry teacher climbed up on a lab table, making a mess. As he
climbed down, he asked one of us to grab a rag and clean up the mess. No one
moved. But the solution to the problem was not obvious, at least not to me. Grabbing
a rag and cleaning up the mess required knowing where to find a rag. At the
time, it was something that my classmates knew that I didn't know. As a result,
I couldn't respond. The order was essential. Sometimes, we can't respond
because the task has been presented to us out of order.
My new Chem teacher was not
impressed. He walked over to me, stuck his finger in my chest, and argued, "That
is what I call personalized laziness. You get the rag and clean up the mess."
But the command from my new teacher didn't help my problem. I still didn't know
where to find a rag. Someone had to supply the answer to my question before I
could do as my teacher had ordered.
According to the prophets, the
apostles understood that Elijah, who didn't die but was taken up to heaven in a
whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11), would make an appearance before the coming of the
Messiah. The clearest example of this teaching is found in the prophecy of
Malachi.
See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you
before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents
to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or
else I will come and strike the land with total destruction (Malachi
4:5-6).
The
apostles' question reveals the emerging trust that they had placed in Jesus.
They were becoming certain that Jesus was the Messiah, the Promised One for
whom all of Israel had been waiting. But if Jesus was the Messiah, then what
happened to Elijah? Is it possible that Malachi was wrong?
In
response, Jesus points to John the Baptist. Elijah had already come. The
prophesied order had been preserved and now was the time for the Day of the
Lord, the day of the dawning of the Messiah.
Tomorrow's Scripture
Reading: Mark 9
See Also Mark 9:11
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