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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Monday, August 8, 2022
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :O Jerusalem Bible Verse:Matthew 23:37-39 (ESV) "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” Matthew 24:1-2 (ESV) Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”" Message:
If you look at Matthew 23 from beginning to end, this final section shows a definite change in tone. Christ has been chastising the Pharisees in the harshest possible language; but He does not sound angry here. He sounds wistful; He is sorry about something.
The construction of the opening reminds us of King David, whose son Absalom led an armed rebellion against him and was killed. Even though Absalom's treason required his death at the hands of David's army, he still mourned the death of his son:
O my son, Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!
Would I had died for you, O Absalom, my son, my son! (2 Samuel 18:33)
In the section just before today's passage, Matthew 23:29-36, Christ condemned the Pharisees, holding them guilty for the murder of God's prophets centuries before, calling them “snakes and vipers” and asking how they expect to escape hell. And yet, despite all that, He cannot help but let His love show for them. Christ does not want anyone to go to hell for their sins, even the worst of sinners: the Pharisees and their colleagues, who had spilled the blood of the prophets, who had killed God's very messengers and would soon kill Christ himself.
Monkeys battling snails from Illuminated Hymnal
Jewish literature often used the metaphor of a hen gathering chicks under her wings as a symbol of God protecting those who were faithful to Judaism. Christ might even be referencing an apocryphal book, 2 Esdras 1:30-33, wherein Ezra wrote: “I gathered you as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. But now, what shall I do to you? I will cast you out from my presence. . . . I sent to you my servants the prophets, but you have taken and slain them . . . . Your house is desolate.”
The underlying message in this teaching is that the covenant with the Jews is ended. Indeed, Christ seems to be speaking as (or for) God the Father in the first paragraph, for He is announcing that Jerusalem will no longer be a holy city. Jerusalem will be left to the Pharisees desolate; God will be gone from it. (And, in fact, the Temple building will be physically destroyed by the Romans before too long, never to rise again.)
Then, He speaks as Christ again. He follows “your house is left to you desolate” with the words for “you will not see me again until . . .” This can only mean one thing. He is the new Temple. God's “temple”, the place where the salvation of humanity dwells, is changing from a building in Jerusalem to the body of God made man, Jesus Christ. Both of them will be “torn down”, but Christ's body will rise again and then leave Jerusalem. And the Jews — like everyone else — will not see the Temple again until Christ's second coming.
Meditation : Prayer : May it please you, my good Lord, that there may come a day when I can repay a little of my great debt to you. O Jesus, strengthen my soul, you who are good above all good; and since you have inclined my soul in this way, show me how I may act for you, whatever it may cost, O Lord. Here is my life, my honor and my will; I have given them all to you and they are yours: use me to do whatever you want.......Amen |
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