Revbradbarton
Rev. Brad Barton is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Thursday, June 27, 2024 - Week 31 (Year “B”) Reading for Today - John 6:60-71
Verses for Reflection - John 6:66-67
66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?”
Reflection:
Yesterday, I presented some difficult questions posed by the text. In the first verse of today’s reading—verse 60—many of Jesus’ followers said to Him, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”
I can’t tell for sure if what happened in verse 66—many of Jesus’ followers deserted Him—was the result of what Jesus said yesterday about eating His flesh and drinking His blood or the result of Jesus’ response to those followers asking Jesus who could accept His difficult teaching.
For today’s reflection, it doesn’t matter.
For today, I want to focus on the reality that we STILL—today—encounter words of Jesus that challenge us, words of Jesus that are difficult for us to hear/accept. Some of them are the same words those early followers found difficult. Some are likely more difficult for people in our time than they were for people of Jesus’ time.
And I want to focus today on what we DO when we encounter such difficult texts.
In my experience, a great many Christians simply gloss over and ignore the difficult texts. They read the Bible and hone in on the words that fit with their beliefs while seemingly ignoring the challenging stuff. Maybe that’s better than deserting Jesus, but, I wonder if it is. It sounds to me like a way of making Jesus out to be someone different than who He was, making Jesus out to be whoever we want Jesus to be. If we do that, we’re actually making a god out of ourselves and our own desires; we’re creating our own personal religion and calling it the religion of God. Yikes! We definitely don't want to do that. And I truly believe most Christians are Christians because they want to follow Jesus. The glossing over the difficult stuff isn’t intentional; it’s just easy. However, the results are just as disastrous, even if the intent is not.
What does all this mean for us? To me, it means we’ve got to confront the difficult stuff, the difficult words. We’ve got to wrestle with the difficult words, take them to God, and allow God to reshape us out of the difficult words. Otherwise, we don’t enter into God’s kingdom; rather, we remain in a kingdom of our own making, a kingdom in which we rule while pretending we allow God to rule.
So I encourage you today to imagine Jesus asking His question in verse 67 of you: “Do you also wish to go away?”
Reflection Task for the Day:
Prayerfully reflect on your answer to Jesus’ question to those early disciples. When Jesus says something that you don’t like or that doesn’t fit with your beliefs about Him, do you want to go away from the true Jesus, or do you want to stick around, let Jesus be Jesus, and allow yourself to be changed so that you follow (and come to reflect) the real Jesus instead of a Jesus who imitates or follows you?
Have a blessed day,
Brad
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 - Week 31 (Year “B”) Reading for Today - John 6:52-59
Verses for Reflection - John 6:52-57
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day, 55 for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.
Reflection:
“Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life…”
“…my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”
Well, this is weird.
It sounds like cannibalism! If you don’t think anyone could read or hear these words and think it sounds like cannibalism, consider this. You’ve probably heard that the Roman government persecuted early Christians, but did you know why? Historians claim that at least one of the reasons the Romans persecuted early Christians is that the Romans accused the Christians of cannibalism. Why? Words like this certainly contributed. Combine these words with the Words of Institution—“Take, eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26, NRSVUE)—and it’s difficult to imagine how outsiders could think anything other than that the early Christians were cannibals.
But…we do NOT think we’re cannibals. Why?
Let’s say you believe the communion elements become the literal body and blood of Jesus after they are blessed and before you partake…how is that not cannibalism?
Let’s say you don’t believe the communion elements become the literal body and blood of Jesus after they are blessed and before you partake…how do you reconcile this belief with Jesus' words in today's reading?
For today's reflection, I do not intend to provide answers but rather ask the questions I believe today’s text demands us to consider and reflect upon.
Reflection Task for the Day:
Prayerfully reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ words today. Did Jesus tell us to literally eat of His body and drink of His blood in order to obtain eternal life? If not, what did He mean? And how can we discern accurately when Jesus spoke literally versus when He spoke figuratively? Be sure to answer these questions in prayerful consultation with God’s Holy Spirit.
Have a blessed day,
Brad
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 - Week 31 (Year “B”) Reading for Today - John 6:47-51
Verses for Reflection - John 6:47-51
47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Reflection:
This sounds a lot like a rehash of elements from earlier in Jesus’ conversation with this crowd of people. Specifically, this sounds like a rehash of John 6:30-35, which I reflected upon on Sunday. Sure, there are a few changes. Now, Jesus is talking specifically to some religious leaders in the crowd instead of to the whole crowd. Now, Jesus says clearly what He had already implied by connecting the “bread of life” with “eternal life” and “will live forever.” Still, none of these changes significantly modify what Jesus said before or what I reflected upon before.
There is one thing I didn’t address before that stands out to me now: Jesus’ use of the word “believe”: “Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.”
It looks like “belief” is the key to this “eternal life” thing (that I’m pretty sure all of us Christians desire.) But, what does the word that gets translated as “believes” mean?
Every time I read it, I am fascinated by the translators’ decisions about how to translate this (Greek) word into English. Sometimes, they translate the word as “trust,” sometimes as “faith,” and sometimes as variations of “believe.” I’m not sure we English speakers consider these words to mean the same thing. Personally, I prefer the translation “trust” because it gets to the heart of the matter. If we trust in Jesus, our trust in Him changes the way we live. For many Christians I’ve known, belief doesn’t require the same kind of change in living/acting/speaking. If we trust Jesus. We’ll live the way He told us to live. Trust (and faith) requires action much more so than belief requires action. In fact, looking at this passage, I wonder what would happen if I asked God every day to reveal to me who or what my actions that day demonstrated trust in. Oftentimes, it's probably not Jesus. Sometimes it’s myself. Sometimes it’s my job. Sometimes it's money. Sometimes it's family members. Sometimes it’s hobbies, television shows, video games, or even the internet. (If I spend the bulk of my “free” time giving attention to these things, surely I am trusting them for something.)
Oh…there’s one more thing about the way Jesus used the word that gets translated as “believes” in today’s passage. The translators write the word as a non-participle present form of the verb, but that is NOT true of the Greek usage. In Greek, as best as I can tell, the word appears as a present participle, and should be translated as “believing” or “trusting” or “faithing.” Why does this matter? Quite simply, the participle form of the verb describes constant action, not a one-time thing. You could believe for one moment in time. You cannot be believing for one moment in time. If the translators would translate this sentence using the present participle form of the verb, there would be less confusion about what Jesus meant.
Reflection Task for the Day:
Perform the activity I suggested in my reflection. For at least a week—I'd recommend aiming for at least a month with the option to keep it going for the rest of your life—pick a time every single day to ask God to reveal to you by the actions and words of your life (the preceding 24 hours) in whom/what you are placing your trust. On days when God reveals you are not placing your trust in the Triune God—Father, Son, or Holy Spirit—ask God to give you the strength in the coming day to make the necessary changes to place your trust in God again.
Have a blessed day,
Brad
Monday, June 24, 2024 - Week 31 (Year “B”) Reading for Today - John 6:41-46
Verses for Reflection - John 6:41-44
41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day.
Reflection:
“They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’”
This is so interesting. If Jesus didn't say He came down from Heaven, the Jewish leaders would have said—I’m pretty sure they did say this before Jesus said in their presence that He had come down from Heaven—Jesus had no authority to say or do the things He did. Alternatively, if Jesus said He came down from Heaven, the religious leaders argued that His humanity—known well by them and a great many people—objectively nullified the possibility.
In other words, it looks like the religious leaders were so dedicated to protecting their own power/authority that they would reject Jesus no matter what He said. That’s important. Once you see a person or group doing this kind of thing, it’s time to discount what that person or group says (at least about the topic at hand.)
It’s also important because it's a reminder of something that’s as relevant today as it was then, something called confirmation bias. Wikipedia defines confirmation bias as “the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values.” That’s what those religious leaders were doing, right? They held prior beliefs that Jesus was at best a nobody and at worst a blasphemer, so they interpreted everything Jesus did/said through that lens. We’ve got to be very careful with this in our faith-lives. It’s so easy to see everything in the Bible and the world through the lens of confirming what you already believe instead of truly being open to whatever God seeks to reveal to you. Our task is to keep our minds open to whatever revelation God offers.
“No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me…”
I want to touch on this just briefly. Doesn’t it sound like predestination? Doesn’t it sound like God has chosen whom to draw into the fold of the people of God and whom to keep out?
Maybe…but not likely. Jesus only used this word/expression of drawing people to Him/God in one other place, in John 12:32. In that place Jesus expressed that He would seek to “draw all people to [Him]self.” The way I read this, God’s action is to seek to draw all people to Jesus—and therefore God—but people still bear some responsibility in accepting God's action.
Reflection Task for the Day:
Prayerfully reflect on the extent to which you are open to whatever God reveals to you (when you read the Bible, pray, talk about faith with friends, listen during sermons and Bible studies, etc.) versus holding onto your current beliefs. If you tend to hold tightly to whatever you believe right now, ask God to help you remember what your faith was like when you were a child compared to what it looks like now. Has your faith changed/matured? How did that come about? Ask God to help you remain open to whatever God communicates to you instead of clinging to what you already believe.
Have a blessed day,
Brad
Sunday, June 23, 2024 - Week 31 (Year “B”) Reading for Today - John 6:22-40
Verses for Reflection - John 6:30-35
30 So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us, then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Reflection:
Jesus is "the bread of life." I'm sure you've heard this before; I've heard it for most of my life. But...what does it mean?
I ask because I know that Jesus is not literally bread. Literally, Jesus was a person who walked the Earth almost two thousand years ago. Literally, Jesus was also more than just a person; He was "God with us," whatever that means. I don't fully understand it, but I "get" that Jesus could be both human and “God with us.” I don’t see how Jesus could also literally be “bread.” So…what's this about?
Fortunately, Jesus told us in these verses. The crowd that had followed Jesus from one side of the lake to the other asked Jesus for a sign...which is interesting because Jesus had just performed a sign for them, a miraculous feeding (of the 5,000) with bread. Jesus even told the members of the crowd they were only “looking for [Him]…because [they] ate [their] fill of the loaves” (John 6:26, NRSVUE.) They even then referenced Moses giving their ancestors bread from heaven in the wilderness journey of Exodus.
My point is that bread was on their minds, so Jesus used that to make His point.
And His point was relatively simple: “For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Given the context, this is clearly a metaphor.
Notice, there are two definitional requirements of the “bread of life.” (Note also that neither has anything to do with yeast, flour, or water—the essential ingredients in literal bread.) The requirements are: (1) it must come down from Heaven, and (2) it must give life to the world.
Only Jesus fulfills these requirements.
It's worth considering what it means that Jesus fulfills these requirements. Requirement #1: Jesus came down from Heaven. This claim ends up getting Him in trouble with the Pharisees. It’s another way of saying Jesus is “God with us”; it’s also another way of saying Jesus is divine. What does it mean for you that Jesus is more than just a man, just another prophet, or even the best ever teacher about God and God’s desires? It means quite a lot to me; most importantly, it means God knows—through Jesus—what it's like to be one of us, so God can better relate with us and understand our dreams, our doubts, our fears, and our temptations. Requirement #2: Jesus gives life to the world. This one is interesting. When I look around, I don’t see very much receiving of “life” going on in the world today. This gets me thinking that Jesus makes an offer of life to us now that isn’t fully realized until later. It could be realized now…if we would do a better job of following Jesus. But it gives me hope for something better—whatever is meant by this kind of “life”—in the future.
Reflection Task for the Day:
Prayerfully reflect on what it means to you that Jesus is “the bread of life.” Does it matter at all that Jesus came down from Heaven? Does it matter at all that Jesus gives life? Do you feel like you've experienced/received this “life” Jesus gives/offers? Would you like to? Be sure to ask God what God wants it to mean for you that Jesus is the bread of life, and be sure to ask God what you must do to receive the life Jesus offers.
Have a blessed day,
Brad
Saturday, June 22, 2024 - Week 30 (Year “B”) Reading for Today - Ezekiel 2:1-5
Verses for Reflection - Ezekiel 2:1-5
2 He said to me: “O mortal, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you.” 2 And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. 3 He said to me, “Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day. 4 The descendants are impudent and stubborn. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ 5 Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.
Reflection:
Sometimes, God calls us to go to seemingly unfathomable places to do seemingly unfathomable things. That's the point of my reflection today.
But, first, let’s back up.
These words begin the second chapter of Ezekiel. In the first chapter, we learn some very important context. Ezekiel was one of God’s people exiled to Babylon before the fall of Jerusalem. While in exile, God granted Ezekiel a rather startling vision of the Heavenly throne room, complete with some unsettling four-faced “living creatures” next to some wheels, each constructed like “a wheel within a wheel” and having a rim “full of eyes all around.” Such a vision would freak me out! Ezekiel was overwhelmed…but not by these creatures or these wheels within wheels. At the end of the chapter, Ezekiel saw “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord” and promptly “fell on [his] face.” While on the ground, Ezekiel “heard the voice of someone speaking.” It is that voice—presumably the voice of God but not quite identified as such by chapter 2, verse 1—that speaks to Ezekiel in our reading today.
The voice—God, I will presume—tells Ezekiel, “Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel…” Imagine being Ezekiel and hearing that. You're in exile, about 450 miles of difficult terrain away from Jerusalem, and God tells you God is sending you back to Israel to deliver a message to God’s people…who are so stubborn that they probably won’t listen to you.
I’d have some serious questions at this point. How am I going to get free from my captors? How am I going to find transportation to take me back to the Promised Land? Will I be traveling alone, or will I have the company of some people with the necessary skills to get me where I’m going and to protect me? How will I/we get the resources we need—food and water, for starters—to make such a difficult and months-long journey? Oh, and is it really worth it to risk so much just so the Israelites will “ know that there has been a prophet among them”?
Sometimes, God calls us to seemingly unfathomable places to do seemingly unfathomable things. Maybe God won't call me to travel in the strange ways God called Ezekiel to travel, but God has and will call me to go to places I would not have gone on my own. God may even call me to go to places to which I don’t want to go. God may want me to speak to people to whom I don’t want to speak or to say things I fear might get me harmed or killed…or at least put me in a position to be ridiculed. But, here's the thing; if it’s God calling me to go places, do things, and say things, can I refuse?
Actually, the answer is “yes.” You/we/I can always refuse. We can always choose to go our own way or some way other than God's way. We really can. But my question is a different one; it’s not about whether or not I have the option of choosing against God; it’s about whether or not I should choose against God. It’s about whether or not I can be a person of God without doing what God calls me to do.
I would suggest it’s best for all of us people of God to do some serious soul-searching before we receive God’s call to go somewhere, do something, or say something that we would not otherwise be inclined to go or do or say. We should also be constantly asking God to give us the strength to do what God wants us to do instead of what we want to do. And we should be constantly asking God to help us know God’s desires. These days, God provides God’s Spirit within us, so we may not receive a vision of a heavenly throne room when God calls; we may simply hear the voice of God’s Spirit nudging us, urging us. We must practice listening to God’s Spirit so we will hear.
Reflection Task for the Day:
Create a prayer you can say daily. Make it a prayer asking God to help you prepare to: (1) listen for and hear God’s Spirit and (2) have the strength/will to do whatever God’s Spirit urges you to do. Once you’ve created the prayer, begin to pray it daily.
Have a blessed day,
Brad
Friday, June 21, 2024 - Week 30 (Year “B”) Reading for Today - Lamentations 3:19-33
Verses for Reflection - Lamentations 3:19-24
19 The thought of my affliction and my homelessness� is wormwood and gall!
20 My soul continually thinks of it� and is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind,� and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,� his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;� great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,� “therefore I will hope in him.”
Reflection:
These verses provide an important—even life-changing—truth.
When we face affliction or any kind of difficulty, our soul is tempted to “continually think of” that affliction/difficulty. I take this to mean we are tempted to focus all the energy and attention of our lives on the thing(s) or person that troubles us.
But that’s NOT helpful; as the author reminds us, “The thought of my affliction …is wormwood and gall!” In case you’re not familiar with the expression, “wormwood and gall” is an expression denoting bitterness and even poison/venom; in other words, focusing our attention on our affliction poisons us!
With the words of verses 19-20, the author describes the downward spiral that accompanies affliction and difficulty. It’s not a good place to be.
But, what can we do amidst affliction other than focusing on the affliction and experiencing the bitterness of the affliction?
The author provides the only answer that actually works: focus on God and God’s love for you!
Focusing on God and God’s love stops the downward spiral. It even gives “hope.”
But…when you start spiraling downward, how can you remember to turn to God and snap out of it? Practice! That’s the only thing that works. Intentionally spend time daily—when you’re not spiraling downward—focusing on God. Spend time daily recalling examples of God’s goodness and God's love. Spend time daily giving thanks for all God has done for you. Read the scriptures, and look for passages that help you remember God’s love; write them down somewhere, so you can turn to them when difficulties arise. Then, you’ll be ready.
Reflection Task for the Day:
Start today doing what I outlined above. Set aside time each day to intentionally focus on God and remember specific examples of God demonstrating God’s love for you. Read scripture daily; while doing so, look for passages that remind you of God’s steadfast love and write them down somewhere in a notebook you keep for whenever difficulties arise. Add to your remembrance and your notebook daily. When difficulties arise, you’ll be ready to focus on God and God’s love instead of what troubles you.
Have a blessed day,
Brad
Thursday, June 20, 2024 - Week 30 (Year “B”) Reading for Today - Jeremiah 33:14-16
Verses for Reflection - Jeremiah 33:14-16
14 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
Reflection:
“The Lord is our righteousness.” “This is the name by which it will be called."
So…what/who is the “it” that will be called “the Lord is our righteousness?”
Is it the “righteous Branch”? Or is it Jerusalem? Or is it something/someone else?
Unsurprisingly, various translations disagree; yes, the translations, not the interpretations of we who read the translations. Some translations read “it,” while others read “she.” If “she” is the correct translation, the phrase “the Lord is our righteousness" must refer to Jerusalem (and by extension, the Church…which is the ongoing people of God who follow the Messiah.) Why is it so confusing? Apparently, the pronoun in the original Hebrew can go either way. I’ve read from scholars who demand the word must be translated as “her,” and I've read from scholars who demand the word must be translated as either “it” or in the masculine form—“him”—when affixed to the verb as it is in this case.
The better question is this: Does it matter?
I will argue that it does not.
Let’s say the reference is to Jerusalem and therefore—in our time—to Christ’s universal Church. The only way the Church will be called “The Lord is our righteousness” is if the vast majority of the people in the Church live in such a way as to demonstrate that we follow the One whom Jeremiah already called “The Lord is our righteousness” in Jeremiah 23:6. In other words, if today’s passage describes the Church as “the Lord is our righteousness” it is because the Church fully follows in the way of the One who is actually called “the Lord is our righteousness.”
That's why it doesn't matter. Whether this is a reference to Jesus or to those who follow Jesus, the whole point is that those who consider themselves God's people must follow and reflect the One who is called “the Lord is our righteousness.” Which gets me wondering: how are we doing?
My mind wanders to a consistent theme in Paul’s writings. Paul expressed frequently that the Church—in order to truly be Church—must be united in Christ. That doesn't mean we have to agree on every single detail/issue, but it does remind us that we must demonstrate unity in Christ in order to reflect “the Lord is our righteousness.”
When I look around and see disagreements within the Church on fundamental issues like the sanctity of life, the forgiveness of sins, the extent to which we should focus on God more so than we focus on anything else, focusing on biological families over our faith family, loving our neighbors—especially our enemies and those who disagree with us—and living out of humility instead of pride, I wonder if we follow the One who is called “the Lord is our righteousness” or if we say we do to feel better about doing whatever WE want.
Something to think about.
Reflection Task for the Day:
Ask God to show you the extent to which your life reflects Jesus as the One who is called “the Lord is our righteousness.” Do you reflect Jesus enough that others would call YOU “the Lord is our righteousness”? Ask God to show you how you can do a better job of following/reflecting Jesus in your daily life.
Have a blessed day,
Brad
Wednesday, June 19, 2024 - Week 30 (Year “B”) Reading for Today - Jeremiah 31:27-34
Verses for Reflection - Jeremiah 31:31-34
31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.
Reflection:
God grows/changes in relationship with people.
I know, it’s a controversial take to say that God can change; many Christians subscribe to the doctrine that God cannot change. Many Christians also subscribe to the doctrine that God knows everything that every person will do throughout time…before those people do anything.
I won’t say anything disparaging about those thoughts or doctrines. I will only say that my reading of the Bible leads me to disagree.
Consider today’s passage. God said through Jeremiah that God would “make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” Making a new covenant isn’t any kind of proof that God changes in relationship; I get that. As people change over time, God—without changing—could make different covenants with God’s people at different points in time simply because changed people require different covenants.
But…God then gave a reason for the change. “It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors… I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
I reflect today on the meaning of these words. God recognized the problem that God’s people broke the previous covenant. God didn’t want people to do that. So God decided to write a new covenant on their hearts. How would that help—people could still break a covenant written on their hearts as easily as they could break a covenant written on stone tablets? The answer is easy to see. God understood—God knows everything, even the thoughts of people’s minds and the desires of their hearts—that God’s people broke the covenant because the people responsible for communicating God’s desires for them misled the rest of the people. THAT is the problem God chose to solve by writing the new covenant upon—placing the Holy Spirit within—their hearts.
If God had known God’s people would break the previous covenant for that reason beforehand, what does it say about God that God gave God’s people a covenant on stone tablets to be interpreted by religious leaders who would mislead God’s people? What I’m trying to say is that the only way this makes sense is if God didn’t know that the leaders of God’s people would mislead the rest of God’s people; if God knew beforehand, God would have written the first covenant upon their hearts. So…God changed God’s approach to people in response to what God learned about people in relationship with them. Real relationship—the kind in which people are autonomous beings and not God’s marionettes—requires growth and change on both parties in the relationship, even if one of the parties is God.
Reflection Task for the Day:
Prayerfully reflect on your thoughts about whether or not God can change/grow in relationship with people. Do we impact God? Does God truly relate with us or just control us (or just leave us alone)? Are there any other options? If you can impact God in relationship with God, should you strive to do so? Why? How? If God doesn't change in relationship with people, why did God start with the old covenant and switch to a new covenant? Give God thanks for the encounter.
Have a blessed day,
Brad