Exodus 31:1-33:6
The worship of the golden calf is the sin of Adam expanded to a community level. The rebellion it represents and God’s response to it are foundational for understanding the dynamics of the covenant relationship between God and his people. Some of the foundations may surprise us. Primarily, there is no indication in this passage that God is willing to overlook this sin. Rather, we see that their idolatry must be punished and that the whole covenant deal is now in jeopardy (God will no longer go with his people). The Levites’ killing spree and the plague may sound harsh but they are God’s appropriate punishment for the idolatry of his people. They set the marker down that God is not to be mocked and that he won’t tolerate unfaithfulness. If this seems a bit of an over-reaction by God then I fear we have not really understood the offensiveness of us giving our worship to other things. Imagine a couple on honeymoon. The bride gets up on the first morning to go for a swim and takes off her wedding ring and engagement ring so she doesn’t lose them in the pool. After her swim she returns to the hotel room to find her husband having sex with the room-service maid right there in their marriage bed. And not only that, but the groom has taken his wife’s wedding ring and engagement ring and has put them on the maid and is telling this maid how glad he is to have married her and what a wonderful wife she is. This disgusting image (found in Hosea & Ezekiel) shows the horror of what God’s people are doing to Him when they look to other things for security and hope. God doesn’t just wave such things off - his blood boils at such displays of ingratitude and disrespect and he takes retributive action to stamp it out before it becomes endemic. In this action though, there is mercy - God could destroy his people straight away but he doesn’t; he gives them the opportunity to respond to his anger. They can choose to continue in their rebellion and face the consequences or they can strip off their ornaments, repent and beg Yahweh for forgiveness. What is incredibly clear is that even if the people choose to repent, it is still entirely up to Yahweh as to whether he will have anything more to do with them. We wait with bated breath to see what choices he makes...
Mark 6:30-56
These people were desperate to see Jesus - they ran around a lake to get to where he was going, they didn’t stop to get good supplies and they stayed until all the local shops had shut. Jesus responds to this desperation with compassion. (It’s interesting to note that this compassion initially causes Jesus to teach the people - how often do we regard teaching people the bible a compassion ministry! - and then, after he has given them spiritual food, he miraculously provides physical food for them.) I often wonder whether I would enjoy more of Jesus’ provision for my life if I was willing to abandon more in seeking Him. Although I like to be in his presence, I feel that I put quite a few restrictions on the manner in which I will seek him; having sufficient food and not messing with my carefully-planned time-table being two obvious ones. I feel I need to repent of this and just try to be a desperate seeker, hanging on his every word rather than expecting him to speak to me in the 20 minute slot that I’ve allotted to him. After all, Jesus’ feet treat water like concrete and his cloak is more effective than penicillin, if I was to glimpse just a little more of Him, I know I would be completely amazed.
Psalm 25:1-7
“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul” I wonder what this actually looks like? I have this image of a middle-aged woman in a slightly-too-snug leotard doing a liturgical dance move. Surely lifting up my soul has got to be more attractive than that?
