Numbers 23:27-26:11
Phinehas was a hot-headed, spear-wielding maniac. But he was a hot-headed, spear-wielding maniac for the Lord and his zealous execution of the copulating Zimri and Cozbi saved the lives of many of God’s people. The form of his action is not one we should copy - I don’t think we should be popping a cap in the ass of every couple we see making out on the tube - but we should take note that the strength of his desire to see God honoured, and his willingness to put that desire into action, is highly commended by God. Indeed, God compares Phinehas’ actions to his own while acknowledging that His spear would have been a little larger and a little more widely used. We, or at least I, don’t really like the thought of God as a jealous executioner, as one whose anger actually leads to retributive action. I often hear people say that this doesn’t really fit with the image of God seen in Jesus and I do sympathise with that struggle. But, as we have seen in Matthew and Mark, Jesus did sack the temple, he did curse the fig-tree, he did verbally roast the Pharisees and he was, in fact, executed by God as a substitute for all of us. This violent zeal for God’s honour was profoundly present in the life of Jesus even if he ended up being the victim of it as much as its proponent. And, if we actually look at what the Israelites were doing then we too should feel a deep sense of anger about it (in the same way that we feel angry at our own sin). They were cavorting with shrine prostitutes, spilling their semen - the bodily fluid that represented their future hope - in ritual sacrifice to Baal, the Moabite god of fertility. If God didn’t do anything about such sickening prostitution of his people’s worship then could we call him just? If God just stood by while his people broke their covenant with him and sold their souls and bodies to whoever offered the most pleasure then would he really be God at all?
Luke 7:11-35
Personal transformation. That is what Jesus points to as the evidence of his Messiahship. He doesn’t point John the Baptist to how many followers he has or how many friends he has on Facebook. In fact, he doesn’t mention his own popularity at all. Jesus doesn’t mention that he has walked on water or calmed a storm. He seems remarkably unimpressed by the dramatic wonders that we may have got obsessed with. What Jesus does is indirectly quote the prophet Isaiah and show how it is being worked out in his life - and this is the outworking; suffering individuals not only being comforted but being set free, excluded people finding a family and deprived people being captured by hope. I find sometimes I can get caught up in a lot of stuff in Christian life but the key thing, the one thing I always want to come back to is loving Jesus and joining with Him in his transformation of people around me. That is the true sign of the Kingdom Come.
Psalm 38:1-12
Sometimes David is a miseryguts isn’t he? I mean, come on! Has he not heard Jesus’ “consider it pure joy when you undergo suffering for righteousness sake...”
