Thursday 5 May

Judges 2:6-3:31

What a gem this Ehud story is.  Not because it tells us a lot about the character of God but because it is so hilarious.  I feel like it is one of those great family legends that gets rolled out at dinner parties.  Ehud would have invited people over and served them some tasty food while Mrs Ehud would have kept the conversation going about the current state of the neighbourhood and the latest episode of “how to look good naked in an ephod”.  Then, just as the revelry had reached its optimum level, Ehud would have coughed, shifted in his seat and declared “That reminds me of when I slayed Eglon the very fat king of Moab.”  And then, no doubt, he would have rolled out the entire epic tale, dwelling on how he had spent ages making his special sword just for it to be swallowed up for ever into the inner recesses of the king’s stomach and on how the king’s servants waited “until the point of embarrassment” while they thought their master was on the bog.  These sorts of tales, while focussing on the exploits of particular individuals would have continued to reinforce the grand narrative of Israel that the Lord was working through their very hands and feet to bring about the deliverance that he had promised to their ancestors.  In the sublime and in the ridiculous God was still very happy to move.  And that remains the truth; it is the same grand narrative that arcs over all of us today.

John 4:27-42

As a brief aside from the big story that is unfolding in John, it is really interesting that Jesus stayed two days in Sychar.  We saw yesterday that Jesus was merely passing through Samaria on his way to Galilee so this is a fairly major departure from his planned itinerary.  I’m sure Jesus had plenty of really important things that he was going to be doing in Galilee but he chose to postpone those (or perhaps even scrap them) in order to press into what he saw his Father doing in Samaria.  I find this flexibility challenging.  Life seems so busy and so full that I fear I regularly surge on past Sychar and thereby miss out on seeing “many more become believers”.  If I do take some time to speak to people often I feel satisfied that I’ve given them “an encounter” - that I have helped them see something of Jesus.  But in doing this I can miss the fact that God may want me to press in further and take them to actual commitment to Jesus and, not only that, but also to see many of their friends and neighbours come to faith as well.  I need to be more willing to let God mess up my timetable.  I want to be more open to how much He actually wants to use me.

And we see here at the end of this passage the reason why the above is so important - Jesus is the Saviour of the world.  It is quite an astonishing expansion of scope in just a few chapters of John.  First Jesus offered salvation to a few men of Israel, then he shockingly included Samaritans in his call.  But he ain’t done yet.  We see in this confession of the people of Sychar that Jesus wants to rescue everyone - every single person in every single nation, regardless of their family tree.  His desire is still burning strong.  It burns for us, and it burns for the people in our midst.  Jesus wants to rescue us all.

Psalm 56:1-13

“What can mortal man do to me” is a theme that Jesus picked up “fear not man who can only damage the body but fear the one who can cast both body & soul into hell” and that Paul echoed “If God is for us then who can be against us... nothing can separate us from the love of God”.  It is a fairly major foundation for enjoying life in the kingdom.  Do we really feel free from all fear of people?  If not, then verse 3&4 call out to us; trust God, praise his word and trust God.  Then you will not be afraid.