Monday, April 13, 2015

His depth

today's readings: Joshua 7:16-9:2, Luke 16:1-18, Psalm 82:1-8, Proverbs 13:2-3

so Jesus tells one of His more puzzling parables today. i like it when He does, because it demonstrates the authenticity of the Gospels... sometimes they make you scratch your head, and i think they did the same thing to the apostles. even when you've heard them hundreds of times, you find yourself having to dig deep to get at what Jesus was saying.

he tells the story of a man who is being fired, so he calls in the people who owe his employer money and gives them a break on their debts. now that i put it like that, His message becomes clearer... He is telling us to forgive people's debts. He might even be telling us that we can, in His name, forgive sins. yes, there is the surface meaning... that we should be wise like the children of this world. but He does go on to "breathe on His disciples and tell them whatever sins they forgive are forgiven, and whatever sins they retain are retained." it makes you wonder if this parable was maybe a foreshadowing of that event?

in any case, teaching us to forgive debts as we forgive our Debtor is a good thing.

God, thank you for your bottomless depth and wisdom that we can spend lifetimes exploring and never exhaust.

2 comments:

Julie said...

Excellent analogy of the NT reading. Now in the Old Testament God tells us of the consequences for failure to follow his laws. Hummmmmm. I am glad we are governed by the NT BUT......we have moved so far away from consequences that we have become a lawless country.. Our focus has to return to the laws of the land, rights of the unborn, and living the life of self control that made this country what it was. Rights of this group or rights of that group have weakened and altered the will/laws of God. God knew us before we were born......pray for unborn babies God has created.

Cherie L. Fleming-Pearce said...

Amen!