Writings
Mary and Eve
And so the man and the woman, exiled from paradise with the wilderness before them, begin to wait for a baby who will be born of a virgin in stable in Bethlehem. He will be the one who can resist the serpent’s tempting, though it strikes his heel. He will choose a death of a different sort, crushing with finality the head of the serpent, forever defeating death through dying on a tree on a hill outside Jerusalem.
Waiting
We are the people of the Resurrection living in the land of the dying, exiles like Israelites in Babylon, citizens of another Kingdom, oppressed like the Jews under Roman rule, living under a puppet king whose name is Death. And yet our hope remains in our true King who is coming soon to bring his Kingdom to bear on this fallen world and to expose Death for the lie that it is.
The Lord is King
The citizens of Israel’s monarchy sang this psalm in homage to their king who was anointed by God himself to lead and protect them. The exiles of Israel in Babylon sang it in longing, waiting for the messiah who was to come and remembering that God was still in control. We, the church of the New Covenant, can pray Psalm 2 in celebration of the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, God’s begotten Son who, for the joy set before him, endured the raging and plotting of peoples against him, and has set his kingdom, branching out from a holy hill in Zion, to make of all nations his inheritance to the ends of the earth.
Blessed is the Man
And yet even from its beginning, this psalm anticipates the only man who was perfectly blessed. The very idea of blessing in Scripture always implies the redemptive presence of God, the same presence that was realized in Mary who was called blessed among women. If you would be like this tree planted by the water, if you would follow in the way of the righteous, then you must delight yourself in the Word made flesh.
For I Shall Again Praise Him
Scattered and disjointed from one another we may find ourselves in despair; soul downcast and in turmoil. But when we gather together we are a microcosm of the Kingdom of God, a part, a picture of the whole as it will be in eternity: God’s people living in relationship with him.
That My House May Be Filled
Jesus’ parables aren’t meant as illustrations to make things easier to understand, but quite the opposite. They’re meant to wrap what are really very subversive and controversial ideas in a narrative that draws his audience in enough to make them hear him out and consider what he says rather than write it off completely. To those who are opposed to him, parables conceal these hard truths and send them away confused. But those who are bought in, who are with him, they reveal the Kingdom of God that Jesus has come to bring.
No Other Stream
Jesus doesn’t seem too worried about how many people show up to hear his sermons. He doesn’t waver from saying things that are hard to hear out of a fear that some might walk away. He even opens the door for the twelve and gives them an out if they want to take it, but Peter speaks up for all of them. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of life.”
Mammon
No matter the growth of your 401k, no matter what promises the FDIC might offer, no matter how frugally you can keep a budget, moths and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal. Your mammon can’t save you, and it makes a lousy master anyway. But over all things Christ is Lord. Make him your treasure, give him your heart, fix your eyes on his light. You will be his people, and he will be your God.