Peter Misselbrook's Blog
Jan 21 2020 - Luke 9:51-10:12 – A paradoxical contrast

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem where he will face betrayal and death. He has “set his face towards Jerusalem”; he is determined that nothing will turn him aside from the task that the Father has sent him to accomplish. He is determined to go to the cross for us.

As he and his followers passed through Samaria, messengers were sent on ahead to prepare a place for them to stay the night. One Samaritan village refused hospitality to the party because Jesus was travelling to Jerusalem. James and John asked if the Lord would like them to call down fire from heaven on the village. Jesus rebuked them (Luke 9:55) and led them on to another village.

The arrogance and presumption of James and John is breath-taking. Firstly they display a vengeful spirit that seems so contrary to that of their Master – a spirit that prompts Jesus' rebuke and earns them the nickname Boanerges (thunder boys). Secondly, they assumed that they had the ability to call down fire from heaven. Who did they imagine had given them that skill? I am reminded of the conversation between Glendower and Hotspur in Shakespeare's Henry the Fourth:

Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.

Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
But will they come when you do call for them?

This incident is followed by Jesus' words of instruction to the 72 whom he is sending out to proclaim the kingdom of God in the surrounding area. He tells them that if any town refuses to welcome them, they are to, "go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.'" (10:11). Then Jesus adds, "I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town" (10:12). Fire fell from heaven on Sodom for its gross failure of hospitality towards the messengers of God. The fate of the inhabitants of the town that rejects the messengers of Jesus will be no better.

You can, of course, decide to reject these final words of Jesus to the departing 72, deciding that they are out of character and an addition by a scribe of the same spirit as James and John. But then, surely, you also become arrogant and presumptuous in deciding what parts of the Gospel accounts depict a Jesus that conforms to your own expectations. Humble hermeneutics requires that we seek to understand what we are given; it will not allow us to rewrite the text.

Jesus' refusal to permit James and John to call down fire from heaven is not because his character is one of perfect love that precludes all judgment. He rebukes them because they have failed to understand what the time is; now is the day of salvation and the door to life must continue to remain open. Nevertheless, the Day of Judgment will come. We need to understand both of these things; we need our lives and testimony to be shaped by both of these realities if we are to have the mind of Christ.

Lord Jesus, thank you that you set your face to go to Jerusalem and to endure a cruel death upon the cross for us. Thank you that you were ready to suffer rejection, not just by Samaritan villagers, but also by Jewish leaders and Roman authorities – by us. You humbled yourself that we might inherit glory. Keep me, Lord Jesus, from an arrogant and presumptuous spirit. May I seek always to be a blessing to those around me. Keep me from cursing those whose conduct I find disappointing, hurtful or unkind; rather, help me to pray for them that they too may find forgiveness and healing through your sacrificial death and glorious resurrection.

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Jan 21 2019 - Genesis 24:1-27 – A wife for Isaac

God had promised Abraham that through his descendants all nations on earth would be blessed. Abraham had waited until he was 100 years old before his son Isaac was born to him. It had taken remarkable faith to continue believing God's promise. Now Isaac has become a young man and, before he dies, Abraham wants to see Isaac married. Only then can he depart in peace knowing that the promise of descendants and blessing can be left safely in God's hands.

Abraham does not want his son to marry a young woman from among the Canaanites around him for Abraham does not want Isaac to be enticed away into pagan worship. So he calls for his servant and instructs him to return to his own country and his own relatives to get a wife for Isaac. It was probably about 50 years since Abraham left the land of Paddan Aram, the region where Abram had parted from his brother Nahor after the death of his father Terah (see Genesis 12:4), yet he still refers to it as "my country" since his family lives there. The servant is to bring back a wife for Isaac: she is to be brought back to the land of Canaan; Isaac is not to be taken to her. Again, Abraham's plans are shaped by the promise of God that he will give "this land", the land of Canaan, to his offspring.

How was Abraham's servant going to travel a distance of about 500 miles and then find relatives of Abraham from whom he had parted some 50 years earlier? The servant knew the approximate area from which his master had come, nevertheless, he knew that his task was all but impossible. But he also knew that nothing is too hard for the Lord, the God of Abraham (see Genesis 18:14). So, when he arrived at his destination he prayed that God would lead him to the young woman whom God would choose to be the wife of Isaac.

The servant's prayer is addressed to the God of Abraham and pleads that God might be pleased to show his kindness to his master. Despite the many promises God had made to Abraham, the servant does not plead from a sense of entitlement but pleads on the basis of grace. Note also that his prayer is not vague and generic but specific and detailed. He wants to be certain that God has answered his prayer beyond any possibility of coincidence.

And God is pleased with such prayer; before the servant has even finished praying it is answered. Not only is it answered in exact detail but the beautiful unmarried girl turns out to be the granddaughter of Abraham's brother Nahor. There can be no doubt that God had heard and answered prayer. The servant responds in worship saying, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives" (Genesis 24:27).

And there we will leave the story, except to say that the young woman, Rebekah, returns with the servant to marry Isaac who loved her from first sight (Genesis 24:67).

God is seeking a beautiful bride for his Son, the one who is heir to all the promises of God. He has called us to be his servants in the task of recruiting his bride. The task demands prayer, specific and detailed prayer, and then it demands a willingness on our part to invite others to come and discover the blessings that are to be found in Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Father God, we thank you for your purposes to bless people of every nation on earth through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you would lead us to those whom you would draw to him and that you would give us the boldness to invite them to come with us and discover the riches of your grace. We ask it in Jesus' name and that he might rejoice in his bride.

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Peter Misselbrook