Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ
Our watchword for today is taken from the Book of Judges. The background to this verse is situated in a time when Israel had fallen away from the Lord and worshipped all the deities of the surrounding nations. Suddenly, they were confronted by the Ammonites who were crossing the Jordan to fight against Benjamin and Ephraim, two tribes of Israel. The Israelites were distressed, being without a military leader, and not knowing what to do. They came and prayed to God. God answered that He had always saved and led them, but the Israelites chose to abandon Him. They needed to go and ask all those foreign gods and deities for help in their calamity. The Israelites realized their folly and came and repented, for they would rather fall in the hands of the living God, than in the hands of the enemy.
“The Israelites said to the Lord: We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you; but deliver us this day!” Judges 10 verse 15, NRSVB. God rose up a leader in Jephthah. He was a complete outsider who lived a life of raids with his band of rather ill-reputed men, but he was acclaimed as a mighty warrior. He fell out of favour with his brothers, and they chased him out of his father, Gilead’s house, due to the fact that he was an illegitimate son. The Israelites were desperate and in their desperation they recognized Jephthah as one of their own, and were willing for him to be their leader. Despite his unusual life-style, he recognized the God of Israel, as the only God. He prayed for God’s guidance and deliverance of the Israelites from the hands of the Amorites. God caused Jephthah and his soldiers to be successful in their mission and Jephthah judged over Israel for six years following his military triumph. Throughout history God has shown Himself faithful to those who have suffered unfair rejection. God uses those rejected to attain His plans and purposes. God’s mercy and loving-kindness are renewed every morning for his creation and her people. He puts the unrighteousness, the sin and betrayal far from his heart and mind. He forgets the wrongs of the people of the earth, and He gives them a new future.
When Jesus taught, sitting in the temple porches, He was listened to by all kinds of people. People who previously had little interest in the teaching of the temple, and people who were pushed out of the temple for their different life choices. Jesus did not reject anyone, but went as far as to share meals with everyone; the ultimate sign of fellowship and acceptance. This behaviour of Jesus caused indignation within the temple leadership, for they considered that one condones wrongful behaviour if you do not separate yourself from people who are outsiders and those not living according to the Laws of the Torah. Jesus was aware of the leadership’s thoughts and their open and tacit rejections of the people who were burdened and suffering the pain of life lived in harsh circumstances. Jesus always showed that the Kingdom of God is all-inclusive, from the least to the most important, in God’s eyes, everyone is created worthy. Jesus explained to those complaining that the people coming to the temple included those on the fringes of society and Jesus answered: “There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance,” Luke 15 verse 7. The Pharisees and scribes knew the Scriptures. They knew that repentance was demanded from everyone. Jesus turned their logic upside down. Those who live repentantly will rejoice with the angels when others come to repentance and enter into the Kingdom of God on earth. Those who are well do not need to go to the doctor, but, those who are sick are in need of the healing balm of forgiveness and acceptance.
Father, in penitent prayer we come, bringing those lost in this world to you, Amen.