Saturday, March 5, 2011

Psalm 118.22-29, Job 37.1-24, John 12.1-19 - Lectionary for 3/5/11

Today's readings are Psalm 118.22-29, Job 37.1-24, and John 12.1-19.

John 12.16 makes a very interesting comment. "His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him" (ESV). I think we are very often like those disciples. We see what is happening but we don't really understand it. We endure hardships, we receive blessings, we see our lives flourish or crumble. We don't know what's really happening. We don't know why it might be happening. And we may never understand it all. Yet later, in retrospect, we see God's hand working out all things according to his good will. The pieces of the puzzle start to fall into place.

Did the disciples understand Jesus' death? No. Nor would we, given the same context they had. Yet in God's perfect will, Jesus died to bear the sin of the world, crushing sin which leads to death. We can rejoice, knowing that our Lord has also risen from the dead. We too shall rise, putting on incorruptibility, raised in newness of life in the last day. No, we don't understand that. But we know the Lord does.

--
Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com


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