A True Child of Israel
The angel spoke to me, saying, "Come here. I will show you the
bride, the wife of the Lamb." He took me in spirit to a great, high
mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from
God. It gleamed with the splendor of God. Its radiance was like that of a
precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal. Revelation 21:9B-11
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Here is
a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in
him." Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus
answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the
fig tree." Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God;
you are the King of Israel." John 1:47-49
Piety
From “The Things We Leave Behind” by Michael Card
Every heart needs to be set free,
from possessions that hold it so tight
'Cause freedom's not found in the things that we own,
It's the power to do what is right
Jesus, our only possession,
giving becomes our delight
We can't imagine the freedom we find
from the things we leave behind
We show a love for the world in our lives by worshipping goods we
possess
Jesus has laid all our treasures aside "love God above all the
rest"
'Cause when we say 'no' to the things of the world
we open our hearts to the love of the Lord and
it's hard to imagine the freedom we find from the things we leave
behind.
Study
Some people are “clingers.” They
prefer to hang onto traditions. Familiar things (people, places, rituals, etc.)
make them feel comfortable. Change unsettles them and takes them out of their
comfort zone.
Other types of people are more impatient and want the status quo to
change. They tap their foot in
anticipation of a future hoped for.
Jesus unites the old and new, the past and the future.
In today’s first reading, we encounter “the bride,” who is the
proverbial wife of the Lamb of God. In
essence, that is a description of the church Jesus left behind to grow. This is not the temple of Jesus’ youth in
Nazareth; this is the New Jerusalem predicted by the Nazareth Manifesto (Luke
4:18-19).
The “new” meets the “old.” Jesus
is the connecting tissue between heaven in the skies and earth rooted on the
ground. Jesus is the New Testament’s answer to Jacob’s ladder: “…a stairway rested
on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God’s angels were
going up and down on it.” (Genesis 28:12)
In the readings from Friday, (August 23), we encountered Pharisees
clinging to the old laws. Enforcing the
old laws gave them job security. It also
gave them a prominent position in village society. Into that comfort zone stepped Jesus –
simplifying the laws and afflicting the comfortable.
Action
Today, Nathaniel is quietly resting under a peaceful fig tree. Into his world steps Jesus of Nazareth and
the world rocks. Unlike the
Pharisees, Nathaniel welcomes the Messiah and the change that will happen when Jesus enters his life. By accepting Jesus as Lord, Nathaniel encounters the living reality
of Jacob’s dream: “…you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending
and descending on the Son of Man."
Where are you resting? How will
you react when Jesus enters the scene? What will you leave behind?
No comments:
Post a Comment