Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done
In earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 (KJV)
Tuesday of this week was Earth Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness and demonstrating support for environmental protection of the Earth. It’s a day to celebrate the planet, highlight environmental issues, and encourage actions to protect the Earth’s resources.
The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. (Proverbs 29:7)
A quick perusal of the use of the word “justice” in the Bible reveals something that is key to the nature of God. “For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing” (Isaiah 61:8). Numerous times He is called a God of justice. Now about half the time this is tied to championing what is right and the judgment of wrongdoing, but half the time it is tied to the innocent, the poor and to foreigners — in other words, people who are not likely to receive just treatment. “Do not pervert justice or show partiality” (Deuteronomy 16:19).
“Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens…” so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. Hebrews 12:26-28
Is anybody feeling a little shaky these days? Like things are a little unstable? We’re talking about what creates instability, nervousness, and dread. In America, the democracy we always thought was so stable is suddenly looking very shaky. Our economy? Shaky. Conservatives and liberals getting along together? Shaky. Politics? Shaky. Elections? Shaky. Job security? Shaky. News sources we can trust? Shaky. Churches, pastors, denominations? Shaky. The future of a healthy planet earth? Shaky. Social stability? Shaky. Racial harmony? Very shaky. Nuclear buildup? Shaky.
In an interview in United Airlines Hemisphere magazine, singer/songwriter and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Bonnie Raitt, stated: “This time is the most fraught and worrisome in my lifetime. The polarization and the increased vitriol and the delusional misinformation and the lack of a responsible center, in journalism and in the culture and in politics, is a source of great stress and pain for me personally.” And when the interviewer asked her if she had any hope looking forward, she said: “we really gotta stop turning each other into the other side. I want to try to encourage whatever activities we can do and whatever coming together we can have that allows us to see the humanity in each other.”
In dramatic fashion, Pope Francis delivered what turned out to be his final address yesterday — his traditional Easter message from the Vatican — and promptly went home to be with the Lord earlier this morning. Following is a paragraph from that address I thought was particularly poignant today, as we think of how Easter plays out into the rest of the year.
The wounds on His hands bled slowly. Pressure from the weight of His body held back the flow. If there had been no other sounds that afternoon, it probably would have sounded like the slow, steady drip off the eaves of a mountain cabin on a damp, foggy night.
Jesus Christ died a violent death. The Bible is a bloody book. This is not pleasant stuff to talk about, and yet I wonder how capable we are of grasping the meaning behind these powerful pictures without encountering their reality in some way.
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross
The emblem of suffering and shame
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain
– George Bernard (1913)
On a hill called Calvary, two thousand years ago, the Son of God was nailed to a cross for the real sins of the world. There was nothing pretty about the Crucifixion. When stripped of the religious sentiment of two thousand years of symbolism and ornamentation it appears as a gruesome and incomprehensible execution of God’s most treasured human expression of Himself.
Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in. Luke 16:16
The operable word here is “everyone.” The Pharisees would say, “Everyone wants to get in? Well that’s just too bad because everyone’s not going to get in, not if we have anything to say about it.” And of course we know that they don’t have anything to say about it, but they thought they did, at least until Jesus came along. That’s why they wanted to get rid of Him.
Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in. Luke 16:16
This statement by Jesus must have irked the Pharisees and religious leaders no end. It’s statements like this that got Jesus crucified. These two sentences in this verse present the history of religion in a nutshell.
John Fischer The Catch 