Commuter Bible

Paul’s letter to the house churches of Rome is full of rich, theological truth, often presenting ideas that are both mind-boggling and comforting all at once. In today’s passage, Paul begins to present his case for a righteousness that comes by faith. He begins by explaining how the world rejects God in their love for unrighteous behavior. There is no one righteous and no one who seeks God, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The good news is that if we, whether Jew or Gentile, have faith in Christ Jesus, we will be declared righteous in God’s sight.

At this point in the narrative of Judges, the Lord is surprisingly absent from the life of Israel. It seems like nobody knows how any of this covenant stuff works, even in the slightest. It becomes so bad that a Levite is involved in a scenario almost identical to that of Sodom & Gomorrah, only this time, those who are intent on sexually assaulting the town’s visitors are successful because the Levite betrays his concubine. Then, though he his not supposed to touch a dead body, he mutilates her corpse just to make a point. Time and again the author captures this darkness by stating that there was “no king in Israel” for Israel had rejected their Lord.

In short, Samson is a picture of Israel in one person. Meant to be set apart and holy, he instead takes his vows and his God lightly, defiling himself over and over. A Nazirite was supposed avoid dead bodies, yet he eats honey from a lion’s carcass and uses a jawbone for a weapon. A Nazirite was supposed to abstain from wine, yet Samson threw a drinking party for the Philistines. The last vow to go is that of not cutting his hair, which he hands over to a Delilah, a woman of the very nation that Israel had been tasked with destroying for their perpetual evil. In the end, the angel’s prediction is true: he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.

In our last episode, Gideon had delivered Israel by the Lord’s power, yet failed to give glory to God. After Gideon’s death, his son Abimelech, without ever seeking the Lord, decides to take control of Shechem One of his brothers escapes his wrath and delivers a curse, and the Lord listens, fulfilling his words. Later, God appoints Jephthah to deliver Israel from the Ammonites. Sadly, Jephthah doesn’t truly know the Lord or His commands, and he makes a vow to the Lord that is abominable in the Lord’s sight, standing in direct conflict with the statutes handed down through Moses.

The nation of Israel is far from the Lord and has turned to worship idols. The false gods were meant to bring fertile crops and prosperity, but they only bring despair and a fractured relationship with the One True God. In His kindness, the Lord selects Gideon to fight for Israel. When Gideon goes to war, the Lord reduces the number of men who will go to battle so that Israel will not forget the power of God and His merciful deliverance. That is exactly what happens, however, and Israel reverts to it’s former idolatry.

Under the rule of Joshua, Israel was doing well and was off to a good start in obeying the Lord’s commands. Not long afterward, however, they begin to intermarry with the Canaanites, signaling, not only an apathy toward God’s commands, but an acceptance of the gods that the Canaanites worshiped. God declares that he will no longer drive out the Canaanites before Israel, and he leaves them in the land to test Israel’s faithfulness to His commands.

As Matthew’s very Jewish-minded account comes to a close we have seen Jesus lauded as the coming King, we have seen the builders reject the cornerstone, and today we will see the Lamb who brings a greater Passover and a greater deliverance. The firstborn of God lays His life down, and by the wounds of the suffering servant, God’s people are healed. His crucifixion is not the end of the story, for just as predicted publicly, Jesus rises from the dead as a conquering King.

The prophecies of the Son of David predict that a king will rise to power to shepherd the people of Israel. Jesus fits this description, and after waiting for centuries for this King, the people rejoice at the thought of a King rising to power to conquer their foes. What they don’t realize is that Jesus won’t conquer Rome or other nations, but He will instead conquer far greater foes like sin and death. The leaders despise Jesus and the praise He receives from the crowd. With jealousy in their hearts, they make every attempt to discredit the authority of Jesus.

While man-made religions all try to glorify the followers of the religion they promote, Christianity stands in stark contrast, for the disciples make it plain that they were absolutely clueless when it came to Jesus and His teaching. Time and again, they record their confusion and ignorance, all the while elevating Christ and His wisdom and power. In today’s reading Christ teaches on the character of how His disciples should behave, including humility, forgiveness, discipline, mercy, devotion, gentleness, and the nature of possessions.

We’ll hear a number of parables from Jesus today, and according to Jesus Himself, the reason he speaks in parables is conceal the truth from those whose hearts are callous. These truths are, however, for those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. Take note, too, of the times where Jesus tries get away by Himself only to be surrounded once again by the crowds. Even so, He has compassion on them.