Valerie Rae Hanneman
Matthew 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”
My daughter, Fawn, and I went to the Big Fresno Fair together. With her working nights and me working days we are often like ships passing in the night so I was loving every minute of the time we had together. We were walking along, corn dogs in one hand, cinnamon rolls in the other, balancing our sodas and talking about getting the rolled tacos, when this woman approached from the other direction. I gaped at her in astonishment! Her top was cut mind boggling low in the front and on the sides and everything was jiggling like mad. She was one tiny puff away from a major wardrobe malfunction. And her jeans! Oh my goodness, they were so tight that if she farted it would blow her feet off! ‘Honey,’ I thought to myself, ‘Why don’t you just put a price tag on your rear end – it would be a little more subtle!’ My thoughts then turned to Father, ‘Thank You, Father, that I am not like that woman!’
Uh-oh.
“Father, please tell me that I did not just think that!’ But Father couldn’t tell me that – because I did think it. The only thing separating me and the Pharisee in the temple, beating his chest in self-righteousness over the tax collector, is about 2,000 years. In just a blink of an eye, I saw her, judged her, judged her unworthy and judged myself as worthy – in fact, I judged myself as more than worthy – I judged myself as righteous.
It is the last week of Jesus’ earthly life and He is teaching in the Temple, surrounded by His disciples, the crowds, and, of course, the Pharisees. Jesus has just spent the last 36 verses whomping all over the Pharisees. And then He spoke this verse that is called “Jesus’ Lament.” Lament means to express grief, weep for, bewail, bemoan. But who is He lamenting over? He says Jerusalem but I don’t think that He was grieving over the city; I think He w as grieving over what the city represented. Jerusalem and the Temple within it was the religious center of the nation of Israel. It was where they went to worship God. The priests, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes practically lived at the Temple! The best of the best of a deeply religious nation wrote about, talked about, argued about, prayed about and worshipped God from the Temple in Jerusalem. It was the older testament Church, as was the entire nation of Israel. So why is God lamenting over Jerusalem? Maybe it was because Israel, as represented by Jerusalem, had left their purpose. Their purpose was to be God’s people, to live differently from the rest of the world, and by living so differently, to show the world the glory of God. They were to be the light on a hill that brought the world into relationship with God. That is how they started out, but something went wr ong. They left their original purpose and developed a bunch of rituals and laws that took the place of a relationship with God. They set themselves apart, not to show the glory of God but rather to show their superiority because of God. They were supposed to be the light on the hill, but instead they stood aloof on their hill and looked down on the rest of the world. When God sent them prophets to give them His Word and get them back on the right track, get them back to their purpose. Only, they didn’t want to hear the prophets, so they killed them, and they did it “in the name of God.” This makes the next words of the lament absolutely incredible “how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings…” In spite of the fact that they had left their purpose, they had made a relationship a religion, they had set themselves us as superior, they had killed those who were sent to them, Jesus still loved them with His whole heart. He loved them so much that, if they wouldn’t listen to the words of the prophets or pay attention to their deaths, maybe they would listen to His words, maybe they would pay attention to His death. So in just a few days, He will lay down His life for them.
We are the newer testament Church. Our purpose is to be God’s people, to live differently from the rest of the world, and by living so differently, to show the world the glory of God. We are to be the light on a hill that brings the world into relationship with God. Has something gone wrong? We say we have a relationship, not a religion – and yet we argue about the “right” baptism, communion, music, etc. We say we are set apart from the world for God’s purpose and yet many of us never leave the church to take God’s Word to the world. We are the light on the hill! But do we ever shine the Light to anybody who is not just like us? But we don’t kill the prophets! Do we? Maybe not physically, but do we kill their spirit when we sleep during services? Or file our fingernails? Or text our friends? Or daydream about being somewhere else? Do we kill their spirit when they invite us to join them in ministry and we stay home to watch the football game? Or plan our daughter’s princess party?
Is Jesus lamenting over the Church today? Jesus, are You lamenting over me?
That young woman did not need me to judge her. And who am I to set myself up as her judge? I am a recovering drug addict – and worse. Jesus reached deep into the gutter to fish me out. So what is the difference between her and me? Nothing – except Jesus. My purpose should not have been to judge that woman and her clothing, my purpose should have been to show her Jesus and let Him change her clothing. My purpose should have been to lead her to Him, by showing her Him in me, and not to show her me condemning her. I need to d o better in my relationship with God, I need to keep from making it into a religion about God
LORD Jesus, I realized almost immediately what I had done. If I could have, I would have hidden away from You in my shame. But You call my name, You bring me back to You. When I cry out for forgiveness, You hold me close to You and whisper, “I have already forgiven You.” Your love for me never fails, never falters, never weakens. I want to be worthy of You, not because I am clothed in my righteousness, but because You have clothed me in Your righteousness.
Contact Valerie or sign up for the FFBC e-Ministry at Valerie@fresnofirst.org
Posted by Valerie at October 13, 2007 10:24 PM