Day 185: Matthew 21:42

Haven’t you ever read what the Scriptures say?  “The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all.  This was done by the Lord; what a wonderful sight it is!”

This scripture is pretty universally understood to mean that Jesus is the foundation of a new religious order; the leader of the new people that God is going to use to bring about the Kingdom of God here on earth.

However, when I went to the source of this scripture that Jesus quotes here I was very surprised.  Jesus is quoting Psalm 118.  In the tradition of the church this psalm is called, “A Prayer of Thanks for Victory.”  Jesus must have taken great comfort in this joyful, hopeful psalm, which seems to be written just for him at this difficult time in his life.  Except that it was written about 1000 years earlier.

The psalm begins with praise for the goodness and eternal love of God for his people.  Throughout this ministry Jesus tried to change the image from God from a hard, angry, cruel, unforgiving taskmaster to a kind and loving father. He tried to instill in people a positive view of God and an appreciation for this goodness.

Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good, and his love is eternal.  Let the people of Israel say, “His love is eternal.”  Let the priests of God say, “His love is eternal.” Let all who worship him say, “His love is eternal.”

Having recognized and given thanks for the love of God, the psalmist provides a testimony about how God has saved him from his enemies.  And through the words of this psalm Jesus expresses his own faith that God will rescue him from his enemies.

In my distress I called to the Lord; he answered me and set me free.  The Lord is with me, I will not be afraid; what can anyone do to me?  It is the Lord who helps me, and I will see my enemies defeated.  It is better to trust in the Lord than to depend on people.  It is better to trust in the Lord than to depend on human leaders.  Many enemies were around me; but I destroyed them by the power of the Lord! They were around me on every side; but I destroyed them by the power of the Lord!  They swarmed around me like bees, but they burned out as quickly as a brush fire; by the power of the Lord I destroyed them. I was fiercely attacked and was being defeated, but the Lord helped me.  The Lord makes me powerful and strong; he has saved me.

Now the psalmist praises God and gives thanks for the victory God has provided.  Jesus acknowledges the suffering he must endure, but looks forward to the vindication of the resurrection.

Listen to the glad shouts of victory in the tents of God’s people: “The Lord’s mighty power has done it! His power has brought us victory—his mighty power in battle!” I will not die; instead, I will live and proclaim what the Lord has done.  He has punished me severely, but he has not let me die.

Now the psalm refers to the Temple gate metaphorically as the “gate of the Lord.”  It is the source of today’s scripture about the stone rejected by the builders.  I think Jesus himself is the new gate, the cornerstone of the new temple which will not be a physical building.  It will be the gateway to the spiritual realm where we meet with God.

Open to me the gates of the Temple; I will go in and give thanks to the Lord!  This is the gate of the Lord; only the righteous can come in. I praise you, Lord, because you heard me, because you have given me victory.  The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all.  This was done by the Lord; what a wonderful sight it is! This is the day of the Lord’s victory; let us be happy, let us celebrate!

The next section seems to refer almost directly to Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem that we celebrate on Palm Sunday – 1000 years before the actual event.  Those are the actual words that were used by the people as Jesus entered Jerusalem – “God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Matthew 21:9).  Also, it’s hard to miss that reference to branches.

Save us, Lord, save us!  Give us success, O Lord!  May God bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  From the Temple of the Lord we bless you.  The Lord is God; he has been good to us.  With branches in your hands, start the festival and march around the altar.

And the psalm ends with thanksgiving and praise for the love of God.

You are my God, and I give you thanks; I will proclaim your greatness.  Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good, and his love is eternal.

Looking back, it’s pretty amazing, especially the Palm Sunday part.  I mean, Jesus could “decide” to enter on a donkey to “fulfill” Zechariah’s prophecy, but he couldn’t control the peoples’ response.  The people used the same words and carried branches, just like Psalm 118 describes.  The Bible doesn’t say that Jesus passed out the branches or told them what to say.  The entire Psalm 118 seems to be written for Jesus at this point in his life.

I wonder if the chief priests and the elders who were so antagonistic to Jesus were familiar with this psalm?  If I had been one of those chief priests and I was familiar with the teachings of Jesus, his arrival in Jerusalem, and the words of Psalm 118, I think would have been pretty concerned.  I think I might have given him the benefit of the doubt.  But maybe the religious leaders didn’t spend much time reading the Psalms.  They probably spent all of their time reading the Law in Deuteronomy and Leviticus.  They probably thought the Book of Psalms was a waste of time, so they wouldn’t have either known this psalm by heart or taken the time to look it up.  The entire reference to Psalm 118 probably all went right over their heads.  It seems that there was a lot that was going right over their heads, including the teachings of Jesus, will of God, the futility of killing their enemies, the future of the ill-fated Temple and the unholy decadence of their way of life.

What does this scripture say to you?

Day 58: Matthew 7:9-11

Would any of you who are fathers give your son a stone when he asks for bread? Or would you give him a snake when he asks for a fish? As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

[With these words Jesus continues to teach about the Law of Moses as the Sermon on the Mount continues.  He takes some of the most important topics and explains to his disciples, in specific terms, what it means to be “more faithful than the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees in doing what God requires” (See Day 23)].

Yesterday (Day 57) Jesus told his disciples that if they ask, seek, and knock and that God will turn their visions into reality.

Jesus follows up with a little metaphor that describes the Father’s heart.  How cruel it would be to give a hungry child a stone?  Or to endanger him with a snake?  Isn’t it preposterous that any earthly father could be more generous and loving than our heavenly Father?

In this little paragraph Jesus describes God as a father who loves us and cares for us.  He is not a harsh taskmaster who judges us and withholds things from us if we aren’t good enough.  All we have to do is ask for what we need and he will provide it.  Not in a “name it and claim it” kind of way that orders God around, but we can definitely ask for our daily bread.  Or strength to make it through another day.  Or courage and wisdom to help build his Kingdom here on earth.

Jesus says we shouldn’t be afraid to think big.  If God is on our side what harm can it do to ask?  He’s not going to punish us for asking!

After all it’s not like prayer ever backfires on us.  I’m reminded of The Monkey’s Paw, a short story by W. W. Jacobs. A couple receives a monkey’s paw talisman that has the power to grant them three wishes.  Every time they use it they get what they want but there are horrible consequences.  For example, their first wish is for money to pay off their house.  The husband is subsequently killed in an accident and the wife receives exactly the amount of compensation they had wished for.  The next two wishes are even worse so I won’t elaborate.  Again, prayer requests are never like a monkey’s paw.  They never turn evil on you.

I ran into this kind of mentality when I was at an Hispanic church with many former Roman Catholics. They equated spirituality with suffering.  Many said that they didn’t want to deepen their relationship with God because they were afraid that he would increase their burdens by make overwhelming demands of them. They believed that if they got close to God would make them sick or take away their money and material possessions.  Of course, this is ridiculous.  Jesus never made anyone sick, nor did he take their things.  Because of this false belief they thought the safe choice was to keep God at a distance.

Actually, when I thought about it, I understood what they were talking about.  Before I read the Bible I had the impression that if you were a practicing Christian and you didn’t give away all your money and take strangers into your home you were a hypocrite who would end up in hell.  This little misunderstanding kept me away from church for about 12 years.

Later I got involved with the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (now Catch the Fire) in Canada.  Their mission statement was “To Receive God’s Love and Give it Away.”  Within that context they taught the millions who came from all over the world that “More Lord!” was a very sufficient and meaningful prayer.  More love, more discernment, more wisdom, more peace on earth, more social justice, all the good stuff. Especially more of God himself!!!

God doesn’t mind being asked.  In fact Jesus tells us we SHOULD ask (see Day 57).  He says to ask, seek, and knock.  He wants us to be hungry for more of him and his Kingdom, so that, like little Oliver Twist, we say, “Please, Sir, may I have some more?”  He promises he won’t humiliate or reject us or punish us with a stone just for asking. We shouldn’t be afraid.  Like they say, God answers every prayer request – “yes”, “no”, “later”, or”wait”…because he has something even better in mind.  Lots of times “wait” is the best of all!  His plans are better than ours.

So, my prayer today……..MORE LORD!!!

What does this scripture say to you?