There’s an
old lawyer joke about a soul who was accidentally sent to hell. When God asked the Devil to return this lost
soul to Heaven, the Devil refused. So,
God threatened to sue. In reply, the
Devil asked, “Where are you going to find a lawyer?”
Full disclosure:
my daughter and two of my nieces are lawyers, so I hope there are lawyers in
Heaven. I think a reading from Exodus
supports this hope that Heaven has lawyers.
Exodus
32:7-14 presents the case of God versus the Israelites with Moses serving as
the defense lawyer. Moses staves off
God’s punishment with two brilliant arguments. First, God’s punishment of the Israelites
would only invite gloating from the Egyptians. Second, Moses recalls God’s promise to Abraham
[Genesis 12], Isaac [Genesis 21], and Israel [Genesis 28]. Thus reminded, God’s own integrity and
faithfulness results in God “dropping the charges” and punishment.
In John
5:31-47, there’s another “trial” of
sorts. Jesus begins in the role of the
defendant with the Jewish authorities playing the role of the accusers. Jesus knows He can’t claim to be equal to God
without being guilty of blasphemy. And
according to Jewish law, He can’t legally testify on His behalf. So, He calls to the stand a parade of
witnesses. First is John the Baptist who
was a light, but also human. So, Jesus points to His works, which are the
same works of His Father. Jesus also
points to Scripture that testifies on His behalf. “…you search the
scriptures…yet you refuse to come to me…”
Then Jesus
turns the tables and becomes the plaintiff, accusing those who sued Him. Jesus invokes Moses, charging that the
authorities do not believe Moses. They
fail to understand the life-giving power of the word spoken to them through
Moses and the prophets.
Scriptures…witnesses…John
the Baptist…Moses…God…
Jesus was
right in their midst – in the flesh!!!
The Scriptures that they were so steeped in pointed to His coming…John
the Baptist walked ahead and pointed the way…and yet they didn’t believe He
could be from God – they could see Him, hear Him, touch Him – they could
interact with Him and yet they didn’t recognize Him for Who He was. How could this be, what got in their way?
It seems
rather incredulous to us, how could they not – we would give anything to walk
with the Lord – in the flesh!! Or would
we? Maybe a better question is do
we? Jesus continues to call us, His
presence is real among and within us – do we notice, do we trust? Pride, fear and hardness of heart kept the
people of His day from truly being present to Him and allowing Him to change
their hearts of stone. Sometimes those
same things keep us from getting too close to Him, from trusting Him, and
allowing Him to change our hearts of stone.
Are the
Scriptures simply a book of stories for us, or is the Word alive for us? Do we allow those words to draw us into a
deeper relationship with the risen Lord?
This Lent,
as every Lent, we’re invited to journey a bit closer to the Lord, to open our
hearts anew to the challenge of responding as disciples. Can we really let God love us? If we do, we can’t help but be changed – and
change is never easy – but Jesus is among us today – disguised as the stranger,
do we allow the scriptures to expand our vision and our heart – or are they
simply stories – we know them, we memorize them – but we only pick them up on
occasion – are we afraid of the love they call us to?
We may be
like the Israelites who have turned away from God, worshipping other idols such
as fame and fortune. Or we may be like the Jewish authorities, believing we are
righteous with God while ignoring the reality that we do not have the love of
God in us. During this Lenten season,
may we turn towards God and hear those who testify on behalf of Christ. And may we join our voices with theirs,
proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord.
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