Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Building a Godly Community

Jim:

2 Kings 22:1-13
Verse 8 says, “The high priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, ‘I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.’” As the Oxford Annotated Study Bible says, most scholars believe the book Hilkiah is talking about (a scroll really) is an early form of Deuteronomy unearthed during renovation of the temple in Jerusalem. What a profound moment for God’s people, what a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with God’s will. For King Josiah, the discovery of the book of the law was like a lost traveler discovering a road sign with directions to his destination. One of the blessings we enjoy as Christians is the fact that we have scripture to read and to reflect on regularly. We have a map for our journey and don’t have to grope for directions. The shame is we don’t always take advantage of it.

1 Corinthians 11:2-22
In verses 11 and 12 Paul writes, “Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, or man independent of woman. For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman, but all things come from God.” Whatever else Paul may have said or not said about the role of women in the church and in the home, this fact remains central to his thought: in God there is a relationship between man and woman of mutual need and accountability. They depend on each other and find their fullness in each other, not only as couples or families, but as a community as a whole. We are all interrelated in God and our relationships stand under God. We are to treat one another with respect and to cherish each other as gifts from God. Jesus, of course, says that the one who wishes to be great must be the slave of all, and the Christian ethic teaches us to put the needs of others first. Taken as a whole, these ideas create the foundation for a loving, caring, blessed community in which no one is subject to anyone else, but all are subject together to God. What a great place that would be!

Matthew 9:1-8
Jesus first action in the case of the paralyzed man is to forgive his sins; in other words to heal his relationship with God. Only after he has done that does Jesus heal his physical condition. God continues to offer healing in our relationships with God and with each other. Like the book of the law in 2 Kings, or Paul’s words about the relationship between the sexes in 1 Corinthians, Jesus’ actions offer guidance to us for living in a godly community, with regard for God and one another, and with our lives focused on God’s will.

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