Day 104
Deuteronomy 21:1-22:30, Luke 16:1-18, Proverbs 9:13-18
We move away a little bit from the repetition today and find ourselves reading some key words in relation to Jesus and his death. It is in this passage that the law is set out that anyone left hanging on a tree is under God's curse. Whether that is capital punishment by hanging or their body is attached to the tree as a warning, the message is the same and so once a criminal has died they are to be taken down so they don't rest there overnight. This became quite apt when the Romans started crucifying people and "nailing them to a tree". Although we have the image of a neat wooden cross made of neatly crafted straight lines, it is actually highly likely that the cross was a long branch nailed to an upright and in some cases that may have been an actual tree! The book of Deuteronomy took on a new meaning for Jews in the time of Jesus.
This passage is one of those that has caused much theological debate over the centuries and informs our theology of what Jesus actually did. The theology of atonement (being "at-one" with God) rests on the fact that Jesus was the sacrifice that paid the price for all the sacrifices that we have spent the last three months reading about. We don't need to make all these sacrifices at the front of church because Jesus did it on the cross. This whole idea of how God feels about people on the tree links in with the words of hymns like "In Christ alone" where the "wrath of God is satisfied". God has every right to be pretty cheesed off with us when you look at the mess the world is in, but Jesus dived in and took the bullet so that we would not be hung on the tree. On a practical level we can also see why Joseph of Arimathea came and took Jesus down straight away, to satisfy this part of the law. We seem to have jumped from a great deal of repetition, through a bit of Bible history to some very deep theology.
We must also acknowledge the importance of Deuteronomy when we explore the rest of today's reading. We have seen the recital of the 10 commandments but now we are getting into the extended law. Deuteronomy is a key book in this respect, be it law on marriage or the fact that men shouldn't where woman's clothes. We will encounter a great deal of this in the coming days.
The teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, as always, offer us rich pickings but deep theology can easily fry the brain. As we ponder this reading from the Old Testament let us remember what Christ did for us and the freedom that he bought us. We can rest in his glory and his death because he hung on a tree for our sake.
We move away a little bit from the repetition today and find ourselves reading some key words in relation to Jesus and his death. It is in this passage that the law is set out that anyone left hanging on a tree is under God's curse. Whether that is capital punishment by hanging or their body is attached to the tree as a warning, the message is the same and so once a criminal has died they are to be taken down so they don't rest there overnight. This became quite apt when the Romans started crucifying people and "nailing them to a tree". Although we have the image of a neat wooden cross made of neatly crafted straight lines, it is actually highly likely that the cross was a long branch nailed to an upright and in some cases that may have been an actual tree! The book of Deuteronomy took on a new meaning for Jews in the time of Jesus.
This passage is one of those that has caused much theological debate over the centuries and informs our theology of what Jesus actually did. The theology of atonement (being "at-one" with God) rests on the fact that Jesus was the sacrifice that paid the price for all the sacrifices that we have spent the last three months reading about. We don't need to make all these sacrifices at the front of church because Jesus did it on the cross. This whole idea of how God feels about people on the tree links in with the words of hymns like "In Christ alone" where the "wrath of God is satisfied". God has every right to be pretty cheesed off with us when you look at the mess the world is in, but Jesus dived in and took the bullet so that we would not be hung on the tree. On a practical level we can also see why Joseph of Arimathea came and took Jesus down straight away, to satisfy this part of the law. We seem to have jumped from a great deal of repetition, through a bit of Bible history to some very deep theology.
We must also acknowledge the importance of Deuteronomy when we explore the rest of today's reading. We have seen the recital of the 10 commandments but now we are getting into the extended law. Deuteronomy is a key book in this respect, be it law on marriage or the fact that men shouldn't where woman's clothes. We will encounter a great deal of this in the coming days.
The teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, as always, offer us rich pickings but deep theology can easily fry the brain. As we ponder this reading from the Old Testament let us remember what Christ did for us and the freedom that he bought us. We can rest in his glory and his death because he hung on a tree for our sake.
Comments
Post a Comment