Day 105
Deuteronomy 23:1-25:19, Luke 16:19-17:10, Psalm 45:10-17
There are some interesting concepts to look at for the harvest as the farmer is told to make only one pass of the field, to leave some olives or grapes on the vine. The people had been aliens in a foreign land long enough, they should know how it feels. And so God told them to be people of justice and ensure that the alien, the widow or the fatherless are cared for. No one is to go hungry in God's land.
The rich man and Lazarus also have a run in with justice. On this earth there is very little justice going on, the rich man gets richer and fatter and Lazarus gets poorer and hungrier and closer to death. It becomes clear that the rich man could have doen something about this whilst he was on earth and yet he didn't, and beyond death it is a little too late. The interesting part is the way that the rich man wants to warn his family but Abraham says that they have had plenty of warning, they have lived their lives with Moses and the prophets. What was it that Moses said in Deuteronomy, he told them to be gracious to their neighbour and the outcast.
We have Moses, the prophets and Jesus, we have even less reason to turn a blind eye, so are we going to listen. The challenge today is for justice, have we spotted any injustice either around us or more importantly within us. If so, what are we going to do to change it?
"Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just"So says the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal. Today is all about Justice and the demand that God has for his people to be just. Pascal's quote is extremely true of what we read today, God is all powerful and with him on their side the nation of Israel had become quite powerful. It was important therefore that power and justice should meet. That the power of God should meet the justice of the people. The Old Testament reading has some parts all about the fine detail of how to live a life before God but it also has a lot about looking after the neighbour.
There are some interesting concepts to look at for the harvest as the farmer is told to make only one pass of the field, to leave some olives or grapes on the vine. The people had been aliens in a foreign land long enough, they should know how it feels. And so God told them to be people of justice and ensure that the alien, the widow or the fatherless are cared for. No one is to go hungry in God's land.
The rich man and Lazarus also have a run in with justice. On this earth there is very little justice going on, the rich man gets richer and fatter and Lazarus gets poorer and hungrier and closer to death. It becomes clear that the rich man could have doen something about this whilst he was on earth and yet he didn't, and beyond death it is a little too late. The interesting part is the way that the rich man wants to warn his family but Abraham says that they have had plenty of warning, they have lived their lives with Moses and the prophets. What was it that Moses said in Deuteronomy, he told them to be gracious to their neighbour and the outcast.
We have Moses, the prophets and Jesus, we have even less reason to turn a blind eye, so are we going to listen. The challenge today is for justice, have we spotted any injustice either around us or more importantly within us. If so, what are we going to do to change it?
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