This collection of Bible readings (Jeremiah 23:1-6, Psalm 46, Colossians 1:11-20, Luke 23:33-43) puts us in touch with a central truth in the life of faith: Our God brings us peace and new life, but sometimes they come to us over the path of adversity. When my grandfather Campbell's shingle mill on Joe Creek, Washington, burned down, he lost his livelihood, a decade of sweat equity, and all the security he had built up for his wife and 12 children. To support his family, Grandpa had to work as a saw-filer in a neighboring mill whose owner he suspected of setting fire to his mill. Years later, Grandpa was still dirt-poor. But when he was dying, around his deathbed stood his wife of 60 years, his 12 children, and behind them some 30 grandchildren had crowded into the room. Grandpa passed into eternity as peacefully as he had lived, at one with his God and his family.5B7
These Bible readings each point us toward this mysterious wreath of adversity and peace that wraps itself around our lives. The prophet Jeremiah lived at the end of the 7th century and the beginning of the 6th century B.C., a violent time that ended when an army from Babylonia destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and sent thousands of Israelites into forced exile from their homeland. Before Jerusalem fell, Jeremiah spent a lifetime pleading with the leaders of his people to live right lives and govern the nation with fairness. For his efforts, Jeremiah had to ward off many attacks on his life. The passage from Jeremiah (23:1-6) belongs to the warnings that Jeremiah directed to the leaders. But, more importantly, it looks beyond the coming destruction of Jerusalem to a time of peace and new life when God will "choose as king a righteous descendant of David... He will be called 'The LORD Our Salvation.'" (23:5, 6b, GNT ).
Psalm 46 is a great song of confidence in the power of God to lift us out of adversity on a cosmic scale. "Even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths; even if the seas roar and rage and the hills are shaken by the violence...the LORD Almighty is with us." (46:2, 3, 7a, GNT). If you have ever taken shelter from a hurricane or typhoon, you know what the Psalmist is talking about. Once during a raging typhoon that swept across Manila and pounded our home, my wife, Mary and I gathered up the ch5B4ildren and found shelter in one corner of the house until the wind subsided and only sheets of rain were falling. Suddenly we heard guitar music and singing. Looking out our window at the barrio that bordered on our house, we saw our neighbors sitting on the roof of their shanties, safe from the raging water, and praising God with guitar music and song. God had brought them safely through a storm that had indeed shaken the earth and caused mountains to fall.
Colossians 1:11-20 comes from the pen of the apostle Paul at a time when Paul is in prison (4:10). In this letter, Paul cites what scholars call an early Christian hymn (1:15-20). Perhaps sung during worship services, the hymn's final verse gives a classic statement of our theme: "God made peace through his Son's blood." (1:20, GNT) The blood of Jesus refers to the event we know as Good Friday, the crucifixion of Jesus. Intended by his Roman captors to be a criminal punishment and a devastating insult to Jesus' followers, the crucifixion did just the opposite. It proved to be the necessary condition for another event, the resurrection of Jesus. When Jesus was lifted up on a cross, it did not bring his followers down, as the Romans had hoped. Rather, it lifted them up to a new spiritual plane and gave them a share in the eternal life of Jesus.
Luke 23:33-43 tells the story of the last hours of Jesus' life, the hours that Paul encapsulated in the words "God made peace thro5B4ugh his Son's blood." Nailed to a cross which was planted between crosses holding two criminals, Jesus looked down on Roman soldiers who made fun of him and gambled for his clothes. Above his head, the soldiers had secured a board with the words "This is the King of the Jews." From the Romans' point of view, the board recorded the crime for which Jesus was killed: he claimed to be a king competing with the king that the Romans had installed over the Jews (Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee). In time, however, Jesus' followers understood the true meaning of the board. Jesus' kingship had nothing to do with ruling Galilee or Judea; it had to do with bringing the Kingdom of God to us.
This board, this simple detail from Luke's story, tells us all we need to know about God's providence for us: Yes, adversity can wrap itself around us like a wreath. But when we consider the wreath through the eyes of faith, we discover what Paul and Jesus' first followers, along with Jeremiah and the Psalmist discovered about the "boards" on their cross: They give us life in God's Messiah.
This Reflection is drawn from the Bible Resource Center's e-Bulletin Series - an online ministry of the American Bible Society. The Bible Resource Center is also home to an extens356ive collection of Essential Bible Study Tools
For more Bible Study Resources visit: http://www.bibles.com/bibleresources
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