Division. It is the thing that causes us the most pain as individuals and as people.
Growth requires purposeful division. Farmers are well aware of this as they prune crops and sift through grains to find the best of them. We have examples of this process in how divided God's people become in our scriptures and how we can conquer that division with a simple practice.
The Prophet Jeremiah's story is picked up a little out of context here. Jeremiah was prophesying that the king of Babylon would overtake the city. He warned the people to escape and take refuge with the Chaldeans. These prophetic words were seen as a dissertation of Jeremiah's loyalty to King Zedekiah. Zedekiah wanted to believe that Jeremiah was speaking what the Lord meant for him to hear, but the court of public opinion swayed him into throwing Jeremiah into the cistern to starve.
However, we learn that a different voice of reason got through the king, and Jeremiah was rescued.
That's where the purpose of Psalm 40 comes into play. "Lord, Come to my aid," Shows how God will come to those who need Him. Not always in the way and time, we ask for, but He is there.
Jesus, on the other hand, strangely talks about division being one of His goals. This may seem out of character for our Savoir, but he makes a clear distinction as to why he seeks division. If you read on a little bit more than the lectionary states for this day, you'll see something remarkable.
"Then he turned to the crowd: "When you see clouds coming in from the west, you say, 'Storm's coming'—and you're right. And when the wind comes out of the south, you say, 'This'll be a hot one'—and you're right. Frauds! You know how to tell a change in the weather, so don't tell me you can't tell a change in the season, the God-season we're in right now."- Luke 12:54-56 "The Message"
It is about preparing for the season of God or what we might see as "God's Kingdom." Jesus is right in that we can infer what the weather will be like, so why can't we understand what the Kingdom of God would be like? The division Jesus is talking about is the one between believers and non-believers. Believers can see God in everything, in every place and every space. We can see what Jesus talks about, and it makes sense to us.
Paul gives the Hebrews the perfect way to see the "Change in seasons" that Christ speaks about in Luke's Gospel. It is really a simple thing. So simple it's profound!
Keep your eye on Jesus.
Yep! That's it! The key to seeing the change in seasons is looking toward the one who doesn't change. If we practice what Jesus did and taught because the guy has impressive follow-through, we have His Word on what will be our reality after we leave this life. That's why Jesus highlights division in this passage. It's to display how we as Christians see with eyes that are different, even different than the rest of our family.
See, this world is nothing but a rehearsal. It is only through PRACTICE that we condition ourselves to the reality of God's Kingdom both here on Earth and at the end of time. We don't' need to dwell on when the end is near because we should be in a place where we are at peace with God, a state of Grace. That state is how we keep our eyes on Christ and whether the change in earthly seasons.
Pretty neat stuff!
Let's keep our eyes on the prize, and the world will start to improve significantly. Just watch!
Peace,
-Matt