ODJ: the holy riddler
I will speak to you in parables. I will explain things hidden since the creation of the world (v.35).
READ: Matthew 13:24-52
Mighty, majestic, awesome. Gracious, loving, kind. Such descriptors for God are common, and rightly so. But how many of us would add “playful” to the list? How many of us think of God as the One who toys with us—the holy riddler?
“Son of man,” God commands Ezekiel, “give this riddle, and tell this story to the people of Israel” (Ezekiel 17:2). What follows is a warning of judgment couched in a tale of two eagles. “My loved one had a vineyard,” sings the prophet Isaiah, with a description of Israel’s fruitlessness following (Isaiah 5). The prophet Nathan, led by God, told King David a story about a “little ewe lamb” that exposed the shame of David’s infidelity (2 Samuel 12:1-10). The meaning behind such riddles may be dire, but the method is playful—God being coy and indirect with us, using puzzles and parables to see if we have “ears to hear.”
“The kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed . . . like a mustard seed . . . like a treasure . . . like a fishing net” (Matthew 13:24-52). When the holy riddler took on flesh, He came telling tales of farmers and fishermen, of lamps and tenants (Mark 4:21-23, 12:1-12), of salt and children (Luke 14:34-35; Mark 9:36-37). Jesus taught little without using such riddles (Matthew 13:34) and while His audience was often let in on the riddle’s meaning, the practice often frustrated His disciples! (John 16:29).
But the holy riddler delivers His puzzles with a purpose. He speaks in parables to reveal spiritual truth (Matthew 13:35), but also to weed out those who don’t truly want to hear (vv.11-15). He throws out a hook to see if we’ll bite. Our response to God’s riddles shows how much we really want to know of Him. —Sheridan Voysey
How quick are you to read over Jesus’ “riddles” and parables without really reflecting on them? Which of the parables hold particular significance for you right now?
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July 19, 2010
READ: Psalm 23
You are my hope, O Lord God; You are my trust from my youth. —Psalm 71:5
The ancient road from Jerusalem to Jericho is a narrow, treacherous path along a deep gorge in the Judean wilderness. Its name is Wadi Kelt, but it’s known as the valley of the shadow, for this is the location that inspired David’s 23rd Psalm. The place itself offers little reason to compose such a hopeful poem. The landscape is bleak, barren, and perilously steep. It’s a good place for thieves, but not for anyone else.
When David wrote, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil” (v.4), he was in a place where evil was an ever-present reality. Yet he refused to give in to fear. He wasn’t expressing hope that God would abolish evil so that he could pass through safely; he was saying that the presence of God gave him the confidence to pass through difficult places without fear of being deserted by Him. In another psalm, David said that the Lord was his hope (71:5).
Many claim to have hope, but only those whose hope is Christ can claim it with certainty. Hope comes not from strength, intelligence, or favorable circumstances, but from the Lord. As Maker of heaven and earth, He alone has the right to promise hope and the power to keep the promise. —Julie Ackerman Link
Hope for the Christian is a certainty— because its basis is Christ.
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By Eugene Seah, 22, Singapore
“C’mon, you’ve got to give him some space to breathe.”
“I need to have some alone-time please.”
“Perhaps we should both take some time off, give ourselves space to think things over.”
Do these phrases sound familiar?
We often have to worry about intruding the invisible personal bubble surrounding loved ones and friends, or we wonder whether we are intimate enough with so-and-so to probe and share our opinions. Despite our good intentions, we sometimes end up being too intrusive into the lives of those closest to us.
It’s never easy interacting with people. Misunderstandings, hurt and frustration are things probably not strange to all of us. Neither is it uncommon to come to a point where you just want to shut everything out, forget about being concerned or loving to anyone, and opt for the simpler, safer route of inaction and watch things happen from the fringe.
However, the relationship that God offers to us is different. In it, there are no such inhibitions, no fear of stepping on each other’s toes. He offers each of us a personal and intimate relationship with Him, in which there is no worry, no masquerade and no inhibition to love and be loved. There are no qualms to ask to know more. He sees our hearts and knows us like the back of His hand.
Having this open and unafraid relationship with God is only possible because of Jesus Christ. Paul writes, “Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault” (Colossians 1:22). The only reason that we are able to stand clean before a holy God, and to have a relationship with Him, is because Christ has already died for our sins.
On top of this, this wonderful, perfect relationship with God is meant to bring healing to all other relationships. One example of this is the reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles. “Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of His death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death” (Ephesians 2:16).
The love that we receive from God is a refuge for us to recharge our energy and heal our hurts. But it also has to translate into the ways that we treat those around us, not just for our own sakes, but for God’s. The Bible says, “And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
So as we, like the psalmist, run to the Lord for shelter against the hurts we receive from other people, let’s learn to let His healing love overflow to those around us!
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart,
all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Matthew 22:37-39
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