Chapter 51
Good Monday Morning to this week 52 of 2020
Last week I felt unjustly treated and got only a glimpse of the hunger and thirst of righteousness. How much more those who over a long period of time hunger and thirst for this righteousness.
The Bible takes this many steps further. Quina Aragon shares with us:
God’s great story of redemption is filled with irony. Even as Matthew emphasizes that Jesus is the promised Messiah by virtue of his Scripture-fulfilling birthplace, he also introduces his Jewish audience to a mysterious group of foreigners: Magi from the East. Look at the Christ child already causing the nations to “rally to him”.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled,” the Bible tells us in Matthew 2: 5:6. This is the reality we see embodied by the Gentile Magi. Their joy overflowed into worship when they saw that shining sign of hope rest over the home of Hope himself. They traveled from afar to gladly bend the knee to the “king of the Jews” who, it turns out, is also the “King of the nations”.
The love of God is a scandal—too full to contain, too shocking to predict. It makes Christ-worshipers out of pagans, faith heroes out of foreigners. Are we willing to learn from these unlikely leaders and their generous, humble worship? If we are, perhaps we too will embody a beautiful irony—a disruptive joy, a bright hope, piercing through the darkness of our times.
Wishing you a good start into this week.
Philemon
