justice

We are done here. Rejoice Zion!

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The first day of the last week of Yeshua’s life is on public display at this time of the year again with its well-rounded appeal and its popularity as a fabulous deep. The light streaming from the triumphant entry is somewhat dimmed torch when compared to the untrimmed prophecy from which the gospel writers cited Zion’s joy. That now famous donkey ride calls for a closer look at Zion’s reason to rejoice greatly.

King nobody wanted

Yeshua’s contemporaries and the Jewish leadership objected to his preaching, teaching, and his healing. The people even exploited his feeding of the hungry: this food manufacturer could be our king. Was he not born king? Yes, but they did not really want the Nazarene. I think the Roman governor hit the piñata when Yeshua’s opponents tries to get the cross-sign changed from “Jesus, Nazarene, Jewish King” to “he called himself Jesus, Nazarene, Jewish King”

I N R I

In that last week Yeshua pushed the buttons to shift to the work he came to do: establish who is really in charge.

The ride into Zion is more than popular acclaim. The full prediction breaks out of the mold of Moses and the prophets.

The gospel-writer’s citation
Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.

Matthew 21:5

The full Zecharian prophecy

A. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. B. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. C. As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.

Zechariah 9:9-11

The lines following the procession description play out in the sayings and interactions in the following list. Israel’s pride is over. Everything she had at the top of her power list is now useless. Abraham’s family, those countless Gentile “sinners” will be have God’s peace through His decree. There comes a covenant that releases people from wells without water.

  1. Clearing the temple of merchandising
  2. Cursing the fig tree
  3. Condemning the rejection of the Baptist
  4. Evaluating and evicting the murderous tenants
  5. Identifying the wedding guests who disinvited themselves
  6. Separating Caesar and God
  7. Resurrection and human destiny
  8. Capping the law and the prophets
  9. Identifying David’s son
  10. Trashing the leadership (people in Moses’ seat)

Weeping over Jerusalem

The events in the list cover Matthew chapters 21 to 23 and they are clearly the final actions of the king before he finishes his work on the cross. Joy vanishes quickly as people return to their ways, kicking and screaming that YHWH was not their king. It was too much to be under the wing of a loving mother.



O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Matthew 23:37

Desolation vs Covenant

The united memories of both Zionite and the waterless wells cannot paper over the manifest fate of Zion vs the desolation, not merely the physical destruction but the loss of spiritual relevance to life, of the temple. There is no evidence of a God until the airwaves begin to record the sound of relief. People have to welcome the king.

Blessed is he who comes in Yahweh’s name

Safe!

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Then he brought them outside and said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?”

Acts 16:30

Are Christians trafficking in guilt and illness? What raises such a question?  The lipservice given to the Sinai Covenant and the essential reality of falling short of God’s glory.   Since claiming sinless nature or conduct is false (1 John 1:7-10) and since no Christian is in perfect health we can say guilt over sin and illness are being used to oppress and harass the elect.

“Be saved” is passive action. Passive action puts the person receiving the action as the actor. I must be saved, but who saves me is the question that will sniff out the truffle. As long as people keep separating the promise that makes lost people sons of God from generosity no safe space exists. Nothing is guaranteed. There is no real gift.

Here are two pairs of passive action and active action.

  • He was saved by grace
  • Grace saved him
  • They are often kissed by their mother
  • Their mother kisses them often.

Simple vs Infinite


Who is doing the kissing? Who is doing the saving?

In Ephesians 2 :8 “saved” is also passive but it is definitely not an ordinary (finite) action word. It is the linked condition or identity to “you”. Sesosmenoi (safe or saved) is like a colour or some other quality: in this case persons are sesosmenoi.
We cannot twist “saved” into an active statement such as
• Grace saved you
• Grace saved you through faith

Paul is describing an outcome or status. You are safe by grace through faith.
Saved, though it is a based on a verb, lacks person. It has the characteristics of a verb except for person (actor)
• I
• You (one or more)
• He / she
• We
• They
It is a statement of fact, not action.
You are light.
You were blind
You are my friends

Need to come and let Christ save us

This is one of many cases where translations have failed to state what the text says. One is safe and cannot drag works into the picture, except perhaps if one wants to brag about one’s contribution to the redemption that is exclusively by Lamb’s blood.  Moreover, if one accepts that Yeshua’s gift of the Holy Spirit is a downpayment towards (or a guarantee of) resurrection one cannot harbour the thought that Yeshua’s eternal will can be thwarted by human will or action. He did not need our will to shed grace on us, and he certainly does not need it to keep us graced. We only needed to come to him.  We only needed to surrender our record and efforts to set ourselves right. Apparently most of us stil do.

Christ Never Arraigned a Sinner

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Having a host of entities all ready to throw one book or another at us, it is satisfying to know that God’s adjudication of the human condition is far more noble than the rush to repay God with our faithfulness. It may come as a surprise that when God speaks in his court he speaks to justify or vindicate himself. This appears in Psalm 51 as David speaks about his sin and his recovery.

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Psalms 51:4

The cross is God’s verdict, conditional on grace (his gift and my thanks) and faith (his faithfulness and my faith).

If David was condemned for his sin he should have also been executed. Apparently, God forgave him. Our Lord demonstrates his advocacy when a woman accused of a capital sin walks free when he rules “no condemnation from me”.

Everyone was pretty sure that she was worthy of death but not the Lord. Even faithful Moses, prosecutor-General (John 5:45), would have concurred. Recall Moses’ divorce allowance (amendment?).

Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope.

Divine justice. Romans 3:25

Mercyseat operations – blood and atonement – show his rightness.

[Christ] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

Since we cannot pay for our unbelief nor pay for the gift of life let us love with the love he’s given us. Is not thanks enough?

Lord, thanks for the grace

κύριε, χάρις χαριτι