“Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! —Acts 8: 19 & 20, ESV
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As stipulated in the will, Nabot was given his father's vineyard as his inheritance. He grew up in those vineyards, watching how humble feet pressed the chosen grapes and watched how new batches of wine came to fruition slowly, carefully, and precisely, all in due time. They were renowned in the community for its commitment to quality over quantity —his father always taught him to forget about sales and make wine as if God Himself were to come down from Heaven to take a sip. Of course he had other investments; those he would use for taxation and sacrifices, whichever came first. But his wine was his one true offering, and he would never give up his vineyard for anybody.
So he was more than appalled when his king shamelessly pounced on his inheritance. Yes, he bowed and did every human protocol in order to get on the king's good graces. He was human, after all, and being so dangerously close to the king's view. His father always warned him that the heart is man's worst pollutant, and greed is only but the seed planted to sow evil. The king offered him a myriad of options for that land: money, larger and more productive lands far away from his kingdom, hired hands, women, maybe a life full of earthly graces. He wanted to turn the vineyard into a vegetable garden, in a place where only vines could grow and any perversions of the land would grow fallow! Why would Nabot lose his precious inheritance for the king's selfish whims? Would he tend to the land? Would he care for it like a newborn child? Would he nurse the land back to health when he was sick? Would he offer the fruits of this land to God? He would never have the land that was given to him! "The Lord forbid I give away my inheritance to you!", he said to the king, looking straight in the eye, filled with anger and zeal. And the king left, looking sullen and defeated. “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” —1 Samuel 1: 15 & 16, NIV Preaching about the cross sounds foolish to those who are dying in sin. But it is the power of God to those of us who are being saved from the punishment of sin. —1 Corinthians 1: 18, NLV It was never promised an easy life. No, that was never guaranteed. Rather, it surely made a promise that suffering will join us until death or resurrection —whichever comes first—. But there is a beautiful guarantee, an eternal promise of peace at all times. The world would rip itself apart and the fiery gates of Hell could destroy everything in its path, yet we have the power to smile at life and say, "I am alive!"
For the world, it makes no sense. Not that we live as mere Pollyannas that never understand the depth of suffering and the distortions we puny humans must overcome, no. However, to whom is the Presence closer by to understand that the greatest meaning of life is found in an instrument of death? Someone who cannot be seen...Someone who cannot be called at the merest whim...It definitely makes no sense. For the Jews, bound together by uphill laws that nobody, not even them, could follow, was crazy. For Greeks, used to debate the strangest philosophies and salacious fantasies their minds found cumbersome enough to do so, it would weigh their human minds down when they could never fathom such an extreme course of action. Romans, obsessed with their power and might, took offense that Someone they ensnared to death would be kept alive in the hearts of the people who very much wanted to kill him in the first place! Why would someone find hope in death? Foolishness indeed. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. —Revelation 3:20, NIV
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Everybody rejected it. Nobody wanted to place the cornerstone in its place of honor. They had all the tools and materials, but nobody was willing to do so. Weird. Weeks have barely passed, and people were excited for this new building. "It will solve your problems!", someone billed it. Another promoted it, "It will help you grow hair!" and "You will never be afraid again!". In their minds, the stone would be placed in the center of the building, where people would look at it and be amazed. It would have the highest place of honor and amazing, being placed where no mortal could not look at it and weep. It was a simple stone, others scoffed! But those scoffers would never learn to appreciate the simple beauty of the stones.
However, the architect changed his plans and had to place the cornerstone on the farthest corner, away from the building. Not that he wanted to, he said; without it, the whole building would fall down before they completed the first floor. Some people were disappointed! Why would they allow for some petty architect to transform the stone they rejected into a beautiful work of art, only to be tucked in a corner full of bugs and vermin and not where they believed it deserved!? He could have used other rocks, but not the most beautiful of them all! In a moment, the people wanted to whisk him away from the project he worked so hard for so long. he never quite understood the people's outrage: the stone was beautiful, yes, but what purpose would it serve gallivanting the people's pride in a pedestal when it was needed in the most important corner, sustaining the load-bearing columns, and keeping the building structurally sound? In fact, they only appreciated the stone because the organizers paid him top dollar for him to design it! If he took away the stone, would people remember it in the first place? By the end of the day, the outrage died as the architect was booted from his job and the son of some worker replaced him immediately. He left, she shed a tear or two, and he took away the cornerstone meant for the building. No problem —if nobody ever wanted it, then some other building would need it. In a week, workers started building the first floor, without a cornerstone. It barely lasted a full hour when the floor caved in. For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! —Romans 5:10, NIV They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. —Luke 24: 2 & 3, NIV The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:“ I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. —Jeremiah 31:3, NIV I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”—Genesis 50:24 & 25, NIV |
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