The earth mourns and dries up,
and the land wastes away and withers.
Even the greatest people on earth waste away.
—Isaiah 24: 4, NLT
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But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. —Malachi 4: 2, NIV “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 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. 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. 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 But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' —Luke 18: 13, NIV The Pharisee rose from his chair and placed himself on the center pulpit. It was his Sabbath, his turn to speak. But before he would enlighten his willing congregation, he would utter a very peculiar prayer. The man was loved by everybody, even if his standards for holiness were crushingly high. So he would never invite any blind or crippled worshiper to his place of honor so they can appreciate the service better; but everybody understood that everything had to be perfect for Yahweh. And women could only be placed outside or in a separate room away from her husbands, but everybody understood since their ungodly figures would distract his —oh, he meant, the men's gazes away from Yahweh. Yes— his actions made sense in the eyes of the Lord, as he was to maintain the Glory close to the people's hearts.
He started: "Thank You, for I am not like the other people around me: liars, beggars, thieves, scoundrels, fornicators, or even tax collectors. I fast twice a week —especially during those horrible market days—, I pray three times a day with the window open so the nation can see an example of Your love, I tithe everything I have and I carefully calculate it so I never fall broke, and I teach my people how to be decent and holy human beings... unlike that tax collector sitting in the farthest pew, looking at the floor as he ponders Your judgment upon him." This prayer moved the church. They wept. They sang. They took his words as a badge of honor. But then came the tax collector, the thief, the liar, the scoundrel, the traitor. He was beaten by a zealot because he taxed too much oil and grain from his family's precious crops. Some widow spat at him for repossessing her home due to her late husband's lack of payments. In his command, he was the most efficient tax collector the Empire has ever seen...at the cost of his family's respect and his nation's dignity. But he was human, yes —he was completely human, and he still had a bit of humanity left. He still cries for what he does. He hated it at first. But then he liked it... he liked it too much. If only someone like God would help him through this mess! "Father", said the tax collector while he beat his breast, "I know You must hate me. I know You may want to kill me. Everybody hates me. And they are right! It may be too late for them to forgive me or to bring them back everything I pried from their hands. But please, forgive me! Have mercy on ME!" And as he left the temple, he smiled once again, as he never did in a long time. On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled... He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. (Luke 6: 6 & 10, NIV) Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace. Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision. Our sheep will increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields; our oxen will draw heavy loads. -Psalms 114:12-14a, NIV |
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