Haggai 1:1-15

1:1 In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 2 Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD's house. 3 Then the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 4 Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider how you have fared. 6 You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes.

7 Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider how you have fared. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the LORD. 9 You have looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the LORD of hosts. Because my house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own houses. 10 Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the soil produces, on human beings and animals, and on all their labors.

12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of the prophet Haggai, as the LORD their God had sent him; and the people feared the LORD. 13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD's message, saying, I am with you, says the LORD. 14 And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month. (Haggai 1:1-15, NRSV)

Have you ever given advice that was acted upon immediately? Have you preached and found your people doing just what you said? Sometimes it takes a while. We are called to be faithful, and let others judge the results. In the first of two daily readings from the Book of Haggai, the prophet preaches one of the more effective sermons on record, in terms of its practical effect. He urges those who had returned from Babylon some eighteen years earlier to finish what they came for, to finish rebuilding the temple. "Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house [i.e. the temple] lies in ruins?" (Haggai 1:4). The people must put up with certain poor conditions "because my house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own houses" (v. 9). Under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua (v. 12), the people "came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God" (v. 14). (Comments are repeated here from an E-mail sent December 11, 2003, for December 12, 2003.)

Revelation 2:18-29

18 "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze:

19 "I know your works-your love, faith, service, and patient endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first. 20 But I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her fornication. 22 Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings; 23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. 24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call 'the deep things of Satan,' to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden; 25 only hold fast to what you have until I come. 26 To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end,

I will give authority over the nations;

27 to rule them with an iron rod,

as when clay pots are shattered-

28 even as I also received authority from my Father. To the one who conquers I will also give the morning star. 29 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. (Revelation 2:18-29, NRSV)

The letter to the church in Thyatira commends them for "love, faith, service and patient endurance," and because "your last works are greater than the first" (Rev. 2:19). But the letter rebukes them for tolerating "a Christian prophetess whose teachings were leading Christians astray" (D.E. Aune, HarperCollins Study Bible, on Rev. 2:20), who is characterized by calling her "Jezebel," the name of King Ahab's infamous queen. She has taught Christians "to practice fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols" (v. 20). Her teaching has been about "what some call 'the deep things of Satan'" (v. 24), "perhaps a sarcastic revision of the prophetess's motto, which probably was 'the deep things of God'" (Aune, on v. 24). Perhaps, too, the reference to "fornication" (v. 20) is metaphorical, echoing the charge of OT prophets that Israel has committed "adultery" against the LORD by worshiping other gods. (Comments are repeated here from an E-mail sent December 11, 2003, for December 12, 2003.)

Matthew 23:27-39

27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. 28 So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, 30 and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' 31 Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors. 33 You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell? 34 Therefore I send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, 35 so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come upon this generation.

The Lament over Jerusalem (Lk 13.34-35)

37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you, desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.' " (Matthew 23:27-39, NRSV)

Dale C. Allison, Jr., reads these Woes against the Pharisees (Mt. 23:1-39 as criticism by their own standards.

Chapter 23 does not criticize isolated beliefs or activities; rather its charges amount to a rejection of Pharisaism itself. Surprisingly, however, Mt 23 does not censor the scribes and Pharisees for failure to believe in the Messiah Jesus. Instead it convicts them by their own standards. No scribe or Pharisee would have defended hypocrisy, or commend the slaying of ‘God’s prophets, or affirmed that preoccupation with the lesser matters of the law should be at the expense of the greater. So the text presupposes that the scribes and Pharisees actually know better: they are hypocrites in the full sense of the word. The presupposition is possible because the scribes and Pharisees, like those in Matthew’s community, were heirs in the Jewish tradition. Matthew’s Jesus accordingly argues as a Jew with Jews: the leaders have been unfaithful to their own tradition. (Dale C. Allison, Jr., The Oxford Bible Commentary, pp. 874-875)

Friday's reading from Matthew concludes the woes against the scribes and Pharisees, who are called "descendants [NRSV, 'sons' RSV] of those who murdered the prophets" (Mt. 23:31). "'Sons of' has two meanings: descendants, or, those of similar character. The scribes and Pharisees would admit to being descendants 'of those who murdered the prophets.' Jesus insists that their attitudes are also similar" (E.E. Tilden, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on Mt. 23:31). The Lament over Jerusalem (vv. 37-39) provides a transition to Saturday's reading, which begins with Jesus' prediction of the destruction of the temple (24:1-3). "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" (23:37). (Comments in this paragraph are repeated here from an E-mail sent December 11, 2003, for December 12, 2003.)

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

rworden@houston.rr.com