Here On Purpose - September 14, 2010

Daily Lectionary for September 14, 2010
Psalm 50
Job 40:1, 41:1-11
Acts 16:6-15
John 12:9-19

Acts 16:6-15
This passage from Acts wraps up with a very specific recounting of Paul and Silas meeting a woman named Lydia.  Lydia was from Thyatira; they meet her in Phillipi in the district of Macedonia.  How do they get to that moment.  By not going to some places - places that the Holy Spirit forbade them to go.  On the face of it that seems odd.  The great evangelist traveling through fertile fields in which he is not allowed to bear witness.  In the midst of traveling through these places where they have been forbidden to preach Paul has a vision of a Macedonian man encouraging them to come to Macedonia.  And so they go passing through several places landing eventually outside the gate of Phillipi in the presence of Lydia of Thyatira.  The sort of thing that could easily be chalked up to happy coincidence.  I'd argue not coincidence at all - God had plans that involved Paul and Silas and Lydia meeting on that particular day.  Wherever we find ourselves today, tomorrow...it is worth asking what God has brought us to this particular moment in this particular place to do and experience.  I supposed we could be here by accident.  I just don't believe we are.

John 12:9-19
John casts the Palm Sunday triumphal entry story in the shadow of the raising of Lazarus.  The Pharisees see the Lazarus event not so much as a miracle as a threat to their power and authority.  The consideration is not of the power of the miracle, but of the problem (?) presented by the miracle.  As this passage begins they are considering killing Lazarus, one assumes in order to correct the wrong of bringing him backfrom the dead (??).  The Palm Sunday crowd clearly has them alarmed as the passage concludes with the concerned Pharisees talking amongst themsleves - "You see, you can do nothing.  Look, the world has gone after him!"  It's possible to feel a sense of sadness for the Pharisees - so consumed with maintaining the status quo that they miss the reality of what Christ is doing in their midst.  It is also possible, unfortunately, to feel some kinship with the Pharisees for the same reason - my own stubborn holding on to the way things are rather than risking complete openness to the reality of Christ in our midst.