Old Testament reading: Jeremiah 7-8
“You will speak to them, but they will not obey. You will call to them, but they will not answer” (Jer 7:27). How would you like to be sent to preach to a people already knowing that they will not respond to God’s pleas for repentance? Jeremiah had been instructed to stand in the doorway of the Temple and call out to God’s people (7:2). God’s offer to forgive and secure the continuation of the nation stood firm, provided Judah was willing to forsake the lies of idolatry, amend her ways and execute judgment among the people (7:3-7). Of interest here is verse 4. At first the text seems odd, with three repetitions of “the temple of the Lord.” It seems the Jews had fallen into the same error as their forefathers, namely, believing their outward religious exercises were some magic shield of protection against their enemies. As Hophni and Phineahas trotted out the ark in 1 Samuel 4, the Jews of Jeremiah’s day continued their religious service to God, while at the same time practiced all the disgusting rites and rituals of idolatry. Outward religiosity is no substitute for genuine spiritual service and is of no efficacy to the body or soul. In closing today, Jeremiah 8:20 is one of the saddest verses in all the Bible.
New Testament reading: Matthew 27-28
He made his decision in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. The name Pontius Pilate remains a scourge and a byword, even though two millennia have passed since he “washed his hands” of Jesus. Unlike other historical figures, the passage of time has not softened the image of the man who decided to kill Jesus despite the mountain of evidence that told him to let Jesus go. The Bible is clear that Pilate knew the impetus behind Jesus’ arrest (27:18). Pilate was told by his own wife to extricate himself from any dealings with Jesus, as she had “suffered many things today in a dream because of Him” (27:19). “Suffered” here means to be vexed or troubled. Add to this the “marvelous” demeanor of Jesus (27:14). Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent and should have been released. But, like others after him, he sought to keep peace with the Jews and delivered Him to be crucified. As I once heard Wendell Winkler say, “Pilate may have washed his hands, but he didn’t wash his heart.”
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