Friday, December 29, 2017

Reflections on Psalm 73 515-2 - 15 - 1

This is where I was more than a week ago, forming an answer to DQ#1.
Psalm 73:3, “For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. “Why does it seem evil is often rewarded?
Several Psalms deal with this including Psalm 37:1-2, “31 A Psalm of David. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.” And Psalm 101:8, “I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.” 
And of course, there is the judgment found in The Rich Man and Lazarus, Luke 16:25, “But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.” 
And now, perhaps it's the fact that I've been sick for more than a week and very lethargic that I've watched two favorite miniseries rather than getting my Psalms' homework done. These two miniseries are Peter and Paul starring Robert Foxworth and Sir Anthony Hopkins and Jesus of Nazareth starring then 26-year-old English actor Robert Powell.
The miniseries Jesus of Nazareth left out several important events including the slitting of the Veil in the temple when Jesus said, “It is finished” and died. That said, many important quotes were included such as:
Caiaphas stating, “Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.” John 11:50.
Jesus said to Pilate, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” To which “Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.” John 18:38.
As CM has said many times, Jesus was in control. “Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.” John 19:11. 
John 19:14, “And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!” Some translations quote Pilate as saying, “behold the man.”
So, what does this have to do with Psalms? Psalm 69:9, “For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me”. Mark 11:17, “And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.” Here Robert Powell was very believable in his role as Jesus.
However, the mini-series failed to bring out the unhappy childhood as found in Psalm 69. No hint of Jesus being tainted by illegitimacy or the rejection from his siblings, “I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.” Psalm 69:8 
Not made clear was His pain of rejection by His Father as Jesus was sin for us and a righteous God cannot look upon sin. Nevertheless, the ridicule of the crowd while on the cross detailed in Psalm 22 is brought out by the movie.
Quite a transition, from evil being punished to the purity of Jesus being the propitiation for all the sin that ever was or is or will be, the free gift of justification for those of us who choose to follow Jesus.

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