Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2, NKJV)rev

Crime and punishment: That has long been one of the most difficult issues facing our social relationships. “Do unto others” - Yea, verily! But not according to the Golden Rule, which emphasizes doing good. More often it is “Tit for Tat” and “This for That.” The old adage of “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” “Don’t just get mad”, they say; “Get even!” We are typically quick to judgment, but slow on mercy. A common adage is, “What we sow, so shall we reap,” and multiple millions of persons can testify to this reality.
While some suffering can be directly traced to sin, natural evil comes without a moral agent: A tower falls, an earthquake shakes, a tornado destroys, a hurricane ravages, a spider bites, a disease debilitates and kills. The world is filled with wonders mixed with dangers. Gravity can save you or gravity can kill you. When a tower falls, it kills. Some persons suffer innocently by the sinful acts of others.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus mentioned an example of such a tragedy when he was told about some Galilean insurgents who were killed by the Romans. Those who told Jesus this may have expected him to say that their deaths were punishment for their rebellious and belligerent behavior. Jesus replied that they were not more sinful than other Galileans, nor were the eighteen killed in the collapse of the tower of Siloam. Jesus taught that death can come upon anyone, regardless of how sinful they are. He went on to teach that the need for all people to repent is the true lesson from such tragedies.(Luke 13:1-5)
One common belief, both in our time and in Jesus’ day, relates to individual or collective misfortune. “Who sinned?, the disciples asked, expressing a trend of thinking that physical limitations, like deafness, or blindness, were served up by God as punishment for sin. Some Christians, like Job’s “friends, simply explain suffering as the consequence of sins, known or unknown. In reality, tragedy occurs whether or not a person or country is either innocent or guilty of sin.
In John 9, a man is blind from birth, and Jesus tells the Twelve that this blindness cannot be traced back to this man's sin, or that of his parents. A common saying in the time of the Old Testament prophets concerned sins of parents inflicted upon their children. Jeremiah writes that a day is coming when “People will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
Instead, everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes - his own teeth will be set on edge.” (Jeremiah 31:29-30) Even then, prophesy foretold Jesus’ words, that through repentance, and God’s Grace, The Lord will “forgive iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34b.)
What should we, as faithful Christians, do in regard to the supposed sins of others? First of all, pray for your enemies - and sinners. In the words of Leviticus 19:18 "'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” and in Deuteronomy 32:35, ”It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them."
Paul wrote, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
(Romans 12:19 -21)

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: John wrote, “At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him . . .John 12:16 NIV
I’ve been conducting lots of burials lately. I do so not with sadness or despair, but with a sense of anticipation and satisfaction. Lest you think that I am heartless and deranged I should tell you that Jesus would approve! He said so; I can prove it.
Jesus told several parables about sowers, casting seed to the ground, with anticipation of the harvest. In John 12:24, He states, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
If I commit my seeds to the ground, I will in time gain an increase, whether in seed or plants. If I keep my seed safe in the house, I will gain no increase; if fact, over time, the seed looses its “life” and will be worth nothing.
So I rejoice as I “bury” my seeds. I look to the future, anticipating the harvest, which I have faith will come.
Jesus’ disciples were not able to understand what He was talking about at the time. Save to lose; lose to save. It didn’t make sense. They saw only a hopeless sense of loss in Jesus’ death and burial. They had not yet learned, as Whittier wrote many years later, that “Life is ever Lord of Death.” It was not until that morning, that miraculous morning, that they finally knew, and understood what Jesus meant. They passed that knowledge, the wonderful, joyful news on to us. We call it . . . EASTER!

Alas for him who never sees
The stars shine through the cypress trees
Who, hopeless, lays his dead away,
Nor looks to see the breaking day
Across the mournful marbles play!
Who hath not learned, in hours of faith,
The truth to flesh and sense unknown,
That Life is ever Lord of Death
and Love can never lose its own!
John Greenleaf Whittier