16 February 2024 Matthew 9:14-15
“I am the Bridegroom,” Jesus said, “and I am here. That’s why they don’t fast. They’ll fast later.”
Not everyone read their Bibles in those days. Not everyone could, in fact most could not.
But some could. Some had studied their Bibles intensely and had made it their life’s work. They knew all the “Bridegroom” passages in the Law and the Prophets, and all those passages said the same thing: God is the Bridegroom. “…my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:3). “For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name….” (Isaiah 54:5). God is the Bridegroom, His people the Bride – a favorite metaphor in the Law and the Prophets. The people who knew their Bibles knew that.
The people who knew their Bibles started whispering, “This man just said he was God.” The people who know their Bibles are saying it still.
“No, that’s crazy talk.”
“Is it? In the Bible He heals people everywhere. Usually with just a word, just a touch. Sometimes He heals people at a great distance.”
“Yeah, well, some of those people were gentiles, you know. He wasn’t very picky about who He healed.”
“So what? An Egyptian princess saved Moses’ life. Around the same time Egyptian midwives saved all those Jewish babies from being thrown into the Nile at Pharaoh’s command. You think God has no regard for them because they are Egyptians? Jesus also casts out unclean spirits, and the unclean spirits are afraid of Him. He feeds thousands of people in places where there is no food. He did it twice, in different places, different witnesses.”
“Yeah, well, in the Bible the Devil can do mighty acts, too.”
“And does the Devil tell people to pray, fast and give alms? Does the Devil tell us to love our enemies and forgive each other? Does the Devil say that not one letter of the Law will pass away until it is all fulfilled? Does the Devil tell us to feed the hungry, heal the sick, clothe the naked, and visit the prisoner? He does.”
“It’s still crazy talk, and the Bible calls the Devil the Father of Lies!”
“And who is telling the lies? Who is saying that men can be women and women can be men? Not Him. Who is telling children to follow their hearts instead of following God, the same young people who are suffering from depression at rates 60% higher than ever before, the same young people who are so desperately unhappy that they are killing themselves like never before? Not Him. Who is saying that the only thing that counts as knowledge is science, and everything else is just poetry? Who is saying there are no such things as moral facts, and then shrugs at the moral cesspool such claims create? Not Him. There is a Father of Lies, but it’s not Him. He is giving people hope. He is giving people heaven. That’s what He keeps talking about: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
“Still, it’s crazy talk. It has to be.”
“Is it? Maybe the crazy part is our own definition of ‘crazy.’ Maybe the crazy part is believing the lies we are told. Maybe the crazy part is putting up with all the lies we put up with. Maybe the crazy part is not recognizing who the Bridegroom really is. Maybe the crazy part is not recognizing that it is Him.”
The people who know their Bibles are whispering still, “Jesus is saying He is God.” The same Jesus who gives health, and hope, and heaven.
Crazy talk? Really?
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