David Bahn – Reflections

Has it ever all come together for you – a perfect storm of good fortune, blessing, and favor? Your boss walk by your desk just as you close a major deal, only to hear a co-worker tell you that he had heard that you were the reason the customer went with your company, on the day of your performance review, which just so happens to be the day after the highest ever quarterly earnings were announced. And it’s your birthday, payday, your daughter’s last orthodontist’s visit, and your son is on hold waiting to tell you he got a full ride scholarship because of his excellent grades…well, you get the idea. A perfect storm of good news and happy events conspiring to fill your life with joy.

Matthew 12:14-21

¹⁴But the Pharisees went out and conspired against [Jesus], how to destroy him.

¹⁵Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all ¹⁶and ordered them not to make him known. ¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁸ “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,
my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
¹⁹He will not quarrel or cry aloud,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;
²⁰a bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not quench,
until he brings justice to victory;
²¹ and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

Sometimes we think of prophetic fulfillment as though it is a simple matter of a promise being fulfilled. To be sure that is part of it; God made promises in the Old Testament that were fulfilled by Jesus. Jesus was  born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), in Bethlehem (Micah 5:18), died a terrible death (Isaiah 53), rose from the dead (Psalm 16; Isaiah 53). All these promises and many more were fulfilled in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

But it wasn’t as though Jesus looked at the promises of the Old Testament and began to check them of a list one by one. He didn’t wake up one day and say, “I think I’ll work on Isaiah 53:4 today;  get me some sick people!” While he surely did concern himself with the teachings, prophecies, and promises of the Old Testament, his approach was much more holistic. He sought to live his life as a whole in obedience to the Father and trusted that the Father would make good on all his promises.

Perhaps we can learn something here: rather than considering the 10 Commandments, for example, as merely a list of things we ought or ought not do, we can live our whole lives in fear, love and trust in God. We can have a holistic approach to God that seeks to fill our souls with his goodness, based on his promises, and in search of his blessing. This is not something that we earn, but a way of life given to the faith that God is good, and his promises are sure, and his ways are the way of life. Living in him fills us hope, purpose, and abundant life.

That is a fill up we can all use.