Bread – Adultery

Readings for Friday, March 6, 2015, designated by the 1979 Book of Common Prayer: Jer. 3:6-18; Rom. 1:28-2:11; John 5:1-17; Psalms 72, 119:73-96

—————————————-

From our reading today in Jeremiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? … Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree.” Jer. 3:6-9

How does a nation commit adultery with stone and tree? Both represent worship of idols, gods of our manufacture which are not God. Both represent nature, the created as opposed to the Creator. So, one possible interpretation of this passage is “the nation Judah committed adultery with its idols.”

“Adultery” in the ordinary use of the word means sex outside of the marriage relationship.

In the broader definition, “adultery” is ignoring a covenantal relationship (marriage) in favor of satisfying self-desire (or lust). You can see, therefore, where this has potential huge meaning in our lives. In fact, in this broader definition, we commit adultery all the time.

Since this is Lent and a time for reflection upon our lives and our loyalty to our Savior, Jesus Christ, perhaps we should mediate further on all of the different ways we commit adultery. It first begins with identification of the people or organizations with whom you have contracts or covenantal relationships. Perhaps it is God. Perhaps it is with a spouse. Perhaps it is with a friend. Perhaps it is with work (employment contract). Perhaps it is with a customer or a client. Perhaps it is with a partner in business or other profit or non-profit enterprise.

Once you have identified all of these relationships, then it merely becomes a process of thinking about each person and asking yourself what you have done to ignore, bypass, defeat, or otherwise harm that relationship. In asking yourself what you have done, you will also answer the third question, which is with whom have you committed and are you committing adultery?

When we raise up an idol which we worship and follow, whether it be some other person, wealth, position, power, or some other object or objective, we are committing adultery with that idol because we have abandoned the relationship we have with God.

So, do you find yourself in the midst of adulterous relationships, following idols of man’s invention rather than the God of the universe? If so, Jesus has a question for you in today’s reading from the gospel of John: “Do you want to be healed?” John 5:6

If you want to be healed, Jesus says to you just like he said to the invalid at Bethesda, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” John 5:8 Through faith in Jesus’ authority over sickness, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the man stood up and walked.

For Christians who sin, the answer to shedding that sin and living in victory is the same answer given to the invalid by Jesus: “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” Walk away from your adulterous relationships. Flee sin. Abandon unrighteousness. Not in your own power, but in the power of the Holy Spirit applied in your life through faith in Jesus Christ.

Easy to say. Hard (and really impossible for man) to do. That is why we need supernatural help. “Lord, I need to be healed. I believe; help me in my unbelief. Come, Holy Spirit.”

__________

© 2015 GBF