July 7

Ezra 9, 10
Luke 5

Keeping in mind the 58 year gap between the return of the first set of exiles and the second, Ezra learns when he returns to Jerusalem that during this time, many of the people of Israel, even the priests and the Levites, had married foreign women.  Ezra is horrified.  The difference in the religious practices of these people versus Israel were not quite the same as the differences between, for instance, the Presbyterian church and the Evangelical Free church – these people worshipped “gods” such as “Chemosh (the national god of Moab) who seems to have had a taste for blood.  In 2 Kings 3:27 we find that human sacrifice was part of the rites of Chemosh.  This practice…was certainly not unique to the Moabites, as such rites were commonplace in the various Canaanite religious cults, including those of the Baals and of Moloch.” (http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/cgodsandgoddesses/a/chemosh.htm)

I think we tend to gloss over that fact when we read over and over again about God’s warnings to His people to not marry a person who does not share your faith in Him.  A friend of mine who is a believer married an atheist many years ago.  He was a great guy in a lot of ways and, while she knew God said not to marry an unbeliever, she thought she could deal with it.  All went reasonably well until she tried to bring their children to church with her.  He sneered.  He scoffed.  He mocked.  He undermined her attempts to raise their children to know and love God because to him, God was a fictional character.  She did not physically sacrifice her children as a believer of Chemosh might have, but she sacrificed their ability to be raised by parents who both loved and worshiped God and taught them that this was the most important thing in life.

What if God had allowed the Israelites to marry whomever they wanted without saying a word?  How long would they have lasted as a people of God?  How long will we?

In chapter 5 of Luke, Jesus has begun to call his disciples.  I like the account of the call of Peter.  It’s morning and he’s been out fishing all night.  He’s tired.  He’s dirty.  He’s ready for breakfast. He hasn’t caught a thing that he is going to be able to sell in the market.  Along comes this guy who clearly is not a fisherman and asks if he can use Peter’s boat as a pulpit.  Peter agrees.  Then, when his talk is done, he tells Peter to go out again and cast his net. 

There must have been something in what Jesus said during that talk that made Peter pay attention to him because, tired and dirty and hungry as he was, he did what Jesus told him to do and was rewarded so many times over with so many fish his nets began to break.  Peter (and James and John) are astonished and Peter, realizing how unworthy he is, asks Jesus to go away from him.  Jesus demonstrates that God does not look at the outward appearance, but at the heart, when he tells Peter how God will use him to catch people, not fish.