Vessels of honor and the children of men

 

 

Shall  not the judge of all the earth do right? 

I think that Abraham is here not only saying that whatever God does, as the judge of all the earth, will be right, but also, from the context, something even more specific:  He’s assuming that both he and God are on the same page about what the right thing is, and that the right thing is to not destroy the righteous with the wicked.  The Bible is replete with statements and examples of God’s righteousness and mercy and grace and goodness, and the ways in which he makes his character known.  So while we will not understand everything that God does, he reveals to us enough of his character that we can form distinctions between good and evil, and between righteousness and unrighteousness.

 

So when Paul talks about vessels of honor and dishonor, it is very much right that God has sovereignty to save and harden whom he will.  But we do  not have the liberty to speculate about who that will be.  And to assume that someone’s suffering is because they are a vessel of dishonor and just assume that what will be, will be, is not the Christian gospel.  Because Jesus came to bring life and liberty.

 

This is why we don’t get to use God’s soverignty as an excuse for laziness in addressing the ills of the world.  This is what gives us liberty to speak out in the name of justice.  God told us to go to every nation making disciples and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  He told us to be his hands and feet.  He told us that we would do greater works than the ones that he performed while he was on the earth.  He wept with those who wept.  He ate with tax collectors and sinners.  He was the greatest servant of all, and he bore our sins and became sin for us when he died on the cross so that we could live in Him.  He made us fellow heirs, irrespective of class, gender, or ethnicity.  The things that he calls us to in obedience to his created order are for our protection, and not for our exploitation.  

When Jesus told the blind man his affliction was for God’s glory, he proceeded to heal him.  God repeatedly calls himself the protector of the orphan and widow, and the father to the fatherless.  

Reflection on a train ride

I generally enjoy trains and subways.  I like the white noise, the vibration, the sounds, and when traveling above ground, the scenery.  For me, trains represent travel, adventure, and new places.  

The other day, I was observing a mock argument between two transit employees, one of whom had been unwittingly trapped in the car she was cleaning when the driver started up the engines and and left the transit center.   The driver had apparently been unaware that anyone was on the train.  Back and forth they went for several minutes, with the maintenance worker insisting that she had been taken away against her will.  “I might as well be wearing an orange jumpsuit!” she proclaimed loudly against the protests of the driver, before rolling her eyes and walking away with a laugh.  

At first I was nervous.  It was eight or nine o’clock in the morning, and no one wants to start the day with the drama of disgruntled transit employees.  I was relieved when the woman began to laugh.  But oddly enough, her argument put me in mind of the Nazi trains to Auschwitz.  As we pulled out of the station into a long, dark tunnel, I imagined the train car packed with people and luggage.  I imagined children clinging to the legs of their parents, while the adults wearily guarded their families and the few meager, precious goods that they had left. As my car raced into the darkness, I was safe.  Barring some weird hostile takeover, I knew where I was going.   Nevertheless, I could actually feel a growing apprehension as I thought of people speeding towards an unknown, and ultimately tragic, destination.  

It was a sobering reflection for a Sunday morning.  Millions of people lost their lives, their families, and their livelihoods for the sake of an ideology that refused to recognize them as bearers of the imago dei.  And although we look back on that time in horror and shame, even today we receive almost daily news reports of the systematic perpetration of slavery and genocide in various places across the world.  We can’t fix ourselves.  But we have hope in Christ:

“ In the world you will have  tribulation. But take heart;  I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Excerpt From: Crossway. “ESV® Global Study Bible.” iBooks.