Tuesday 19 May 2009

More on salvation as God's work - William Willimon.

The Hebrew verb root "ya sha" (save) is found 354 times in the Old Testament, usually with God as subject. Proper names derived from the root - Elisha, Joshua, and Hosea - indicate "God saves." later, Matthew will underscore the theological significance of Jesus' name (Hebrew - Joshua) with a commentary by the angel "he will save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21). When Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem, people will shout "Hosanna!" (Mark 11:9), "Save us we pray," from the Hebrew "hosi anna."
I find it remarkable that salvation appears most frequently in Psalms and in Isaiah. In Israel's most dismal days, Isaiah dared to speak of God's promised deliverance. when the sky is dark, Israel discovered the God who saves. this is only one of the reasons it can be truthfully said that "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22) for Israel keeps teaching the world what it means to rely upon God for our ultimate significance.

It is so important to be reminded of how people of the faithful communities of the past have found a blessed assurance of God's ability to save and God's presence even when the sky was falling down. Rather than being a community of "chicken little" that runs around screaming that everything is going bad and we must arm ourselves and take drastic measures to save ourselves, there was this reminder of God's promises. Because we believe in a God who saves, it doesn't mean everything will look good or go well. it is easy to believe in that kind of "good times" god. We are reminded that our God is a never abandoning God who will see us through all that may prevail in this day. Imagine the faithful people Jew and Christians who, in the middle of death camps, still were filled with life when life was being sucked from them. They would not stop relying on God even when they were facing their end.

Connection: It is not always easy to lift up our heads and greet the day with a word of thanks for the God who saves.

For some reason I thought of this prayer at meals. "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen.