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Jotham’s Warning
“So then, if you acted in faith and devotion when you coronated Abimelek, and if you have created goodwill with Jeruba’al and his sons, and if the honor due his works has been given to him — for my father fought for you and risked his life, and with that he delivered you from the hand of Midian — yet, you rose up against my father’s house on the day and slaughtered his sons — seventy men on one stone — and coronated Abimelek, the son of his servant, before the leaders of Shekem, because he is your brother — if then you have acted in faith and in devotion to Jeruba’al and with his house on this day, then rejoice in Abimelek and let him rejoice also with you.”
(Judges 9:16-19)
There is another principle that really ought to be addressed in this context, and that is the matter of loyalty to those men whom God has raised up to lead. Clearly, the men of Shekem are loyal only to themselves and to their own interests, that is the only explanation for what took place. Had it been otherwise, they would have submitted to the plan and design of God and not sought to raise up their own king…especially not one who was illegitimate.
Yet, how often we see churches acting much like these Shekemites. People dislike a pastor or an Elder in the church and seek to undermine his work. Or if they do not seek to undermine it, they don’t submit to his teaching or they simply find teachers who will scratch their itching ears. And sometimes they even rise up with the aim of removing these God-ordained men from their offices.
Solomon reminds us that a faithful, or a loyal man brings great blessings, but when we pursue getting rich by our own designs, we will be punished for doing so (Proverbs 28:20). Loyalty is one of the virtues to which Christians ought to strive. Society says, “to yourself be true (loyal).” The Bible says, be loyal to God. How does this apply to the church? When we are loyal to godly men whom God has raised up into leadership, then we are being loyal to God. When we are loyal to the Word of God which he has given to us, then we are being loyal to God. When we are faithful to submitting to the commands of God found in the Word we are being loyal to God. When we seek our own agenda, we are being loyal to self.
Hear the warning of Jotham, oh church; let it not fall on deaf ears. If you are loyal to God in God’s house then you will be a blessing to all. If you seek to bring about your own gain in God’s church, God’s hand of judgment will be upon you.
No King but Caesar
“Again, they continued screaming, ‘Take him up! Take him up! Crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ And the chief priests answered, ‘We do not have a King except for Ceasar!’”
(John 19:15)
Those final words, “we have no king but Ceasar,” would be scandalous were individuals had spoken them during Jesus’ day, but it is not just individuals making this statement…in fact, it is not even the mob that continues to shout for Jesus’ death. It is the High Priests, those in spiritual leadership amongst the people, who are crying out — people whose only allegiance was to be pledged to God above, not to the men below who ruled over them. It was not to be given to Herod and certainly not to the Roman Emperor, Tiberius Caesar.
During Jesus’ lifetime, the Jewish aristocracy held Tiberius in relatively high esteem, even to the point of venerating him. Though Tiberius refused to be worshipped as a god, he did permit a temple to be built in his honor in Smyrna and Herod Antipas (the Herod of this account) built a city on the Sea of Galilee in Tiberius’ honor — a city that Herod would make his Capitol. Yet, the common people still resented Roman rule and the priests should have known better. Nevertheless, in the context of a mob, reason is never a highly esteemed virtue.
The language of “take him up!” should conjure up several images. The first is that of the insult paid by the young boys to Elisha (2 Kings 2:23-25). In a sense, the boys were saying to Elisha, “your master went up to God and out of our lives, you go too!” God judged those boys (and by extension the village) harshly for their sin. But the lifting that the people here had in mind was the lifting of Jesus’ body upon the cross. Yet, that too should conjure up the image of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus (John 3:1-15) and how Jesus stated that he would be “lifted up” just as the bronze serpent was lifted up on the cross in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9).
We may not be in a mob context at the moment (I hope that is not the case!), but this should give us a moment to pause to ask ourselves to whom we are loyal. By our actions; by the way we invest our money; by the way we use our time; and by the fashion that we apply our energies…to whom are we loyal? Is it to an institution (even the church!)? Is it to a political party? Is it to a person? Is it to a corporation? Is it to Christ? If your loyalty is to anybody or anything other than to Christ Jesus, you stand convicted as do these chief priests…one cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).
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