Sunday, October 31, 2010: Luke 19:1-10

The people of God were slaves in Egypt when God heard their cries and sent Moses to lead them. But their hardships were not over. For 40 years they wandered in the wilderness. Moses died; Joshua took his place (Joshua means "God saves") and led the people over the Jordan and into the Promised Land. But their hardships were still not over.

The Bible says all the kings of the Amorites and of the Canaanites opposed the deployment of the people of Israel into the land God promised. There is always something or somebody to stand in the way. When Jericho stood in the way, God told the people to march around the city. Once a day for six days they marched around Jericho with trumpets blaring and banners flying. On the seventh day they marched around the city seven times and the walls fell down. The people of God passed through to the land God had promised. Such is the miracle of God's mercy for God's people. But hardships were not yet over for them. Fortunately God's mercy had not ended either.

The prophet Isaiah says God's mercy comes as one "sent to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captive and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." In the midst of hardship is the hope for God's mercy, and for a time—not for the people to be deployed, but for God's land, God's merciful kingdom, to be deployed among us.