John Tillman - The Park Forum

June 3, 2022June 2, 2022

Offal Leaders

Scripture Focus: Malachi 2.3-4, 9
3 “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. 4 And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord Almighty.

9 “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”

Reflection: Offal Leaders
By John Tillman

In their commissioning, priests had the blood of the sacrifices daubed on their ears, hands, and feet to represent their holiness. This marking of symbolic purity qualified them to speak for God, work for God, and lead the people.

Malachi describes a de-commissioning of unfaithful priests. Instead of blood that represented purity and life, the unclean feces from the animal would be smeared on their faces, representing impurity and death.

Normally this fecal matter, along with the skin and any other part of the animal not eaten or offered as a sacrifice would be carried to a location outside the community to be burned. In Malachi’s vision, the priests who dishonor God will be carried off with this offal.

God instituted the priesthood as a way of blessing the people. It was part of God’s fulfillment of his promise to bless the entire world through Abraham. For these priests, however, their part in that blessing was over. God even promised to reverse the priests’ blessings to curses.

However, there is still hope in Malachi’s vision. The disgusting image of the feces-smeared priests does not mean God is canceling the priesthood or the Temple or his mission to bless the nations. He’s just removing the sinful, the prideful, the corrupt, and the abusers of his people. God removes these priests so “that my covenant with Levi may continue.”

In every age, not just the time of Malachi, God is displeased with spiritual leaders who misrepresent him. God promises to bring dishonor on leaders who bring dishonor on his name. However, God’s plan to bless the nations won’t be derailed by spiritual leaders who fail.

We can make two mistakes when we are confronted with revelations of sin and corruption in spiritual leaders. One is to continue following/supporting these leaders. God smeared their faces with offal, but some keep trying to wipe it off and pretend nothing is wrong. Anyone can be forgiven. Not everyone can be reinstated. (Luke 12.48; James 3.1)

A second is to abandon faith in God because we lose faith in humans. God’s holiness is the reason these leaders are disgraced. We do not have to allow these “offal-smeared” leaders to cause us to stumble and abandon faith.

Rather than destroying everything, God’s purpose is to restore everything. Despite our shock at the removal of leaders, God’s covenant of life and peace through our high priest, Jesus, can continue.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
I am bound by the vow I made to you, O God; I will present to you thank-offerings;
For you have rescued my soul from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living. — Psalm 56.11-12

Today’s Readings
Malachi 2 (Listen – 3:12)
Matthew 13 (Listen – 7 :23)

This Weekend’s Readings
Malachi 3 (Listen – 3:13), Matthew 14 (Listen – 4 :14)
Malachi 4 (Listen – 1:06), Matthew 15 (Listen – 4 :23)

Read more about Priests of Life and Peace
God’s purpose is not to end the priesthood. Instead, through Christ’s sacrifice, he instituted a new priesthood for all who follow Jesus.

Priests of Life and Peace

Read more about The Branch and the Branches
There are multiple reboots of the priesthood. Joshua is just one of them. Zechariah has a vision of Joshua… as a “burning stick snatched from the fire.”

The Branch and the Branches

June 2, 2022May 31, 2022

From Esau To Jacob

Scripture Focus: Malachi 1.2-3
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

Matthew 12.48-50
48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Romans 5.8
…God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Reflection: From Esau To Jacob
By John Tillman

“Esau I have hated.”

We may wonder: Does God randomly hate people? Am I one of those arbitrarily hated by God?

It is normal to struggle with difficult passages, especially those that have been misused. For example, some passages in Malachi 1, including this one, have been twisted to support slavery. Those who did this surrendered to culture and profit and selfishness, all the while proclaiming themselves wise, biblical, and superior. May we not make similar mistakes.

It’s impossible in a 400-word devotional to unpack a difficult passage like this. I won’t attempt it. Let us simply meditate on a few details from scripture.

“Esau” doesn’t mean the individual. God is using these names as collective nouns to speak to the descendants of these brothers, not the brothers themselves. We don’t do this much in our culture. The closest thing we might understand is using the name of a country’s leader to refer to actions of that nation. For example, “Volodymyr Zelensky” meaning Ukraine, or “Xi Jinping” meaning China.
God’s “hatred” isn’t arbitrary. It refers to justice for Edom’s actions—what they collectively did and continued to do. Esau, the individual, while reconciled to his brother, enjoyed God’s blessing. His descendants continually opposed Israel throughout their history and came to represent, poetically, all people opposed to God and God’s people.
God’s “hatred” is not absolute. Edomites are not arbitrarily cursed or hated throughout history or in totality. In many places, God implies hope for Edom. He shows he cares for them, gives them their own land, and commands that no Israelite should despise an Edomite. (Deuteronomy 2.1-8, 12; 23.7)
This statement’s purpose is to show love, not hatred. God speaks poetically to reassure his people. He points to justice done on their behalf, which proves his love. To Micah’s readers, this justice was the downfall of “The Wicked Land” (Malachi 1.4) that harmed them.

We can be assured of God’s love and justice. We are not innocent. Yet, we are not hated. We are loved. This is demonstrated in Christ as God turns “Esaus” into “Jacobs.”

God loved us when we were like Esau—sinners, rebels, and persecutors. (Romans 5.8) All of us have been children of Esau, but by God’s grace, we can become children of Jacob and brothers and sisters of Christ (Matthew 12.50). Through Jesus, we cry “Abba, father,” (Romans 8.15; Galatians 4.6; Mark 14.36) for “Jacob, have I loved.” (Malachi 1.2)

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living. — Psalm 116.8

Today’s Readings
Malachi 1 (Listen – 2:47)
Matthew 12 (Listen – 6 :41)

Read more about Identity Lost, Identity Gained
God, our father, longs to bless us…No one who comes to him will need cry, “Do you have only one blessing, my father?”

Identity Lost, Identity Gained

Read more about Running to Forgive
In this moment, in a limited way, Esau demonstrates the welcome of the gospel. The wronged party shows undeserved mercy.

Running to Forgive

May 31, 2022May 31, 2022

Cut and Run from False Prophets

Scripture Focus: Zechariah 13.3
3 And if anyone still prophesies, their father and mother, to whom they were born, will say to them, “You must die, because you have told lies in the Lord’s name…”

Jeremiah 6.13-14
13 “From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
14 They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
when there is no peace.

Reflection: Cut and Run from False Prophets
By John Tillman

This tiny chapter of Zechariah contains a difficult to read, strange vision of the death of “prophets” who tell lies in the name of the Lord.

Stabbing false prophets to death is out of the question today. Even in Zechariah’s day this was a vision and probably not intended for literal interpretation. However, Zechariah’s audience knew that lying prophets were deadly. Their lies killed.

The previous generation of prophets enriched themselves through politically popular messages. Jeremiah called them “greedy for gain” and repeated this description of them twice: “They say, ‘Peace, peace” when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6.13-14; 8.11) These prophets had the ears of the kings and most of the people. “We are God’s special nation,” they said. “God loves us too much to allow us to suffer,” they said. These lies led people to their deaths.

It may be hard for us to understand how prevalent these false prophets were because the Bible contains the writings of the good prophets. However, we need to remember that the voices we hear from scripture are the voices of the remnant—the faithful minority. The voices of the majority looked at sin and corruption in Judah or Israel and said, “Nothing to see here. Cost of doing business.”

The exile and suffering Israel and Judah endured is due to their choice to believe and trust in false prophets. The faithful suffered along with the guilty, however, God used this suffering to refine his faithful ones. Zechariah speaks of the remnant as being purified like fine metals.

There are few who dare to call themselves “prophets” today but there are many making false promises or claims in the name of God. Part of the crisis of abuse within the church is that powerful leaders, in God’s name, shamed their victims into silence. Part of the idolization of politics in the church involves leaders, in God’s name, demanding followers vote for a particular party or person. By this, they make God a liar.

Rather than stabbing false prophets (which is out of the question and antithetical to everything Jesus taught), it would be wise for us to cut their influence out of our lives.

Listen carefully to “prophets” in your life. When leaders say something that makes God a liar, it is a red flag. When they consistently do so, cut and run. Shake the dust from your feet and leave them to God’s wrath.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Jesus taught us saying: “Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves. You will be able to tell them by their fruits. Can people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, a sound tree produces good fruit but a rotten tree bad fruit. A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit. Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire. I repeat, you will be able to tell them by their fruits.” — Matthew 7.15-20

Today’s Readings
Zechariah 13:2-9 (Listen – 1:40)
Matthew 10 (Listen – 5 :07)

Read more about The Losers Who Write History
Not one of those glowingly positive, king-praising prophets’ writings are in our Bible. Instead we have the writings of the losers. The cries of the oppressed.

The Losers Who Write History

Read more about Balaams and Balaks
These modern Balaams do their best to put words in God’s mouth that are pleasing to the powerful.

Balaams and Balaks :: Readers’ Choice

May 27, 2022May 25, 2022

The King We Want

Scripture Focus: Zechariah 9.9-10
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.

1 Samuel 8.6-7
6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.

John 19.15
15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

From John: This post and poem were written several days before the shootings at Robb Elementary in Uvalde. We mourn and cry in anger and grief this week. We long ever and ever more for Jesus, the breaker of battle bows, to come. May our bows be broken and our stiff necks be bent. May our hearts of destruction become hearts of cultivation, our swords be melted to plowshares. May his peace come soon. Even now, Lord Jesus. Even now.

Reflection: The King We Want
By John Tillman

Zechariah’s vision of a coming king riding on a donkey is very familiar to New Testament readers. All the gospel writers include this detail. John and Matthew specifically quote Zechariah 9.9 and point out that Jesus fulfills this prophecy. However, this humble king wasn’t what many wanted. Many rejected Jesus then. And many still reject him now.

The King We Want
We want a king, we say
A king like other nations
With Solomon’s glitz and glamor
With Goliath’s sword and armor

I’ve sent a king, God says
Unlike any you’ve seen
Son of the Giant Killer
Yet rejected as your ruler

We want a king, we say
Exalted and victorious
We’ll hear his saber rattle
We’ll follow him to battle

I’ve sent a king, God says
A king not of this realm
Your lust for worldly power
Shows you mistake the hour

We want a king, we say
To make our city great
To make for ourselves a name
To not be scattered from this plain

I’ve sent a king, God says
You had no eyes to see him
He wept over your city
That the outcasts gained no pity

We want a king, we say
We’ll even take a bad one
Let him speak like a serpent coiled
Long as we can share the spoils

I’ve sent a king, God says
You had no ears to hear him
Of sin’s sting you must repent
Then my King will crush the serpent

We want a king, we say
A conqueror, triumphant
Crush our enemies who slight us
Crush the governments above us

I’ve sent a king, God says
He rode in on a donkey
My servants prophesied him
You rebels crucified him

We want a king, we say
To cast out the unworthy
Keep away those we despise and fear
Isolate us with those we hold dear

I’ve sent a king, God says.
Accepting any and all subjects
No repentant sinner he’ll exclude
And that, my child, includes you

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
You are the Lord, most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. — Psalm 64.9

Today’s Readings
Zechariah 9 (Listen – 3:01)
Matthew 6 (Listen – 4 :35)

This Weekend’s Readings
Zechariah 10 (Listen – 2:11) Matthew 7 (Listen – 3 :31)
Zechariah 11 (Listen – 2:40) Matthew 8 (Listen – 4 :09)

Read more about The Ram and the Cornerstone
Jesus entered Jerusalem like Isaac’s ram on the mountain top. He rammed his head into the thorns…Jesus knew he would be rejected. His final actions ensured it.

The Ram and the Cornerstone

Read more about Truth Unwanted
Jesus, you are the king, the gift, and the truth that the world does not want.

Truth Unwanted :: A Guided Prayer

May 26, 2022May 24, 2022

From a Curse to a Blessing

Scripture Focus: Zechariah 8.12-13
12 “The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people. 13 Just as you, Judah and Israel, have been a curse among the nations, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.”

Reflection: From a Curse to a Blessing
By John Tillman

God promised to bless the nations through Abraham. (Genesis 12.1-3; 22.17-18) The purpose of Israel and Judah was to be a blessing to the whole world. But they became a curse. God said to Adam and Eve in the garden, “Cursed is the ground because of you.” (Genesis 3.17) His words to Israel and Judah as they went into exile in Assyria and Babylon were similar.

Their sin cursed the ground. Their selfishness, greed, and idolatry poisoned the land. The blood of the poor ran in the streets because of greed. Orphans and widows found no justice or help. Governments sought alliances and greater worldly power rather than seeking the Lord. (Jeremiah 2.34, 2 Kings 21.16, Ezekiel 9.8-10; Hosea 6.8-9)

The practices of human empires overwhelmed leaders’ character and they led the people to death and destruction. The mildew of the world grew on the vines and the whole field had to be burned to prevent its spread.

God’s nature as a cultivator, a gardener, is seen in this passage. He has cleansed the ground and given it rest from the abuses of the previous generation. Prior generations looked at a gold-covered Temple and presumed God’s presence would never allow them to be harmed. This generation was attuned to God’s returning presence and prioritized the building of a Temple. The complacency of the past has been replaced with thrilling anticipation and appreciation for God’s presence.

This people’s faith is a seed ready to be planted. God promises that a healthy vine will grow, and fruit will swell the branches. The blessings of this produce will be shared not only with God’s people but with all the nations.

Zechariah challenged the people to prioritize the Temple, to speak the truth to each other, and to ensure justice for the oppressed in their courts. They are warned against planning evil against one another and against swearing falsely.

These are not just principles for rebuilding ancient Jerusalem. They are for us. Here in our cities and countries, we must prioritize Jesus, who is our Temple, our access to God. We must be people devoted to truth and upholders of justice. In all we do, we must work good in the world for others and speak truthfully not just about the gospel but about everything else.

These principles will serve us well as we build little outposts (or branches) of the Kingdom of God right where we live and work.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Sing to the Lord and bless his Name; proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations and his wonders among all peoples.
For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; he is more to be feared than all gods. — Psalm 96.2-4

Today’s Readings
Zechariah 8 (Listen – 3:33)
Matthew 5 (Listen – 6 :03)

Read more about Defilement, Deconstruction, and Reconstruction
If the mold spread, the first step was to remove only the affected stones. But if the mold returned, the entire house had to be deconstructed

Defilement, Deconstruction, and Reconstruction

Read more about The Branch and the Branches
Christ’s righteousness flows into us and we are able to create holy space, shade under the limbs of God’s tree.

The Branch and the Branches