Sin is So Beneath You

Synopsis     Judges 9:11-22     6/24/2018

Jotham, Gideon’s sole surviving son, spoke an allegory to the leaders of the city of Shechem. The allegory described how the cedars of Lebanon were looking for a kind of plant to rule over them. In the allegory, all of the noble trees refused to rule. The olive tree, the grapevine, the fig tree; they all recognized that ruling was not their purpose. Finally the cedars elevated a thorn tree to rule over them.

Jotham condemned the injustice of the Shechemites in supporting Abimlech. And he anticipated that the leaders of Shechem and Abimelech would mutually destroy one another.

The Debasing of Nobility

Jotham was astounded and disappointed with the community leaders who embraced Abimelech’s rule. Shechem was a noble city that was the scene of much biblical history. But even during the time of the Judges, Shechem was renown. Though technically located in Manasseh, it was a Levitical city filled with priests and ministers of the tabernacle. Also, it was a City of Refuge. It was a city held by all in great esteem.

Jotham had an educated and creative mind. His allegory expressed not only his bitter disappointment at the injustice done against Gideon in the murder of his brothers. But it also expressed the pitiable circumstances that the leaders of such a renown city would make such utterly ignoble choices.

His prediction anticipated that such moral failing could not long stand. Eventually, he believed, Abimelech and the community leaders would somehow destroy one another.

Sin is So Beneath You 

I’ve sinned. I was born in sin. But that doesn’t mean that God hates me. Rest assured, He doesn’t.

He is love.

He sees me first and foremost as a benefactor of His love. There is no issue of my deserving it. I couldn’t deserve it. Yet by God’s grace it is given – even to me. And, as a beneficiary, my purpose is to take the love, (and grace and mercy) that I receive and manifest this goodness to others.

But when I sin, He can’t help but pity my moral failure. I am pitiable. In my moments of sin, I can’t be what I was born to be. Sin is so beneath God’s purpose in creation – in creating me. It is utter waste.

So, perhaps the key to ending the reign of sin in my life is to use God’s grace; to begin valuing as God values. Remember, the ordinary circumstances of life aren’t designed to be tests to see if I’ve “made it” to moral purity. Rather, they are intended to give me opportunity to meet the challenge of loving this world in the same way that God loves this world. His hand extended – in all my failure and imperfection, this remains my calling.

And so maybe the question of life is: Will I choose to meet this challenge?

I declare: “Gods though you be, offspring of the Most High all of you, Yet like any mortal you shall die; like any prince you shall fall.” Psalm 82:6-7