Source: http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/archive/brmbrm.shtml
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 21:45:23+00:00

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Discipline is “good” (vv. 26-27): suffering brings us closer to God. God’s punishment will not last for ever. He does cause “grief” (v. 32), but essentially he is compassionate and loving: he does not capriciously cause anyone to suffer (“afflict or grieve anyone”, v. 33). God does see injustice (vv. 34-36) and will punish the perpetrators. He does send both “good and bad” (v. 38) into the world. Israelites need to examine their consciences, mend their ways, and return to worshipping God with their whole beings (vv. 40-42).
The psalmist loves God for hearing him when he has prayed to him, whenever he has sought him out. God’s past responsiveness will lead him to seek God’s help lifelong.
He recalls a time when he was physically, mentally and/or spiritually ill (v. 3). He felt trapped, as though “snares of death” had grabbed hold of him, dragging him towards the grave. (Birds were caught in snares, large nets.) He felt life, even his soul, his very being, slipping away from him. (“Sheol” was the place of the dead where people retained only a semblance of life.) But then, he tells those present (possibly in the Temple): I called out to God to save me (v. 4).
God protects those who approach him in humility (“the simple”, v. 6). In the psalmist’s case, his sickness brought him to this state. When restored by God, he was able to assure his soul that it was safe to return to him; God has given to him generously (v. 7). God has rescued him from “death” (v. 8), or at least from sorrow and deviation from his ways. (Physical and spiritual illness were seen as closely connected.) Finally, he vows that he will be actively godly (v. 9).
The Father, in his mercy, has caused us to be born again (“new birth”, baptism) into a hope which is very much alive, “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”. Our rebirth is also into “an inheritance” (v. 4): in the Old Testament, the inheritance was principally Palestine, but for the Church, it is heavenly. Palestine was lost in war, but our inheritance is “imperishable”, indestructible, free from sin (“undefiled”) and never lost. We, through our trust in God (“faith”, v. 5) are guarded by God’s power – for “salvation” – already accomplished but to be shown to all at the end of time (“last time”).
In all of this (v. 6), the readers rejoice even if they have had to suffer “trials” (ostracism or persecution). These verify their faithfulness to God – as the purity of gold is tested by heating it. Such fidelity will be rewarded when Christ comes (to judge) at the end of time (v. 7). Their faith is such that they love him, believe in him and rejoice, even though they (unlike Peter) have never seen him (v. 8). Why? Because they are aware that they are being saved now – this being a logical and temporal goal of trust in God.
Jesus has fed the five thousand on the mountain, giving them bread which he has blessed, a precursor of the Last Supper. He has identified himself: “I am the bread of life” (v. 35). He offers sustenance both physically and spiritually. But some who have seen (met) him do not believe. V. 37 begins “Everything ...” but the Greek is ambiguous: is it all things or all people? From the context and usages of the word elsewhere in John, it is likely that all people is meant.
All those to whom God the Father gives the gift of faith will come to Jesus, and no one who does come to Jesus will he reject – because Jesus does the work of the Father (v. 38). The effect of God’s will is that Christ safeguards all those whom God has given him so that they will be raised up at the end of the era (“the last day”, v. 39): he or she is not judged, rather “has passed from death to life” ( 5:24). “Those who have done good” “will come ... to the resurrection of life” ( 5:29). God’s will is that those who believe be alive in the kingdom from now on; they will be completed in this (“raise ... up”, v. 40) when Christ comes again.

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