Today’s passage is Zechariah 3:1-10. Z sees Joshua the high priest dressed in filthy clothes before an angel with Satan there to accuse him. The angel orders that Joshua be dressed in clean clothes, signifying his sins taken away. The Lord promises Joshua a place among the blessed if he will walk in the Lord’s ways. The Lord says he will send his servant the Branch and remove the sin of the land. Everyone will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree.
Why so much standing?
Why invite a neighbor?
In today’s passage there are six instances of standing, two of taking away, two of sitting and one of walking.
The walking is following God’s commands, the taking away is the forgiving of sin of Joshua and then the nation, the sitting is the reward for walking, and the standing is waiting.
There’s a lot of standing and waiting, more than anything else in this passage.
The reward of sitting in the shade of the vine and fig tree is conditional on the walking.
But the standing is what everyone except God does.
The angels stand, Satan stands and Joshua stands.
The main action is God’s, and it’s removing sins.
I stand a lot every day on the subway to and from work.
On the way home I can sometimes sit but I often choose not to because if I sit I tend to fall asleep and miss my stop.
I can’t trust myself to sit.
In today’s passage, standing is a sign of respect to God, a kind of service to God.
I don’t get to rest until I’ve followed God’s ways and even then my rest seems to be conditional on inviting my neighbor.
I need to be standing to have my sins taken away like Joshua. I cannot take them away my own sin.
I have to stand beneath the cross.
Then I have to carry my cross and walk in God’s ways. But God’s promise is that I will have rest with my neighbor under the vine of Jesus if I do it.
My application was very small today.
I stood and shared a little bit of how God works in my life through mokjang with a new teacher.
Lord, strengthen my back, my legs, my ankles and my feet that I may stand before you and serve. Let me not rush to sit and selfishly seek rest. Keep me open to who my neighbor is and invite him to share in your blessing.
