Notes to the Lord:On Grace and Silver

Matthew 27
7And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter's Field as a burial place for strangers. 8For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.

Lord Jesus--The early church knew where this field was without even thinking about it. It would be like me giving directions to Cafe Lena's..."Well you go down Washington and turn left on Broadway..." Even as Matthew was writing this there were those who may have whistled as they went by it's entrance. By the time the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD the memory was lost in the destruction, death and rubble.

9Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "AND THEY TOOK THE THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER, THE PRICE OF THE ONE WHOSE PRICE HAD BEEN SET by the sons of Israel; 10AND THEY GAVE THEM FOR THE POTTER'S FIELD, AS THE LORD DIRECTED ME."

Lord Jesus--Matthew could have walked me over to that field and pointed out the graves that lacked any markers where the poor ended up. What was plain to Matthew as he wrote his gospel, has become an act of faith for me 2000 years later. I believe that there was an actual field that Matthew could have pointed out to me.

I accept what your word says. I believe that there was meaning in the fulfillment of the prediction of betrayal and its cost. I take hope in the fact that during a very dark time, you gave your people words of prophetic hope. Hope that spans the centuries.

I am sure that the Father knew from eternity past where the silver was going to come from that would form those thirty pieces of silver. He could have tracked the trail of those coins, just like United Parcel Service, before they became the cost of betrayal. Yet, the Father gave the words to the prophet Jeremiah and he allowed the silver to be mined. The Father knew what was going to happen to you and yet sent you here with those silver coins jiggling in the background. I find hope in that kind of love.

Father--You know the days of my life, they are not foreign to you. You do not suffer from future shock or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder even though your only Son was murdered on this dark piece of rock we call Earth. You provided a means for your grace to reach me even though it cost you so dearly. There is reason for hope because your grace always finds me.

Father--In this day that will start in just a few hours, teach me more about grace help me to live it out.