The two alternate First Readings for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost portray greed and injustice at their worst. King Ahab of Samaria – or northern kingdom of Israel – lusts after Naboth's ancestral piece of land on the edge of the Jezreel Valley (1 Kings 21:1-21). If you have seen the Jezreel Valley – the most spectacular and picturesque land in all of Israel – you will probably understand why Ahab lusted over Naboth's land.
But then, King Ahab put Naboth in an impossible situation because it was ancestral land, he could not simply transfer it to anybody, and Ahab knew it. Furthermore, he was the king. What he had was in abundance relative to poor Naboth's possession. Ahab's lust and injustice resulted in Naboth's murder, a worse crime than the contributing offenses.
There is a similar picture in the alternative reading from 2 Samuel 11:26-12:15. Here King David lusts after Uriah's wife, commits adultery, attempts to cover it up, and ends up committing murder, again a crime worse than the contributing offenses. Note too, that David was king, the most powerful man in his time and he had no business lusting after Bathsheba – even though the scripture says, "the woman was very beautiful" (2 Samuel 11:2)."
In the Collect we pray that the Church, "through God's grace may proclaim God's truth with boldness and minister justice with compassion".
Perhaps the greatest challenge the church is facing today is discerning God's truth in our ever-changing society. Social issues continue to divide the church as different voices believe theirs represent God's truth. Some even look at contemporary social issues in the light of Ahab and David's deviations from God's truth.
The dilemma is between justice and compassion; and while the former, for humans, often leads to judgment, the Collect invokes faith, love and compassion for the church.
There is more on this, next.
No comments:
Post a Comment