Lent
February 24, 2015

Scripture Reading: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’ — Genesis 17: 15-16

Sarai, Abraham’s wife, is assigned a new name also. Sarah as a proper name means Princess* in Hebrew. As a prime common verb “sarah” means contended, striven, or wrestled. ** It is the same word used to describe Israel’s (Jacob’s) wrestling with God on his return to Canaan. It would appear that God has a sense of humor, since Sarah’s contention with Hagar and with Abraham over Hagar and her son Ismael are well documented. Yet she did become a powerful women in her own right.

Doing justice is always challenging because there are usually winners and losers involved. How do we decide who is right and who is wrong? Probably more contentious is determining how to make reparations for injustice exposed? Once they outgrew the tribal organization, the Hebrews had judges to render decisions to address injustice. We in the United States have created a complex judicial system with libraries full of laws and precedent setting court cases that are applied to right wrongs. However, one could argue that our judicial system is in and of itself unjust as it is often driven by who can hire the best legal counsel and who cannot.

Because of such disparities, I believe that God’s role as the final authority is vital. We do have to make judgments everyday on mundane as well as serious issues, but we do so with the full knowledge that the ultimate authority will judge us on how we judge others. It is imperative that we strive to be right with God at all times so that we will be right in dealing with his other children.

Prayer:
  Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
   teach me your paths.
  Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
   for you are the God of my salvation;
   for you I wait all day long. (Psalm 25:4-5) Amen.

*http://biblehub.com/hebrew/8283.htm
**http://biblehub.com/hebrew/8280.htm
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.