Lent
March 5, 2018
Scripture Reading: Numbers 21:4-9
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.’ Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’ So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
We live in a scientific world where experimentation and objective test rule. Modern people read stories like the one above with a bit of skepticism. Yet, we still know that bad behavior can lead to bad consequences and we must pay for the consequences of our actions. The fuzzy part comes in making the link between our bad or unwise behavior and any outcomes that follow. Are these coincidences or is God reacting to our behavior? I think our guilt sometimes searches for judgment when humans rely on their conscience. Getting away with something leads to a lessening of our inhibitions to repeat the action and we know that. Evil spreads as our consciences weaken.
We humans waste a lot of time an energy on griping and finger pointed that could be better used for positive outcomes. As adults, we still have a little of the two-year-old’s tantrum left in our being when we fail to get what we want immediately. We call it the need for instant gratification. God’s time differs from our time. Healing of souls takes time. Taking a previously enslaved group and turning them into an efficient and effective community of self-governance is not an easy transition. Many of our justice issues suffer this same frustration. Letting someone out of prison without having provided restorative services does not work. Simply feeding and clothing the poor does not address the problems of a society that is ill-prepared to offer education and employment necessary for people to become self-sufficient. Yes, we need to feed and clothe the poor while we work toward a society that provides adequate training and employment for all its citizens. Dealing with complex overlapping problems like poverty and racism and poor education cannot be solved by passing laws that require sick people to work to get health care.
Prayer: God of Mercy and Justice, help us see the broader picture and work together to make justice a reality throughout our land. Amen.