Epiphany
February 5, 2020
Scripture Reading: Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
Praise the Lord!
Happy are those who fear the Lord,
who greatly delight in his commandments.
Their descendants will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in their houses,
and their righteousness endures forever.
They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright;
they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.
It is well with those who deal generously and lend,
who conduct their affairs with justice.
For the righteous will never be moved;
they will be remembered for ever.
They are not afraid of evil tidings;
their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord.
Their hearts are steady, they will not be afraid;
in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
They have distributed freely, they have given to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever;
their horn is exalted in honor.
The wicked see it and are angry;
they gnash their teeth and melt away;
the desire of the wicked comes to nothing.
I must confess I have a visceral reaction when I read scripture that relates God to wealth. As in the above scripture, wealth is included in a long list of things like being generous and righteous, gracious and merciful, all of which I consider to be good things. I cannot explain my reaction except perhaps to connect it to dealing with people who where trying to do everything as right as they could working hard to support their families, and being stereotyped by many as lazy, no good, welfare cheats.
I once volunteered for a child abuse and neglect hotline designed to give parents an outlet to get help with a goal of preventing neglect and abuse. One young mother of two small children who had been deserted by their father, moved to the city from a rural town, got some training, got a good entry level job, got her first paycheck, and for the first time in her life paid her rent with money she had earned, bought groceries, and essentially had nothing left. When her kids begged her to take them to McDonalds because she had all that money now, she totally lost it. Thank God there was a pay phone across the street from her apartment where she could call and still see that her kids were safe. Thank God she did have enough money to place the call because she could not afford a phone. I could hardly understand her she was sobbing so hard as her story poured out in great waves. Once she was spent, I asked her, “Do you realize what you have accomplished in such a short time?” I thought I had blown it because she was silent for so long. She finally said, “No, I had not seen it that way.” We talked for some time longer and my prayer after she hung up to return to her apartment was that she would build on her strengths as she sought just enough for her little family.
When I read riches and wealth in the scripture above, I stopped to look up the Hebrew root of those words. Riches is apparently the root for riches that did not help a lot. Wealth*, however, is related to having enough, sufficiency. Isn’t that what God wants for all God’s children. Isn’t that part of our calling to be merciful and do justice so all can have enough.
Prayer: Lord, forgive us for stereotyping people when we have no idea what their lives are like. Help us to be light in darkness as we strive to assure that all have enough. Amen.
*https://biblehub.com/hebrew/1952.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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.