Eastertide

May 26, 2020

Scripture Reading:
1 Samuel 2:1-10

The Lord kills and brings to life;
   he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
   he brings low, he also exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
   he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes
   and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
   and on them he has set the world.
‘He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,
   but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness;
   for not by might does one prevail.
The Lord! His adversaries shall be shattered;
   the Most High will thunder in heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
   he will give strength to his king,
   and exalt the power of his anointed.’ –1 Samuel 2:6-20

I confess my first desire when I read a scripture that says things like the Lord kills is to skip it. I then go through a mental exercise of trying to reshape the phrases that conflict with my concepts of God, reading into them more comfortable interpretations. I rationalize that the worldview of our ancient ancestors-in-faith markedly differs from our modern perspectives. But I am struck that we still have life and death we still have poor and rich, we still grapple with what is just in the eyes of God, and we still accept that the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. People are still people.

Being uncomfortable often brings growth. Jesus illustrates that in the story of his encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman* who challenges Jesus to heal her daughter, a foreigner. She said that even the dogs get the eat the crumbs that fall to the floor. And Jesus healed her modeling for us what he meant by both loving our neighbors and welcoming strangers.

Perhaps what we all need to do is examine our lives to identify the culturally accepted themes we are incorporating into our fundamental belief systems. Holding them to the light of God’s love as modeled by Jesus, we can discern those that do not meet that test.

Prayer: Lord, help us grow in wisdom and truth through our study as it is reflected in our actions. Amen.

*See at Mark 7:24-30 and Matthew 15:21-28

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.