Living in the Spirit
July 3, 2020
Scripture Reading: Zechariah 9:9-12
Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the warhorse from Jerusalem;
and the battle-bow shall be cut off,
and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double.
Oklahoma has some of the worst rankings regarding criminal justice in the world. We are working on it gradually correcting some tough-on-crime laws passed a few years ago that did not reduce crime but did increase our incarceration costs. Worse yet, it may have targeted some into lives of crime that would not have followed that path had they received appropriate attention.
I am not exactly sure what Zechariah was referring to when he wrote those words, prisoners of hope, but my thoughts immediately went to those actual prisoners walking out into the world. I wonder if they have hope for a better life. My fear is that prison has schooled them in crime rather than preparing them to become productive citizens. Our society can do better than that.
Of course, we Christ-followers read the first part of this scripture, and immediately envision Jesus’s triumphal entry riding a donkey into Jerusalem at the beginning of what we now call Holy Week. Jesus was a prisoner of hope. He died on a cross without committing any crime. He rose to be the restorer of hope to all who seek justice and righteousness.
Our society seems to be driven more by greed than hope in God. For-profit prisons must have a continuous flow of new inmates with long sentences to thrive. The military-industrial complex is dependent on war or the fear of war to make a profit. Health care costs in the USA have increased from 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 1960 to 18 percent in 2018. We spend much more than other countries that have better health outcomes. The difference is the layers of profit that are now included in the costs of care. Our society can do better than that.
We are ideally a government led by the people on behalf of the people. Change starts with us. If our government is a reflection of us, we must ask, do we want to look like that? If not, what are we going to do about it?
Prayer: Lord, first help me take the log out of my own eye, so l can see clearly what needs to be done to develop a world of hope and love. Amen.
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.