Living in the Spirit
October 14, 2020
Scripture Reading: Psalm 99
The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
The Lord is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the peoples.
Let them praise your great and awesome name.
Holy is he!
Mighty King, lover of justice,
you have established equity;
you have executed justice
and righteousness in Jacob.
Extol the Lord our God;
worship at his footstool.
Holy is he! –Psalm 99:1-5
As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’—Luke 19:41-44
The vision of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem pops into my head routinely now as I observe the division and chaos going on in the USA. We cannot even agree on what is just and what is not or what is right and what is wrong. Evil has truly worked its magic across our land. The saddest thing is that people on all sides will agree with this statement, but they do not agree on what evil is.
Of one thing I am sure, Jesus loved justice. He saw corruption for what it was, and he was crucified for challenging power. But God is indeed a Might King, a Lover of Justice, and death on the cross was not the last word. We now live in a post-resurrection world. Gifted by grace, we are called to be in partnership with Christ Jesus, Lord of All, to labor in his service. Loving God and loving one another are his commanded action steps toward expanding justice and peace throughout the earth. Hatred and human condemnation have no place in Christ’s job description for us, nor does self-righteousness. We are called to establish equity in all our endeavors. The judgment of our success or failure at doing justice is delegated to Jesus Christ. Thus, Jesus’ ways are our best means of success.
Prayer: God forgive us for we do know what we are doing, and the chaos we are creating we call good.We cannot seem to extract ourselves from the web that enslaves us. Help us to find the path back to you. 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.