Living in the Spirit
June 7, 2016

Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 21:1-21a

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: Go down to meet King Ahab of Israel, who rules in Samaria; he is now in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession. You shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: Have you killed, and also taken possession?’ You shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood.’

Ahab said to Elijah, ‘Have you found me, O my enemy?’ He answered, ‘I have found you. Because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, I will bring disaster on you; I will consume you, and will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel; –1 Kings 21:17-21

In Hinduism and Buddhism, it is called Karma. Others would use the phrase “as ye sow so shall ye reap”, which is probably based on Galatians 6:7, Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. Jesus took a more circumspect attitude when he is quoted as saying in Matthew 5:45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. Jesus had no doubt seen/experienced justice unrequited. Now the Hindus and Buddhist believe that Karma may have been the result of actions in a previous life or that it will find completeness in a future life and the people of faith who follow a what-you sow-you-reap philosophy may have final judgement in mind. Jesus was concerned about justice being achieved through acts of love by his follower in real time. He calls us to do justice every day.

It is interesting that Jesus illustrates justice using weather. As I write this, vast acres of Texas are underwater, several people have drowned; a tropical storm is heading toward Florida; and there was a 3.5 level earthquake recorded in the Oklahoma City metro this morning. These have historically been classified as acts of God and recovery from them required our loving response. Consideration now must be given to human responsibility at least to some degree in the nature and frequency of these “natural phenomena”. Even if humans are not responsible, science seems to indicate that our preventive efforts could lessen their impact.

Doing part of justice may be as simple as loving ourselves and our neighbors enough to recycle, drive energy efficient vehicles, and heat and cool our homes efficiently and effectively.

Prayer: Lord guide us in fulfilling our charge to have dominion over the earth as we seek to be loving caretakers of it. 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 American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.