Words for the Wounded

Is it just me, or are all the folks around me feeling despair? We’re in the midst of this tiresome pandemic that seems to have no end. Lawmakers are jousting over voting rights, an issue that I thought was resolved long ago. There are hungry people and homeless. Our tax-money is spent on “defense”, which means intimidating other nations. Worshipers this weekend will join their forebears in yearning for a word of hope…and receiving biblical words to sustain and encourage, across the generations.

The Exiles in Babylon remembered their homeland and the grandeur of the Temple. Now they were given a chance to go home and luxuriate in its glories again! Not. Fortunately King Artaxerxes of Persia sent two good leaders, Ezra the priest and NEHEMIAH the governor, to oversee what turned into a reclamation project. We read from NEHEMIAH 8:1-10 about how Ezra gathered all the people into Watergate Square and read to them The Law, probably the Book of Deuteronomy. He hoped to re-gather the people into a community surrounding and nurtured by the Law of God; and it seems to have worked. Remorseful, these people wept and despaired of ever getting right with YHWH–but Ezra & Company told them that “this day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” The Law didn’t condemn them, rather it freed them in hope to be God’s chosen! No matter how unraveled their lives and land had become, here was a spot for a new beginning. A holy hope includes enjoying God’s extravagant gifts…

The reading from I CORINTHIANS is a long one: Paul is assuring a diverse congregation (12:12-31a) that each member has a special gift, which may differ from that of others but is just as important. Some had evidently been wounded by others who bragged about their “specialness”. Paul exhorts them to see that each has a unique place in the Church and that here can be found an authentic community formed around the ministries assigned by Jesus the Christ.

In LUKE 4:14-21, we read about Jesus’ homecoming at Nazareth, where he had grown up. He read from Isaiah about the Messiah being anointed to heal the broken–all well and good–but then he told them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled…” He HAD heard God’s voice affirming Jesus’ mission; he HAD come through a desert-experience of introspection and vocational understanding–so why wouldn’t he announce his role in “the acceptable year of the Lord.”? But do we walk in his footsteps, maintaining our own roles? Can we also speak good news to the poor and new beginnings for the wounded?

All of these words of life remind us that the time is now–today–to reject the selfishness and scramble which tears society apart, and remember that God’s Holy Spirit gives us the means and presence to change the world. Take up the challenge?

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Please join me every Tuesday in exploring the scriptural lessons to be read on the upcoming weekend: at horacebrownking.com