Word to the Wise
Saturday, August 7, 2010 - Saturday in the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
[Habakkuk 1:12-2:4 and Matthew 17:14-20]I will stand at my guard post, and station myself upon the rampart, and keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what answer he will give to my complaint. Then the Lord answered me and said: Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets so that one can read it readily. For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. The rash man has no integrity; but the just man, because of his faith, shall live.
Habakkuk (ha-BAH-cook, as my scripture professor insisted) complains to God about an age old problem. Why do evil people seem to prosper while good poor people get poorer? Then he utters the words quoted above. He says that he's going to stand on the top of the wall of the city and wait for an answer from God! God gives an answer that is not economic in nature. No matter who the person is, rich or poor, that person must be just and have faith if they expect to live with God. This can be a difficult response to live with in our time. The economics of the ancient Middle East were not of the global sort that we are living with. The appalling number of homeless, starving, oppressed people on this planet cries out for some response that promises relief! Huge monetary rewards go into relatively few pockets. Habakkuk's complaint is as valid now as it might have been in his own day. Yet God insists that through all this, it is the just person who will live. Praying for most of those just persons in our world today may be one way to respond. But, justice also requires that each of us act justly where each of us lives! We definitely want to be in that vision on the tablets! AMEN
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