Word to the Wise
Monday, July 1, 2019 - Monday in the 13th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 18:16-33 and Matt 8:18-22]"Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty? Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city; would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to make the innocent die with the guilty, so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike! Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?" [Genesis]
The scene from the Book of Genesis that provides our first scripture for today is one of my favorites! The dialogues show a wonderful story-teller. God first wonders whether or not to share God's plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. When God does share the plan, Abraham tries to bargain God out of it for the sake of the innocent. God knows all the while that there aren't even ten decent people in the town, but lets Abraham do his best to argue for the city. Two big ideas always come to me about this scene.
The first is about making bargains with God. I think a lot of us try to do that. When I do, I have to remember the old saying, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans!" Perhaps the most common scenario for this is in knowing one has a terminal illness and is begging for enough time to take care of various relationships or finish a particularly important project. The scene from Genesis suggests that God may be flexible if we can come up with a good argument!
The second is a bit more troubling under certain circumstances. The innocent often suffer with the guilty when a punishment is visited on a group. I'm sure we can think of examples of this from childhood or school, when the foolishness of one or two in a class or fraternity, etc. brings about a complete ban on a favored activity. But when it comes to international conflicts, many innocent people suffer because of the power-greed of a small elite class. Abraham's question comes up, "Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?" That judge does so act, but humans often do not and God's justice is frustrated.
The Old Testament stories can reflect universal questions and give us much to think about. AMEN