Word to the Wise
Tuesday, March 7, 2023 - 2nd Week of Lent - Tues
[Isa 1:10, 16-20 and Matt 23:1-12]Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow. Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord: though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool. [Isaiah]
We who live in the individualistic culture of the West might be inclined to read Isaiah's words as a personal challenge to "clean up our act!" But Isaiah was addressing an entire kingdom: Ephraim, the "northern kingdom." Assyria was besieging them and would ultimately conquer them. But, scripture speaks past the events that may have inspired a particular prophetic plea to address that plea to our own times. Who or what may be besieging us as a country, state, city or neighborhood as a result of our failure to recognize the most vulnerable among us, the "widows and orphans" of our time?
It may be easier to bemoan the polarized politics and religious divisions of our society than to address them on a local, state or nationwide level. But there are small steps of compassion and listening that, when done by enough people, can have an impact. During Lent, perhaps we could invite others to chat about Isaiah's words or Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount and resolve to "clean up our act" even just in our parish or neighborhood or town. To those who worry about the size of this task, I tell the story of the sparrow who heard from "Chicken-licken" that the sky is going to fall! So she lays down on her back and pushes upward with all her might with her little legs. A passer-by sees her and says, "Sparrow! What are you doing?" The sparrow replies with effort: "I heard the sky is going to fall and I'm holding it up with my feet!" The passer-by cries: "Sparrow!! Do you think your spindly little legs can hold up the sky?" The sparrow replies through gritted beak: "One does what one can!" So can we! AMEN