Deuteronomy 13:1-15:23
Luke 8:40-9:6
Psalm 71:1-24
Proverbs 12:5-7
Today's readings remind me so much of both my past and my present. When I was young, there were so many instances when I listened to others who told me different from my parents; I believed them and followed them. Cutting school seemed like a good idea; sneaking out seemed like a good idea; putting that firecracker on top of a Pepsi bottle and lighting the fuse seemed like a good idea. I was, after all, old enough to make my own decisions. I didn't need parents to tell me what I was supposed to do.
Without going into tragic detail, I demonstrated often and at length how much better the ways my parents were trying to teach me were than the ways I chose. I am grateful to have survived all I did with only the consequences I had to suffer, and to have had time to learn the lessons I was supposed to learn.
The ways of my parents did not make sense, from the standpoint of a teenage boy, according to the rules by which a teenage boy was supposed to live his life. They seemed old fashioned when I was a child; today I realize how timeless they truly are, and try to pass them on to my children.
Today's readings illustrate how different God's ways are from ours, and how important it is for us to adhere to His ways. When one claiming to be a prophet and performing wondrous signs called the Israelites to turn away from God, they were not to follow, however wondrous his signs may have been; rather, they were to out him to death. It did not matter that the prophet was a stranger, or wife, brother, son, daughter or close friend. The relationship was less important than God.
When one was looking to raise livestock, and the pig was the easiest to raise, still one was not to do so. When one had worked and harvested, one was to take the first tenth of the harvest, or the firstborn of the livestock, and set it aside for God. When one had lent money to a fellow Israelite, that debt was to be cancelled at the end of seven years. In all these instances, the money, the material possessions, the financial security - they were all less important than God.
And when Jairus's daughter had died before Jesus, who had agreed to come with him, could heal her, and the mourners were in full hue and cry, reality and tradition - they were both less important than God.
Which brings me to my - to our - today. We live in a world where prophets espouse selfish materialism, often at the expense of decency and dignity (hello, reality tv!) and honesty (caveat emptor! buyer beware!). And they seem to rewarded for their actions and beliefs. We live in a world where Christians in name join with others to justify, then espouse, embrace and impose beliefs that run contrary to our Lord's word...we await the Supreme Court's decision shortly on one such matter. There is tremendous secular justification for these arguments....but we forget that these arguments are less important than God. Our Father's ways are better. Always have been, always will be.
How are we to respond under such oppressive pressure? With the bleeding woman's faith, with Jairus's faith...and despite the twelve years of bleeding, despite the cessation of breath and heartbeat, we will see the Lord's victory. In Him we take refuge....in His righteousness we cry out for rescue and deliverance. We pray "deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.". In faith, we "will always have hope.".
How fitting we read this on the eve of the greatest testimony to God's victory...the resurrection of our Lord.
Happy Easter.
Jon Lanuza
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