Sunday Homily 3-18-12, 4th Lent
Readings: 2 Chronicles 36, 14-23, Whoever among you who belongs to any part of his people, let him go up; Psalm 137, Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget You; John 3, 14-21, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “the light came into the world.”
Chronicles:
Author (s): Unknown
Date: ca. 450-350 BCE, at least after The Babylonian Captivity. You will see why.
Subject: a summary of the entire span of history to the time the people returned to Jerusalem, i.e., from Adam to the end of the Babylonian Captivity, 450 BCE. Therefore, it begins with Adam & a genealogy up to King Saul and King David, through David's son Solomon & the building of the temple to the Babylonian Captivity with Nebuchadnezzar to Cyrus the leader of the Persians who defeated Nebuchadnezzar (what a fabulous name, 5 syllables) and allowed the Hebrews to return to Jerusalem. Note that Babylon was near Baghdad in Iraq, while Persia was Iran.
Our selection: this is the very last chapter of ca. 60 chapters, including Chronicles 1 & 2. A bit of a summary chapter, it says that Yahweh was so mad he got Nebuchadnezzar to defeat the Hebrews and cart them off to captivity in Babylon. Then some 50 years later he gets Cyrus to defeat Nebuchadnezzar and free the Hebrews to return to Jerusalem, which they do.
Sources: Catholic Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
The Nature of God
Anybody here know Bartholomew Granger? Or who he is? I’ll tell you. He is from Beaumont and 41 years old. Last Wednesday morning he was waiting outside the Beaumont courthouse where he was on trial for abusing a member of his family.
At some point he reached into his pickup, pulled out his gun, and started shooting. He killed a 79 year old lady just passing there. He wounded three others including his daughter whom he also ran over with his pickup truck in an attempt to flee the scene.
Anybody hear about the 22 kids from Belgium on a spring break ski trip to Switzerland? Killed in a bus that simply ran into a bridge returning to Belgium. 22 kids plus some adults.
Which, taking into account our readings today, leads me to ask you two questions.
First question, does God get angry and punish bad people? The Bible certainly seems to say so.
- For example, Chronicles says today that the "anger of the Lord was so inflamed that there was no remedy." As a result he had the Hebrews killed, burned out, and carried away as slaves in Babylon. For a symbolic 70 years, which seems to suggest that the Hebrews had neglected to rest on the Sabbath, 7 being a special number.
- For example, Yahweh got so mad at his earlier creation that he sent the great flood, killing everybody except Noah, his wife, and the animals.
- For example, in John this morning you find out that you will be condemned if you do not believe in the name of Jesus.
- For example, it is held that Jesus had to come and die on a cross and he did so to take away the Father's anger at us for our ancestors' sins. Thus, the gates of heaven, closed up to that time, would be reopened. True?
Were the kids on the bus bad? Is Granger bad? The little 79 year old lady? What about Sargeant Robert Bales, who allegedly massacred a handful of women & children this week in Afghanistan. Are they all such sinners that they must be punished like happened to the Hebrews in Jerusalem?
So, what do you think, what do you believe? Does God get angry and punish bad people as we see repeatedly mentioned in the Bible? What we are dealing with here is what you think the nature of God is. Which leads me to my next question:
Second question, who are the bad people? Or who are the good?
Obviously the man who killed the old lady and injured three including his daughter whom he ran over is bad. He deserves what? Sargeant Robert Bales? Be condemned? Forever?
From my experience as a priest and as as psychotherapist, I have discovered two things.
First, that nobody is bad, and nobody is good. Everybody is both bad & good. But what about Granger? Bales Are they not bad? John says, "He who does wicked things hates the light." They must really hate the light.
Secondly, I discovered that if I had grown up in the environment of many of these so called bad people and I had been forced to live in the horrible surroundings they saw daily, I probably would have done the same things. I do not know how many times I have talked with people who have done similar things and discovered that they were horribly wounded people. Inside they were deeply hurt. Outside they vented their hurt through anger and, watch out, through violence.
And look what we are finding out about Bales, on his 4th mission, 3 of them in Iraq.
As a balance to this negativity and tragedy, let me remind you that we likewise see beauty in people. I saw it in Ermy, the check in lady at the Jewish Community Center who greeted us cheerily Friday morning at 5:45 when we came for a spin class. And the 20 or so friendly class mates. I saw it in the courage of Michael Morwood yesterday who shared with us his own faith and understanding of the nature of God & Jesus.
So, reconsidering Granger & Bales & the kids from Belgium and all the Bible stories about God being angry and punishing people, what do you think about the nature of God?
Sources: The Center for Liturgy, St. Louis U. Online Ministries, Creighton, U. All on line.