Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,
   and plants for people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth,

Psalm 104:14

Gideon said to him, “My Lord, if the LORD is with us,
why has all this happened to us?
Where are his wondrous deeds of which our fathers
told us when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’
For now the LORD has abandoned us
and has delivered us into the power of Midian.”

In the 21^st century, many centuries after, and many miles from, the terebinth in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, we might be surprised to hear the boy Gideon asking such a question. Didn’t the story of God’s mercy still ring in this young man’s ears? But stories rapidly become history as generations die and new ones are born. To Gideon the exodus from Egypt, the sojourn in the desert and the battle of Jericho seemed like a long time ago; made longer yet by the humiliation the Hebrews now suffered. Confined to the hills of Judea where the soil was thin and resources scarce, often subject to raids from the Midianites in the flatlands, the Hebrews felt abandoned by the God who had shown such power in the now-distant past. He could wonder,“Why has all this happened to us?”

Often, as I visit Veterans in the hospital, I ask a similar question. “Where is the Lord?” We have heard many more stories from our ancestors than Gideon ever heard, and they now include the Champion and Judge Gideon! We have the entire Bible, Old and New Testaments, and a hagiography of saints stretching over two millennia. But where is God today, as this fellow lies dying in the hospital?

Reason might argue with such a prayer but pain and disappointment are not often reasonable. And God is more swayed by pain and disappointment than he is by reason. When I pray for the Veteran I don’t say, “You should come down because this is a good man and you owe him.” The United States might owe our Veterans everything, but I dare not lecture God on his duties.

But I will say, “Lord, show us your mercy once again; we need your help. Stories of the past are indeed comforting but where is your famous mercy today?”

It is not my job in the hospital to speak for God to the patient, explaining why pain, suffering and evil exist in our world. Rather, I must speak for the patient who might not be able or willing to speak for himself. I do so in imitation of Jesus, who taught not like the scribes and Pharisees, who spoke for us and was heard because of his reverence. Hebrews 5: 7