Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 393

Isaiah then ordered a poultice of figs to be taken
and applied to the boil, that he might recover. Then Hezekiah asked, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple of the LORD?”
Isaiah answered: “This will be the sign for you from the LORD that he will do what he has promised: See, I will make the shadow cast by the sun on the stairway to the terrace of Ahaz go back the ten steps it has advanced.” So the sun came back the ten steps it had advanced.

This story from the Prophet Isaiah is also told in the Second Book of Kings. In recent centuries Hezekiah's tale, the story of Jonah's misadventure with the whale, and other Bible stories have been used by some critics to prove the entire book is nonsense. "Shadows cannot go backward!" they said, "nor can fish swallow human beings and spew them out days later." 

Imbedded as we are in our faith, Christians cannot worry about picayune cavils concerning miracles from the ancient past. If man-swallowing sea monsters and unexpected solar events sound implausible to us they were not so to the original audiences. Doesn't the sun go into total eclipse periodically? Why shouldn't it go backwards? And beached whales are really big! Big enough to swallow an adult male? Perhaps; why not? In this twenty-first century we are still astonished by many natural phenomena, and outlandish tales may yet be plausible. 

Because we have moved on from the nineteenth century's complaints about the Bible, we can appreciate Hezekiah's distress, and the mercy he found through prayer. We often hear of doctors speaking bluntly to their patients with words like Isaiah's, "Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover.” Who would not turn his face to the wall and weep at such advice? 

But sometimes people think their faith will give them stoic courage in such moments. "I will not be moved!" they hope. They will feel neither grief nor anguish when That Day comes, because they believe in Jesus! 

But we also have the story of Jesus's agony in Gethsemane. Saint Mark describes the moment when the Lord's knees buckled: 

He began to be troubled and distressed. Then he said to them, "My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch." He advanced a little and fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass by him."

These stories and many like them tell us our human emotions are holy. In the safe company of fellow believers we need not hide them or pretend we're above human feeling. We can surrender to fear, anger, and grief because we trust in God's word, we shall rise again. 

Hezekiah is one of the few kings of Jerusalem the prophets liked. Because of his just rule and devout prayers, God did not allow Judah and Jerusalem to fall to the Assyrians during his long career.

When a pandemic overwhelms our public and private lives -- areas we like to keep separate -- it is good to see how the Bible never recognized that distinction in the first place.  There are men and women like Hezekiah who practice politics and are nonetheless devout and worthy of respect. We need their leadership today.