Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 411

See, upon the mountains there advances
the bearer of good news, 
announcing peace!
Celebrate your feasts, O Judah,
fulfill your vows!
For nevermore shall you be invaded
by the scoundrel; he is completely destroyed.

Caught forever in an endless discussion about faith and science, church and state, the Christian cannot dismiss the God of Israel, the Lord of History. The more devout among us would see his hand everywhere, from the minor incidents of routine days, to wars and rumors of war, to tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes. 

On the other hand, the secular mind says we -- meaning the human race -- have created our world and are responsible for everything that happens. If we cannot control earthquakes, nor predict them yet, we're nonetheless responsible for the roads and buildings that should have been earthquake-proof. This latter pseudo-scientific group would hedge their faith in human responsibility with appeals to a secondary divinity, "Luck" -- a false god if there ever was one. 

The prophet Nahum, who penned today's scripture passage, stood with the Hebrew tradition, ascribing everything to the One God. Israel was too small to affect the rise or fall of Nineveh, Assyria's capital. If the Hebrews' prayers were answered and "the bloody city, all lies" was finally destroyed by the Babylonians, that was certainly God's doing. The prophet could not imagine an ineluctable march of history toward some vague destiny like the proletariat of the people, communism. universal democracy, or worldwide capitalism. His world was filled with gods but he worshiped the One Supreme God of gods and Lord of lords, whose hand was evident in the rise and fall of cities. 

As I watch history unfold, with the advance of science and technology, climate change, polarization of opinion, the astonishing evolution of germs and viruses, and so forth! -- and as I pore over the Old and New Testaments -- I incline toward Nahum's belief. We're kidding ourselves if we think we can manage all these problems, and especially the problems we have created. God is still in charge. He laughs at human arrogance which might ignore his presence and dismiss his authority. 

There is humor in the account in Genesis, of God's descending twice to the evil city of Babel, first to inspect it and then to confuse its language. He came down from a very high, powerful place to mock their lofty attempt to rule the world. The same humor appears in the Acts of the Apostles as the disciples come down from the Upper Room and invade every nation. They speak the language of the Holy Spirit and no social, religious, or political force can stop them. 

We hear the LORD's mocking human presumption in the second psalm:

Kings on earth rise up

and princes plot together

against the LORD and against his anointed one:

“Let us break their shackles

and cast off their chains from us!”

The one enthroned in heaven laughs;

the Lord derides them,

Then he speaks to them in his anger,

in his wrath he terrifies them:

“I myself have installed my king

on Zion, my holy mountain.”

And in the forty-sixth psalm:

Come and see the works of the LORD,

who has done fearsome deeds on earth;

Who stops wars to the ends of the earth,

breaks the bow, splinters the spear,

and burns the shields with fire;

“Be still and know that I am God!

I am exalted among the nations,

exalted on the earth.”

The LORD of hosts is with us;

our stronghold is the God of Jacob. 

If I were a betting man, I would bet on the LORD. But we're all gamblers as we choose faith in God and renounce the babbling arrogance of this world.