reLENTless: Day 2
February 23rd, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Daniel 9:1-14 (MSG)
God’s Covenant Commitment
1-4 ”Darius, son of Ahasuerus, born a Mede, became king over the land of Babylon. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, was meditating on the Scriptures that gave, according to the Word of God to the prophet Jeremiah, the number of years that Jerusalem had to lie in ruins, namely, seventy. I turned to the Master God, asking for an answer—praying earnestly, fasting from meals, wearing rough penitential burlap, and kneeling in the ashes. I poured out my heart, baring my soul to God, my God: 4-8 ”‘O Master, great and august God. You never waver in your covenant commitment, never give up on those who love you and do what you say. Yet we have sinned in every way imaginable. We’ve done evil things, rebelled, dodged and taken detours around your clearly marked paths. We’ve turned a deaf ear to your servants the prophets, who preached your Word to our kings and leaders, our parents, and all the people in the land. You have done everything right, Master, but all we have to show for our lives is guilt and shame, the whole lot of us—people of Judah, citizens of Jerusalem, Israel at home and Israel in exile in all the places we’ve been banished to because of our betrayal of you. Oh yes, God, we’ve been exposed in our shame, all of us—our kings, leaders, parents—before the whole world. And deservedly so, because of our sin.
9-12 ”‘Compassion is our only hope, the compassion of you, the Master, our God, since in our rebellion we’ve forfeited our rights. We paid no attention to you when you told us how to live, the clear teaching that came through your servants the prophets. All of us in Israel ignored what you said. We defied your instructions and did what we pleased. And now we’re paying for it: The solemn curse written out plainly in the revelation to God’s servant Moses is now doing its work among us, the wages of our sin against you. You did to us and our rulers what you said you would do: You brought this catastrophic disaster on us, the worst disaster on record—and in Jerusalem!
13-14 ”‘Just as written in God’s revelation to Moses, the catastrophe was total. Nothing was held back. We kept at our sinning, never giving you a second thought, oblivious to your clear warning, and so you had no choice but to let the disaster loose on us in full force. You, our God, had a perfect right to do this since we persistently and defiantly ignored you.
I generally am not a fan of apocalyptic literature. It’s where people justify the idea that God punishes us through natural disasters, disease, war, famine, pestilence, etc., etc., fire and brimstone, blah blah. Because we did A, God gives us punishment through B. It’s a theme that can easily be justified with the Bible, but it isn’t in line with who the God of Jesus Christ appears to be. Thus, I tend to steer clear of apocalyptic books like Daniel and Revelation.
That being said, I was drawn to this Daniel passage today. It’s ever so appropriate for Lent — it’s penitent, it’s a little dark.
It reminds me of the prayer we pray during the communion liturgy, “We confess we have not loved you with our whole hearts … we have not done your will, we have broken your law …” It’s a reminder of brokenness toward not only God but toward those around us. I am reminded that during Lent, we must seek to repair not only our relationship with God but also with our earthly brothers and sisters. God’s way is a way of compassion, of reconciliation, and of genuine love. Thanks be to God.
I’ll be blogging my way through Lent 2012, using the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, as inspiration. You can also follow my fellow #reLENTless bloggers: Jeremy Smith, Carolyn Frantz and Deanna Ogle. Leave a comment if you would like to join us.
