I am an emeritus professor from Cornell University and was a Commissioned Lay Preacher in the Presbyterian Church (USA). For many years I have followed the Daily Lectionary as printed in the Mission Yearbook of my church. For each day of a two-year cycle, the lectionary lists four psalms and three other scriptural passages--usually one from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament. My practice is to copy down a verse or two from one of the psalms and from each of the other three passages. After I have written out all four selections, I reflect upon them, rearrange their order, and incorporate them into a meditation. Sometimes I retain much of the original wording; sometimes all that remains of a selection is an idea that was stimulated when I read the original words. All selections are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. For the Daily Lectionary, see the link below.

Crime and Divine Punishment--August 8, 2020

 

My God, your steadfast love is better than life;

my lips will praise you.

 

When Jesus drove from the temple those who

had profaned it, the punishment seemed

proportional to the offense.

 

And killing seventy of his own brothers

to become king was a heinous crime;

if anyone deserved to die for this,

Abimelech did.

 

But it is hard for me to understand

killing a husband and wife

caught in a lie.

 

I cling to your steadfast love,

and cannot accept that

this was your will.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 63; 149; 125; 90

Judg. 9:22-25, 50-57

Acts 4:32-5:11

John 2:13-25

 

Selected Verses

Ps. 63:3

Because your steadfast love is better than life,
          my lips will praise you.

 

Judg. 9:53, 56

But a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head, and crushed his skull. … Thus God repaid Abimelech for the crime he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers… 

Acts 5:9

Then Peter said to [Sapphira], “How is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test?  Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”

 

John 2:14-15

In the temple [Jesus] found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.  Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle.  He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

5 comments:

  1. Mea SententiaAugust 8, 2020 at 4:53 PM

    I hadn’t noticed this before. But God isn’t the actor in the Ananias and Sapphira reading. God doesn’t strike them down. Confronted with their deceit, they fall down dead on their own. God is strangely passive through it all. God allows them to die, but God allows everyone to die.

    The biblical writers had such a different worldview than we do today. Time and again they include these stories that say more to me about the writers than about God.

    The word I hear in this story is the danger of dishonesty vs the value of honesty. That’s my takeaway.

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  2. Mea SententiaAugust 8, 2020 at 5:26 PM

    There also seems to be a parallel with the story of Achan in Joshua 7.

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  3. Elmer E. EwingAugust 8, 2020 at 10:18 PM

    Thank you for giving me opportunity to expand on my meditation. I completely agree that the biblical writers often display world views very different from our own. I also acknowledge that their stories often say more about the writers than about God (at least from my limited understanding of God’s point of view), even though I feel God speaking to me most of the time as I read them.
    To be specific, yes, Achan’s case is a parallel to the fate of Ananias and Sapphira. Achan (Joshua 7) was stoned to death for misappropriating riches that belonged to God, who as punishment had inflicted suffering on Israel. God did not order the stoning, but God’s anger was satisfied after the stoning had taken place--so God no longer punished Israel for Achan’s sin.
    Turning to Ananias, Peter (who has been showing miraculous powers in the stories of Acts) again displays power to do miracles in his awareness that Ananias had been holding back part of the money from the sale of his property.
    It is of course conceivable that the trauma of being caught caused Ananias to have a fatal stroke or heart attack, but the identical fate of his wife, and Peter’s confident prediction that it would happen to her, too, makes me think that Luke wants us to believe that God was behind both deaths. (Even if Peter used his miraculous powers to punish them both with death, it was through God’s actions.) Note that Luke then points out that the deaths filled everyone with fear—that’s what happens when you lie to God.
    I agree that there is a strong lesson here about the importance of honesty, especially in our dealings with God, but I can’t help wondering how many burnings at the stake and other violent punishments have been meted out over the ages in the name of the church while using this story and others like it to justify the cruelty. I want to hold on to the compassion of God, not to vindictive, vengeful actions by God or by God's supporters. And Chris, I sense you feel the same, so I am not arguing with your comment, just expanding on my views.

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  4. Mea SententiaAugust 9, 2020 at 6:37 PM

    Luke taught a divine agency behind events, which makes what happened to Ananias and Sapphira a divine punishment. Luke also taught divine compassion, as seen in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Luke held together divine punishment and divine compassion in a way that is difficult for us to do now.

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  5. Elmer E. EwingAugust 9, 2020 at 8:42 PM

    Well put. I quite agree.

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