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Hosea 6.1-6

“Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth.”

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early. Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have killed them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

I know this winter has been an especially difficult time for many people. I’m grateful to be able to work from home, but because it gets dark so early in the evenings, during the week I tend to work late and often don’t go outside. After being indoors for days at a time, I start feeling stir crazy. Last weekend, while my partner was shopping at a mall I found myself waiting outside in the parking lot. I was suddenly overjoyed to just bask in the sun and look up at the clouds. And yet my struggles seem small compared to the people in our city who are homeless, hungry, or unemployed. What right do I have to lament?

So, I feel like the prophetic vision of Hosea is especially powerful during this time. A God who will bind us and raise us up, as sure as the spring rains water the earth. Unlike apocalyptic preachers of the past, I don’t believe that the coronavirus is divine retribution for our sins and I don’t believe the end is nigh.

But I do believe that this season of Lent, and this time of struggle, is an opportunity to reconsider our priorities; to remind us of what’s really important in our lives. I want to try not to take so much for granted, to concentrate on the things I can control; instead of the mindless chatter of social media or politics. To work on building community and strengthening friendships. I am encouraged by the last line of the the scripture, where God does not care about transitory things like burnt offerings or sacrifices, but instead desires love and knowledge. And so in that spirit, I think that this is an opportunity for us to strive to love, and to learn, to marvel occasionally at the clouds, while we to await the first signs of spring. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

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Psalm 81.5-9, 13, 15-16

He laid it as a solemn charge upon Joseph,*
when he came out of the land of Egypt.
I heard an unfamiliar voice saying,*
I eased his shoulder from the burden; his hands were set free from bearing the load.
You called on me in trouble, and I saved you*
I answered you from the secret place of thunder and tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you:*
O Israel, if you would but listen to me,
There shall no strange god among you;*
you shall not worship a foreign god.
O that my people would listen to me*
that Israel would walk in my ways!
Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,*
and their punishment would last for ever.
But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat*
and satisfy him with honey from the rock.

While reading this passage I was most struck by the line “I eased his shoulder from the burden; his hands were set free from bearing the load”.

I doubt I am the only one, a year into this Pandemic, who is feeling burdened. I feel constantly weighed down- by fear, by worry and by grief. To put it plainly, this has been a year of great challenges. It also has been easy to feel alone, physically distanced as we must me to keep our communities and ourselves safe.

We are not alone.

This Psalm is a wonderful reminder that we are never truly isolated. The Lord does not want us to face challenges alone. He is always there, he loves us and will always help to carry our burdens. We need only call out, and he will save us.

You can listen to the reading and reflection by clicking here.

Luke 11.14-23

Now he was casting out a demon that was mute; when the demon had gone out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? —for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

This is a heavy reading to parse through. It seems like such a strong condemnation and definitive line in the sand from the one who calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves and whose sacrifice is the font of redemption. But there it is.

Jesus brings up an interesting point to his critics early on in the story, revealing their logical fallacy. “Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? —for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul."

Evil that does good can no longer truly be evil and likewise, good that does evil can not be considered good.

I read CS Lewis' The Last Battle when I was younger and one scene really stuck with me. A young Calormen soldier, who had worshiped Tash (an evil, vicious demi-god and a parallel to Satan in Lewis' fantasy world of Narnia) all of his life and, when given the opportunity to enter the altar set up to Tash, the soldier does so piously and penitently; expecting not to survive the encounter. Instead, he comes face to face with Aslan (the parallel to Christ in Narnia) and is told that all the service that the young man had done in the name of Tash was actually done in his name, for "no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him." The young man is relieved and falls to his knees weeping.

I found, and continue to find, this heartening. That the line in the sand doesn't have to be as damning as it seems. That though there is good and evil in this world, I can't always make that determination from a cursory, superficial examination. That perhaps I have more in common with my (so called) enemies than I realize. Perhaps we aren't truly enemies at all. Perhaps there is hope for me yet?

Redemption hidden in even the heaviest of lessons.