LITURGY AND LIFE
Tom
Saretsky
Beware
perversions of Scripture that instil fear
17th Sunday in Ordinary
Time
July 25, 2010
Genesis 18:20-32
Psalm 138
Colossians 2:12-14
Luke 11:1-13
Recently I was up late one night because I was having trouble sleeping.
Instead of reaching for a book, I reached for the remote control. Television
in the wee hours of the morning offers a smorgasbord of absolutely nothing.
It is full of infomercials, old game shows, sitcom reruns and endless
sports highlights. Television at those hours is good for insomnia —
there is nothing of significance to watch and what is there can actually
lull one to sleep.
That particular night, however, I was intrigued by a program that spoke
of the impending apocalypse. It was an evangelist preacher and his wife
talking about the doom and gloom that is upon us, as prophesied by many
of the books of the Old Testament. According to these two “experts,”
the end of the world is near. We have angered God and God’s vengeance
is being exacted upon us right at this very moment. One look at the
natural disasters plaguing our planet is proof enough: earthquakes,
killer tornadoes, devastating hurricanes, famine and pestilence.
God’s vengeance is here. We live in the present-day Sodom and
Gomorrah and God wishes to burn and bury the world. We have angered
God with our immoral and valueless living and now God seeks revenge.
God is cleaning up the world. Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous
than that?
These televangelists all say the same thing. They prey on their viewers
instead of praying over them, because they seek to instil fear. They
use Scripture to substantiate the points they try to make, but it’s
their perversion of Scripture that is to be feared far more than God.
What a sham they preach!
I feel sorry for God. God’s reputation takes a beating when televangelists
are on the air. The Old Testament has never been good to God either.
The God of the Old Testament has always been portrayed as vengeful and
impatient, demanding and fearsome; yet today’s first reading contradicts
that impression.
Moses begs God to spare the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. He repeatedly
asks God that if even a few righteous people live in the city, will
he not spare it. “Suppose 10 (righteous people) are found there.”
The Lord answers, “For the sake of the 10 I will not destroy it.”
This is a God who is faithful and loving to his people.
God cares about what is going on in our world and in our lives. God
loves with concern and compassion, and God desires to see our sins and
our evil gone. Sodom and Gomorrah are Hebrew words for “burned”
and “buried,” and this is essentially what God did to the
sins of the people living there, not to the people themselves. God wiped
away their sins.
Instead of worshipping the false God of anger and loathing, let us worship and “give thanks to God’s name, God’s steadfast love and God’s faithfulness . . . your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.”
St. Paul emphasizes these same sentiments in the second reading. He
speaks of how we were dead in sin, but “God made (us) alive together
with him when he forgave us all our sins.” God took all of our
evils and sins and “He set our sins aside, nailing them to the
cross.” This does not sound like a God who is to be feared. God
has proven many times over that his love for us endures. God is faithful.
It’s humanity that is not always faithful to God.
How do we remain faithful to God? It begins by asking the same question
the disciples asked Jesus: “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught
his disciples.” Jesus emphasized, “Your kingdom come.”
How many times do we pray so that God is on our side as opposed to us
being on God’s side? Are the prayers we want God to answer based
on our conditions, or is an allowance made for God’s freedom?
Jesus also stresses that faithfulness to God is found in how we “forgive
everyone indebted to us.” If we expect God to forgive us our sins,
then we need to extend that same luxury to others. Jean Vanier once
said, “When we accept that we have weaknesses and flaws, that
we have sinned against God and against our brothers and sisters, but
that we are forgiven and can grow toward inner freedom and truer love,
then we can accept the weaknesses and flaws of others. They too are
forgiven by God. We are all mortal and fragile, but we are all unique
and precious. There is hope; we can all grow toward greater freedom.”
We are a restless people in search of freedom and deliverance, and so
we need to reach out to a God who understands and accepts our weaknesses.
This is the God Jesus came to proclaim. It’s important that we
listen intently to the voice of Jesus and not to the voices of those
who wish to instil fear in us. It is God, our divine, loving and gentle
parent, who will give if we ask, who will be there when we seek and
who will open the door when we knock. This is the God I have come to
know, and I hope that this may be your God too. Incidentally, I won’t
be drawn to that program the next time I’m up late. I will stick
with Sham Wow — at least it’s authentic!
Saretsky and his wife Norma have two children. He is a teacher and
chaplain at Bishop James Mahoney high school in Saskatoon.
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