Exodus 22.20-23.13, Luke 4.16-30 - Lectionary for 4/12/10 - Monday, Easter 2

Today's readings are Exodus 22.20-23.13 and Luke 4.16-30.

We see today a continued description of the character qualities God has prescribed for those who trust in him.  Once again we have to realize that we are guilty.  Though we may try we are always guilty when we compare our lives to God's righteous standard.  Either we have to lower the standard of God by explaining it away in some way or we have to realize that we are in fact sinners.  Even the most socially conscious of us, the most culturally sensitive, the most honest, the most generous, the most just one of us is going to fail in some respect.  We don't pay attention to everything the Lord has said to us.  We are not like the righteous people the Lord describes.  

What do we see in Exodus 22.27?  The person who cries to God is heard by God.  Our Lord is the compassionate God.  He is the very one who provides for the needs of his people.  He is the one who reaps vengeance on mistreatment, including the mistreatment we inflict, even the mistreatment we receive.  When we call out to our Lord in repentance we know he is the compassionate and mercivul God.  He is the one who can provide food for his people even though they rest one of seven days, even though they give their land a rest from cultivation every seventh year.  He gives us what we need according to his power and plan, not according to our wisdom or diligence.

Does this mean we should all quit our jobs for a year every seven years?  No, it really doesn't mean that.  It does mean that we are to be characterized by a radical dependence on the Lord rather than on ourselves.  And we see as we confess on a daily basis that our Lord is the one who gives us what we need and that he gives it because he is good and kind.    Do we look for proof of this?  Let us look no farther than the fact that our Lord has given himself for us, his real life for our life, his real death for our redemption, his real bodily resurrection as the firstfruits of the resurrection of the dead, his real presence among his people as the fulfillment of his promise never to leave us or forsake us.  Surely we can trust that he will provide our every need.