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“For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.
Rise up, O Lord! Do not let mortals prevail; let the nations be judged before you. Put them in fear, O Lord; let the nations know that they are only human.” –– Psalm 9:18-20
A shirtless zealot, overflowing with hate, rains fire upon gathered Jews. Gazan children who have survived thus far through the bullets and bombs are now greeted with starvation, if not intentionally, then certainly heartlessly. Israeli hostages still alive in captivity have endured untold suffering now for over 600 days. As of one year ago, there were 122.6 million people worldwide who have been forced to leave their homes, desperately hoping to escape war, persecution, genocide, poverty, or oppression. However, increasingly, there is no place for them to go as hospitality is repressed by fear.
According to the official Census, in 2023 there were 36 million people living in poverty in the U.S. Yet, feeding programs for children at home and abroad are being defunded.
Following a poor performance, the family of Houston Astros pitcher, Lance McCullers Jr. received online death threats joining judges, journalists, teachers, politicians, and neighbors whose inboxes are stuffed with hostility and malevolence. When McCullers arrived home, his 5-year-old daughter asked, ‘Daddy, like, what is threats? Who wants to hurt us? Who wants to hurt me?’
In these days, with the specter of cruelty for cruelty’s sake growing alongside a mushrooming callousness toward the suffering of others, it should not take much imagination for us to appreciate the angst and anger that fueled the prophets and poets of antiquity in their responses to the cruelty exhibited by their own era’s maleficent powers, principalities, and priests, for whom the suffering of others seemed a small price to pay for the prize of influence, riches and control. Looking upon the iniquity of the powerful, the prophet Amos declared –– “For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins—you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the gate. Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time; for it is an evil time.”
Yes, as the Psalmist observes, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,” but we cannot take this mercy for granted, remembering Paul’s warning, “God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow,” and the Lord’s vexation, “I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters.”
It is good to celebrate God’s abundant mercy. It is irresponsible and dangerous to presume upon it while ignoring the suffering of others. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance … Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
“Let the nations be judged before you. Put them in fear, O Lord.” The cross worn depreciates in value as long as the wearer remains indifferent to suffering. Let us not cheapen the grace that is our redemption, and peacefully resist those who do.
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