March 1, 2024
History and Our Human Natures
In such a rapidly changing world, is our reliance on the ancient texts of scripture still relevant?
For any scripture text that we read, we could replace it with a much more recent—and possibly more directly relevant—theological text, but would its authority be enduing? How do we know what this particular writing by a scripture scholar or theologian will have a lasting importance in our lives? The scriptures had their divine authority vetted many centuries ago, and have since been read as a “canon” or the rule of faith for God’s people. One of the reasons we read ancient texts every time we gather for worship is that they speak of our humanity in all its diversity in ways that still speaks truth to our lives. A sign that as much as our human contexts have changed across time and around the world, our human natures remain remarkably the same.
This Lent our first readings from the Old Testament have focused on God’s covenant and our human response to it. Our readings this year began with God’s covenant through Noah and Abraham, then moved on to Moses, and ending with the promise of a covenant written on our hearts. In the middle of these last two is the story of the people of Israel failing to honor God’s covenant and God’s response of both punishment and restoration. But isn’t that the timeless story of God’s relentlessly loving pursuit of restoring creation and humankind, and the ambivalence and inconsistency of our response?
This Lent, as we pray together in response to the texts we read each weekday from Matthew, and as we hear the lessons from the Hebrew Scriptures read in worship, might we reflect on our own ambivalence and inconsistency in response to God’s gracious offer of love and redemption in our lives and in our world. This fits well with Mark’s depiction of the disciples and those to whom that gospel was written as not quite getting the whole picture of the gospel and its call on our lives.
Might God grant us all a spirit of humility this Lent, that the Spirit might lead to directing our lives more into conformity with the crosses we are called to bear. This is in fact one of the most ancient Lenten themes, speaking once again to the consistent ambivalence of our human natures in response to God’s offer of grace through the ages.
With audacious hope,
~ Pastor Todd