Monday, March 27, 2023
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Heartbreaking story
Two elders of the people were appointed judges. In her garden, the old men saw Susanna and began to lust for her.
Which of us would cast the first stone at these men?
They suppressed their consciences; they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven, and did not keep in mind just judgments.
So here they are, and they seduce Susanna, who turns away, and they accuse her of adultery anyway, and she will be executed because the crowd believed those judges they themselves had appointed were speaking true. But those judges “would not allow their eyes to look to heaven.”
This moment of judgment came for the people, the crowd, the mob. A young man named Daniel brought them back from the brink by simply shouting “STOP!”
Daniel cried aloud, “I will have no part in the death of this woman!”
His words stopped the crowd, and they returned to further examine the judges. The judges spoke sarcastically to Daniel.
“Come, sit with us and inform us, since God has given you the prestige of old age.”
So ugly, to watch an elder take advantage of his position, which these two did twice in just one story. Daniel separated them, caught them in a contradiction, and then they were the ones who were executed.
But such an ugly story cannot have a happy ending. Everyone in the story, except Daniel and Susanna, must hang their heads in shame. Weren’t those elders once young boys like Daniel, seeking to do good and not evil?
But they suppressed their consciences and would not allow their eyes to look to heaven.
Hundreds of years later Jesus wept as he heard a woman’s accusers, as he knelt and scratched unknown words into the sand. Nothing had changed in all those centuries. Those appointed to lead were often hypocrites. They too refused to look toward heaven.
Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?
Like the story of Susanna, I want to exult in the triumph of righteousness. But the cries of joy catch in my throat. Evil surrounds and imposes itself, and I often don’t even know it.
I too have suppressed my conscience and do not allow my eyes to look to heaven.
Can I breathe deep and repent, begin to pray in humility for myself and all of us?
Weep for the world
Out of the depths
I cry to you, O God.
—Psalm 130.1
It is necessary to weep for the world,
that has not learned to weep for itself.
So much to mourn! lost loves and dreams,
hopes and possibilities,
memories of futures denied,
all of us bearing pieces of our hearts around
like sacks of stones.
And if we don’t grieve—don’t dare to,
or don’t know how—
we try to offload those stones onto others,
sometimes throw them, especially at strangers,
especially at loved ones.
All war and murder, all tyranny and greed
is only grief unwept, spilling out,
thrown upon the world in desperation.
Be tender with your grief,
let it flow in tears and songs, that it not become a stone.
And be tender with this grieving world
that still has yet to learn
how to make of broken stones and broken glass
a cathedral of hope and beauty – Steve Garnaas-Holmes
These are days that try men’s souls.
But let us rejoice and be glad.
God is alive, and magic is afoot.
Only goodness and kindness will follow me all the days of my life. And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
(Daniel 13 – Deuterocanonical, Psalm 23, Ezekiel 33, John 8)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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