March 21 / Second Thursday of Lent
They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Ps 1:3-4, 6
Most of us are so removed from agricultural realities that we fail fully to embrace the image of chaff in today’s psalm. I recall a field trip with one of my children many years ago to a historic farm where the docent demonstrated the process of threshing and winnowing. The grain was spread out on the threshing floor, beaten with flails, and then tossed up into the air with a wooden winnowing fork. The scaly husks that surrounded the seed — lightweight, no longer important — vanished into the breeze. In our psalmist’s calculus, the wicked — those who scoff at justice and sneer at faithfulness — will vanish into thin air, wafting away on the wings of their insubstantial commitments and misguided priorities. Those who follow the way of the Lord, on the other hand, are grounded and nurtured and will flourish for a long time to come. We live in a culture that flips the psalmist’s script: Those who have attained power, wealth, status, celebrity, by whatever means, are valorized and held up as exemplars, while nice guys (and gals), those who hold firm to their faith and put the values of the world in their proper place, finish last. In our pursuit of what the world offers — those glittering prizes that catch our eye and capture our attention — we may find ourselves unable to sustain a lasting relationship with our Lord. Untethered to a life in and with God, we will waft away like chaff. God calls us instead, today and always, to root ourselves in the life-giving sustenance of his love.
Watchful and loving God, help me to walk the way of the just in the light of your presence.Amen.
For today’s readings, click here.
