A Reflection for Saturday of the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Find today’s readings here.
Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I am planning against this race an evil from which you shall not withdraw your necks; nor shall you walk with head high, for it will be a time of evil. (Mi 2:3)
Sometimes it is hard to respond to the first reading with “Thanks be to God.” Why should I be thanking God if he is plotting the downfall of a people out of his chosen group of Israelites? “It will be a time of evil”? Isn’t God supposed to be all-merciful, and weren’t the Israelites the ones whom God had promised he would never harm?
Today’s first reading from the prophet Micah is not part of a narrative set of first readings, like we sometimes have, where yesterday’s first reading would have flowed into today’s, which leads into tomorrow’s. In the book of Micah, the prophet proclaims the destruction of Jerusalem and Samaria, telling the citizens that their greed has made their city liable to ruin. In today’s reading, he calls out the wealthy landowners who covet and steal others’ land, which goes directly against the Commandments.
We can first (and perhaps more easily) identify with those whose houses have been taken from them. God is on our side and will avenge us! After all, I am in no position in life to be coveting others’ land (though I could not say the same two months ago), but there is far more to the admonitions in today’s reading than “Do not steal your neighbors’ house.”
It is easier to be “those who plan iniquity” than it seems: I could never simply move into my neighbors’ house when they are on vacation, but I could make it more difficult for someone to achieve one of their goals by not helping them out even in simple ways.
How can I prevent myself from coveting my neighbor’s—my friend’s—life? Instead of thinking of what I lack, I can tell myself, “I’m happy for her!” And eventually the repetition of this simple phrase helps to turn my mind from jealousy to appreciation. I can come before God in prayer, giving thanks for the blessings that someone else has received, rather than complaining about them.
Will God also take such vengeance on us, if we do not turn from our old ways? I don’t think he would in the same way. The God we know from the Old Testament, who Micah prophesies will plot evil against certain people, is the same merciful God in the person of Jesus, who forgives even those who killed him.
God promises to exact punishment on those who have sinned against him, but although we sin again and again, his mercy endures, and for that, we can truly say “Thanks be to God!”
