After Pentecost Devotional - Day 27

“Six of the towns you give them will be Safe Towns where a person who has accidentally killed someone can run for protection. But you will also give the Levites forty-two other towns...” Numbers 35:6

Grace, mercy, and forgiveness are not what we look for in these instructions of the Mosaic code. We have accustomed ourselves to find harsh language, unyielding retribution, and a legal code based on anger and punishment. In the midst of that, we find several passages that speak to the establishment of Safe Towns or cities of refuge. If anything, the very existence of such towns seems to fly in the face of what we have come to expect.

We look at language like “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” without stopping to recognize that these laws intended to place limits or restrictions upon revenge. Sure, these restrictions did not go far enough for us to call them progressive today, but they were a far cry from the expectations of the societies among whom the nation was in the process of building their own nation. These issues of unlimited revenge were a real struggle for the nation as a whole.

We could look to the actions of King David and many to follow him and see unwarranted bloodshed for little more than sensing a potential threat to power, position, and privilege. These cities of refuge, however, were designed to assist the nation in recognizing that revenge needed limits. They were a reminder that people made mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes brought about disastrous consequences.

The code in those cases offered an escape valve that allowed the inadvertent murderer to live in a city of refuge and find protection from those who wanted to enact revenge. The law had its limitations. If one left the safety of the city of refuge, they could still be killed in revenge. Even with those limitations, however, this was a far cry from the cultural standards regarding revenge. Violent retribution was the order of the day. Yahweh's instructions, however, placed a damper upon revenge we could learn from.

Revenge killing does not benefit anyone. It does not and cannot restore the life that was lost. It amplifies the distress of one family, extending it to another. It often extends to the kind of feuding we saw among the Hatfields and McCoys in our own nation. It hamstrings communities, families, and places children at great risk.

The greater problem we face, however, is that we still struggle with our own penchant for retribution, revenge, making those who have harmed us pay. In the process, we forget that we also have injured others. We have caused our own share of pain and suffering by what we have done and failed to do. So often, that pain and injury is unintentional. We did not recognize the extent to which we hurt others. In coming closer to understanding, we find that we need grace for our failings.

It is on understanding our failings that we come to understand just how much others need the very same grace that we have and yet need to receive for ourselves. We also need those safe places, just as we need to offer them to others.

Who are those that you have injured unintentionally? Determine to offer the same grace to those who injure you that you also need.


"Lord, transform my penchant for revenge into a desire to lavish grace upon others."


—©Copyright 2016, Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/ 
My latest books can be found here on amazon

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You Made Me Choose, but Why?

Image
Did you really think I would give you more importance than my own daughter? Did you really think you could use our father’s memory as a weapon to bend me to your will? Did you really think pulling rank would force me to adapt to your definitions of propriety, when you have never once interrupted your life on my behalf? Did you really think protecting a relationship that has always depended on my initiative would have greater weight than maintaining, caring for, and supporting the family I’ve made and lived with more than twice the time I ever lived with you? Did you really think I would refashion my life and character after your expectations for me? Did you really think I would hand over my autonomy to you, simply because you refused to listen or learn anything about me and my family? Did you really think I would interpret your attempts to control me and my family as love? Did you really think I don’t understand love enough to recognize your prote...
Read more

Self-Righteous Oppression

Image
Beware being taken in by the hypocrisy of the self-righteous. We try to hide the reality of our inner lives, but all secrets will come to light. What is whispered in the dark will be heard in full daylight, widely broadcast and published. Do we really think that those who died in the collapse of the Twin Towers were any worse offenders than everyone else in New York City? Do we think the four girls killed at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham were more sinful than those who set the bombs? Are the oppressed less worthy than their oppressors? We applaud civil rights heroes of the past, yet retain policies which actively oppose them. We join parades and erect monuments in their honor, bearing witness to their cause as just. Then we push new policies to keep the same minorities in subjection! How were diversity, equity, and inclusion just and righteous then, but now suddenly a threat? We pray before a meal, giving thanks for God’s provision. Meanwhile, greed direct...
Read more

What Is Love?

Image
“Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed. Some say love it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed. Some say love, it is a hunger, and endless aching need. I say love, it is a flower and you, its only seed.” — Amanda McBroom We spill a lot of ink talking and singing about love, but we rarely stop to question or discuss what love actually is or isn’t. For that matter, there are several definitions, categories, or uses of the term. Sometimes they confuse our conversations as we fail to grasp how another is using the term. At heart, this is largely due to uncertainty over defining love, understanding what it is, or what we even mean by it. Our poetry makes attempts to describe it, but often in conflicting ways. “Oh, love to some is like a cloud, to some as strong as steel, for some a way of living, for some a way to feel, and some say love is holding on and some say letting go, and some say love is everything, and some say they don't know.” — John De...
Read more