Links for today’s readings:
May 15 Read: Zephaniah 2 Listen: (2:44) Read: Luke 6 Listen: (6:46)
May 16 Read: Zephaniah 3 Listen: (3:38) Read: Luke 7 Listen: (7:14)
May 17 Read: Haggai 1 Listen: (2:39) Read: Luke 8 Listen: (8:09)
Scripture Focus: Zephaniah 2.13-15
13 He will stretch out his hand against the north
and destroy Assyria,
leaving Nineveh utterly desolate
and dry as the desert.
14 Flocks and herds will lie down there,
creatures of every kind.
The desert owl and the screech owl
will roost on her columns.
Their hooting will echo through the windows,
rubble will fill the doorways,
the beams of cedar will be exposed.
15 This is the city of revelry
that lived in safety.
She said to herself,
“I am the one! And there is none besides me.”
What a ruin she has become,
a lair for wild beasts!
All who pass by her scoff
and shake their fists.
Reflection: To Celebrate or Lament?
By John Tillman
Should we be happy about judgment?
It is good news when enemies are defeated; however, God’s people can misuse or misinterpret scripture’s descriptions of judgment on enemies.
Some happily copy and paste the names of our enemies over Israel’s enemies in scripture. Assyria becomes an enemy nation. Cush becomes a feared people group. Philistia becomes a hated political party. This is a dangerous way to read scripture. It is unwise to assign modern identities to ancient people groups in prophetic judgments. This smuggles in our prejudices, hatreds, and worldly allegiances and puts them in God’s mouth. This is how partisan politics becomes sanctified idolatry. This is how racialized oppression gets baptized as “rightly ordered loves.” This is how genocides get whitewashed as holy wars. God will not ignore such blasphemies for long.
We should celebrate God’s victories that save his people. The Egyptian exodus is the prototype. Many events echo its pattern. That’s not what is happening in many prophetic judgments, including today’s reading from Zephaniah 2.
In Zephaniah, God’s people are being judged, not rescued. Jerusalem will be destroyed (Zeph 1.4-6). The nations are being judged for pridefully mocking Judah or participating in violence against them.
Every nation (and person) is responsible for their own wickedness. No one can blame others for their sins. However, only one nation and people are called to bring light to all the others. Ancient Israel and today’s church share that calling. In a few, isolated moments Israel succeeded in this calling. Other nations partnered with them and built God’s temple, learned of God’s wisdom, and worshiped his glory.
Successful moments were few. Failures were frequent. When Judah preyed on their poor, violated their covenant, and praised idol statues, these were betrayals of their national calling (Gen 18.18, 22.18; Ex 19.5-6; Deut 4.5-8; Is 49.6). They could have done otherwise.
What if Jonah wasn’t a solo act bringing short-term revival to Nineveh? What if Israel and Judah’s kings set righteous examples for the nations instead of mimicking their decadence and abuses and grasping for power? What if we did those things now?
The church’s true enemies are not flesh and blood or political and cultural. (Eph 6.12) Everyone with a heartbeat is a potential spiritual sibling. If they fall without accepting the gospel, mourning a sibling’s loss is better than cheering an enemy’s death.
When God’s people are saved, we celebrate. When they are judged, even if their enemies also fall, we lament and repent.
Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Righteousness shall go before him, and peace shall be a pathway for his feet. — Psalm 85.13
Read more: Blessings and Woes — Guided Prayer
Matthew mentions that we are like prophets of old when treated poorly, Luke adds that when treated well, we are like the false prophets.
Read more: City of Revelry
Zephaniah calls to Judah…“Gather together, gather yourselves together… seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered”
