This week I have been considering how the Israelites
made the transition from the Forty Wilderness Years to entering Canaan by
renewing the Covenant of Circumcision and celebrating Passover at Gilgal. This
is reported in Joshua 5:9-12, the Lectionary reading from the Hebrew Scriptures
for this coming Sunday, March 31, 2019. Gilgal marked a sort of space between
two distinct and contrasting epochs in Israel’s journey from slavery in Egypt
to flourishing freedom in the Promised Land.
As I considered this against the backdrop of current
events in the US, my mind was drawn to another transition in Israel that came
at Gilgal recorded in 1 Samuel 15,16 – from the failed reign of Saul, Israel’s
first king, to David, whose reign became the harbinger of Messianic hopes. The
critical turn was when King Saul’s army defeated the Amalekites. Besides the
avarice of keeping for himself and his close companions the best of the spoils
of war which were to be totally given over to God, with hubris King Saul
preserved the Amalekite King Agag alive that he might gloat over the victory.
Many things about this incident are troubling, and I
will not attempt to sort them out so they do not distract from how my
ponderings have taken me to the present transition time in US politics. The
Mueller investigation has concluded and the report has been delivered. The Barr
letter conveyed a conclusion in a few words with no details of the lengthy report.
A redacted version of the report has been promised to Congress within a couple
of weeks. What may or may not become public, either by release or leak is
unknown. In this transition a myriad of speculations and responses from every possible
point on the political spectrum is running rampant. Regardless of what is
released and to whom, the Mueller Report is a sort of Gilgal, a place of
transition, not just for the current administration, and not just for imminent
political implications, but for the country. Like the Israelites at Gilgal, the
US is on the brink of unexplored territory. Whether the path ahead is more like
King Saul or King David (who had his own issues) remains to be seen.
In my contemplation, Agag seemed perhaps an apt
metaphor for the assorted responses and expectations of many folk in our current
transition, and perhaps a cautionary tale for all who think they have figured
out either the dreaded or hoped for outcome. I think 1 Samuel 15:32-33 (NIV)
articulates this powerfully. “Then Samuel said, ‘Bring me Agag king of the
Amalekites.’ Agag came to him in chains. And he thought, ‘Surely the bitterness
of death is past.’ … And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.” [Some other
translations, including the NRSV, heighten the drama by saying that Agag came “haltingly”
and Samuel “hewed Agag in pieces.” Definitely a cringe worthy scene in any
case.]
The point of my meditations, and of writing this
essay, is not to make a political statement, though it is probably inescapable
in these times. Rather, I am seeking to discern how to faithfully follow Jesus
in this specific time of transition with all of its perils. The Lectionary
Epistle reading for Sunday from 1 Corinthians 6:16-21 speaks of our
participation in God reconciling with the world through Christ. The Gospel
reading is Jesus’ perhaps overly familiar parable we call The Prodigal Son in
Luke 15:11-32. In that parable, Jesus dramatized
with masterful storytelling just how radical that reconciliation is. Luke
15:1-3 makes clear that Jesus told this because he was being criticized by the
religious folk for welcoming sinners and even eating with them. So putting this
up against both Gilgal stories, I am challenged to follow Jesus in reconciling
relationships with and between people who fear and even despise each other in
this time of transition and perilous uncertainty. I am brought back to my
regular praying of the Prayer of St. Francis asking how I can be an instrument
of God’s peace when division and hostility seems to prevail.
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