Reflection - Contrasts

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031420.cfm
Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Being a god in mankind’s early years was not the pre-eminent job many would assume it was. The Marvel and DC superheroes of today do a better job of presenting super-human characteristics but with far few personal problems than the gods had. Take, for example the gods and goddesses of Classical Greece. Cruel and fickle, passionate and vindictive, jealous and insecure, petty and insane: the imaginary inhabitants of Mount Olympus were a troubled and troublesome lot. The stories of their battles, bickering, and sexual conquests would have made excellent source material for modern television soap operas. Yet, these were, supposedly, the masters of the universe — or at least of this truncated universe we call earth.

Not all of these early gods were flamboyant personalities like those found among the gods in the Greek family. Some were more sedate; some were vile and depraved; others rejoiced in debauchery. That is to say, they would have been if they had actually existed as the human imaginations had depicted them. The word that most often comes to my mind as being pertinent to these primitive non-beings is ‘capricious.’ In other words, they were impulsive, unpredictable beings. That could well be because these gods were seen as the origin of the unpredictable in human life.

The relationship between these ‘divine’ figures and men was also unpredictable. Consequently, man’s purpose in the worship of such gods could generally be viewed as an art or a contest. Who knows what the gods supposedly thought; but man’s part in the game was to control, to manipulate, to placate or to outwit. To what degree worship was genuine we can only speculate.

It is difficult to be mindful today of the differences between the pagan gods of an earlier time and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We know them only through the distorting lens of history and sketchy archeological information. Yet, it is worth a few moments reflection to consider the radical claims of these simple mid-eastern people. We see something of those claims in the readings of today.

The God who removes guilt

. . . Who pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance;

. . . Who does not persist in anger forever,

. . . Who delights in clemency,

. . . Who will have compassion on us,

. . . Who will tread underfoot our guilt?

. . . Who will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins;

. . . Who will show faithfulness to Jacob,

. . . Who will show grace to Abraham.

. . . Who runs to meet his dissolute son.

Such a remarkable contrast to the cruel and fickle, passionate and vindictive, jealous and insecure, petty and insane. Unlike the pompous gods whose superiority was in their power, here was a God whose superiority was in his perfection and holiness. Unlike the gods who needed to be controlled, manipulated, placated and outwitted, here was a god who sees the birds of the air:

“They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

Here is a God who

“Clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

Here is a God who

“So loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.”

Don’t confuse Him with myths from the past.