LENT 2020: Day 12

• LENT 2020: Day 12 Tuesday, March 10, 2020:
  Psalm 128; Isaiah 65:17-25; Romans 4:6-13

Thus saith the LORD:
    For I am about to create new heavens
          and a new earth...
    And no longer shall be heard in [Jerusalem]
          the sound of weeping and the sound of screams.

This is obviously good news, right?

Well, it depends on if you are the one weeping and screaming — or if you are the one causing others to scream and to weep.

It’s not a simple question, for we are complex creatures. We both experience suffering ourselves, while at the same time causing suffering in others. It is difficult, if not impossible, to do otherwise. For we do not control the ripple effects of our actions. 

Even those actions taken with the best of intentions have a life of their own, which may help us understand these words from Paul: “For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Rom 7.19).

As we continue our Lenten journey, we would do well to reflect on the ways in which we cause others to suffer. It’s generally not intentional, but seeing it and naming it allows us to be intentional about addressing it.

But we cry out in pain too. And so may we the word of the LORD:
    Before they call, I will answer.
          While they still speak, I will hear.

And may we let Isaiah’s vision of the new creation restore us:
    The wolf and the lamb shall graze as one,
          and the lion like cattle eat hay
              and the serpent — dust, its food.
    They shall do no evil and do no harm
          on all my holy mountain, said the LORD.