דִּבְרֵי עֲוֹנֹת גָּבְרוּ מֶנִּי

Divréy avonót, gávru méni… ‘Matters of iniquities have overwhelmed me…’ I picked up my copy of Tehillim, the Hebrew book of Psalms, and just started reading, offering, at random this morning, not paying attention to the daily cycle. Looking at the literal translation, I was moved by the words’ simple straightforwardness, ‘matters of iniquities have overwhelmed me.’ Yes, the events of these past days feel overwhelming somehow. Whether the suffering world realises it or not, Christ Jesus is being crucified daily, in the flesh at the hands of the world, and spiritually in the mouths and minds of His followers. For though we abhor iniquities, especially the mindless, terrifying acts that carry away lives and destroy our peace, we often do not work healing and restoration, but carry the burden of false righteousness and judgment, calling it ‘justice,’ and ourselves remain unhealed and unrestored, because we refuse to follow Jesus.

There is no mercy for the merciless, not in this life, or in the world to come. That prospect itself should terrify us into obedience, yet it does not. We remain as we were, following Christ because we know He is going to feed us with the miraculous Bread that is Himself, and forgetting Him in the next moment, as we join in the hue and cry of those who shout ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ How is it that we do not recognise the Lord in His helpless disguise?

Brethren, let us work for the healing and the salvation of the whole world, and when we encounter the works of the evil one, let us shun them in ourselves as well as in others, and keep lifting ourselves and each other up before the Mercy Seat of the only Lover of mankind. As Jesus says, ‘Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect’ and ‘Come, and follow Me.’