Daily Retreat 08/23/07
2007 Aug 23 Thu/ Rose of Lima, v
Jgs 11:29-39a/ Ps 39(40):5. 7-8a. 8b-9. 10/ Mt 22:1-14
From today’s readings: “The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah.... Here I am, Lord; I come to do Your will.... Many are invited, but few are chosen....”
What does God want?
It is easy to be mistaken about what God wants - oftentimes, we figure God wants what we want. Some of the most important lessons of our life come when we realize that we don’t always know what’s best for us, but God does!
Another mistake is to assume that God wants what other people mistakenly say He wants. This was the mistake Jephthah made - he assumed God would be pleased with the same type of human sacrifices the bloodthirsty pagan idols looked for! So, to thank God for victory, he promised God, "Whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites shall belong to the LORD. I shall offer him up as a burnt offering!"
Reading the text of Jephthah’s sacrifice of his daughter curdles our blood - we wonder why the awful deed is not condemned here (human sacrifice is, of course, condemned elsewhere - see, for example, Deut. 12:29-31). There’s no question that the grisly sacrifice was not pleasing at all to God!
But here we can learn a lesson about reading scripture: isolated passages can easily be misinterpreted. Reading this passage by itself, someone could conceivably conclude that God was pleased with Jephthah’s vow, and therefore granted him the victory he sought. But reading the passage in the whole context of scripture, remembering what God tells us He wants (the psalm gives some good hints - much later, Jesus came to give some good answers!), it’s impossible to praise Jephthah’s vow, but we can reflect on it, and maybe learn an important lesson from its gruesomeness - it’s easy to make tragic mistakes in our life when we refuse to listen to what God wants for Himself, and for us!
Jgs 11:29-39a/ Ps 39(40):5. 7-8a. 8b-9. 10/ Mt 22:1-14
From today’s readings: “The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah.... Here I am, Lord; I come to do Your will.... Many are invited, but few are chosen....”
What does God want?
It is easy to be mistaken about what God wants - oftentimes, we figure God wants what we want. Some of the most important lessons of our life come when we realize that we don’t always know what’s best for us, but God does!
Another mistake is to assume that God wants what other people mistakenly say He wants. This was the mistake Jephthah made - he assumed God would be pleased with the same type of human sacrifices the bloodthirsty pagan idols looked for! So, to thank God for victory, he promised God, "Whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites shall belong to the LORD. I shall offer him up as a burnt offering!"
Reading the text of Jephthah’s sacrifice of his daughter curdles our blood - we wonder why the awful deed is not condemned here (human sacrifice is, of course, condemned elsewhere - see, for example, Deut. 12:29-31). There’s no question that the grisly sacrifice was not pleasing at all to God!
But here we can learn a lesson about reading scripture: isolated passages can easily be misinterpreted. Reading this passage by itself, someone could conceivably conclude that God was pleased with Jephthah’s vow, and therefore granted him the victory he sought. But reading the passage in the whole context of scripture, remembering what God tells us He wants (the psalm gives some good hints - much later, Jesus came to give some good answers!), it’s impossible to praise Jephthah’s vow, but we can reflect on it, and maybe learn an important lesson from its gruesomeness - it’s easy to make tragic mistakes in our life when we refuse to listen to what God wants for Himself, and for us!
posted by FrPitstick | 8/22/2007
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