The texts for today seem to be all over the map. In Psalms, we read this:
"The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me, " (Psalm 7:8).
In Esther, we read of Moredcai's unwillingness to bow to Haman. Read a little further, we read one of the Bible "greats" in terms of lines: "Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this," (Esther 3:14b).
And in 2 Timothy, "1 The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful-- for he cannot deny himself."
Regarding the Psalm, I cannot help but wonder if, when the Psalmist calls for his own judgment, he knows for what he calls. Perhaps this is my own knowledge that my righteousness and integrity are not enough to escape judgment. Perhaps it is my fear of punishment... or perhaps it is because, for me, this is only part of the story.
In his commentary on Galatians 3:1, Luther states: "And in His place they erect a beautiful bewitchment, by which men are so demented that they do not acknowledge Christ as the Justifier, Propitiator, and Savior, but think of Him as a minister of sin, an accuser, a judge, and a condemner, who must be placated by our works and merits," (LW 26:200). Perhaps my discomfort with the Psalmist's words is that, once God - in Christ - has been experienced as Justifier, Propitiator, and Savior, it is difficult to accept any other image, any other picture, for fear that any other image of Christ would take away what he accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection.
2 Timothy, I think, illustrates the tension here: verse 12b and 13 seem to contradict each other. "If we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself." These verses have been set up in pairs of opposites: death/life, endure/reign, faithless/faithful. Deny/deny does not seem to fit with this. Now, I am not arguing that it is not possible to deny Christ and that "anything goes" as a result. It seems it has been set up for us to read verse 12b and think, "This doesn't fit." If Christ cannot be unfaithful in response to the unfaithful because he would therein deny himself, how can he deny his own when they deny him? Is that not a similar denial of self for Christ?
I wonder if denial is self-imposed. In denial of who we are (that is, Christ's), we curve in upon ourselves, seeking salvation through our own righteousness, our own abilities to heal ourselves, leaving no room for Christ, his righteousness, his abilities, and his salvation. If we but only grasp the hem of Christ's garment, we will be healed. It seems too simple, and the free gift seems too cheap. Perhaps this is the point: the free gift subverts our notions of our own righteousness, subverts our notions of judgment and power, and straightens those curved in upon themselves, bringing them forth into a new dawn.
"Perhaps we have come to royal dignity for such a time as this," that we would be called Children of God.
(It's really bad splicing, which typically makes me snarl in opposition, but I cannot resist the quote!)
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