Monday, January 30, 2023

 

Monday, January 30, 2023


Psalm 72

Genesis 18:22-19:11

Luke 2:1-7


Observance: Charles, king of England (d. 1649)


“This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge!”


Today’s and tomorrow’s readings from Genesis record one of those really dark moments of human history. It is a scene we would rather not read about; it certainly rarely comes up on a Sunday morning service. The story of Lot, his family, and the residents of and visitors to Sodom has, in modern times, been pulled apart and re-interpreted to try and say all sorts of things in order to lessen the full weight of the reality of what happened that fateful night.


Let us not be deceived: the men of the city were trying to rape the male visitors, and this is the evil which caused such a great outcry that it brought God out of heaven to sort out.


There is much we can talk about in this story: the fact that Lot sat in the city gates, and so knew what the city was like, which was why he was so eager to get the men safely into his home. Or about how when Lot was facing the crowd, he was so stressed and eager to play for time he offered his daughters to them, knowing that women was not what these men wanted.


But what is perhaps most relevant to us, as pilgrims reading about this event several thousand years after the fact, is the dialogue between Lot, described as “righteous”, and the crowd, who we learn are “wicked”.


In what universe would someone who is enjoying their wicked acts be convinced to stop them by being told that they are wicked? We have a one-to-one example in our society today. Think of those Christians who stuck out their neck and pointed out the fact that the Bible teaches that sodomy is evil. What was the response? “Who are you to judge?”


To bring it closer to home, what about our own response to the Holy Spirit when He convicts us of our sin, whatever it may be? Do we stiffen our necks, refuse the easy yoke of Christ, and instead bounce away from our Master as goats onto the rocks? Or do we lower our heads, admit our fault, and ask to be transformed from a sinner into a saint?


The Lord Jesus desires that radical transformation in all of us. He knows how stubborn we can be, and He knows what the punishment for wickedness is. This is why He condescended to human flesh; to a baby formed in the womb, born in a feeding trough. The King of today’s Psalm, whose dominion is from sea to sea, wrought the miracle of the incarnation so that our eyes could be opened and our spirits inclined to holiness, goodness, righteousness, and love. He has the power of life and death; to change the heart of a human being is Him using that power for good, out of the depths of His love for us.

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