5 June 2013 - hear now

5 June 2013 - hear now

Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?

We can avoid error by heeding the words of Jesus.  We need to make his word our home.  We need it to dwell in us richly as we admonish one another (cf. Col 3:16).  We need to know the power of God in the institutional and charismatic aspects of the Church.  This power and wisdom is living and active (cf. Heb 4:12).  It thereby prevents us from twisting the message to suit ourselves.  Dead static truths do not do this.  This is why we see the Sadducees twisting their knowledge of the law to their own ends.  They are blinded from the great hope of resurrection by this dead knowledge and static understanding.

He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled.”

God speaks now in his word.  It was not simply at one time and place that he said:

I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 
and the God of Jacob

To hear the word of God as living and active is to hear God speak his words to us even right now at this very moment.  This keeps us from the errors of pride and renews us in the hope of the resurrection.

It is a living trust in God that enables Sarah and Tobit to persevere in their circumstances until they experience the full healing power of God.

At that very time, 
the prayer of these two suppliants
was heard in the glorious presence of Almighty God.

They are saved in spite of abandoning all hope in themselves and the world.  Platitude and legalism do not save.  Only surrendering everything to the living God allows them to persevere amidst trials so difficult.  They all but abandon life.  They do abandon their own terms and efforts.  They can't even cling to their own static understanding of Scripture.  They must let God speak to them anew in the very heart of their suffering.  It is as though the solution doesn't exist yet in this fallen world but comes into being as the word of the LORD is heard in power.  This word ultimately triumphs over the circumstances they face.

So Raphael was sent to heal them both:
to remove the cataracts from Tobit’s eyes,
so that he might again see God’s sunlight;
and to marry Raguel’s daughter Sarah to Tobit’s son Tobiah,
and then drive the wicked demon Asmodeus from her.

The word of the LORD is trustworthy.  It never changes.  But our understanding of it always admits improvement.  And it is never through our own effort that this is achieved.  We must be open in every moment to the guidance he longs to give us.

Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
he teaches the humble his way.