Time to Pay Attention

Judges 13:1-15
Wouldn’t life be so much easier if we had detailed instructions about how to act and what to do? Certainly we have scripture, the word of God, and it is central to what God’s people are to be about. But honestly, sometimes we can get tied up in knots trying to figure out what exactly it is that the Bible is telling us. (One easy example is the debate about exactly how to baptize believers.) Why can’t we have a handy, pocket-sized flow chart to carry with us and use to answer any questions that come up? That’s what Manoah, the future father of Samson, seems to want. When his wife tells him that they will have a son he spends the rest of the passage worrying about what exactly they wife are supposed to do with the child. We can almost sense his panic in verse 8 where we read how he “entreated the Lord, and said, ‘O Lord, I pray, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we are to do concerning the boy who will be born.’” When the messenger does return he says, in short, “relax Dude. Your wife knows what to do.” No instruction book, just a surprising promise from God that events will unfold and that things are going to change. Manoah might fret and worry, but God was going to act anyway.

Acts 5:27-42
Talk about your surprises. According to our reading from Acts the high priest had the apostles arrested for teaching in the temple. But it wasn’t long before they were able to walk right out of jail and go back to sharing the good news. A funny scene follows the next morning when the apostles are discovered to be in the temple instead of under lock and key. What should the religious leaders do with these people? Should they be tolerated? Are they telling the truth? Or are they to be silenced for spreading blasphemy? I’m sure the high priest and his supporters would have appreciated a memo from God telling them exactly what was going on. Instead Gamaliel, “a teacher of the law, respected by all the people” (v. 34) addresses the council with the advice to let the apostles alone. If what they are saying is false then in time they will disappear. But if what they are saying is true, then the council might find itself in the embarrassing position of opposing God (vv. 38-39). Again, no instruction book, just a surprising promise from God that events have unfolded and will continue to do so, events that are going to change everything. Like Manoah before them, the Saducees, the high priest, and the council might fret and worry, but God was acting and it was time to pay attention. We, too, may fret and worry and wish for detailed instructions, but God is at work in our world today and one of our important tasks is to live in faithful obedience and to let God be God.

Several years ago I wrote a hymn text based on the Magnifecat in Luke 1:46-55. One of the verses, intended to place Mary’s Song into our own time, reads:

God is at work in our lives even now,
Called by Christ Jesus we take up the trowel,
Weapons of war we will beat into plows.
God is at work in our lives even now.

Prayer: God of surprises, we sometimes get wrapped up in our desire to know what is going on. We worry and fret about what it means to be your people. And when we do we can miss the opportunity to share in the work of your coming reign. Help us to trust you and to go where you lead us instead of stewing over the details. In Jesus’ name. Amen.