Has The Way Of The Most High Changed? Series

Saturday of the Second Week in Lent 2023

Every four weeks, those of us who pray the Church’s official morning prayer encounter Psalm 77, which is a lament by a temple Levite. Things are not going well for Israel, in this man’s view, and after reviewing all the awful things that have been happening, he makes what he considers a logical conclusion: “the way of the Most High has changed.” In other words, for one reason or another–probably the unfaithfulness of God’s people–He has changed His mind and no longer does good things for them. And I suspect that almost everyone reading or listening to my words today has had the same feeling of betrayal by God that this man did three thousand years ago, at some point in our lives. “God’s way has changed; now He’s going to take it all out on me.” Or on all of us.

The critical mistake the Levite makes, and that we can make frequently, is to make conclusions about God from our personal feelings about how things are going, and why they are going that way. Consider the young man in our Gospel, the wastrel who takes advantage of Daddy’s good nature and spends so much that when he runs out of Dad’s assets, the whole country is thrown into a recession and he winds up eating garbage not even fit for pigs. He feels so bad that he plans to go back to Daddy and beg to be a slave, at least eating well for the rest of Dad’s life. He does the right thing–repent–for a selfish reason. It’s not even clear to the reader that he repents of wasting all that wealth. But what then happens?

His Dad runs to him when he sees him coming home. He probably has to run interference with the village elders, who see the boy’s bad example and want to punish him for messing up many lives. He embraces the lad and doesn’t even let him get out his whole repentance speech. He throws a party, and even acts to bring the ungrateful elder brother–who now is the only remaining heir–to come in and celebrate.

This is the human example of the true God. We’ve heard recently Jesus tell us to forgive each other because the Father makes the sunlight and rain fall on the good and the unrighteous alike. God loves us. He wants to shed His grace–His very divine life–on every human being. But we too often yield to our human passions and make emotion-driven decisions that keep that grace from filling our hearts and lives. The prophet Micah tells us of that loving action of Our Father, “pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance.” He knows that God’s perceived anger is simply what automatically happens when we put our desires for pleasure, honor and power in the way of His grace. God “delights in steadfast love.” That’s why this Lent we need to identify which characteristic passion is wrecking our spiritual lives, and work with the grace available to us to turn that vice into virtue.