Today’s Scripture Reading (November
28, 2012): 1 Samuel 6
There is a
line in “A Christmas Carol” spoken by Ebenezer Scrooge. The words are spoken
late in the story as Scrooge grapples with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
Scrooge is already seeing the error of his ways. He is frustrated by the
silence of the Ghost and he is frustrated by what he is coming to understand as
the hopelessness of his situation. So he cries out. “The
path that men follow will lead to certain ends, I understand that! But isn’t it
also true that if a man could change his path the result would also be
different?” For Scrooge, it is moment of revelation. Up until
now this is not something that Scrooge has understood. Something inside of Ebenezer
has changed.
Part of the reason why Charles Dickens Christmas story
touches us is because we know the characters intimately, and that especially
applies to Ebenezer Scrooge. We are Ebenezer. At the end of the story, Scrooge
may cry out that the Spirit of Christmas – past, present and future – live
inside of him, but our truth is that Ebenezer Scrooge lives inside of each of
us. And that means that most of us need to find the same revelation that Ebenezer
found. We need to understand that the path that men follow will lead to certain
ends. But more than that, we need to take responsibility for the path that we
are taking. We need to understand that walking down a path and then denying
that we were ever on it will not move us to a better end. And yet, most of us
live as if the denial had the ability of changing the result.
The men of Beth Shemesh seem amazed to find themselves
in the trouble that they are in. And maybe they simply did not know, had never
been taught, the proper respect that the Ark of the Covenant demanded. But
ignorance has never been an excuse. If they did not know, they should have
known. But they were also right. God is holy; he is set apart and wholly
different from us. And because he is holy, he needs to be treated with respect
– and even fear. It was that respect that the men from Beth Shemesh had
violated when they pried open the Ark of the Covenant to soothe their idle curiosity.
But what is missing from the story is an admission that they had sinned, that
the penalty had fallen on them because of the path that they had taken.
The men of Beth Shemesh found themselves in a place
that every person has to travel through.
It is a chance for us to be like Scrooge and admit that the path that we are
walking will carry us to a certain end, or to deny the path and keep on walking
into destruction. Those at Beth Shemesh chose to deny, but it might not have
been the right choice, because no change could result from their denial. Maybe
what they really needed
was a visit by a certain trio of ghosts.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1
Samuel 7
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