Today's Scripture Reading (January 26, 2022): Deuteronomy 25
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is a little
obscure, and many would find it a weird choice. You might
have read it and overlooked it just as quickly. It is the last statement in the
story of Jonah.
And should I not have
concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a
hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their
left—and also many animals" (Jonah 4:11).
One
of the first verses that we learned as children starts with the words "God
so loved the world" (John 3:16). And yet some Christians often act as if
that is not true. God does not love the world; he just loves the ones who we
love. Or, maybe, he loves the ones who believe as we do. Within the association
of churches in which I belong, there is an argument happening between two
factions over what has become one of the hot topics of our society. But more
important than the reason for the disagreement is our inability to love past
the hot topic. We need to be able to say, I disagree with you, but I love you
anyway, and I am proud that in the middle of our disagreement, we can find
ourselves at the table and share together the bread and the wine.
What
if John was right and God really does love the world. He loves us, he loves
those on our side of the fissure of beliefs, but he loves those on the other
side as well. One of my core beliefs about the universal Christian Church is
that we need to be able to disagree and yet still be one in the body with
Christ. Instead, we often accuse people who do not believe as we do of not
being "Christian." And that is beneath us.
In
the story of Jonah, this was the essential struggle of the Prophet's story. He
knew that God loved Israel. His battle was that God could also love those who
lived in Nineveh. Surely, God had made a mistake. He couldn't love the
Assyrians of Nineveh. They were the enemy and existed on the other side of the
fissure of belief.
But what
draws my attention is that the author of Jonah doesn't end the story with God
loving the people of Nineveh. He adds the phrase "and also many animals."
Apparently, when John said that God loved the world, it wasn't just the people
of the world that he had in mind. God loved the animals of the creation as
well. And if God loves the cows of this world, why is it so hard to imagine
that he loves the ones that we disagree with as well.
The
value of animals is ingrained in the law. The humane treatment of animals is
the least we can do for a God who loves all of His creation. The general
example is the condition of an ox treading the grain. In ancient times, the
husk would be separated from the grain by having an ox walk in a circle on top of
the grain; the ox would "tread the grain." But the human reaction was
to muzzle the ox so that the animal would not eat some of the grain while it
worked. But the law considered "muzzling the ox" inhumane treatment
of an animal that God loved. To surround it with food and not let it eat was
simply wrong. The animal deserved better.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 26
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