Saturday, February 5, 2022
Roots and Branches
Destruction is a familiar theme in the Old Testament; restoration is a theme in the New. We seem always to be looking for the phoenix life – one in which our past is obliterated when we rise from the ashes of our former selves. In today’s Noontime the wicked will be like ashes under the feet of the righteous. This place which Malachi describes does not appear to offer resurrection; evidently there are actions from which there is no turning back. The New Testament Jesus calls all of us – even those who seem to be lost in total perdition. In today’s reading we hear that neither root nor branch will survive the coming fire. There will be no source of renewal and no bearing of fruit for some. We might wonder who these wicked are . . . and why they deserve this end.
This prophecy was written after the restoration and re-dedication of the Temple by Ezra and Nehemiah. Evidently the people had not learned much from their suffering in exile. These people sound a good deal like us. “Unlike such early prophecies as Amos and Hosea, the late prophetic book of Malachi is not simply the voice of the observant masses against a corrupt priesthood, though it readily indicts the priesthood for its failures. It identifies itself with Levitical priestly circles and believes deeply in the temple, true worship, and the payment of tithes as means for obtaining the blessing of the land”. (Mays 1428-1429) Malachi saw the corruption and witnessed truth to the power structure. Clearly, he was ignored. The Temple fell to final ruin in the Roman-Jewish conflict around the year 70 C.E. We might wonder how history would have resulted differently if the temple hierarchy had acted positively in response to this prophecy. We might wonder if we are like the temple priests whom Malachi describes to us today.
Psalm 119, sometimes entitled The Glories of God’s Law, is a long one but we cannot let it discourage us from exploring its verses. One weekend several years ago I used it for a self-imposed three-day retreat on my porch at home. Every few hours I went to the corner settee to sit awhile and look at the beauty of nature before me, and then I read and reflected on a portion of this Psalm. I interspersed this with yoga, reflective music, and reading Thomas Merton, Teresa of Ávila, Catherine of Siena, and Henri Nouwen. By the end of the weekend, after immersing myself in God’s Law, I had come to better understand an obstacle in my path. By the end of that weekend I had learned how to rise from ashes so that I might not be trampled underfoot. By the end of the weekend I had learned again how to put down roots . . . and how to lift up branches in order to bear fruit out of suffering.
Mays, James L., ed. HARPERCOLLINS BIBLE COMMENTARY. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988. 1428-1429. Print.
Adapted from a Favorite written on May 9, 2011.
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