2 Maccabees 9: Giving Up & Giving In
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
We might eliminate a good deal of treachery and betrayal from our lives if we first find a way of doing all things through, and for, and with God alone . . . for God alone guarantees an honorable path for living. God alone assures us a life spent in eternal serenity. God alone makes promises that are fully and truly kept.
These are the closing words from Saturday’s Noontime when we reflected on Chapter 8 of 2 Maccabees. Today we look at The Punishment and Death of Antiochus: the stories of Antiochus’ illness and death. Verses 8 – 11: Thus, he who previously, in his superhuman presumption, thought he could command the waves of the sea, and imagined he could weigh the mountaintops in his scales, was now thrown to the ground and had to be carried on a litter, clearly manifesting to all the power of God . . . Shortly before, he had thought that he could reach the stars of heaven, and now, no one could endure to transport the man because of his intolerable stench. At last, broken in spirit, he began to give up his excessive arrogance, and to gain some understanding, under the scourge of God, for he was racked with pain unceasingly.
After suffering the torment of his pain, he capitulates to the will of God. He vows to restore all that he has ruined, and even vows that he will convert to Judaism. This is a story of a fearsome ruler who surrenders to an even more fearsome Old Testament Yahweh, a God who is relentless in delivering justice. The story ends sadly, with Yahweh apparently deaf to this sinner’s petitions for mercy. So this murderer and blasphemer, after extreme sufferings, such as he had inflicted on others, died a miserable death in the mountains of a foreign land.
We have no way on knowing how this man is ultimately judged by his maker. In the context of the times he was seen as one who sinned so greatly that he became a lost soul, succumbing to the temptation of sin. This is a man who would have done well by listening to the words of Psalm 36: Sin speaks to the sinner in the depths of the heart. There is no fear of God before his eyes. He so flatters himself in his mind that he knows not his guilt. In his mouth are mischief and deceit. All wisdom is gone. He plots the defeat of goodness as he lies on his bed. He has set his foot on evil ways, he clings to what is evil.
The psalmist does not try to solve the riddle of evil into which souls enter when they begin to love lies and deception; nor may we for these are the inscrutable ways of Yahweh. Instead, we might look at this man and ourselves with New Testament eyes, and we might continue with Psalm 36 as we sing to God: To both man and beast you give protection. O Lord, how precious is your love. My God, the sons of men find refuge in the shelter of your wings. They feast on the riches of your house; they drink from the stream of your delight. In you is the source of life and in your light we see light.
Superhuman presumption, excessive arrogance . . . a broken spirit, a believer in love. Nicanor and Antiochus . . . Paul and Abraham. Those who trust only power and self . . . those who trust only God.
Even if – and perhaps especially when – the path directly before us is shrouded in mystery, we are given a clear direction by the source of all life itself so that we might orient our journey. When we suffer from a broken spirit, we will want to see this sorrow as what it is . . . a giving up of presumption and arrogance . . . and a giving in to goodness and light.
For an interesting post about journeying, click on the image above or go to: http://journeyintomidlife.com/contact.htm
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