Thoughts for the Day

Then the righteous will stand with great confidence
in the presence of those who have oppressed them
and those who make light of their labours.
When the unrighteous see them, they will be shaken with dreadful fear,
and they will be amazed at the unexpected salvation of the righteous.
They will speak to one another in repentance,
and in anguish of spirit they will groan, and say,
‘These are persons whom we once held in derision
and made a byword of reproach—fools that we were!
We thought that their lives were madness
and that their end was without honour.
Why have they been numbered among the children of God?
And why is their lot among the saints?
So it was we who strayed from the way of truth,
and the light of righteousness did not shine on us,
and the sun did not rise upon us.
We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction,
and we journeyed through trackless deserts,
but the way of the Lord we have not known.
What has our arrogance profited us?
And what good has our boasted wealth brought us?

‘All those things have vanished like a shadow,
and like a rumour that passes by;
like a ship that sails through the billowy water,
and when it has passed no trace can be found,
no track of its keel in the waves;
or as, when a bird flies through the air,
no evidence of its passage is found;
the light air, lashed by the beat of its pinions
and pierced by the force of its rushing flight,
is traversed by the movement of its wings,
and afterwards no sign of its coming is found there;
or as, when an arrow is shot at a target,
the air, thus divided, comes together at once,
so that no one knows its pathway.
So we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be,
and we had no sign of virtue to show,
but were consumed in our wickedness.’
Because the hope of the ungodly is like thistledown carried by the wind,
and like a light frost driven away by a storm;
it is dispersed like smoke before the wind,
and it passes like the remembrance of a guest who stays but a day.

The Reward of the Righteous

But the righteous live for ever,
and their reward is with the Lord;
the Most High takes care of them.
Therefore they will receive a glorious crown
and a beautiful diadem from the hand of the Lord,
because with his right hand he will cover them,
and with his arm he will shield them.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Our Lectionary today gives us the choice to read from the Apocrypha, that group of documents that appear in many Bibles between the Old and New Testaments. The book of Wisdom was possibly written by a Jewish scholar living in Alexandria, Egypt, during the 1st century BCE. He seeks to explain the Hebrew scriptures to the Greek world. In Chapter 5 he reflects on the fate of the righteous and unrighteous, and we surely immediately think of Jesus' account in Matthew's Gospel of the Judgement of the Nations (Matthew 25.31-46) when the sheep (the righteous) are separated from the goats (the unrighteous).

I have put the whole of the first sixteen verses of Chapter 5 above, to remind us all that the choices we make in this life have eternal consequences. The unrighteous are amazed at seeing those they despised now restored to glory among the saints, whereas they who lived a good life on earth now have nothing to show for it. Their pride, their arrogance and their wealth have brought them torment and disgrace. Look at the wonderful images that indicate their passing - like a ship, a bird, and an arrow - all leave no sign of their existence when they have passed by.

But for the righteous, those who lived a life of trust in God's promises, those who endeavoured to live a life of faith and obedience on their Christian journey, despite the trials and tribulations of this world, there is hope that God's Kingdom of love will ultimately prevail.

Heavenly Father,
teach us to humbly follow Your way
rather than the way of the world;
to lay aside pride and arrogance;
and to live a life of faith and obedience
as Your children,
while praying for the coming of Your Kingdom
of peace and love to be fulfilled.
Amen.