God's Will in Evil

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 -- Week of Proper 6, Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 970)
Psalms 119:97-120 (morning) 81-82 (evening)
1 Samuel 2:12-26
Acts 2:1-21
Luke 20:27-40

In the narrative from 1 Samuel we meet the bad sons of the priest Eli. We read about their blasphemous and outrageous behavior -- taking the portions of the sacrifice that were reserved to God, threatening the righteous, lying with the women serving the shrine. When Eli speaks to them to correct their behavior, the text says, "But they would not listen to the voice of their father; for it was the will of the Lord to kill them."

We hear echoes of the Exodus story here. Pharaoh has been wicked, sinning against God and God's people. Moses speaks to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh will not hear. The narrative says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he could not listen.

In some of our Biblical stories, it appears that God is active on both sides of the moral line. God works to bring about justice, but it seems that God is also active within the hardness of heart of the Pharaoh and the dissolute behavior of Eli's sons.

Part of what we say about the story of the cross is that God embraces all of our evil and violence into God's own being and brings about resurrection. God is present even in the hardness of heart and wicked behavior, letting it be somehow with God's will, and then using that evil as part of what God intends for liberation and blessing.

The English Methodist Leslie Weatherhead wrote a little book called "The Will of God" during the evil days of World War II. He spoke of God's will in three ways. The Intentional Will of God is God's intention for all creation, that humans obey God's law of love and live lives that are just and right. That is God's original intention for us, and if we lived by God's intention, we would be brought into God's kingdom. The Conditional Will of God is God's will for us under our broken and fallen circumstances. Given our selfishness, violence and evil, the Conditional Will of God bids us act faithfully under those conditions. Ultimately God will accomplish God's Ultimate Will that all may be brought into God's kingdom where love and justice reigns.

In Weatherhead's terms, it was God's Intentional Will that humanity listen to Jesus so that the kingdom of God would reign. But under the circumstances of our rejection of Jesus, it was God's Conditional Will that Jesus remain faithful even though it meant his crucifixion. Through the resurrection God is ultimately accomplishing God's original intention that all creation be brought into God's kingdom.

It's easy to get that same sense when we see God working for good in the midst of the wicked activities of many of the Biblical characters. One of the ways the authors express that is to say that God was underneath even the hard and evil hearts, using their wickedness to promote God's intention for good.
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The ancient story of the Tower of Babel tells of the division of humanity in a confusion of languages caused by the pride of our trying to build a tower to heaven. Filled with God's Holy Spirit, the disciples speak in many languages and faithful Jewish visitors from all over the earth understand their speech. Question: Is computer technology, which promises one day to overcome language barriers and allow us to speak to one another almost instantly over the Internet, another Tower of Babel or a continuation of the miracle of Pentecost?

Before answering, notice how creative Jesus' answer to the Sadducees was. They were linear and literal in their thought, using traditional Scriptural frames for their questions. Jesus' answer is out of he box.

Lowell