The Daily: Wednesday June 5, 2024

Daily Lectionary Reading: Psalm 99 (NRSV, The Message); 1 Samuel 2:22-36 (NRSV, The Message); John 5:1-18 (NRSV, The Message)

Why then look with greedy eye at my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded, and honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’
1 Samuel 2:29 (NRSV)

This passage from 1 Samuel 2 is challenging. It invites us to consider what we understand about how God deals with sin. The implication of the passage is that God punishes those whose sin is great - in this case killing Eli's sons Hophni and Phinehas. I am not at all convinced that Cosmic Source micromanages to that level.

However, there is an idea, a prinicipal that caught my attention here. In verse 29, the holy man that comes to Eli implicates Eli in the sin of his sons by implying that he has benefitted from their wrong doing - "...and you honor your sonse more than me by fattening yourselves..." An important reminder to me to be conscious of my participation in, and benefit from, systems of evil that exploit others.