Scripture: Hebrews 4:12-16. Psalm 19:8-10,15. Mark 2:13-17 Yesterday, Burt,
a friend of mine who has the same nickname but spells it with a u reminded
me that Psalm 95 belongs to the Jewish community as an inspired Psalm and
that what I as a Christian read from and into it is primarily a part of the
Jewish heritage. I loved his response and realize that we can pray together
to the same Creator, our loving God. Thanks, Burt! All of us who are
believers know that God sees through us with a persistent and penetrating
look. No one can escape this and it is through our awareness and our
conscience that we realize we have a loving Creator. Our selection from
Hebrews is about the word of God which is just as sharp and penetrating as
the look of God. It is effective, cuts through even the marrow of our bones
and right through the mind, spirit and soul. We cannot escape that type of
a love-glance. And like it or not we are quite fortunate that this is the
way we were created. St. Augustine's famous saying comes to mind, "Our
hearts were made for you , O God, and they will not rest till they rest in
You." Than strikes a cord with the "rest" theme that was present in Psalm
95 and was key to the interpretation of Hebrews the day before yesterday.
Recently, I have read a poem by Francis Thompson called the "Hound of
Heaven". God, so to speak, hounds us, follows us, stalks us until we
realize we cannot run away from God's love. We then can listen and follow
the advice of our writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews:"So let us
confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and favor and to
find help in time of need." Then as we turn to the pericope (short passage)
from Mark for today, we see that a person named Levi becomes aware of the
call of God through Jesus. He leaves his lucrative tax-collecting and has a
banquet for Jesus at which other marginal people are present. The "Hound of
Heaven" is at work again. Levi then discovers his true identity and
probably is one of the greatest proclaimers of the Good News about Jesus.
It seems he is the apostle Matthew in Luke's Gospel (see Luke 5:27,29). I
imagine he belonged to the tribe that served in the Temple or the
priesthood of Israel. As we glance behind ourselves today maybe we will see
or feel the presence of the Hound of Heaven. Amen.