Excerpt from Exodus 24: 4 – 11
 
"And upon the nobles of the children of Israel God did not lay a hand." (KJV)

Reflection by Donna Schaper

It never ceases to amaze me how people search for fault as though it were important.  I got hit by a drunk driver once, head on.  My first thought was, what did I do wrong?  When I go to the vet, I assume the vet is judging my animal care.  And I could go on about the ways I place myself at the center of dramas that never cast me.

When I read a text like this one, I imagine that God must be the opposite of the way I am: one who lays a hand on everything as though it were her own, or as though she could control matters, even if the only control is negative and self-blaming. 

A text like this one tells me that God is magnificent.  Why did God not lay a hand on the nobles of Israel?  God wanted some enormous freedom to prevail for humanity and chose not to intervene.  The God of lightning bolts doesn't exist!  Instead the God of restraint is the one we may come to know.

I could have made a stupid driving mistake that day but I did not.  Did God lay a hand on the other driver?  No, but the state locked him up for seven years for his third DWI.  God shows restraint precisely to activate our moral judgments.  That God refuses to control us does not mean that we don’t exercise authority, accountability, even punishments.  l am responsible for the way I care for my pets.  The vet herself has probably internalized as much blame as I have, which is why she throws it around with such ungodly generosity.  I wonder what would happen if we stopped asking about whose fault it is and started asking about the magnificence of God’s refusal to fault?

Prayer

Change us, generous God, and show us how to lay our hands on each other with love, a love that includes and transcends judgment.  Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press. Check out her work at www.judson.org.

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