Facing God's Wrath

These days we don’t like the image of a wrathful God—and with some reason. The wrath of God has been called down by the people of God on all sorts of people who very likely didn’t deserve it. But if we ignore the God who is angry in the scriptures, we miss a lot of the story. Yet, we must be very careful when we interpret this imagery.

God’s anger is not directed against the stranger. God’s call to the people of God is to provide hospitality to the stranger. God’s anger is not directed towards the people with whom we feel uncomfortable, for they are strangers too.
Rather, God’s anger is directed at the people who should know better—the very people of God; and it is directed at the people of God when we turn away from God’s call to hospitality, and God’s offer of hospitality.

In the scriptures, God is depicted as being angry when the people of God turn away from God; and when the justice of God is transgressed by ill-treatment of those in need—those without the necessary social support required for survival and for thriving. In the scriptures, the classic picture of such people is often given in terms of “the widow, the orphan, and the stranger”.

In our readings for today, we have 2 interesting pictures of God’s judgement. In Jeremiah, God is lamenting a people who left the God who loves them behind:

Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:12-13)

And in the Gospel reading, Jesus warns about thinking too highly of ourselves and too little of others:

For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (Luke 14: 11)

To be sure, God is always merciful, but like a good parent, mercy is not given without direction and boundaries. God loves us; and we know it. Therefore we have a responsibility to the people who need God most.