Piety
Jesus, give us the disposition of Hezekiah. When he faced his trial, he knew just where to turn.
Help us to turn toward you and turn over our life to you at least one day out of every seven. Give to us the mercy that that leads us to a closer relationship with you on the Sabbath and all the time. Yours is the life of our spirit. You have given us health and life. Now, let us take up the yoke you modeled and spread your mercy to all in the world – saints and sinners, murderers and prisoners alike. Amen.
Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/072106.shtml
“I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you.” Isaiah 38:5
“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Matthew 12:7
Jesus is the Supreme Authority. He is the way the truth and the light. He is the Sabbath. The law is subjected to Jesus.
So how do we flaunt the law? Let me count the ways.
Consider the cry, “I just don’t have enough time.” So we stay home on Sunday and don’t go to the office. This way, we have time to go to the golf course where we expect caddies and bartenders and waitresses and golf pros, and greens keepers and grounds crew and more and more to work to serve us on our day of rest.
We head to Church on Sunday and then rush out of the parking lot to beat the crowd to Sunday Brunch at our local restaurant. After we are fed, we head over to the Mall expecting clerks and cashiers and salespeople and assistant managers and the Starbucks counter to be open to meet our needs.
“The practice of Sabbath keeping may be a gift just waiting to be unwrapped, a confirmation that we are not without help in shaping the renewing ways of life for which we long. This practice stands at the heart of Judaism, but it is also available to Christians, in different form. For many of us, receiving this gift will require first discarding our image of Sabbath as a time of negative rules and restrictions, as a day of obligation (for Catholics) or a day without play (in memories of strict Protestant childhoods). Relocating our understanding of this day in the biblical stories of creation, exodus and resurrection will be essential if we are to discover the gifts it offers.”[1]
Action
There was no mercy for Lisa Alexander Crider. Brandon W. Hedrick was convicted of abducting, sexually assaulting and killing her on May 11, 1997. Ms. Crider was shot in her face with a shotgun on the banks of the James River in Appomattox County and her body was dumped in the water.
There was no mercy for Brandon W. Hedrick last night. As Virginians and Americans watched reruns of Grey’s Anatomy or The Supernatural, Hedrick was killed when the executioner flipped a switch sending 1,800-volts of electricity through his body.
How ironic that on The Supernatural, while battling a demon, Dean was electrocuted, resulting in permanent damage to his heart and leaving him with only a couple of months to live. Brandon Hedrick was not so lucky. He lived less than 10 minutes after the first jolt hit him at 9:02 p.m. last night in Virginia's electric chair, nine years after he raped and fatally shot Lisa, who was a 23-year-old woman in living in Lynchburg.
Hedrick, 27, was pronounced dead at 9:12 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, said Larry Traylor, a Department of Corrections spokesman.
There was no mercy FROM Governor Tim Kaine last night. For the second time in his term, Governor Kaine was a politician of inaction even though he could choose to commute the sentence to life in prison without parole protecting society and let Brandon live a life in prison protecting us from having another Lisa Alexander Crider killed by him. Except the killing goes on.
There was no mercy on March 11 for Abier Kassim Hamzah Rashid al Janabi and her family. They are among the estimated 40,000 noncombatants killed or murdered during the war on terror in Iraq.
There was no mercy for William Green on May 24. That night, Fairfax County police, responding to a report of an assault, found a man with several stab wounds to his upper body. William Green, 34, of Reston, was pronounced dead a short time later at Inova Fairfax Hospital. A 24-year-old man of no fixed address was arrested.
There was no mercy of Ahmed Parvez on June 11, 2006. That night, the death penalty continued to fail to deter violent crime in Fairfax County. Just ask Mr. Parvez’ survivors. Responding to a report of gunshots, police found the cab driver lying next to his car. Mr. Parvez had been shot in the upper body.
None of them – except the murdering Mr. Hedrick -- had time to put their house in order like Hezekiah did. How faithfully and wholeheartedly have we conducted ourselves in the Lord’s presence? Have we practiced Sabbath justice? Have we acted well enough to get 15 years added to our lives?
[1] Bass, Dorothy C. “Keeping Sabbath: Reviving a Christian Practice.” http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=318
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