Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin
People often ask me why God seems not to speak quite so clearly to us as he did to people in past times.
What I think we often forget, however, is that what we read in the Bible is the edited version of a long, long line of human relationships with God. Take today's first reading (1 Kings 11:29-32; 12:19). This story tells us about how the nation of Israel, which had been united under two kings (David and Solomon), will now become divided into two kingdoms. Ten tribes of Israel will become the Northern Kingdom, under Jeroboam. The remaining two tribes will become the Southern Kingdom under Rehoboam, King Solomon's son. The Southern Kingdom emerges as the "good guy" in this passage. This is because the Northern Kingdom's Jeroboam is not from the Davidic line, which is a problem because God had promised that David's kingship would be everlasting, and so the Northern Kingdom seems to be disbelieving God's promise. Even worse, from the point of view of the Southern Kingdom, Jeroboam comes from Egypt, where the Israelites had been enslaved. The language of today's passage highlights how poorly the author thinks of the Northern Kingdom when he writes: "Israel went into rebellion against David's house."
All that I have said so far sets the context of the first passage, which is important for understanding particularly the character of the prophet Ahijah in this story. Ahijah here says he has the word of God for the "wrong" king, the man who will be the Northern king. Now: is it truly God's word and God's will that the nation of Israel should be divided? Is it truly God's word and will that a non-Davidic king should rule? Does God appear, here, to be manipulating humans to do the wrong thing? If you read on beyond today's passage, you can see that Ahijah thinks that God is even at work in the division of the kingdom, because he talks about God using this instance to humble the Israelites.
So on the one hand, the author of this passage thinks the Northern Kingdom is rebellious and even evil (you can see this especially in later chapters and in the next book). But on the other hand, the author of this passage sees that the split into a Northern and Southern Kingdom will be humbling, a good thing for following God.
Which is it? Is it a good thing or an evil thing? I would venture to say that it is both, because whenever God speaks a word to us, it will always come across as complex and difficult and impossibly both, precisely because we are not God. Even God's prophets in the Old Testament get things wrong, and there are numerous passages where kings question whether their prophets REALLY have God right. So, though Ahijah seems so sure of himself initially, I'm not sure that he's any more certain than we would be today, if we heard God's voice.
Which brings me to the second passage (Mark 7:31-37): Jesus heals a deaf man who is speech-impaired. He couldn't have spoken a word from the Lord if he tried, until Jesus came, and then the deaf man proclaims it to all who will listen. We might be curious about why Jesus tells the man not to tell anyone: could it be that as with the first passage, words from God are complex and difficult? As all of us know, following Jesus does not automatically make our lives easy; keeping silent would be the infinitely easier move. And yet, this healed man cannot help himself because for once in his life, he is sure of something. God has healed him, and so he can speak a word about God! Most of his life has been about uncertainty, but this one shining moment in this man's life makes into the gospel because it is a testimony to who God is.
As I reflect on Saint Scholastica today, I am reminded that the most famous stories we have for her are likewise the moments when she is most able to speak to God. The most well-known story happened a few days before her death, when she went to meet her brother Benedict at a house nearby to her monastery. They only met once a year, and they enjoyed speaking to each other about spiritual things and praying with each other. When Benedict rose to leave, Scholastic begged him to stay, and when he would not, she prayed to God. Rain came crashing down, so that neither of them could depart for their monasteries, and they ended up spending the whole night, too, speaking of spiritual things and praying. Three days later, Scholastica died, which I imagine made that extra time all the better.
God does not always speak a clear word to us, but I think the lessons we have from both Saint Scholastica and from Jesus are to keep praying. In doing that, we are practicing for those all-too brief and infrequent times when God speaks very loudly and clearly. If we did not practice, we might not even hear him at his loudest. So today, let us pray for perseverance in our prayer.
- Jana M. Bennett