Thursday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Today we hear the Book of the Prophet Malachi (450-400 BCE), one of the twelve Minor Prophets. His is the last book of the Old Testament and he himself the last of the Old Testament prophets. Minor or Major? The Major Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Minor Prophets (“minor” because they are shorter) are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
It has been decades since I delved into the Minor Prophets. In the autumn of 1977 I was graced with a course at Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary of the West (Norwood) on the prophets taught by renowned scholar Eugene Maly, a priest of our Archdiocese and scripture expert (“periti”) at the Second Vatican Council. We seminarians had a healthy “fear” of Maly in the truly biblical sense of the word– awe and deep respect.
Today we hear the conclusion of Malachi wherein for the first time in his brief three chapters, Malachi speaks of the fear of the Lord: “For you who fear my name the Sun of Justice will come with its healing wings” (3:20). “Fear” of the Lord is not “terror” but reverent awe and deep respect. Maly readily received that from us. In salvation history, the God of Israel did, too, except when it was otherwise. And the “otherwise” was far too often.
For the prophets, reverence/awe of the Lord separated the wicked from the faithful. This faithful “remnant” is referred to as the “just ones” or the “anawim.” In Malachi’s day, the “fear” of the Lord had waned, replaced with a foreboding cynicism and hopelessness. As evil ones prospered and the just faltered, worshiping the God of Israel seemed pointless.
How to heal listlessness is where the “remnant” (anawim) comes in. By mutual care, hope and support of one another, gripping cynicism lost its hold. The remnant assured one another that God is a God of justice. “The sun of righteousness will bring healing and blessing” and the wicked will eventually get their comeuppance.
Here Malachi writes one of the most beautiful verses in all the Hebrew scriptures: “From the rising of the sun to its setting, God’s name will be great among the nations; incense offerings made to God’s name forever” (1:11). Because God is a just God, the Holy One of Israel once again elicits awe and the worship that is due.
We live in a cynical age. Do we follow the prophet’s lead giving reassurance and encouragement? Do we deflate discouragement, especially when evil seems rampant and the good but a distant memory? Malachi and other prophets restored fear/awe of the Holy One of Israel, by reminding the chosen remnant that theirs was an ever faithful and just covenant God who kept his promises.
The “problem of evil” (why good falters and evil propers) is as old as humanity. From over 2,400 years ago, Malachi offers a road back to awe and deep respect (fear) of the Lord.
In what ways do we slip into cynicism? For whom or for what in our time and place do we hold awe and deep respect?
—Timothy J. Cronin
Image from See the Bible