Habakkuk and the Spunky Sacred Deed

"The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw. 2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? 3 Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. 4 So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous— therefore judgment comes forth perverted....2:1 I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint. 2 Then the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. 3 For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. 4 Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith."

I. Introduction

The anguish of historical living, or living in time, is that each one of us is endowed with a sense of justice and fairness but often we must live with and face so much injustice that seems unchangeable or beyond our ability to change. Who isn't affected, but rendered relatively paralyzed, by reports of the Buddhist monks in Myanmar (Burma) who have been steadily opposing a brutal military regime, only to pay for their acts of courage with blood to match their robes? Who isn't affected, but similarly impotent, by the reality that the Iraq War now has caused hundreds of thousands, and maybe millions, of people to become displaced from their homes? And, while these stories compete for our attention, have we forgotten Darfur?

We see the acts of injustice on the various "screens" of our lives, and we have to live with the haunting reality of tremendous disproportion between the haves and have-nots in the world. Most of the time we are able to tamp down any objections our consciences may make (Do we really deserve the riches we have? Have we, through our tax dollars or other means, been instrumental in perpetuating some of the injustices we see on the screen?), but sometimes we must let the heart speak.

Habakkuk is a prophet who let his heart speak when he witnessed injustice. He just couldn't abide it anymore and he had to speak out. But he wasn't what one might call a secular critic of injustice; he was bothered with how God could allow injustice to run rampant without apparently doing anything to counteract it. Like his contemporary Jeremiah, Habbakuk cried out "violence and destruction," but it seemed as if no one, least of all God, cared.

This existential reality--of having a deep heart for justice but of not seeing justice "at work" around him, fueled his prophecy. The Christian Church used his prophecy primarily because of an only partially-correct translation of 2:4, which was taken up in Romans as "the righteous shall live by faith" (1:17). In fact, when we examine that verse in its richer context of Hab. 1:1-2:3, we see that the advice to live by faith(fulness) is really the best guidance to the overwhelming reality of injustice all around (and maybe in?) us. This essay, then, exposits three themes in the flow of Habakkuk 1:1-2:4. They are: (1) The Prophet's Complaint (1:1-4); (2) Instructions to the Prophet (2:1-3); and (3) God's Still Small Word--Faithfulness (2:4).

II. Habakkuk's Double Complaint

His complaint is strikingly like that of Jeremiah and, of all people, Job. He voices a prayer that could be sung by any who have called out in earnestness for God but have felt that God was absent, distant or not interested in the prayer. The silence of God was perhaps the most significant theological problem of the 20th century--why was God seeminly "silent" when six million of his people, the Jews, went silently to their deaths? Law, in any society, is supposed to be the instrument by which evil is restrained; it not only declares what is acceptable behavior but it defines the punishment for violations of the law. But for Habakkuk, the "law becomes slack, and justice never prevails."

Interestingly, however, God then answers the prophet. In the next several verses (1:5-17, not in the lectionary reading), God and the prophet hold a sort of debate. How does God answer? By saying that the Chaldeans were the divinely appointed source to do God's work of judgment. The Chaldeans, or Babylonians, rose to prominence in the ancient world in the late 7th cent. B.C. after defeating the Assyrians in a battle around 400 miles from Israel.

The astonishing thing is that God would use a nation known for its cruelty to exact punishment against the people of God. Thus, Habakkuk, who thought he only had one problem on his hands, now in fact has two. He not only had a God who was silent but, when God finally decided to speak, God spoke in ways that were not "politically" or "prophetically correct." So, Habbakuk likens people to fish of the sea that have no ruler, fish that are hooked and reeled in by this unrightous attacker. Habakkuk knows he really has to have an explanation from God about this.

III. Learning to Wait and Follow Instructions (2:1-3)

One of the most difficult things to do when you want, or even need, an explanation for the rampant injustice of the world is to wait longer. You think you have already waited a good long time when God was silent in the face of the injustice. Now, after his conversation with God, Habakkuk says he will wait longer until God responds again. When God responds there are three things God emphasizes. First, the prophet is to write what is said in plain, large letters. Though v. 2 isn't easy to translate, the traditional rendering "so that he who runs may read," is faithful to the text. That is, injustice is met by writing clearly the words of justice. Then, Habakkuk is told that the word from God "does not lie." It is a truthful word. When truth is combined with clarity, justice is served. Finally, he is told to wait still longer. The "vision" will come in its appointed time. It may seem to tarry but it will come. Don't lose heart. God will not long delay.

But once we are assured of this and that all the "procedural details" are taken care of, then there is the substance of what God will say. That is our final point.

IV. The Content--Faithful Living

After all the preparation and procedural advice, we might at first feel let down when we realize that God's word to Habakkuk on injustice is simply this: "The righteous shall live by their faith." It seems all so simple, even a bit anticlimactic. But, in fact, when you think of it, it is the perfect antidote to feelings of overwhelming uselessness and even self-pity that overwhelm us when injustice triumphs. First, a word about "faith." And then a word about how this is an antidote to injustice.

The word translated "faith" here is emunah. Its better rendering is faithfulness, steadfastness or fidelity. It suggests not simply an ability to persevere but to do so with a sense that the persevering will eventuate in good things. Why would faithfulness be an antidote to justice in the national and international venue? Simply because it is the little things, the spunky sacred deeds, that have always started conflagrations of transformation in our world. Mahatma Gandhi knew it well when he said: "In a gentle way, you can shake the world." Or, when he also said, "You must be the change you want to see in the world." If you want the world to reflect more faithfulness and justice, then you need to demonstrate it in your life. There can sometimes be so little apparent relationship between faithful parenting, reading, study, questing for clarity, merciful treatment of people even when it is difficult to do so and the diminution of injustice in our world. But, according to the divine calculus, they are most intimately related.

Conclusion

That, indeed, is the message of Habakkuk. The answer to injustice is faithful living in our world. We may never have a definitive answer to the why's of the pain of the world, but somehow by living faithfully we come to wisdom that we don't have if we just complain. Thanks be to God.

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Pentecots + 23--November 4, 2007 Pentecost+ 19--October 7, 2007

Pentecots + 23--November 4, 2007
Pentecost+ 19--October 7, 2007