Angry Grapes and Angry Salsa
Good Morning Friends,
One can buy a home in Ave Maria not far from Immokalee, Florida on John Steinbeck Way and eat salsa made with local vegetables including jalapeno peppers, seeds and all made by kids. The allusion is of course to the people and place linking a tomato fields of Florida and fields of grapes in California to the passion and tears of life. Here we face the challenge of men fighting men. It is the challenge of the church facing diabolical divisions and still with divine diversity. Today is John Steinbeck’s 112 birthday. Though he died in 1968 his body of literary work today still makes me think of farmworkers, Angry Grapes and Angry Salsa.
Scripture: Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.”
Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground.
In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground,
and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”
And the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!
And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear!
Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.”
Then the Lord said to him, “Not so!
Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod,
east of Eden.
Genesis 4:1-16 (NRSV)
‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
Genesis 50:17 (NRSV)
‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
John 17:20-23 (NRSV)
Message: Everyone prays and cries, Christians and atheists pray and cry, sinners too, but I repeat myself. People participate in the process for years and years and cannot tell you for sure if God has engaged them. The problem is that we do not understand our purpose. The problem is that we are arrogant and our arrogance begets violence. Friends, the primary reason for prayer is for fellowship and relationship with each other and specifically with God. The purpose of tears is to bring healing. We all have an internal voice. Some have more than one. It is no wonder that we ask for the wrong things. It is no wonder we are divided. It is no wonder that the longest prayer in the Bible is of Jesus praying for our unity in love (John 17). Friends, here we might just discover that we have no right to ask for those things that fill our pride. We are but a wisp of smoke and fog. Our focus is too often the wrong focus. The deal is to let God work His will in us. So shout no to the devil and quietly say yes to the Lord. But don’t stop breathing for very long even if something stinks. Friends, you have to keep breathing…you have to keep rejoicing, you have to stay in constant prayer. That is the way. So honor the message of God. Stand on the shoulders of those who have thought this through. Be patient. Do not write off others. Pray constantly for God to be in your life and in the lives of everyone. Friends, God wants each precious life to be rescued from an epidemic of wandering away from God. We can honor His message when we understand that God is in charge of deciding human destiny. We honor His message when we overcome our fear so that we might share the love of Jesus in us. I really do not know if John Steinbeck got it right. Still this is what he wrote in East of Eden: “I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one, that has frightened and inspired us, so that we live in a Pearl White serial of continuing thought and wonder. Humans are caught – in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too – in a net of good and evil. I think this is the only story we have and that it occurs on all levels of feeling and intelligence. Virtue and vice were warp and woof of our first consciousness, and they will be the fabric of our last, and this despite any changes we may impose on field and river and mountain, on economy and manners. There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well – or ill?” Friends, the message from the heart is one hoping for unity found in the suffering and love of life found in Christ.
Pray we realize that God can use evil for good. Pray in the tears of Joseph who cries for his brothers and loves them. Pray we can call ourselves brothers and not bring violence on each other. Pray we discover the pastures of heaven. Pray we discover God in people. Pray we discover God in Community. Pray we discover God in personal relationships. Pray we discover God in the unknown.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 