The Hardened Heart
Reflecting on the Fourth Sunday of Easter: Three Days after Sunday (Year B)
Scripture
Psalter: Psalm 95
Old Testament: Micah 7:8-10
Gospel: Mark 14:26-31
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Prayer
Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that we who celebrate with awe the Paschal feast may be found worthy to attain to everlasting joys; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)
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Reflection
O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God
and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
O come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice!
Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your ancestors tested me
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not regard my ways.”
Therefore in my anger I swore,
“They shall not enter my rest” (Psalm 95).
In the Bible, the phrase “hardening one’s heart” generally refers to a person becoming stubborn, unyielding, or resistant to persuasion or moral influence, particularly toward God. It is mentioned in several contexts in the Bible, but it is perhaps most famously exemplified in the story of Pharaoh in the Book of Exodus. Despite numerous signs and plagues, Pharaoh repeatedly hardens his heart and refuses to let the Israelites go.
Theologically, this hardening can be interpreted in different ways:
Judicial Hardening: Here God hardens someone’s heart as a form of judgment. In Pharaoh’s case, it is sometimes seen as God strengthening Pharaoh’s resolve in his own decision to oppose God’s commands, thus ensuring that God’s own purposes are fulfilled.
Self-Hardening: Individuals can harden their own hearts by consistently choosing to reject God’s will or truth. Over time, these choices reinforce a state of resistance to divine influence.
Divine Withdrawal: Some theologians interpret hardening as God withdrawing his guiding influence from individuals, leaving them to their own sinful tendencies, which naturally leads to a hardened heart.
The hardened heart warns about the spiritual and moral dangers of repeatedly refusing to heed ethical or divine guidance illustrating how such choices can lead to increasingly negative consequences.
PRAYER: Creator of the universe, you made the world in beauty, and restore all things in glory through the victory of Jesus Christ. We pray that, wherever your image is still disfigured by poverty, sickness, selfishness, war and greed, the new creation in Jesus Christ may appear in justice, love, and peace, to the glory of your name. Amen. (Revised Common Lectionary)
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