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Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Nahum 2:1, 3; 3:1–3, 6–7
Some powers look as if they will last forever.
An empire.
A dictatorship.
A corrupt system.
A violent economy.
A group of people who seem able to hurt others without consequence.
This is the world behind the prophet Nahum.
Nahum speaks about Assyria, one of the most feared empires of the ancient world. Assyria had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel. Its army was brutal. Its capital, Nineveh, seemed powerful, rich, and untouchable.
But Nahum announces that Nineveh will fall.
To those who suffered under Assyria, this was not ordinary news. It was good news. It meant that violence would not last forever. It meant that arrogance would be judged. It meant that the victims were not forgotten by God.
This is why Nahum’s name is important. His name means “consolation.”
At first, this may surprise us. The Book of Nahum is full of images of battle, destruction, and judgment. It does not sound gentle. It does not sound comforting.
But for people crushed by violence, the fall of a cruel empire can be consolation.
Nahum reminds us that God is not neutral before evil. God does not look at oppression and say, “It does not matter.” God sees. God remembers. God judges.
This message is difficult for us today, because we often prefer a soft image of God. We want God to comfort everyone, but we forget that true comfort for the victim also means judgment against what destroys life.
Still, as Christians, we must read Nahum in the light of Jesus Christ.
The good news is not simply that one empire falls and another empire rises. History has seen that too many times. Assyria falls, Babylon rises. Babylon falls, Persia rises. One power replaces another.
But Jesus announces a deeper good news:
“The kingdom of God is at hand.”
In Jesus, God does not defeat evil by becoming another empire. He does not save the world through cruelty, revenge, or domination. He carries the violence of the world on the cross. He enters the place of the victim. And by his resurrection, he shows that sin, violence, and death do not have the final word.
This is the Christian hope.
When we look at the world today, we may also feel that destructive powers are too strong: war, greed, corruption, lies, exploitation, and systems that crush the weak.
Nahum tells us: do not worship power.
Do not believe that evil is eternal.
Do not think that God has forgotten the suffering of the poor.
And Jesus tells us even more: God’s answer to evil is not despair, and not revenge, but the kingdom of God.
So today, we can ask ourselves:
Where have I begun to believe that nothing can change?
Where have I become afraid of powerful people or powerful systems?
And where is Christ calling me to stand, quietly and faithfully, on the side of life?
The proud city does not last forever.
The violent empire does not last forever.
But the kingdom of God remains.
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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