Lot: - Genesis 19 v 1-29: ‘Flee for your lives!’
It’s important to bear in mind that this story is actually about xenophobia rather than sexuality. It is the lust to dominate that is expressed here in gang rape which, whatever form it takes, is brutal and humiliating. Lot’s offer to defuse the situation and protect his visitors by offering up his daughters merely compounds the obscenity. Nobody comes out of this well, not least Lot himself who has a drunken, incestuous relationship with both his daughters in the next chapter!
It is significant that the later prophet Ezekiel says of Sodom that, ‘She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things…’ (Ezekiel 16 v 49-50). The things that happen in this passage reflect a society that seems primarily to have forgotten its obligations to the poor and vulnerable, one reason why it’s extremely unfair to the LGBT+ community to associate them with the sins of this town.
Lot was Abraham’s nephew and had turned up in the locality of Sodom, situated in the plain of the Jordan River, as a result of having separated from his uncle because of the danger of their combined flocks over grazing. Although by the time this story takes place Lot had clearly been settled in Sodom for a while the locals have far from taken him to their hearts (v 9). His visitors, two of the three men who called to see Abraham in the previous chapter (Gen 18 v 2) and here identified as angels (v 1), come with a warning that Lot needs to pack up quickly and leave town to avoid the coming destruction.
The desire of the citizens of Sodom to dominate puts Lot’s visitors in grave danger. This desire, then as now, exerts itself so often over people who are considered to be ‘those who don’t belong’ which is how their putative attackers saw Lot and his visitors. Their attitude has much in common with the kind of xenophobic fears that we recognise from our own day as the triggers for so much vicious and cruel behaviour. It’s why in so many countries minorities have such a hard time of it and why migrants fleeing war and destitution continue to arrive in Europe (if they manage to survive crossing the Mediterranean Sea in overcrowded boats often not seaworthy) only to find themselves behind barbed wire or on the wrong side of a closed border crossing.
Jesus, in stark contrast, lived a life marked by love rather than fear. It enabled him to see people suffering from leprosy, a minority group shunned by those, including their own family members, who were terrified of catching it (which was pretty much everyone), as those who needed to be loved. Just imagine for a moment how it might feel for such a person after many years of complete isolation simply to be touched by Jesus. John in his first letter says that, ‘There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, for fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love’ (1 John 4 v 18).
Of course, none of us is perfect, and we all know what it means to have fears and anxieties (very much focused at the time of writing on the COVID-19 pandemic) and we sometimes struggle to offer love in the way that Jesus did. Yet God is always loving and merciful to us and says to us, in words from Hebrews, quoting the book of Deuteronomy, ‘…never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’ (Heb 13 v 5). We don’t know much about Sodom, the town has never been found and we must assume that the destruction attributed to God in this story represents the memory of a catastrophic earthquake in a seismically active area. Yet as Lot and his family flee, God’s mercy guides them, imperfect as they are. As we move from fear to love it is important for us not to keep looking over our shoulder, as Lot’s wife did in this story, but to keep going. As Paul puts it, ‘…but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me’ (Phil 3 v 12).
There is an echo here of the storm on the Sea of Galilee when Peter, having seen Jesus walking on the water has a typically irresistible urge to join him. Having got out of the boat and gone some distance he looks away from Jesus only to be overwhelmed by the wind and start sinking (Mat 14 v 25-33). Whilst he focused on Jesus, he was connected to his love and power, but once he looked away he was filled with the fear that he was about to be drowned as a result of his foolishness. Peter and his fellow disciples would certainly understand the fears of those seeking to cross the Mediterranean at great risk to themselves; fishing on the Sea of Galilee was a perennially dangerous way of making a living! Jesus encouraged Peter to look away from his fears and see in his divine presence how fear dissolves into love. We, living in a world in which fear drives everything from the way people vote to panic buying, are called to keep our eyes on the love of Jesus. As she was escaping the place of fear and destruction Lot’s wife made the mistake of turning back to focus on her fears rather than forward to her deliverance. Whilst we know that we are all works in progress and struggle to allow fear to dissolve in God’s love it is important that we continue to look forward, to follow Jesus and to take time daily to reflect on his presence in our lives. Learning to love rather than to fear is our ongoing daily quest.
Questions: Why is it that people sometimes want to control and dominate others? How would the world we live in change if people were more accepting of outsiders?
Prayer: Lord, forgive us all for creating so many divisions. Help us live our lives with open hearts and open arms. Amen.