Rt. Rev. Timothy Ravinder, Bishop in Coimbatore

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM, COST-CONSCIOUSNESS & CORONA

20^th June 2020

A brief meditation on 2 Samuel 23: 13-17 (ESV)       

 

David became thirsty

Then he remembers that he is in the area of the well in his native city, Bethlehem. To satisfy his NEED, David could not himself go to the well to drink water: He was in a war zone. Three soldiers volunteered to go and fetch water from the well.

 

David is PRICE-CONSCIOUS...

It did not cost anything to him. Perhaps the three soldiers had to postpone another mission in order to fulfill this one. David certainly had to calculate the danger. The action could be risky. But there was a need to be met. Abandoned mission became the “costs” of production and supply.

 

David is POWER-CONSCIOUS... 

The soldiers breakthrough the enemy lines, get the water and bring it to David. But now all logic is set aside. The risk taken by the soldiers was in vain and the men are rewarded with nothing but ingratitude. David did not want to drink the water. He suddenly becomes conscious of something that he did not think of before. That is the LIBERATING TENSION of this story. He now realises that he had ordered for a very expensive product. The process of its production could have cost the lives of the producers. David never thought about the value of the price which the others have to pay. He had not calculated the risk of the worker.

 

David REPENTS...

At this moment David turns to the Lord in repentance. He does not offer excuses to the soldiers, whose lives he had endangered in an attempt to satisfy his own personal need. He turns to the Lord. He pours the costly water out:

"Far be it from me, O LORD, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?" Therefore he would not drink it.  (V 17)

David now realises his IRRESPONSIBLE ATTITUDE. By drinking the water he would have been drinking the blood of the men themselves. David pours the water out to the Lord as a sign of regret and repentance.

 

CHOICE AND CONSEQUENCE...

Biblical rationality involves in the calculation of costs before the eyes of God where we see the real components of cost: risks involved and damage inflicted on the individuals religious integrity. It takes into account the current situation in the employment of labor and the working conditions under which the product takes form.

 

If the cost endangers the welfare of another then we must renounce consuming. It is possible our economic dealing should lead us towards the establishment of an economic system that allows for the fullness of the life of the other. AMEN