Remember me
by Chelsea Pietsch
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This is what the Lord, the God of your father David says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you (2 Kings 20:5).
Hezekiah is ill and has just received word from the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah, that he is going to die. ‘Put your house in order’, he is told.
What would you do if you were told that your death was imminent? What actions would you take? To whom would you turn?
Hezekiah’s first response is to pray. He turns his face towards the wall, perhaps to hide his quivering lip. His prayer is not necessarily a plea for longer life, though maybe that is implied. He asks God to ‘remember’ how he has strived to lead a faithful and holy life. And after he says this, he weeps. Bitterly.
Hezekiah’s tears are not necessarily tears of despair or even fear, as one might first assume. Perhaps they are just a way to mark the end of life and the gravity of death. Death is confronting. It separates us from the world we know and the people we love. It is also ultimately unknowable – a mystery to those of us on this side of life.
Irrespective of Hezekiah’s motives, it is clear that God feels moved by his prayer. If God has decided death for the good king, then he has now changed his mind.
This reading reminds us of the active and reciprocal nature of prayer. God hears us. Sometimes, as in the case of Hezekiah, prayer apparently prompts God to change course.
Hezekiah’s prayer ‘remember me’ also gives us words to say when we ourselves are at the point of death. Do you remember another instance in Jesus’ life when someone cried out to him, ‘remember me’, at the point of death?
Dear Jesus, now and at the hour of our death, grant us the faith and courage to pour out our emotions first and foremost to you. And remember us. Amen.
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