4th Wednesday of Advent (December 21) Manasseh. Bend the knee of my heart

… Hezekiah the father of Manasseh.
 
Prepare to Listen.  Light all 4 colored candles.  Let this prayer prepare you to listen: Save us, O God of our salvation, that we may give thanks to your holy name.
 
Prayerfully Read 2 Chronicles 33:10-13 and Prayer of Manasseh vv 11-15
10The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they gave no heed.  11Therefore the LORD brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh captive in manacles, bound him with fetters, and brought him to Babylon.  12While he was in distress he entreated the favour of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors.  13He prayed to him, and God received his entreaty, heard his plea, and restored him again to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.  Then Manasseh knew that the LORD indeed was God.
 
Prayer of Manasseh (found in the Apocrypha,[1] and not read by most Protestant groups).
11And now I bend the knee of my heart,
imploring you for your kindness.
12I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned,
and I acknowledge my transgressions.
13I earnestly implore you,
forgive me, O Lord, forgive me!
Do not destroy me with my transgressions!
Do not be angry with me for ever or store up evil for me;
do not condemn me to the depths of the earth.
For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent,
14and in me you will manifest your goodness;
for, unworthy as I am, you will save me according to your great mercy,
15and I will praise you continually all the days of my life.
For all the host of heaven sings your praise,
and yours is the glory for ever. Amen.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
Manasseh was a despicable character, not the sort of ancestor we’d expect on Jesus’ family tree.  He did evil in the sight of the LORD, reversing all the good his father Hezekiah had done.  According to the writers of 2 Kings, he “shed very much innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he caused Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” (21:16).
 
He’s the kind of person we might presume was beyond redemption and wouldn’t expect to see in heaven and hope we don’t.  But here’s the thing, God’s grace and mercy are far-reaching.  It doesn’t matter how bad the person is, how far from God’s ways, God’s mercy reaches them.  The hymn writer claimed, “There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, Like the wideness of the sea; There’s a kindness in God’s justice, Which is more than liberty.”[2]
 
I think Manasseh would identify with this hymn.  He was punished and sent to Babylon as a captive.  There he repented and sought the LORD God of his ancestors in a long prayer for mercy.  It’s not in our Protestant Bible, but is in the apocrypha.  The prayer concludes, “And now, I bend the knee of my heart, imploring you for your kindness.”  He knows God’s kindness is undeserved, yet dares to plead for it: “For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent, and in me you will manifest your goodness.”  He knew God is a sucker for the repentant and ready to reveal his goodness in her/him.  And he was right, as the Chronicler states, “God received his entreaty, heard his plea, and restored him again to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.”
 
We can expect to meet Manasseh and others like him one day, seated at Christ’s banquet table.  There’s no one beyond God’s mercy, no matter how evil.  We can never give up on anyone, including ourselves. 
 
Prayerfully Reflect
What does it mean to you to bend the knee of your heart?  Practice it today.
 
Respond in Prayer
Your mercy, O Lord, is indeed far-reaching, your power to bring the worst to repentance is astounding.  Help me to always remember that no one, no matter how despicable, is beyond your power to save and to treat them with mercy and grace.  Amen.
 
Live Obediently.  Bend the knee of your heart.
[1] These book are called apocryphal not because they’re untrue, but because they weren’t part of the original Hebrew Bible and thus were rejected by the Protestant church.
[2] Frederick W. Faber.