Devotion for August 23 (LCMS Daily Lectionary)

Above:  Solomon’s Wealth and Wisdom

Image in the Public Domain

1 Kings and 2 Corinthians, Part I: Potential

AUGUST 23, 2023

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

–The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

1 Kings 3:1-15

Psalm 130 (Morning)

Psalms 32 and 139 (Evening)

2 Corinthians 1:1-22

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2 Corinthians is an interesting epistle so far as its internal structure is concerned.  The letter is a composite document with odd seems indicating editing, cutting, and pasting.  And Paul might not have been responsible for all the words.  Those are details which a serious student of the New Testament should want to know.  But, for today, they have no impact on devotional reading.

Paul had a difficult relationship with the Corinthian congregation.  Yet he wrote of suffering then of receiving divine consolation, which  would help him to console the Corinthian Christians.  In other words, he thought of their benefit after he had a brush with death.

The benefit of others was the heart of the matter in God granting Solomon wisdom, for David’s son was no constitutional monarch.  The observant reader of that part of the Old Testament knows that the Kingdom of Israel broke apart shortly after Solomon’s death for reasons flowing from oppressive royal policies, which his son and successor continued against counsel.  So the observant reader of 1 Kings 3 cannot help but notice the unrealized potential of Solomon in that text.

Paul recognized potential in the troublesome Corinthian Church.  Circa 100 CE, at the time of St, Clement of Rome’s First Epistle to the Corinthians, a fascinating, authenticated, and non-canonical text of great historical value, the Corinthian Christians had not improved.  Solomon had potential, which he squandered by losing his way.  May we learn from these bad examples and not emulate them.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 30, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANDREW THE APOSTLE, MARTYR

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/1-kings-and-2-corinthians-part-i-potential/

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