Above: Christ with Crown of Thorns, Looking Up
Image Created (1898) by Fred Holland Day (1864-1933)
Image Source = Library of Congress
Reproduction Number = LC-USZ62-95998
Jeremiah and Matthew, Part XII: Not in Paradise Yet
NOVEMBER 17, 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:
Jeremiah 33:1-22
Psalm 67 (Morning)
Psalms 46 and 93 (Evening)
Matthew 27:11-32
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The assigned Psalms today speak of God being glorious, gracious, and, in the words of Psalm 46:1:
…our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
—The Book of Common Prayer (2004)
That imagery fits well with Jeremiah 33:1-22, a prophesy of a time when God will restore the Davidic Dynasty and the Levitical line, a time when faithful people will
thrill and quiver because of all the good fortune
God will provide (verse 9, TANAKH; The Holy Scriptures).
Yet one member of that Davidic line faced humiliation and torture–even a crown of thorns–in Matthew 27:11-32. The people did not live in Jeremiah’s idealized Yahwistic kingdom.
Neither do you and I, O reader. Although we mere mortals cannot create paradise on earth, we can make earth more like paradise. We can work for the common good. We can embrace the cause of civil rights and equal protection under the law for all God’s children. We can strive for greater environmental stewardship. All of the above fall under the heading of what Lutheran confessions of faith call “civil righteousness”–that which is laudable yet inadequate to save us from sin. But such good works are part of our mandate from God. They constitute faithful responses to God’s grace. And they reduce the amount of dissonance between what is and what can be when, as N. T. Wright is fond of writing, “God becomes king.”
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 4, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT FRANCIS CARACCIOLO, COFOUNDER OF THE MINOR CLERKS REGULAR
THE FEAST OF JOHN XXIII, BISHOP OF ROME
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/jeremiah-and-matthew-part-xii-not-in-paradise-yet/
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ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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