Devotion for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday After Proper 4, Year A (ELCA Daily Lectionary)

Above:  Olive Trees, the Garden of Gethsemane, Jerusalem, Palestine, Ottoman Empire, Between 1900 and 1910

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsca-13199

Active Faith

NOT OBSERVED THIS YEAR

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The Collect:

O God our rock, you offer us a covenant of mercy,

and you provide the foundation of our lives.

Ground us in your word, and strengthen our resolve to be your disciples,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 38

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The Assigned Readings:

Joshua 8:30-35 (Monday)

Joshua 24:1-2, 11-28 (Tuesday)

Job 28:12-28 (Wednesday)

Psalm 52 (All Days)

Romans 2:1-11 (Monday)

Romans 3:9-22a (Tuesday)

Matthew 7:13-20 (Wednesday)

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Why do you glory in evil, you tyrant,

while the goodness of God endures continually?

–Psalm 52:1, Common Worship (2000)

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The rules of holy war in the Old Testament precluded any human gain. Thus holy warriors were supposed to kill, pillage, and destroy completely—in the name of God, of course.

I would lie if I were to deny that this does not disturb me.

Anyhow, the reading of the commandments in Joshua 8 follows the destruction of Ai and the hanging of the king of that city. I would lie if I were to pretend that this fact does not disturb me. Whom would Jesus hang?

At sunset they cut down the body on Joshua’s orders and flung it on the ground at the entrance of the city gate.

–Joshua 8:29b, The Revised English Bible

Whose body would Jesus order cut down then fling to the ground?

I do detect a repeated theme in the assigned readings for today, however. I might not detect the goodness of God in Joshua 8, but I read about it—along with judgment—in assigned texts for these days. One should never take a covenant with God lightly, I read. Nor should one be too quick to judge others, for God does not show favoritism, I also read. God, I read, fathoms the depths of wisdom and wants us to reject evil.

Faith, in Pauline theology, is both intellectual and active. (In contrast, faith, in the Letter of James, is merely intellectual, hence the text’s insistence on the necessity of faith and works for justification.) Active faith is that to which Paul, James, Jesus, and Joshua called people. So, to use our Lord and Savior’s metaphor, may we be good trees, bearing good fruit. And, taking Matthew 7:12 (the Golden Rule) into consideration, may we bear the good fruits of treating people properly.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 10, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THEODORE PARKER, ABOLITIONIST AND MAVERICK UNITARIAN PASTOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTONY PIEROZZI, A.K.A. ANTONINUS OF FLORENCE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF FLORENCE

THE FEAST OF JOHN GOSS, ANGLICAN CHURCH COMPOSER AND ORGANIST; AND WILLIAM MERCER, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF NICOLAUS LUDWIG VON ZINZENDORF, RENEWER OF THE CHURCH

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/active-faith/

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