Above: Christ Before Pilate, by Mihaly Munkacsy
Image in the Public Domain
Cleansing from Evil that Arises Within Ourselves, Part II
AUGUST 28, 2021
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The Collect:
O God our strength, without you we are weak and wayward creatures.
Protect us from all dangers that attack us from the outside,
and cleanse us from the outside,
and cleanse us from all evil that arises from within ourselves,
that we may be preserved through your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 46
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The Assigned Readings:
Exodus 34:8-28
Psalm 15
John 18:28-32
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Lord, who may dwell in your tabernacle?
Who may rest upon your holy hill?
Whoever leads an uncorrupt life
and does the thing that is right;
Who speaks the truth from the heart
and bears no deceit on the tongue;
Who does no evil to a friend
and pours no scorn on a neighbour;
In whose sight the wicked are not esteemed,
but who honours those who fear the Lord.
Whoever has sworn to a neighbour
and never goes back on that word;
Who does not lend money in hope of gain,
nor takes a bribe against the innocent;
Whoever does these things shall never fall.
–Psalm 15, The Book of Common Prayer (2004)
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The reading from Exodus 34 tells of the restoration of the covenant between Yahweh and the recently liberated Hebrews. God, we read, is compassionate and impassioned, encompassing both mercy and judgment. The covenant was something God took seriously and many people did not, occasional ceremonies not withstanding.
As I read John 18:28-32, the first thing I noticed was that those who delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate’s headquarters were willing to let the Roman authorities execute Jesus yet demonstrated great concern for maintaining their own ritual purity ahead of Passover. The spectacle of people fretting about ritual defilement while being willfully complicit in the execution of an innocent man–a scapegoat, even–is appalling.
Often we Gentiles are prone to point to such stories from the Gospels and condemn the failings of long-dead Palestinian Jews. Those failings deserve condemnation, of course, but what about our sins? How often have we been consciously complicit in injustice (actively or passively) and sought to maintain the illusion of righteousness? We might even fool ourselves, but we do not deceive God, who is both compassionate and impassioned, who commands justice for the widows, the orphans, and the exploited.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 2, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARGARET E. SANGSTER, HYMN WRITER, NOVELIST, AND DEVOTIONAL WRITER
THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS OF LYONS (A.K.A. BLANDINA AND HER COMPANIONS)
THE FEAST OF REINHOLD NIEBUHR, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF SAINT STEPHEN OF SWEDEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY, BISHOP, AND MARTYR
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ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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