Above: Elijah Slays the Prophets of Baal
Image in the Public Domain
Uncomfortable and Difficult
SEPTEMBER 15, 2024
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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 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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Exodus 24:12-18 or 1 Kings 18:1, 17-40
Psalm 58
Hebrews 3
Mark 8:14-21
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I teach a Sunday School class in which I cover each week’s readings according to the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). The RCL has much to commend it, but it is imperfect. (Of course, it is imperfect; it is a human creation.) The RCL skirts many challenging, violent passages of scripture. This post is is a devotion for a Sunday on an unofficial lectionary, however. The note on the listing for Psalm 58 reads,
Not for the faint of heart.
Indeed, a prayer for God to rip the teeth from the mouths of one’s enemies is not feel-good fare. Neither is the slaughter of the prophets of Baal Peor (1 Kings 18:40).
I remember a Sunday evening service at my parish years ago. The lector read an assigned passage of scripture with an unpleasant, disturbing conclusion then uttered the customary prompt,
The word of the Lord.
A pregnant pause followed. Then the congregation mumbled its proscribed response,
Thanks be to God.
The theme uniting these five readings is faithfulness to God. Jesus, we read, was the paragon of fidelity. We should be faithful, too, and avoid committing apostasy. We should also pay attention and understand, so we can serve God better. Hopefully, metaphors will not confuse us.
I perceive the need to make the following statement. Even a casual study of the history of Christian interpretation of the Bible reveals a shameful record of Anti-Semitism, much of it unintentional and much of it learned. We who abhor intentional Anti-Semitism still need to check ourselves as we read the Bible, especially passages in which Jesus speaks harshly to or of Jewish religious leaders in first-century C.E. Palestine. We ought to recall that he and his Apostles were practicing Jews, too. We also need to keep in mind that Judaism has never been monolithic, so to speak of “the Jews” in any place and at any time is to open the door to overgeneralizing.
To condemn long-dead Jewish religious leaders for their metaphorical leaven and not to consider our leaven would be to miss an important spiritual directive. To consider our leaven is to engage in an uncomfortable, difficult spiritual exercise. It does not make us feel good about ourselves.
We also need to ask ourselves if we are as dense as the Apostles in the Gospel of Mark. To do that is uncomfortable and difficult, also.
Sometimes we need for scripture to make us uncomfortable.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 25, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES BAR-ZEBEDEE, APOSTLE AND MARTYR
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2019/07/25/uncomfortable-and-difficult/
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ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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