Devotion for Proper 28, Year D (Humes)

Above:  The New Jerusalem

Image in the Public Domain

Judgment and Mercy

NOVEMBER 13, 2022

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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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Genesis 24:34-67 or Zechariah 9:9-12, 16-17

Psalm 145:10-21

Revelation 22:1-7, 12-17

John 16:16-33

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This life is a mix of pleasure, joy, love, and hardship.  Nevertheless, we read, keep the faith; God will win in the end.  God will destroy the unrepentant wicked, wipe out the oppressive and corrupt world order, and inaugurate the fully realized Kingdom of God.  That is a fine note to go out on one week prior to Christ the King Sunday.

Stereotypes of God in the Old Testament and the New Testament exist.  The God of the Hebrew Bible is supposedly harsh, judgmental, and temperamental.  He is allegedly not gracious.  And the God of the New Testament is supposedly all love, sunshine, puppies, and kittens.  Anyone who has read the Old and New Testaments closely knows or should know that divine judgment and mercy exist in balance throughout the Bible.  The God of Revelation is not all love, sunshine, puppies, and kittens, for example.

So be it.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 2, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2021/02/02/judgment-and-mercy-part-xxii/

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