Above:  Saul and David, by Rembrandt van Rijn

Image in the Public Domain

1 Samuel and 1 Corinthians, Part IV:  Mercy and Discipline

AUGUST 11, 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:

1 Samuel 26:1-25

Psalm 103 (Morning)

Psalms 117 and 139 (Evening)

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

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1 Samuel 26 resembles Chapter 24 closely.  The two are probably variants of the same incident, actually.  1 Samuel and some other books of the Hebrew Bible, being composed of documentary sources edited together, contain such doublets.  Anyhow, it is good to read another account (or variant of a story) of mercy.

In contrast, we have 1 Corinthians 5, in which we read of idolatry, greed, incest, slander, drunkenness, and dishonesty–all within the Corinthian church.  Paul orders the banishment of the offenders.  Indeed, those behaviors destroy self and others, unlike sparing the life of a person who has tried to kill one.  And it is true that negative influences in a group can grow if one does not remove them, just as positive influences can spread.

Once I heard of a United Methodist congregation in Columbus, Georgia.  Membership had not increased in years because of the negative activities of a small number of people, who had been chiefly responsible for a series of short pastorates.  In the 1980s or 1990s the newly appointed minister managed to compel most of these trouble makers to leave the congregation.  Membership and attendance increased substantially and the remaining (former) trouble makers became rather quiet.

Sometimes one must remove from fellowship (for the sake of the group) those who will not reform.  Yet one must never forget the imperative of showing mercy to those who have changed their negative and destructive ways.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 16, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ALL CHRISTIAN MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS

THE FEAST OF HUGH LATIMER, NICHOLAS RIDLEY, AND THOMAS CRANMER, ANGLICAN MARTYRS

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/1-samuel-and-1-corinthians-part-iv-mercy-and-discipline/

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Above:  Saul and David, by Rembrandt van Rijn

Image in the Public Domain

1 Samuel and 1 Corinthians, Part II:  God’s Choices

AUGUST 8, 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:

1 Samuel 24:1-22

Psalm 116 (Morning)

Psalms 26 and 130 (Evening)

1 Corinthians 1:26-2:16

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The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Daily Lectionary from the Lutheran Service Book (2006) skips over part of 1 Samuel.  A summary of that portion follows:  David, a fugitive from King Saul, becomes a rebel leader.  Saul, who knows that David will succeed him as monarch, kills some of those (excluding others, including Jonathan) who aid David.  Chapter 24 contains the famous story of David sparing the life of the monarch (his former father-in-law) who had tried more than once to kill him.

That content fits well with a part of 1 Corinthians 1:

No. God chose those who by human standards are fools to shame the wise; he chose those who by human standards are common and contemptible–indeed those who count for nothing–to reduce to nothing all those that do count for something, so that no human being might feel boastful before God.

–Verses 27-29, The New Jerusalem Bible

Saul was of less than “noble” origin.  His activity while chosen king as chasing runaway donkeys, after all.  But Saul was tall and handsome by the standards of the day.  And he was powerful relative to young David, who, in contrast, was the son his father left tending the sheep when Samuel met the other brothers.  The choice of David was an unlikely one by human standards.

Many of God’s choices will surprise us.  First we need to be sure that we have perceived correctly that x is God’s choice.  (This can be difficult.)  But, assuming that x is God’s choice, it might violate our sense of what ought to be.  Saul preferred to be the founder of a dynasty and for Jonathan to succeed him immediately.  Yet that was not what happened.  How will we respond to God’s choices?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 15, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ALL CHRISTIAN EDUCATORS AND INTELLECTUALS

THE FEAST OF ROBERT HERRICK, POET

THE FEAST OF SAINT TERESA OF AVILA, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/1-samuel-and-1-corinthians-part-ii-gods-choices/

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