Never pay back evil for evil….Do not let evil conquer you, but use good to conquer evil.

Above:  Avenge Me of Mine Adversary

Image in the Public Domain

Resisting Evil Without Joining Its Ranks

OCTOBER 31, 2021

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1 Samuel 26:2-23 or Lamentations 1:1-12

Psalm 112

Romans 12:9-21

Luke 18:1-8

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

–Romans 12:17a, 21, The Revised English Bible (1989)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

All of the lesson from Romans 12 explains itself and constitutes timeless advice about how to live in community.  I encourage frequent reading of it, followed by corresponding actions.  Details will differ according to circumstances, such as who, where, and when one is, of course.  The principles remain constant, however.

“Anger” comes from the Old Norse word for “grief.”  Anger flows from grief, literally.  Others may commit evil or some lesser variety of sin, causing us to suffer.  We may be properly sad and angry about that.  Human beings bear the image of God, not the image of doormats, after all.  Resisting evil is a moral imperative.  So is resisting evil in proper ways.  One cannot conquer evil if one joins the ranks of evildoers.

I have struggled with this spiritual issue in contexts much less severe than the fall of the Kingdom of Judah and the time of the Babylonian Exile.  I have known the frustration that results from powerlessness as my life, as I have known it, has ended.  I have learned to read the angry portions of the Book of Psalms and identity with them.  I have also learned of the toxicity of such feelings.  I have learned the wisdom of obeying God and letting go of grudges, even when forgiveness has been more than I could muster.

After all, all people will reap what they sow.  Why not leave vengeance to God?  Why not strive to become the best version of oneself one can be in God?  Why not seek the support of one’s faith community to do so?  Why not support others in one’s faith community in their spiritual growth?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 30, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JAMES MONTGOMERY, ANGLICAN AND MORAVIAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF DIET EMAN; HER FIANCÉ, HEIN SIETSMA, MARTYR, 1945; AND HIS BROTHER, HENDRIK “HENK” SIETSMA; RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS

THE FEAST OF JAMES RUSSELL MACDUFF AND GEORGE MATHESON, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS AND AUTHORS

THE FEAST OF SARAH JOSEPHA BUELL HALE, POET, AUTHOR, EDITOR, AND PROPHETIC WITNESS

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/04/30/resisting-evil-without-joining-its-ranks-part-v/

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  Christ Giving Sight to Bartimaeus, by William Blake

Image in the Public Domain

God, Beside Us in Suffering

JULY 17, 2021

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Collect:

O God, powerful and compassionate,

you shepherd your people, faithfully feeding and protecting us.

Heal each of us, and make us a whole people,

that we may embody the justice and peace of your Son,

Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 42

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Assigned Readings:

Jeremiah 12:1-13

Psalm 23

Luke 18:35-43

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The LORD is my shepherd;

there is nothing I lack.

In green pastures he makes me lie down;

to still waters he leads me;

he restores my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

for the sake of his name.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff comfort me.

You set a table before me

in front of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Indeed, goodness and mercy will pursue me

all the days of my life;

I will dwell in the house of the LORD

for endless days.

–Psalm 23, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2010)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jeremiah lamented the fact that the wicked (many of them, anyway) prosper and that the righteous (many of them, anyway) suffer.  He also prayed for divine wrath against the wicked.  That was a predictable and understandable attitude, one which many people have shared.  May we be honest, O reader?  Have you and I not rejoiced to learn that some scoundrel got his just desserts?

I perceive, however, that Jesus never rejoiced in that.  Yes, he became angry with and confronted people who acted in certain ways and harbored certain attitudes, but I sense that he would have preferred that they repent and follow him.  He did not even seem confrontational with the wealthy man in Luke 18:18-30, just a few verses before healing a blind man near Jericho.  Later our Lord and Savior prayed for those who executed him and consented to his execution.

Blessed are you when people hate you and ostracize you, when they insult you and slander your very name, because of the Son of Man.  On that day exult and dance for joy, for you have a rich reward in heaven; that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

–Luke 6:22-23, The Revised English Bible (1989)

The same God who sets a table for us in the presence of our enemies abides with us during difficult times.  I have known that presence during my darkest hours.  I treasure the blessing of that presence without possessing any nostalgia for the context thereof.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu told a story about a Jew during the Holocaust.  A Nazi guard was forcing him to perform an especially dirty, degrading, disgusting, and unpleasant cleaning job.

Where is your God now?,

the guard asked sarcastically.  The Jew replied,

Beside me, here in the muck.

Here ends the lesson.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 4, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE EVE OF EASTER, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF BENJAMIN HALL KENNEDY, GREEK AND LATIN SCHOLAR, BIBLE TRANSLATOR, AND ANGLICAN PRIEST

THE FEAST OF SAINT GEORGE THE YOUNGER, GREEK ORTHODOX BISHOP OF MITYLENE

THE FEAST OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/04/04/god-beside-us-in-suffering/

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  Christ Pantocrator

Image in the Public Domain

Love and Forgiveness

JULY 15, 2023

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Collect:

Almighty God, we thank you for planting in us the seed of your word.

By your Holy Spirit help us to receive it with joy,

live according to it, and grow if faith and love,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 42

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Assigned Readings:

Isaiah 52:1-6

Psalm 65:[1-8], 9-13

John 12:44-50

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Isaiah 52:1-6 speaks of a time, in our past yet in the original audience’s future, when foreigners would no longer hold sway in Jerusalem.  One might imagine faithful Jews saying, in the words of Psalm 65:1,

You are to be praised, O God, in Zion;

to you shall vows be performed in Jerusalem.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

Yet, in John 12, Jerusalem was not only under Roman occupation, but a Roman fortress sat next to and towered over the Temple complex, the seat of a collaborationist and theocratic state.  Jesus, about to die, is in hiding and the Temple rulers have been plotting since John 11:48-50 to scapegoat Jesus, for in the words of High Priest Caiaphas,

…it is better for you to have one man die to have the whole nation destroyed.

–John 11:50b, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

That was not the only germane conflict, for the Gospel of John came from marginalized Jewish Christians at the end of the first century C.E.  They had lost the argument in their community.  Certainly this fact influenced how they told the story of Jesus.  I know enough about the retelling and reinterpretation of the past to realize that we humans tell history in the context of our present.  The present tense shapes our understanding of events which belong in the past tense; it can be no other way.

What must it be like to experience great hope mixed with subsequent disappointment–perhaps even resentment–inside which we frame the older hope?  Faithful Jews of our Lord and Savior’s time knew that feeling well when they pondered parts of the Book of Isaiah and other texts.  The Johannine audience knew that feeling well when it considered Jesus.  Perhaps you, O reader, know that feeling well in circumstances only you know well.

And how should one respond?  I propose avoiding vengeance (in the style of Psalm 137) and scapegoating.  Anger might feel good in the short term, but it is a spiritual toxin in the medium and long terms.  No, I point to the love of Jesus, which asked God to forgive those who crucified him and consented to it, for they did not know what they had done and were doing.  And I point to Isaiah 52:3, in which God says:

You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.

—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

I point to the agape God extends to us and which is the form of love in 1 Corinthians 13.  Love and forgiveness are infinitely superior to anger, resentment, and scapegoating.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 13, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTONY OF PADUA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF G. K. (GILBERT KEITH) CHESTERTON, AUTHOR

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Love and Forgiveness

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  Ruins of Babylon, 1932

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-matpc-13231

Jeremiah and Matthew, Part XI:  Getting On With Life

NOVEMBER 14-16, 2023

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Assigned Readings:

Jeremiah 29:1-19 (November 14)

Jeremiah 30:1-24 (November 15)

Jeremiah 31:1-17, 23-24 (November 16)

Psalm 36 (Morning–November 14)

Psalm 130 (Morning–November 15)

Psalm 56 (Morning–November 16)

Psalms 80 and 27 (Evening–November 14)

Psalms 32 and 139 (Evening–November 15)

Psalms 100 and 62 (Evening–November 16)

Matthew 26:36-56 (November 14)

Matthew 26:36-56 (November 15)

Matthew 27:1-10 (November 16)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

whom then shall I fear?

The Lord is the strength of my life;

of whom then shall I be afraid?

–Psalm 27, The Book of Common Prayer (2004)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Prophet Jeremiah relayed advice from God to those exiled from the Kingdom of Judah to Chaldea in 597 BCE:  Get on with life.  The wicked will perish, a faithful remnant will see divine deliverance, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem will occur.  None of the members of the original audience lived to see that day, but it did come to pass.

Jeremiah prophesied during dark days which preceded even darker ones.  “Dark days which preceded even darker ones” summarized the setting of the Matthew readings accurately.  But, after the darker days came and went wondrously and blessedly brighter ones arrived.

I know firsthand of the sting of perfidy and of the negative consequences of actions of well-intentioned yet mistaken people.  Sometimes anger is essential to surviving in the short term.  Yet anger poisons one’s soul after remaining too long.  Slipping into vengeful thoughts feels natural.

O daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,

happy the one who repays you

for all you have done to us;

Who takes your little ones,

and dashes them against the rock.

–Psalm 137:8-9, The Book of Common Prayer (2004)

Yet such an attitude obstructs the path one must trod when getting on with life and remaining faithful to God therein.  Leaving one’s enemies and adversaries to God for mercy or judgment (as God decides) and getting on with the daily business of living is a great step of faithfulness.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 4, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT FRANCIS CARACCIOLO, COFOUNDER OF THE MINOR CLERKS REGULAR

THE FEAST OF JOHN XXIII, BISHOP OF ROME

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/jeremiah-and-matthew-part-xi-getting-on-with-life/

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  Tanya Allen (as Audrey) and Ken Finkleman (as George Findlay) from Campaign (1997), Episode #13 of The Newsroom (1996-1997)

This image is a screen captures I took via PowerDVD and a legal, purchased disc.

Hearers and Doers of the Word

The Sunday Closest to August 31

The Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost

AUGUST 29, 2021

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

FIRST READING AND PSALM:  OPTION #1

Song of Solomon 2:8-13 (New Revised Standard Version):

The voice of my beloved!

Look, he comes,

leaping upon the mountains,

bounding over the hills.

My beloved is like a gazelle

or a young stag.

Look, there he stands

behind our wall,

gazing in at the windows,

looking through the lattice.

My beloved speaks and says to me:

Arise, my love, my fair one,

and come away;

for now the winter is past,

the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth;

the time of singing has come,

and the voice of the turtledove

is heard in our land.

The fig tree puts forth its figs,

and the vines are in blossom;

they give forth fragrance.

Arise, my love, my fair one,

and come away.

Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1  My heart is stirring with a noble song;

let me recite what I have fashioned for the king;

my tongue shall be the pen of a skilled writer.

2  You are the fairest of men;

grace flows from your lips,

because God has blessed you for ever.

7  You throne, O God, endures for ever and ever,

a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom;

you love righteousness and hate iniquity.

8  Therefore God, your God, has anointed you

with the oil of gladness above your fellows.

9  All your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia,

and the music of strings from ivory palaces makes you glad.

10  Kings’ daughters stand among the ladies of the court;

on your right hand is the queen,

adorned with the gold of Ophir.

FIRST READING AND PSALM:  OPTION #2

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9 (New Revised Standard Version):

Moses said:

So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the LORD your God with which I am charging you.

You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!” For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him? And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?

But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children.

Psalm 15 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1 LORD, who may dwell in your tabernacle?

who may abide upon your holy hill?

2 Whoever leads a blameless life and does what is right,

who speaks the truth from his heart.

3 There is no guile upon his tongue;

he does no evil to his friend;

he does not heap contempt upon his neighbor.

4 In his sight the wicked is rejected,

but he honors those who fear the LORD.

5 He has sworn to do no wrong

and does not take back his word.

6 He does not give his money in hope of gain,

nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

7 Whoever does these things

shall never be overthrown.

SECOND READING

James 1:17-27 (New Revised Standard Version):

Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-they will be blessed in their doing.

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

GOSPEL READING

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 (New Revised Standard Version):

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalemgathered around Jesus, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him,

Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?

He said to them,

Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

“This people honors me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

teaching human precepts as doctrines.”

You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.

Then he called the crowd again and said to them,

Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

The Collect:

Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Some Related Posts:

Proper 17, Year A:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/proper-17-year-a/

Deuteronomy 4:

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/nineteenth-day-of-lent/

James 1:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/week-of-6-epiphany-tuesday-year-2/

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/week-of-6-epiphany-wednesday-year-2/

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/week-of-proper-1-tuesday-year-2/

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/week-of-proper-1-wednesday-year-2/

Mark 7:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/week-of-5-epiphany-tuesday-year-1/

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/10/14/week-of-5-epiphany-wednesday-year-1/

Matthew 15 (Parallel to Mark 7):

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/week-of-proper-13-tuesday-year-1/

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/proper-15-year-a/

1 Peter 4:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/week-of-8-epiphany-friday-year-2/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/fortieth-day-of-lent-holy-saturday/

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/week-of-proper-3-friday-year-2/

New Every Morning is the Love:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/new-every-morning-is-the-love-by-john-keble/

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Consider this:

…for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness….But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves….Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:  to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.–James 1:20a, 22, 27, New Revised Standard Version

and this:

For it is within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come:  fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly.  All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.–Mark 7:21-23, New Revised Standard Version

and this:

But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life….–Deuteronomy 4:9a, New Revised Standard Version

and this:

Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.–1 Peter 4:8, New Revised Standard Version

Among my favorite television series is The Newsroom, all of which I own of DVDs.  Set in a Toronto, Ontario, television newsroom, the series focuses on George Findlay, an amoral (if not immoral) News Director, and his staff, most of which is also weak.  People lie to each other constantly, stab each other in the back, and put out a nightly news broadcast with mostly sensational content.  If it bleeds, it leads.  If it scares, it leads.  If it is mindless, it leads.  The writing of the series is sharp (drawing even from European art films), there is (mercifully) no laugh track, and the acting is spectacular.

The Newsroom presents a (hopefully) exaggerated view of human foibles, including some of those which contribute to one’s self-defilement.  One, alas, does not need to resort to fiction to find examples of destructive and defiling behaviors.  Sometimes all one has to do is review one’s own past or even one’s own present.

Checklist morality is the easy and bad way out.  Moral living consists of far more than doing X, Y, and Z, and not not doing A, B, and C.  Jesus boiled the Law of Moses down to two commandments, both about how we think, and therefore how we act.  If we love God fully and love our neighbors as ourselves, we will keep the law.  We will want to do right by our neighbors and by God, so we will act accordingly.  And, as we read in 1 Peter,

Love covers a multitude of sins.

If we nurture love, we will not feed unrighteous anger.

Anger is a powerful emotion.  Sometimes it sustains us in the short term, but it becomes spiritually toxic as time passes.  I have reached a point in my spiritual development that anger repels me most of the time.  Yes, there is righteous anger, the sort which Jesus expressed and which propels social reform movements.  (One should be angry about the denial of basic human rights, for example.)  But the anger which fuels much of alleged news programming on television and radio repels me, so I choose not to consume it.  I do this in a positive way, not an angry one.

The most effective way to be a hearer and a doer of the word of God in Jesus is to love God fully and and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  This is active, not theoretical.  This is something we must do daily.  What tone of voice, for example, do we use?  What do we say, and what do we leave unsaid?   What do we write, and what do we leave unwritten?  And do we leave our corner of the world a better place, or do we opt for sensationalism and inanity?  Do we respect others with our words and deeds?

It is that simple–and that challenging.

KRT

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/hearers-and-doers-of-the-word/