Above:   Sky with Rainbow

Image in the Public Domain

Redemption and Related Responsibilities

SEPTEMBER 8-10, 2022

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

The Collect:

O God, overflowing with mercy and compassion,

you lead back to yourself all those who go astray.

Preserve your people in your loving care,

that we may reject whatever is contrary to you

and may follow all things that sustain our life in

your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 47

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

The Assigned Readings:

Genesis 6:1-6 (Thursday)

Genesis 7:6-10; 8:1-5 (Friday)

Genesis 8:20-9:7 (Saturday)

Psalm 51:1-10 (All Days)

1 Timothy 1:1-11 (Thursday)

2 Peter 2:1-10a (Friday)

John 10:11-21 (Saturday)

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

Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth,

a sinner from my mother’s womb.

–Psalm 51:6, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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

The comedian Lewis Black told a joke explaining why God seems more violent in the Hebrew Bible than in the New Testament.  Having a son calmed him down.  That is, of course, bad theology, for it falls under the heading of the Arian heresy.  Furthermore, the God of the Book of Revelation is not the deity of “Kum ba Yah,” a song I despise for several reasons.  The Smiter-in-Chief is in full form in the composite story of Noah, based on older stories.

Rewritten folklore and mythology in the Bible presents us with the opportunity to ponder profound theology.  We might think that we know a particular tale better than we actually do, so we ought to avoid switching on the automatic pilot.  Human immorality saddens God’s heart in Genesis 6:6, but Noah has found favor with God.  “Noah,” in Hebrew, is “favor” spelled backward.  A note in The Jewish Study Bible–Second Edition (2014) tells me that this

indicates that human perversion and divine grief will not be the last word.

–page 19

Furthermore, the Hebrew word for the ark occurs in just one other story in the Hebrew Bible.  It applies also to the basket containing young Moses in Exodus 2.  Again The Jewish Study Bible–Second Edition (2014) helps me dig deeper into the scriptures:

Noah foreshadows Moses even as Moses, removed from the water, foreshadows the people Israel, whom he leads to safety through the death-dealing sea that drowns their oppressors (Exod. chs 14-15).  The great biblical tale of redemption occurs first in a shorter, universal form, then in a longer, particularistic one.

–page 20

The author of Psalm 51 (traditionally King David, but knows for sure?) understood human sinfulness well.  So did the author of 1 Timothy, writing under the name of St. Paul the Apostle.  Laws, he noted,

are not framed for people who are good.

–1:9, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

That statement applies to divine law, certainly.  Indeed, in context, it pertains to the Law of Moses.  That code, containing timeless principles and culturally specific examples thereof, sometimes becomes a confusing array of laws.  Many people mistake culturally specific examples for timeless principles, thereby falling into legalism.  The pillars of that code are:

1. We mere mortals are totally dependent on God,
2. We humans depend upon each other also,
3. We humans are responsible for each other, and
4. We humans are responsible to each other.

Turning to John 10, we read of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.  The sheep need the shepherd, who protects them and lays down his life for them.  The sheep also know the shepherd’s voice.  I, as a Christian, am one of the sheep.  I know my need for God and the ease with which I yield to many temptations.  The laws of God exist for people such as me.  Divine guidance and redemption play out in my life.

The individual part of religion is important, of course, but it is hardly everything.  The collective aspect is crucial also.  This truth is especially evident in Judaism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Roman Catholicism.  Much of Protestantism, however, has gone overboard with regard to individualism.  Redemption is not just my story or your story.  No, it is our story as we relate to God and God relates to us.  Society exerts a powerful influence upon our notions of morality and reverence; it shapes us, just as we influence it.  May we be salt and light, shaping society according to the four pillars of the Law of Moses and according to the unconditional and free (yet not cheap) love of God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 18, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF MALTBIE DAVENPORT BABCOCK, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN I, BISHOP OF ROME

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

https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/redemption-and-related-responsibilities/

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

Above:  St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, Perry, Georgia, January 29, 2012

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Proverbs and John, Part III:  Wisdom and Jesus

JUNE 9-11, 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:

Proverbs 8:1-21 (June 9)

Proverbs 8:22-38 (June 10)

Proverbs 9:1-18 (June 11)

Psalm 110 (Morning–June 9)

Psalm 62 (Morning–June 10)

Psalm 13 (Morning–June 11)

Psalms 66 and 23 (Evening–June 9)

Psalms 73 and 8 (Evening–June 10)

Psalms 36 and 5 (Evening–June 11)

John 12:36b-50 (June 9)

John 13:1-20 (June 10)

John 13:21-38 (June 11)

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

I invite you, O reader, to compare and contrast the Proverbs readings to the prologue of the Gospel of John.  You might notice the imagery of divine wisdom (personified as feminine) and how it influenced the imagery of the Word (Logos) of God in the Gospel of John.  There is at least one major difference:  wisdom is a divine creation; the Logos is not.  (I am not an an Arian.)  Yet theological cross-fertilization is evident.

Wisdom raises her voice from the topmost height and calls to all people.  She encourages them to avoid folly and says,

For he who finds me finds life

And obtains favor from the LORD.

But he who misses me destroys himself;

All who hate me love death.

–Proverbs 8:35-36, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

And wisdom has st the table, offering food and wine.  She continues:

The beginning of wisdom is fear of the LORD,

And knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

–Proverbs 9:10, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

Meanwhile, in John 12 and 13, Jesus models and encourages an attitude of service to God and of help for each other.  I suspect that he did not intend to inspire an annoying song,

They’ll know we are Christians by our love,

with its few words repeated often, but at least the sentiment holds true.  And the caution in John 12:47-50 sounds very much like Wisdom speaking of those who reject her.

Jesus is about to set a table in the Gospel of John.  The Synoptic Gospels offer details about the Last Supper; the Gospel of John does not.  No, that meal comes and goes early in Chapter 13.  In the Synoptic Gospels the Last Supper is a Passover meal.  Yet, as well-informed students of the New Testament know, the barely-mentioned Last Supper in the Fourth Gospel occurs before Passover.  Jesus dies on Passover, so he is the Passover Lamb.  The food and wine he offers us are his body and blood.  I, as an Episcopalian, accept the language readily.

Wisdom raises her voice and invites all people to follow her precepts.  She also sets a table.  And Jesus offers himself to us and for us.  May we obey, eat, and drink.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 8, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF BETTY FORD, U.S. FIRST LADY AND ADVOCATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

THE FEAST OF ALBERT RHETT STUART, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF GEORGIA

THE FEAST OF BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT, ANGLICAN BISHOP

THE FEAST OF SAINT GRIMWALD, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

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

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/proverbs-and-john-part-iii-wisdom-and-jesus/

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