Archive for the ‘Isaiah 14’ Tag
Above: A Yoke
Image in the Public Domain
Yokes
JULY 16, 2023
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According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
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Zechariah 9:9-12
Psalm 45:1-2 (3-13), 14-22 (LBW) or Psalm 119:137-144 (LW)
Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:25-30
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God of glory, Father of love, peace comes from you alone.
Send us as peacemakers and witnesses to your kingdom,
and fill our hearts with joy in your promises of salvation;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 25
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Grant, Lord, that the course of this world
may be so governed by your direction
that your Church may rejoice
in serving you in godly peace and quietness;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Worship (1982), 68
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Zechariah 9:9-12 depicts a future scene, in which the Messiah, an ideal king, approaches Jerusalem at the culmination of history–the Day of the LORD. This is the scene Jesus reenacted during his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, without being a regnant type of Messiah.
The image of YHWH as king exists in the assigned readings from Psalms.
In Romans 7:15-25a we read St. Paul the Apostle’s confession of his struggles with sins. We may all relate to those struggles.
My tour of the readings brings me to Matthew 11:25-30 and the topic of yokes.
Literally, a yoke was a wooden frame, loops of ropes, or a rod with loops of rope, depending on the purpose. (See Numbers 19:2; Deuteronomy 21:3; and Jeremiah 28:10.) A yoke fit over the neck of a draft animal or the necks of draft animals. Alternatively, a captive or a slave wore a yoke. (See Jeremiah 28:10; 1 Kings 12:9; 2 Chronicles 10:4; and 1 Timothy 6:1). Also, a yoked pair of oxen was a yoke. (See 1 Samuel 11:7; 1 Kings 19:21; Luke 14:19).
Metaphorically, a yoke had a variety of meanings, depending on the circumstances. It often symbolized servitude and subjection. Forced labor was an unjust yoke (1 Kings 11:28; 12:11, 14). Slavery was a yoke (Sirach 33:27). Hardship was a yoke (Lamentations 3:27; Sirach 40:1). The oppression and humiliation of one nation by another was the yoke of bondage (Jeremiah 27:8; 28:4; Hosea 11:7; Deuteronomy 28:48; and Isaiah 47:6). To break out of subjugation or slavery was to break the yoke (Jeremiah 28:2; Isaiah 9:4; 14:25). God promised to break the yoke of Egypt in Ezekiel 30:18. To break away from God was to break God’s yoke (Jeremiah 2:20; 5:5; Sirach 51:39). Sin was also a yoke (Lamentations 1:14).
The yokes of God and Christ carry positive connotations. The yoke of obedience to God is easy. It is also the opposite of the yoke of subordination and subjugation. This positive yoke is the yoke in Matthew 11:28-30. It is the yoke St. Paul the Apostle wore (Philippians 4:3). It is the yoke in Psalm 119:137-144.
Draw near to me, you who are untaught,
and lodge in my school.
Why do you say you are lacking in these things,
and why are your souls very thirsty?
I opened my mouth and said,
Get these things for yourselves without money.
Put your neck under the yoke,
and let your souls receive instruction;
it is to be found close by.
See with your eyes that I have labored little
and found for myself much rest.
Get instruction with a large sum of silver
and you will gain by it much gold.
May your soul rejoice in his mercy,
and may you not be put to shame when you praise him.
Do your work before the appointed time,
and in God’s time he will give you your reward.
–Sirach 51:23-30, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)
You, O reader, will serve somebody or something. That is not in question. Whom or what you will serve is a germane question. Why not serve God, the greatest king? In so doing, you will find your best possible state of being. The path may be difficult–ask St. Paul the Apostle, for example–but it will be the best path for you.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 14, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF FRANCIS MAKEMIE, FATHER OF AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM AND ADVOCATE FOR RELIGIOUS TOLERATION
THE FEAST OF SAINT CARTHAGE THE YOUNGER, IRISH ABBOT-BISHOP
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA DOMINICA MAZZARELLO, CO-FOUNDER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS
THE FEAST OF SAINT THEODORE I, BISHOP OF ROME
THE FEAST OF SAINTS VICTOR THE MARTYR AND CORONA OF DAMASCUS, MARTYRS IN SYRIA, 165
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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA
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Above: Jacob Struggles with the Angel, from the Gutenberg Bible
Image in the Public Domain
Wrestling with God
JULY 30, 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 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 32:3-31 or Isaiah 14:5-20
Psalm 15
1 Corinthians 3:10-23
Matthew 10:1-15
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Jacob had been wrestling all his life. In the womb he and his brother Esau had struggled with each other. Jacob had, so to speak, wrestled with Esau during childhood and adulthood. Jacob had also been wrestling with himself. On the eve of what turned out to be reconciliation with Esau, Jacob literally wrestled with God or an angel in human form and received a blessing, as well as a limp. Jacob, literally “supplanter,” also became Israel, literally “may God rule.”
I admire Judaism, from which I learn much. One aspect of Judaism I find especially helpful is struggling with God as part of a relationship with God. One finds evidence of that collective struggle throughout the Hebrew Bible. One also finds evidence of divine judgment and mercy, hence restoration following exile. The reading from Isaiah 14 is a song of taunting against the defeated Babylonian/Neo-Chaldean monarch.
According to the high standards of Psalm 15, not one of we mere mortals has any hope, except via grace. Moral perfectionism is an impossible standard, but we should still strive to be the best versions of ourselves we can be.
St. Paul the Apostle wrote to the quarrelsome Corinthian church that it was God’s temple. (The “you” is plural in the reading.) That congregation needed to shape up and come closer to its spiritual potential. Unfortunately, as anyone who has studied the (First) Letter to the Corinthians from St. Clement (I) of Rome (circa 100) should know, the congregation remained quarrelsome and troublesome for at least a generation after St. Paul’s demise.
As my father taught me, troubled people cause trouble.. They are like Jacob. They are wrestling, metaphorically, with themselves and others. Perhaps they are wrestling with God also. In the meantime, in the context of congregational life, are holding a church back, and other members of that community are permitting them to do so. This is a dynamic present in come congregations I have observed.
One progression in the Gospel of Matthew is the expansion of the audience for the message. The audience in 7:6 consists of Jews. Yet, in 28:19, the audience is
all nations.
I, as a Gentile, am grateful for this expansion of the audience. Through it the wisdom of Judaism, has come to me. As I struggle with God, others, and myself, I hope that I cause no trouble in churches. I hope that I am improving spiritually. I hope that people will recognize the light of Christ in me. To the extent any of this comes true, God deserves all the glory.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 24, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THOMAS À KEMPIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, PRIEST, AND SPIRITUAL WRITER
THE FEAST OF JOHN NEWTON, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WALTER RAUSCHENBUSCH, U.S. BAPTIST MINISTER AND THEOLOGIAN OF THE SOCIAL GOSPEL
THE FEAST OF SAINTS VINCENTIA GEROSA AND BARTHOLOMEA CAPITANIO, COFOUNDERS OF THE SISTERS OF CHARITY OF LOVERE
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2018/07/24/wrestling-with-god-part-ii/
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Above: The Beheading of St. John the Baptist, by Caravaggio
Image in the Public Domain
Oppression
OCTOBER 21, 2023
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The Collect:
Sovereign God, raise your throne in our hearts.
Created by you, let us live in your image;
created for you, let us act for your glory;
redeemed by you, let us give you what is yours,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 50
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The Assigned Readings:
Isaiah 14:3-11
Psalm 96:1-9 [10-13]
Matthew 14:1-12
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He [the LORD] will judge the world with righteousness
and the people with his truth.
–Psalm 96:13, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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Herod Antipas (reigned 4 B.C.E.-39 C.E.) was a bad character and a client ruler (a tetrarch, not a king, by the way) within the Roman Empire. He had married Herodias, his niece and daughter-in-law, an act for which St. John the Baptist had criticized him. This incestuous union violated Leviticus 18:16 and 20:21 and did not come under the levirate marriage exemption in Deuteronomy 25:5. John, for his trouble, lost his freedom and his life. Salome (whose name we know from archaeology, not the Bible), at the behest of her mother, Herodias, requested the head of the holy man on a platter.
The text from Isaiah 14 is an anticipated taunt of the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire.
How the oppressor has ceased!
How his insolence has ceased!
–Isaiah 14:3b, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
That oppression and insolence did cease in the case of Herod Antipas. He had deserted the daughter of King Aretas IV of the Nabateans to wed Herodias. In 36 C.E. Aretas took his revenge by defeating Herod Antipas. The tetrarch sought Roman imperial assistance yet gained none, for the throne had passed from Tiberius to Caligula. Herod Antipas, encouraged by Herodias, requested that Caligula award him the title of “King” as the Emperor had done to the tetrarch’s nephew (and brother of Herodias), Herod Agrippa I (reigned 37-44 C.E.). Yet Herod Agrippa I brought charges against Herod Antipas, who, having traveled to Rome to seek the new title in person, found himself exiled to Gaul instead. The territories of Herod Antipas came under the authority of Herod Agrippa I who was, unfortunately, one of the persecutors of earliest Christianity (Acts 12:1-5).
Oppression has never disappeared from the face of the Earth. Certain oppressive regimes have ended, of course, but others have continued the shameful tradition. You, O reader, can probably name some oppressive regimes in the news. Sometimes they fight each other, so what is one supposed to do then? I remember that, during my time as a graduate student at Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, I took a course about World War II. The professor asked us one day that, if we had to choose between following Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler (a decision many in Eastern Europe had to make in the early 1940s), whom would we select? I said, “Just shoot me now.” That, I imagine is how many people in Syria must feel in 2014.
Only God can end all oppression. Until God does so, may we stand with the oppressed and celebrate defeats of oppressors. Some good news is better than none, after all.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 31, 2014 COMMON ERA
PROPER 17: THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR A
THE FEAST OF SAINT AIDAN OF LINDISFARNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
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Oppression
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ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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