Archive for the ‘Jeremiah 23’ Tag
Above: The Tribute Money, by Titian
Image in the Public Domain
Images of Gods
NOVEMBER 21, 2021
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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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Jeremiah 23:1-6
Psalm 100
Colossians 1:11-20
Luke 20:20-26
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The application of imagery reserved for YHWH in the Hebrew Bible to Jesus in the New Testament makes sense, given Trinitarian theology. Psalm 100 lauds God (YHWH), the Good Shepherd. YJWH is the Good Shepherd in Jeremiah 23:1-6. Jesus is the self-identified Good Shepherd in John 10, not one of today’s assigned readings. Jesus, like YHWH in various Psalms, has primacy in creation, according to Colossians 1:15.
I will turn to the Gospel reading next.
This reading, set early in Holy Week, is one in which Jesus evades a trap:
Is it permissible for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?
–Luke 20:23b, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
“Yes” and “no” were dangerous answers. If Jesus had replied, “no,” he would have made himself a target for Romans, who were swarming in Jerusalem that week. On the other hand, if Jesus had responded, “yes,” he would have offended those who interpreted the Law of Moses to read that paying such taxes was illegal.
Jesus evaded the trap and ensnared those trying to ensnare him. Why did the spies carry Roman denarii into the Temple complex? A denarius, an idol, technically. That year, the image on the coin was that of Emperor Tiberius. The English translation of the Latin inscription was,
Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus, Augustus.
Jesus asked a seemingly obvious question with a straight-forward answer.
Show me a denarius. Whose head and name are on it?
–Luke 20:25, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
The answer was obvious. Our Lord and Savior’s answer was one for the ages:
Well then, give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar–and to God what belongs to God.
–Luke 20:25, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
The coin bore the image of Tiberius Caesar. He was welcome to have it back.
Each of us bears the image of God. Each of us belongs to God. Each of us has a mandate to be faithful to God in all matters. All areas of human life fall under divine authority. Human, temporal authority is limited, though.
One of the features of segments of Christianity in the United States of America that disturbs me is the near-worship (sometimes worship) of the nation-state. I refer not exclusively to any given administration and/or nation-state. Administrations come and go. Nation-states rise and fall. The principle of which I write remains constant. In my North American context, the Americanization of the Gospel in the service of a political program and/or potentate dilutes and distorts the Gospel. The purposes of the Gospel include confronting authority, not following it blindly. True Judeo-Christian religion has a sharp prophetic edge that informs potentates how far they fall short of God’s ideals and that no nation-state is the Kingdom of God.
We have only one king anyway. That monarch is YHWH, as N. T. Wright correctly insists in Jesus and the Victory of God (1996). Jesus defies human definitions of monarchy. This is a prominent theme in the Gospel of John. Yet the theme of Christ the King Sunday is timeless. Despite appearances to the contrary, God remains sovereign.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 2, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ALEXANDER OF ALEXANDRIA, PATRIARCH; AND SAINT ATHANASIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, PATRIARCH AND “FATHER OF ORTHODOXY”
THE FEAST OF CHARLES SILVESTER HORNE, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF CHARLES FRIEDRICH HASSE, GERMAN-BRITISH MORAVIAN COMPOSER AND EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF JULIA BULKLEY CADY CORY, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT SIGISMUND OF BURGUNDY, KING; SAINT CLOTILDA, FRANKISH QUEEN; AND SAINT CLODOALD, FRANKISH PRINCE AND ABBOT
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/05/02/images-of-gods/
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Above: Christ Healing an Infirm Woman, by James Tissot
Image in the Public Domain
The Appalling Strangeness of the Mercy of God
SEPTEMBER 26, 2021
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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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1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 or Jeremiah 23:23-29
Psalm 107:1-3, 170-32
Romans 9:1-6, 16
Luke 13:10-17
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The twin themes of divine judgment and mercy dominate these five readings, O reader.
I know, O reader, that, if you have paid attention to and read this weblog for a while, you can probably guess what I will write next. The Bible is repetitive. Lectionaries keep taking me into repetitive territory. The Bible repeats itself because people missed a given message the first many times.
You cannot conceive, nor can I, of the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God.
–Graham Greene, Brighton Rock (1938)
The mercy of God present in Jesus, healing on the Sabbath, appalled one synagogue official in Luke 13:10-17. This mercy should have filled that man with joy on behalf of the formerly afflicted woman. No, he stood of conventional piety, according to which Christ’s actions were inappropriate–even sinful–on the Sabbath. Jesus did not provide first aid; that would have been fine, according to conventional piety. Neither did he provide emergency relief that saved her life; that also would have been fine, according to conventional piety. Had he healed her on any of the other six days of the week, that would have been fine, according to conventional piety. So much for that version of conventional piety!
The easy way out is to stand on one’s perceived moral superiority to that synagogue official. The easy way out is to denounce him and stop there. However, I know myself well enough to affirm that I have my own version of conventional piety–the rules of the spiritual road, as I understand them, so to speak. If Jesus were to stand in front of me and transgress any of those rules, I would probably take offense at him. That would be my problem and sin, not his.
You, O reader, probably resemble that remark. Who among us is a spiritual superhero, greater than mere mortals?
May God forgive all of us our spiritual blindness and fixations that prevent us from responding as we should. And may we follow divine leading in repenting of those sins.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 25, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARK THE EVANGELIST, MARTYR, 68
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/04/25/the-appalling-strangeness-of-the-mercy-of-god/
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Above: Christ Cleansing the Temple, by Bernardino Mei
Image in the Public Domain
False Prophets and False Profits
AUGUST 15-17, 2022
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The Collect:
O God, judge eternal, you love justice and hate oppression,
and you call us to share your zeal for truth.
Give us courage to take our stand with all victims of bloodshed and greed,
and, following your servants and prophets, to look to the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,
your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 45
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The Assigned Readings:
Jeremiah 23:30-40 (Monday)
Jeremiah 25:15-29 (Tuesday)
Jeremiah 25:30-38 (Wednesday)
Psalm 32 (All Days)
1 John 4:1-6 (Monday)
Acts 7:44-53 (Tuesday)
Luke 19:45-48 (Wednesday)
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How blessed are those whose offence is forgiven,
whose sin blotted out.
How blessed are those to whom Yahweh imputes no guilt,
Whose spirit harbours no deceit.
–Psalm 32:1-2, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
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One must, however, avoid falling into the traps of false prophets and false profits.
In the Book of Jeremiah false prophets stated that doom would not come upon the Kingdom of Judah. God and Jeremiah said otherwise.
In the context of early Christianity we read of false prophets in the New Testament. The standard of truth, according to 1 John 4, is Christology. Rejecting Christ, as in Acts 7, places one in the category of “false.” And, in Luke 19, we read of people Jesus rejected. The money changers at the Temple converted Roman currency (bearing the image of Emperor Tiberius) into non-idolatrous money, which pilgrims used to purchase sacrificial animals. Unfortunately, some of the Temple authorities benefited financially from this arrangement. These were the false profits I mentioned in the opening sentence.
Piety should never become a vehicle for the funding of an impious person’s corruption, just as those who claim to speak for God ought to do what they say they do. The first part of that proposition is easier to make reality than the second part. The difficulty is that we humans frequently mistake an internal monologue for a dialogue with God. Each of us who has claimed that God told him or her something had fallen into this trap at least once. May we, by grace, avoid it as often as possible.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 23, 2016 COMMON ERA
WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK
THE FEAST OF GEORGE RUNDLE PRYNNE, ANGLICAN PRIEST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR, PATRIARCH OF ARMENIA
THE FEAST OF HEINRICH VON LAUFENBERG, GERMAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT TURIBIUS OF MOGROVEJO, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF LIMA
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/03/23/false-prophets-and-false-profits/
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THIS IS POST #800 OF ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS.
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Above: Dawn
Image in the Public Domain
Children of the Light
JUNE 28 and 29, 2022
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The Collect:
Sovereign God, ruler of all hearts,
you call us to obey you, and you favor us with true freedom.
Keep us faithful to the ways of your Son, that,
leaving behind all that hinders us,
we may steadfastly follow your paths,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 41
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The Assigned Readings:
Jeremiah 3:15-18 (Tuesday)
Jeremiah 23:16-22 (Wednesday)
Psalm 140 (Both Days)
Ephesians 5:6-20 (Tuesday)
Matthew 10:16-25 (Wednesday)
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Rescue me, Yahweh, from evil men,
protect me from violent men,
whose heart is bent on malice,
day after day they harbour strife;
their tongues as barbed as a serpent’s,
viper’s venom behind their lips.
–Psalm 140:1-3, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
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The reading from Jeremiah 3 comes from a section of scripture about repentance. God is calling a rebellious people to holiness. One day, the passage says,
They shall no longer follow the willfulness of their evil hearts.
–Jeremiah 3:17c, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
That prophecy had not come true by the end of the first century of the Common Era. It had not come true by the time of Jeremiah 23, which includes references to false prophets. That prophecy had not come to fruition by the time of Ephesians 5:6-20, during evil days. It had not become reality by the time of Matthew 10:16-25, which refers to the persecution of followers of Jesus.
That prophecy has yet to come true, for its fulfillment resides in the future. Until then the best advice to follow is that we find in the readings for these two days:
- Live as children of the light,
- Be filled with the Holy Spirit,
- Give thanks to God for everything and at all times,
- Trust in God during good times and good times, and
- Remember that no pupil ranks above his or her master.
God will save the world, but we can leave it better than we found it. We have a moral obligation to do so.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 8, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF CHARLOTTE ELLIOTT, JULIA ANNE ELLIOTT, AND EMILY ELLIOTT, ANGLICAN HYMN WRITERS
THE FEAST OF SAINT HUMPHREY OF PRUM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF THEROUANNE
THE FEAST OF JOHN HAMPDEN GURNEY, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OF GOD, FOUNDER OF THE BROTHERS HOSPITALLERS OF SAINT JOHN OF GOD
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/children-of-the-light/
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Above: Icon of Christ in Majesty
Image in the Public Domain
Prejudices and Prophecy
OCTOBER 21-23, 2021
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The Collect:
Eternal light, shine in our hearts.
Eternal wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance.
Eternal compassion, have mercy on us.
Turn us to seek your face, and enable us to reflect your goodness,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 51
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The Assigned Readings:
Jeremiah 23:9-16 (Thursday)
Jeremiah 26:12-24 (Friday)
Jeremiah 29:24-32 (Saturday)
Psalm 126 (All Days)
Hebrews 7:1-10 (Thursday)
Hebrews 7:11-22 (Friday)
Mark 8:22-26 (Saturday)
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When the Lord turned again the fortunes of Zion:
then we were like men restored to life.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter:
and our tongue with singing.
Then said they among the heathen:
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
Truly the Lord has done great things for us:
and therefore we rejoiced.
Turn again our fortunes, O Lord:
as the streams return to the dry south.
Those that sow in tears:
shall reap with songs of joy.
He who goes out weeping bearing the seed:
shall come again in gladness, bringing his sheaves with him.
–Psalm 126, Alternative Prayer Book 1984
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The prophet Jeremiah labored faithfully for and argued with God during especially dangerous times. The Kingdom of Judah was a vassal state, false prophets were numerous, and true prophets were targets of the theocratic royal regime. The process of exiling populations had begun, and the full-scale Babylonian Exile had not started yet. False prophets predicted a glorious future and condemned faithful prophets. Yet even Jeremiah, who predicted doom and gloom, stated that divine deliverance and restoration would come in time.
The appearance of Melchizedek in Genesis 14:17-21 linked Abram/Abraham to the Davidic Dynasty, for Melchizedek was the King of Salem (Jerusalem). Hebrews 7 linked Melchizedek to Jesus (“resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever”–verse 3b, The New Revised Standard Version). At the end of the line of faithful Hebrew prophets (ending with St. John the Baptist) stands Jesus, greater than all of them. He is, as Hebrews 7:22 states,
the guarantee of a better covenant.
—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
Jesus, permanently a priest (7:24), is the Messiah (“Christ” in Greek) unbounded by time. Now he exists beyond human capacity to harm him, but he did die via crucifixion. There was a resurrection, fortunately.
Often we mortals desire to hear words which confirm our prejudices and belie hard truths. Perhaps we know sometimes that what we want to hear is inaccurate, but we accept it anyway because doing so is bearable. Or perhaps we are so deluded that we cannot distinguish between true and false prophecy, prophecy often having more to do with the present day and the near future than the more distant future. Yet, even when we seek to distinguish between true and false prophecy, our ignorance can prove to be a major obstacle. I know of no easy way out of this conundrum. No, the best advice I can offer is to seek to live according to affirming human dignity and loving others as one loves oneself. Following the Golden Rule is sound advice. One might err in the execution of it, but I propose that God will not condemn one for loving one’s neighbors. As for the details of prophecy, they will unfold according to course.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 4, 2015 COMMON ERA
INDEPENDENCE DAY (U.S.A.)
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/07/04/prejudices-and-prophecy/
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Shame, Transformed Into Victory and Glory
The Sunday Closest to November 23
Last Sunday After Pentecost: Christ the King Sunday
NOVEMBER 20, 2022
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The Assigned Readings:
Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Canticle 16 (Luke 1:68-79) or Psalm 46
then
Colossians 1:11-20
Luke 23:33-43
The Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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Some Related Posts:
Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/prayer-of-praise-and-adorationfor-the-last-sunday-after-pentecost-christ-the-king/
Prayer of Confession:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/christ-the-king-prayer-of-confession/
Prayer of Dedication:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/prayer-of-dedication-for-the-last-sunday-after-pentecost-christ-the-king/
Hope of the World:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/hope-of-the-world/
This is My Father’s World:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/this-is-my-fathers-world/
Alleluia! Sing to Jesus:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/alleluia-sing-to-jesus/
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Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and for ever. Amen.
—A New Zealand Prayer Book (1989), page 181
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Colossians 1:13-20 describes Jesus well–better than I can–so I defer to it as a superior expression of Christology. Please meditate on it, O reader.
Jesus of Nazareth, to whom Zechariah referred in Luke 1:68-79, died on a cross and under a mocking sign calling him
THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Crucifixion was the way the Roman Empire executed those of whom its leaders wanted to make a public and humiliating example. Usually nobody even buried the corpses, left for nature to consume. Thus crucifixion, carrying great stigma, extinguished a person in society most of the time.
But it did not extinguish Jesus. So a symbol of shame became a symbol of triumph. Symbols mean what people agree they signify; therefore a symbol of state-sponsored terror–judicial murder–has become a symbol of perfect love.
Christ the King Sunday exists to remind people that, as the Reverend Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901) wrote in a hymn which his widow had published:
This is my Father’s world:
O let me ne’er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world:
the battle is not done;
Jesus, who died, shall be satisfied,
and earth and heaven be one.
That promise is true, although the culmination of it remains in the future tense. But may we who claim the name “Christian” never abandon hope.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 5, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL AND SENATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT BONIFACE OF MAINZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/shame-transformed-into-victory-and-glory/
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Above: Church of the Common Ground, Atlanta, Georgia, Sunday, May 27, 2013
Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
Jeremiah and Matthew, Part IX: Loving God and People Actively
NOVEMBER 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:
Jeremiah 23:21-40
Psalm 136 (Morning)
Psalms 97 and 112 (Evening)
Matthew 25:31-46
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The call to action for God from the previous post continues. We read of impending disgrace for false prophets in Jeremiah 23; they acted contrary to God. In Matthew 25 we read a familiar story which provides a concrete standard for acting righteously: doing practical, constructive good deeds for others in the name of God. This is a rather Jewish standard, one present in the Law of Moses. Only here the commandments to stone people do not accompany laws about how to provide for the less fortunate.
When we look at others do we see the Image of God habitually? When we look at those with whom we disagree profoundly, do we see those whom God loves? When we look at those whom we really dislike, do we see people for whom Jesus died? When we look at the merely inconvenient, do we wee people of sacred worth? When we look at people whom we do not understand because they are so different from us, do see bearers of the Image of God? How we think about people shapes our attitudes toward them. This is a great moral lesson, one which I need to ponder along with many other people, perhaps including you, O reader.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 3, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MORAND OF CLUNY, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF SAINTS LIPHARDUS OF ORLEANS AND URBICIUS OF MEUNG, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOTS
THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS OF UGANDA
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/jeremiah-and-matthew-part-ix-loving-god-and-people-actively/
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Above: The Parable of the Talents
Image in the Public Domain
Jeremiah and Matthew, Part VIII: Vindication by God
NOVEMBER 10, 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:
Jeremiah 23:1-20
Psalm 19 (Morning)
Psalms 81 and 113 (Evening)
Matthew 25:14-30
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See, a time is coming–declares the LORD–when I will raise up a true branch of David’s line. He shall reign as king and prosper and he shall do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah shall be delivered and Israel shall dwell secure. And this is the name by which he shall be called:
The LORD is our Vindicator.
–Jeremiah 23:5-6, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
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Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:18-25:7) had been the last King of Judah. He had rebelled against his Chaldean overlords and paid the stiff, brutal price for doing so. Thus it is appropriate that, in the prophecy of Jeremiah, the name of the good, future leader from the Davidic line is, in Hebrew, a play on the name “Zedekiah,” only reversed. That name in English is:
- “Yahweh-is-our-Saving-Justice” (The New Jerusalem Bible);
- “The LORD is our Vindicator” (TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures); and
- “The LORD is our Righteousness” (The Revised English Bible).
That name, transliterated from Hebrew, is YHVH Tzidkenu, according to page 972 of The Jewish Study Bible (2004). The Hebrew word means both “righteousness” and “deliverance,” as in vindication or salvation.
I find the intersection of lectionaries fascinating, for, as I write through them, one cross-fertilizes he other in my brain. Vindication as redemption came up in material I covered in the previous post, one based on the Revised Common Lectionary. As I reported there, one definition of “vindicate” is:
To justify or prove the worth of, especially in the light of later developments.
—The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3d. Ed. (1996)
Given the repeated pronouncements of impending doom in the Book of Jeremiah through Chapter 22, one might wonder what the new development is. Perhaps the development just seems new from a human perspective. Yes, judgment and doom will ensue, but mercy will follow.
The Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity as Jesus of Nazareth constituted one form of mercy. Yet with it came an element of judgment also. Both exist in the Parable of the Talents. A talent was a large sum of money–as much as a day laborer would earn in fifteen years. The rich man gave the three servants no instructions to invest, so the servant with only one talent did not violate any formal rule when he stored it in the ground. Yet he missed the point, which was to do something which increased value.
This parable exists in the shadow of the Second Coming of Jesus, at least in subsequent interpretation. (I know of at least one relatively orthodox New Testament scholar who insists that YHWH, not Jesus, returns in the parable.) The point remains unaffected, however: What have we done for God? We are supposed to hear then do; that is the call of discipleship. If we do that, God will vindicate us–redeem us–deliver us–save us–be our righteousness. If we do not, judgment will follow. But, after that, there is mercy for many, especially descendants. The promise of Jeremiah 23:5-6 is that there will be vindication–redemption–deliverance–salvation.
Why not act for God now?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 3, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MORAND OF CLUNY, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF SAINTS LIPHARDUS OF ORLEANS AND URBICIUS OF MEUNG, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOTS
THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS OF UGANDA
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/jeremiah-and-matthew-part-viii-vindication-by-god/
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Above: A Sonoma Valley, California, Vineyard
Image Source = Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USF34-9058-C]
Injustice and Its Consequences
The Sunday Closest to August 17
Tenth Sunday After Pentecost
AUGUST 14, 2022
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The Assigned Readings:
Isaiah 5:1-7 and Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18
or
Jeremiah 23:23-29 and Psalm 82
then
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56
The Collect:
Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Some Related Posts:
Prayer of Praise and Adoration:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/prayer-of-praise-and-adoration-for-the-thirteenth-sunday-after-pentecost/
Prayer of Confession:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/sin-clings-to-us/
Prayer of Dedication:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/prayer-of-dedication-for-the-thirteenth-sunday-after-pentecost/
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The readings for this Sunday sound a note of judgment.
I begin with Luke 12:49-56. Read it, O reader of this post, in literary context: reed it in the context of precedes and follows it immediately. The context is one of Jesus comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable hypocrites, especially certain Pharisees. As a matter of fact, Jesus was, in the Lukan narrative, en route to Jerusalem to die. Yes, he was a cause of conflict. Yes, he remains one.
Do not test and oppose God, the readings say. Do not follow false gods and prophets–even out of ignorance, they tell us. Repent–straighten up and fly right–or face the consequences, they attest. And Isaiah 5:7 speaks of the need to repent of injustice. The Hebrew prophets decried corruption, idolatry, and economic injustice more than any sexual acts. Yet I detect a preoccupation with sexual acts at the expense of condemnations of corruption and economic injustice–related problems–in many Christian quarters. This reality indicates misplaced priorities on the part of those I criticize.
To commit idolatry is to focus on anything other than God when one should focus on God. Thus idolatry is commonplace and idols are varied and ubiquitous. But one can become mindful of one’s idolatry and seek to reduce one’s instances of committing it. The problems of corruption and economic injustice are systemic. One can act constructively; one should do so. These systems are of human origin, so people can change them. Yet we can do this only by grace. May we do so. May we love our neighbors as we love ourselves. And may we therefore avert harm to others and destruction of ourselves.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 9, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARTIN CHEMNITZ, GERMAN LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF BARTON STONE, COFOUNDER OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST)
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/injustice-and-its-consequences/
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Above: Mosaic of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, from Ravenna, Italy
Beyond Estrangement
The Sunday Closest to July 20
The Eighth Sunday After Pentecost
JULY 18, 2021
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FIRST READING AND PSALM: OPTION #1
2 Samuel 7:1-14a (New Revised Standard Version):
When David, the king, was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan,
See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.
Nathan said to the king,
Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.
But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan:
Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.
Psalm 89:20-37 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
20 I have found David my servant;
with my holy oil have I anointed him.
21 My hand will hold him fast
and my arm will make him strong.
22 No enemy shall deceive him,
nor any wicked man bring him down.
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and love shall be with him,
and he shall be victorious through my Name.
25 I shall make his dominion extend
from the Great Sea to the River.
26 He will say to you, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the rock of my salvation.’
27 I will make him my firstborn
and higher than the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my love for him for ever,
and my covenant will stand firm for him.
29 I will establish his line for ever
and his throne as the days of heaven.”
30 ”If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my judgments;
31 If they break my statutes
and do not keep my commandments;
32 I will punish their transgressions with a rod
and their iniquities with the lash;
33 But I will not take my love from him,
nor let my faithfulness prove false.
34 I will not break my covenant,
nor change what has gone out of lips.
35 Once for all I have sworn by my holiness:
‘I will not lie to David.
36 His line shall endure for ever
and his throne as the sun before me;
37 It shall stand fast for evermore like the moon,
the abiding witness in the sky.'”
FIRST READING AND PSALM: OPTION #2
Jeremiah 23:1-6 (New Revised Standard Version):
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!
says the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people:
It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing,
says the LORD.
The days are surely coming,
says the LORD,
when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”
Psalm 23 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures
and leads me beside still waters.
3 He revives my soul
and guides me along right pathways for his Name’s sake.
4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I shall fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me;
you have anointed my head with oil,
and my cup is running over.
6 Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
SECOND READING
Ephesians 2:11-22 (New Revised Standard Version):
Remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision” — a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands– remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
GOSPEL READING
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 (New Revised Standard Version):
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them,
Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.
For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
The Collect:
Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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Some Related Posts:
Proper 11, Year A:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/proper-11-year-a/
2 Samuel 7:
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/fourth-sunday-of-advent-year-b/
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/advent-devotion-for-december-24/
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/week-of-3-epiphany-wednesday-year-2/
Jeremiah 23:
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/advent-devotion-for-december-18/
Mark 6:
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/third-day-of-epiphany/
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/week-of-4-epiphany-saturday-year-1/
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/week-of-5-epiphany-monday-year-1/
Matthew 14 (Parallel to Mark 6):
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/proper-13-year-a/
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The Pauline reading from Ephesians (from perhaps 58-59 C.E.) speaks of reconciliation in Christ between Jews and Gentiles. Members of the two groups “are no longer strangers and aliens, but…citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.” It is a beautiful vision.
History, however, tells a different story. The estrangement between Christians and Jews was unmistakable by 85 C.E., at the composition of the Gospel of Matthew, written to Jewish Christians, marginalized members of the Jewish community. And, about a decade later, came the Gospel of John, which utilizes invective against Jews. From there the history of Christian Anti-Semitism spans millennia and includes shameful instances of violence and discrimination.
It did not have to be this way. Beyond Jewish-Christian relations, there is a long and shameful history of professing Christians justifying and perpetrating racism, xenophobia, nativism, and other forms of hatred toward their fellow human beings. It did not have to be this way. It does not have to be this way. It does not have to continue to be this way.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd of all sheep who will come to him and all whom he draws successfully to himself. We sheep are Gentiles, Jews, members of various racial and ethnic groups, parts of various cultures and subcultures, heterosexuals and homosexuals. In Christ there is no hostility among us. So, if such hostility does exist among us, we are not mutually in Christ, are we?
There is much work to do. We have communities to build and walls to destroy. All of this work is in Christ, our Good Shepherd.
KRT
http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/beyond-estrangement/
ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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