Archive for the ‘Jeremiah 4’ Tag
Above: Gideon
Image in the Public Domain
Who Do You Think You Are?
JULY 11, 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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Judges 7:1-8, 16-22 or Jeremiah 3:21-4:4
Psalm 89:46-52
Romans 2:1-12
Luke 9:37-50
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To the extent that any person or group is estranged from God, the fault is entirely human. Sin creates estrangement from God. Many people blame God for that which God did not do and for which they have no business blaming God. Many people blame God when they should blame other people and/or themselves. Many people scapegoat God. Many people operate from an erroneous God concept, as one reads in J. B. Phillips‘s classic book, Your God is Too Small (1961).
Perhaps the core of the readings for this Sunday is,
Who do you think you are?
Do we–individually and collectively–think more highly of ourselves than we should?
For the least among you all, that is the one who is great.
–Luke 9:48c, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
Do we think we are less sinful than others? Do we think we are more worthy of glory than God? Do we imagine that we do not depend on each other and entirely on God? If we do, we err.
Ego can be difficult to tame. Bringing it into line requires divine assistance. I do not pretend to have mastered humility. However, I know that, by grace, ego is less of a problem than it used to be. I, as a mere mortal, am vulnerable to human frailties. I am also responsible for my sins. Ego, in balance, has its place. Ego, in balance, is positive. Ego, unbalanced, destroys and damages others and self, and constitutes a form of idolatry. In Augustinian terms, I write of disordered love.
The ethics and morals Jesus taught are not topsy-turvy; social mores that contradict them are. The ethics and morals Jesus taught are not topsy-turvy; human psychology frequently is.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 14, 2020 COMMON ERA
TUESDAY IN EASTER WEEK
THE FEAST OF EDWARD THOMAS DEMBY AND HENRY BEARD DELANY, EPISCOPAL SUFFRAGAN BISHOPS FOR COLORED WORK
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANTHONY, JOHN, AND EUSTATHIUS OF VILNIUS, MARTYRS IN LITHUANIA, 1347
THE FEAST OF GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL, COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF SAINT WANDREGISILUS OF NORMANDY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT LAMBERT OF LYONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND BISHOP
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZENAIDA OF TARSUS AND HER SISTER, SAINT PHILONELLA OF TARSUS; AND SAINT HERMIONE OF EPHESUS; UNMERCENARY PHYSICIANS
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/04/14/who-do-you-think-you-are/
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Above: Moses
Image in the Public Domain
Prelude to the Passion, Part III
SEPTEMBER 3, 2023
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The Collect:
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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The Assigned Readings:
Numbers 11:1-30 or Isaiah 45:14-25 or Jeremiah 4:19-31 or Zechariah 8:1-23
Psalm 68:11-31 (32-35) or Psalm 120 or Psalm 82
John 10:19-21 (22-30) 31-42
1 Corinthians 14:1-40
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The assigned readings, taken together, present a balanced picture of divine judgment and mercy. Sometimes God’s judgment on one group is in the service of mercy on another group. And, as much as God is angry with the Israelites in Numbers 11, He still provides manna to them and advises Moses to share his burden with 70 elders. Judgment is dominant in Jeremiah 4, but mercy rules in Zechariah 8.
1 Corinthians 14, sexism aside, offers the timeless principle that all people do in the context of worship should build up the faith community.
As for the “Prelude to the Passion” part of this post, we turn to John 10. Jesus survives an attempt to arrest (then execute) him for committing blasphemy, per Leviticus 24:10-16. He was innocent of the charge, of course. The story, however, does establish that Jesus kept avoiding death traps prior to Holy Week.
A point worth pondering is that the accusers of Jesus in John 10 were most likely sincere. This should prompt us who read the account today to ask ourselves how often we are sincerely wrong while attempting to follow the laws of God. Those who oppose God and agents thereof are not always consciously so.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 18, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT: THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF ADVENT
THE FEAST OF MARC BOEGNER, ECUMENIST
THE FEAST OF SAINT GIULIA VALLE, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN
THE FEAST OF SAINT ISAAC HECKER, FOUNDER OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/12/18/prelude-to-the-passion-part-iii/
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Above: Fig Tree Cleaving a Rock, Transjordan, Circa 1930-1933
Image Source = Library of Congress
Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-matpc-14982
Prelude to the Passion, Part II
AUGUST 27, 2023
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The Collect:
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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The Assigned Readings:
Genesis 3:1-7 (8-15) 16-24 or Jeremiah 8:4-13 or Jeremiah 24:1-10 or Habakkuk 3:1-19
Psalm 140
Matthew 21:12-22 or Mark 11:12-25 (26)
Colossians 1:29-2:5 (16-19) 20-23
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God is the only proper source of confidence, human philosophies and accomplishments are puny and transitory at best and deceptive at worst. They are also seductive. Consequences of giving into them in the assigned readings include exile, pestilence, famine, and destruction.
The readings from Matthew and Mark, despite their slight chronological discrepancy, are mostly consistent with each other. In the narrative they follow the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem immediately. We read that Jesus takes great offense to people profiting by converting Roman currency (technically idols, given the image of the Emperor, described as the “Son of God”) into money theologically suitable for purchasing sacrificial animals. He also curses and kills a fig tree for not bearing figs. We who read these accounts are supposed to ask ourselves if we are fruitful or fruitless fig trees. One will, after all, know a tree by its fruits.
Are we the kind of people who would have followed Jesus all the way to Golgotha or are we the variety of people who would have plotted or ordered his execution or at least denied knowing him or would have shouted “Crucify him!”?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 17, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-FIRST DAY OF ADVENT
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, ABOLITIONIST AND FEMINIST; AND MARIA STEWART, ABOLITIONIST, FEMINIST, AND EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF EGLANTYNE JEBB AND DOROTHY BUXTON, FOUNDERS OF SAVE THE CHILDREN
THE FEAST OF FRANK MASON NORTH, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER
THE FEAST OF MARY CORNELIA BISHOP GATES, U.S. DUTCH REFORMED HYMN WRITER
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/12/17/prelude-to-the-passion-part-ii/
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Above: Scroll
Image in the Public Domain
Go and Learn It
SEPTEMBER 15, 2022
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The Collect:
God among us, we gather in the name of your Son
to learn love for one another. Keep our feet from evil paths.
Turn our minds to your wisdom and our hearts to the grace
revealed in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 48
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The Assigned Readings:
Exodus 23:1-9
Psalm 113
Romans 3:1-8
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Who is like the LORD our God, who sits enthroned on high,
but stoops to behold the heavens and the earth?
He takes up the weak out of the dust and lifts up the poor from the ashes.
He sets them with the princes, with the princes of his people.
–Psalm 113:5-7, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures one reads of the importance of obeying divine law faithfully. God commands obedience to the law and warns of the dire consequences of disobedience. Two kingdoms fall and, after the fact, the Jewish tradition repeats the theme of the importance of obedience to the law. I wonder, then, how to read St. Paul the Apostle in his Letter to the Romans. Perhaps his target was the legalistic interpretation and keeping of the Law of Moses. In Romans 2, for example, we read of the necessity of the circumcision of the heart. As a note in The Jewish Annotated New Testament (2011) informs me, that is consistent with Deuteronomy 10:16 and 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4, 9:25-26, and 38:33; and Ezekiel 44:7.
As for the portion of the Law of Moses we find in Exodus 23:1-9, it is timeless, with some culturally specific examples of principles.
- One must not bear false witness, commit perjury, or spread false rumors.
- One must speak the truth and act impartially, showing deference to nobody because of wealth or the lack thereof.
- One must return wandering livestock belonging to an enemy. (This commandment’s principle extends beyond livestock.)
- One must help and enemy raise his beast of burden which has collapsed. (This commandment’s principle also extends beyond livestock.)
- One must not subvert the rights of the poor.
- One must not make or support a false allegation.
- One must not send the innocent to execution.
- One must not accept bribes.
- One must not oppress strangers.
These are commandments, not suggestions.
I think of the famous story of Rabbi Hillel (110 B.C.E.-10. C.E.), who summarized the Torah by citing the commandment to love God fully (the Shema, found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5) and the Golden Rule (Leviticus 19:18). Then he concluded,
The rest is commentary. Go and learn it.
That statement applies well to Exodus 23:1-9, some of the provisions of which are politically sensitive. Justice, however, is what it is. May we learn it and act accordingly.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 19, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANDREW BOBOLA, JESUIT MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT DUNSTAN OF CANTERBURY, ABBOT OF GLASTONBURY AND ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
THE FEAST OF SAINT IVO OF CHARTRES, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF SAINT IVO OF KERMARTIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND ADVOCATE OF THE POOR
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/go-and-learn-it/
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Above: The Last Judgment Icon
Image in the Public Domain
Jeremiah and Matthew, Part II: Idolatry = Spiritual Adultery
NOVEMBER 3, 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 3:6-4:2
Psalm 103 (Morning)
Psalms 117 and 139 (Evening)
Matthew 22:1-22
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Turn back, O Rebel Israel–declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am compassionate–declares the LORD. I do not bear a grudge for all time. Only recognize your sin; for you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and scattered your favors among strangers under every leafy tree, and you have not heeded Me–declares the LORD.
Turn back, rebellious children–declares the LORD. Since I have espoused you, I will take you, one from a town and two from a clan, and bring you to Zion. And I will give you shepherds after My own heart; who will pasture you with knowledge and skill.
–Jeremiah 3:12b-15, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
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He will not always accuse us,
neither will he keep his anger for ever.
–Psalm 103:9, The Book of Common Prayer (2004)
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Jeremiah, speaking for God, likened idolatry to adultery (3:8). Yet there was always hope for redemption via human repentance and divine mercy.
Collective unrighteousness constitutes a major theme in both main readings for today. In Matthew 22:1-22 it applies chiefly to those disloyal people who rejected the wedding invitation after they had accepted it.
Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
–Luke 9:62, The New Revised Standard Version–Catholic Edition
The first round of servants consisted of the Hebrew Prophets, the second of proto-Christians (and later Christian missionaries) in the highly allegorical parable. The banquet is the Last Judgment, where all must be clothed with righteousness–or else. Here individual righteousness applies to the story, which, without accident, follows the Parable of the Wicked Tenants.
It is vital to place the teaching in Matthew 22:1-14 in narrative context. Jesus was in Jerusalem during his final Passover week, what we Christians call Holy Week. The stakes were high and the gauntlet thrown down. Jesus was confronting a corrupt political-religious system headquartered at the Temple. He was doing this during the days leading up the annual celebration of divine deliverance from slavery in Egypt –a celebration held in occupied Jerusalem, where a Roman fortress overlooked the Temple.
Thus the question of a particular tax–a poll tax, to be precise–one which existed only to remind the subjugated peoples of Roman rule (as if they needed a reminder), arose. According to law, the Roman Empire was the legal and legitimate government, so paying the poll tax was permitted. But God still demanded and deserved complete loyalty. Anything else constituted idolatry–spiritual adultery–something which our Lord’s accusers had committed and were committing.
C. H. Dodd, in The Founder of Christianity (1970), wrote of Realized Eschatology. The Kingdom of God, he insisted, has always been among us, for God
is king always and everywhere,
thus the Kingdom simply is; it does not arrive. Yet, Dodd wrote,
There are particular moments in the lives of men and in the history of mankind when what is permanently true (if largely unrecognized) becomes manifestly and effectively true. Such a moment in history is reflected in the gospels. The presence of God with men, a truth for all times and places, became an effective truth. It became such (we must conclude) because of the impact that Jesus made; because in his words and actions it was presented with exceptional clarity and operative with exceptional power.
–All quotes and paraphrases from page 57 of the first Macmillan paperback edition, 1970
Our Lord’s challengers in Matthew 22:1-22 practiced a form of piety which depended on a relatively high amount of wealth, thereby excluding most people. Our Savior’s accusers in Matthew 22:1-22 collaborated with an oppressive occupying force which made it difficult–sometimes impossible–to obey Torah. Our Lord and Savior’s accusers were self-identified defenders of Torah. How ironic! How hypocritical! How idolatrous!
Condemning the long-dead bad guys is easy. But who are their counterparts today? I propose that those who minimize or merely reduce the proper level of love in Christianity are among their ranks. If we are to love one another as bearers of the Image of God—people in whom we are to see Christ and people to whom we are to extend the love of Christ–which prejudices do we (individually and collectively) need to abandon or never acquire? Those who affirm such prejudices in the name of God are among the ranks of contemporary counterparts of those whom our Lord and Savior confronted in Matthew 22:1-22. But the possibility of repentance remains.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 23, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT DEDIDERIUS/DIDIER OF VIENNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF SAINT GUIBERT OF GORZE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK
THE FEAST SAINT JOHN BAPTIST ROSSI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
THE FEAST OF NICOLAUS COPERNICUS, SCIENTIST
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/jeremiah-and-matthew-part-ii-idolatry-spiritual-adultery/
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Above: Sheep and Shepherds
Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-matpc-10045
Image Source = Library of Congress
Precious to God
The Sunday Closest to September 14
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
SEPTEMBER 11, 2022
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The Assigned Readings:
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 and Psalm 14
or
Exodus 32:7-14 and Psalm 51:1-11
then
1 Timothy 1:1-12
Luke 15:1-10
The Collect:
O God, because without you we are not able to please you mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through 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:
Prayer of Praise and Adoration:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/prayer-of-praise-and-adoration-for-the-seventeenth-sunday-after-pentecost/
Prayer of Confession:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/prayer-of-confession-for-the-seventeenth-sunday-after-pentecost/
Prayer of Dedication:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/prayer-of-dedication-for-the-seventeenth-sunday-after-pentecost/
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The benighted man thinks,
“God does not care.”
–Psalm 14:1, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
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Changing God conceptes in the Bible interest me. Yahweh, in Genesis and Exodus, is willing to annihilate sinful populations. But God, in Jeremiah 4, holds back the worst of judgment for sins. And God, as characters in parables in Luke 15:1-10, finds lost, sinful people precious, even necessary to find and to redeem.
I like the translation of Psalm 14:1 from TANAKH: The Holy Scripures. The standard English translation from the Hebrew text into English is that a fool claims that God does not exist. But, as Atheism was rare in the original context of that psalm,
God does not care
works well as what the fool says. The fool acknowledges the existence of God while being a practical Atheist. This rendering of the verse reminds me of the Deist concept of God as a watchmaker who refuses to intervene in events.
The God of the Bible–whichever understanding of that deity from which one speaks–cares deeply. And I, as a Christian, affirm that the Second Person of the Trinity became incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth, who died and rose again, defeating perfidious schemes and conquering evil. And, if each of us is precious to God, how precious should we be to each other?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
FEBRUARY 24, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR C
THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHIAS THE APOSTLE, MARTYR
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/precious-to-god/
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ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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