Devotion for February 18 and 19 in Epiphany/Ordinary Time (LCMS Daily Lectionary)

Above:  Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Covington, Georgia, August 28, 2011

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Job and John, Part XII:  Taking Offense at God

FEBRUARY 18 and 19, 2022

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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:

Job 13:13-28 (February 18)

Job 14:1-22 (February 19)

Psalm 51 (Morning–February 18)

Psalm 54 (Morning–February 19)

Psalms 85 and 47 (Evening–February 18)

Psalms 28 and 99 (Evening–February 19)

John 6:22-40 (February 18)

John 6:41-59 (February 19)

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Job argued that God was omnipotent and was, in his case, abusing power.  His alleged friends agreed with him that God was omnipotent yet insisted that there was no abuse of power, for Job must have deserved such grave suffering.  Jesus, in John 6, spoke of his flesh as being

the living bread which has come down from heaven…for the life of the world (verse 51, The New Jerusalem Bible)

This comparison ran afoul of Jewish sensibilities.  God does offend us from time to time.

Job was correct; he did not deserve such grave suffering.  That reality “did not compute” with his alleged friends.  I argue that Job was correct to take offense at God, given the narrative the Book of Job provides for me to read and ponder.  As for sensibilities surrounding flesh and blood, the language in John 6 does seem similar to cannibalism, does it not?  But I affirm Transubstantiation, so I trust that I take the body and blood of Jesus into my body each week.  I have learned not to take offense.

Taking offense at God is a difficult situation.  When is it excusable or appropriate?  This, I suppose, is a question one needs to address on a case-by-case basis.  Usually, however, I propose that it is inappropriate.

Until the next segment of our journey….

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 26, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS REMACLUS OF MAASTRICHT, THEODORE OF MAASTRICHT, LAMBERT OF MAASTRICHT, HUBERT OF MAASTRICHT AND LIEGE, AND FLORIBERT OF LIEGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; LANDRADA OF MUNSTERBILSEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND OTGER OF UTRECHT, PLECHELM OF GUELDERLAND, AND WIRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES

THE FEAST OF CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, POET

THE FEAST OF SAINT PASCHASIUS RADBERTUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF ROBERT HUNT, FIRST ANGLICAN CHAPLAIN AT JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/job-and-john-part-xii-taking-offense-at-god/

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