Devotion for Monday and Tuesday After the Fifth Sunday After Epiphany, Year A (ELCA Daily Lectionary)

Above:  A Roman Oil Lamp

Image Source = Rama

Grace Demanding a Decision

FEBRUARY 6 and 7, 2023

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The Collect:

Lord God, with endless mercy you receive

the prayers of all who call upon you.

By your Spirit show us the things we ought to do,

and give us the grace and power to do them,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 22

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The Assigned Readings:

2 Kings 22:3-20 (Monday)

2 Kings 23:1-8, 21-25 (Tuesday)

Psalm 119:105-112 (both days)

Romans 11:2-10 (Monday)

2 Corinthians 4:1-12 (Tuesday)

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Your word is a lantern to my feet

and a light to my path.

I have sworn and determined

to keep your righteous judgments.

I am deeply troubled; preserve my life,

O LORD, according to your word.

Accept, O LORD, the willing tribute of my lips,

and teach me your judgments.

My life is always in my hand,

yet I do not forget your law.

The wicked have set a trap for me,

but I have not strayed from your commandments.

Your decrees are my inheritance forever;

truly, they are the joy of my heart.

I have applied my heart to fulfill your statutes,

forever and to the end.

–Psalm 119:105-112, Book of Common Worship (1993)

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One of the recurring biblical themes is the coexistence of divine mercy and judgment.  It is evident in 2 Kings, where King Josiah deferred yet did not cancel out via national holiness (however fleeting) the consequences of successive generations of national depravity and disregard for holiness.  The Hollywood tacked-on happy ending, in the style of The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) after the studio took the film away from Orson Welles, would have been for forgiveness to wipe away everything.  Yet judgment came–just later than scheduled previously.

I would like to be a Universalist–a Christian Universalist, to be precise.  Yet that would be a false choice.  No matter how much grace exists in Jesus, the reality of the Incarnation does demand a response to the question,

Who do we say Jesus is?

(Thanks to Professor Phillip Cary, in his Teaching Company course on the History of Christian Theology for making the point that the Synoptic Gospels pose that question to audiences.)  And, as C. H. Dodd, while explaining Realized Eschatology in The Founder of Christianity, wrote of Jesus in that book:

In his words and actions he made men aware of [the kingdom of God] and challenged them to respond.  It was “good news” in the sense that it meant opportunity for a new start and an unprecedented enrichment of experience.  But when a person (or society) has been presented with such a challenge and declines it, he is not just where he was before.  His position is the worse for the encounter….The coming of the kingdom meant the open opportunity of enhancement of life; it also meant the heightening of moral responsibility.

–1970 Macmillan paperback edition, page 58

So, regardless of the number of challenges and severity thereof we might face due to our fidelity to God, may we find encouragement to continue to follow Christ, our Lord and Savior, who suffered to the point of death and overcame that obstacle.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 10, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN LEONARDI, FOUNDER OF THE CLERKS REGULAR OF THE MOTHER OF GOD; AND SAINT JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS, FOUNDER OF THE CLERKS REGULAR OF RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS

THE FEAST OF SAINT PAULINUS OF YORK, ARCHBISHOP

THE FEAST OF VIDA DUTTON SCUDDER, WRITER

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/grace-demanding-a-decision/

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