Devotion for December 30, Year B (ELCA Daily Devotion)

Above:  Charles Finney (1792-1866), Who Considered Eating Meat, Drinking Tea, and Reading Secular Novels to Be Self-Indulgent Activities Which No Christian Should Commit

Image in the Public Domain

Two Banquets

DECEMBER 30, 2023

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The Collect:

All-powerful and unseen God, the coming of your light

into our world has brightened weary hearts with peace.

Call us out of darkness, and empower us to proclaim the birth of your Son,

Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 20

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The Assigned Readings:

Proverbs 9:1-12

Psalm 148

2 Peter 3:8-13

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Kings of the earth and all peoples,

princes and all rulers of the world;

Young men and women,

old and young together;

let them praise the name of the Lord.

–Psalm 148:11-12, Common Worship (2000)

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As I read the pericope from Proverbs 9 closely, I noticed two issues regarding it:

1. Verses 7-12 do not flow naturally from verses 1-6, and
2. Verses 1-6 and 13-18 constitute a contrast.

One should in fact, read verses 1-6 and 13-18 together.  To do so is to read descriptions of two very different banquets.  One is public, but the other is private.  The first leads to spiritual life, but the second leads to spiritual death.

Divine wisdom, which wisdom literature personifies as a woman, prepares and hosts a banquet for the benefit of the simple.  A banquet is a recurring theme throughout the Bible.  Often the feast functions as a metaphor for the eschaton, as in canonical gospels.  I, a serious student of the Bible, recognize eschatological passages as containing both divine judgment and mercy.

Eschatology is in the foreground in 2 Peter 3:8-13.  The author is arguing against scoffers.  Proverbs 9:7 says that he was calling down abuse on himself, but the author of 2 Peter 3:8-13 was encouraging the faithful to lead good, disciplined lives.  God will establish justice, but that constitutes no excuse for us to become discouraged and lapse in our spiritual discipline, he writes.  Yes, we Christians ought to lead disciplined, not self-indulgent, lives, but that mandate is no reason for us to fall into other errors.  I have read of overly strict Christians (often from the nineteenth century) condemning activities such as reading secular novels, eating meat, drinking tea, and playing chess as self-indulgent and therefore sinful.  These critics needed to relax.  There is, fortunately, a sensible middle ground safely distant from both legalism and an “anything goes” attitude.

Each of us should, of course, enjoy many pleasures sensibly, without idolizing any of them.  And all people have responsibilities to God and others.  We humans are responsible to and for each other.  We are responsible for the ways we treat the environment.  God has given us free will with the responsibility to use it wisely.  May we attend the proper banquet.  May we enjoy and glorify God forever.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 8, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JOHANN VON STAUPITZ, MARTIN LUTHER’S SPIRITUAL MENTOR

THE FEAST OF JAMES THEODORE HOLLY, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF HAITI

THE FEAST OF JOHN MILTON, POET AND ANGLICAN PRIEST

THE FEAST OF THE SAINTS AND MARTYRS OF THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/two-banquets/

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