Devotion for Wednesday After the Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany, Year C (ELCA Daily Lectionary)

Above:  Flevit Super Illam (He Wept Over It), by Enrique Simonet

Image in the Public Domain

The Wrath of God

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

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The Collect:

Almighty and ever-living God,

increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and love;

and that we may obtain what you promise,

make us love what you command,

through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 23

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The Assigned Readings:

Jeremiah 1:11-19

Psalm 56

Luke 19:41-44

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Be kind to me, God, for men are persecuting me,

continually assailants oppress me.

My adversaries persecute me all day long,

indeed those who attack me are many.

Though each day I am afraid of fierce enemies

still I put my trust in you.

–Psalm 56:1-3, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers (1989), by Harry Mowvley

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The main two readings for today are unhappy.  The prophet Jeremiah, having just accepted God’s call, receives his commission, complete with the following promise:

They will attack you,

But they shall not overcome you;

For I am with you–declares the LORD–to save you.

–Jeremiah 1:19, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Jeremiah spent much time on the run from the law, in custody, and finally, in exile.

Jesus, just a few days away from his death, lamented over Jerusalem.  Then he cleansed the Temple of merchants profiteering from the upcoming Passover.  Certainly the memory of the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. informed the telling of that story, but one did not need to be a seer or a genius to predict that, in time, yet another rebellion by Jews would lead to Roman forces destroying the city.  The account is historically plausible.

In both readings the cause of the disaster is the same–prolonged, systematic, and societal failure to recognize God and to act accordingly.  One might interpret the resulting disaster not so much as God being vengeful as the proverbial chickens coming home to roost.  Actions have consequences.  We know that the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah strayed far from the societal vision of mutuality underpinning the Law of Moses, and that idolatry was ubiquitous.  In the case of the reading from Luke, the Temple establishment was in league with the occupying Roman forces.  Perhaps the wrath of God in these cases, if one chooses to interpret the doom as such, was as simple as,

You have made your bed.  Now sleep in it.

I am cautious in addressing this matter, for I seek to avoid committing certain errors.  Within my memory during the last decade and more, certain prominent professing Christian evangelists have brought reproach on Christianity by blaming some natural disasters (frustrated by human shortsightedness in matters such as civil engineering) on God, whom they have portrayed as vengeful.  Was Hurricane Katrina (2005) God’s wrath for toleration and acceptance of homosexuality?  Of course not!  How dare anyone suggest that it was!  Despite my caution, I recognize that there is such a thing as the wrath of God, and that it frequently takes the form of having to deal with the consequences of one’s actions and inactions.  My concept of God differs greatly from that of those who worship the gangster God of whom all people should stand in terror and whom nobody can possibly belove.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 5, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF DAVID NITSCHMANN, SR., “FATHER NITSCHMANN,” MORAVIAN MISSIONARY; MELCHIOR NITSCHMANN, MORAVIAN MISSIONARY AND MARTYR; JOHANN NITSCHMANN, JR., MORAVIAN MISSIONARY AND BISHOP; ANNA NITSCHMANN, MORAVIAN ELDRESS; AND DAVID NITSCHMANN, MISSIONARY AND FIRST BISHOP OF THE RENEWED MORAVIAN CHURCH

THE FEAST OF BRADFORD TORREY, U.S. ORNITHOLOGIST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF HARRY EMERSON FOSDICK, NORTHERN BAPTIST PASTOR AND OPPONENT OF FUNDAMENTALISM

THE FEAST OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE UNITED REFORMED CHURCH, 1972

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/the-wrath-of-god/

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