Devotion for Saturday Before the Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany, Year C (ELCA Daily Lectionary)

Above:  Baal

Image in the Public Domain

Idols and Icons

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

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The Collect:

Living God, in Christ you make all things new.

Transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace,

and in the renewal of our lives make known your glory,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 24

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The Assigned Readings:

Jeremiah 17:1-4

Psalm 1

Luke 11

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Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked,

nor lingered in the way of sinners,

nor sat in the seats of the scornful!

Their delight is in the law of the LORD,

and they meditate on his law day and night.

They are like trees planted by streams of water,

bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither;

everything they do shall prosper.

It is not so with the wicked;

they are like chaff which the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked shall not stand when judgment comes,

nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.

For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked is doomed.

–Psalm 1, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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The theme of idolatry unites the main two pericopes.  It occupies the core of the reading from Jeremiah 17, where idolatry will lead to destruction.  The lesson from Luke 11 concludes a narrative in which some critics have accused Jesus of being in league with Satan, prompting our Lord and Savior to respond with his “house divided” discourse.  Christ’s critics in that account could not recognize God incarnate in their presence.

An idol is anything–a thought, a practice, an object–which prevents one from recognizing God where God is present.  One person’s idol might be another person’s icon–through which one sees God.  The difference between an idol and an icon is how one uses it.  Among my favorite words is bibliolatry, which means treating the Bible as an idol.  That is an unfortunate reality for many who seek God.  Their desire for something concrete leads them astray as they seek the invisible God.

May we, as we seek God, avoid all idols, by grace.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 14, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ALL CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES

THE FEAST OF SAMUEL ISAAC JOSEPH SCHERESCHEWSKY, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF SHANGHAI

THE FEAST OF THOMAS HANSEN KINGO, DANISH LUTHERAN BISHOP, HYMN WRITER, AND “POET OF EASTERTIDE”

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/10/14/idols-and-icons-2/

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