How well can we understand the judgment and mercy of God? Christianity dwells on divine mercy yet the New Testament contains plenty of judgment. Need I remind anyone of Revelation? Furthermore, anger and fantasies of violence recur throughout the Psalms. We read of the Day of the LORD in Malachi. In that passage we read, according to TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985), that the faithful will
trample the wicked to a pulp.
Who do we say God is? Who do we say Jesus is? We cannot escape all spiritual veils, for we know in part and carry cultural blinders. Yet we can, by grace, recognize Jesus sufficiently to follow him to Jerusalem, so to speak.
God will tend to judgment and mercy.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 22, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR A
THE FEAST OF SAINT DEOGRATIAS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF CARTHAGE
THE FEAST OF EMMANUEL MOURNIER, PERSONALIST PHILOSOPHER
THE FEAST OF JAMES DE KOVEN, EPISCOPAL PRIEST
THE FEAST OF THOMAS HUGHES, BRITISH SOCIAL REFORMER AND MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM EDWARD HICKSON, ENGLISH MUSIC EDUCATOR AND SOCIAL REFORMER
Melchizedek, a Canaanite priest-king whose name means “Zedek is my king,” appears briefly and mysteriously in Genesis 14. (Zedek was a Canaanite deity.) The name “Melchizedek” recurs in Psalm 110, which identifies the monarch as a priest. The Letter to the Hebrews associates Melchizedek with Jesus.
Jesus is a powerful figure in all of the canonical Gospels. That power is more evident in deeds than in words in the Synoptic Gospels. In the Gospel of John Jesus is considerably more verbose. His plethora of words accompanies mighty signs. Jesus accepts no glory from people (John 5:41), seeking to glorify God the Father instead, just as Abraham gives all glory to YHWH in Genesis 14.
This Sunday is traditionally the Sunday of the Transfiguration. In the chronology of the Synoptic Gospels the Transfiguration occurs en route to Jerusalem the last time; Jesus is going to the city not to seek his own glory, but to obey and glorify God. And, in the Gospel of John, the glorification of Jesus by God is his crucifixion.
Regardless of the ambiguous details of Melchizedek, most of which I have not written about because they are irrelevant to my main point in this post, the principle that we mere mortals should seek to glorify God, not ourselves, remains. It is a counter-cultural message, for quite often we tend to praise those who seek their own glory. That glory is fleeting, but God’s glory is everlasting.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 3, 2017 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIE-LEONIE PARADIS, FOUNDER OF THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAMILY
Elihu’s speeches contain much that sounds pious. Job 36:24-37:24 supports this generalization. We read, among other things, that we should praise God and that divine grandeur exceeds our knowledge of it. Elihu even sounds like God in Job 38-41, the “I am God and you are not” speeches:
Mediate on God’s wonders.
Can you tell how God controls them
or how his clouds make the lightning flash?
Can you tell how he holds the clouds in balance:
a miracle of consummate skill?
When your clothes are hot to your body
and the earth lies still under the south wind,
can you help him to spread the vault of heaven,
Or temper the mirror of cast metal?
–Job 37:14b-18, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
I prefer the God of Job 42:7-8 to the God of Job 38-41, for the former acknowledges that Job was correct. For some reason I have really noticed Job 43:7-8 during the preparation for this series of posts, despite the many times I have read that passage over the years. Part of the wonder of scripture is that one can always find something one has missed.
Among my favorite aspects of Judaism is the practice of arguing faithfully with God. The character of Job exemplifies that well. He is, contrary to an inaccurate cliché, impatient and argumentative–justifiably, I contend. Yes, we can take refuge in God, but this does preclude a good argument now and then.
We should repent of and express remorse for our sins, as grace helps us to recognize them. As we do so, we ought to follow the advice of Hebrews 13:13-15 and follow Jesus, who healed people around whom he was not present, into the world as pilgrims each day. We might suffer reproach, but the servant is not greater than the master. Sometimes we will suffer for reasons neither we nor others understand, or because of the sins of others. That is simply reality.
One lesson to learn from the Book of Job is the difference between speaking the truth in love and blaming the victim. Unfortunately, recognizing that distinction can prove difficult in the moment. May we, by grace, prove innocent of being like Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, and Elihu, who were sincerely wrong and not helpful.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 11, 2016 COMMON ERA
PROPER 19: THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR C
THE FEAST OF SAINT PAPHNUTIUS THE GREAT, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF UPPER THEBAID
THE FEAST OF NARAYAN SESHADRI OF JALNA, INDIAN PRESBYTERIAN EVANGELIST AND “APOSTLE TO THE MANGS”
THE FEAST OF SAINT PATIENS OF LYONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP
Psalm 1 might be overly optimistic, but it functions as a fine counterpoint to the other readings. Those readings address groups. Jeremiah spoke to the Kingdom of Judah. St. Paul the Apostle, addressing Jews in Antioch in Pisidia (in Asia Minor), spoke of the actions of religious authorities in Jerusalem. St. (Simon) Peter the Apostle or someone writing in his name addressed congregations in Asia Minor. Those three pericopes fit well together, for they diagnose societal problems. Hubris is the main ill in Jeremiah 13. From that pride flow other sins. Such a diagnosis fits the pericope from Acts 13 well, for hubris contributed to the execution of an innocent man. The readings from 1 Peter takes as its theme obedience to God.
Then away with all wickedness and deceit, hypocrisy and jealousy and malicious talk of any kind!
–1 Peter 2:1, The Revised English Bible (1989)
So much for a great deal of politics, talk radio, celebrity news, and Internet content!
The words of these days’ pericopes indict as strongly today as they did when they were fresh. Human nature has not changed over time. As Koheleth wrote,
Only that shall happen
Which has happened,
Only that occur
Which has occurred;
There is nothing new
Beneath the sun!
–Ecclesiastes 1:9, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
Time passes, technology changes, and political and economic systems come and go, but we are really playing out variations of old themes, are we not? Hubris remains current, malicious gossip has never ceased, and people in power continue to cause innocents to die.
May God have mercy on us all!
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”
Obey God’s laws, whether or not one lives among foreigners with different religions and customs.
Love one’s fellow human beings actively and effectively, trusting in the power of God to enable one to do this.
Do not use God and/or religion to to cover up or to attempt to cover up one’s own perfidy.
The latter point requires some explanation. Korban was a custom by which one gave money to the religious establishment for the support of the professional religious people there. Many people used this practice to deprive their relatives of necesssary funds while looking pious. And many Temple officials knew it. Thus religion became a means of circumventing a basic ethic of the Law of Moses:
Honor your father and your mother.
In other words, motives mattered. They still do.
Ethics are concrete, not abstract. Since we human beings live in communities, our actions and inactions affect each other. Our actions and inactions flow from our attitudes. Thus how we think of each other matters greatly. Do we value each other or do we seek ways to exploit and/or deprive each other? Which people do we think of as our neighbors?
May we not use the letter of the law to the cover up or to attempt to cover up violations of its spirit.
Liturgical time matters, for it sacramentalizes days, hours, and minutes, adding up to seasons on the church calendar. Among the frequently overlooked seasons is the Season after Epiphany, the first part of Ordinary Time. The Feast of the Epiphany always falls on January 6 in my tradition. And Ash Wednesday always falls forty days (excluding Sundays) before Easter Sunday. The Season after Epiphany falls between The Feast of the Epiphany and Ash Wednesday. In 2013 the season will span January 7-February 12.
This season ought to be a holy time, one in which to be especially mindful of the imperative to take the good news of Jesus of Nazareth to others by a variety of means, including words when necessary. Words are meaningless when our actions belie them, after all. Among the themes of this season is that the Gospel is for all people, not just those we define as insiders. No, the message is also for our “Gentiles,” those whom we define as outsiders. So, with that thought in mind, I encourage you, O reader, to exclude nobody. Do not define yourself as an insider to the detriment of others. If you follow this advice, you will have a proper Epiphany spirit.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 9, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARTIN CHEMNITZ, GERMAN LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF BARTON STONE, COFOUNDER OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST)
Job, in the speech which encompasses Chapters 9 and 10, feels powerless before God, whom he understands as being omnipotent. The speaker demands to know why God has done what God has done and is doing what God is doing relative to himself (Job):
I say to God, “Do not condemn me;
Let me know what you are charging me with….”
–Job 10:2, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
This is, in the context of the narrative, understandable and justifiable. The Book of Job does open with God permitting Job’s sufferings. The text offers no easy answers to the question of the causes of the suffering of the innocent.
John 4:46-5:18 offers us happier material. Jesus heals a royal official’s son long-distance then a poor man paralyzed for thirty-eight years up close and in person. Unfortunately for our Lord, he performs the second miracle on the Sabbath and speaks of himself as equal to God, prompting some opponents (labeled invectively as “the Jews”) to plot to kill him. I said that the material was happier, not entirely joyful.
The paralyzed man and the observers probably understood his disability to have resulted from somebody’s sin. The Book of Job, of course, repudiated that point of view.
It occurs to me that Job’s alleged friends and our Lord’s accusers had something in common: Both sets of people were defending their God concept, one which could not stand up to observed reality. J. B. Phillips wrote a classic book, Your God is Too Small (1961), which I most recently too long ago. In this slim volume he pointed out that inadequate God concepts and attachments to them cause dissatisfaction with God and blind us to what God is. Our Lord’s critics in the Gospel of John were blind to what God is and found Jesus unsatisfactory. And, in the Book of Job, as we will discover as we keep reading, all of the mortals who speak have inadequate God concepts. Yet Job’s is the least inadequate.
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
