If anyone had a legitimate reason to harbor resentment, Joseph son of Jacob did. Siblings had, out of jealousy of him and annoyance with him (he was an insufferable brat for a while), faked his death and sold him into slavery. Joseph had also spent years in prison for a crime he had not committed. Decades later, when he had a position in the Egyptian government, Joseph had an opportunity to take revenge. As one reads in Genesis 45, he chose to do otherwise.
One theme in the pericope from Romans 8 is liberation by God from the power of sin (yet not the struggle with sin) to serve and obey God, to pursue spiritual purposes. The reading from 1 John, with its warning against loving the world, fits well with that passage. That caution is not a call for serial Christian contrariness. No, St. Augustine of Hippo understood the passage well. He asked,
Why should I not love what God has made?
The great theologian answered his own question this way:
God does not forbid one to love these things but to love them to the point of finding one’s beatitude in them.
–Quoted in Raymond E. Brown, The Epistles of John (1982), pages 324-325
The quest for selfish gain, a theme extant in more than one of the readings for these days, is a journey toward harm of others and of oneself. That which we do to others, we do also to ourselves. There might be a delayed delivery of “what comes around, goes around,” but the proverbial cows will come home. It is better to seek the common god and to forgo vengeance, to retire grudges and to build up one’s society, community, and congregation. One can do that while loving the world, but not to the point of, in the words of St. Augustine of Hippo, finding one’s benediction in it. No, we should find one’s benediction in God alone. As we read in Psalm 27:7-9 (The Book of Common Prayer, 1979):
Be still before the LORD
and wait patiently for him.
Do not fret yourself over the one who prospers,
the one who succeeds in evil schemes.
Refrain from anger, leave rage alone;
do not fret yourself; it leads only to evil.
Here ends the lesson.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 27, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF ARTHUR CAMPBELL AINGER, ENGLISH EDUCATOR, SCHOLAR, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT AEDESIUS, PRIEST AND MISSIONARY; AND SAINT FRUDENTIUS, FIRST BISHOP OF AXUM AND ABUNA OF THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX TEWAHEDO CHURCH
THE FEAST OF JOSEPH GRIGG, ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
But when Moses repeated those words to the Israelites, they would not listen to him, because of their cruel slavery, they had reached the depths of despair.
Active faith by which we follow God has changed the world for the better. In the United States of America, for example, it fueled the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Such active faith overturned Apartheid in the Republic of South Africa. This continues to compel people to work for social justice all over the planet.
Yet passiveness born of resignation stymies progress. Giving up on improving conditions in this world and seeking a better lot only in the afterlife does nothing to work for a just society on this plane of reality. The Hebrew prophets condemned social injustice. Our Lord and Savior did likewise. Indeed, seeking to improve this reality is part and parcel of loving one’s neighbor and pursuing the great Jewish ethic of healing the world.
So may each of us never make peace with oppression. May all of us take to heart and act on the following prayer:
O God, your Son came among us to serve and not to be served, and to give his life for the life of the world. Lead us by his love to serve all those to whom the world offers no comfort and little help. Through us give hope to the hopeless, love to the unloved, peace to the troubled, and rest to the weary, through 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 60
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 22, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF FREDERICK PRATT GREEN, BRITISH METHODIST MINISTER, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF BARTHOLOMEW ZOUBERBUHLER, ANGLICAN PRIEST
Freedom in God comes bundled with responsibilities to each other in community life. Such liberty is not an ultra-libertarian fantasy. But neither does it constitute individual-crushing conformity. No, freedom comes with rules. We ought not to harm others by our actions purposefully or otherwise. When we do, we have an obligation to make restitution. Sometimes, in the Law of Moses, one finds a rule which offends contemporary sensibilities. Executing someone for blasphemy comes to mind immediately. I know that such a charge contributed to the judicial murder of our Lord and Savior. I know also that such a charge leads to the martyrdom of many of my fellow Christians in these days. So I have my reasons for holding the opinion that I do. Yet I know that this law came from the context of thinking about the welfare of the community.
We must avoid ridiculous extremes, which are relatively easy to identify. I think of a secondhand story over a decade old. Some very conservative Christians in Statesboro, Georgia, objected to soccer, calling it
too worldly.
I argue that one does not sin by playing soccer, no matter how much it might offend people with such an opinion. If one chooses to offend nobody one sets oneself up for an impossible situation, for anything might offend somebody, somewhere. And improper idleness, taking the place of righteous action, constitutes a sin. So some people will just have to take offense and cope as best they can. There is no right not to be offended. Many things offend me, but I move on with life, minding my own business, which keeps me occupied.
On the other hand, we must think about the effects of our behaviors upon others if we are to behave toward them with proper respect. And, since how we think drives how we act, a loving and respectful, not judgmental attitude, is the proper starting point. May we choose noble or at least innocent pursuits in the knowledge that somebody, somewhere might misunderstand even these, but that we must do something positive despite that fact. Perhaps we will have opportunities to correct such confusion. Yet, even if we will not, we will have the chances to engage in good works, which are part of one’s set of responsibilities to others in the community.
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’s reply continues in 13:1-12. He says in part,
Indeed, I would speak to the Almighty;
I insist on arguing with God.
But you invent lies;
All of you are quacks.
If you would only keep quiet
It would be considered wisdom on your part.
–Job 13:3-5, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
Those words attracted my attention and agreement. Then I noticed an accurate prediction:
Will it go well when He examines you?
Will you fool Him as one fools men?
He will surely reprove you
If in your heart you are partial toward Him.
–Job 13:9-10, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
Job’s alleged friends misunderstood God, whose reputation they strove to defend.
In John 6:1-15 some of
as many as five thousand men (verse 10, The New Jerusalem Bible)
misunderstood Jesus. He had just fed them with five barley loaves and two fish, ending up with
twelve large baskets of scraps (verse 13, The New Jerusalem Bible).
Recognition of our Lord as an apocalyptic prophet led people to want to set him up as a king in opposition to the Roman Empire. So he fled them.
The Gospel of John being the Gospel of John, the narrative is more theological than historical and the meal was not just a meal. I recognize Eucharistic imagery in the account. And Jesus was not a national liberator, despite the understandable hopes of many people. The narrative conveys that point quite well.
The methods of God are mysterious and frequently unexpected. Sometimes they are so mundane as to fly under our radars, so to speak. And they are spectacular and unusual at other times. May we, by grace, recognize as many of them as possible and respond to God appropriately.
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
Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.
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James 2:1-13 (Revised English Bible):
My friends, you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ who reigns in glory and you must always be impartial. For instance, two visitors may enter your meeting, one a well-dressed man with gold rings, and the other a poor man in grimy clothes. Suppose you pay special attention to the well-dressed man and say to him,
Please take this seat,
while to the poor man you say,
You stand over there, or sit here on the floor by my footstool,
do you not see that you are discriminating among your members and judging by wrong standards? Listen, my dear friends: has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to possess the kingdom he has promised to those who love him? And yet you have humiliated the poor man. Moreover, are not the rich your oppressors? Is it not they who drag you into court and pour contempt on the honoured name by which God has claimed you?
If, however, you are observing the sovereign law laid down in scripture,
Love your neighbor as you love yourself,
that is excellent. But if you show partiality, you are committing a sin and you stand convicted by the law as offenders. For if a man breaks just one commandment and keeps all the others, he is guilty of breaking all of them. For he who said,
You shall not commit adultery,
said also,
You shall not commit murder.
If you commit murder you are a breaker of the law, even if you do not commit adultery as well. Always speak and act as men who are to be judged under a law which makes them free. In that judgement there will be no mercy for the man who has shown none. Mercy triumphs over judgement.
Psalm 72:1-4, 13-14 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Give the King your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to the King’s Son;
2 That he may rule your people righteously
and the poor with justice;
3 That the mountains may bring prosperity to the people,
and the little hills bring righteousness.
4 He shall defend the needy among the people;
he shall rescue the poor and crush the oppressor.
13 He shall have pity on the lowly and the poor;
he shall preserve the lives of the needy.
14 He shall redeem their lives from oppression and violence,
and dear shall their blood be in his sight.
Mark 8:27-33 (Revised English Bible):
Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples,
Who do people say that I am?
They answered,
Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, others one of the prophets.
He asked,
And you, who do you say that I am?
Peter replied,
You are the Messiah.
Then he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him; and he began to teach them that the Son of Man had to endure great suffering, and to be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes; to be put to death, and to rise again three days afterwards. He spoke about it plainly. At this Peter took hold of him and began to rebuke him. But Jesus, turning and looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter.
Out of my sight, Satan!
he said.
You think as men think, not as God thinks.
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The Collect:
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye” when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
One of the advantages to following a well-planned lectionary is reading certain books continuously. If, however, one drops in during the continuous reading and does not orientate one’s self, one will not not notice the threads binding one portion of a book to others. James 2:1-13 fits neatly with James 1 and, immediately, the rest of James 2. (Read for yourself.) At the end of James 1, for example, we read that pure religion–worship, rather–in the sight of God entails caring for widows and orphans (and other vulnerable people, we may extrapolate safely).
Then we read a condemnation of class-conscious preference and the predatory rich, the kind of who drag the poor into court.
Fortunately, we read, mercy trumps judgment. This is consistent with Jesus in Matthew 7:1-5 yet goes beyond that. James 2:13 does say that, by showing mercy to others, we can erase our own sins. I can understand why Martin Luther, who objected strongly to Roman Catholic theology of works, called James “an epistle of straw.” But what if Luther overreacted?
A firm and balanced grasp of James 2:13 requires an understanding of faith, as Paul used that term in Romans, and faith, as James wrote of it. Fortunately, I have covered that in a post, a link to which I have provided in this post. It is sufficed to say here, however, that if one understands faith as intellectual and therefore works as necessary for justification, James 2:13 is consistent with the rest of the book.
There was much egalitarianism, especially across economic lines, in the early Church. Unfortunately, as Christianity became respectable, mainstream, and even state-sponsored, it abandoned much of that ethic in favor of defending the status quo as God’s favored order. To agitate for social justice, then, became a sin, according to the Church. This state of affairs was itself a sin.
The predatory rich, who are distinct from the genuinely philanthropic and kindhearted wealthy, remain with us, as does the imperative to show mercy. May all of us, regardless of our economic states, treat others with mercifully, obeying the Golden Rule.
Above: Plan for Versailles Palace and Its Grounds, 1746
Monuments to Human Egos
FEBRUARY 17, 2023
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Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.
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Genesis 11:1-9 (Revised English Bible):
There was a time when all the world spoke a single language and used the same words. As people journeyed in the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another,
Come, let us make bricks and bake them hard;
they used bricks for stone and bitumen for mortar. Then they said,
Let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens and make a name for ourselves, or we shall be dispersed over the face of the earth.
The LORD came down to see the city and tower which they had built, and he said,
Here they are, one people with a single language, and now they have started to do this; from now on nothing they have a mind to do will be beyond their reach. Come, let us go down there and confuse their language, so that they will not understand what they say to one another.
So the LORD dispersed them from there all over the earth, and they left off building the city. That is why it is called Babel, because there the LORD made a babble of the language of the whole world. It was from that place the LORD scattered people over the face of the earth.
Psalm 33:6-18 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made,
by the breath of his mouth all the heavenly hosts,
7 He gathers up the waters of the ocean as in a water-skin,
and stores up the depths of the sea.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all who dwell in the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spoke, and it came to pass;
he commanded, and it stood fast.
10 The LORD brings the will of the nations to naught;
he thwarts the designs of the peoples.
11 But the LORD’s will stands fast for ever,
and the designs of his heart from age to age.
12 Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD!
happy the people he has chosen to be his own!
13 The LORD looks down from heaven,
and beholds all the people in the world.
14 From where he sits enthroned he turns his gaze
on all who dwell on the earth.
15 He fashions all the hearts of them
and understands all their works.
16 There is no king that can be saved by a mighty army;
a strong man is not delivered by his great strength.
17 The horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
for all its strength it cannot save.
18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon those who fear him,
on those who wait upon his love,
19 To pluck their lives from death,
and to feed them in time of famine.
20 Our soul waits for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
21 Indeed, our heart rejoices in him,
for in his holy Name we put our trust.
22 Let your loving-kindness, O LORD, be upon us,
as we have put our trust in you.
Mark 8:34-9:1 (Revised English Bible):
Then he called the people to him, as well as his disciples, and said to them,
Anyone who wants to be a follower of mine must renounce self; he must take up his cross and follow me. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel’s will save it. What does anyone gain by winning the whole world at the cost of his life? What can he give to buy his life back? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this wicked and godless age, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
He said to them,
Truly I tell you: there are some of those standing here who will not taste death before they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
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The Collect:
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Versailles Palace, outside Paris, France, is a tourist attraction and an art museum today. Yet it began as a hunting lodge for King Louis XIII (reigned 1610-1643). It was certainly a very nice hunting lodge, but it was not a palace. Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (reigned 1643-1715) began the process of expanding the hunting lodge into a palace, and made it the seat of his court and the architectural symbol of his absolutist rule. Versailles Palace was a monument to the royal ego.
We students of history know what happened to that royal line, do we not? Hint: The French Revolution. Afterward, three kings governed France, and two of those died in exile. The last king had to evacuate his throne in 1848.
Monuments to human egos outlast the people who build them.
Let us turn now from history to mythology, whereby the Book of Genesis provides a fictional account of the origin of languages. (Study linguistics for the actual account.) The people in the city in this myth seek to disobey the divine command to spread out across the planet. So they establish a building program, one goal of which is to establish their name. This is about ego. So God gives them no choice but to obey his command. The actual meaning of the name “Babylon” is “Gate of God,” which the city in the myth does not become.
Jesus points away from ego and disobedience. He says to renounce self, take up a cross, and follow him. Therein lies spiritual life, which no mere mortal can take away from us. This is life as the worshipers of ego do not recognize it, and it is superior to their concept. Our glory is in God, not ourselves.
You might have noticed, O reader, Mark 9:1, in which Jesus says:
Truly I tell you: there are some of those standing here who will not taste death before they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
This text begs one overriding question: What is the Kingdom of God in this saying? Let us use textual context. Consider Mark 1:14-15 (Revised English Bible):
After John had been arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “The time has arrived; the kingdom of God is upon you. Repent, and believe the Gospel.”
The ministry of Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom of God.
Mark 9:2 begins an account of the Transfiguration of Jesus. Let us distinguish between the Kingdom of God coming in power and people seeing the Kingdom of God coming in power. At this point (9:1) in Mark, the Kingdom of God has come in power, that is, the power working through Jesus. People will realize this very shortly, Jesus is saying. The Transfiguration reveals this fact to Apostles, and the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus render the Messianic Secret no longer a secret. Furthermore, the surviving eleven Apostles, as history tells us, spread the Good News of Jesus far abroad.
The definition of the Kingdom of God is ambiguous here, but it pertains to the authority of Jesus. Evil continues to exist, of course, but (to get jump ahead in the story) the resurrection of Jesus demonstrates the superior power of God in Jesus. This is one theological understanding of the Atonement present in the writings of Church Fathers.
I posit that since Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom of God almost two thousand years ago, it is still here on the earth. Appearances might seem to indicate otherwise, but consider this: The presence of Jesus on earth did not mark the end of the Roman domination of Judea and terminate injustice. Recall that part of the message of the Gospel of Mark is to argue against the idea of conqueror Messiah. (See the devotional for the Week of 6 Epiphany: Thursday, Year 1.) So why, if we are paying attention, should we expect the continued presence of the Kingdom of God among the faithful to accomplish anything similar in our time and place?
But let us follow Jesus, sacrificing that which God commands us to sacrifice, obediently. There is justice with God, and the schedule for that is beyond human comprehension. So be it. May we seek to become what we can in God, and not to strike out in foolish directions. God will handle the rest.
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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