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
Of those who are sleeping in the Land of Dust, many will awaken, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting disgrace. Those who are wise will shine as brightly as the expanse of the heavens, and those who have instructed many in uprightness, as bright as stars for all eternity.
Look, I shall send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. He will reconcile parents to their children and children to their parents, lest I come and put the land under a ban to destroy it.
“It is quite true,” he told them, “that Elijah does come first, and begins the restoration of all things. But what does the scripture say about the Son of Man? This: that he must go through much suffering and be treated with contempt. I tell you that not only has Elijah come already but they have done to him exactly what they wanted–just as the scripture says of him.”
–Mark 9:12-13, J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition (1972)
There is much happening in the background of the Gospel lection for today:
The resurrection of the dead is associated with the Day of the Lord in Daniel 12:2-3.
In Malachi 3:23-24/4:5-6 (depending on which versification system one follows), Elijah will return before judgment day and function as an agent of reconciliation.
Jesus identifies the late St. John the Baptist as Elijah in Mark 9:13.
Yet is not the expectation in Malachi that Elijah will prevent suffering?
The account in Mark overturns old assumptions. For that matter, the entire Gospel of Mark argues against a certain understanding of Messiahship. In the earliest canonical Gospel, the crucifixion of Jesus makes his status as the Messiah unmistakable. That has become a common reading of Messiahship since the first century of Christianity yet was once a radical notion. The same rule applies to St. John the Baptist as “Elijah.” Our Lord and Savior’s cousin was also his forerunner in suffering and death.
If humbling oneself before God postpones punishments (at least in some cases), the fact remains that the consequences of misdeeds and sins of omission will fall in time–perhaps upon the next generation, as unfair as that might seem. But that is how reality works, is it not? Yet the fact remains that one generation leaves legacies–positive and negative–which affect people into the future. However the Atonement works (I side with the Eastern Orthodox, who argue against the Western Christian tendency to explain away certain mysteries), I like to think that it leaves a positive legacy of negating much of the negative which would have come down to us otherwise.
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 argued that God was omnipotent and was, in his case, abusing power. His alleged friends agreed with him that God was omnipotent yet insisted that there was no abuse of power, for Job must have deserved such grave suffering. Jesus, in John 6, spoke of his flesh as being
the living bread which has come down from heaven…for the life of the world (verse 51, The New Jerusalem Bible)
This comparison ran afoul of Jewish sensibilities. God does offend us from time to time.
Job was correct; he did not deserve such grave suffering. That reality “did not compute” with his alleged friends. I argue that Job was correct to take offense at God, given the narrative the Book of Job provides for me to read and ponder. As for sensibilities surrounding flesh and blood, the language in John 6 does seem similar to cannibalism, does it not? But I affirm Transubstantiation, so I trust that I take the body and blood of Jesus into my body each week. I have learned not to take offense.
Taking offense at God is a difficult situation. When is it excusable or appropriate? This, I suppose, is a question one needs to address on a case-by-case basis. Usually, however, I propose that it is inappropriate.
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 2:14-26 (Revised English Bible):
What good is it, my friends, for someone to say he has faith when his actions do nothing to show it? Suppose a fellow-Christian, whether man or woman, is in rags with not enough food for the day, and one of you says,
Goodbye, keep warm, and have a good meal,
but does nothing to supply their bodily needs, what good is that? So with faith; if it does not lead by action, it is by itself a lifeless thing.
But someone may say:
One chooses faith, another action.
To which I reply:
Show me this faith you speak of with no actions to prove it, while I by my actions will prove to you my faith.
You have faith and believe that there is one God. Excellent! Even demons have faith like that, and it makes them tremble. Do you have to be told, you fool, that faith divorced from action is futile? Was it not by his action, in offering his son Isaac upon the altar, that our father Abraham was justified? Surely you can see faith was at work in his actions, and by these actions his faith was perfected? Here was the fulfillment of the words of scripture:
Abraham put his faith in God, and that faith was counted to him as righteousness,
and he was called
God’s friend.
You can see then it was by action and not by faith alone that a man is justified. The same is also true of the prostitute Rahab. Was she not justified by her action in welcoming the messengers into her house and sending them away by a different route? As the body is dead when there is no breath in it, so faith divorced from action is dead.
Psalm 112 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Hallelujah!
Happy are they who fear the Lord
and have great delight in his commandments!
2 Their descendants will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches will be in their house,
and their righteousness will last for ever.
4 Light shines in the darkness for the upright;
the righteous are merciful and full of compassion.
5 It is good for them to be generous in lending
and to manage their affairs with justice.
6 For they will never be shaken;
the righteous will be kept in everlasting remembrance.
7 They will not be afraid of any evil rumors;
their heart is right;
they put their trust in the Lord.
8 Their heart is established and will not shrink,
until they see their desire upon their enemies.
9 They have given freely to the poor,
and their righteousness stands fast for ever;
they will hold up their head with honor.
10 The wicked will see it and be angry;
they will gnash their teeth and pine away;
the desires of the wicked will perish.
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.
Today’s devotional consists of a story, one which actually might be accurate, but which does communicate a truth. I heard this story in a sermon over a decade ago.
Once, at a seminary attached to a historic U.S. university, a professor of homiletics, that is, preaching, assigned his students to preach about the importance of helping the less fortunate, a major theme in the Bible. He did not tell them that their words inside the classroom were irrelevant. Rather, each seminarian’s grade depended on his action or inaction on the day he was supposed to deliver this sermon. The seminary professor, you see, O reader, had contacted a drama professor, who had arranged for acting students to play beggars and to intercept the seminarians. Most of the seminarians failed.
Here ends the lesson. All other comments I might have made here are accessible by following the links embedded in this post.
Above: An Illustrated Manuscript from 1300: The Account of the Transfiguration of Jesus from the Gospel of Mark
Spiritual Blindness and Deafness Resulting from Erroneous Assumptions
FEBRUARY 18, 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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Hebrews 11:1-7 (Revised English Bible):
Faith gives substance to our hopes and convinces us of realities we do not see.
It was for our faith that the people old won God’s approval.
By faith we understand that the universe was formed by God’s command, so that the visible came forth from the invisible.
By faith Abel offered a greater sacrifice than Cain’s; because of his faith God approved his offerings and attested his goodness; and through his faith, though he is dead, he continues to speak.
By faith Enoch was taken up to another life without passing through death; he was not to be found, because God had taken him, and it is the testimony of scripture that before he was taken he had pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever comes to God must believe that he exists and rewards those who seek him.
By faith Noah took good heed of the divine warning about the unseen future, and built an ark to save his household. Through his faith he put the whole world in the wrong, and made good this own claim to the righteousness which comes of faith.
Psalm 145:1-4, 10-13 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 I will exalt you, O God my King,
and bless your Name for ever and ever.
2 Every day will I bless you
and praise your Name for ever and ever.
3 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised;
there is no end to his greatness.
4 One generation shall praise your works to another
and shall declare your power.
10 All your works praise you, O LORD,
and all your faithful servants bless you.
11 They make known the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your power;
12 That the peoples may know of your power
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom;
your dominion endures throughout all ages.
Mark 9:2-13 (Revised English Bible):
Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And in their presence he was transfigured; his clothes became dazzling white, with a whiteness no bleacher on earth could equal. They saw Elijah appear and Moses with him, talking with Jesus. Then Peter spoke:
Rabbi,
he said,
it is good that we are here! Shall we make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah?
For he did not know what to say; they were so terrified. Then a cloud appeared, casting its shadow over them, and out of the cloud came a voice:
This is my beloved Son; listen to him.
And suddenly, when they looked around, only Jesus was with them; there was no longer anyone else to be seen.
On their way down the mountain, he instructed them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They seized upon those words, and discussed among themselves what this “rising from the dead” could mean. And they put a question to him:
Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?
He replied,
Elijah does come first to set everything right. How is it, then, that the scriptures say of the Son of Man that he is to endure great suffering and be treated with contempt? However, I tell you, Elijah has already come and they have done to him what they wanted, ans the scriptures say of him.
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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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Hebrews 11:1-7 speaks of faith. The author of this text defines faith as that which “gives substance to our hopes and convictions of realities we do not see.” Furthermore, we read, the faithful dead continue to speak (after a fashion) because of their faith. And faith makes it possible to please God, “for whoever comes to God must believe that he exists and rewards those who seek him.”
Here I feel the need to make a distinction. Believing in God and accepting the the existence of God are separate. The latter is a merely intellectual jump; the former is a leap of faith. An Agnostic accepts that God exists, for example, but is still agnostic, literally “without knowledge.”
And it is not just Agnostics who lack knowledge. We who profess to follow Jesus are just as prone to spiritual ignorance as anyone else. We see the evidence of nature, but do we understand what it means? And Apostles spent time with Jesus and heard his words repeatedly, but they remained confused for a very long time. They were neither stupid nor physically blind or deaf. No, they labored under misconceptions of Messiahship, that the Messiah would be a national liberator. But Jesus did not drive out the Romans, nor did he attempt to do so. He suffered, died, and rose again; before that, he said he would suffer, die, and rise again. There was a great display of power involved in the Resurrection, but the Romans were still present as occupying power in Judea.
The author of the Gospel of Mark wrote the earliest canonical Gospel in part to dispel false expectations of Messiahship, but, as I have written in previous devotions in this series, some of us have not paid attention. On the positive side, however, many of us have learned this Markan lesson.
Let us consider the Transfiguration. I suspect that the most eloquent words are inadequate to the experience. Yet all accounts agree that there was a spectacular display of Jesus in his divine glory, that God approved of him, and that Jesus is consistent with the Law and the Prophets. Peter, duly awed, wanted to institutionalize the moment, but that was the wrong response. Jesus had work to do; he was preparing to die. And his Apostles needed to be at his side. We know how that turned out, do we not?
Sadly, we mere mortals today remain blind to many spiritual realities about which Jesus and the Prophets before him were quite plain. What is wrong with us? Why are we so dense? Why do cling to false assumptions? Why do we not see what is in front of us?
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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