According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
Is not man’s life on earth nothing more than pressed service,
is time no better than hired drudgery?
Like the slave, sighing for the shade,
or the workman with no thought but his wages,
months of delusion I have assigned to me,
nothing for my own sin but nights of grief.
–Job 7:1-3, The Jerusalem Bible
The speaker in that passage is Job. Therefore, his attitude makes sense, in context.
Yet we find that St. Paul the Apostle, in different circumstances, had a different attitude:
For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more.
–1 Corinthians 9:19, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition
St. Paul the Apostle emulated Jesus, who came to serve, not to be served. Jesus and St. Paul understood the importance of prayer and solitude, as well as that of faithful observance.
Those of us who are introverts prefer solitude. Many of us may find getting away to be alone with God easier than a host of extroverts do. Those of us who crave silence need to get away from the noise, hustle, and bustle of the world. Where I live, I cannot get away from noise when I shop in town; music plays in stores. Sometimes the music is morally objectionable, not merely annoying. I recall that in a convenience store one night, the selection was a hip-hop “song” celebrating domestic violence and using degrading language regarding women.
The world–kosmos in Greek–is noisy. The world–kosmos in Greek–encourages consumption and prioritizes productivity. Yet the spiritual wisdom of Judaism and Christianity mandates rest and contemplation. Judaism and Christianity teach that productivity is not the highest good and that silence is essential.
Only when we have the silence and the rest we need, can we serve God and benefit each other as much as we should. Only when we have the silence and the rest we need, can we chant hymns to God as we ought to do. Only when we listen to God as we should, can we praise God properly.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 11, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF JOHN SWERTNER, DUTCH-GERMAN MORAVIAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND HYMNAL EDITOR; AND HIS COLLABORATOR, JOHN MUELLER, GERMAN-ENGLISH MORAVIAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMNAL EDITOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT AENGUS THE CULDEE, HERMIT AND MONK; AND SAINT MAELRUAN, ABBOT
THE FEAST OF SAINT EULOGIUS OF SPAIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF TOLEDO, CORDOBA; AND SAINT LEOCRITA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, 859
THE FEAST OF FRANCIS WAYLAND, U.S. BAPTIST MINISTER, EDUCATOR, AND SOCIAL REFORMER
THE FEAST OF MARY ANN THOMSON, EPISCOPAL HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT PAL PRENNUSHI, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1948
In the perfect moral universe of Bildad the Shuhite and those who think like him, piety is a shield against misfortune. This is an attitude present in parts of the Book of Psalms. That book also contradicts the attitude, however, for certain psalms acknowledge that innocent people suffer.
Jesus, without ignoring that the suffering of many resulted partially from their sins, did not state that all human suffering resulted from the sins of the suffering. His sinless life testified to a different reality, that sometimes we suffer because of the sins of others, and piety sometimes leads to persecution and/or death.
Certainty can become an idol, as in the cases of Bildad (Job 8) and the accusers of Jesus (Mark 2). Idols abound; certainty is one of the most popular ones. I refer to false, misplaced certainty, not to confirmed knowledge, such as 2 + 2 = 4. No, I refer to certainty that fills voids meant for faith in God. The human psyche craves certainty. Unfortunately, false certainty leads to conspiracy theories, to other denial of reality, and to idolatry. In reality, what we do not know outweighs what we do know, and humility is in order; certainty be damned much of the time.
May we walk the path of faith in Christ without ignoring that of which we can objectively be certain. May God grant us the wisdom to recognize the difference between matters in which we need faith and those in which we can reasonably have certainty.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 15, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHN ELLERTON, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF CARL HEINRICH VON BOGATSKY, HUNGARIAN-GERMAN LUTHERAN HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF DOROTHY FRANCES BLOMFIELD GURNEY, ENGLISH POET AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT LANDELINUS OF VAUX, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; SAINT AUBERT OF CAMBRAI, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; SAINT URSMAR OF LOBBES, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND MISSIONARY BISHOP; AND SAINTS DOMITIAN, HADELIN, AND DODO OF LOBBES, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONKS
The themes of light and of the liberation of Gentile people, present in the post for the previous Sunday, are obvious her also. Rahab and her family find deliverance. Also, St. Cornelius the Centurion and his household join the Christian fold formally. In the same story St. Simon Peter learns the difference between separatism and holiness.
The reading from Luke 11 requires some explanation. The erroneous physiological assumption at work is one common at the time. That assumption is that the eyes allow the light of the body to go out, hence
Your eyes are the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness.
–Luke 11:34, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
(Jesus was the Savior of the world. He was not an optometrist.)
Nevertheless, the issue of inner spiritual light and darkness is a true and timeless one. Gentiles can have light within them, just as Jews can have darkness within them. (Read Luke 11:37-54.) Indeed, each of us has both inner light and darkness. The question is, which one is dominant? Just as good people commit bad deeds, bad people commit good deeds too.
May God liberate us from our inner darkness and our inability and unwillingness to recognize the light in others, especially those different from ourselves.
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 seems like a rather annoying person. He is eager to defend God against Job’s complaints and to offer a more vigorous theodicy than that of Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. Elihu argues, in part:
So far is God removed from wickedness,
and Shaddai from injustice,
that he requites a man for what he does,
treating each one as his way of life deserves.
God is never wrong, do not doubt that!
Shaddai does not deflect the course of right.
–Job 34:10b-12, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
Translation: Job sinned, and these sufferings of his are divine punishment for those sins. If he repents, God will forgive Job and end his sufferings. This conclusion contradicts Job 1 and 2, which offer a truly disturbing answer: God has permitted an innocent man to suffer as part of a wager.
This seems like an excellent place at which to add the analysis of John Job, author of Job Speaks to Us Today (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1977), pages 102-103. The author asks, “Why are Job’s friends not truly wise?” He concludes, in part:
The friends, first of all, are shameless utilitarians. Repentance, in the estimation of Eliphaz, is a kind of insurance policy. Making petition to God is advocated, not for the intrinsic value of a relationship with him, but simply for the pay-off in material terms–as when he says, “Come to terms with God and you will prosper; that is the way to mend your fortune” (22:21). The interesting point here is that the friends adopt precisely the position which Satan regards as universally occupied by those who make a show of being god-fearing. “Does Job fear God for nothing?” he had asked. Eliphaz makes no secret of the grounds on which he is advising Job to fear God. It is all too shallow. Faith is depersonalized: it becomes self-centered instead of God-centered. Its character as faith is destroyed. Fear of God is simply not the right way to describe it.
If one replaces “Eliphaz” with “Elihu” and changes the citation from Job 22 to one from Chapter 34, this analysis remains valid.
The Book of Job defies the desire for easy answers that fundamentalism typifies. God is just, correct? Then how does one explain the wager in Job 1 and 2? And does not Job deserve better than the “I am God and you are not” speeches in Job 38-41? In Job 42, however, God expresses his displeasure with Eliphaz and company for speaking falsely about him and praises Job for speaking honestly about him (God). Those two responses seem incompatible, do they not? Of course, one came from one source and the other came from another. Elihu, who states correctly that God does not meet human measures (Job 33:12b), also spouts foolishness. The Book of Job provides no easy answers and offers a false, Hollywood ending, at least in its final, composite form. The original version ends with Job’s repentance for overreaching a few verses into Chapter 42.
Job needed good friends, not Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu. He needed people who came to comfort him, to listen to him, and to let him cry on their shoulders. He needed friends who followed advice from Hebrews 13:16:
Never neglect to show kindness and to share what you have with others; for such are the sacrifices which God approves.
—The Revised English Bible (1989)
The standard we apply to others will be the standard God applies to us; we read this in Matthew 7:1-5. Forgiveness is something we are to extend to others, and divine forgiveness of our sins depends on our forgiveness of the sins of others. This is a lesson the author of Psalm 28 had not yet learned. This is a lesson with which I have struggled mightily and with which I continue to struggle. Success in the struggle does not depend on my own power, fortunately; grace is abundant. The desire to do something one knows one ought to do is something with which God can work. It is, metaphorically, a few loaves and fishes, which God can multiply.
In Job 42 God burned with anger toward Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. (The text does not mention Elihu, most likely because the text of the Book of Job did not yet contain the Elihu cycle.) The alleged friends had not spoken truthfully of God, but Job had. Job interceded on their behalf, however, and God excused their folly and forgave their sins. Job, who had complained bitterly to his alleged friends, who had taunted him and sometimes even enjoyed his sufferings, all while imagining that they were pious and that he had done something to deserve his plight, prayed for their forgiveness.
That is a fine lesson to draw from the Book of Job.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 9, 2017 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF CONSTANCE AND HER COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
THE FEAST OF ANNE HOULDITCH SHEPHERD, ANGLICAN NOVELIST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT ISAAC THE GREAT, PATRIARCH OF ARMENIA
Moses and Aaron had been leaders of the Israelite community in the desert for decades. Both of them had, however, rebelled against God. Their penalty was never to enter the Promised Land. Aaron died, and a son became the next priest. Moses passed the torch of leadership to Joshua son of Nun before dying. God’s work continued via different people.
Saul of Tarsus had also rebelled against God before God intervened directly and Saul became St. Paul the Apostle, one of the greatest and most influential Christian theologians and evangelists. The Apostle’s life after his conversion was much more hazardous than it had been prior to his fateful journey to Damascus. Apart from biography, perhaps the greatest difference between Moses and Aaron on one hand and St. Paul on the other hand was that Moses and Aaron rebelled against God while on duty for God. St. Paul was a reformed rebel. Richard Elliott Friedman wrote,
Leaders of a congregation cannot violate the very instruction that they uphold and teach to others.
—Commentary on the Torah with a New English Translation and the Hebrew Text (2001), page 497
Or rather, they can violate that instruction yet may not do so.
A leader is one whom others follow. If one thinks that one might be a leader, one should turn around and see if anybody is following one. If no person is following one, one is merely walking.
With leadership comes the responsibility to lead well. Among the best forms of leadership is setting a good example. Hypocrisy creates scandal much of the time and weakens one’s ability to lead properly. For example, one who condemns gambling (a good thing to criticize) yet frequents casinos or a casino and gets caught doing so justly loses credibility.
Are you a leader, O reader? If so, may you lead well, as God directs you, for the glory of God and the benefit of those who follow you.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 9, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT DENIS, BISHOP OF PARIS, AND HIS COMPANIONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS
THE FEAST OF SAINT LUIS BERTRAN, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY PRIEST
THE FEAST OF ROBERT GROSSETESTE, SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF WILHELM WEXELS, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR; HIS NIECE, MARIE WEXELSEN, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN NOVELIST AND HYMN WRITER; LUDWIG LINDEMAN, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN ORGANIST AND MUSICOLOGIST; AND MAGNUS LANDSTAD, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, FOLKLORIST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMNAL EDITOR
Ritualism, in and of itself, is positive. It, paired with lived faith in God–the kind of faith which finds expression in, among other things, an active concern for what James 3:18 (The New Jerusalem Bible) calls
a harvest of justice,
is consistent with the witness of Hebrew prophets who decried judicial and political corruption and economic exploitation. In fact, the instructions for the house of worship in the Law of Moses indicate a space designed for ritualism. But the Law of Moses (when it does not call for stoning people or reflect a negative view of female biology) speaks of lived holiness for the community.
Many activities are positive. Among these is washing one’s hands before eating–certainly a sanitary action. Yet sanitation was not the concern Jesus addressed in Mark 7. No, our Lord and Savior discussed tradition for its own sake and the sake of making some people appear holier than others. He knew that washing hands could not purify one’s self-righteous attitude. So rituals ought not to function as totems, which people imagine vainly will protect them from the wrath of God or merely from the consequences of their bad deeds and sins of omission.
May each of us engage in good deeds and rituals.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 10, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN LEONARDI, FOUNDER OF THE CLERKS REGULAR OF THE MOTHER OF GOD; AND SAINT JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS, FOUNDER OF THE CLERKS REGULAR OF RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS
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)
With this day the Lutheran daily lectionary takes a turn into two great books: Job and the Gospel of John. I have read these closely but never together. So I look forward to that experience. I wonder what parallels, contrasts, and connections will become apparent.
It is crucial to avoid reading the Book of Job anachronistically if one is to understand what is happening in its pages. Satan is God’s employee in the text. His job is to test the loyalty of people–in this case, Job. The theology of Satan’s role relative to God did not make him a rebel until the Persian period in Jewish history, and the Book of Job, with all of its layers of composition (at least four, according to The Jewish Study Bible), is pre-Persian. So Job, a good man, suffers because God permits it. That is what the Book of Job says.
Turning to the the Johannine Gospel, we read the glorious prologue. There is much to comment on there, but I focus on the thread of rejections, for that led to Christ’s suffering.
The Word was the real light
that gives light to everyone;
he was coming into the world.
He was in the world
that had come into being through him,
and the world did not recognise him.
He came to his own
and his own did not accept him.
–John 1:9-11, The New Jerusalem Bible
Job, a purely fictional figure, suffered not because of what he had done. Jesus, who was real, also suffered not because of any sin or consequences thereof. The question of suffering and its causes is vexing much of the time. As Mayer Gruber, in his introduction to the Book of Job in The Jewish Study Bible, pointed out excellently, those who insist that suffering must result form one’s sins think that suffering must be deserved. This argument, which the Book of Job contradicts, leads one to falsify the character of the one who suffers and that of God, whom such a one who makes the argument seeks to defend. Yet, Gruber reminds his readers, God does not offer an explanation for suffering.
That is, in the LORD’s argument, the reasons for suffering–if there are any–are simply beyond human comprehension. (page 1500)
The Book of Job ends without having explained in a satisfactory way why Job suffered. Yes, God permitted it in Chapter 2, but who does that make God look? And, in the Gospel of John, the incarnate Son of God finds his glory on the cross. How is that for counter-intuitive? Things are not always as they seem.
Until the next segment of our journey….
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 13, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT HERMENEGILD, VISIGOTHIC PRINCE AND ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT HUGH OF ROUEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP, ABBOT, AND MONK
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARTIN I, BISHOP OF ROME
THE FEAST OF MIKAEL AGRICOLA, FINNISH LUTHERAN BISHOP OF TALLINN
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
To whom then will you compare me?
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
Psalm 147:1-12, 21c (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Hallelujah!
How good it is to sing praises to our God!
how pleasant it is to honor him with praise!
2 The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem;
he gathers the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
4 He counts the number of the stars
and call s them all by their names.
5 Great is our LORD and mighty in power;
there is no limit to his wisdom.
6 The LORD lifts up the lowly,
but casts the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;
make music to our God upon the harp.
8 He covers the heavens with clouds
and prepares the rain for the earth;
9 He makes grass to grow upon the mountains
and green plants to serve mankind.
10 He provides food for flocks and herds
and for the young ravens when they cry.
11 He is not impressed by the might of a horse;
he has no pleasure in the strength of a man;
12 But the LORD has pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who await his gracious favor.
21c Hallelujah!
1 Corinthians 9:16-23 (New Revised Standard Version):
If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this on my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. When then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free if charge, as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.
For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
Mark 1:29-39 (New Revised Standard Version):
As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him,
Everyone is searching for you.
He answered,
Let us go on to the neighboring towns , so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.
And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
The Collect:
Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
In the Autumn of 1991, during my first quarter at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Tifton, Georgia, my father was the newly appointed pastor the Sumner United Methodist Church, Sumner, Georgia. I did not know it yet, but I was on the cusp of converting to The Episcopal Church, which I did at St. Anne’s Church, Tifton, on December 22, 1991. In the meantime, however, I was still a United Methodist. One Sunday morning, while teaching adult Sunday School, I offended someone by accident.
You, O reader, might wonder what terrible thing I said, what utterly offensive comment I made. I will tell you. I was discussing grace, especially the prevenient variety, by which God brings us into the Christian fold. God does beckon us, after all. I offered a scenario: God is beckoning a non-Christian man, who responds favorably and obediently to God’s prevenient grace yet dies before making a profession of faith. Does the man go to Heaven or to Hell? In other words, will God be faithful to this man, who had responded favorably to him? Most people said that the man would go to Heaven. But two visitors, a daughter and son-in-law of a member, said that he would go to Hell, for he had not made a profession of faith and been baptized yet. I made clear in a polite and civilized way, in a pleasant and conversational tone, and free of any insult or hint thereof, that I disagreed.
That was my offense. I disagreed. I learned after the fact that the visitors had taken offense. I was unapologetic then, as I remain, for another person’s thin theological skin is not my responsibility.
And I remain convinced that we human beings ought to admit that the only limits on grace and divine forgiveness are those God imposes on them, and that only God knows what those limits are. Or, as David said in 2 Samuel 24:14,
…let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man. (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition)
Grace is of the essence. With that summary, let us work through the readings for this Sunday.
The lesson from Isaiah 40 predicts the liberation of Jews from the Babylonian Exile. This is a chapter of comfort, as it begins with these words:
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.
(Isaiah 40:1-2, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition)
The God of Isaiah 40 and Psalm 147 is the Creator, the judge who also shows mercy, looks favorably upon the faithful, and is infinitely wise. The chapter, which begins with “…comfort my people,” ends with the promise that God will grant “power to the faint.”
That power enabled Paul the Apostle to persist faithfully through death threats, beatings, imprisonments, and a shipwreck, all the way until an employee of the Roman Empire cut his head off. Grace moved Paul from the “right side of the law” and placed him in risky situations. This was not cheap grace, that which demands nothing of one and is therefore useless. No, it was costly grace–free in so far as Paul received it freely–but costly in terms of what it demanded of him. The restrictions of Torah law no longer applied to him, but the law of the love of Christ demanded his all.
Jesus, of course, was perfect as well as fully human and fully divine. Yet even he needed to get away, find quiet time, and pray. A day full of healing will take a great deal out of a Messiah, I suppose. He was grace incarnate. It was Christ whom Paul preached and followed from his conversion to his execution. It is Jesus whom we ought to follow, if we are not doing so already, and to whom God beckons people.
And if even Jesus needed to be quiet and to pray, how much more do we need to do these? I live in a technology-soaked society, where many people are never really “away from it all” (except when sleeping) because somebody can contact them the rest of the time. This is not healthy. We need to nourish ourselves with peace, quiet, and God. Otherwise, we will nothing constructive to offer anyone else.
Paul had a vocation as an evangelist and ultimately a martyr. I have my vocation, and you, O reader, have yours. The details of our vocations will vary according to various factors, but the principle is the same: to glorify God, to be a light of God to others, to encourage our fellow Christians in their discipleship, to attract others to our Lord and Savior, to understand that there is no distinction between evangelism and positive social action. As Shirwood Eliot Wirt, a close associate of Billy Graham wrote in the final chapter of The Social Conscience of the Evangelical (1968):
James was not wrong when he demanded that Christians show their faith by their works. Jesus Christ was not wrong when he told his listeners in effect to stop sitting on their hands and to get to work doing God’s will. He did not come to earth to split theological hairs, but to minister to a world in need and to save men out of it for eternity. It is time the air is cleared. To pit social action against evangelism is to raise a phony issue, one that Jesus would have spiked in a sentence. He commanded his disciples to spread the Good News, and to let their social concern be made manifest through the changed lives of persons of ultimate worth. (Page 154)
If I love my neighbor as I love myself, I cannot say honestly that I do not care about the injustice he or she endures, that he or she does not earn a living wage, that a flawed justice system convicted and sent him or her to prison unjustly, that he or she suffers under the weight of undue stigma, et cetera. Grace demands me to care about all this and to act accordingly as well as whether my neighbor has a positive, growing relationship with Jesus of Nazareth. These are some of my responsibilities. They are also yours.
God’s hands are my hands–and yours. God’s voice is my voice–and yours. May they be useful and eloquent, respectively.
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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