That is the theme uniting the assigned readings. The call is both individual and collective, and always in the context of community.
The righteous and the unjust suffer. Does God afflict faithless people with physical ailments. My theology answers, “no.” Much of the Hebrew Bible disagrees with me, of course. My disgust with bigoted televangelists who have have attributed diseases and natural disasters (such as Hurricane Katrina, 2005) to the wrath of God informs my opinion. Sometimes people are merely unfortunate. On other occasions. some people suffer the consequences of their actions. I do not that interpret that as God smiting people. No, I understand that as people smiting themselves.
We will suffer as surely as we breathe. May we, by grace, not suffer because of our sins, individually. Given that we live in community, each of us will suffer because of the actions and inaction of others. Not one of us can change that reality. Each one of us can, however, trust God and follow Jesus. Each of us can use our spiritual gifts properly, for the glory of God and for the common good. Each of us can be a conduit of divine love. If we do not think doing so will prompt certain others to target us, we deceive ourselves, unfortunately.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 18, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT LEONIDES OF ALEXANDRIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 202; ORIGEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGIAN; SAINT DEMETRIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT ALEXANDER OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF SAINT CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, BISHOP, THEOLOGIAN, AND LITURGIST
THE FEAST OF ELIZA SIBBALD ALDERSON, POET AND HYMN WRITER; AND JOHN BACCHUS DYKES, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT PAUL OF CYPRUS, EASTERN ORTHODOX MARTYR, 760
THE FEAST OF ROBERT WALMSLEY, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST HYMN WRITER
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)
I have combined the readings for February 7 and 8 to keep Eliphaz the Temanite material together. Doing this has another effect: keeping miracle at Cana and the Johannine account of the cleansing of the Temple together. Shall we proceed?
Job had bad excuses for friends. Exhibit A is Eliphaz the Temanite, who defended his concept of God by insisting that Job must have done something to warrant suffering. After all, in Eliphaz’s view, the good prospered and the bad suffered. This was demonstrably false theology. Just look around: Truly bad people prosper and morally sound people suffer. The Gospel of John, like all canonical Gospels, written from a post-Resurrection perspective, places a prediction of our Lord’s suffering at the beginning of our Lord’s suffering at the beginning of the text. If Eliphaz was correct, Jesus should not have suffered. But he did. So Eliphaz was incorrect.
There is more to John 2:1-25. The story of the miracle at Cana speaks of extravagance. In Jesus, it tells us, was something new–well, old really–but new relative to the perspective of the people at the time–and unstinting. This was not a rejection of Judaism; rather it emerged from Judaism. Jesus was, after all, a practicing Jew. Yet the cleansing of the Temple–placed at the beginning of our Lord’s ministry in John, in contrast to the Synoptic chronology–did indicate a rejection of the Temple system, which placed undue burdens on those who could least afford them. Money changers profited from the religious imperative to exchange idolatrous Roman currency before buying a sacrificial animal. But Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice in time.
The character of Eliphaz the Temanite experienced cognitive dissonance over Job’s sufferings. Eliphaz resolved that dissonance by doubling down on his ideology, even though evidence contradicted it. The emergence of Jesus pointed to a new (to humans) approach to God. In each case predictable conservatism clung to the old ways of thinking. But the dogmas of the past were inadequate to the demands of the then-current reality. Conservatism is not inherently bad; it is just not appropriate at all times and in all places. The question concerns what one seeks to conserve. Sometimes a revolutionary is just what God ordered.
May our assumptions–especially those so deeply embedded that we do not think of them as assumptions–not prevent us from recognizing God’s ways of working. And may these assumptions not blind us to our own errors.
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
