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
Everlasting God, you give strength to the weak and power to the faint.
Make us agents of your healing and wholeness,
that your good may be made known to the ends your creation,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 24
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The Assigned Readings:
2 Kings 4:8-17, 32-37 (Monday)
2 Kings 8:1-6 (Tuesday)
Psalm 102:12-28 (Both Days)
Acts 14:1-7 (Monday)
Acts 15:36-41 (Tuesday)
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He will look with favor on the prayer of the homeless;
he will not despise their plea.
–Psalm 102:17, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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A childless woman bore shame during the time in which Elisha lived. This was, of course, wrong, but it was her reality. The story of one such woman, as we find it in 2 Kings 4 and 8, was one of repeated graces–a successful pregnancy, the raising of her dead son, advice to flee ahead of a seven-year-long drought, and, as a widow, restoration of property and income. Her end, without help, would have been unfortunate. For example, a widow was especially vulnerable in the Hebrew society of the time.
Widows and barren women were marginalized figures. So were Gentiles, according to many Jews at the time of St. Paul the Apostle, who was always a Jew. Christianity began as a Jewish sect. Indeed, the separation from Judaism was incomplete until 135 C.E., during the Second Jewish War. The parting of the ways was in progress by the late 60s and early-to-middle 70s C.E., the timeframe for the writing of the Gospel of Mark, the earliest of the four canonical Gospels. (Thus those religious politics influenced the telling of the stories of Jesus and the twelve Apostles.) The inclusion of Gentiles and the terms of how that happened caused much controversy within Judaism, Christian and otherwise. The pericope from Acts 15:36-41 glosses over a fact which St. Paul mentioned in Galatians 2:11-14: St. Barnabas sided with those who insisted that Gentile converts become Jews first. Such a position, St. Paul wrote, nullified the grace of God (Galatians 2:21).
Today we read accounts of help for the marginalized. These people were among the marginalized because other people defined them as such. This definition labeled people as either insiders or outsiders, for the benefit of the alleged insiders. I suspect, however, that God’s definition of “insider” is broader than many human understandings have held and do hold. We humans continue to label others as outsiders for the benefit of the “insiders,” as they define themselves. Grace remains scandalous, does it not? And, as Luke Timothy Johnson has said, the Gospel of Mark suggests that many of those who think of themselves as insiders are really outsiders.
I reject Universalism on the side of too-radical inclusion and a range of narrow definitions of who is pure on the opposite side. The decision about who is inside and who is outside, of who is pure and who is impure, is one for God alone. We mere mortals have partial answers regarding that question, for we are not totally lacking in received wisdom. Yet we tend to use the matter as a way of making ourselves feel better about ourselves much of the time. Often we lapse into a version of the Donatist heresy, in fact. We ought to live more graciously and with theological humility instead, for we are all broken, weak, and inconstant. Each of us depends entirely upon grace. So who are we to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to do?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 2, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE THIRD DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF SAINT BRIOC, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT TUDWAL, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND BISHOP
THE FEAST OF CHANNING MOORE WILLIAMS, EPISCOPAL BISHOP IN CHINA AND JAPAN
THE FEAST OF JOHN BROWN, ABOLITIONIST
THE FEAST OF SAINT OSMUND OF SALISBURY, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
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
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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1 Kings 3:3-15 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father; only he sacrificed and burnt incense at the high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings upon that altar. At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said,
Ask what I shall give you.
And Solomon said,
You have shown great and merciful love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart before you; and you have kept for him this great and merciful love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to govern this great people of yours?
It pleased the LORD that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him,
Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.
And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.
Psalm 119:9-16 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
9 How shall a young man cleanse his way?
By keeping to your words.
10 With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not stray from your commandments.
11 I treasure your promise in my heart,
that I may not sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, O LORD;
instruct me in your statutes.
13 With my lips will I recite
all the judgments of your mouth.
14 I have taken greater delight in the way of your decrees
than in all manner of riches.
15 I will meditate on your commandments
and give attention to your ways.
16 My delight is in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.
Mark 6:30-34 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
The apostles returned to Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them,
Come away by yourselves to a quiet place, and rest a while.
For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a lonely place by themselves. Now many saw them going, and knew them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns, and got there ahead of them. As he landed he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
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The Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
This famous account, actually a dream sequence, occurs at the beginning of Solomon’s nearly forty-year reign. It is a significant dream, unlike the few which I have and recall afterward. Those dreams I do remember usually fall into the category of “My brain was blowing off steam and conflating events, occasionally with science fiction.” I seem to do my best thinking while conscious.
Solomon, however, seemed to do better while unconscious. Already, in 1 Kings 2, he has killed a half-brother, a rival for the throne. And, later in 1 Kings, Solomon will have severe lapses in judgment, usually involving the intersection of women and foreign relations. Solomon, the son, stood in the shadow of his father, whom he surpassed in some ways. And, after Solomon, the kingdom went downhill, largely due to his policies regarding building projects, labor, and taxation to fund these.
Solomon should have stayed on the path of wisdom. His father, David, was tending sheep when the prophet Samuel arrived under the cover story of coming to sacrifice to the LORD–with Jesse and the sons. King David, when he did his job well, was a good national shepherd. This was Solomon’s vocation, one at which he failed on a large scale. He could have said what King Louis XV of France did: “After me, the deluge.” Rehoboam fared better than did Louis XVI, but the kingdom of Saul, David, and Solomon did come apart.
I cannot help but think about all of this when reading 1 Kings 3. Solomon had an opportunity to do well, but he squandered it. The fact of his existence indicated that his father had really strayed from the laws of God at times, but none of that mattered in 1 Kings 3. Solomon had a golden opportunity, and meant well at the time, but….
May we recognize opportunities God grants us, seek to use them for the common good, and, by grace, succeed. Mindful of human weaknesses and the corresponding need for support and encouragement, may we uphold each other in these vocations. And may we, who are not in positions of power, pray for those who are, that they may know good from evil, wise from foolish, and choose the the good and the wise, and act accordingly, for the common good.
