The reference to human eyes in Luke 11:33-36 might prove confusing. The assumption regarding eyes in that text was one common to the Hellenistic world in which the Gospel According to Luke originated. That assumption was that one’s inner darkness or light shone in the eyes. The concern of the text, therefore, is one’s inner life. Does light or darkness dominate? As Jesus said elsewhere in the Gospels, that darkness which comes from within a person, not that darkness which enters one from outside, defiles one.
The reading from Numbers 27 refers to the rebellion of Korah against Moses in Chapter 16. The perspective of the Book of Numbers is that Moses was God’s anointed, so to oppose Moses was to resist God. Numbers 16:31-35 describes the unfortunate fate of those rebels. Among those followers was Zelophehad, who had only female heirs. Other ancient cultures in the region had liberal inheritance laws permitting women to inherit even when male heirs existed. Ancient Israel was an especially patriarchal society, though, so an exception benefiting women, such as the daughters of Zelophehad, came into being.
Standards of justice are concrete, for particular cases define them. Does one seek to do the right thing? Does one succeed in that goal? Or does one create or perpetuate injustice? How one treats vulnerable people is a fine standard of justice.
SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHN CAMPBELL SHAIRP, SCOTTISH POET AND EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF PHILANDER CHASE, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
THE FEAST OF SAINT THOMAS OF VILLANOVA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF VALENCIA
Thanks be to you, Lord Jesus Christ, most merciful redeemer,
for the countless blessings and benefits you give.
May we know you more clearly,
love you more dearly,
and follow you more nearly,
day by day praising you, with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 22
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The Assigned Readings:
Judges 2:6-15 (Thursday)
Judges 2:16-23 (Friday)
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 (Both Days)
2 Corinthians 10:1-11 (Thursday)
Acts 13:16-25 (Friday)
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God, examine me and know my heart,
probe me and know my thoughts;
make sure I do not follow pernicious ways,
and guide me in the way that is everlasting.
–Psalm 139:23-24, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
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2 Corinthians is a cut-and-pasted document. There were four letters from St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthian Church:
The first is lost, as are many other ancient texts.
1 Corinthians is the second letter.
2 Corinthians 10:1-13:13 is the third letter.
2 Corinthians 1-9 (except for 6:14-7:1, the authorship and original placement of which are matters of dispute) is the fourth letter.
[Thanks to Calvin J. Roetzel, The Letters of Paul: Conversations in Context, 2d. Ed. (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1982), pages 52-63.]
The text which is actually 3 Corinthians is a defensive, scolding, sarcastic, and sometimes threatening letter. St. Paul argued against criticisms, such as the claim that he was more effective at a distance than when he was near and the allegation that he could not do what he claimed he could do. He had to contend with fractiousness and rumor mongering. Such problems constituted evidence of spiritual problems in the congregation.
St. Paul was not the only one who had to contend with people who disobeyed God. Of course, God has had to deal with that problem for a long time. Even those who had experienced the Exodus were prone to idolatry and rebellion. Their descendants continued that pattern, unfortunately.
We humans have insufficient attention spans much of the time. We also have selective memories. I read about God’s mighty acts of the past, but many people experienced them. How could any of them forget or ignore such wonders?
May we–you, O reader, and I–pay better attention and be more obedient.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 19, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHANN HERMANN SCHEIN, GERMAN LUTHERAN COMPOSER
Shebna was a high-ranking official in the court of the King of Judah. This royal steward, according to Isaiah, was unworthy of the position he held and of the elaborate tomb he had had built for himself. The prophet predicted Shebna’s demotion and the promotion of Eliakim to the post of steward. As the notes on page 826 of The Jewish Study Bible tell me, Isaiah 36:3; Isaiah 37:2; and 2 Kings 18:18 refer to Eliakim as royal steward. Isaiah also predicted the downfall of Eliakim, who was also vulnerable to human weaknesses and failings.
Human weaknesses and failings were on full display in Genesis 27:30-38. Certainly Rebecca and Jacob did not emerge from the story pristine in reputation. And St. Paul the Apostle, a great man of history and of Christianity, struggled with his ego. He knew many of his weaknesses and failings well.
Fortunately, the success of God’s work on the planet does not depend upon we mere mortals. Yes, it is better if we cooperate with God, but the Kingdom of God, in one of our Lord and Savior’s parables, is like a mustard tree–a large, generally pesky weed which spreads where it will. Whenever I ponder that parable I think about the kudzu just an short drive from my home. The Kingdom of God is like kudzu. The divine message of Jesus is like kudzu. I take comfort in that.
Yet we humans, despite our weaknesses and failings, can cooperate with God. It is better that way. It is better for us, certainly. And it is better for those whom God will reach through us. The transforming experience of cooperating with God will prove worth whatever price it costs us.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 5, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN
THE FEAST OF GREGORIO AGLIPAY, PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENT BISHOP
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)
God’s saving justice was witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, but now it has been revealed altogether apart from law: God’s saving justice given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
I Myself will graze my flock, and I Myself will let them lie down–declares the Lord GOD. I will look for the lost, and I will bandage the injured, and I will sustain the weak; and the fat and the healthy ones I will destroy, and I will tend them rightly.
I have written one post to cover material for two days because, after having written many devotional blog entries, I do not know what else to say about the January 11 content. The texts, I think, make their points succinctly. Yet the January 12 content does lend itself to my comments.
Pauline theology holds that the Law of Moses served its purpose in its time. Yet now that Jesus has arrived on the scene, a new stage of salvation history has begun. That is a simplification, but hopefully not an excessive one. Linking Romans 3:19-31 with Ezekiel 34:1-24 works well, for the prophet, channeling God, condemned false and bad shepherds, such as certain kings. A good and divine shepherd, identified as God, would step in, set matters right, and find the stray sheep. And, of course, the Good Shepherd is an image for Jesus in the Gospels.
We modern readers, especially those not in frequent contact with sheep or shepherds, need to recall that shepherds were not highly respected people in the times of Ezekiel, Jesus, and Paul. Shepherds were necessary, but they were not respectable. They were, in fact, smelly. Yet this profession provided imagery for God (Yahweh/Adonai) and Jesus. One might draw several useful points from this fact, but I focus on one here. Channeling an attitude from Ezekiel 34, we ought not to look down upon those among us who perform necessary work we might deem undesirable. The job titles vary from place to place. In Georgia, my home, the “shepherds” are Latin American migrants who work mostly on farms. These individuals merit our respect, not our disdain.
Each of us bears the image of God; may we think of and treat each other accordingly.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 15, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZACHARY, BISHOP OF ROME
THE FEAST OF EDMUND MUSKIE, UNITED STATES SENATOR AND SECRETARY OF STATE
THE FEAST OF SAINT LOUISE DE MARILLAC, COFOUNDER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF CHARITY
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 Samuel 8:4-22a (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him,
Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint for us a king to govern us like all the nations.
But the thing displeased Samuel when they said,
Give us a king to govern us.
And Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel,
Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds they have done for me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only, you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.
So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking a king from him. He said,
These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will also take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your menservants and maidservants, and the best of your cattle and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day.
But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said,
No! but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.
And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel,
Listen to their voice, and make them a king.
Psalm 89:15-18 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
15 Happy are the people who know the festal shout!
they walk, O LORD, in the light of your presence.
16 They rejoice daily in your Name;
they are jubilant in your righteousness.
17 For you are the glory of their strength,
and by your favor our might is exalted.
18 Truly, the LORD is our ruler;
the Holy One of Israel is our King.
Mark 2:1-12 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together , so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
Child, your sins are forgiven.
Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,
Why does this man speak like this? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?
And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit what they questioned like this within themselves, said to them,
Why do you question like this in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk”? But that you too may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins
–he said to the paralytic–
I say to you, rise, take up your pallet, and go home.
And he rose, and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying,
We never saw anything like this!
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The Collect:
Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
God was supposed to be the King of Israel. Judges governed, each in his or her own time, but there was supposed to be only one king. In the ancient world, however, monarchy was most common form of government. Being different can be very difficult, especially in a social species, such as Homo sapiens sapiens. The rest is history, culminating in the Pharonic reign of King Solomon, after which the kingdom ruptured.
The wrath of God is not so much God afflicting us actively as it is God backing off and doing nothing as the chickens come home to roost. But at least God gives a warning far in advance.
Sometimes I am a conscious contrarian. One of the most effective ways to persuade me not to do something, such as see a certain movie or read a specific book, is to point out how popular it is. The “join the bandwagon” appeal backfires with me much of the time. If other people are trying act like others, I try to do the opposite, within my sense of self. Other times I act without regard to what others think, but I just happen to emerge as one with very different tastes. Either way, peer pressure has a limited effect on me.
So being different makes great sense to me. It does, of course, limit my social mixing. It has done so for most of my life, and deep introversion has become my default mode. I am not quite the death of the party, but I am far from its life. I recall that, when I grew up, many of members of my age peer group made my life difficult because of these tendencies. They succeeded in violating the Golden Rule and in driving me deeper into myself. Why would I want to emulate those who taunted me? I hypothesize, by the way, that my childhood experiences in school contributed to my dislike for children, and therefore have informed my choice to remain childless. I also suspect that my staunch nonconformity with regard to certain conventions (namely social and cultural history, given my preference for old-style institutional and Great Man history) in the study of history contributed to the premature demise of my doctoral program at The University of Georgia. But this was a matter of principle; whatever I did academically, I was determined to do it with respect for my intellectual integrity. By the way, sometimes the cost of maintaining one’s integrity is painful and high, but the price for prostituting one’s soul and mind is higher.
This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not be false to any man.
–William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene III, lines 78-80
Anyhow, the desire of the people in 1 Samuel 8 to be like their neighbor nations makes no sense to me; I stand with God and Samuel. But, as the text says, “the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel.” They wanted to conform to the example of those around them.
Of all the words in the English language, the most profane ones, in my opinion, are “conform” and “conformity.” God, you see, has granted each of us gifts to share with others. Consenting to conformity stifles the unique blessings we can bring to the table and extinguishes the light we are to be to the nations, or at least to those in our vicinity.
May we never fear to be properly different, for the glory of God.
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 3:1-19 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
Therefore, holy brethren, who share in a heavenly call, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. He was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in God’s house. Yet Jesus has been counted worthy as much more glory than Moses as builder of the house has more honor than the house. (For every house is built by some one, but the builder of all things is God. ) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ was faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if we hold fast our confidence and pride in our hope.
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
Today, when you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘they always go astray in their hearts;
they have not known my ways.’
As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall never enter my rest.
Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end, while it is said,
Today, when you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.
Who were they that heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? And with whom was he provoked forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they should never enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!
8 Harden not your hearts,
as your forebears did in the wilderness,
at Meribah, and on that day at Massah,
when they tempted me.
9 They put me to the test,
though they had seen my works.
10 Forty years long I detested that generation and said,
“This people are wayward in their hearts;
they do not know my ways.”
11 So I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter into my rest.”
Mark 1:40-45 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
And a leper came to him begging him, and kneeling said to him,
If you will, you can make me clean.
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him,
I will; be clean.
And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And he sternly charged him, and sent him away at once, and said to him,
See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to the people.
But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.
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The Collect:
Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
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Consider the following:
And all the congregation of the children of Israel traveled from the wilderness of Sin on their travels by YHWH’s word, and they camped in Rephidim. And there was no water for the people to drink. And the people quarreled with Moses. And they said, “Give us water, and let us drink.”
And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test YHWH?”
And the people thirsted for water there, and the people complained at Moses and said, “Why is this that you brought us up from Egypt, to kill me, and my children and my cattle with thirst?!”
And Moses called to YHWH, saying, “What shall I do with this people? A little more and they’ll stone me!”
And YHWH said to Moses, “Pass in front of the people and take some of Israel’s elders with you, and take your staff with which you struck the Nile in your hand, and you’ll go. Here, I’ll be standing in front of you there on a rock at Horeb. And you’ll strike the rock, and water will come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so before the eyes of Israel’s elders. And he called the place’s name Massah and Meribah becaus of the quarrel of the children of Israel and the because of their testing YHWH, saying, “Is YHWH among us or not?”
Exodus 17:1-7 (Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah with a New English Translation and the Hebrew Text, 2001)
And, in Numbers 20, Moses was supposed to speak to the rock, but he struck with his staff instead. For this lack of faithfulness God forbade him to enter the Promised Land, as the narrative indicates.
Testing and Quarreling. Those terms, English translations of Massah and Meribah, summarize much of the biblical story of the wandering in the desert following the Exodus. Moses was flawed, but faithful most of the time. For that his name is one of honor in the Bible.
The miracle of the Exodus was the liberation of the Hebrews. The biblical text attempts a sort of scientific explanation for the parting of waters; Exodus 14:21 mentions a “strong east wind” (Richard Elliott Friedman’s translation). The Everett Fox translation refers to a “fierce east wind.” In the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula God continued to provide enough for the former slaves. Water was available, as was a sufficient food supply. Yet people grumbled and waxed nostalgically about Egyptian table scraps. Ingratitude prevailed, and it came with consequences.
The conjunction of the three passages of scripture on the Canadian Anglican lectionary this day makes clear that there is a continuity from Moses to Jesus. God is the builder of the household of faith, which consists of those who trust in and follow God. Moses was a faithful servant in this household, and thus received due respect. But Jesus is the Son, and therefore he is greater than Moses (no disrespect to Moses).
Leviticus 14 contains detailed instructions about what to do when presenting oneself to a priest as cleansed of leprosy, a generic term for several skin diseases which rendered one ritually impure and a social outcast. The process included animal sacrifices, animal blood, and the shaving of the leper’s head. For full details, read Leviticus 14. These are the motions Jesus commands the healed leper to go through in Mark. His order is to follow the Law of Moses, indicating a continuity from Moses to Jesus. Yet the healed leper chose the understandable action–he told everyone he could about what Jesus had done for him. So Jesus had to hide out in the wilderness for a while. He was, in the Markan narrative, still keeping his Messianic Secret.
There is a time to tell what God has done for one, and a time to follow rituals and keep quiet. Knowing which is which constitutes part of wisdom.
So does recognizing what God has done and being grateful for it. The trap of nostalgia is at least two-fold. First, the “good old days” were not as good as they look through our rose-colored glasses. Furthermore, we are not looking at current blessings closely enough when living in the past. God is the God of present blessings; we need to focus on these. Do we have enough for today? Let us give thanks for this. Many problems arise from mistaking desires for necessities. Money, material possessions, and other potential idols can never fill the God-shaped hole in each of us. By themselves, these are not idols. Yet many of us transform them into such.
May we lay aside all our idols, whatever they are. If we have turned anything good into an idol, may we reverse that process and enjoy this good thing as what it can be, at its best. And may we live in full awareness of how good God is today, and act accordingly. This God is the God of Moses and Jesus, of mercy and judgment. This is the God who cares deeply and passionately about us. May we reciprocate, as best we can, by grace.
that if we ask anything in accordance with his will
he hears us.
And if we know that he listens to whatever we ask him,
we know that we already possess whatever we have asked of him.
If anyone sees his brother commit a sin
that is not a deadly sin,
has only to pray, and God will give life to this brother
–provided that it is not a deadly sin.
There is a sin that leads to death
and I am not sat saying that you must pray about that.
Every kind of wickedness is sin,
but not all sin leads to death.
We are well aware that no one who is a child of God sins,
because he who was born from God protects him,
and the Evil One has no hold over him.
We are well aware that we are from God,
and the whole world is in the power of the Evil One.
We are well aware also that the Son of God has come,
and has given us understanding
so that we may know the One who is true.
We are in the One who is true
as we are in his Son, Jesus Christ.
He is the true God
and this is eternal life.
Children, be on your guard against false gods.
Psalm 149 (New Jerusalem Bible):
Sing a new song to Yahweh:
his praise in the assembly of the faithful!
Israel shall rejoice in its Maker,
the children of Zion delight in their king;
they shall dance in praise of his name,
play to him on tambourines and harp!
For Yahweh loves his people,
he will crown the humble with salvation.
The faithful exult in glory,
shout for joy as they worship him,
praising God to the heights with their voices,
a two-edged sword in their hands,
to wreak vengeance on the nations,
punishment on the peoples,
to load their kings with chains
and their nobles with iron fetters,
to execute on the the judgment passed–
to the honour of all his faithful.
John 3:22-36 (New Jerusalem Bible):
After this, Jesus went with his disciples into the Judaean countryside and stayed with them there and baptized. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, where there was plenty of water, and people were going there and were being baptized. For John had not yet been put in prison.
Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew about purification, so they went to John and said,
Rabbi, the man who was with you on the far side of the Jordan, the man to whom he bore witness, is baptizing now, and everyone is going to him.
John replied:
No one can have anything
except what is given him from heaven.
You yourselves can bear me out. I said, ‘I am not the Christ; I am the one who has been sent to go in front of him.’
It is the bridegroom who has the bride;
and yet the bridegroom’s friend
who stands there and listens to him,
is filled with joy at the bridegroom’s voice.
This is the joy I feel, and it is complete.
He must grow greater,
I must grow less.
He who comes from above
is above all others;
he who is of the earth
is earthly himself and speaks in an earthly way.
He who comes from heaven
bears witness to the things he has seen and heard,
but his testimony is not accepted by anybody;
though anyone does not accept his testimony
is attesting that God is true,
since he whom God has sent
speaks God’s own words,
for God gives him the Spirit without reserve.
The Father loves the Son
and has entrusted everything to his hands.
Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life,
but anyone who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life:
God’s retribution hangs over him.
The Collect:
O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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From misplaced priorities (such as inflated egos) flow terrible results. Most wars have been preventable and unnecessary, flowing from misunderstandings and wounded pride. These have been, to borrow an explanation of the Falklands Islands War, like two bald men fighting over a comb. Yet the proverbial bald men in question have done this out of national pride or the ego of the leader.
Often we humans seek poor substitutes for the God-shaped hole in the soul. Out of this quest flow addictions, dependencies, preventable interpersonal conflicts, violent crimes, property crimes, and other social ills. It would be better to seek God, assuming the humble attitude of St. John the Baptist, stating and living according the principle that Jesus must be increase but that we must decrease.
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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