The Gospel reading for today is one account of the temptation of Jesus. I have written of those temptations and their implications for people and institutions today in other blog posts. (Just follow the germane tags, O reader.) I am not included to repeat myself today–at least not regarding that point.
Perhaps the main temptation I face is to pretend to know more than I do. This is an error of King Rehoboam of Israel/Judah in 2 Chronicles 10. We read of the disastrous consequences for his realm in that chapter. Perhaps one would judge a prostitute harshly. Yet Joshua praises Rahab, who saved the lives of Israelite spies and won a place in Israelite society for herself and her family (Joshua 6:22-25). We even read of her place in the family tree of Jesus (Matthew 1:5).
In God, in Christ, our pretenses prove to be worthless. That which we know is inadequate, and we do not know as much as we imagine. Besides, salvation is not a matter of knowledge. If it were, learning would constitute a saving work. God is sovereign. God knows much more than we do. If we approach God with humility, we will learn more than we can imagine. We will certainly learn how little we know. Perhaps this humility will lead us to become more cautious about judging others.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 15, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR A
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZACHARY OF ROME, BISHOP OF ROME
THE FEAST OF SAINTS JAN ADALBERT BALICKI AND LADISLAUS FINDYSZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS IN POLAND
THE FEAST OF OZORA STEARNS DAVIS, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF VETHAPPAN SOLOMON, APOSTLE TO THE NICOBAR ISLANDS
That sentiment fits well within the contexts of the previous post and this one. In readings for both God takes a people back–idolatrous Hebrews in Jeremiah and Hebrew exiles (soon to return to their ancestral homeland) in Isaiah.
Such generosity calls for faithful responses to God. One category of such responses covers how we treat each other. The excellent advice in Romans 12:9-21 fits neatly under the heading of the Golden Rule. St. Paul the Apostle’s counsel acknowledges total human dependence on God, human dependence on other people, and responsibility to and for others in society. It also contains a corrective measure against vengeance, one of the most powerful emotions.
The world would be a better place if more people were to seek common ground, respect others, and forgo repaying evil for evil. What we humans do matters. Often, when we think we are behaving righteously, our sinful deeds and attitudes belie that illusion. One might, for example, commit a violent act against a person whom one thinks has wronged one. That other person might indeed be in the wrong, but so is the perpetrator of the violence if the motive is revenge. Two wrongs do not make a right.
May we hold fast to the good, by grace.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 27, 2015 COMMON ERA
PROPER 21: THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF SAINT LEOBA, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN AND MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE CHURCH OF SOUTH INDIA, 1947
Image Source = Father Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D., New Catholic Picture Bible: Popular Stories from the Old and New Testaments (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1955, 1960)
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:
Genesis 16:1-14
Psalm 86
Luke 18:15-17
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Turn to me and have mercy upon me;
give your strength to your servant
and save the child of your handmaid.
–Psalm 86:16, Common Worship (2000)
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Abram had received a promise from God that he would become the father of nations. There was just one problem: he had no children. Abram and Sarai took matters into their own hands, thereby creating a mess and causing injury immediately to Hagar and later compounding it and extending it to Ishmael. The boy, whose existence was due to faithlessness, became a pawn.
Children were people without social standing in our Lord and Savior’s cultural context. Sometimes parents even sold them into slavery to pay off debts. One function of the Kingdom of God in the Gospels was to point out the ways in which the dominant society fell short of the divine mark. Hence the Beatitudes (and, in the Gospel of Luke, the corresponding Woes) were counter-cultural. Blessed are poor? Woe to the rich? Blessed are the peacemakers? In the Kingdom of God, yes! The description of the way things ought to be condemned the way they were.
That description continues to condemn societies. For example, the exploitation of children–from child labor to sexual slavery to conscription as soldiers–constitutes current events. Some patterns never change, although the places, dates, and certain other minor details regarding them do. I live just outside the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. Atlanta is a hub of human trafficking, unfortunately.
In the Gospel of Luke the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (18:9-14) and the conversation between Jesus and the rich ruler attached to his wealth (18:18-30) bookend the pericope about receiving the Kingdom of God as a little child does. The cumulative message, therefore, is that social standing counts for nothing in the eyes of God and that wealth is irrelevant in the same context. No, pride must go away and we must approach God humbly, aware of our powerlessness and limitations.
The exhortation in Luke 18:15-17 also points to inherent human dignity and links well with the plights of Hagar and Ishmael. May we never use people as pawns, for that is unfair to them. It also violates the commandments to care for one another and to be responsible to each other–orders which undergird much of the Law of Moses and are consistent with our Lord and Savior’s ethical teachings and lived example.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 20, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF RICHARD WATSON GILDER, U.S. POET, JOURNALIST, AND SOCIAL REFORMER
THE FEAST OF HENRY FRANCIS LYTE, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF LEO TOLSTOY, NOVELIST
THE FEAST OF SAINT MECHTILD OF MAGDEBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC
The laws of God which are written on hearts and minds are laws of grace, love, and responsibility for and to each other. They are laws of love for and responsibility to God. The essence of them is to love God fully and others as ourselves. The rest is commentary–mostly culturally-specific commentary–examples (bound by time, space and circumstances) of universal principles. Therefore to become so fixated on examples as to ignore or minimize the universal principles is to miss the point and fall into legalism.
This internalized covenant is for all people, not that everyone embraces it or will do so. It is for Hebrews and Gentiles alike. It is for those like us and those quite different from us. It is as much as for Hebrews as it was for a confused Ethiopian eunuch who needed a good catechist. Fortunately, God sent him one.
The reading from Exodus speaks of the Passover meal instructions and of the importance of blood in deliverance–the latter being a theme in other readings for these days. In the case of the Passover, the blood protected the Hebrews not from their own sins, but those of Egyptians. This is a point which one might overlook out of imagined familiarity with the text. Anyhow, the metaphor of the Passover as applied to Jesus (perhaps most explicitly applied to Jesus in the Gospel of John, where he dies on Passover itself–is the sacrificial lamb) carries meaning beyond just saving us from ourselves–from our sins.
A traditional American hymn speaks of
What wondrous love
that
caused the Lord of bliss
to
lay aside his crown for my soul.
May we–you, O reader, and I–respond favorably to that grace with heart and mind engaged fully, giving neither short shrift. May we understand correctly and act accordingly, helping others to whom God sends us and others whom God sends to us, to do likewise. For we are all responsible to and for each other.
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)
…the good thing I want to do, I never do; the evil thing which I do not want–that is what I do. But every time I do what I do not want to do, then it is not myself acting, but the sin that lives in me….What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? God–thanks be to him–through Jesus Christ our Lord. So it is that I myself with my mind obey the law of God, but in my disordered nature I obey the law of sin.
–Romans 7:19-20, 24-25, The New Jerusalem Bible
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A note on page 1115 of The Jewish Study Bible tells me that Gog, leader of the land of Magog, might have been “Gyses, a 7th-century ruler of Lydia in Asia Minor.” Anyhow, Ezekiel 38 and 39 (which I have kept united for the sake of clarity; the lectionary splits the passage into two parts over as many days) speaks in apocalyptic terms of the divine defeat of the cleansing of the land of Judea, then the restoration of the Jews in their ancestral homeland. One must be careful not to use such texts to justify blind Zionism, therefore excusing the abuses which the present State of Israel has perpetrated against the Palestinians; the Golden Rule applies to everyone. Yet the text does indicate the reliability of divine promises.
The concepts of cleansing and restoration (in a different context, of course), apply also to Romans 7:1-8:17. We human beings are mixed bags of good and bad. We are, as the Lutheran confessions tell us, capable only of civic righteousness on our own power; we cannot save ourselves from ourselves. “Sin” is not an abstraction; it is “missing the mark.” And we are naturally inaccurate spiritual archers. We find God by a combination of grace and free will. And the existence of the latter is a function of the former, so everything goes back to grace. Through this grace we have cleansing and restoration. May we, by grace, cooperate with God so that we may become what God has in mind for us to become.
Above: Gustave Dore’s Depiction of David Holding Goliath’s Head
David and Goliath
JANUARY 17, 2024
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Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.
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1 Samuel 17:32-51 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
And David said to Saul,
Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with the Philistine.
And Saul said to David,
You are not able to against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.
But David said to Saul,
Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth; and if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and struck him and killed him. Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, seeing that he has defied the armies of the living God.
And David said,
The LORD delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.
And Saul said to David,
Go, and the LORD be with you!
Then Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a helmet of bronze on his head, and clothed him with a coat of mail. And David belted on his sword over his armor, and he tried in vain to go, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul,
I cannot go with these; for I am not used to them.
And David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in his shepherd’s bag or wallet; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.
And the Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, ruddy and comely in appearance. And the Philistine said to David,
Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?
And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David,
Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.
Then David said to the Philistine,
You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with the sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s and he will give you into our hand.
When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and killed him; there was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword and drew it out of his sheath, and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
Psalm 144:1-10 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Blessed be the LORD my rock!
who trains my hands to fight and my fingers to battle;
2 My help and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield in whom I trust,
who subdues the peoples under me.
3 O LORD, what are we that you should care for us?
mere mortals that you should think of us?
4 We are like a puff of wind;
our days like a passing shadow.
5 Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down;
touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
6 Hurl the lightning and scatter them;
shoot out your arrows and rout them.
7 Stretch out your hand from on high;
rescue me and deliver me from the great waters,
from the hand of foreign peoples,
8 Whose mouths speak deceitfully
and whose right hand is raised in falsehood.
9 O God, I will sing to you a new song;
I will play to you on a ten-stringed lyre.
10 You give victory to kings
and have rescued David your servant.
Mark 3:1-6 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. And they watched him, to see whether he would heal him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand,
Come here.
And he said to them,
Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?
But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man,
Stretch out your hand.
He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out, and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
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The Collect:
Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Here we have the familiar story of David and Goliath. But read it again. Read it very carefully. We have two sources edited together. If you, O reader, look carefully, you can see some or all of the seams. (Hint: Focus on the use of “God” versus the use of “the LORD.”) Follow the bouncing ball with me. David plays the lyre to soothe Saul’s mind in 1 Samuel 16, and even becomes the king’s armor-bearer. Yet Saul does not know David in 1 Samuel 17. And then there is the case of Elhanan, one of King David’s warriors, who, according to 2 Samuel 21:19, slew Goliath. In 1 Chronicles 20:5, however, he killed Goliath’s brother. Make of all this what you will.
But may none of this detract from the story and what we learn from it. There is something inherently unlikely about a slightly built young man, armed only with some stones and a slingshot, defeating a mighty warrior nearly ten feet tall. Goliath’s height is plausible, given the variety of manifestations of genetic mutations. Some have suggested that he suffered from Marfan’s Syndrome, for example. And, as scary as this sounds and is, there are people who know how to kill others with just one well-placed blow or cut. So a devastating blow to the center of the forehead is also plausible. Most important of all in the story is that David was able to get the stone to Goliath’s weak spot, and therefore deliver his people from an immediate threat.
The unlikely optics of the confrontation made clear that David did not win because of the armor he could not wear well or the standard military armaments he did not use. No, the circumstances made plain that this victory belonged to God.
When we feel helpless we tend to forget that we have God. I write from experience. And I detect another lesson, one I have missed every previous time I have read this account from 1 Samuel 17. David’s experience as a shepherd protecting the sheep prepared him for the confrontation with Goliath. So, when we feel helpless, might we be better equipped than we think? Maybe we need to think creatively about prior experiences and how they have prepared us for our current circumstances.
Anyhow, in all our daily challenges, great and small, mundane and extraordinary, may God guide our hands and direct our thoughts so that we, trusting in grace, may act for the good–individual and collective–and 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 6:10-20 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love which you showed us for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in realizing the same assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
For when God made a promise to to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore to himself, saying,
Surely I will bless you and multiply you.
And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Men indeed swear by a greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he interposed with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God should prove false, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, and a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Psalm 111 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Hallelujah!
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,
in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation.
2 Great are the deeds of the LORD!
they are studied by all who delight in them.
3 His work is full of majesty and splendor,
and his righteousness endures for ever.
4 He makes his marvelous works to be remembered;
the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.
5 He gives food to those who fear him;
he is ever mindful of his covenant.
6 He has shown his people the power of his works
in giving them the lands of the nations.
7 The works of his hands are faithfulness and justice;
all his commandments are sure.
8 They stand fast for ever and ever,
because they are done in truth and equity.
9 He sent redemption to his people;
he commanded his covenant for ever;
holy and awesome is his Name.
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
those who act accordingly have a good understanding;
his praise endures for ever.
Mark 2:23-28 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to him,
Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?
And he said to them,
Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him; how he entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the showbread, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?
And he said to them,
The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; so the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath.
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The Collect:
Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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The Pharisees (most, not all of them) are among the bete noires of the canonical Gospels. These very publicly pious people criticize Jesus, his Apostles, and even some people he healed again and again. In all likelihood these critics did what they understood righteousness to require of them. I prefer to extend to them the benefit of the doubt; they were wrong, but sincerely so. They did not wake up each morning and plot how to be difficult spiritually, although much of what they did and the Gospels report to us constituted such.
Indeed, I think that we need to check ourselves for signs of being contemporary counterparts of the Pharisees. Christian denominations have built up traditions over thousands and hundreds of years. Many of these are functional and constructive, even beautiful. Yet even something useful and beautiful can become an idol, if we transform it into that. And ossification of tradition can occur easily, rendering us inflexible in the habits of our minds. The stories of Jesus teach us many valuable lessons, including the importance of avoiding such ossification.
Consider this day’s reading from Mark. Jesus and his Apostles violated many sabbath laws observant Pharisees kept. There were many arcane sabbath laws, which split hairs more finely than any Philadelphia lawyer. Taken together, the sabbath laws permitted preventing an emergency situation from getting worse yet forbade making it better. For example, one could apply a plain bandage but not ointment to an injured finger on the sabbath. So you should not be surprised to learn that plucking and eating corn was illegal on the sabbath. Doing so remedied hunger, but that meant making something better.
This is a twisted way to think about the sabbath, is it not? It transforms the sabbath, which is supposed to a gift and a marker of freedom (slaves did not get days off) into a burden and something to manage with the help of a very long checklist of forbidden activities. Puritans did it too, and many observant self-professing Christians and Jews continue to treat the sabbath in this way. We should not neglect the sabbath, of course, but we ought not treat it like a burden and an occasion of legalism, either.
Back to our story….
Jesus reminded his critics of scriptural precedents for what he had done. In 1 Samuel 21:1-6, Exodus 25:23-30, and Leviticus 24:9 we find the relevant information about David and the showbread. Mentioning David, the revered king, was powerful rhetorical tool, although it certainly did not impress hyper-critical Pharisees. It did, however, point out the hypocrisy of Jesus’ critics, who were not the intended audience for the Gospel According to Mark. So the comment finds its target even today, at least some of the time. I wonder, though, how often well-intentioned Christians miss the power of this story, perhaps more out of a “I know that story already” attitude, if nothing else.
William Barclay, in his insightful commentary on the Gospel reading, points out that “Religion does not consist in rules and regulations” and “The best way to use sacred things is to use them for men.” In other words, it is sinful to refuse to apply religious laws to prevent starving and very hungry people from eating–sabbath or not. This principle applies to physical realities beyond hunger; it pertains to helping people with whatever distresses them. Barclay concludes his section of the reading from Mark with this sentence: “The final arbiter in the use of all things is love and not law.”
I could not have said it better.
We have a loving God and Lord. The works of God are marvelous and utterly spectacular. And Jesus became not only our priest but our passover lamb. That demonstrates love, does it not? So we ought to display love, as well, and not hide behind laws which reinforce self-righteousness and make excuses for oppressing people and not helping them. We have a mandate from God to care for others and to love them as we love ourselves. God has commanded us to care for the vulnerable among us. We might make excuses for why we fail to do this, but that does not erase our sin in the eyes of God.
One of my favorite deceased people was the actor Andreas Katsulas (1946-2006). He played the one-armed man in the film version of The Fugitive. He also portrayed Commander Tomalok on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Ambassador G’Kar on Babylon 5. Katsulas was a practicing Greek Orthodox and an excellent chef. Part of his Sunday ritual involved cooking meals for homeless people. This would have violated the Pharisees’ sabbath codes, but it did demonstrate love.
May we compete with one another in demonstrating love for our fellow human beings every day of the week. Let us lay aside tendencies toward one upsmanship, self-righteousness, and public displays of piety meant to make us look good. May we listen to one another more and more often, and shout at each other less and less often. May we love one another in attitudes, words, and deeds. May that be our law.
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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