We human beings like barriers, literal and metaphorical. We like walls, categories, and other ways of establishing who is an outsider and who is an insider. Usually, of course, we define “insider” to mean “like ourselves.”
God’s categories are not ours. God’s ways and thoughts differ from our ways and thoughts. We may seek to keep blessings for ourselves and those similar to ourselves, but we err in doing so. We will still suffer if we are faithful to God; I should not have to write that. Yet even when we suffer because of faithlessness, we do not suffer in the absence of God.
In my individualistic culture, collective suffering is frequently a difficult topic. In 2 Chronicles 21 we read of a kingdom (innocent subjects) suffering because of royal decisions and actions. Fewer kings populate the Earth in 2020, but the principle that a leader’s decisions and actions have consequences for many other people remains relevant. It seems unfair. It may be unfair. Yet it is reality, the way of the world.
God’s ways and thoughts are not our ways and thoughts. If our ways and thoughts were more similar to those of God, the world would be a much better place. We can, at least, marvel at God and admit how far we fall from that high standard.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 17, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT PATRICK, APOSTLE OF IRELAND
THE FEAST OF EBENEZER ELLIOTT, “THE CORN LAW RHYMER”
THE FEAST OF HENRY SCOTT HOLLAND, ANGLICAN HYMN WRITER AND PRIEST
THE FEAST OF SAINT JAN SARKANDER, SILESIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND “MARTYR OF THE CONFESSIONAL,” 1620
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA BARBARA MAIX, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SISTERS OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
One can perceive divine wisdom only via God. Such wisdom, which is for the building up of community (faith and otherwise) and not of self at the expense of others, is frequently counter-cultural. We who claim to follow God should be careful to avoid the opposite fallacies of complete accommodation to social norms and of serial contrarian tendencies. Letting go of proper standards is at least as bad as distrusting everything “worldly,” much of which is positive or morally neutral.
The narrative pericopes from the Hebrew Bible for these days tell of God extending mercy to people via people. In one account the conduit is the prophet Elijah, who helps an impoverished widow of Zarephath. In the other story a captive Hebrew servant girl suggests that her Aramean master, Naaman, a military commander, visit the prophet Elisha for a cure for his skin disease. Naaman is surprised to learn that the remedy is to bathe in the humble River Jordan seven times. Divine help comes in unexpected forms sometimes. Having a receptive frame of mind–perhaps via divine wisdom–is crucial to recognizing God’s frequently surprising methods.
I have never had a miraculously refilling jar of flour or jug of oil, but I have known the considerably mundane and extravagant mercies of God in circumstances ranging from the happy to the traumatic. Either God’s mercies have been greater in proportion to my sometimes difficult circumstances or my perception was proportionately greater and divine mercies have been equally extravagant across time. Was the light bulb brighter or did I notice it more because the light outdoors became dimmer? I do not know, and perhaps the answer to that question does not matter. Recognizing divine mercy and wisdom then acting accordingly does matter, however.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 5, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF DAVID NITSCHMANN, SR., “FATHER NITSCHMANN,” MORAVIAN MISSIONARY; MELCHIOR NITSCHMANN, MORAVIAN MISSIONARY AND MARTYR; JOHANN NITSCHMANN, JR., MORAVIAN MISSIONARY AND BISHOP; ANNA NITSCHMANN, MORAVIAN ELDRESS; AND DAVID NITSCHMANN, MISSIONARY AND FIRST BISHOP OF THE RENEWED MORAVIAN CHURCH
THE FEAST OF BRADFORD TORREY, U.S. ORNITHOLOGIST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF HARRY EMERSON FOSDICK, NORTHERN BAPTIST PASTOR AND OPPONENT OF FUNDAMENTALISM
THE FEAST OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE UNITED REFORMED CHURCH, 1972
Compassionate God, you gather the whole universe into your radiant presence
and continually reveal your Son as our Savior.
Bring wholeness to all that is broken and speak truth to us in our confusion,
that all creation will see and know your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 23
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The Assigned Readings:
Jeremiah 29:1-14
Psalm 35:1-10
Mark 5:1-20
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Psalm 35 contains a prayer for divine action against one’s enemies. In contrast, Jeremiah 29:7 offers the following advice to exiles in the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire:
And seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to the LORD in its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper.
—TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
That passage prompts me to recall the Pauline instruction to pray for those in authority,
that it may go well with you
and our Lord and Savior’s commandment to pray for one’s enemies and bless one’s persecutors. Anger, when we direct it badly, leads to violence. The way to break the cycle of violence is to reject it. There is such a thing as righteous anger, which leads one to commit positive action, but anger is frequently not of the righteous variety. And that kind of anger, like violence, is a spiritual toxin.
The pericopes from Jeremiah and Mark speak of the importance of getting on with life after one’s life circumstances have changed. This continuation of living should glorify God, the readings tell us. And how can we proceed in that vein if we are hauling emotional and spiritual baggage, such as resentment? Yes, injustice abounds in the world. And yes, we ought to oppose injustice properly as part of our Christian witness to the love of God for everyone. Yet none of us is the ultimate judge or power; only God is. May we, therefore, do the right things in the correct ways, trusting God and not becoming obsessed with that which we cannot change or underestimating how much we can, by grace, improve. God will save the world, but we have a commandment to leave it better than we found it.
DECEMBER 1, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE SECOND DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF NICHOLAS FERRAR, ANGLICAN DEACON
THE FEAST OF SAINT CHARLES DE FOUCAULD, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT
THE FEAST OF SAINT EDMUND CAMPION, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR
And sometimes one ought to act faithfully, not just be still faithfully. In the case of the Book of Ruth, for example, people were active, not passive. There was more going on than children’s Sunday School lessons (and even many, if not most, adult Sunday School lessons) admit, for that activity entailed seduction before love became a reality. As Jennifer Wright Knust writes in Unprotected Texts:
To the writer of Ruth, family can consist of an older woman and her beloved immigrant daughter-in-law, women can easily raise children on their own, and men can be seduced if it serves the interests of women.
–page 33
And, as Krust writes on page 35, the emotional bond and subsequent covenant between Ruth and Naomi helped both of them and Israel as a whole. I add that it has helped many subsequent generations all over the world due its role in the genealogy of Jesus.
Family–not in the sense of marriage or ancestry–unites the readings for these three days. The ethic of mutual responsibility (part of the Law of Moses) runs through the New Testament also. The more fortunate, who ought not to depend on their wealth in lieu of God, have responsibilities to the less fortunate. Philemon had responsibilities to Onesimus, who was not necessarily a slave or even a fugitive. (A very close reading of the text–one passage in particular–in the Greek raises serious questions about the traditional understanding).
This notion of mutual responsibility and the opinion of wealth one finds in Luke and James are profoundly counter-cultural in my North American setting, where rugged individualism and the quest for wealth are accepted values. Yet with mutual responsibility comes inderdependence. And the quest for enough wealth for one’s present and future needs, although laudable, becomes insatiable greed for some people. Such greed is socially destructive, denying others enough. There is always enough for everyone in God’s economy; scarcity is a feature of human, sinful economic systems.
May we, by grace, act faithfully and effectively to reduce such sinfulness where we are. And, if we have not fallen into greed, may we not do so. If we have, may we confess and repent of it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 8, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF WILFRED THOMASON GRENFELL, MEDICAL MISSIONARY TO NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT BRIDGET OF SWEDEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN
THE FEAST OF ERIK ROUTLEY, HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM DWIGHT PORTER BLISS, EPISCOPAL PRIEST; AND RICHARD THEODORE ELY, ECONOMIST
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 readings for January 31 and February 1 make more sense together then spread across two days. That is my conclusion, at least.
“False prophets” is the unifying theme. In Zechariah the speak lies, console with illusions, and lead members of the flock astray. Thus God, angered, vows to punish these bad shepherds and provide proper leadership for the human flock. To continue the theme, we read that, in the Last Days,
There will be some difficult times. People will be self-centred and avaricious, boastful, arrogant, and rude, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious; heartless and intractable; they will be slanderers, profligates, savages, and enemies of everything that is good; they will be treacherous and reckless and demented by pride, prefering their own pleasure to God. They will keep up the outward appearance of religion but will have rejected the inner power of it.
–2 Timothy 3:1b-5a, The New Jerusalem Bible
(Human nature has at least been constant. The past, present, and future seem identical in this regard.) Anyhow, we read in 2 Timothy to follow the truth, accept sound teaching, and be on guard against harmful people.
We–beginning with the author of this post–must always be careful not to confuse disagreement with one (in my case, myself) as proof positive that the other person is a bad shepherd, a false prophet, a harmful individual. Maybe the other person is all those things, but perhaps he or she just has some different opinions. I am convinced, for example, that early Church leaders were correct to insist that Gnosticism constituted false doctrine. The main problem with Gnosticism is that it denies the Incarnation, without which there is no Christianity. That one was easy. Law and theology are easy at the extremes. But what about opinions regarding certain points of Calvinism, for example? Christians of good will can–and do–disagree strongly. And all follow Jesus.
Speaking of Calvinism, one aspect of it offers a nice and good way out of many disputes. John Calvin spoke and wrote of a category called “Matters Indifferent.” Anything in that category is optional. The Incarnation is vital, but whether one observes Christmas is a Matter Indifferent, for example. So, with Calvin’s category in mind and a well-honed sense of theological humility before us, may we avoid idolizing our own opinions. We might change them one day, after all. And we are imperfect.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 11, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT DIONYSIUS OF CORINTH, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY NEYROT, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR
THE FEAST OF GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN, ANGLICAN PRIMATE OF NEW ZEALAND
THE FEAST OF SAINT STANISLAUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF KRAKOW
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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2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
So the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army, who were with him,
Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people.
…
And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand.
But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people? And David said to the LORD,
I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, I pray you, take away the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.
And when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,
Go and say to David, “Thus says the LORD, Three things I offer you; choose one of them, that I may do it to you.”
So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him,
Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.
Then David said to Gad,
I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but not let me fall into the hand of man.
So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men. And when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented of the evil, and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people,
It is enough; now stay your hand.
And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said,
Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray you, be against me and against my father’s house?
Psalm 32:1-8 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven,
and whose sin is put away!
2 Happy are they to whom the LORD imputes no guilt,
and in whose spirit there is no guile!
3 While I held my tongue, my bones withered away,
because of my groaning all day long.
4 For your hand was heavy upon me day and night;
my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer.
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and did not conceal my guilt.
6 I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.”
Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.
7 Therefore all the faithful will make your prayers to you in time of trouble;
when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them.
8 You are my hiding-place;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance.
Mark 6:1-6 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
He went away from there and came to his own country; and his disciples followed him. And on the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue; and many who heard him were astonished, saying,
Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?
And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to him,
A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
And he could not do mighty work there, except that he laid hands upon a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief.
And he went about among the villages teaching.
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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.
Often I read a biblical text and find it inspiring. Then we have 2 Samuel 24, which leads me to argue with its theology. I write these devotions for sequential reading, as the lectionaries tend to be sequential, so I do not feel the need to repeat certain statements every second or third or fourth, et cetera, post, but I do repeat one maxim I have quoted elsewhere in this series because it has direct bearing on my interpretation. As Donald Armentrout has said, the best way to read the Bible is through the “Gospel glasses.” Not all parts of the Bible are equal, for the four canonical Gospels are more important than 1 and 2 Chronicles, for example. In this case, Jesus trumps the theology in 2 Samuel 24.
So, what was sinful about David’s census? The narrative indicates that the purpose was military. Was David overconfident in his army, indicating too little trust in God? If this is a moral of the story, God does not come across as one in whom I would seek to put my trust. Rather, God comes across more like a vindictive and omnipotent SOB. Finally, God’s vindictiveness does run its course, for God orders the angel to stop its destructive work, David builds an altar on the future site of the Temple at Jerusalem, and God averts the plague from Israel.
D. D. Whedon’s Commentary on the Old Testament (1873), a work with whose theology I seldom agree, does summarize a crucial plot point in 2 Samuel 24 well. The Reverend M. S. Terry wrote the following note regarding verse 15 on page 554 of Volume III:
…David was vainglorious over the multitude of his warriors, but this one stroke almost decimates them….
So, in the narrative, God tells David, in so many words, trust in me OR ELSE!
That portrait of God as a vengeful deity who attacks innocents disturbs me. This is the same theology which feeds Penal Substitutionary Atonement, which says that Jesus took your, my, et cetera, place on the cross. So, according to this idea, Jesus was the innocent who died for you and me. This is bad theology. It is also only one of several interpretations of the Atonement dating to the age of the Church Fathers.
…God is love.
–1 John 4:8c, Revised Standard Version
Love does not say to Jesus or one of those who died in 2 Samuel 24, “I am really mad, but not with you. So go, suffer, and die for another person’s sin(s).” Yes, there is punishment for sins, but that is often passive on God’s part. God does let our chickens come home to roost, even if only for a limited time. But there is also mercy. Judgment and mercy coexist in the Bible, as I have written many times in my devotional blog posts.
In the torture and death of Jesus, we see our Lord and Savior not only identifying with the outcasts of society, as he did when he dined with them, for example, but becoming one of them. The Roman Empire did its worst to him, and it seemed to have succeeded briefly. It shamed Jesus in an attempt to eliminate him, but our Lord refused to stay dead for long. And so he pointed out the superior power of God, as well as the relative weakness of evil and the Roman Empire. And, by grace, God transformed shame into triumph, hence the Church’s adoption of the cross as its symbol. In Christ there is no more judgment, just mercy. He is the Good Shepherd who takes care of all his sheep.
My theology of the Atonement, as I have written in other devotional blog posts, is that it is the result of the entire life cycle of Jesus of Nazareth, from Incarnation to Ascension. The crucifixion was a vital part of the process, but the Resurrection was more important, for, without it, we would have dead Jesus. There is no salvation in dead Jesus.
Jesus (the historical person, that is) was in the future tense for the timeframe of 2 Samuel 24, obviously. But am I to believe that God’s personality changed drastically within a few centuries? I hope not! Instead, I state that theology, as recorded in the Bible, changed. Jesus (and in this case, 1 John) trump 2 Samuel 24.
Often, when bad things happen, we search desperately for meaning. “Why did these events happen?” we ask ourselves. It can be tempting to understand them as divine retribution, but what kind of nature are we accusing God of having? We need to think about that seriously during our reflections.
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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