[Jesus] said to [his Apostles], “Even you–don’t you understand? Can’t you see that nothing that goes into someone from the outside can make that person unclean, because it goes not int the heart but into the stomach and passes into the sewer?” (Thus he pronounced all foods clean.) And he went on, “It is what comes out of someone that makes that person unclean. For it is from within, from the heart, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a person unclean.
Ritual purity has long been a religious concern. Separating oneself from the world (not always a negative activity) has informed overly strict Sabbath rules and practices. (Executing a person for working on the Sabbath, per Exodus 35:2b, seems excessive to me. I am biased, of course, for I have violated that law, which does not apply to me.) Nevertheless, the Sabbath marked the freedom of the people, for slaves got no day off. Ezekiel, living in exile in an allegedly unclean land, the territory of the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire, experienced a vision of the grandeur of God before God commissioned him a prophet. Perhaps Ezekiel had, suffering under oppression, prayed in the words of Psalm 35:23,
Awake, arise to my cause!
to my defense, my God and my Lord!
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
Those who took Judeans into exile and kept them there were unclean and not because they were Gentiles but because of their spiritual ills, on which they acted. As St. Simon Peter learned centuries later, there is no unclean food and many people he had assumed to be unclean were not really so.
The drawing of figurative lines to separate the allegedly pure from the allegedly impure succeeds in comforting the former, fostering more self-righteousness in them, and doing injustice to the latter. May nobody call unclean one whom God labels clean. May no one mark as an outsider one whom God calls beloved. This is a devotion for the last two days of the Season after the Epiphany. The next season will be Lent. Perhaps repenting of the sins I have listed above constitutes the agenda you, O reader, should follow this Lent. I know that it is one I ought to follow.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 29, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF PAUL MANZ, DEAN OF LUTHERAN CHURCH MUSIC
THE FEAST OF JOHN BUCKMAN WALTHOUR, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF ATLANTA
The Book of Job is allegedly about why people suffer. I have read that book closely several times recently and concluded that the book is about a different topic–how many pious people misunderstand God and presume to spread their confusion. As for the cause of suffering in the Book of Job, the text makes clear that, in the titular character’s case, God permitted it.
There is no single cause of suffering. Possible causes include one’s own sin, another person’s sin, and the fact of being alive. The main topic of these days’ readings, however, is endurance, not suffering. While we endure, do we welcome those agents of grace God sends to us? Do we cease to endure, abandoning faith in God? Or do we mature spiritually? And do we anticipate the blessings which follow after suffering ends?
J. B. Phillips, in his classic book, Your God is Too Small (1961), posited that many people have spiritual deficiencies flowing from inadequate God concepts. I find this conclusion persuasive. It applies to the human characters in the Book of Job, for example. And it applies to many, if not most of us who describe ourselves as religious.
A woefully inadequate God concept can contribute to buckling under pressure and not trusting in God, therefore in not enduring then maturing spiritually. This is not a condemnation of anyone, for I know firsthand about struggling spiritually when one’s world collapses. I also know what grace feels like in those dark days, weeks, and months. And I know that it is to emerge–singed, to be sure–from the metaphorical fire.
So from experience I write the following: No matter how bad the situation is now and how dire it seems to be, there is no shortage of grace. Thanks be to God!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 20, 2013 COMMON ERA
PROPER 24–THE TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
THE FEAST OF MARY A. LATHBURY, U.S. METHODIST HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT BERTILLA BOSCARDIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN AND NURSE
THE FEAST OF JOHN HARRIS BURT, EPISCOPAL PRIEST
THE FEAST OF TARORE OF WAHOARA, ANGLICAN MISSIONARY
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)
Job 32-37 consists of the Elihu section of that book. This is certainly a later addition to the Book of Job, for Elihu comes from nowhere and leaves without a trace. His task is mainly to pester Job for a few chapters while uttering pious-sounding yet non-helpful sentiments the three alleged friends said before. In point of fact, one can skip from Chapter 31 to Chapter 38 while missing mostly tedium.
Yet not everything Elihu says lacks scriptural parallel. He tells Job, for example, that this suffering is a divine rebuke. (It is not, according to the Book of Job.) A note in The Jewish Study Bible refers me to Proverbs 3:11-12, which, in TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures, reads:
Do not reject the discipline of the LORD, my son;
Do not abhor His rebuke.
For whom the LORD loves, He rebukes,
as a father the son whom he favors.
There is such a thing as parental discipline for the good of the child; that is true. But Elihu’s error was in applying this lesson in a circumstance where it did not apply.
Meanwhile, in John 10, Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd, claims to be the Son of God, rejects the charge of blasphemy, and finds his life at risk. The contrast between the God concepts of Elihu and Jesus interests me. Elihu’s God dishes out abuse and Elihu, convinced of the need to commit theodicy, calls it discipline. Yet the God of Jesus watches gives his sheep eternal life and sends a self-sacrificial shepherd for them. That shepherd’s suffering is not a rebuke for his sins, for he is sinless.
Once again, Jesus provides an excellent counterpoint to a voice of alleged orthodoxy in the Book of Job and affirms that book’s message.
Until the next segment of our journey….
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 27, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW JERSEY
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANTONY AND THEODOSIUS OF KIEV, FOUNDERS OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MONASTICISM; SAINT BARLAAM OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT; AND SAINT STEPHEN OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT AND BISHOP
THE FEAST OF THE EARLY ABBOTS OF CLUNY
THE FEAST OF JOSEPH WARRILOW, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
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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Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 35:1-11 (Revised English Bible):
To keep the law is worth many offerings;
to heed the commandments is a shared-offering.
A kindness repaid is a grain-offering,
and to give alms is a thank-offering.
The way to please the Lord is to keep clear of evil,
and to keep clear of wrongdoing is to make atonement.
Yet do not appear before the Lord empty-handed;
perform all the sacrifices, for they are commanded.
When the just person brings his offering of fat to the altar,
its fragrance rises to the presence of the Most High.
The sacrifice of the just is acceptable,
and such a memorial will never be forgotten.
Be generous in your worship of the Lord
and do not stint the firstfruits of your labour.
Give all your gifts cheerfully,
and with gladness dedicate your tithe.
Give to the Most High as he has given to you,
as generously as your means allow,
for the Lord always repays
and you will be repaid seven times over.
Psalm 50:7-15 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak:
“O Israel, I will bear witness against you;
for I am God, your God.
8 I do not accuse you because of your sacrifices;
your offerings are always before me.
9 I will take no bull-calf from your stalls,
nor he-goats out of your pens;
10 For all the beasts of the forest are mine,
the herds in their thousands upon the hills.
11 I know every bird in the sky,
and the creatures of the fields are in my sight.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the whole world is mine and all that are in it.
13 Do you think I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving
and make good your vows to the Most High.
15 Call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall honor me.”
Mark 10:28-31 (Revised English Bible):
Peter said,
What about us?” We have left everything to follow you.
Jesus said,
Truly I tell you: there is no one who has given up home, brothers or sisters, mother, father, or children, or land, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive in this age a hundred times as much–houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and land–and persecutions besides; and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
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The Collect:
Most loving Father, whose will it is for us to give thanks for all things, to fear nothing but the loss of you, and to cast all our care on you who care for us: Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which is immortal, and which you have manifested to us in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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Christian discipleship requires sacrifice. Something must go if we are to obey God and follow Jesus. This is a basic principle. So is this: Whatever we offer to God, we must offer it out of gratitude. We offer to God a portion of that which God has given us. Forms of sacrifice are myriad. They include money, talents, time, prayer, possessions, career, and life itself. Consider Peter, who had left everything to follow Jesus. He died when people crucified him upside down, hence the picture at the top of this post.
As I write these words, someone I do not know and will never meet is experiencing the pain resulting from the fact that his or her family and disowned him or her for becoming a Christian. This person is not alone; God is near. And other Christians will take this person in and become his or her new family. And other person is dying for converting to Christianity from Islam. He or she will receive Heaven, where nobody may harm him or her. “Take up your cross and follow me,” Jesus says. What is your cross? And, more immediately, what sacrifices must you make out of gratitude?
I have been sufficiently fortunate not to experience persecution or run the risk of martyrdom. This is because of where and when I was born. I come from a Western society blessed with freedom of religion, one of my favorite Enlightenment ideals. So let us bless the names of Anne Hutchinson (exiled from Massachusetts for questioning her pastor’s theology), Roger Williams (who claimed that the state should not compel anyone to pray), Thomas Jefferson (who disestablished the church in Virginia), Francis Makemie (the American Presbyterian pioneer imprisoned in New York in the early 1700s for preaching without a license), and all others who have stood courageously for freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. They have made the lives of many people in succeeding generations much easier than they would have been otherwise. (Read the history of the Byzantine Empire to find many abuses flowing from the union of church and state.)
But I have had to sacrifice bad (albeit enjoyable) habits, and I have done so obediently and thankfully. Better habits have replaced them. What I have received is far superior to what I sacrificed. And I have had so sacrifice my illusion of control, which God has replaced with increased serenity. I have sacrificed much arrogance, too, and found that listening more to people is quite a blessing. I could continue, but I trust that I have made my point well.
I have many more sacrifices to make, and I trust that God will show them to me. I have not “arrived” spiritually, and suspect that I will not do so until I enter the afterlife. The journey continues. Thanks be to 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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Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 6:5-17 (Revised English Bible):
Pleasant words win many friends,
and affable talk makes acquaintance easy.
Live at peace with everyone:
accept advice, however, from but one in a thousand.
When you make a friend, begin by testing him,
and be in no hurry to give him your trust.
Some friends are loyal when it suits them
but desert you in time of trouble.
Some friends turn into enemies
and shame you by making the quarrel public.
Another may sit at your table
but in time of trouble is nowhere to be found;
when you are prosperous, he is your second self
and talks familiarly with your servants,
but if you come down in the world, he turns against you
and you will not see his face again.
Hold your enemies at a distance,
and keep a wary eye on your friends.
A faithful friend is a secure shelter;
whoever finds one, finds a treasure.
A faithful friend is beyond price;
there is no measure of his worth.
A faithful friend is an elixir of life,
found only by those who fear the Lord.
Whoever fears the Lord directs his friendship aright,
for he treats a neighbour as himself.
Psalm 119:17-24 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
17 Deal bountifully with your servant,
that I may live and keep your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may see
the wonders of your law.
19 I am a stranger here on earth;
do not hide your commandments from me.
20 My soul is consumed at all times
with longing for your judgments.
21 You have rebuked the insolent;
cursed are they who stray from your commandments!
22 Turn from me shame and rebuke,
for I have kept your decrees.
23 Even though rulers sit and plot against me,
I will meditate on your statutes.
24 For your decrees are my delight,
and they are my counselors.
Mark 10:1-12 (Revised English Bible):
On leaving there he came into the regions of Judaea and Transjordan. Once again crowds gathered round him, and he taught them as was his practice. He was asked,
Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?
The question was put to test him. He responded by asking,
What did Moses command you?
They answered,
Moses permitted a man to divorce his wife by a certificate of dismissal.
Jesus said to them,
It was because of your stubbornness that he made this rule for you. But in the beginning, at the creation, “God made them male and female.” ‘That is why a man leaves his father and mother, and is united to his wife, and the two become one flesh.’ It follows that they are no longer two individuals: they are one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate.
When they were indoors again, the disciples questioned him about this. He said to them,
Whoever divorces his wife and remarries commits adultery against her; so too, if she divorces her husband and remarries, she commits adultery.
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The Collect:
O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you. Grant this for the sake of your only Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.
–Joseph Scriven, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”
Printed in the Cokesbury Worship Hymnal (1938)
Experience has taught me that one knows who one’s friends are when one needs help the most. Those we think of as friends but who are not really friends reveal their true nature when the chips are down. These individuals are really hangers-on, I suppose. But true friends are indeed gifts from God and emissaries thereof. Count yourself fortunate if you have even one such person in your life, for such individuals demonstrate the best of phileo, or brotherly love.
And who should be better friends than two married people? That, at least, is the ideal. With that in mind, let us examine the text of Mark 10:1-12 closely. Some Pharisees ask Jesus a question as a test of his orthodoxy. The standard of orthodoxy from which they worked was the Law of Moses. So consider Deuteronomy 24:1-4 (Revised English Bible):
If a man has taken a woman in marriage, but she does not win his favour because he finds something offensive in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her, and dismisses her, and if after leaving his house she goes off to become the wife of another man, and this second husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her, and dismisses her, or dies after making her his wife, then her first husband who had dismissed her is not free to her to be his wife again; for him she has become unclean. This would be abominable to the LORD, and you must not bring sin upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you as your holding.
According to the Law of Moses, only a man could initiate a divorce (on grounds of “something offensive,” which is to say, usually adultery), but, if he did, he had to grant his ex-wife a certificate of divorce so that she could remarry. This was for the woman’s protection, for society was strongly patriarchal and women were generally economically dependent on men. The playing field was uneven, with women having fewer rights than men. A woman could ask for a divorce, but only a man could grant it.
Schools of thought differed on what constituted “something offensive” in the wife. Adultery was certainly offensive, but some interpreted this condition to apply even to spoiling a dish of food or speaking disrespectfully of in-laws. Consequently, many men divorced their wives for trivial reasons and place these women at great economic peril. So Jesus condemned this practice and affirmed the value of women. Females, he said, are people to cherish; they are things to throw away casually.
This is an apt setting in which to consider New England Puritan family law. Puritans have a reputation as very strict and humorless people. I know that they hanged falsely convicted women as witches and crushed an innocent man to death while trying to convince him to confess to being a warlock in 1692-1693, but Puritan family law was more favorable to women than some might guess. Puritans believed that marriage exists for the sake of the family, and were sufficiently realistic to understand that preservation of the family requires divorce in some cases. Professor Edmund Morgan, in The Puritan Family (Second Edition, 1966), wrote, “The grounds for divorce, as revealed by the statement of the ministers, were adultery, desertion, and absence for a length of time to be determined by the civil government.” (page 36) Wives sued successfully for divorce from husbands who had abandoned them. (page 37) Other legally valid causes of divorce were “natural capacities, and insufficiencies,” bigamy, and incest. (page 35) In addition, civil law forbade married men and women to strike each other, and courts enforced this rule. (page 39) In brief, lawful divorce flowed from one party disregarding a fundamental duty of marriage, as Puritans defined such matters. The fundamental duties were “peaceful cohabitation, sexual union and faithfulness, and economic support of the wife by the husband.” (pages 41-42) The innocent party in the divorce proceeding was free to remarry. (page 37) These laws treated women like people, not objects.
I know of a United Methodist clergywoman who divorced her first husband on the grounds of attempted murder. Would any reasonable person deny her that divorce?
There are two parts of the law: the letter and the spirit. Clever legalists know how to manipulate the letter of the law to benefit themselves while violating the spirit of the law. But let us honor the spirit of the law. Let us respect one another and treat each other as human beings with dignity, people nobody has the right to throw away casually and place at undue risk.
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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