Archive for the ‘2 Peter 1’ Tag
Above: Icon of the Transfiguration of Jesus
Image in the Public Domain
Mystery and Transfiguration
FEBRUARY 19, 2023
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According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
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Exodus 24:12, 15-18
Psalm 2:6-13
2 Peter 1:16-19 (20-21)
Matthew 17:1-9
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Almighty God, on the mountain you showed your glory
in the transfiguration of your Son.
Give us the vision to see beyond the turmoil of our world
and to behold the king in all his glory;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 17
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O God, in the transfiguration of your Son you confirmed
the mysteries of faith by the witness of Moses and Elijah,
and in the voice from the bright cloud
you foreshadowed our adoption as your children.
Make us with the king heirs of your glory,
and bring us to enjoy its fullness,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 17
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O God, in the glorious transfiguration of your only-begotten Son
once confirmed the mysteries of the faith
by the testimony of the ancient fathers,
and in the voice that came from the bright cloud
you wondrously foreshadowed our adoption by grace.
Therefore, mercifully make us coheirs with our King of his glory,
and bring us to the fullness of our inheritance in heaven;
through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Worship (1982), 31
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In the Gospel of Matthew, the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus comes between two predictions of the crucifixion and resurrection. The plain textual context tells us to interpret the Transfiguration accordingly. Jesus was on a mission that would cost him dearly yet end in vindication.
The accounts of the Transfiguration also include a nod to the Shekinah (the Divine Presence), from the Hebrew Bible. This is the cloud that enveloped Moses atop Mount Sinai and filled the First Temple. This poetic image appeals to me. The awe and wonder of God remain intact. God is other yet near and accessible. The people of God are God’s adopted children (“sons,” literally, in the Greek of Pauline epistles) and heirs.
God, of course, was nearest and most accessible in the Incarnation. God in the flesh, walking, speaking, and dining with people was remarkably accessible. Yet the Incarnation defied comprehension.
The Incarnation defies my understanding. So be it.
Mystery, in antiquity, indicated something one could know only by living into it and by doing. Mystery, in antiquity, was not a matter of an something unknown one could solve, given reasoning and enough information. Mystery, in antiquity, was not the same as mystery in an Agatha Christie novel.
Despite this ancient understanding of mystery, I suspect that St. Mary of Nazareth never understood her eldest son as well as God understood her.
Understanding is not always necessary. We mere mortals can, objectively, explain and understand much. I affirm history and science, which rely on evidence. I detest anti-intellectual and anti-scientific attitudes. (I am a left-of-center Episcopalian.) Yet, regarding God–Jesus, in particular–evidence can take us only so far. After the Incarnation (which I do not attempt to explain), evidence takes me to the foot of the cross of Jesus. Then the understanding that comes from faith takes over. I understand partially. Understanding is not necessary in certain situations. Yet trusting in God is always essential.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 28, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ALBERT THE GREAT AND HIS PUPIL, SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS; ROMAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGIANS
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANDREI RUBLEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ICON WRITER
THE FEAST OF DANIEL J. SIMUNDSON, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF HENRY AUGUSTINE COLLINS, ANGLICAN THEN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JOSEPH BARNBY, ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF SOMERSET CORRY LOWRY, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA
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Above: The Transfiguration, by Raphael
Image Source = Library of Congress
Reproduction Number = LC-USZ62-90565
Divine Glory and Sacrificial Love
FEBRUARY 19, 2023
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Exodus 24:12-18
Psalm 2
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9 (or 1-13)
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Interestingly, the Transfiguration account in Matthew follows on the heels of Jesus saying,
Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
–16:28, The New American Bible (1991)
In that scene, Jesus, looking very much like Moses (and standing with Moses and Elijah) on a mountaintop, stands in divine glory. We can read another version of the Transfiguration in Luke 9:28-36, shortly before Jesus sets his face literally and figuratively toward Jerusalem–to die.
It is appropriate that we read of the Transfiguration on the Sunday immediately preceding Lent, at the end of which are Good Friday and Holy Saturday. We are supposed to recall the supreme divine love behind the Incarnation and the Atonement, as well as to remember that God calls us to love like Jesus, who loved all the way to a cross.
That is a variety of love that carries a high price tag. The grace, although free, is certainly not cheap. It is, however, the path to life at its fullest and most abundant.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 23, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR AND ISAAC THE GREAT, PATRIARCHS OF ARMENIA
THE FEAST OF MEISTER ECKHART, ROMAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGIAN AND MYSTIC
THE FEAST OF SAINT METODEJ DOMINIK TRCKA, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT VICTORIAN OF HADRUMETUM, MARTYR AT CARTHAGE, 484
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2018/03/23/divine-glory-and-sacrificial-love/
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Above: The Wrath of Elihu, by William Blake
Image in the Public Domain
The Oratory and Theology of Elihu, Part IV
FEBRUARY 12, 2023
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Job 34:21-37
Psalm 12
Matthew 7:1-12
2 Peter 1:1-15
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God cares for the poor and the oppressed, Elihu, Psalm 12, and Matthew 7 tell us. Yet how do we explain the divine wager in Job 1 and 2, as well as the suffering of other innocent people? It is a difficult theological question, one for which I, along with the Book of Job, refuse to offer any easy answers. I not that, according to God in Job 42:7, Job had, unlike Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, spoken truthfully about God. I remind you, O reader, that Job had spoken critically of God, who agreed with Job in Chapter 42 yet not in Chapters 38-41. Such contradictions are par for course in a text with layers of authorship.
Elihu, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar should have followed timeless advice which the author of 2 Peter 1 summarized thusly:
…you should make every effort to add virtue to your faith, knowledge to virtue, self-control to knowledge, fortitude to self-control, piety to fortitude, brotherly affection to piety, and love to brotherly affection.
–1:5b-7, The Revised English Bible (1989)
They would have avoided being not only inhospitable but overreaching in statements in defense of God, as they understood God. Elihu said:
But this is what all sensible folk will say,
and any wise man among my hearers,
“There is not wisdom in Job’s speech,
his words lack sense.
Put him unsparingly to the proof
since his retorts are the same as those that the wicked make.
For to him he adds rebellion,
calling justice into question in our midst
and heaping abuse on God.”
–Job 34:34-37, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
They would have refrained from heaping abuse on Job and would have been good friends had they acted according to the timeless advice the author of 2 Peter 1:5b-7 understood well.
May we–you, O reader, and I–act according to 2 Peter 1:5b-7 daily, by grace.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 10, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT SALVIUS OF ALBI, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF MORDECAI JOHNSON, EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT NEMESIAN OF SIGUM AND HIS COMPANIONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS AND MARTYRS
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/09/10/the-oratory-and-theology-of-elihu-part-iv/
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©Photo. R.M.N. / R.-G. Ojda
Above: The Visitation
Image in the Public Domain
God, Challenging
DECEMBER 22 and 23, 2021
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The Collect:
Almighty God, you gave us your only Son
to take on our human nature and to illumine the world with your light.
By your grace adopt us as your children and enlighten us with your Spirit,
through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 20
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The Assigned Readings:
Micah 4:1-5 (December 22)
Micah 4:6-8 (December 23)
Luke 1:46b-55 (Both Days)
Ephesians 2:22-22 (December 22)
2 Peter 1:16-21 (December 23)
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And Mary said:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
and my spirit exults in God my savior;
because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid.
Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed,
for the Almighty has done great things for me.
Holy is his name,
and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him.
He has shown the power of his arm,
he has routed the proud of heart.
He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly.
The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich sent empty away.
He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his mercy
–according to the promise he made to our ancestors–
of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.
–Luke 1:46-55, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
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One function of rhetoric regarding the fully realized Kingdom of God is to criticize the errors of human social, economic, and political systems. Exploitation of people, often via the artificial scarcity of wealth, has been a serious problem for a long time. Many of the hardest working people are among the poorest, for many economic systems are rigged to benefit a relative few people, not the masses, and therefore the society as a whole. Violence is among the leading causes of poverty and hunger, corruption frustrates poverty and creates more of it, and labeling groups of people “outsiders” wrongly for the benefit of the self-appointed “insiders” harms not just the “outsiders” but all members of society. Whatever we do to others, we do to ourselves. As even many antebellum defenders of race-based chattel slavery in the United States of America admitted, keeping a large population “in their place,” that is subservient to Whites, held back Whites and the entire society also. After all, if keeping a large population “in their place” was to be a reality, who was going to keep them there without forgoing other tasks? In human brotherhood free people could have advanced together, but slavery delayed the society in which it existed.
In Christ, we read in Ephesians 2, we are:
no longer strangers and aliens, but…citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord….
–Verses 19-21, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
2 Peter 1 reminds us “cleverly concocted tales” to quote The Revised English Bible (1989), form the basis of the declaration of the majesty and power of Jesus. The oral tradition, which informs many canonical writings, has a flexible spine which preserves the core of stories yet permits variation in recall of minor details. Nevertheless, the narrative retains its integrity, even if it contradicts itself about, for example, in whose house a woman anointed Jesus. So, without committing the error of biblical literalism, I affirm that something happened and that we can have at least an outline of what that was.
This is a devotion for December 22 and 23, two of the last three days of Advent. This is a time when I complain about the inaccuracy of many manger scenes. The shepherds, from the Gospel of Luke, were at Bethlehem. The Magi, from the Gospel of Matthew, were at Nazareth a few years later. What are they doing in the same visual representations? Why have more Christians, churches, and artists not paid attention to these details? Regarding those details I acknowledge that, even if all of them are not literally true, something still happened and we can have some reliable idea about what that was. Via the Incarnation God broke into human history and started a new chapter in the grand narrative of salvation. That is no “cleverly concocted tale.”
God, via Jesus and other means, seeks to reconcile us to God and to each other. Part of this reconciliation is the correction of social injustices, the perpetuation of which provides certain benefits to many of us while harming us simultaneously. In baby Jesus we have a reminder that God approaches us in a variety of ways, some of which we do not expect. We might miss some of them because we are not looking for them. Our functional fixedness is counterproductive.
God’s glorious refusal to fit into the proverbial boxes of our expectations challenges us to think and act anew. May we rise to the challenge.
Merry Christmas!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 21, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHN ATHELSTAN LAURIE RILEY, ANGLICAN ECUMENIST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/god-challenging/
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Above: St. John the Baptist
Image in the Public Domain
The Faithfulness and Generosity of God, Part III
DECEMBER 7 and 8, 2021
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The Collect:
Stir up your power, Lord God, to prepare the way of your only Son.
By his coming give to all the world knowledge of your salvation;
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 19
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The Assigned Readings:
Isaiah 19:18-25 (Tuesday)
Isaiah 35:3-7 (Wednesday)
Psalm 126 (Both Days)
2 Peter 1:2-15 (Tuesday)
Luke 7:18-30 (Wednesday)
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When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
then we were like those who dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy.
They they said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great thins for us,
and we are glad indeed.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the watercourses of the Negev.
Those who sowed with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go our reaping, carrying the seed,
will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.
–Psalm 126, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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St. John the Baptist was a political prisoner. The great forerunner of Jesus was having doubts, perhaps due in part to despair. That was understandable.
Many Hebrews were exiles in the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire. Other Hebrews lived in their homeland, yet under occupation. Hopelessness was understandable.
Yet God was undefeated and not in prison. No, God was preparing to do something new. Egypt was going to suffer, in part because its “sages” depended on their “received wisdom” (actually foolishness), not on God. Yet after punishment, First Isaiah wrote, Egypt was going to turn to God and become an instrument of divine mercy. Later, in Isaiah 35, the Babylonian Exile was going to end, the prophet wrote. And sadly, St. John the Baptist died in prison. He was a forerunner in execution also. Yet at least John received his answer from Jesus, who went on to suffer, die, and not remain dead for long.
The Kingdom of God, partially in place since at least the earthly lifetime of Jesus of Nazareth, awaits its full unveiling. Until then good people will continue to suffer and sometimes die for the sake of righteousness, if not the reality that they prove to be inconvenient to powerful bad people. One Christian duty during this time of evil coexisting with the Kingdom of God is building up faithful community, thereby striving for justice and reaching out to those around us. The church is properly salt and light in the world, not an isolated colony living behind barricades and living at war with it.
You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under a bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
–Matthew 5:13-16, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
God is faithful and generous, but that reality precludes neither punishment for offenses nor suffering for the sake of righteousness. Those who expect God to be a cosmic warm fuzzy are in error, just as those who imagine that the existence and love of God lead to an end to suffering (especially of the godly) are wrong. Yet, if we suffer for the sake of righteousness, God is at our side. Can we recognize the reality that God loves us, sides with us, and has suffered for us? How will that recognition translate into thinking, and therefore into living?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 11, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT GREGORY THAUMATURGUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF NEOCAESAREA; AND SAINT ALEXANDER OF COMANA “THE CHARCOAL BURNER,” ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR AND BISHOP OF COMANA, PONTUS
THE FEAST OF AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE TOPLADY, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT CLARE OF ASSISI, FOUNDER OF THE POOR CLARES
THE FEAST OF MATTHIAS LOY, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER, EDUCATOR, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR; AND CONRAD HERMANN LOUIS SCHUETTE, GERMAN-AMERICAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, EDUCATOR, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/08/12/the-faithfulness-and-generosity-of-god-part-iii/
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Above: The Cover of the Sheet Music to The Fall of Jerusalem and Zion March, 1900
Image Source = Library of Congress
Judgment, Mercy, and Ethical Living, Part I
NOT OBSERVED IN 2015
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The Collect:
Loving God, by tender words and covenant promise you have joined us to yourself forever,
and you invite us to respond to your love with faithfulness.
By your Spirit may we live with you and with one another in justice, mercy, and joy,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 25
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The Assigned Readings:
Ezekiel 16:1-14 (Thursday)
Ezekiel 16:44-52 (Friday)
Ezekiel 16:53-63 (Saturday)
Psalm 103 (All Days)
Romans 3:1-8 (Thursday)
2 Peter 1:1-11 (Friday)
John 7:53-8:11 (Saturday)
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The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.
He will not contend forever,
or nurse His anger for all time.
–Psalm 103:8-9, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
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As the readings for these three days remind us, God both judges and shows mercy. Often mercy follows judgment, in fact. We have received ample grace from God. Such generosity warrants a response of gratitude and ethical living from us. (Grace is free, but not cheap.) One aspect of that ethical living (as in 2 Peter 1:7) is brotherly affection, one of the four loves in the New Testament.
We read also of ways in which God’s glory becomes evident because of or despite human actions. If you, O reader, ever wondered if God will receive glory, the answer is “yes.” Nevertheless, it is better to be a vehicle of divine glorification than an obstacle to it.
John 7:53-8:11, the pericope regarding the woman caught in adultery, is a floating story actually of Synoptic origin. One can read the Gospel of John without it, moving from 7:52 to 8:12 without missing a beat. Usually I like to read an excerpt from the canonical Gospels in the immediate context of what happens before and after it, but today I will not follow that practice with regard to this pericope.
This is a story about a trap. Those religious authorities who sought to ensnare Jesus cared nothing about the location of the man with whom the woman had committed adultery. Jesus probably reminded them of the fact that the punishment for them under the Law of Moses was stoning also. Then our Lord and Savior forgave the woman, who had been a pawn just a few minutes prior.
May our thankfulness to God lead us to treat our fellow human beings ethically. And may we understand that, when we accuse others, we might open ourselves up to charges (even if not legal ones) also.
Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make, you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.
–Jesus in Matthew 7:1-2, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
Also, forgiving each other goes a long way toward building better families, communities, cultures, and societies. So does minding one’s own business. Understanding the scope of one’s own business leads one to recognize the difference between doing what is necessary and proper to build up one’s neighbors and making matters worse. When we love one another properly, as God commanded, we glorify the deity by acting correctly toward others. We cannot love God, whom we cannot see, if we do not love human beings, whom we can see.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 4, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE FIFTH DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF JOSEPH MOHR, AUSTRIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT BARBARA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OF DAMASCUS, HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN CALABRIA, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE POOR SERVANTS AND THE POOR WOMEN SERVANTS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/12/06/judgment-mercy-and-ethical-living-part-i/
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Above: Assyrian Empire
Self-Imposed Exile
DECEMBER 4, 2023
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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The Assigned Readings:
Isaiah 10:12-27, 32b-34
Psalm 33 (Morning)
Psalms 85 and 91 (Evening)
2 Peter 1:1-21
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A Related Post:
The Remnant:
http://taylorfamilypoems.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/the-remnant/
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You have been gracious to your land, O LORD,
you have restored the good fortune of Jacob.
You have forgiven the iniquity of your people
and blotted out all their sins.
You have withdrawn all your wrathful indignation.
Restore us then, O God our Savior;
let your anger depart from us.
Will you be displeased with us forever?
will you prolong your anger from age to age?
Will you not give us life again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
–Psalm 85:1-6, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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For very soon My wrath will have spent itself, and My anger that was bent on wasting them.
–Isaiah 10:25, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
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But without [goodness, understanding, self-control, perseverance, devotion, and kindness to brothers with love], a person is blind or short-sighted, forgetting how the sins of the past were washed away.
–2 Peter 1:9, The New Jerusalem Bible
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God will destroy the Assyrian Empire, Isaiah told his audience. Not only that, a remnant of Judah will return and God’s anger will run its course. One might flip forward to Isaiah 40 and read:
Comfort, oh comfort, My people,
Says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
And declare to her
That her term of service is over,
That her iniquity is expiated,
For she has received at the hand of the LORD
Double for all her sins.
–Isaiah 40:1-2, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
Divine anger which led to the destruction of Assyria will end. Divine anger which led to the Assyrian and Babylonian Exiles will run its course. But Assyria did not rise again. In contrast, exiles from Judah did return to their ancestral homeland.
The author of 2 Peter told his audience to lie in goodness, understanding, self-control, perseverance, and devotion, and to be kind to one’s Christian brothers (and sisters) in love. By so doing, he wrote, the knowledge of Jesus Christ would be neither ineffectual nor unproductive. Yet without them, one forgets that God has washed our sins away.
If we live as if God has not forgiven certain sins, we go about our lives entrapped in our ignorance and illusions. We become prisoners of a lie, or at least a misunderstanding. We live in a self-imposed exile. This is most unfortunate. What might we do for God if we were living as the free people we are?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 9, 2011 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE HOLY MEN OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/self-imposed-exile/
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Above: Mother Teresa, Who Loved Her Neighbors
Image Source = Turelio
Piety, Genuine and False
FEBRUARY 12, 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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2 Peter 1:1-11 (Revised English Bible):
From Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who share equally with us in the privileges of faith through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace be yours in fullest measure, through knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
God’s divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and true religion, through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. In this way he was given us his promises, great beyond all price, so that through them you may escape this corruption with which lust has infected the world, and may come to share in the very being of God.
With all this in view, you should make every effort to add virtue to your faith, knowledge to virtue, self-control to knowledge, fortitude to self-control, piety to fortitude, brotherly affection to piety, and love to brotherly affection.
If you possess and develop these gifts, you will grow actively and effectively in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever lacks them is willfully blind; he has forgotten that his past sins were washed away. All the more often, my friends, do your utmost to establish that God has called and chosen you. If you do this, you will never stumble, and there will be rich provision for your entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Psalm 91 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High,
abides under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 He shall say to the LORD,
“You are my refuge and my stronghold,
my God in whom I put my trust.”
3 He shall deliver you from the snare of the hunter,
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He shall cover you with his pinions,
and you shall find refuge under his wings.
5 You shall not be afraid of any terror by night,
nor of the arrow that flies by day;
6 Of the plague that stalks in the darkness,
nor of the sickness that lays waste at mid-day.
7 A thousand shall fall at your side
and ten thousand at your right hand,
but it shall not come near you.
8 Your eyes have only to behold
to see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the LORD your refuge,
and the Most High your habitation,
10 There shall no evil happen to you,
neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.
11 For he shall give his angels charge over you,
to keep you in all your ways.
12 They shall bear you in their hands,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and adder;
you shall trample the young lion and the serpent under your feet.
14 Because he is bound to me in love,
therefore I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him;
I am with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and bring him to honor.
16 With long life will I satisfy him,
and show him my salvation.
Mark 12:1-12 (Revised English Bible):
He went on to speak to them in parables:
A man planted a vineyard and put a wall round it, hewed out a winepress, and built a watch-tower; then he let it out to the wine-growers and went abroad. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce. But they seized him, thrashed him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again, he sent them another servant, whom they beat about the head and treated outrageously, and then another, whom they killed. He sent many others and they thrashed and killed the rest. He had now no one left to send except his beloved son, and in the end he sent him. “They will respect my son,” he said; but the tenants said to one another, “This is the heir; come on, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” So they seized him and killed him, and flung his body out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and put the tenants to death and give the vineyard to others.
Have you never read this text: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the main corner-stone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful in our eyes”?
They saw that the parable was aimed at them and wanted to arrest him; but they were afraid of the people, so they left him alone and went away.
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The Collect:
O God, who before the passion of your onlybegotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Some Related Posts:
Week of Last Epiphany: Monday, Year 1:
https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/11/08/week-of-last-epiphany-monday-year-1/
Mark 12:
http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/week-of-proper-4-monday-year-1/
Matthew 21 (Parallel to Mark 12):
http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/proper-22-year-a/
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There is an old, perhaps apocryphal story. The elderly Apostle John was about to visit a congregation. The people gathered and anticipated what pearls of wisdom might drop from his lips. When John arrived, he was so frail that others had to carry him. Seated in front of the rapt audience, the Apostle said, “My children, love one another.” Then he summoned the men who had carried him in to carry him out. One congregation member, disappointed with the brevity of the address, chased after John and said, in so many words, “That’s it?” John replied, “When you have done that, I will tell you more.”
Too often we Christians misunderstand orthodoxy as merely being correct on doctrinal matters. As 2 Peter 1 reminds us, there is a lived aspect of orthodoxy. The most basic test of this is, “Do we love one another?” The jealous vineyard tenants in our Lord’s parable did not, but perhaps they thought themselves doctrinally orthodox. The tenants were stand-ins for professional religious people of our Lord’s time and place. They lived according a version of piety which depended on separation from the great unwashed, a type of piety which the great majority of people could not afford to maintain. So this was a smug, condescending piety–a false piety.
Jesus, of course, scandalized the practitioners of such piety by doing things like dining with tax collectors and speaking with prostitutes.
False piety is more socially respectable, is it not? And what does tell you, O reader?
May we love one another, however this appears to others.
KRT
Above: Mount Tabor, Traditional Site of the Transfiguration
Jesus, Consistent with the Law and the Prophets
FEBRUARY 19, 2023
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Exodus 24:12-18 (New Revised Standard Version):
The LORD said to Moses,
Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.
So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. To the elders he had said,
Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.
Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.
THEN THIS PSALM
Psalm 2 (New Revised Standard Version):
Why do the the nations conspire,
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and his anointed, saying,
Let us burst their bonds asunder,
and cast their cords from us.
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the LORD has them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.
I will tell of the decree of the LORD:
He said to me,
You are my son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron,
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
with trembling kiss his feet,
or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way;
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Happy are all who take refuge in him.
OR THIS PSALM
Psalm 99 (New Revised Standard Version):
The LORD is king; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
The LORD is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the peoples.
Let them praise your great and awesome name.
Holy is he!
Mighty King, lover of justice,
you have established equity;
you have executed justice
and righteousness in Jacob.
Extol the LORD our God;
worship at his footstool.
Holy is he!
Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel also was among those who called on his name.
They cried to the LORD, and he answered them.
He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
they kept his decrees,
and the statutes that he gave them.
O LORD our God, you answered them;
you were a forgiving God to them,
but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
Extol the LORD our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for the LORD our God is holy.
THEN THE EPISTLE READING
2 Peter 1:16-21 (New Revised Standard Version):
We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying,
This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.
We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.
So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
THEN THE GOSPEL READING
Matthew 17:1-9 (New Revised Standard Version):
Six days after Peter had acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus,
Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.
While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said,
This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!
When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying,
Get up and do not be afraid.
And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them,
Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead
The Collect:
O God, who before the passion of your only begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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When I read about events such as the Ascension and the Transfiguration I suspect that more happened than I read in texts. I do not doubt the veracity of the accounts, but I suspect that words were inadequate to the full scope of events in question. One just had to be there to get the full effect, and I am about 2,000 years too late for that.
The Transfiguration was a revelatory experience for the accompanying apostles. They glimpsed the true nature of Jesus, which entails being consistent with the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah). [A true story: Recently Beth Long, my Rector, repeated a question a child in the parish asked. How, this young person queried, did the apostles recognize Moses and Elijah? Beth replied that she did not know. Indeed, that is an intriguing question and a plot hole, but it does not distract me from the point of having Jesus, Moses, and Elijah together briefly.] Yet Peter–”God bless him,” as we say in the U.S. South–wanted to remain in the moment and institutionalize it. This reaction, although well-intentioned, was misguided, for Jesus and the apostles needed to move along.
They were headed for Jerusalem, where the Passion Narrative would unfold. The Gospel of Luke contains another account of the Transfiguration. Just a few verses after that passage, Jesus “turned his face toward Jerusalem,” and his impending death. (Luke 9:51) This is an important turning point in the Gospel of Luke, and one should read verses before it and after it in its context. With that in mind, I propose that the Transfiguration was also a “booster shot” for Jesus, who was about the embark on a difficult, yet necessary, course.
When pondering the calendar of the Christian Church, one needs to remember that the earliest feast Christians observed was Easter. Even Christmas (the observance of which developed later) exists in the shadow of Easter. And the Transfiguration does, also.
The placement of the Transfiguration on this Sunday is appropriate because the next season in the Christian year is Lent, and the next Sunday will be the First Sunday in Lent. At the end of that 40-days season is Holy Week. So we Christians need to set our faces toward Jerusalem, too.
KRT
Written for SUNDRY THOUGHTS OF KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR on June 16, 2010
http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/jesus-consistent-with-the-law-and-the-prophets/
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