Archive for the ‘Isaiah 63’ Tag
Above: Icon of the Second Coming of Jesus
Image in the Public Domain
Faithfulness, Divine and Human
DECEMBER 3, 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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Isaiah 63:16b-17; 64:1-8
Psalm 80:1-7 (LBW) or Psalm 98 (LW)
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:33-37 or Mark 11:1-10
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Stir up your power, O Lord, and come.
Protect us by your strength and
save us from the threatening dangers of our sins,
for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 13
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Stir up, we implore you, your power, O Lord,
and come that by your protection
we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins
and be saved by your mighty deliverance;
for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Worship (1982), 10
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These assigned readings, taken together, portray God as being faithful and fearful–not a warm fuzzy. Divine judgment and mercy remain in balance.
- Isaiah 63:16b-17 and 64:1-8 come from Third Isaiah, from the time in which Jewish Exiles had begun to return to their ancestral homeland. The text indicates great disillusionment as well as the confession that Judea did not live up to long-held expectations of a verdant, fertile paradise. Yet consider, O reader, that God had ended the Babylonian Exile.
- Psalms 80 and 98 have different tones. Psalm 80 fits tonally with the lesson from Isaiah. Yet Psalm 98 has a triumphant, celebratory tone.
- The pleasant tone of the introduction of St. Paul the Apostle’s First (really Second) Epistle to the Corinthians belies the corrective tone that commences in 1:10. The focus on the faithfulness of God in the introduction meshes with the other readings.
- Assigning the account of the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on the First Sunday of Advent is a tradition in lectionaries of the Lutheran and Moravian churches. The faithfulness of God exists in the flesh in the reading.
- Mark 13:33-37 reminds us that God is faithful, so we need to be faithful, too.
I do not fixate on the Second Coming of Jesus, for I know too much about the tradition of failed expectations and specific dates to play that game. Also, I affirm that God will attend to all matters of the Second Coming. Meanwhile, feeding hungry people and working for righteousness/social justice is a better use of time than attending any prophecy conference or reading any book about prophecy. Besides, much of the content to the interpretation of prophecy is dubious, as the passage of time proves. And righteousness is right relationship with God, self, others, and all creation. Biblically, righteousness and justice are interchangeable. Certainly, working for righteousness is more important than guessing the identity of the Antichrist.
The early part of Advent is about the Second Coming of Jesus. The latter part is about the First Coming of Jesus. Much of the challenge of Advent is not to become distracted by the busyness of December, with all its shopping, advertising, materialism, and parties. These distract–or can distract–one from simple, quiet faithfulness to God, who is faithful. God may not always act according to our expectations. That is our problem, not God’s.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
FEBRUARY 27, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE SIXTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF NICHOLAR FERRAR, ANGLICAN DEACON AND FOUNDER OF LITTLE GIDDING; GEORGE HERBERT, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND METAPHYSICAL POET; AND ALL SAINTLY PRIESTS
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANNE LINE AND ROGER FILCOCK, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, 1601
THE FEAST OF FRED ROGERS, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HOST OF MISTER ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD
THE FEAST OF SAINT GABRIEL POSSENTI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PENITENT
THE FEAST OF MARIAN ANDERSON, AFRICAN-AMERICAN SINGER AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST
THE FEAST OF SAINT RAPHAEL OF BROOKLYN, SYRIAN-AMERICAN RUSSIAN ORTHODOX BISHOP OF BROOKLYN
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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA
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Above: The Return from Egypt, by James Tissot
Image in the Public Domain
The Faithfulness of God
DECEMBER 31, 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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Isaiah 63:7-9
Psalm 111
Galatians 4:4-7
Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23
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Almighty God, you wonderfully created
and yet more wonderfully restored the dignity of human nature.
In your mercy, let us share the divine life of Jesus Christ
who came to share our humanity,
and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 14
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Direct us, O Lord, in all our actions by your gracious favor,
and further us with your continual help that in all our works,
begun, continued, and ended in your name,
we may glorify your holy name and
finally by your mercy receive eternal life;
through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Worship (1982), 18
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Isaiah 63:7-64:11 is a psalm of lament. For this week, we read the first three verses. For more context, O reader, keep reading. The theme of human (collective) faithlessness, in contrast to divine faithfulness, is prominent. That theme runs through the other readings, too.
Yet some people are faithful. They may be Jews or Zoroastrians (Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23). Either way, they do what God commands. They may be Jews or Gentiles (Galatians 4:4-7). They are heirs–literally, sons of God. (Sons inherited in St. Paul the Apostle’s cultural context. Daughters did not.)
Grace is free, not cheap. Just ask God–Jesus, in particular, O reader. Grace also requires much of its recipients. Grace transforms its recipients and the world, by extension. Grace requires faithful response to God, whom nobody should mistake for a divine vending machine. Yet certain results are predictable. As logicians remind us:
If x, then y.
In personal matters, I speak and write only for myself, and aspire to do only that. In my experience, God and grace have seemed closest during dark times. I have grown the most, spiritually, when the proverbial bottom has fallen out of my life. God and grace may have been as close during better times, but I have perceived them as being closer during worse times. Maybe the light merely seemed brighter in contrast to the darkness.
I acknowledge my dependence on grace. Daily I establish the goal to be the best possible version of myself. I, being a mere mortal, fail, of course. But striving for that goal is worthwhile. It is something. God can work with something.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 14, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MACRINA THE ELDER, HER FAMILY, AND SAINT GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS THE YOUNGER
THE FEAST OF ABBY KELLEY FOSTER AND HER HUSBAND, STEPHEN SYMONDS FOSTER, U.S. QUAKER ABOLITIONISTS AND FEMINISTS
THE FEAST OF EIVIND JOSEF BERGGRAV, LUTHERAN BISHOP OF OSLO, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND LEADER OF THE NORWEGIAN RESISTANCE DURING WORLD WAR II
THE FEAST OF KRISTEN KVAMME, NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF RICHARD MEUX BENSON, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND CO-FOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST; CHARLES CHAPMAN GRAFTON, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, CO-FOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST, AND BISHOP OF FOND DU LAC; AND CHARLES GORE, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF WORCESTER, BIRMINGHAM, AND OXFORD; FOUNDER OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE RESURRECTION; THEOLOGIAN; AND ADVOCATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND WORLD PEACE
THE FEAST OF SAVA I, FOUNDER OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH AND FIRST ARCHBISHOP OF SERBS
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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA
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Above: The Dream of Nebuchadnezzar
Image in the Public Domain
Exile, Liberation, and Lamentation
DECEMBER 3, 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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Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:14-37
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There is good news and there is bad news.
The readings from the Hebrew Bible hail from different times. Psalm 80 is a national lament from the final days of the northern Kingdom of Israel. One may recall that the theology written into much of the Old Testament regarding the Assyrian and Babylonian Exiles was that persistent, collective sin had brought them on. Isaiah 64 comes from the Third Isaiah portion of the Book of Isaiah, after return from the Babylonian Exile. The text, which one understands better if one reads Isaiah 63 first, indicates collective disappointment with the shambles the ancestral homeland had become.
Good news follows bad news in Mark 13. In a passage that obviously invokes the descent of “one like a Son of Man” in Daniel 7, Jesus will return. Yet one also reads a note of caution (“Keep awake.”) in the context of language to which one can correctly add,
or else.
St. Paul the Apostle anticipated that day was he wrote to the argumentative congregation in Corinth. Before he pointed out their faults he remined them that God had granted them awareness of the truth regarding God and Jesus Christ, as well as the means to speak of that truth.
The two great themes of the Hebrew Bible are exodus and exile. When exile ends, we may find that we have new problems. Yet we can rely on God, who continues to perform loving, mighty acts. Will we accept divine liberation, or will we exile ourselves?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 5, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT DOROTHEUS OF TYRE, BISHOP OF TYRE, AND MARTYR
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2019/06/05/exile-liberation-and-lamentation/
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Above: Icon of the Life of Christ
Image in the Public Domain
Divine Judgment and Mercy
DECEMBER 31, 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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Isaiah 63:7-9
Psalm 148
Philippians 2:12-18
Luke 2:21-40 or Matthew 2:13-23
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Judgment and mercy exist in balance in the Bible. An act of mercy for the Hebrews (as in Isaiah 63) is judgment upon the Edomites (as in Isaiah 63:1-6). Divine mercy exists not because of imagined human fidelity among a given population (such as the Hebrews), but as pure grace. So, as Psalm 148 reminds us, all of creation should praise God.
Divine graciousness creates the obligation of faithful response–manifested in devotion, not the impossible standard of moral perfection. We cannot be morally perfect, but we can do better, by grace–and as faithful response. Many will respond favorably to divine graciousness. Many others, however, will be indifferent. Still others will be violently hostile, for their own perfidious reasons.
Divine graciousness certainly has the power to offend. That fact makes a negative point about those who find such graciousness offensive. Taking offense wrongly is one error; becoming violent about it is a related and subsequent one. How we respond individually to divine graciousness is our responsibility. If we get this wrong, we will harm others as well as ourselves.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 17, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT PATRICK, APOSTLE OF IRELAND
THE FEAST OF EBENEZER ELLIOTT, “THE CORN LAW RHYMER”
THE FEAST OF ELIZA SIBBALD ALDERSON, POET AND HYMN WRITER; AND JOHN BACCHUS DYKES, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF HENRY SCOTT HOLLAND, ANGLICAN HYMN WRITER AND PRIEST
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2018/03/17/divine-judgment-and-mercy-part-iii/
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Above: Robinson’s Arch, at the Site of the Former Second Temple, Jerusalem
Temples Consumed By Fire
JANUARY 4, 2024
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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 63:15-65:7
Psalm 103 (Morning)
Psalms 93 and 97 (Evening)
Luke 2:41-52
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Our holy Temple, our pride,
Where our fathers praised You,
Has been consumed by fire….
–Isaiah 64:10a, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
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It happened that, three days later, they found him in the Temple….
–Luke 2:46a, The New Jerusalem Bible
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The Temple–each in its own time–was the center of early Judaism. Solomon had ordered the construction of the First Temple, the one which Chaldeans/Neo-Babylonians destroyed. The Second Temple dated to 516 BCE. This–in its expanded state–was the Temple which Jesus knew. The Second Temple was, in the time of Jesus, the center of a religious system which separated the wealthy from the poor and the Gentiles from the Jews. Those who converted currency at the Temple so that devout people could purchase their sacrificial animals with non-idolatrous money did so in such a way as to exploit those devout individuals. And the Second Temple–with a Roman fortress next door–was the seat of collaboration. This was the Temple which the Romans destroyed in 70 CE.
The Gospel of Luke dates to after that religiously cataclysmic event. I wonder how the original audience responded to the story of Jesus conversing with the teachers there. How we humans understand an account has much to do with our current reality. We read our present circumstances into stories of past events. Certainly this happened many times during the composition of the canonical Gospels. And it has occurred many times subsequently as people have encountered those accounts.
Our holy Temple, our pride,
Where our fathers praised You,
Has been consumed by fire:
And all that was dear to us is ruined.
–Isaiah 64:10, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
What is your destroyed holy Temple? Explore the metaphor. Let it sink in. And know that after the First Temple came the Second Temple. And Judaism has survived without a Temple. Perhaps your metaphorical Temple is not necessary after all.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
FEBRUARY 22, 2012 COMMON ERA
ASH WEDNESDAY
THE FEAST OF ERIC LIDDELL, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARY TO CHINA
THE FEAST OF SAINT PRAETEXTATUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF ROUEN
THE FEAST OF RASMUS JENSEN, LUTHERAN MISSIONARY TO CANADA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS THALASSIUS, LIMNAEUS, AND MARON, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONKS
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/temples-consumed-by-fire/
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Above: The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, by Hans Holbein the Elder
The Kind Acts of the LORD
JANUARY 3, 2024
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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 63:1-14
Psalm 111 (Morning)
Psalms 107 and 15 (Evening)
Luke 2:21-40
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I will recount the kind acts of the LORD,
The praises of the LORD–
For all that the LORD has wrought for us,
The vast bounty to the House of Israel
That He bestowed upon them
According to His mercy and His great kindness.
–Isaiah 63:7, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
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The “kind acts of the LORD” are part of the past, present, and future tenses. Third Isaiah wrote of the past deeds of God. Anna the Prophetess looked forward. And each of us can ponder what God has done, is doing, and might do. Consider the stories from the Bible. Think about your experiences and those of friends and family members.
I can recount instances in which God has acted kindly and mightily in my life. Sometimes these acts have been direct, but usually they have involved people. And I suspect that I have been an instrument of God’s kindness toward others more often than I know. You, O reader, probably have similar memories based on your experiences.
I wonder what God will do next and what role(s) you and I will play in it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
FEBRUARY22, 2012 COMMON ERA
ASH WEDNESDAY
THE FEAST OF ERIC LIDDELL, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARY TO CHINA
THE FEAST OF SAINT PRAETEXTATUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF ROUEN
THE FEAST OF RASMUS JENSEN, LUTHERAN MISSIONARY TO CANADA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS THALLASSIUS, LIMNAEUS, AND MARON, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONKS
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/the-kind-acts-of-the-lord/
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ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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