Above:  One of My Crucifixes, July 15, 2014

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Burden-Bearing Community

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

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The Collect:

Everlasting God, you give strength to the weak and power to the faint.

Make us agents of your healing and wholeness,

that your good may be made known to the ends your creation,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 24

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The Assigned Readings:

Job 6:1-13

Psalm 102:12-28

Mark 3:7-12

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The days of my life are like a lengthening shadow:

though I am withering away like grass

You remain, LORD, for ever:

succeeding generations will be reminded of you.

–Psalm 102:12-13, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers, Harry Mowvley (1989)

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Today we have readings about two men–one fictional, the other real–who suffered, but not for any sin they had committed.

The titular character of the Book of Job was righteous.  He suffered because God permitted it as a test of loyalty.  Job’s alleged friends defended their orthodoxy, which held that Job must be suffering for a sin or sins he had committed, for God, being just, would never let an innocent person suffer.  They blamed a victim and even gloated as he suffered.  After Eliphaz the Temanite stated that a righteous person’s merit can shield him or her from harm, Job said:

…What strength have I, that I should endure?

How long have I to live, that I should be patient?

–6:11, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Jesus had made deadly enemies as early as Mark 3:6.  (His offense had been to heal on the Sabbath.)  Throngs of people seeking healing pursued him, pressed upon him, and caused him great physical stress.  At least Jesus had Apostles to prepare a getaway boat.  But he still died at the hands of powerful political enemies.  Fortunately, there was also the Resurrection.

A few weeks ago I heard a new (to me, anyway) take on the statement that God will never give us more to bear than we can handle.  An individualistic understanding of that statement is erroneous, for we exist in spiritual community.  Thus God will not impose a burden too heavy for the community to bear.  This is about “we,” not “me.”  May we support each other and not be like Job’s alleged friends.  And there is more:  we have the merits of Christ.  That merit is sufficient, although it has not protected martyrs from harm.  The message I take away from that fact is that safety is not necessarily part of God’s promise to the faithful.  God will, however, be present with them.  How is that for burden-sharing community?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 2, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE THIRD DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF SAINT BRIOC, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT TUDWAL, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND BISHOP

THE FEAST OF CHANNING MOORE WILLIAMS, EPISCOPAL BISHOP IN CHINA AND JAPAN

THE FEAST OF JOHN BROWN, ABOLITIONIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT OSMUND OF SALISBURY, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/12/06/burden-bearing-community/

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Above:  A Samaritan Synagogue

Image Source = Library of Congress

Job and John, Part VI:  Support

FEBRUARY 10 and 11, 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:

Job 6:14-30 (February 10)

Job 7:1-21 (February 11)

Psalm 19 (Morning–February 10)

Psalm 136 (Morning–February 11)

Psalms 81 and 113 (Evening–February 10)

Psalms 97 and 112 (Evening–February 11)

John 2:1-12 (February 10)

John 2:13-25 (February 11)

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Job needed friends.  He got Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite instead.  Alas for Job!  And he lamented the lack of support.  I would prefer strangulation too; at least it would get me away from those alleged friends.

Counterpoints occur in John.  We being with John the Baptist, whose movement had fewer followers than that of Jesus.  John continued to point toward our Lord.  Then, in Chapter 4, Jesus commenced the longest recorded conversation in the canonical Gospels.  This conversation was with not only a woman–unheard of in many circles–but with a Samaritan woman–even more scandalous.  Many interpreters–out of mysogyny or tradition or both–have assumed that she had a dubious sexual reputation, but there is no textual proof for that.  She could, for example have been in a levirate marriage–legal under the Law of Moses.  Jesus helped the woman at the well.  I can only imagine what harm Eliphaz, Bildad, or Zophar would have wrought.

Until the next segment of our journey….

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 15, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR B

THE FEASTS OF SAINT OLGA OF KIEV, REGENT OF KIEVAN RUSSIA; ADALBERT OF MAGDEBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; ADALBERT OF PRAGUE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND MARTYR; AND BENEDICT AND GAUDENTIUS OF POMERANIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS

THE FEAST OF SAINT DAMIEN DE VEUSTER, A.K.A. DAMIEN OF MOLOKAI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST

THE FEAST OF SAINT EGBERT OF LINDISFARNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND SAINT ADALBERT OF EGMONT, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY

THE FEAST OF SAINT MELLITUS, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/job-and-john-part-vi-support/

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Above:  Jesus and Nicodemus

Job and John, Part V:  “Received Wisdom”

FEBRUARY 9, 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:

Job 6:1-13

Psalm 104 (Morning)

Psalms 118 and 111 (Evening)

John 3:1-21

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Eliphaz the Temanite, in his speech, spoke of “received wisdom,” which he spouted.  It was received, but it was foolishness.  In reply, Job said that he had nothing–not even resourcefulness.  He could not help even himself.

The truth is that each of us depends on God for everything and that “received wisdom” is frequently received foolishness. Antiquity does not necessarily equal reliable authority.  As we read in John 3, many people reject the light in their presence because they prosper the darkness.  I suspect that they might not recognize it as being dark, for delusions can affect one’s perceptions that severely.

Eliphaz was not helpful.  In time he became sarcastic.  And he relied on dubious “received wisdom.”  But such “wisdom” must, in any time and circumstance, stand up to scrutiny if it is to prove valuable.  Eliphaz’s content proved worthless.  Yet there is a font of wisdom–and more–named Jesus.  And he is helpful.

Until the next segment of our journey….

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 13, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT HERMENEGILD, VISIGOTHIC PRINCE AND ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR

THE FEAST OF SAINT HUGH OF ROUEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP, ABBOT, AND MONK

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARTIN I, BISHOP OF ROME

THE FEAST OF MIKAEL AGRICOLA, FINNISH LUTHERAN BISHOP OF TALLINN

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/job-and-john-part-v-received-wisdom/

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