The faithfulness of God calls for faithfulness to God. We humans, living in communities, have a moral obligation to obey the lofty principles in the Law of Moses, as in Leviticus 18:
We are responsible to each other.
We are responsible for each other.
We depend entirely on God.
We depend on each other.
We have no right to exploit each other.
To act on these principles is to behave in a way consistent with righteousness/justice (the same word in the Bible).
We have some difficult readings this week. “Do I have to love my enemies?” “But I enjoy judging people without (much, if any) evidence!” These are responses with which all of us can identify. Hopefully, we have progressed in our spiritual pilgrimages in Christ. Ephesians 5 and 6 contain some really chair-squirming material regarding husbands, wives, masters, and slaves. I do not excuse that which I consider inexcusable. I reject all forms of slavery at all times and in all places. I also affirm gender equality. Furthermore, I contextualize those passages within the epistle.
Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
–Ephesians 5:21, The Revised English Bible (1989)
That verse exists within the context of Ephesians 4:25:
Then have done with falsehood and speak the truth to each other, for we belong to one another as parts of one body.
Regardless of one’s cultural context, if one treats others according to that context, one will do well. Likewise, a society with norms that encourage that principle has much to commend it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 21, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH, AND JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH, COMPOSERS
THE FEAST OF JOHN S. STAMM, BISHOP OF THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH THEN THE EVANGELICAL UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH
THE FEAST OF SAINT NICHOLAS OF FLÜE AND HIS GRANDSON, SAINT CONRAD SCHEUBER, SWISS HERMITS
THE FEAST OF SAINT SERAPION OF THMUIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF UMPHREY LEE, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER AND MINISTER OF SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY
Then have done with falsehood and speak the truth to each other, for we belong to one another as parts of one body.
–Ephesians 4:25, The Revised English Bible (1989)
All of us can change and need grace. Even the most wicked person can revere course. Those who commit crimes unwittingly (see Joshua 20) differ from those who do so purposefully. Mercy does not negate all consequences for actions, but mercy is present, fortunately. All of us ought to be at home in the light of God and to act accordingly, as Ephesians 5:1-20 details. Alas, not all of us are at home in that light, hence the woes following the Beatitudes in Luke 6.
I live in a topsy-turvy society glorifies the targets of Lukan woes and further afflicts–sometimes even criminalizes–the targets of Lukan Beatitudes. I live in a society in which the advice from Ephesians 5:1-20 is sorely needed. I read these verses and think,
So much for the most of the Internet and much of television, radio, and social media!
I do not pretend, however, that a golden age ever existed. No, I know better than that. We have degenerated in many ways, though, compared to previous times. We have also improved in other ways. All in all, we remain well below the high standard God has established.
How does one properly live into his or divine calling in a politically divided and dangerous time, when even objective reality is a topic for political dispute? Racist, nativisitic, and xenophobic and politically expedient conspiracy theories about Coronavirus/COVID-19 continue to thrive. Some members of the United States Congress continue to dismiss the threat this pandemic poses. How does one properly live into one’s divine calling in such a context? I do not know. Each person has a limit of how much poison one can consume before spiritual toxicity takes its toll? Is dropping out the best strategy? Perhaps not, but it does entail less unpleasantness and strife.
May we listen to and follow God’s call to us, both individually and collectively. May we function as agents of individual and collective healing, justice, and reconciliation. We do, after all, belong to one another as parts of one body.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 20, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SEBASTIAN CASTELLIO, PROPHET OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
THE FEAST OF CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, HYMN WRITER AND ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN
THE FEAST OF ELLEN GATES STARR, U.S. EPISCOPALIAN THEN ROMAN CATHOLIC SOCIAL ACTIVIST AND REFORMER
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA JOSEFA SANCHO DE GUERRA, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SERVANTS OF JESUS
THE FEAST OF SAMUEL RODIGAST, GERMAN LUTHERAN ACADEMIC AND HYMN WRITER
The Law of Moses teaches, among other lessons, that we are responsible to and for each other. Experiences and the past teach us that one person can improve the situation of many people or cause unfortunate events to befall them. As we read in Ephesians 4:25,
we belong to one another as parts of one body.
—The Revised English Bible (1989)
May we, belonging to one another as parts of one body, put on the new nature created in God’s likeness. May we, therefore, build each other up every day–even commit good works on the Sabbath. May we rejoice in each other’s blessings and support each other during times of adversity and suffering. May those in positions of authority and power build up their countries and the world for the long-term common good, not selfishly build up themselves and boost their egos at high costs to many others. May those who violate this principle fall from power, and may people who will honor this principle replace them. May all of us love ourselves as people who bear the image of God then extend that love to all other human beings. Such radical, certainly politically and socially subversive love and respect is consistent with Jewish and Christian moral teaching.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 20, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SEBASTIAN CASTELLIO, PROPHET OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
THE FEAST OF CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, HYMN WRITER AND ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN
THE FEAST OF ELLEN GATES STARR, U.S. EPISCOPALIAN THEN ROMAN CATHOLIC SOCIAL ACTIVIST AND REFORMER
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA JOSEFA SANCHO DE GUERRA, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SERVANTS OF JESUS
THE FEAST OF SAMUEL RODIGAST, GERMAN LUTHERAN ACADEMIC AND HYMN WRITER
The speeches of Job in most of the Book of Job say otherwise.
Elihu, sounding pious and spouting a mix of truth and bad theology, blames the victim in Job 33. Job must be suffering because of a sin, Elihu is certain. Elihu is correct that
God does not fit man’s measure.
–Verse 12b, The Jerusalem Bible (1966).
Nevertheless, Elihu fails to recognize that God does not fit his measure. Spiritual discipline by God is a reality, of course, but it does not explain all suffering.
One can quite easily become fixated on a set of rules and fail to recognize that they do not describe how God works. For example, keeping the Sabbath is a healthy spiritual exercise. It is properly an indication of freedom. It is properly a gift. It is properly a form of recognition of the necessity of rest. It is improperly an occasion of legalism, such as in the cases of Jesus healing on the Sabbath and of he and his Apostles picking corn and grain on that day. They did have to eat, did they not? And did the man with the withered hand deserve to wait another day to receive his healing?
That healing on the Sabbath, according to all three accounts of it, prompted some of our Lord and Savior’s critics to plot his death. Luke 6:11 (The New Revised Standard Version, 1989) reports that they were “filled with fury.”
Compassion is a timeless spiritual virtue, one frequently sacrificed on the altars of legalism and psychological defensiveness. To be compassionate is better than to seek to sin an argument or to destroy one’s adversary.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SHEPHERD KNAPP, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF GOTTFRIED WILHELM SACER, GERMAN LUTHERAN ATTORNEY AND HYMN WRITER; AND FRANCES ELIZABETH COX, ENGLISH HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINTS JOHN DUCKETT AND RALPH CORBY, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS IN ENGLAND
Above: Mohandas Gandhi Leading the Salt March in India, 1930
Image in the Public Domain
Loving Our Enemies
JANUARY 5, 2024
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The Collect:
Almighty and ever-living God, you revealed the incarnation of your Son by the brilliant shining of a star.
Shine the light of your justice always in our hearts and over all lands,
and accept our lives as the treasure we offer in your praise and for your service,
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 21
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Assigned Readings:
Proverbs 22:1-9
Psalm 110
Luke 6:27-31
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The king at your right hand, O Lord,
shall smite down kings in the day of his wrath.
In all his majesty, he shall judge the nations,
smiting heads over all the wide earth.
–Psalm 110:5-6, Common Worship (2000)
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Luke 6:27-31 uses hyperbole to make crucial ethical points:
God’s love extends to our enemies and oppressors (Psalm 110 not withstanding), and
We ought to have a benevolent attitude toward them. Whatever we do, it must be in the best interest of our oppressors and enemies. Since whatever we do to others we do to ourselves, what could be better for oppressors than to cease oppressing?
Gandhian nonviolence serves an excellent example of Luke 6:27-31 in action. I think especially of those bold African-American men and women who chose not to fight racist violence with their own violence during the Civil Rights Movement. Their nonviolence denied their attackers any pretense of moral justification and troubled the consciences of many of those who committed violence against them. Hopefully such nonviolence detracted many from committing more violence.
Proverbs 22:8-9 tells us:
He who sows injustice shall reap misfortune;
His rod of wrath shall fail.
The generous man is blessed,
For he gives of his bread to the poor.
—TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
We reap what we sow. Our fruits will reveal what kind of tree we are. May we sow righteousness and compassion. May we be healthy trees.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 10, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF EDWIN HATCH, ANGLICAN PRIEST, SCHOLAR, AND HYMN WRITER
And sometimes one ought to act faithfully, not just be still faithfully. In the case of the Book of Ruth, for example, people were active, not passive. There was more going on than children’s Sunday School lessons (and even many, if not most, adult Sunday School lessons) admit, for that activity entailed seduction before love became a reality. As Jennifer Wright Knust writes in Unprotected Texts:
To the writer of Ruth, family can consist of an older woman and her beloved immigrant daughter-in-law, women can easily raise children on their own, and men can be seduced if it serves the interests of women.
–page 33
And, as Krust writes on page 35, the emotional bond and subsequent covenant between Ruth and Naomi helped both of them and Israel as a whole. I add that it has helped many subsequent generations all over the world due its role in the genealogy of Jesus.
Family–not in the sense of marriage or ancestry–unites the readings for these three days. The ethic of mutual responsibility (part of the Law of Moses) runs through the New Testament also. The more fortunate, who ought not to depend on their wealth in lieu of God, have responsibilities to the less fortunate. Philemon had responsibilities to Onesimus, who was not necessarily a slave or even a fugitive. (A very close reading of the text–one passage in particular–in the Greek raises serious questions about the traditional understanding).
This notion of mutual responsibility and the opinion of wealth one finds in Luke and James are profoundly counter-cultural in my North American setting, where rugged individualism and the quest for wealth are accepted values. Yet with mutual responsibility comes inderdependence. And the quest for enough wealth for one’s present and future needs, although laudable, becomes insatiable greed for some people. Such greed is socially destructive, denying others enough. There is always enough for everyone in God’s economy; scarcity is a feature of human, sinful economic systems.
May we, by grace, act faithfully and effectively to reduce such sinfulness where we are. And, if we have not fallen into greed, may we not do so. If we have, may we confess and repent of it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 8, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF WILFRED THOMASON GRENFELL, MEDICAL MISSIONARY TO NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT BRIDGET OF SWEDEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN
THE FEAST OF ERIK ROUTLEY, HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM DWIGHT PORTER BLISS, EPISCOPAL PRIEST; AND RICHARD THEODORE ELY, ECONOMIST
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 27:4-7 (New Revised Standard Version):
When a sieve is shaken, the refuse appears;
so do a person’s faults when he speaks.
The kiln tests the potter’s vessels;
so the test of a person is in his conversation.
Its fruit discloses the cultivation of a tree;
so a person’s speech discloses the cultivation of his mind.
Do not praise anyone before he speaks,
for this is the way people are tested.
FIRST READING: OPTION #2
Isaiah 55:10-13 (New Revised Standard Version):
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
For you shall go out in joy,
and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial,
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
RESPONSE
Psalm 92:1-4, 11-14 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 It is a good thing to give thanks to the LORD,
and to sing praises to your Name, O Most High;
2 To tell of your loving-kindness early in the morning
and of your faithfulness in the night season;
3 On the psaltery, and on the lyre
and to the melody of the harp.
4 For you have made me glad by your acts, O LORD;
and I shout for joy because of the works of your hands.
11 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
and shall spread abroad like a cedar of Lebanon.
12 Those who are planted in the house of the LORD
shall flourish in the courts of our God.
13 They shall still bear fruit in old age;
they shall be green and succulent;
14 That they may show how upright the LORD is,
my Rock, in whom there is no fault.
SECOND READING
1 Corinthians 15:50-58 (New Revised Standard Version):
What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
Death, has been swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
GOSPEL READING
Luke 6:39-49 (The Jerusalem Bible):
He [Jesus] also told a parable to them,
Can one blind man guide another? Surely both will fall into a pit? The disciple is not superior to this teacher; the fully trained disciple will always be like his teacher. Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye,’ when you cannot see the plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the splinter that is in your brother’s eye.
There is no sound tree that produces rotten fruit, nor again a rotten tree that produces sound fruit. For every tree can be told by its own fruit; people do not pick figs from thorns, nor gather grapes from brambles. A good man draws what is good from the store of goodness in his heart; a bad man draws what is bad from the store of badness. For a man’s words from what fills his heart.
Why do you call me, “Lord, Lord,” and not do what I say?
Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and acts on them–I will show you what he is like. He is like the man who when he built his house dug, and dug deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man who built his house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!
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.
My grandfather Taylor, whom I do not remember (He died when I was three years old) said that it was better to be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt. That quote came to mind as I made connections among the readings. Both “Luke” and Jesus ben Sira apply the metaphor of a tree and its fruits to one’s spiritual life. And the latter writes of one’s conversations as evidence of
the cultivation of his mind
and as a test. I thought of our Lord’s later comment that what goes into a person’s mouth does not defile him or her; what comes out of his or her mouth does that. (Read Matthew 15:10 forward.) To defile was literally
to make one common,
a meaning the late J. B. Phillips made clear in his translations of the New Testament. Ritual purity set one apart from the great unwashed mass of people; it was about negative identity:
I am not like them.
I want to be careful here. Christianity, in its pure form, is not overly individualistic; it is more concerned with the community and the individual in that context. Yet Christianity, in its pure form, does encourage a vital interior life. If that is not what it ought to be, one’s behavior (including conversation) will reveal this face. The spiritual fig will not fall far from the tree.
The tongue, James 3:1-2 tells us, is powerful. The text contains the metaphor of a large forest fire in reference to the negative effects of improper speech, likened also to poison. Imagine, therefore, O reader, modern metaphors for proper speech and conversation: a fire extinguisher, flame retardant, an antidote, et cetera.
Such as one thinks, so one is. The content of one’s character can change, for many people have changed. The theological term for that is repentance. The victory is possible via God, in particular through Jesus. Thus hope for such victory is not in vain; rather, it is well-placed.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 14, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT FULBERT OF CHARTRES, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF EDWARD THOMAS DEMBY, EPISCOPAL SUFFRAGAN BISHOP OF ARKANSAS, AND HENRY BEARD DELANY, EPISCOPAL SUFFRAGAN BISHOP OF NORTH CAROLINA
THE FEAST OF GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL, COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF SAINT WANDREGISILUS OF NORMANDY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT, AND SAINT LAMBERT OF LYONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND BISHOP
Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out,
Send everyone away from me.
So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. Joseph said to his brothers,
I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?
But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.
Then Joseph said to his brothers,
Come closer to me.
And they came closer. He said,
I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, “Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. I will provide for you there– since there are five more years of famine to come– so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.” And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.
Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.
Psalm 37:1-12 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Do not fret yourself because of evildoers;
do not be jealous of those who do no wrong.
2 For they shall soon whither like the grass,
and like the green grass they fade away.
3 Put your trust in the LORD and do good,
dwell in the land and feed on its riches.
4 Take delight in the LORD,
and he shall give you your heart’s desire.
5 Commit your way to the LORD and put your trust in him,
and he will bring it to pass.
6 He will make your righteousness as clear as the light
and your just dealing as the noonday.
7 Be still and wait for the LORD
and wait patiently for him.
8 Do not fret yourselves over the one who prospers,
the one who succeeds in evil schemes.
9 Refrain from anger, leave rage alone;
do not fret yourself; it leads only to evil.
10 For evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait upon the LORD shall possess the land.
11 In a little while the wicked shall be no more;
you shall search out their place, but they will not be there.
12 But the lowly shall possess the land;
they will delight in abundance of peace.
41 But the deliverance of the righteous comes from the LORD;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
42 The LORD will help them and rescue them;
he will rescue them from the wicked and deliver them,
because they seek refuge in him.
1 Corinthians 15:35-49 (The Jerusalem Bible):
Someone may ask,
How are dead people raised, and what sort of body do they have when they come back?
These are stupid questions. Whatever you sow in the ground has to die before it is given new life and the thing that you sow is not what is going to come; you sow a bare grain, say of wheat or something like that, and then God gives it the sort of body that he has chosen: each sort of seed gets its own sort of body.
Everything that is flesh is not the same flesh: there is human flesh, animals’ flesh, the flesh of birds and the flesh of fish. Then there are heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the heavenly bodies have a beauty of their own and the earthly bodies a different one. The sun has its brightness, the moon a different brightness, and the stars a different brightness, and the stars differ from each other in brightness. It is the same with the resurrection of the dead: the thing that is sown is perishable but what is raised is imperishable; the thing that is sown is contemptible but what is raised is glorious; the thing that is sown is weak but what is raised is powerful; when it is sown it embodies the soul, when it is raised it embodies the spirit.
If the soul has its own embodiment, so dies the spirit have its own embodiment. The first man, Adam, as scripture says, became a living soul; but the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit. That is, first the one with the soul, not the spirit, and after that, the one with the spirit. The first man, being from the earth, is earthly by nature; the second man is from heaven. As this earthly man was, so are we on earth; and as the heavenly man is, so are we in heaven. And we, who have been modelled on the earthly man, will be modelled on the heavenly man.
Luke 6:27-38 (The Jerusalem Bible):
[Jesus continued,]
But I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To the man who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek too; to the man who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from the man who robs you. Treat others as you would like them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what thanks can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. Instead, love your enemies and do good, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.
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.
Joseph forgave his brothers who sold him into slavery. God, he said, used that dastardly deed to help many others years after the fact. Nevertheless, forgiving those who had sold him into slavery seems like a spiritual feat under my circumstance. It is possible only by grace. Being better than others might expect–doing more than one must–being as merciful as possible by grace–is the unifying core of this Sunday’s readings. Dong this consists of nothing less than applying to others the same love one has received from God. Thus grace is supposed to beget more grace.
We have a model–Jesus–to follow. We have his ethical teachings and his life. And he have his resurrection. People murdered him. He forgave them. He even interceded for them. Peter denied Jesus, who forgave him. Jesus is the “man of heaven” whose image each of us can bear. Bearing our Lord’s image, forgiving our enemies, refraining from baseless judgments–these are possible by grace and free will, the latter of which exists because of grace. So these are possible ultimately by grace. These can be very difficult tasks, and I have not mastered them. But I have learned them better than before. And I look forward to becoming more proficient at them. Moral perfectionism is quite unrealistic, for flawed beings can never achieve that goal. But we can do better. And God–in Christ–offers to help us do so.
I have known this help many times. During one particular season of my life I detected much sudden grace. It was an extremely difficult time, so the grace was that much more obvious. My spiritual life improved greatly without much effort on my part. I found that my internal reality had changed for the better overnight. I did not object; I cooperated instead. And my willingness to extend mercy to my enemies came in time–not immediately, to be sure; it is still coming. God, I perceive, meets us where we are and carries us as far as we need to go. Our task is to cooperate.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 14, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT FULBERT OF CHARTRES, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF EDWARD THOMAS DEMBY, EPISCOPAL SUFFRAGAN BISHOP OF ARKANSAS, AND HENRY BEARD DELANY, EPISCOPAL SUFFRAGAN BISHOP OF NORTH CAROLINA
THE FEAST OF GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL, COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF SAINT WANDREGISILUS OF NORMANDY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT, AND SAINT LAMBERT OF LYONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND BISHOP
A curse on anyone who trusts in mortals and leans for support on human kind,
while his heart is far from the LORD!
He will be like a juniper in the steppeland;
when good comes he is unaware of it.
He will live among the rocks in the wilderness, in a salt, uninhabited land.
Blessed is anyone who trusts in the LORD, and rests his confidence on him.
He will be like a tree planted by the waterside,
that sends out its roots along a stream.
When the heat comes it has nothing to fear;
its foliage stays green.
Without care in a year of drought,
it does not fail to bear fruit.
The heart is deceitful above any other thing, desperately sick;
who can fathom it?
I, the LORD, search the mind and test the heart,
requiting each one for his conduct and as his deeds deserve.
Like a partridge sitting on a clutch of eggs which it has not laid,
so is he who amasses wealth unjustly.
Before his days are half done it will leave him, and he will be a fool at the last.
Psalm 1 (Revised English Bible):
Happy is the one who does not take the counsel of the wicked for a guide,
or follow the path that sinners tread, or take his seat in the company of scoffers.
His delight is in the law of the LORD; it is his meditation day and night.
He is like a tree planted beside water channels;
it yields its fruit in season and its foliage never fades.
So he too prospers in all he does.
The wicked are not like this; rather they are like chaff driven by the wind.
When judgment comes, therefore, they will not stand firm,
nor will sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
The LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked is doomed.
1 Corinthians 15:12-20 (The Jerusalem Bible):
Now if Christ raised from the dead is what has been preached, how can some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ himself cannot have been raised, and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is useless and your believing it is useless; indeed, we are shown up as witnesses who have committed perjury before God, because we swore in evidence before God that he had raised Christ to life. For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, you are still in your sins. And what is more serious, all who have died in Christ have perished. If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of all people.
But Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep.
Luke 6:17-26 (The Jerusalem Bible):
He [Jesus] then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.
Then fixing his eyes on his disciples he [Jesus] said:
How happy are you who are poor; yours is the kingdom of God.
Happy are you who are hungry now; you shall be satisfied.
Happy are you who weep now; you shall laugh.
Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal, on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven. This was the way their ancestors treated the prophets.
But alas for you who are rich; you are having your consolation now.
Alas for you who have your fill now; you shall go hungry.
Alas for you who laugh now; you shall mourn and weep.
Alas for you when the world speaks well of you! This was the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.
The Collect:
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
When one is reviled and persecuted for the sake of righteousness, what does one have? God. When one is poor, hungry, and sorrowful, what does one have? God. In particular, in reference to 1 Corinthians 15:12-20, one has the Resurrected Christ, without whom we Christians
are of all people most to be pitied. (19b, New Revised Standard Version)
Self-reliance will not suffice, for the wealthy, full, and laughing ones, plus those held in esteem all receive woes in our Lord’s Sermon on the Plain.
That is a profoundly counter-cultural message. Woe to the respected, wealthy, full, and laughing? Let me count the seconds before a Republican pundit or politician cries “class warfare!” (I am flying my liberal flag.) But reliance on God is the key, and such reliance contradicts conventions about self-made men and women. All that we have comes from God. All tat we can be is due to God. Our stewardship of those resources is a great spiritual matter.
Trusting in God can be difficult; I know. It is still hard for me much of the time. On the other hand, it has become easier. But it is all that I have, really. Everything else is transitory, but God is everlasting. Everything else is a collection of means to various ends, hopefully positive ones. Yet God is the greatest end. In that mystery called God I find my destiny, whatever that will entail. May you, O reader, find your destiny there also, whatever that will entail.
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
Above: Orthodox Icon of Jesus at Golgotha, by Theophanes the Cretan (1500s)
Righteousness and Suffering
FEBRUARY 26, 2019
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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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Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 2:1-11 (Revised English Bible):
My son, if you aspire to be a servant of the Lord,
prepare yourself for testing.
Set a straight course and keep to it,
and do not be dismayed in the face of adversity.
Hold fast to him and never let go,
if you would end your days in prosperity.
Bear every hardship that is sent you,
and whenever humiliation comes, be patient;
for gold is assayed in the fire,
and the chosen ones in the furnace of humiliation.
Trust him and he will help you;
steer a straight course and fix your hope on him.
You that fear the Lord, wait for his mercy;
do not stray, for fear you will fall.
You that fear the Lord, trust in him,
and you will not be baulked of your reward.
You that fear the Lord, hope for prosperity
and lasting joy and favour.
Consider the past generations and see:
was anyone who trusted the Lord ever disappointed?
Was anyone who stood firm in the fear of him ever abandoned?
Did he ever ignore anyone who called to him?
For the Lord is compassionate and merciful;
he forgives sin and saves in time of trouble.
Psalm 112 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Hallelujah!
Happy are they who fear the Lord
and have great delight in his commandments!
2 Their descendants will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches will be in their house,
and their righteousness will last for ever.
4 Light shines in the darkness for the upright;
the righteous are merciful and full of compassion.
5 It is good for them to be generous in lending
and to manage their affairs with justice.
6 For they will never be shaken;
the righteous will be kept in everlasting remembrance.
7 They will not be afraid of any evil rumors;
their heart is right;
they put their trust in the Lord.
8 Their heart is established and will not shrink,
until they see that desire upon their enemies.
9 They have given freely to the poor,
and their righteousness stands fast for ever;
they will hold up their head with honor.
10 The wicked will see it and be angry;
they will gnash their teeth and pine away;
the desires of the wicked will perish.
Mark 9:30-37 (Revised English Bible):
They left that district and made their way through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know, because he was teaching his disciples, and telling them,
The Son of Man is now to be handed over into the power of men, and they will kill him; and three days after being killed he will rise again.
But they did not understand what he said, and were afraid to ask.
So they came to Capernaum; and when he had gone indoors, he asked them,
What were you arguing about on the way?
They were silent, because on the way they had been discussing which one of them was the greatest. So he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them,
If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself the last of all and servant of all.
Then he took a child, set him in front of them, and put his arm round him.
Whoever receives a child like this in my name,
he said,
receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.
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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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Consider the Lukan version of the Beatitudes, from the Sermon on the Plain:
Blessed are you who are in need;
the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who now go hungry;
you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now;
you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you and ostracize you, when they insult you and slander your very name, because of the Son of Man. On that day exult and dance for joy, for you have a rich reward in heaven; that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
But alas for you who are rich;
you have had your time of happiness.
Alas for you who are well fed now;
you will go hungry.
Alas for you who laugh now;
you will mourn and weep.
Alas for you when all speak well of you;
that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.
–Jesus in Luke 6:20-26 (Revised English Bible)
Then reread Sirach 2:1-11 and Psalm 112. They are quite different, are they not?
Prosperity Theology is a heresy. Love God and get rich and be healthy, is says. This a simplified version of that line of thought, but Prosperity Theology is an oversimplification itself. Part of good Biblical interpretation is balance. For example, we are sinful (That is in the Bible.), but we also bear the image of God (That, too, is in the Bible.). So it is heretical to state we are either equivalent to pond scum (to the exclusion of the image of God) or that we are “a little lower than the angels” (to the exclusion of our sinfulness). One needs to weigh Biblical subtleties intelligently.
As a student of history, I know of the Northern Renaissance, an offshoot of the Italian Renaissance. I consider myself a partial product of the Northern Renaissance, which favored following the example of Jesus more than ecclesiastical doctrines and dogmas. So, with that mind, let us consider the example of Jesus in today’s reading from Mark. He foretells his arrest, torture, execution and resurrection. He uses plain language to do this. The Apostles do not understand, but they are afraid to ask for an explanation. They have, however, been debating among themselves which is the greatest. The greatest, Jesus says, is the lowliest in society–the servant and the child, in particular.
Which examples might Jesus use if he were giving this teaching today? I suspect he would speak of immigrants, foster children, minimum-wage employees, and other vulnerable, powerless people. This is my list, for I am North American. If Jesus were delivering this teaching in India, he might say that anyone who welcomes a Dalit receives God.
It is vital to inject the reading from Mark with contemporary analogies. Otherwise, we might not face the raw power of the teaching of Jesus, surely the most righteous man who ever lived. And what happened to him? We know the answer to that question, do we not? If Jesus had lived in more modern times, we might not have crosses in churches; we might have replicas of an electric chair, a gas chamber, or a noose in churches. Clarence Jordan translated the story of Jesus into the Southern U.S. idiom in his Cotton Patch versions of the Gospels. Jordan’s Jesus died during a lynching.
Yet it is also true that, as Ben Sira tells us, gold is tested in the fire, and the righteous ones of God in the furnace of humiliation. I am fortunate that I live in a nation and a society in which I can worship freely. My society is not perfect, as outbreaks of blind, irrational, and hateful Islamophobia, especially in Republican Party politics demonstrate. (I write on the eve of the 2010 U.S. midterm elections.) But we, as a society, are more tolerant than are many others. If I were Christian in southern Sudan or anywhere in Iran, for example, I would certainly be at great risk of religious persecution. For such Christians the reading I quoted from Luke is a potent reality. Yet discipleship, even for a persecution-free Christian such as myself, must entail sacrifice. And I must not mistake popularity with divine approval.
These are difficult readings from the Gospels. Jesus challenges us to follow his example, wherever that takes us and regardless of the cost to ourselves. But this is the path to holiness. I have noticed many Lutheran churches named “Cross and Crown” or “Cross of Life.” Such labels are spiritually correct. I invite you, O reader, to ponder them and what you might have to sacrifice for the sake of righteousness.
And may the love of God flow through you and to all your fellow human beings, for everyone is a child of God. Some are more rebellious than others, to be sure, but all stand in the need of grace and bear the image of God. May love, not intolerance, characterize those of us who claim the label “Christian.” The way of cross is not the path of hatred and other forms of intolerance.
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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