Archive for the ‘Psalm 91’ Tag
Above: Unhappy Jesus
Job and John, Part XVIII: Impatience
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
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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 21:1-21
Psalm 33 (Morning)
Psalms 85 and 91 (Evening)
John 8:39-59
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Why should I not lose my patience?
–Job speaking in Job 21:46, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
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As I have written more than once already–including in this series of Job and John posts, anyone who speaks of “the patience of Job” as if Job were patient fails to understand the Book of Job correctly. In fact, Job is quite impatient in Chapter 21.
Likewise, Jesus is far from the embodiment of patience in John 8:39-59. People accuse him of being possessed. He also states that his accusers are children of Satan, not of God. And, at the end, he says,
In all truth I tell you,
before Abraham was,
I am.
–8:58, The New Jerusalem Bible
“I am” is the same in Greek as “I AM” in Hebrew.
I read this part of the Johannine Gospel and recognize that the strained relations between the community of “John” and their fellow Jews at the end of the first century CE shaped the narrative. How could they not? We humans tell the past in the context of the present and the recent past. That is how historical memory works. Yet I know that relations between Jesus and Palestinian Jewish leaders were frosty at best and hostile at worst. His crucifixion attests to that reality. And I take comfort in the fact that the concerted efforts to silence Jesus failed. Who can kill I AM after he has refused to stay dead?
The portrayal of Jesus in much material intended for children is sanitized. He almost always nice, at least according to the art in children’s Bibles I have examined. And our Lord is usually patient and serene. Why would anyone seek to execute such a nice man? But read the Gospels. Jesus was nice to many people yet confrontational toward others. And he was sometimes impatient and even quite angry. He made powerful enemies. Jesus was much more interesting than the serene Savior presented to many children (and adults). The real Jesus was–and is–a worthy Lord. The serene Savior is a safe and sanitized fiction. I am impatient with it.
Until the next segment of our journey….
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 26, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS REMACLUS OF MAASTRICHT, THEODORE OF MAASTRICHT, LAMBERT OF MAASTRICHT, HUBERT OF MAASTRICHT AND LIEGE, AND FLORIBERT OF LIEGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; LANDRADA OF MUNSTERBILSEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND OTGER OF UTRECHT, PLECHELM OF GUELDERLAND, AND WIRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES
THE FEAST OF CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, POET
THE FEAST OF SAINT PASCHASIUS RADBERTUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT
THE FEAST OF ROBERT HUNT, FIRST ANGLICAN CHAPLAIN AT JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/job-and-john-part-xviii-impatience/
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Above: Christ Pantocrator
Job and John, Part XIII: Certainty, Orthodoxy, and Orthopraxy
FEBRUARY 20, 2022
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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 15:1-23, 30-35
Psalm 65 (Morning)
Psalms 125 and 91 (Evening)
John 6:60-71
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There is a certain redundancy to the speeches of Job’s alleged friends. Chapter 15, an address by Eliphaz the Temanite, exemplifies this rule. The main feature of it which I notice is its certainty–of a set of false propositions, according to the resolution of the Book of Job.
Without trying to explain everything–while affirming the reality that I do not know most things and never will–I hold that Jesus is the soundest basis of proper certainty.
Lord, to whom shall we go?
–Simon Peter in verse 68, The New Jerusalem Bible
It is in the example, life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus that I find the personification of goodness and grace. The art of proper Christian living is to approach more nearly that role model, to become a means by which the love of God is incarnate in one. This level of dedication moves beyond intellectual assent to a certain definition of orthodoxy and makes orthodoxy and orthodoxy more similar to one another. The ultimate goal is for them to be identical, but more similar than before is perhaps the best a flawed being can accomplish by grace. (I reject moral perfectionism as unrealistic.)
As Job’s alleged friends lectured and insulted him they spoke piously about the goodness of God. Yet they did not embody it. That was a grave error, one many people repeat today.
Until the next segment of our journey….
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 26, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS REMACLUS OF MAASTRICHT, THEODORE OF MAASTRICHT, LAMBERT OF MAASTRICHT, HUBERT OF MAASTRICHT AND LIEGE, AND FLORIBERT OF LIEGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; LANDRADA OF MUNSTERBILSEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND OTGER OF UTRECHT, PLECHELM OF GUELDERLAND, AND WIRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES
THE FEAST OF CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, POET
THE FEAST OF SAINT PASCHASIUS RADBERTUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT
THE FEAST OF ROBERT HUNT, FIRST ANGLICAN CHAPLAIN AT JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/job-and-john-part-xiii-certainty-orthodoxy-and-orthopraxy/
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Above: A Soup Kitchen
Image Source = U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist Steve Johnson
Hospitality
JANUARY 23, 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:
Joel 2:18-32/3:3:5
Psalm 65 (Morning)
Psalms 125 and 91 (Evening)
Romans 11:25-12:13
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Then the LORD was roused
On behalf of His land.
And had compassion
Upon His people.
–Joel 2:18, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
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In the service of the LORD work not half-hearted but with conscientiousness and as an eager spirit. Be joyful in hope, persevere in hardship, keep praying regularly; share with any of God’s holy people who are in need; look for opportunities to be hospitable.
–Romans 12:11-13, The New Jerusalem Bible
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TECHNICAL NOTE:
Versification of parts of the Hebrew Bible differs depending upon whether one reads from a Protestant translation or a Jewish, Roman Catholic, or Eastern Orthodox one. Such is the case in Joel, where 2:1-32 in Protestant versions equals 2:1-3:5 in Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox translations. And Joel 4 in Jewish, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox versions equals Joel 3 in Protestant translations.
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Many houses in the rural U.S. South during the nineteenth century used to have a front porch, a back porch, and a connecting breezeway. That was a time before electricity, much less air conditioning, in the region, so many people designed their homes to fit nature and the technology they had. With that in mind, it was common for a kitchen to be separate from the rest of the house. If there were a fire, the rest of the house would be more likely to survive. And they could build another kitchen.
All that was quite practical. So was another common feature of many such houses: a guest bedroom which opened up onto a porch and not into any other room. If a traveler needed to spend a night, such a room offered shelter. This was both practical and hospitable, for there were no motels in many areas. Hospitality, in many cases, made the difference between life and death, or at least between relative ease and undue hardship. Hospitality was a virtue which more than one biblical writer extolled. The texts contain, in fact, condemnations of its absence. Hospitality still saves lives and eases discomfort, as many who dispense or receive it can attest.
The affirmation of hospitality does not indicate a complete lack of accountability. Read Joel and Romans, for example. But hospitality does provide a counter-force, a balance. There is a time to judge and there is a time to forgive. There is a time to punish and there is a time to extend the hand of hospitality. May we–you and I, O reader, get the balance correct.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 2, 2012 COMMON ERA
MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK
THE FEAST OF SAINTS JOHN PAYNE AND CUTHBERT MAYNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS
THE FEAST OF HENRY BUDD, ANGLICAN PRIEST
THE FEAST OF JAMES LLOYD BRECK, EPISCOPAL PRIEST
THE FEAST OF JOHN PAUL II, BISHOP OF ROME
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/hospitality/
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Above: The Seven Seals
Disturbing Imagery
DECEMBER 18, 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 34:1-2, 8-35:10
Psalm 33 (Morning)
Psalms 85 and 91 (Evening)
Revelation 6:1-17
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Isaiah 34 tells the destruction of Edom, a traditional foe of Judah. Then, in Isaiah 35, we read of the return of exiles from Judah. There is bad news for some, but it is good news for others.
The reading from Revelation contains part of a vision in progress. To read the chapter in isolation is to miss what precedes and succeeds it. The Lamb (Jesus), worthy to break the seals on the scroll, does so. War, pestilence, and death dominate much of the world. The martyrs wonder when God will avenge their deaths. And nature itself seems to come apart.
The imagery, which is disturbing, draws heavily from the Hebrew Scriptures and recent (for the initial audience) events. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius might have informed the chapter, for example. And pestilence and death were contemporary in the Roman Empire. Revolutions erupted in Roman Palestine from time to time, so violence was a recent memory.
How do we interpret disturbing recent events? Often we seek to see divine wrath in them. Sometimes we are correct; at other times we are imagining things or adding two and two, arriving at the sum of five. Yet some timeless lessons persist. Among them are:
- God is in charge, and
- Perpetual disobedience to God will not go unpunished.
Especially violent imagery might appeal most to those experiencing oppression, for such imagery tells them that God will avenge them. That analysis applies to the readings from Isaiah and Revelation. Yet there is more. All we need to do to find it is to continue reading. May we do so.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 1, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE EIGHTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS, YEAR B
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/disturbing-imagery/
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Above: Cross and Crown
Victorious Faith
DECEMBER 11, 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 28:14-29
Psalm 33 (Morning)
Psalms 85 and 91 (Evening)
1 John 5:1-21
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The Johannine tradition, in opposition to Gnosticism, emphasizes the centrality of the Incarnation; Jesus is essential. He was far more than a wise teacher; he was, in time and space, the incarnation of God. The author of 1 John has spent preceding chapters writing of the centrality of detachment from the world in opposed to God, of sound Christology, and of active love. The author is not content with theological abstractions.
Whenever I read the word “faith” in the Bible, I want to know what it means in that particular context. Authors used that term to in at least three different ways. So, if I am going to grasp a particular text accurately, I must know what it says in all germane contexts. The commentaries I have consulted agree that faith, as in 1 John 5:4, is intellectual. This understanding of faith seems closely related to that one finds in James; faith must be joined with actions. Therein lies salvation. That, by the way, is Roman Catholic theology.
I must also write about verse 18, which says that no child of God sins. A child of God, as established in verse 1, is anyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ. The translations on verse 18 vary, of course, but the passage, read in contexts of 1 John 5 and the rest of the Bible, means that no child of God is a slave to sin. We might be children of God, but we are still prone to sin.
Isaiah 24:14-29 condemns treaties the leaders of Judah made with their Assyrian and Egyptian counterparts, hardly trustworthy partners. Such treaties are in vain, the prophet, quoting God, said. And Isaiah was correct. Then, at the end of the passage, we read metaphors for the fate of the northern kingdom (Israel) and the preservation of a remnant of the southern kingdom (Judah). These are the words of Yahweh, of whom the text says:
His counsel is unfathomable,
His wisdom marvelous.
–Isaiah 28:29, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
Why should one kingdom end for all time and its neighbor survive as a remnant? And why did God come among us as one of us, beginning as a helpless child? These are questions one can answer only in God, who has unfathomable counsel and marvelous wisdom. There is one in whom we can and should believe both intellectually and actively, in whom we can and should have faith, both active and intellectual. Despite the different uses of “faith” in the Bible, a consensus emerges from the texts: Faith, essential in the context of a lack of evidence for against a proposition, such as that Jesus in the Christ of God, begins intellectually yet must find expression in works. There is, in other words, a difference between having faith and agreeing that a proposition is true but not acting on it. The former makes us victorious.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 11, 2011 COMMON ERA
THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF OCTAVIUS HADFIELD, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/victorious-faith/
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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: Christ Pantocrator
Living Faith Versus Insincere Rituals and Ossified Doctrine
NOVEMBER 27, 2022
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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 eternal 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 1:1-28
Psalm 33 (Morning)
Psalms 85 and 91 (Evening)
1 Peter 1:1-12
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A Prayer for Proper Priorities:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/a-prayer-for-proper-priorities/
O Lord, You Gave Your Servant John:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/o-lord-you-gave-your-servant-john/
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Wash yourselves clean;
Put your evil things
Away from My sight.
Cease to do evil;
Learn to do good.
Devote yourselves to justice;
Aid the wronged.
Uphold the rights of the orphan;
Defend the cause of the widow.
–Isaiah 1:16-17a, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
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For the word of the LORD is right,
and all his judgments are sure.
He loves righteousness and justice;
the loving-kindness of the LORD fills the whole earth.
–Psalm 33:4-5, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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This is a great joy to you, even though for a short time yet you must bear all sorts of trials; so that the worth of your faith, more valuable than gold, which is perishable even if it has been tested by fire, may be proved–to your praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. You have not seen him, yet you love him, and still without seeing him you believe in him and so are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described; and you are sure of the goal of your faith, that is, the salvation of your souls.
–1 Peter 1:6-9, The New Jerusalem Bible
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Rituals can have great value and convey great meaning. Yet a ritual without sincerity is like a special effect without a relevant plot point; it is meaningless and distracting. And what constitutes sincerity in this setting? Isaiah tells us that holiness is the essential element, and that the standard for holiness is objective: love of one’s fellow human beings and pursuit of social justice. After all, as we read in Genesis 1, each person bears the image of God. Faith, when it is what it ought to be, in inherently active. So Christian faith, rooted in following the example of Jesus, must entail reaching out to the marginalized, as our Lord did.
This devotion is for a fixed date, one which can fall in either Advent or the Season after Pentecost, depending on the day of the week on which December 25 falls. The readings work well on both sides of the seasonal boundary line. An old name for the Season after Pentecost or the latter part thereof is Kingdomtide, with an emphasis on demonstrated righteousness. And Advent, as a preparatory season for Christmas, contains a penitential element.
The take-away for today is this: Are you, O reader, keeping rituals yet mocking God by not even trying to uphold human dignity? If so, what will you do about that? The Incarnation of Jesus affirms the dignity of human nature, does it not? Faith ought to be about lived orthodoxy, not adherence to fossilized and ossified doctrine consisting mostly or entirely of words.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 1, 2011 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST FROM NICHOLAS FERRAR, ANGLICAN DEACON
THE FEAST OF SAINT CHARLES DE FOUCAULD, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT
THE FEAST OF SAINT EDMUND CAMPION, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT ELIGIUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/living-faith-versus-insincere-rituals-and-ossified-doctrine/
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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
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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