The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Part III

Above:  Icon of Haggai

Image in the Public Domain

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The Collect:

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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The Assigned Readings:

Haggai 1:1-15a

Psalm 136

John 13:21-38

Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-9 (10-20) 21-24

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The thanksgiving for divine mercy in Psalm 136 and the teaching about domestic love and respect (including some awkward sexism and the lack of a condemnation of slavery) contrast with the predicted betrayal of Jesus in John 13.  The gratitude to God in Psalm 136 also stands in contrast to the criticized attitude in Haggai 1.  Some people, having departed Babylon for their ancestral home and settled there, have built new houses yet oppose rebuilding the Temple.  God insists that not only has the time to rebuild the Temple come, but it has arrived already.  The matter is one of respect.

If we respect God as we ought, we will want to behave in certain ways, including the care of houses of worship and the treatment of our fellow human beings.  We will even oppose slavery and stand against the execution of the innocent.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 20, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF ADVENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT DOMINIC OF SILOS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL TAIT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

THE FEAST OF SAINT PETER CANISIUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM JOHN BLEW, ENGLISH PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2016/12/20/devotion-for-proper-21-year-d/

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