Above: Herod the Great
Image in the Public Domain
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For the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Year 1, according to the U.S. Presbyterian lectionary of 1966-1970
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Almighty and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth:
mercifully hear the prayers of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
—The Book of Common Worship–Provisional Services (1966), 119
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Ezekiel 34:11-16
Ephesians 4:17-24
Matthew 2:16-23
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Herod the Great was one of the bad shepherds, to use the figure of speech from Ezekiel 34, of antiquity. He was also a cruel man who had no qualms about ordering the deaths of relatives and strangers alike. He was a man in need of renewal of the mind.
Questioning the authority of tyrants and authoritarians is a moral duty. If one really takes seriously the call to effect justice, one must resist tyrants and authoritarians, certainly bad shepherds. Doing so is far from being unpatriotic; it is quite the opposite, and in the best interests of the general populace.
If one is not in a position in which one needs to oppose a tyrant or an authoritarian, one is fortunate. Such a person may wind up in that position in time, though, given the current rise of fascism and authoritarianism in the world. Unfortunately, many people who claim to follow God support tyrants and authoritarians.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 28, 2018 COMMON ERA
PROPER 25: THE TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF SAINTS SIMON AND JUDE, APOSTLES AND MARTYRS
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