Above: Christ in the Synagogue at Capernaum, a Fresco
Image in the Public Domain
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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 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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Job 3:1-26 (or 1:1-19) or Deuteronomy 5:6-21
Psalm 40
James 1:17-27
Mark 1:21-28
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And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying “What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
–Mark 1:28, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)
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One may legitimately question whether Christ’s action in Mark 1:21-28 constituted a teaching. Assuming that it was, was it a new teaching?
Despite traditional Christian attempts to divorce Jesus from Judaism, one would have had a difficult time finding someone more Jewish than Jesus of Nazareth. Judaism was not monolithic two millennia ago. (Neither is it monolithic today.) Jesus was a man of his culture, place, and faith. With ease he quoted Deuteronomy, the various Isaiahs, and Rabbi Hillel. There was continuity from the Hebrew Bible (as in the Ten Commandments, repeated in Deuteronomy 5) to Jesus.
There is much continuity from the Hebrew Bible to the New Testament. The teaching to walk, not just talk, the talk, is present in both, as in the context of the Ten Commandments and the Letter of James. The theme of trusting in God, who cares about us (as in Psalm 40), is also present in the New Testament. As one considers the lilies of the field, one may recall that Job had a different opinion in Job 3. If each of us lives long enough, each of us also sometimes thinks that God does not care about us.
Occasionally, at the Oconee Campus of the University of North Georgia, where I teach, someone from a campus ministry politely asks me if I believe in God. I ask this person what he or she means, for the answer depends on the question. Many people used “believe in God” to mean “affirm the existence of God,” but belief, in the creedal sense, is trust. My answer is that I always affirm the existence of God and usually trust in God.
I (usually) trust in God, incarnate in the historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth, whose teachings were mostly old, in continuity with the Hebrew Bible. The Golden Rule and the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) are old, for example.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 13, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MILTON SMITH LITTLEFIELD, JR., U.S. PRESBYTERIAN AND CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMNAL EDITOR
THE FEAST OF SIGISMUND VON BIRKEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, U.S. POET, JOURNALIST, AND HYMN WRITER
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Adapted from this post:
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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