Above: Effects of Acid Rain on a Forest in the Czech Republic, 2006
Photographer = Lovecz
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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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Exodus 34:1-10 or 1 Kings 22:29-43
Psalm 62:1-8, 11-12
Hebrews 5:12-6:12
Mark 9:30-37
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The key mark of discipleship is servanthood.
—St. Gregory of Nyssa (335-394)
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Some themes recur in the readings for this week:
- God is faithful.
- Trust in God.
- Do not commit apostasy.
- People reap what they sow.
- Christ is the exemplar of the type of service that defines greatness.
Exodus 34:7 requires unpacking. The principle that God punishes or forgives members of subsequent generations based on the sins of an ancestor exists also in 1 Kings 21:29, Nehemiah 9:17, Deuteronomy 5:9, Numbers 14:18, Psalm 103:8, Joel 2:13, and Jonah 4:2. Yet we read the opposite view–individual moral responsibility–in Ezekiel 18 and Jeremiah 31:29-30. The Bible contradicts itself sometimes.
The best explanation for the opinion we read in Exodus 34:7 comes from Professor Richard Elliot Friedman: effects of one’s actions are apparent generations later. I recognize ways in which actions of two of my paternal great-grandfathers influence me indirectly. This is one example of something, that, from a certain point of view, looks like intergenerational punishment and reward by God.
The decisions of others influence us. Some of them even restrict our options. We may suffer because of the decisions of those who have preceded us; we may suffer because of their sins. This is the way of the world. Yet we are morally responsible for ourselves and each other, not those who have died. No, they are responsible for their sins, just as we are responsible for ours.
May we–individually and collectively–refrain from visiting the consequences of our sins on those who will succeed us. We owe them that much, do we not?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 25, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES BAR-ZEBEDEE, APOSTLE AND MARTYR
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2019/07/25/devotion-for-proper-22-year-b-humes/
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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