Archive for the ‘1 Corinthians 3’ Category
Above: A Vineyard
Image in the Public Domain
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According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
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Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:7-14 (LBW) or Psalm 118:19-24 (LW)
Philippians 3:12-21
Matthew 21:33-43
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Our Lord Jesus, you have endured
the doubts and foolish questions of every generation.
Forgive us for trying to be judge over you,
and grant us the confident faith to acknowledge you as Lord. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 28
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O God, whose almighty power is made known chiefly
in showing mercy and pity,
grant us the fullness of your grace
that we may be partakers of your heavenly treasures;
through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Worship (1982), 84
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The Bible moves past preaching and immediately starts meddling. Good! It ought to do this.
The vineyard is an image of the people of God in the Bible. In Isaiah 5, the image of vineyard full of wild (literally, noxious) grapes condemns the population doomed to suffer exile and occupation. Psalm 80 likens the people of Israel to a vine and prays for the restoration of Israel in the midst of exile. The Parable of the Tenants condemns fruitless religious authority figures–a timeless warning.
That parable also quotes Psalm 119 when the Matthean text refers to the cornerstone the builders had rejected. The cornerstone is a messianic theme, as in Isaiah 8:14; 28:16; and Zechariah 3:9; 4:7. For other applications of the cornerstone to Jesus, read Acts 4:11; Romans 9:33; 1 Peter 2:4f; Ephesians 2:20; and 1 Corinthians 3:11.
Years ago, I had a discouraging conversation with a female student at the college where I taught. She told me before class one day that she did not care about what happened to and on the Earth, for her citizenship was in Heaven. I vainly attempted to persuade her to care. Her attitude contradicted the Law of Moses, the witness of the Hebrew prophets, the teachings of Jesus, and the epistles–Judaism and Christianity, in other words.
The Golden Rule requires us–collectively and individually–to care for and about each other and the planet. Judaism and Christianity teach that people are stewards–not owners–of the planet. (God is the owner.) The state of ecology indicates that we are terrible stewards, overall. The lack of mutuality during the COVID-19 pandemic proves that many people do not give a damn about others and the common good.
God remains God. God still cares. God cannot exist without caring. That should comfort many people and terrify many others. Divine judgment and mercy remain in balance.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 18, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF ARTEMISIA BOWDEN, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EDUCATOR AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST
THE FEAST OF ERDMANN NEUMEISTER, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF FRANCIS JOHN MCCONNELL, U.S. METHODIST BISHOP AND SOCIAL REFORMER
THE FEAST OF JONATHAN FRIEDRICH BAHNMAIER, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF PETTER DASS, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
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Adapted from this post
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Above: Angry Talk
Image in the Public Domain
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According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
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Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
Psalm 103:1-13
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
Matthew 5:38-48
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Lord God, we ask you to keep your family, the Church, faithful to you,
that all who lean on the hope of your promises
may gain strength from the power of your love;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 16
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God of compassion, keep before us the love
you have revealed in your Son, who prayed even for his enemies;
in our words and deeds help us to be like him
through whom we pray, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
—Lutheran Worship (1982), 16
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O Lord, keep your family and Church continually in the true faith
that they who lean on the hope of your heavenly grace
may ever be defended by your mighty power;
through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Worship (1982), 28
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Whenever I hear someone refer to the God of the Hebrew Bible as mainly judgmental and the God of the New Testament as primarily merciful, I wonder how closely that person has read the Old and New Testaments. Judgment and mercy remain in balance throughout the Old and New Testaments. Consider the readings from the Old Testament for today, O reader. Recall, also, that
an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
(Exodus 21:24)
curtails violence. Furthermore, nowhere does the Law of Moses say to hate one’s enemies.
St. Paul the Apostle, writing to the argumentative and self-destructive church in Corinth, told them that they were God’s temple in that city. That was good news. A warning preceded it:
God will destroy anyone who defiles his temple, for his temple is holy…..
–1 Corinthians 3:17a, J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition (1972)
Agents of destruction frequently come from within, as in the case of the Corinthian church.
I wonder what the world would be like if the socially expected and normative behavior was to love people, or at least to be civil toward them. I wonder what the world would be like if this extended to everyone. I do not live in that world, of course. I live in the world in which social media are mostly agents and conduits of anger, misinformation, half-baked conspiracy theories, and damn lies. I live in the world in which sound advice includes not to read the comments section of a webpage.
Divine judgment and mercy exist in a balance. I do not pretend to understand what that balance is. I do not know where judgment gives way to mercy, and mercy to judgment. I do trust that God gets the balance right.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 26, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS TIMOTHY, TITUS, AND SILAS, C0-WORKERS OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE
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Adapted from this post
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Above: Ruins of Corinth, Greece, 1898
Image Source = Library of Congress
Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-matpc-07406
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For the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year 2
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Lectionary from A Book of Worship for Free Churches (The General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches in the United States, 1948)
Collect from The Book of Worship (Evangelical and Reformed Church, 1947)
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Almighty and Everliving God, mercifully look upon our infirmities,
and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth Thy right hand to help and defend us;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
—The Book of Worship (1947), 129
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Jeremiah 33:6-9
Psalm 34
1 Corinthians 3:1-23
Matthew 8:1-13
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Ne savez-vous pas que vous êtes le temple de Dieu, et que l’Esprit de Dieu habite en vous?
–1 Corinthiens 3:16, Nouvelle Version Segond Révisée (1978)
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The “you” in 1 Corinthians 3;16 is plural. (Notice the French text, O reader. It reads, vous, not tu. Also, 1 Corinthians is a letter to a congregation, not an individual.) This means that even the fractious Corinthian congregation, with which St. Paul the Apostle had problems, was a temple of God. We know from the (First) Letter of St. Clement of Rome to the Corinthians that, at the end of the first century C.E. and the beginning of the second century C.E., the Corinthian church had not changed its ways and followed St. Paul’s advice. We may also assume that the Corinthian church remained a temple of God nevertheless.
Congregations and individuals are temples of God in Pauline theology. Also in Pauline theology, no person has a body. No, a person is a body. Likewise, a congregation is also a body, as the larger church is a body, too.
Christians belong to Christ, who is God and belongs to God. (Don’t get me started on the deliberate confusion built into Trinitarian theology, O reader. I am content to leave the divine mystery and the violations of human philosophical norms in place lest I commit a heresy by attempting to explain them.) We belong to God, who judges and pardons. We belong to God, who reaches out to and finds faith in Gentiles and Jews alike. The praise of God should always be in our mouths, individually and collectively.
How many of us can, without issuing an “ahem,” affirm that the congregation to which we belong is a temple of God? I can. I do. I think, however, of some of the congregations to which I have belonged. I recall some of the rural, provincial, and narrow-minded congregations my father served as a minister in the South Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church. I have difficulty recognizing certain congregations in which I grew up as temples of God. Yet I must affirm that if there was hope for the Corinthian church, there was also hope for the unpleasant, anti-intellectual congregations I knew as a youth and have happily relegated to my past.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 7, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE NINTH DAY OF ADVENT
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA JOSEPHA ROSSELLO, COFOUNDER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF OUR LADY OF PITY
THE FEAST OF ANNE ROSS COUSIN, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF EMMA FRANCIS, LUTHERAN DEACONESS IN THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS AND HARLEM
THE FEAST OF GEORG FRIEDRICH HELLSTROM, DUTCH-GERMAN MORAVIAN MUSICIAN, COMPOSER, AND EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM GUSTAVE POLACK, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER, LITURGIST, AND HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR
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Above: Icon of St. John the Baptist
Image in the Public Domain
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For the Third Sunday of Advent, Year 1, according to the U.S. Presbyterian lectionary of 1966-1970
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O Lord, keep us watchful for the appearing of thy beloved Son,
and grant that, in all the changes of this world, we may be strengthened by thy steadfast love;
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with
thee and the Holy Spirit be glory, world without end. Amen.
—The Book of Common Worship–Provisional Services (1966), 117
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Jeremiah 33:14-16
1 Corinthians 3:18-4:5
Matthew 3:1-11
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Until God ushers in Matthew’s Kingdom of Heaven–the fully realized rule of God on Earth, replacing corrupt systems and institutions, the question of eschatological ethics remains current and germane.
We read some of St. Paul the Apostle’s advice in 1 Corinthians 4–pass no premature judgment. We also read St. John Baptist’s critique of many Pharisees and Sadducees in Matthew 3–
Brood of vipers.
I propose that St. John’s judgment was not premature, but based on evidence.
One might supplement St. Paul’s counsel with that of Christ in Matthew 7:1-5 (The New Jerusalem Bible, 1985):
Do not judge, and you will not be judged; because the judgements you give will be the judgements you get, and the standard you use will be the standard used for you. Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the great log in your own? And how dare you say to your brother, “Let me take that splinter out of your eye,” when, look, there is a great log in your own? Hypocrite! Take the log out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.
One who knows the Bible well can think of examples of various Hebrew prophets, Jesus, and St. Paul issuing judgments, usually while speaking with authority from God. However, one must, if one is to be intellectually honest, admit that some judgments are wrong, in more than one way.
“Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons.” That testimony is true.
–Titus 1:12b-13a, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
Whether St. Paul affirmed that nasty statement about Cretans or someone writing in his name did remains a matter of scholarly debate. The unfortunate statement exists within the canon of the New Testament, though.
Sometimes we must make judgments–ones based on objective evidence. To call a spade a spade, so to speak; to condemn injustice; to speak truth to power; is a moral imperative. True statements are neither slanderous nor libelous. Cynical people and desperate partisans in a state of denial may call true statements “fake news,” but objective truth is never fake. As John Adams observed,
Facts are stubborn things.
James 3:1-12 offers timeless advice regarding the use of the tongue; we have a moral duty to control it. That counsel also applies to the written word and to social media. Condemning the unjustifiable is appropriate, but ruining reputations and lives without evidence is always wrong. It is also commonplace, unfortunately.
“Brood of vipers” indeed!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 22, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF FREDERICK PRATT GREEN, BRITISH METHODIST MINISTER, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF BARTHOLOMEW ZOUBERBUHLER, ANGLICAN PRIEST
THE FEAST OF EMILY HUNTINGTON MILLER, U.S. METHODIST AUTHOR AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF KATHARINA VON SCHLEGAL, GERMAN LUTHERAN HYMN WRITER
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Above: Labor Day, by Samuel D. Ehrhart
Published in Puck Magazine, September 1, 1909
Image Source = Library of Congress
Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsca-26406
FOR LABOR DAY (U.S.A.)
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The Book of Common Prayer (1979) contains a collect and assigned readings for Labor Day.
Interdependence is a cardinal virtue in the Law of Moses. Interdependence is also obvious, or should be. Somehow, especially in the global West, the idea of rugged individualism persists. Yet, no matter how hard or well one works, one drives on roads other people built, relies on technology other people invented or maintain, and depends on many other people might guess at first thought. Anyone who can read this post with comprehension relies on hosts of educators, for example.
As I affirm that I depend on the work of others, just as others depend on my work, I also affirm the dignity of work. Therefore, I argue for certain propositions:
- Nobody should have to work in a death trap or a sweatshop;
- All wages should be living wages;
- People should work to live, not live to work;
- Union organizing and collective bargaining should be inviolable rights; and
- Access to affordable, quality health care is an inalienable right.
Nobody has a moral right to exploit anyone else. No institution has a moral right to exploit any person. After all, people should be more important than profits.
Furthermore, all work should benefit societies or communities. By this standard most jobs pass the test. We need plumbers and bus drivers, for example, but we also need actors, poets, and novelists. In a just world teachers, librarians, police officers, and fire fighters would be some of the best paid professionals, but that is not the world in which we live, unfortunately. It can be, however. A society is what its members make it. Sufficient force of public opinion, applied well, changes policies. The major obstacle to positive social change is resignation to the current reality.
Furthermore, the best kind of work is also indistinguishable from play. Work ought not only to provide financial support for one but also fulfill intangible needs. Work, at its best, is something one who performs it enjoys. Work should improve, not detract from, one’s quality of life.
Work does, of course, assume many forms, at home and out like the home. One should never forget that a stay-at-home parent is a working parent. One should never forget that one who leaves the labor force to become a caregiver for a relative is still working, just without wages. One should acknowledge that those who, for various reasons, cannot join the labor force, are valuable members of society, and that many of them can contribute greatly to society, if others will permit them to do so. Whenever a society holds back any of its members, it prevents itself from achieving its potential.
May we remember also that, as valuable as work is, rest and leisure are vital also. Ideally one will balance the three properly. We know that the brain requires a certain amount of sleep–especially REM sleep–to function properly. We know that the correct amount of rest is necessary for the body to function properly. We know that leisure makes for better employees.
Work, at its best, is a gift from God. It is a gift for divine glory and the meeting of human needs. Work, at its best, builds up (sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively) individuals, families, communities, societies, nation-states, and the world. One’s work, at its best, is a vocation from God; it occupies the intersection of one’s greatest joys and the world’s deepest needs.
May you, O reader, find your work fulfilling in every way.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 1, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, DISCIPLE OF JESUS
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Almighty God, you have so linked our lives with one another
that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives:
So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good;
and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor,
make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers,
and arouse our concern for those who are out of work;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Ecclesiasticus/Wisdom of Sirach 38:27-32
Psalm 107:1-9 or 90:1-2, 16-17
1 Corinthians 3:10-14
Matthew 6:19-24
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), 261, 932
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We invoke thy grace and wisdom, O Lord, upon all men of good will
who employ and control the labor of men.
Amid the numberless irritations and anxieties of their position,
help them to keep a quite and patient temper,
and to rule firmly and wisely, without harshness and anger.
Since they hold power over the bread, the safety, and the hopes of the workers,
may they wield their power justly and with love,
as older brothers and leaders in the great fellowship of labor.
Suffer not the heavenly light of compassion for the weak and the old to be quenched in their hearts.
When they are tempted to sacrifice human health and life for profit,
do thou strengthen their will in the hour of need,
and bring to nought the counsels of the heartless.
May they not sin against thee by using the bodies and souls of men as mere tools to make things.
Raise up among us employers who shall be makers of men as well as of goods.
Give us men of faith who will look beyond the strife of the present,
and catch a vision of a nobler organization of our work,
when all shall still follow the leadership of the ablest,
no longer in fear, but by the glad will of all,
and when all shall stand side by side in a strong and righteous brotherhood of work;
according to thy will in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical and Reformed Church, Book of Worship (1947) 382-383
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Ecclesiasticus/Wisdom of Sirach 38:24-34 or Nehemiah 2:1-18
Psalms 124 and 125 or 147
2 Timothy 2:1-15 or Matthew 7:15-27
–General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches in the United States, A Book of Worship for Free Churches (1948), 409
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Adapted from this post:
https://neatnik2009.wordpress.com/2018/08/01/devotion-for-labor-day-u-s-a/
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Above: Jacob Struggles with the Angel, from the Gutenberg Bible
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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Genesis 32:3-31 or Isaiah 14:5-20
Psalm 15
1 Corinthians 3:10-23
Matthew 10:1-15
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Jacob had been wrestling all his life. In the womb he and his brother Esau had struggled with each other. Jacob had, so to speak, wrestled with Esau during childhood and adulthood. Jacob had also been wrestling with himself. On the eve of what turned out to be reconciliation with Esau, Jacob literally wrestled with God or an angel in human form and received a blessing, as well as a limp. Jacob, literally “supplanter,” also became Israel, literally “may God rule.”
I admire Judaism, from which I learn much. One aspect of Judaism I find especially helpful is struggling with God as part of a relationship with God. One finds evidence of that collective struggle throughout the Hebrew Bible. One also finds evidence of divine judgment and mercy, hence restoration following exile. The reading from Isaiah 14 is a song of taunting against the defeated Babylonian/Neo-Chaldean monarch.
According to the high standards of Psalm 15, not one of we mere mortals has any hope, except via grace. Moral perfectionism is an impossible standard, but we should still strive to be the best versions of ourselves we can be.
St. Paul the Apostle wrote to the quarrelsome Corinthian church that it was God’s temple. (The “you” is plural in the reading.) That congregation needed to shape up and come closer to its spiritual potential. Unfortunately, as anyone who has studied the (First) Letter to the Corinthians from St. Clement (I) of Rome (circa 100) should know, the congregation remained quarrelsome and troublesome for at least a generation after St. Paul’s demise.
As my father taught me, troubled people cause trouble.. They are like Jacob. They are wrestling, metaphorically, with themselves and others. Perhaps they are wrestling with God also. In the meantime, in the context of congregational life, are holding a church back, and other members of that community are permitting them to do so. This is a dynamic present in come congregations I have observed.
One progression in the Gospel of Matthew is the expansion of the audience for the message. The audience in 7:6 consists of Jews. Yet, in 28:19, the audience is
all nations.
I, as a Gentile, am grateful for this expansion of the audience. Through it the wisdom of Judaism, has come to me. As I struggle with God, others, and myself, I hope that I cause no trouble in churches. I hope that I am improving spiritually. I hope that people will recognize the light of Christ in me. To the extent any of this comes true, God deserves all the glory.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 24, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THOMAS À KEMPIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, PRIEST, AND SPIRITUAL WRITER
THE FEAST OF JOHN NEWTON, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WALTER RAUSCHENBUSCH, U.S. BAPTIST MINISTER AND THEOLOGIAN OF THE SOCIAL GOSPEL
THE FEAST OF SAINTS VINCENTIA GEROSA AND BARTHOLOMEA CAPITANIO, COFOUNDERS OF THE SISTERS OF CHARITY OF LOVERE
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2018/07/24/devotion-for-proper-12-year-a-humes/
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Above: Jacob and Rachel, by Palma Vecchio
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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Genesis 29:1-6, 10-28 or Isaiah 13:6-16
Psalm 14
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Matthew 9:9-13, 27-34
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A recurring theme in the Hebrew Bible is people tricking tricksters–in this case, Laban tricking Jacob. What comes around, comes around.
The condemnations of evil and the predictions of divine wrath on the day of the LORD continue in Isaiah 13:6-16. Passages such as these belie the claim of the benighted, evil, foolish people who tell themselves in Psalm 14 that God does not care, a translation more to the point than the standard
There is no God.
Practical atheism, not theoretical atheism, is the matter in Psalm 14.
The Incarnation confirms that God cares. The Church is the building of God, metaphorically; God is the builder; Jesus is the foundation. Jesus seeks out sinners to reform and heals blindness. Yet there is more than one variety of blindness; spiritual blindness seems more stubborn than literal blindness in some stories of Christ healing people.
What comes around, goes around, and God cares. God cares enough to let us learn from our mistakes. God cares enough to grant us opportunities to reform. God cares enough to invite us take messages of God to others. God cares enough to tend to physical needs. God cares enough to reintegrate us into community life.
God cares. Do we? Do we care enough?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 24, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THOMAS À KEMPIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, PRIEST, AND SPIRITUAL WRITER
THE FEAST OF JOHN NEWTON, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WALTER RAUSCHENBUSCH, U.S. BAPTIST MINISTER AND THEOLOGIAN OF THE SOCIAL GOSPEL
THE FEAST OF SAINTS VINCENTIA GEROSA AND BARTHOLOMEA CAPITANIO, COFOUNDERS OF THE SISTERS OF CHARITY OF LOVERE
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2018/07/24/devotion-for-proper-11-year-a-humes/
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Above: Christ and the Two Blind Men, by Julius Schnorr
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:
2 Kings 20:1-21 or Amos 4:1-13 or Malachi 3:5-18; 4:(1-2a) 2b-6
Psalm 56
Matthew 9:27-34 or John 5:31-47
1 Corinthians 3:12-15 (3:16-4:5) 4:6-21 or 2 John 1-13
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Do not think that I am sending a new command; I am recalling the one we have had from the beginning: I ask that we love one another. What love means is to live according t the commands of God. This is the command that was given you from the beginning, to be your rule of life.
–2 John 5b-6, The Revised English Bible (1989)
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That rule of life includes commandments such as do not be haughty (2 Kings 20), swear falsely, commit adultery or sorcery, deny workers their proper wages, thrust aliens aside, oppress widows and orphans (Malachi 3), rob God (Malachi 4), oppress the poor and the needy (Amos 4), mistake good for evil (Matthew 9) or good for evil (Matthew 9) or become so legalistic as to complain about someone committing good works on the Sabbath, to the point of wanting to kill one who does that (John 5). This is, of course, a woefully incomplete list.
Sometimes people who violate these and other commandments of God flourish and the righteous suffer. One finds recognition of this reality in the Bible, which tells us that this might be true temporally, but the picture is more complex than that (see Malachi 4).
Vengeance is properly God’s alone. Temporal justice, which is, when it is what it ought to be, is not revenge. Life does not present us with morally complicated situations sometimes, but the commandment to make love the rule of life applies always. May we, by grace, succeed in living accordingly, to the glory of God and the benefit of our fellow human beings, as well as ourselves.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 17, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-FIRST DAY OF ADVENT
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, ABOLITIONIST AND FEMINIST; AND MARIA STEWART, ABOLITIONIST, FEMINIST, AND EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF EGLANTYNE JEBB AND DOROTHY BUXTON, FOUNDERS OF SAVE THE CHILDREN
THE FEAST OF FRANK MASON NORTH, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER
THE FEAST OF MARY CORNELIA BISHOP GATES, U.S. DUTCH REFORMED HYMN WRITER
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2016/12/17/devotion-for-proper-8-year-d/
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Above: Jerusalem and the Second Temple, by James Tissot
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
Almighty God, you gave us your only Son
to take on our human nature and to illumine the world with your light.
By your grace adopt us as your children and enlighten us with your Spirit,
through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 20
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The Assigned Readings:
1 Chronicles 28:1-10
Psalm 147:12-20
1 Corinthians 3:10-17
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[The Lord] sends forth his word and melts them;
he blows within his wind and the waters flow.
He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and judgments to Israel.
He has not dealt so with any other nation;
they do not know his laws. Alleluia.
–Psalm 147:19-21, The Book of Common Prayer (2004)
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The pericope from 1 Chronicles, true to the pro-Davidic Dynasty bias of 1-2 Chronicles, omits certain unflattering details and depicts King David as a champion of fidelity to God. It does, however, say that David’s bloodshed made him unfit to build a temple for YHWH at Jerusalem.
St. Paul the Apostle, writing while the Second Temple still stood, argued that those who trust in God are the Temple of God:
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
–1 Corinthians 3:16-17, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
“You” is plural.
I wonder how much better the world would be if more people treated others as parts of the Temple of God–as individuals to respect, if not get along with all the time. Yet each person has God-given dignity as a bearer of the image of God. This concept of people–believers, in particular–as the Temple teaches us to treat one another properly. Even non-believers bear the image of God, and therefore deserve good treatment and basic respect.
I admit that I have an easier time extending basic respect to favored cats and to people I like and who mostly agree with me than to those who annoy me and who seldom agree with me. Some people think so differently from me that, given the opportunity, they argue about even objective matters, such as what the weather forecast says. They seem like characters from the great Argument Clinic sketch from Monty Python’s Flying Circus. (Statement: “I came here for an argument.” Reply: “No, you didn’t.”) So I have some spiritual work to do, via grace. You, O reader, might not be so different from me in that regard. The good news here is that we need not rely on our own power to accomplish this goal, for we have access to divine grace.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 23, 2015 COMMON ERA
PROPER 16: THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM JOHN COPELAND, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
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Adapted from this post:
https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/devotion-for-december-29-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/
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Above: Temple of Solomon
I scanned the image from a Bible salesman’s sample book from the late 1800s. The volume is falling apart, unfortunately, but it is quite nice to have nevertheless.
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The Collect:
Holy God, through your Son you have called us to live faithfully and act courageously.
Keep us steadfast in your covenant of grace,
and teach us the wisdom that comes only through Jesus Christ,
our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 28
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The Assigned Readings:
1 Kings 6:1-4, 21-22 (Monday)
2 Chronicles 29:1-11, 16-19 (Tuesday)
Ezra 6:1-6 (Wednesday)
Psalm 84 (All Days)
1 Corinthians 3:10-23 (Monday)
Hebrews 9:23-28 (Tuesday)
Mark 11:15-19 (Wednesday)
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How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
My soul has a desire and a longing to enter the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.
–Psalm 84:1, Common Worship: Daily Prayer (2005)
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The Temple at Jerusalem was the heart of Judaism for a long time. There, for centuries, was the Ark of the Covenant. The Temple was where one had an especially palpable sense of the presence of God, although God dwelt everywhere. King Solomon, using forced labor (see 1 Kings 5:27-30), oversaw the construction of the first Temple, an elaborate structure. Forces of the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire destroyed Solomon’s Temple in 587 B.C.E., but the Persian Empire provided support for the construction of the Second Temple. King Herod the Great, a client ruler within the Roman Empire, expanded the Second Temple greatly, creating the Temple of which we read in the Gospels. That Temple was the seat of Judean collaboration with the Roman occupiers. It was also the site of the sacrifices of animals which poor people had purchased with currency they had exchanged for a fee; Roman currency was technically idolatrous. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer in the name of piety. The Temple system was corrupt.
This was why our Lord and Savior criticized that system and competed with it. Thus many of his staunchest opponents benefited from that system. Regardless of the number of purifications and rededications of the Temple, the flaw therein remained, for the upkeep of the Temple depended greatly upon money from people who could not afford to pay.
Thus Jesus, in the New Testament, replaces the Temple and the accompanying system. In him are no political conflicts of interest related to collaboration with an occupying power. In him are no demands for fees the poor cannot afford to pay. In him there is no corruption. He is the Passover lamb, whose blood, death, and Resurrection have atoned for sins. (The Passover lambs in the Book of Exodus protected Israelites from the sins of Egyptians, not themselves, by the way.) He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is, in the words of 1 Corinthians 3, the foundation of the Church, God’s building.
And Judaism has done quite well without a Temple since 70 C.E., not that one should celebrate the Roman destruction of Jerusalem during the First Jewish War.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 10, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN ROBERTS, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR
THE FEAST OF HOWELL ELVET LEWIS, WELSH CONGREGATIONALIST CLERGYMAN AND POET
THE FEAST OF KARL BARTH, SWISS REFORMED THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF THOMAS MERTON, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MONK
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Adapted from this post:
http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2014/12/10/devotion-for-monday-tuesday-and-wednesday-after-the-third-sunday-in-lent-year-b-elca-daily-lectionary/
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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