READING AMOS, PART IV

Above:  Orion

Image in the Public Domain

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Amos 3:1-6:14

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Evening Prayer, Rite II, in The Book of Common Prayer (1979), opens with a range of options of opening sentences from the Bible.  One of these is:

Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth:  The Lord is his name.

–115

It sounds rather pleasant, does it not?  Consider the full passage, O reader:

The one who made the Pleiades and Orion,

who turns darkness into dawn,

and darkens day into night;

Who summons the waters of the sea,

and pours them out upon the surface of the earth;

Who makes destruction fall suddenly upon the stronghold

and brings ruin upon the fortress,

the LORD is his name.

–Amos 5:8-9, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)

Two lines not omitted change the complexion of those two verses, do they not?  Oh, well.

Amos 3:1-6:14 is replete with poetic images.  Instead of explaining references this time, I cut to the chase:

1. Worship at Bethel was inferior to worship at Jerusalem.
2. In the context of Amos 2:6-16, this worship at Bethel mocked God because of the ubiquitous violation of the ethical core of the Law of Moses.
3. The people either knew better or should have known better.
4. Divine judgment was about to befall the (northern) Kingdom of Israel.
5. In the context of subsequent editing of the original text of the Book of Amos, the (southern) Kingdom of Judah was also guilty, even though it had the Temple at Jerusalem.

If the derogatory term “social justice warrior” had existed at the time of the prophet Amos, many people would have dismissed him as being one.  The imperative of social justice–especially economic justice–and the ubiquity of social injustice–especially economic injustice–pervades the book.  The Bible, by count of verses, says more about about greed, wealth, and economic exploitation than about sexual practices.  One would not know this, based on the reversal of priorities in the preaching (if not the bedrooms) of certain ministers, some of them extremely wealthy televangelists who practice conspicuous consumption and espouse conservative political agendas.

They should read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Book of Amos.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 22, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF FREDERICK HERMANN KNUBEL, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

THE FEAST OF SAINT HUMILITY, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMITESS AND ABBESS

THE FEAST OF SAINTS JOHN FOREST AND THOMAS ABEL, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS, 1538 AND 1540

THE FEAST OF OF SAINT JULIA OF CORSICA, MARTYR AT CORSICA, 620

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA RITA LÓPES DE SOUZA BRITO, BRAZILIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN

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READING AMOS, PART I

Above:  Map of the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel during the Reigns of Kings Azariah (Uzziah) of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel

Image Scanned from an Old Bible

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Amos 1:1-2

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The superscription (1:1) provides information useful in dating the original version of the Book of Amos.  Jeroboam II (r. 788-747 B.C.E.; 2 Kings 14:23-29) was the King of Israel.  Azariah/Uzziah (r. 785-733 B.C.E.; 2 Kings 15:1-17; 2 Chronicles 26:1-23).  In a seismically-active region, the “big one” of circa 770 or 760 or 750 B.C.E. was apparently a memorable natural disaster.  (Ironing out wrinkles in the chronology of the era from Uzziah to Hezekiah has long been difficult, as many Biblical commentaries have noted.  For example, reputable sources I have consulted have provided different years, ranging from 742 to 733 B.C.E., for the death of King Uzziah.)  Centuries later, after the Babylonian Exile, Second Zechariah recalled that cataclysm in the context of earth-shaking events predicted to precede the Day of the Lord–in Christian terms, the establishment of the fully-realized Kingdom of God:

And the valley in the Hills shall be stopped up, for the Valley of the Hills shall reach only to Azal; it shall be stopped up as a result of the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah.–And the LORD my God, with all the holy beings, will come to you.

–Zechariah 14:5, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

The original version of the Book of Amos, then, dates to circa 772 or 762 or 752 B.C.E.

The final version of the Book of Amos, however, dates to the period after the Babylonian Exile.  The prophecies of Hosea, Amos, Micah, and First Isaiah, in their final forms, all do.  So do the final versions of much of the rest of the Hebrew Bible, from Genesis to the two Books of Kings.  The final version of the Book of Amos indicates a pro-Judean bias, evident first in the listing of Kings of Judah before King Jeroboam II of Israel.

“Amos,” the shorter version of “Amasiah,” derives from the Hebrew verb for “to carry” and means “borne by God.”

Amos was a Judean who prophesied in the (northern) Kingdom of Israel.  He was, by profession, a breeder of sheep and cattle, as well as a tender of sycamore figs (1:1, 7:14).  The prophet was wealthy.  In 2 Kings 3:4, King Mesha of Moab was also a sheep breeder.  Amos hailed from the village of Tekoa, about eight kilometers, or five miles, south of Bethlehem, and within distant sight of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 14:2; Jeremiah 6:1).  King Rehoboam of Judah (r. 928-911 B.C.E.; 1 Kings 12:1-33; 1 Kings 15:21-31; 2 Chronicles 10:1-12:16; Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 47:23) had ordered the fortification of Tekoa (2 Chronicles 11:6).  Although Amos prophesied in the (northern) Kingdom of Israel, “Israel” (Amos 1:1) was a vague reference.

Since the prophetic office as manifested in Amos was a function of Yahweh’s lordship over his people, the political boundary that had been set up between Judah and Israel was utterly irrelevant.  Amos was concerned with Israel in their identity as the people of the Lord; the sphere of his activity was the realm of the old tribal league, all Israel under Yahweh, and not the state cult with its orientation to the current king and his kingdom.

–James Luther Mays, Amos:  A Commentary (1969), 19

I wonder if the vagueness of “Israel” in Amos 1:1 is original or if it is a product of subsequent amendment and editing.  The later editing and amendment do present questions about how to interpret the edited and amended texts.  Anyhow, I recognize that the message of God, via Amos of Tekoa, received and transmitted faithfully in a particular geographical and temporal context, remains relevant.  That message remains germane because human nature is a constant force, often negatively so.

The reference to the cataclysmic earthquake (Amos 1:) may do more than help to date the composition of the first version of the book.  One may, for example, detect references to that earthquake in Amos 2:13, 3;14f, 6:11, and 9:1.  One may reasonably speculate that the Book of Amos, in its final form, at least, may understand the earthquake of circa 770 or 760 or 750 B.C.E. as divine punishment for rampant, collective, persistent, disregard for the moral demands of the Law of Moses.  This presentation of natural disasters as the wrath of God exists also in Joel 1 and 2 (in reference to a plague of locusts) and in Exodus 7-11 (in reference to the plagues on Egypt).  This perspective disturbs me.  I recall certain conservative evangelists describing Hurricane Katrina (2005) as the wrath of God on New Orleans, Louisiana, allegedly in retribution for sexual moral laxity.  I wish that more people would be more careful regarding what they claim about the divine character.  I also know that earthquakes occur because of plate tectonics, swarms of locusts go where they will, and laws of nature dictate where hurricanes make landfall.

Amos seems to have prophesied in the (northern) Kingdom of Israel briefly, perhaps for only one festival and certainly for less than a year, at Bethel, a cultic site.  Then officialdom saw to it that he returned to Tekoa, his livestock and sycamore figs, and the (southern) Kingdom of Judah.

[Amos] proclaimed:

The LORD roars from Zion,

Shouts aloud from Jerusalem;

And the pastures of the shepherds shall languish,

And the summit of Carmel shall wither.

–Amos 2:2, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

The theological understanding in Amos 2:2 holds that God was resident in Zion.  The reference to Mount Carmel, on the Mediterranean coast and in the (northern) Kingdom of Israel makes plain that the message was, immediately, at least, for the Northern Kingdom.  Looking at a map, one can see the geographical setting.  For the divine voice, shouted in Jerusalem, to make the summit of Mount Carmel writhe, poetically, God really is a force with which to reckon.

God is near, but he is also far–immeasurably exalted, inexpressively different.  He is the king who does not die.

–R. B. Y. Scott, The Relevance of the Prophets, 2nd. ed. (1968), 121

How we mere mortals think, speak, and write about God depends largely on our theological and social contexts–how well we understand science, how we define moral parameters, and how wide or narrow our theological imagination may be.  How we mere mortals think, speak, and write about God must also include much poetry, even prose poetry.  If we are theologically, spiritually, and intellectually honest, we will acknowledge this.  How we mere mortals think, speak, and write about God may or may not age well and/or translate well to other cultures.

Despite certain major differences from the pre-scientific worldview of the eighth-century B.C.E. prophet Amos and the world of 2021 B.C.E., the social, economic, and political context of the Book of Amos bears an unfortunate similarity to the world of 2021.  Economic inequality is increasing.  The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the numbers of poor people while a relative few already extremely wealthy people have become richer.  God still cares deeply about how people treat each other.  God continues to condemn institutionalized inequality.  Many conventionally pious people–religious leaders, especially–are complicit in maintaining this inequality.

Amos of Tekoa continues to speak the words of God to the world of 2021.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 19, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JACQUES ELLUL, FRENCH REFORMED THEOLOGIAN AND SOCIOLOGIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT CELESTINE V, BISHOP OF ROME

THE FEAST OF SAINT DUNSTAN OF CANTERBURY, ABBOT OF GLASTONBURY AND ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

THE FEAST OF SAINT IVO OF KERMARTIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ATTORNEY, PRIEST, AND ADVOCATE FOR THE POOR

THE FEAST OF GEORG GOTTFRIED MULLER, GERMAN-AMERICAN MORAVIAN MINISTER AND COMPOSER

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Above:  Christ Banishes Tradesmen from the Temple

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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Amos 6:1-7 or Proverbs 6:6-22

Psalm 118:1-14

1 Timothy 4:1-16

John 2:13-25

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These five readings, taken together, remind individuals, communities, and populations to obey God’s laws, keep its ethical mandate of mutuality under God, and not to be arrogant while idling in obliviousness to consequences of disobeying divine ethical standards.  The Assyrians were on their way in Amos 6.  False teachers were troublesome in 1 Timothy 4.  Sacred rituals were not talismans in John 2.

Keeping the ethical mandates from God is not a talisman either.  One who reads the Gospel of John should notice that Gospel’s placement of the “Temple Incident” (as scholars of the New Testament call it) at the beginning of Christ’s ministry.  Such a reader also notices that, according to the Gospel of John, different groups tried for years to kill Jesus throughout the Fourth Gospel.  If righteousness were a shield against negative consequences, Jesus would have been the safest person who ever lived.

Unfortunately, old, false ideas remain persistent.  (Old, true ideas persisting is positive, of course.)  The idea that one is suffering, therefore must have sinned, is false.  So is the proposition that one is prosperous and secure, therefore must have done something right and righteous.  How many times must one read the Gospel of John, ponder the life of Christ, and read accounts of martyrs before one understands this?

The rain falls on the just and the unjust.  Many of the wicked prosper.  Many of the righteous struggle and suffer.  It is not fair.  Life is not fair.  Nevertheless, actions do have consequences in this life and in the afterlife.  Sometimes we also suffer because of the actions of others.  The problem of suffering is too complex for simple answers.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 31, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

THE FEAST OF SAINT GIUSEPPINA NICOLI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN AND MINISTER TO THE POOR

NEW YEAR’S EVE

THE FEAST OF ROSSITER WORTHINGTON RAYMOND, U.S. NOVELIST, POET, HYMN WRITER, AND MINING ENGINEER

THE FEAST OF SAINT ZOTICUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, PRIEST AND MARTYR, 351

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Adapted from these posts:

https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2020/12/31/devotion-for-the-fifth-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-d-humes/

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2020/12/31/devotion-for-proper-3-year-d-humes/

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READING 1-2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS, 2 KINGS 1-21, 1 CHRONICLES, AND 2 CHRONICLES 1-33

Above:  King Menahem of Israel

Image in the Public Domain

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PART XCVII

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2 Kings 15:14-31

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If you pursue justice, you will attain it

and wear it as a glorious robe.

Birds flock with their kind;

so truth returns to those who practice it.

A lion lies in wait for the workers of iniquity.

–Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 27:8-10, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

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King Azariah/Uzziah of Judah (Reigned 785-733 B.C.E.)

King Jotham of Judah (Reigned 759-743 B.C.E.)

King Menahem of Israel (Reigned 747-737 B.C.E.)

King Pekahiah of Israel (Reigned 737-735 B.C.E.)

King Pekah of Israel (Reigned 735-732 B.C.E.)

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As I read the brief accounts in 2 Kings 14-21, I cannot help but replay the Book of Amos in my head.  I also note the fall of the fifth dynasty in the northern Kingdom of Israel.  Furthermore, I notice the kingdom’s diminished status, relative to its neighbors, especially the rising Neo-Assyrian Empire, which devoured the Kingdom of Aram in 732 B.C.E.  And I wonder why any sane man would seek to become the King of Israel.

The Kingdom of Israel was in its death spiral.  Two men fighting who would be the King of Israel was like to quote a line from a different context,  

like two bald men fighting over a comb.

But fight they did.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 6, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN GREGOR, FATHER OF MORAVIAN CHURCH MUSIC

THE FEAST OF GIOVANNI GABRIELI AND HANS LEO HASSLER, COMPOSERS AND ORGANISTS; AND CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI AND HEINRICH SCHÜTZ, COMPOSERS AND MUSICIANS

THE FEAST OF HALFORD E. LUCCOCK, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MAGDELEINE OF JESUS, FOUNDRESS OF THE LITTLE SISTERS OF JESUS

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READING 1-2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS, 2 KINGS 1-21, 1 CHRONICLES, AND 2 CHRONICLES 1-33

Above:  King Jeroboam II of Israel

Image in the Public Domain

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PART XCVI

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2 Kings 14:23-29; 15:8-16

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Do not invite death by the error of your life,

nor bring on destruction by the works of your hands;

because God did not make death,

and he does not delight in the death of the living.

For he created all things that they might exist,

and the creatures of the world ware wholesome,

and there is no destructive poison in them;

and the dominion of Hades is not on earth.

For righteousness is immortal.

But ungodly men by their words and deeds summoned death;

considering him a friend, they pined away,

and they made a covenant with him,

because they are fit to belong to his party.

–Wisdom of Solomon 1:12-16, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

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King Amaziah of Judah (Reigned 798-769 B.C.E.)

King Jeroboam II of Israel (Reigned 788-747 B.C.E.)

King Azariah/Uzziah of Judah (Reigned 785-733 B.C.E.)

King Zechariah of Israel (Reigned 747 B.C.E.)

King Shallum of Israel (Reigned 747 B.C.E.)

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The Kingdom of Israel seemed to be doing well during the reign of King Jeroboam II.  The military was strong, the borders were secure, Assyria was not yet the threat it went on to become. The Kingdom of Israel was prosperous, but the uneven distribution of wealth meant that the relative few rich people owed their money and status to the exploitation of the impoverished masses.  The devastating and timeless prophecies of Amos came from this time.

A quarter of a century after King Jeroboam II died, the Assyrians conquered Israel.

King Jeroboam II was the fourth of five monarchs of the House of Jehu.  The fifth monarch, King Zechariah, reigned for about half a year before he died in a coup d’état.  The next King of Israel, Shallum, reigned for about a month before he died in another coup d’êtat.

The accounts in 2 Kings 14 and 15 are brief.  I suspect that the author chose not to dwell on these three kings.  

For a fuller flavor of the time of Jeroboam II, read the Book of Amos.  Its moral standards should alarm many people around the world today.  After all, human nature is a constant.  So is God.  

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 6, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN GREGOR, FATHER OF MORAVIAN CHURCH MUSIC

THE FEAST OF GIOVANNI GABRIELI AND HANS LEO HASSLER, COMPOSERS AND ORGANISTS; AND CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI AND HEINRICH SCHÜTZ, COMPOSERS AND MUSICIANS

THE FEAST OF HALFORD E. LUCCOCK, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MAGDELEINE OF JESUS, FOUNDRESS OF THE LITTLE SISTERS OF JESUS

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Above:   Christ and the Rich Young Ruler, by Heinrich Hofmann

Image in the Public Domain

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The Collect:

O God, rich in mercy, you look with compassion on this troubled world.

Feed us with your grace, and grant us the treasure that comes only from you,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 49

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The Assigned Readings:

Amos 6:8-14 (Monday)

Hosea 9-15 (Tuesday)

Hosea 12:2-14 (Wednesday)

Psalm 62 (All Days)

Revelation 3:14-22 (Monday)

James 5:1-6 (Tuesday)

Matthew 19:16-22 (Wednesday)

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For God alone my soul in silence waits;

truly, my hope is in him.

He alone is my rock and salvation,

my stronghold, so that I shall not be shaken.

In God is my safety and honor;

God is my strong rock and my refuge.

Put your trust in him always, people,

pour out your hearts before him, for God is our refuge.

–Psalm 62:6-9, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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The assigned readings for these three days, taken together, condemn the following:

1. Collective hubris (Amos 6),
2. Collective iniquity, especially economic injustice (Hosea 10 and 12, James 5),
3. Collective iniquity, especially idolatry (Hosea 12),
4. Collective lukewarmness in relation to God (Revelation 3), and
5. Trusting in wealth, not God (James 5, Matthew 19).

One might notice that four of the five sins are collective and that the fifth sin has both collective and individual elements.  This is a partial list of sins, of course, but it is a fine beginning to one’s process of spiritual self-examination or another stage in that process.  Does one have hubris?  If so, that is a sin.  Does one participate in collective hubris?  If so, one needs to confess and to repent of that sin.  One can repeat those forms of questions for the remaining four items on the list above.

Protestantism, for all of its virtues, does place too much emphasis on the individual and too little stress on the collective elements of spiritual life.  May we strive to seek the proper balance between the two and succeed, by grace.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 20, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ALCUIN OF YORK, ABBOT OF TOURS

THE FEAST OF JOHN JAMES MOMENT, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF LUCY ELIZABETH GEORGINA WHITMORE, BRITISH HYMN WRITER

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2016/05/20/devotion-for-monday-tuesday-and-wednesday-after-proper-21-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/

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Above:  St. Titus

Image in the Public Domain

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The Collect:

Stir up the wills of your faithful people, Lord God,

and open our ears to the preaching of John, that

rejoicing in your salvation, we may bring forth the fruits of repentance;

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 19

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The Assigned Readings:

Amos 6:1-8 (Thursday)

Amos 8:4-12 (Friday)

Isaiah 12:2-6 (Both Days)

2 Corinthians 8:1-15 (Thursday)

2 Corinthians 9:1-15 (Friday)

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In that day, you shall say:

“I give thanks to You, O LORD!

Although You were wroth with me,

Your wrath has turned back and You comfort me,

Behold the God who gives me triumph!

I am confident, unafraid;

For Yah the LORD is my strength and might,

And He has been my deliverance.”

Joyfully shall you draw water

From the fountains of triumph,

And you shall say on that day:

“Praise the LORD, proclaim His name.

Make His deeds known among the peoples;

Declare that His name is exalted.

Hymn the LORD,

For He has done gloriously;

Let this be made known

In all the world!

Oh, shout for joy,

You who dwell in Zion!

For great is your midst

Is the Holy One of Israel.”

–Isaiah 12:1-6, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

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“That day” in Isaiah 12:1 is when God will begin to send Hebrew exiles to their ancestral homeland, a place they have never known.  They have firsthand and secondhand accounts of it, but they have always lived in a foreign country.

The prophet Amos anticipated that exile and condemned the hubris and complacency of many in the population as the kingdom approached its end.  He also criticized those who maintained sacred rituals outwardly while exploiting and cheating people.  Holy rituals are serious matters, not talismans which protect those who sin without repenting, Amos wrote.

God is generous and grace is free.  That free grace can prove to be most inconvenient, for it is costly, not cheap.  Accepting grace imposes great responsibilities upon the recipient.  This was on the mind of St. Paul the Apostle in 2 Corinthians.  St. Titus was collecting funds for the benefit of the Christians at Jerusalem.  Some of the most generous donors were those who had known great hardship and deprivation.  God had guided them through those perilous times and provided for them.  Now they were sharing enthusiastically.  2 Corinthians 8:15, quoting Exodus 16:18, which referred to manna in the Sinai Desert, established a fine standard:

The one who had much did not have too much,

and the one who had little did not have too little.

—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

Everyone has enough in divine economics.  Artificial scarcity, which is sinful, is a human creation.

Giving in thankful response to divine faithfulness and generosity can entail donating many things, including money.  Focusing exclusively or primarily on money, however, is in error, for doing so ignores or gives short shrift to other forms of giving.  One might have little money but plenty of time to share a necessary skill or talent, for example.  Money pays bills and wages, so nobody should ignore its necessity, but sometimes giving only money is the easy way out of exercising one’s full responsibility.  Whatever one has to give, may one donate it for the glory of God and the benefit of others.  May one give cheerfully and out of gratitude for divine faithfulness and generosity.  It will never be enough to compare to what God has done, is doing, and will do, but that is not the point.  I think of a witty Billy Collins poem about a child giving a lanyard to his or her mother.  No gift to God or one’s mother can match what God or one’s mother has done for one, but the thought is what counts.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 13, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ELIZABETH PAYSON PRENTISS, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER

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Adapted from this post:

https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2015/08/13/devotion-for-thursday-and-friday-before-the-third-sunday-of-advent-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/

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Above:  Dives and Lazarus

God and the Marginalized

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The Assigned Readings:

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 and Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16

or 

Amos 6:1a, 4-7 and Psalm 146

then 

1 Timothy 6:6-19

Luke 16:19-31

The Collect:

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.   Amen.

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Some Related Posts:

Proper 21, Year A:

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/proper-21-year-a/

Proper 21, Year B:

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/proper-21-year-b/

Prayer of Praise and Adoration:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/prayer-of-praise-and-adoration-for-the-nineteenth-sunday-after-pentecost/

Prayer of Confession:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/the-greater-our-greed-becomes/

Prayer of Dedication:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/prayer-of-dedication-for-the-nineteenth-sunday-after-pentecost/

1 Timothy 6:

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/week-of-proper-19-friday-year-1/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/week-of-proper-19-saturday-year-1/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/devotion-for-september-22-23-and-24-lcms-daily-lectionary/

Luke 16:

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/fourteenth-day-of-lent/

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There is hope in God.

1. Then Prophet Jeremiah understood this when he purchased a field.  Yes, the invaders were still going to arrive, the king was still going to become a captive, and the kingdom was still going to fall, but there was still hope in God.
2. The other readings focus on the hope of the economically marginalized.  The combination of great wealth and a dearth of sensitivity to human needs explains the lessons from Amos, Luke, and 1 Timothy.  Indeed, such insensitivity leads not only to the destruction of the insensitive person but to that of others.  Yet the poor man in the parable does receive his reward in the his afterlife while the heartless rich man suffers punishment after dying.  Even the the rich man still does not care about the poor man.

The divine preference for the poor is part of the Bible.  I suspect that one reason for this is that the poor are among the most easily noticed marginalized populations.  Our Lord and Savior found much support among the marginalized and less among those who defined them as marginal.  On that broad point I choose to found this blog post.  Are we marginalized?  Or are we among those who define others are marginal or consent passively to that reality?  In other terms, do we care enough about others to draw the circle wider, thereby including those whom God includes already?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 19, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS MURIN OF FAHAN, LASERIAN OF LEIGHLIN, GOBAN OF PICARDIE, FOILLAN OF FOSSES, AND ULTAN OF PERONNE, ABBOTTS; AND OF SAINTS FURSEY OF PERONNE AND BLITHARIUS OF SEGANNE, MONKS

THE FEAST OF SAINT ALPHEGE OF CANTERBURY, ARCHBISHOP

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARY OF THE INCARNATION, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN

THE FEAST OF SAINT SIMEON BARSABAE, BISHOP; AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS

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Adapted from this post:

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/proper-21-year-c/

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