Archive for the ‘John 16’ Category
Above: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Image in the Public Domain
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READING REVELATION, PART X
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Revelation 6:1-7:17
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Without getting lost in the tall weeds of symbolism and numerology, one can consult books that explain the historical background and theological significance of Revelation 6:1-7:17.
THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE
We begin with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They are, in order:
- Jesus, who rides alone, in opposition to the other three;
- War,
- Famine, and
- Death.
The progression of famine and death makes sense. War is, after all, one of the leading causes of famine.
Emperor Domitian issued an unpopular edict in 92 C.E. He forbade the laying of new vineyards in Asia Minor and ordered the conversion of half of the vineyards into agricultural land. The backlash forced Domitian to rescind this edict. This incident inspired 6:6:
But do not harm the oil and the wine!
In context, the wage in 6:6 was a starvation wage–the price of wheat was sixteen times what it should have been, and the cost of barley was exorbitant, too. The level of inflation was consistent with wartime scarcity. Greed frustrated that artificial scarcity and accompanying famine.
Sadly, war, famine, and death have remained ubiquitous since antiquity. Human nature has not changed.
THE MARTYRS IN HEAVEN
The question of the martyrs in Heaven (6:9-11) is understandable. Even in Heaven, they are impatient and not entirely happy. These are the ones whose bodies became sacrifices on the Earth and whose souls became sacrifices in Heaven. This scene is similar to some scenes in Pseudepigraphal literature. The prayers of the persecuted righteous, seeking revenge and justice, ascend to Heaven in 1 Enoch 47:1-2; 99:3; and 104:3. God will answer these prayers in the affirmative, we read there.
What do you intend to do, you sinners,
whither will you flee on that day of judgment,
when you hear the sound of the prayer of the righteous ones?
–1 Enoch 97:3, translated by E. Isaac
2 Baruch 21:19-25 echoes that theme. That passage begins:
How long will corruption remain, and until when will the time of mortals be happy, and until when will those who pass away be polluted by the great wickedness in this world?
–21:19, translated by A. F. J. Klijn
That is a fair question.
That passage concludes:
And now, show your glory soon and do not postpone that which was promised by you.
–2:25
Revelation 6:9-11 inspired part of a great hymn, “The Church’s One Foundation,” by Samuel John Stone (1839-1900):
…yet saints their watch are keeping,
their cry goes up, “How long?”
and soon the night of weeping
shall be the morn of song.
In the meantime, Revelation 6:11 tells us, the martyrdoms will continue.
DIVINE JUDGMENT AND MERCY
Revelation 6:12-17, drawing on images from Hebrew prophets and the Assumption/Testament of Moses 10:4-6, presents a vivid depiction of divine wrath. Divine deliverance of the oppressed may be catastrophic for the oppressors. How can it be otherwise?
Part of the good news, in the Assumption/Testament of Moses, is:
Then his kingdom will appear throughout his whole creation.
Then the devil will have an end.
Yea, sorrow will be led away with him.
–10:1, translated by J. Priest
I am getting ahead of the story, though.
THE SEALING OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD
Revelation 7:1-8 borrows from Babylonian cosmology, in which the planet was a square, with an angelic watcher of one of the four winds stationed in a corner. Daniel 7:2-3 also uses this cosmology and describes the winds as destructive agents of God. This understanding also informs the Syriac Apocalypse of Peter, the Apocalypse of Pseudo-John (chapter 5), and the Questions of Bartholomew (4:31-34).
The sealing (for the preservation) of the servants of God (Revelation 7:3) is similar to a scene in 2 Baruch 6:4-8:1. The sealed do not receive protection from earthly harm and martyrdom. They do go to God after they die, though. The number 144,000 is a fine example of numerology. One may recall that there were 12 tribes of Israel and that 1000 indicated a large, uncountable quantity. In context, the meaning is that a vast, uncountable throng of Christians from every people and nation must join the ranks of martyrs before the condition of Revelation 6:11 is fulfilled.
That is not encouraging news, is it? Yet the news that these martyrs are in Heaven does encourage.
Forces of evil have the power to kill bodies. Then they have corpses. These forces can do nothing more to harm these martyrs.
The Gospel of John 16:33b depicts Jesus as telling his apostles:
In the world you will have trouble,
but be brave:
I have conquered the world.
—The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
Those words occur in the context of the night Jesus was about to become a prisoner.
Let that sink in, O reader.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 15, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT TERESA OF AVILA, SPANISH ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN, MYSTIC, AND REFORMER
THE FEAST OF GABRIEL RICHARD, FRENCH-AMERICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY PRIEST IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN
THE FEAST OF OBADIAH HOLMES, ENGLISH BAPTIST MNISTER AND CHAMPION OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN NEW ENGLAND
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Above: The New Jerusalem
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 24:34-67 or Zechariah 9:9-12, 16-17
Psalm 145:10-21
Revelation 22:1-7, 12-17
John 16:16-33
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This life is a mix of pleasure, joy, love, and hardship. Nevertheless, we read, keep the faith; God will win in the end. God will destroy the unrepentant wicked, wipe out the oppressive and corrupt world order, and inaugurate the fully realized Kingdom of God. That is a fine note to go out on one week prior to Christ the King Sunday.
Stereotypes of God in the Old Testament and the New Testament exist. The God of the Hebrew Bible is supposedly harsh, judgmental, and temperamental. He is allegedly not gracious. And the God of the New Testament is supposedly all love, sunshine, puppies, and kittens. Anyone who has read the Old and New Testaments closely knows or should know that divine judgment and mercy exist in balance throughout the Bible. The God of Revelation is not all love, sunshine, puppies, and kittens, for example.
So be it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
FEBRUARY 2, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2021/02/02/devotion-for-proper-28-year-d-humes/
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Above: The New Jerusalem
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 22:1-19 or Zechariah 8:7-17
Psalm 145:1-9
Revelation 21:9-27
John 15:26-16:15
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Genesis 22:1-19 is the outlier in this group of assigned portions of scripture. I refer you, O reader, to other posts in which I have covered that terrible tale of child abuse and attempted murder.
A dark tone exists also in John 16:1-4. Consider the circumstances of the Johannine, Jewish Christian community. Expulsion from synagogues was their reality. Religious persecution, although not constant from the imperium, was possible. Furthermore, a time when
anyone who kills you will think he is doing a holy service to God
functions, in this liturgical context, as a commentary on Abraham in Genesis 22:1-19.
Otherwise, the assigned readings depict a happy reality of dwelling in God. This reality is not free of troubles, but one lives in harmony with God, at least. And faith communities provide contexts in which members support one another. They have instructions from God:
These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to one another, under true and perfect justice in your gates. And do not contrive evil against one another, and do not love perjury, because all those things that I hate–declares the LORD.
–Zechariah 8:16-17, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
The original context of Zechariah 8:16-17 is Jerusalem after the return of exiles. The passage also applies to Christian faith communities, however. People are to love God and each other.
May we do so, by grace, and glorify God.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
FEBRUARY 1, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT HENRY MORSE, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1645
THE FEAST OF SAINT BENEDICT DASWA, SOUTH AFRICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC CATECHIST AND MARTYR, 1990
THE FEAST OF CHARLES SEYMOUR ROBINSON, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMNOLOGIST
THE FEAST OF GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC COMPOSER AND MUSICIAN
THE FEAST OF SAINT SIGEBERT III, KING OF AUSTRASIA
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2021/02/01/devotion-for-proper-27-year-d-humes/
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Above: The Logo of the Moravian Church
Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor
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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 8:13-22; 9:12-17 or Acts 28:1-10
Psalm 134
Revelation 5:1-14
John 8:48-59
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Revelation 5:1-14 provides the keynote for this blog post. This scriptural text is one I cannot read without hearing the finale of Handel’s Messiah thundering inside my cranium.
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
Ernest Lee Stoffel, writing in The Dragon Bound: The Revelation Speaks to Our Time (1981), summarized verses 6-14 with five words:
THE VICTORY OF SUFFERING LOVE.
Stoffel elaborated:
What is this really saying? I believe it is saying the suffering love of God is the key that will help us live with our suffering and ourselves. There is something in the universe that has not been defeated by pain and evil and sin. That something is the crucified love of the Creator. I have to believe that love is the key to the world’s destiny, and that it will triumph over my pain and sin. I believe I can give my pain and sin to that love, which is also wisdom….
–43-44
I go off the Humes lectionary briefly to bring in a germane text:
“I have told you all this
so that you may find peace in me.
In the world you will have hardship,
but be courageous:
I have conquered the world.”
–John 16:33, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
Divine, suffering love has triumphed and conquered. This love figuratively hung up its bow of war in the beautiful mythology of Genesis 9:12-17. This divine love called and accompanied St. Paul the Apostle. This love has long inspired people to bless the Lord.
What should a person or a faith community do with the “victory of suffering love” in the context of heartbreaking, preventable human suffering? I write this post during the COVID-19 pandemic. The news is mostly grim. The temptation to curse God, fate, or whatever, then to curl up in a ball of despair is great. Yes, vaccines are available, to an extent. Yes, more vaccines are in the process of gaining official approval. And yes, people continue to die needlessly, before they can receive a vaccination. We, as a species, will spend a long time digging our way out of the wreckage of this pandemic. Furthermore, many people will never recover from the economic carnage. Many people will always have health-related effects of COVID-19. And the dead will remain deceased. None of this had to happen.
Do we trust that the crucified love of the Creator has remained unconquered? Do we trust that Jesus has conquered the world? Depending on the time of day, I may or may not so trust. Yet I know that I must take my fears and doubts to the foot of the cross of Christ and deposit them there. Having faith is not living free of doubts. No, having faith entails wrestling with them and even with God. Having faith entails never giving up the idol of false certainly and resisting the allure of easy answers to difficult questions.
God is faithful. God is faithful when we neglect to be faithful. God is faithful when we strive unsuccessfully to be faithful. God is faithful when we are faithful. May we stand, sit, or assume any posture we can in the presence of God wherever we are. And may we bless the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth, whose love remains unconquered. May we cooperate with that love. May it conquer our despair and grief. May it heal the world.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 22, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHN JULIAN, ANGLICAN PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMNOLOGIST
THE FEAST OF ALEXANDER MEN, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1990
THE FEAST OF SAINT LADISLAO BATTHÁNY-STRATTMANN, AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PHYSICIAN AND PHILANTHROPIST
THE FEAST OF LOUISE CECILIA FLEMING, AFRICAN-AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY AND PHYSICIAN
THE FEAST OF SAINT VINCENT PALLOTTI, FOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE CATHOLIC APOSTALATE, THE UNION OF CATHOLIC APOSTOLATE, AND THE SISTERS OF THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLATE
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2021/01/22/devotion-for-proper-17-year-d-humes/
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Above: Pentecost Dove
Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor
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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:
Acts 2:1-21 or Joel 2:21-32 (Protestant and Anglican)/Joel 2:21-3:5 (Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Roman Catholic)
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Acts 2:1-11 or Romans 8:22-27
John 15:26-16:15
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The Humes lectionary readings for Pentecost across all four years are mostly the same. In fact, the readings for Years B and D on this day are identical. I understand; feasible options are limited.
Anyway, after writing lectionary-based devotions for more than a decade, I fall barely short of dreading composing another devotion for Pentecost. My perspective is unique; only I know how often I have repeated myself. I may have something not excessively repetitive to offer in this post.
One of the major themes in the Gospel of John is the conflict between light (good) and darkness (evil). We read that the Holy Spirit will reveal to the world how wrong it has been about sin, about who was in the right, and about judgment.
Pentecost was nearly 2000 years ago. The world has persisted in a state of denial and obliviousness. Human nature has not changed.
Yet may we take courage. God remains sovereign. And those who cleave to the light remain in Christ, who is in God. The light shines on the just and the unjust. And the darkness has not overcome the light.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 12, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT BENEDICT BISCOP, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT OF WEARMOUTH
THE FEAST OF SAINT AELRED OF HEXHAM, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT OF RIEVAULX
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY MARY PUCCI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
THE FEAST OF HENRY ALFORD, ANGLICAN PRIEST, BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, LITERARY TRANSLATOR, HYMN WRITER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND BIBLE TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, FOUNDRESS OF THE SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME
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Adapted from this post:
https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2021/01/12/devotion-for-pentecost-year-d-humes/
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Above: Bread Line, by Nicolae Tonitza
Image in the Public Domain
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For the Fifth Sunday after Easter, 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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O God, from whom all good things do come; grant to us thy humble servants,
that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be right,
and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
—The Book of Worship (1947), 173-174
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Numbers 24:10-23
Psalms 135:1-18
James 1:22-27
John 16:23-33
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God is in control, despite appearances to the contrary. The prophet Balaam could not speak anything other than what God commanded. This upset the men men paying Balaam to utter blessings they wanted to hear. The author of Psalm 135, praising God for being good, recounted instances of God smiting enemies of Israel. Jesus went to the cross, but somehow he had already conquered the world. Jesus also did not stay dead for long.
James 1:27 leads into a section (in Chapter 2) on respecting the poor with these words:
Pure, unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world.
—The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
I do not know about you, O reader, but I live in a society that does not respect the poor. The Letter of James teaches that faith without works is dead, and that works reveal faith. By that standard, my society does not respect the poor. Even many of the poor do not respect the poor. The teaching of various Hebrew prophets regarding such disregard for the impoverished concludes with divine judgment.
How is that for justice?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 12, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT BENEDICT BISCOP, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT OF WEARMOUTH
THE FEAST OF SAINT AELRED OF HEXHAM, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT OF RIEVAULX
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY MARY PUCCI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
THE FEAST OF HENRY ALFORD, ANGLICAN PRIEST, BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, LITERARY TRANSLATOR, HYMN WRITER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND BIBLE TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, FOUNDRESS OF THE SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME
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Above: The Vision of the Valley of the Dry Bones, by Gustave Doré
Image in the Public Domain
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For the Fourth Sunday after Easter, Year 1
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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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O God, who makest the minds of the faithful to be of one will;
grant unto thy people that they may love what thou commandest,
and desire what thou dost promise; that, among the manifold changes of this world,
our hearts may there be fixed where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
—The Book of Worship (1947), 172
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Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalms 124 and 125
2 Timothy 2:8-23
John 16:1-11
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This saying is sure:
“If we have died with him, we shall also live with him;
if we endure, we shall also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful–for he cannot deny himself.”
–2 Timothy 2:11-13, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)
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The theme of seeking, trusting, and obeying God is prominent in the readings.
Martin Luther counseled people to trust in the faithfulness of God. Many baptized, practicing Christians, true to the Medieval zeitgeist that shaped them, feared that their sins condemned them to Hell. Luther, a theologian of the spoken word and of sacramental language, must have recalled the passage (itself a quoted portion of a hymn, probably) from 2 Timothy I quoted and that he translated into German. It was sound advice.
It remains good spiritual counsel.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 8, 2020 COMMON ERA
WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK
THE FEAST OF HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG, PATRIARCH OF AMERICAN LUTHERANISM; HIS GREAT-GRANDSON, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND LITURGICAL PIONEER; AND HIS COLLEAGUE, ANNE AYRES, FOUNDRESS OF THE SISTERHOOD OF THE HOLY COMMUNION
THE FEAST OF SAINT DIONYSIUS OF CORINTH, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF SAINT HUGH OF ROUEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP, ABBOT, AND MONK
THE FEAST OF SAINT JULIE BILLIART, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME
THE FEAST OF TIMOTHY LULL, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER, SCHOLAR, THEOLOGIAN, AND ECUMENIST
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Above: Coastal Landscape with Balaam and the Ass, by Bartholomeus Breenburgh
Image in the Public Domain
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For the Third Sunday after Easter, Year 1
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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 God, who showest to them that be in error the light of thy truth,
to the intent that they may return into the way of righteousness;
grant unto all them that are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s religion
that they may avoid those things that are contrary to their profession,
and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same;
through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
—The Book of Worship (1947), 169-170
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Numbers 22:1-21
Psalms 121 and 123:1-3a
Revelation 3:1-6
John 16:12-22
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Appearances deceive sometimes. Consider, O reader, the case of the church at ancient Sardis at the time of the writing of Revelation. We read that, despite its reputation, the congregation was spiritually dead. There was still hope, however, we read.
After all, one purpose of pronouncing judgment is to convince people to repent, so that condemnation ill no longer is necessary.
Do the right thing, we read. God will help you to do it, we read as we continue. God is faithful, the readings tell us.
Do we believe that? The beginning of evil is the rejection of all the above. When we think that God does not exist or does not care, at least, we conclude that we can and must do everything on our own. Then we slip into amorality; the ends justify the means, we tell ourselves.
Trusting in the faithfulness of God liberates us to grow into our best spiritual selves, thereby leaving the world better than we found it.
May we trust in God, or continue to do so.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 7, 2020 COMMON ERA
TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK
THE FEAST OF SAINT TIKHON OF MOSCOW, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX PATRIARCH
THE FEAST OF SAINT GEORGE THE YOUNGER, GREEK ORTHODOX BISHOP OF MITYLENE
THE FEAST OF JAY THOMAS STOCKING, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINTS MONTFORD SCOTT, EDMUND GENNINGS, HENRY WALPOLE, AND THEIR FELLOW MARTYRS, 1591 AND 1595
THE FEAST OF RANDALL DAVIDSON, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
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Above: Icon of the Holy Trinity, by Andrei Rublev
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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Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Psalm 8
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
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Trinity Sunday is the only feast on the calendar of Western Christianity solely about a doctrine. Other feasts have events, as in the life of Jesus, attached to them.
The three persons (“masks,” literally, in Nicene terminology) of the Trinity are present in the assigned readings for this feast.
- Proverbs 8 offers Sophia, the divine wisdom personified as a woman. Sophia influenced the Logos, identified as Jesus in John 1. Portions of the text also sound as if they could refer to the Holy Spirit. And does the Holy Spirit proceed from just the Father or from both the Father and the Son? Trying to reason through the theology of the Holy Spirit makes my head hurt, figuratively, so I rarely delve too deeply into it.
- YHWH is God in Psalm 8. God is unitary in Jewish theology. We humans are, according to the text, literally, “a little less than the gods,” not “a little lower than the angels.” “The gods” are members of the court of YHWH. The Hebrew word for “gods” is elohim.
- Romans 5:105 mentions that the Holy Spirit does not act independently, and that it glorifies Christ.
By the way, “Holy Spirit” or “Spirit of God” is feminine in Hebrew and Arabic yet neuter in Greek. The Holy Spirit is technically an “it,” not a “he,” in the New Testament.
My advice regarding the Trinity is to frolic in its glorious mystery, not to try to understand it. One cannot understand the Trinity. Attempts to do so have frequently yielded or reinforced heresies. I try not to commit any of these.
How can God simultaneously be on the Earth, getting baptized, in Heaven, and descending from Heaven? That is a mystery. We can accept the findings of early Ecumenical Councils Nicea, Ephesus, Chalcedon, et cetera) while bowing in humility before God, who loves us.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 10, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARIE-JOSEPH LAGRANGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF SAINT AGRIPINNUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; SAINT GERMANUS OF PARIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT DROCTOVEUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT
THE FEAST OF FOLLIOT SANDFORD PIERPOINT, ANGLICAN EDUCATOR, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OGLIVIE, SCOTTISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1615
THE FEAST OF SAINT MACARIUS OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/devotion-for-trinity-sunday-year-c-humes/
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Above: Christ Pantocrator
Scanned by Kenneth Randolph Taylor
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For the Fourth Sunday after Easter, Year 2, according to the U.S. Presbyterian lectionary of 1966-1970
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Give us, O Lord, a right understanding and a sincere love of thy Word;
that we may not be deceived and carried away by any falsehood,
but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
—The Book of Common Worship–Provisional Services (1966), 123
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Isaiah 63:7-9
1 Corinthians 15:50-58
John 16:16-33
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In the world you will have trouble, but be brave: I have conquered the world.
–John 16:33b, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
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The author of the Gospel of John placed those words in the mouth of Jesus shortly prior to custody, torture, and crucifixion.
Johannine theology is counter-intuitive much of the time. How, for example, can the crucifixion of Jesus be his glorification? How could Jesus, whom the Roman Empire executed in full Foucaultian fashion, with the intention of eradicating him, have conquered the world prior to that crucifixion, much less the resurrection? Johannine theology requires one to lay aside many assumptions.
The God of history, who cares about nations and individuals, has vanquished death. Jesus has overcome the world.
Yet ponder the past and the present, O reader. If you dare, pay close attention to the news, at least until you start swearing under your breath or shouting profanities in frustration. If Jesus has really overcome the world, evidence for that claim is difficult to find. As for God conquering death, that claim resides in a different realm than the one I detect with my five senses. That claim is one to accept on faith, or not at all.
Audacious claims are easy to find in the Bible. Perhaps the resurrection of Jesus is the most audacious one. I accept that one on faith. Relatively speaking, Jesus having overcome the world and God conquering death are easier to accept.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 27, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF CORNELIUS HILL, ONEIDA CHIEF AND EPISCOPAL PRIEST
THE FEAST OF HUGH THOMSON KERR, SR., U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND LITURGIST; AND HIS SON, HUGH THOMSON KERR, JR., U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, SCHOLAR, AND THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF JAMES MOFFATT, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, SCHOLAR, AND BIBLE TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN THE GEORGIAN, ABBOT; AND SAINTS EUTHYMIUS OF ATHOS AND GEORGE OF THE BLACK MOUNTAIN, ABBOTS AND TRANSLATORS
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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