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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART LXIII

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Psalms 100, 101, 102, and 103

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How should we respond to the demonstrated faithfulness of God?  The particulars depend upon who, where, and when one is:

1. Psalm 100 does what anyone can do:  praise God.
2. Psalm 101 reflects the point of view of a ruler, who seeks to govern wisely and justly.
3. Psalms 102 and 103 acknowledge human sinfulness and divine punishment.  The context of Psalm 102 is the Babylonian Exile.  Psalm 103 contrasts divine attributes with human characteristics.  God knows that we are dust, and divine steadfast love–hesed–is forever.  God’s judgment and mercy exist in balance, so God has not destroyed the rebellious Chosen People.

This is a post in a series centered in the Book of Psalms, of course.  However, I choose to digress from the Psalms for one paragraph while remaining on topic.  As one reads the Gospels closely, one may notice that Jesus did not offer a one-size-fits-all answer to the question of discipleship.  There is the story of the rich man who refused to obey Christ’s command to divest himself of wealth.  Yet the Gospels indicate that Jesus knew other wealthy men without even hinting that he ever told them to give away their riches.  And, when we read stories of people eager to follow Jesus–literally–we read of him accepting some of them as literal followers and telling others to go home.  Applications of timeless principles vary; the particulars depend on the circumstances.  Why not?  We live in circumstances, not in abstract principles.

By this point in this series, the themes of Psalms 100-103 are familiar.  I can write little else in this post without repeating myself.  However, I conclude with one thought:  The only proper basis of human identity is God.  We pass away about as quickly as we arrive, in divine perspective.  And empires, kingdoms, and nation-states do the same.  When I ponder geological time, which stretches into eons, I find scientific confirmation of the poetic assertion that our days are like those of grass (Psalm 103:15).  So, may we joyfully and faithfully accept our dependence on hesed and keep the covenant.  We may not live for long, but may we live well.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 6, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCUS AURELIUS CLEMENS PRUDENTIUS, POET AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF DANNY THOMAS, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC ENTERTAINER AND HUMANITARIAN; FOUNDER OF SAINT JUDE CHILDREN’S RESEARCH HOSPITAL

THE FEAST OF DAVID EVANS, WELSH CALVINISTIC METHODIST/PRESBYTERIAN HYMNODIST, COMPOSER, AND HYMN TUNE HARMONIZER

THE FEAST OF SAINTS MATEO CORREA-MAGALLANES AND MIGUEL AGUSTIN PRO, MEXICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS, 1927

THE FEAST OF SAINT VEDAST (VAAST), ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF ARRAS AND CAMBRAI

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM KETCHAM ANDERSON, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER AND HYMN TUNE ORGANIZER

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If we say we have no sin in us,

Above:  Jonah Outside Nineveh

Image in the Public Domain

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For Ash Wednesday, 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 Everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made,

and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent;

create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we,

worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness,

may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 144

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Jonah 3:1-4:11

Psalm 102

1 John 1:5-10

Matthew 6:16-21

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we are deceiving ourselves

and refusing to admit the truth;

but if we acknowledge our sins,

then God who is faithful and just

will forgive our sins and purify us

from everything that is wrong.

To say we have never sinned

is to call God a liar

and to show that his word is not in us.

–1 John 1:8-10, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

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Remorse for sins must precede repentance for sins.  Remorse is an emotion; repentance is an action.

Also, sin comes in varieties.  Roman Catholic theology divides sins into the venial and the mortal.  One can also categorize sin as being of omission or of commission, as well as being individual or collective.

The reading from Jonah 3 and 4 includes both individual and collective sin.  The titular character remains impenitent at the end of Chapter 4.  The sudden ending of the Book of Jonah invites we who read and heart that story to repent of our desires to see our enemies destroyed.  We need to feel remorse for then repent of our resentments that the repentance of our foes would ruin or does ruin.

Based on reading the Bible, I conclude that God would be thrilled if everyone were to repent.  Unfortunately, many people refuse to do so.  Love and repentance have to be voluntary.  “Yes” has meaning only if “no” is a feasible option, even if a bad one.

One advantage of following a church year is that one has reasons to focus on different priorities.  Lent is a time to emphasize remorse and repentance.  We can say “Alleluia” after Lent has ended.  Lent is a season to work on storing up treasures in Heaven.  Besides, as anyone who has cleaned out the residence of a deceased person knows, what we leave behind often becomes someone else’s burdens.

I draft this post during the COVID-19 pandemic.  That medical and economic catastrophe informs my thinking about collective and individual repentance this time around.  May we-as societies, nation-states, communities, institutions, et cetera–repent of thinking that what harms others has no effect on us.  And may we–as individuals–repent of all delusions that work against mutuality.  Excessive individualism, especially during a pandemic, harms others.  It violates the Golden Rule.

The counterbalance is to remember that the common good does not equal conformity.  Variety is the spice of life.  The common good embraces diversity and welcomes the eccentrics, the oddballs, and the stubbornly different.  God created me to be the best version of myself possible.  God created you, O reader, to be the best possible version of yourself.  So, feel free to be your glorious, even odd or eccentric self without endangering anyone.  Add spice to the world while loving your neighbors as you love yourself.  Do not permit anyone to persuade you that you must feel remorse for and repent of being the person God made you to be.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 5, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

THE FEAST OF ANTONIO LOTTI, ROMAN CATHOLIC MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF SAINT GENOVEVA TORRES MORALES, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS AND THE HOLY ANGELS

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN NEPOMUCENE NEUMANN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF PHILADELPHIA

THE FEAST OF MARGARET MACKAY, SCOTTISH HYMN WRITER

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Above:  Jeremiah

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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1 Samuel 2:18-26 or Jeremiah 17:5-10

Psalm 102:18-28

Romans 6:12-23

Luke 12:1-12

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In the context of the balance of divine judgment and mercy, an evergreen Biblical theme, we read another evergreen Biblical theme:  Be your best selves in God.  This applies both individually and collectively.  Be your best self in God.  Be the best family possible in God.  Be the best congregation possible in God.  Be the best ____ possible in God.

Fearlessness, grounded in faith and bound by mutual responsibility, is part of achieving human potential in God.  May we be fearless in loving our neighbors as we love ourselves in good times and during crises.  May we build up each other fearlessly.  May we speak and hear the truth in love, fearlessly. May we proclaim Christ in words and deeds, fearlessly.  May we eschew all bigotry, fearlessly.  May we hold irresponsible authority figures to account for the common good, fearlessly.  May we fearlessly cooperate with God in building societies that are more just, especially for the vulnerable and the impoverished.

May we remember and act fearlessly on the truth that we are precious to God and should, therefore, be precious to each other.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 21, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ROMAN ADAME ROSALES, MEXICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1927

THE FEAST OF SAINT CONRAD OF PARZHAM, CAPUCHIN FRIAR

THE FEAST OF GEORGE B. CAIRD, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST THEN UNITED REFORMED MINISTER, BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, AND HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF GEORGIA HARKNESS, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, ETHICIST, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT SIMEON BARSABAE, BISHOP; AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS, 341

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2020/04/21/devotion-for-proper-17-year-c-humes/

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Above:  A Dining Room

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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1 Samuel 2:1-10 or Jeremiah 15:15-21

Psalm 102:1-17

Romans 6:1-11

Luke 11:37-54

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These five assigned readings merge neatly into a unified message:  Turn to God.  Do not turn away from God.  Otherwise, suffer the consequences.

Jesus, speaking in Luke 11:37-54, establishes some standards, in a particular context.  The list is hardly comprehensive, but it does not prove useful.  Besides, if he were speaking to a different audience, he would offer a different list of sins.  The list from Luke 11:37-54 is:

1. Placing too much emphasis on the superficial and too little on the consequential,
2. Overlooking justice/righteousness and the love of God,
3. Feeding ego rather than glorifying God,
4. Imposing and maintaining unendurable burdens on people,
5. Being shameless hypocrites, and
6. Teaching the Torah badly, thereby misleading people.

Contrast Jesus’s hosts in Luke 11:37-54 with the notorious sinners with whom our Lord and Savior dined.  The latter groups were not respectable, but they did not understand themselves and acknowledge their need to repent.  They accepted the opportunity to learn from and to follow Jesus.

“Justice” and “righteousness” are the same word in the Bible.  Translators choose either “justice” or “righteousness” on a case-by-case basis.  Standards of justice/righteousness are somewhat relative; they depend on contexts.  How one lives the timeless principles properly depends on who, when, and where one is.  Reread the list from a previous paragraph, O reader.  Ponder the third sin:  feeding ego rather than glorifying God.  Two people may commit that sin yet do so differently.  Likewise, two people may glorify God rather than feed ego, and do so differently.

If Jesus were your dinner guest, O reader, what would he tell you?  And how would you react or respond to him?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN, MINISTER, LITURGIST, AND “PASTOR OF THE REFORMATION”

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN X, KING OF DENMARK AND ICELAND; AND HIS BROTHER, HAAKON VII, KING OF NORWAY

THE FEAST OF MARION MACDONALD KELLARAN, EPISCOPAL SEMINARY PROFESSOR AND LAY LEADER

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/devotion-for-proper-16-year-c-humes/

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This is post #2200 of BLOGA THEOLOGICA.

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Book One: Psalms 1-41

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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The psalter of the Septuagint contains 151 psalms.

I have written based on all of them, in numerical order.  I have retained the Hebrew numbering system, not that of the Septuagint.

Although I have no theological reticence to venture into textual territory that, according the United Methodism of my youth, is apocryphal, I do have limits.  They reside in the realm of Orthodoxy, with its range of scriptural canons.  Beyond that one finds the Pseudipigrapha.  Psalm 151 concludes the Book of Psalms in The Orthodox Study Bible (2008); so be it.

The Hebrew psalter concludes with Psalm 150.  In other psalters, however, the count is higher.  In certain editions of the Septuagint, for example, Psalm 151 is an appendix to the Book of Psalms.  In other editions of the Septuagint, however, Psalm 151 is an integrated part of the psalter.  There is also the matter of the Syraic psalter, which goes as high as Psalm 155.  I have no immediate plans to ponder Psalms 152-155, however.  Neither do I plan to read and write about Psalms 156-160 any time soon, if ever.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 23, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS MARTIN DE PORRES AND JUAN MACIAS, HUMANITARIANS AND DOMINICAN LAY BROTHERS; SAINT ROSE OF LIMA, HUMANITARIAN AND DOMINICAN SISTER; AND SAINT TURIBIUS OF MOGROVEJO, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF LIMA

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM JOHN COPELAND, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

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Also in the Greek:  Psalm 151

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As a father has compassion for his children,

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POST XXXIX OF LX

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The Book of Common Prayer (1979) includes a plan for reading the Book of Psalms in morning and evening installments for 30 days.  I am therefore blogging through the Psalms in 60 posts.

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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 everlasting 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 226

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so the LORD has compassion for those who fear Him.

For He knows how we are formed;

He is mindful that we are but dust.

–Psalm 103:13-14, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

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Psalm 102 is outwardly a prayer of a seriously ill man.  Psalm 103 follows the recovery of the author from such an illness.  Psalm 102 seems actually to be a lament for destroyed Jerusalem and a prayer for the restoration of the kingdom, its capital, and the Temple.  In these texts divine discipline and compassion coexist.

Psalm 103, justly famous, includes the profound and beautiful passage I have quoted.  Psalm 103 contains much that is worthy of quoting and pondering; I recommend that you, O reader, spend quality time with the full text.  I also choose to focus on the quoted portion in this post  “Fear” is an unfortunate translation; “stand in awe of ” is better.  Also, the alternate translation of “dust” is “clay.”  We are, at any rate, physical and transient, but God is everlasting.  This passage also offers comfort when one, despite trying to follow God, falls on one’s face, so to speak.  God is on our side, ready to pick s up and help us to continue on the spiritual journey.  Moral perfectionism is unrealistic, for we are but dust/clay, but we can improve morally, by grace.

In The Didache, from the second century C.E., one reads of the two ways–the Way of Life and the Way of Death.  The Way of Life is to love one’s neighbor as one loves oneself and to obey the Golden Rule.  The text expounds on this in terms more positive than negative for two and a half pages in my copy.  The Way of Death is evil; it leads to Hell.  The explanation of the Way of Death–just one paragraph–fills about one-third of a page.  In the conclusion  of the explanation of the Two Ways one reads the following:

If you can shoulder the Lord’s yoke in its entirety, then you will be perfect; but if that is too much for you, do as much as you can.

—Early Christian Writings:  The Apostolic Fathers (New York, NY:  Penguin Books, 1987), page 193

Moral perfectionism is unrealistic, for we are but dust/clay, but we can improve morally, by grace.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 17, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, ANGLICAN PRIEST, PRESIDENT OF KING’S COLLEGE, “FATHER OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN CONNECTICUT,” AND “FATHER OF AMERICAN LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION;” TIMOTHY CUTLER, CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, ANGLICAN PRIEST, AND RECTOR OF YALE COLLEGE; DANIEL BROWNE, EDUCATOR, CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, AND ANGLICAN PRIEST; AND JAMES WETMORE, CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND ANGLICAN PRIEST

THE FEAST OF JONATHAN FRIEDRICH BAHNMAIER, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

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Above:  Christ Healing the Paralytic at Bethesda, by Palma Giovane

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:

Isaiah 57:1-21

Psalm 102

John 5:1-18

James 1:1-16 or Ephesians 2:11-22 or Galatians 1:1-24

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Penitence is related to repentance.  Frequently, in everyday vocabulary, they become interchangeable terms, but they are different.  To repent is to turn one’s back on sin–sin in general and a particular sin or set of sins.  The theological focus on Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent is repentance.

Timothy Matthew Slemmons has done an excellent job of selecting appropriate texts for Ash Wednesday while avoiding the usual suspects.

1. We read in Isaiah 57 that Judah needs to repent of idolatry.  We also read that judgment will ensue, but that mercy will follow it.
2. The penitence in Psalm 102 is individual.  In that text the consequences of the sins have caught up with the author, who is in distress and pleading for mercy.
3. James 1 advises us to rejoice and to trust in God during times of trial, not to yield to temptation during them.  We read that Jesus breaks down barriers between us and God and among us.  Why, then, do many of us insist on maintaining and erecting barriers, especially for others?
4. Galatians 1 informs us that Jesus liberates us to serve, enjoy, and glorify God.
5. In John 5 we read of Jesus liberating  man from a physical disability and intangible, related problems.  Then, we read, some strict Sabbath keepers criticize the newly able-bodied man for carrying his bed roll on the Sabbath.  I detect misplaced priorities in the critics.

Each of us has much for which to be pentitent and much of which to repent.  At this time I choose to emphasize legalism, which is a thread in some of the readings.  Legalism, in some cases, has innocent and pious origins; one seeks to obey divine commandments.  Out of good intentions one goes astray and becomes a master nit picker lost amid the proverbial trees and unable to see the forest.  Rules become more important than compassion.  This might be especially likely to happen when one is a member of a recognizable minority defined by certain practices.  Creating neat categories, thereby defining oneself as set apart and others as unclean, for example, can become quite easily an open door to self-righteousness.  It is a sin against which to remain vigilant as one notices a variety of sins in one’s vicinity.

The list of sins I have not committed is long.  So is the list of sins of which I am guilty.  The former does not make up for the latter.  The fact that I have never robbed a liquor store speaks well of me yet does not deliver me from my sins and the consequences thereof; it does, however, testify to what Lutheran theology calls civic righteousness.  Although I have the right to condemn the robbing of liquor stores, I have no become self-righteous and legalistic toward those who have.  They and I stand before God guilty of many sins.  All of us need to be penitent and to repent.  All of us need the mercy of God and the merits of Jesus Christ.

I am no less prone to legalism than any other person is.  My inclination is to break down roadblocks to God, not to create or maintain them.  Nevertheless, I recognize the existence of certain categories and approve of them.  This is healthy to an extent.  But what if some of my categories are false? This is a thought I must ponder if I am to be a faithful Christian.  Am I marginalizing people God calls insiders?  Are you, O reader?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 8, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ABRAHAM RITTER, U.S. MORAVIAN MERCHANT, HISTORIAN, MUSICIAN, AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF ERIK ROUTLEY, HYMN WRTIER

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM DWIGHT PORTER BLISS, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND ECONOMIST; AND RICHARD THEODORE ELY, ECONOMIST

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Adapted from this post:

https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2016/10/08/devotion-for-ash-wednesday-year-d/

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Above:  One of My Crucifixes, July 15, 2014

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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The Collect:

Everlasting God, you give strength to the weak and power to the faint.

Make us agents of your healing and wholeness,

that your good may be made known to the ends your creation,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 24

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The Assigned Readings:

Job 6:1-13

Psalm 102:12-28

Mark 3:7-12

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The days of my life are like a lengthening shadow:

though I am withering away like grass

You remain, LORD, for ever:

succeeding generations will be reminded of you.

–Psalm 102:12-13, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers, Harry Mowvley (1989)

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Today we have readings about two men–one fictional, the other real–who suffered, but not for any sin they had committed.

The titular character of the Book of Job was righteous.  He suffered because God permitted it as a test of loyalty.  Job’s alleged friends defended their orthodoxy, which held that Job must be suffering for a sin or sins he had committed, for God, being just, would never let an innocent person suffer.  They blamed a victim and even gloated as he suffered.  After Eliphaz the Temanite stated that a righteous person’s merit can shield him or her from harm, Job said:

…What strength have I, that I should endure?

How long have I to live, that I should be patient?

–6:11, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Jesus had made deadly enemies as early as Mark 3:6.  (His offense had been to heal on the Sabbath.)  Throngs of people seeking healing pursued him, pressed upon him, and caused him great physical stress.  At least Jesus had Apostles to prepare a getaway boat.  But he still died at the hands of powerful political enemies.  Fortunately, there was also the Resurrection.

A few weeks ago I heard a new (to me, anyway) take on the statement that God will never give us more to bear than we can handle.  An individualistic understanding of that statement is erroneous, for we exist in spiritual community.  Thus God will not impose a burden too heavy for the community to bear.  This is about “we,” not “me.”  May we support each other and not be like Job’s alleged friends.  And there is more:  we have the merits of Christ.  That merit is sufficient, although it has not protected martyrs from harm.  The message I take away from that fact is that safety is not necessarily part of God’s promise to the faithful.  God will, however, be present with them.  How is that for burden-sharing community?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 2, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE THIRD DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF SAINT BRIOC, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT TUDWAL, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND BISHOP

THE FEAST OF CHANNING MOORE WILLIAMS, EPISCOPAL BISHOP IN CHINA AND JAPAN

THE FEAST OF JOHN BROWN, ABOLITIONIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT OSMUND OF SALISBURY, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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Adapted from this post:

https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/devotion-for-wednesday-after-the-fifth-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-b-elca-daily-lectionary/

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Above:  Elisha and the Shumanite Woman, by Gerbrand van den Eeckhout

Image in the Public Domain

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The Collect:

Everlasting God, you give strength to the weak and power to the faint.

Make us agents of your healing and wholeness,

that your good may be made known to the ends your creation,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 24

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The Assigned Readings:

2 Kings 4:8-17, 32-37 (Monday)

2 Kings 8:1-6 (Tuesday)

Psalm 102:12-28 (Both Days)

Acts 14:1-7 (Monday)

Acts 15:36-41 (Tuesday)

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He will look with favor on the prayer of the homeless;

he will not despise their plea.

–Psalm 102:17, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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A childless woman bore shame during the time in which Elisha lived.  This was, of course, wrong, but it was her reality.  The story of one such woman, as we find it in 2 Kings 4 and 8, was one of repeated graces–a successful pregnancy, the raising of her dead son, advice to flee ahead of a seven-year-long drought, and, as a widow, restoration of property and income.  Her end, without help, would have been unfortunate.  For example, a widow was especially vulnerable in the Hebrew society of the time.

Widows and barren women were marginalized figures.  So were Gentiles, according to many Jews at the time of St. Paul the Apostle, who was always a Jew.  Christianity began as a Jewish sect.  Indeed, the separation from Judaism was incomplete until 135 C.E., during the Second Jewish War.  The parting of the ways was in progress by the late 60s and early-to-middle 70s C.E., the timeframe for the writing of the Gospel of Mark, the earliest of the four canonical Gospels.  (Thus those religious politics influenced the telling of the stories of Jesus and the twelve Apostles.)  The inclusion of Gentiles and the terms of how that happened caused much controversy within Judaism, Christian and otherwise.  The pericope from Acts 15:36-41 glosses over a fact which St. Paul mentioned in Galatians 2:11-14:  St. Barnabas sided with those who insisted that Gentile converts become Jews first.  Such a position, St. Paul wrote, nullified the grace of God (Galatians 2:21).

Today we read accounts of help for the marginalized.  These people were among the marginalized because other people defined them as such.  This definition labeled people as either insiders or outsiders, for the benefit of the alleged insiders.  I suspect, however, that God’s definition of “insider” is broader than many human understandings have held and do hold.  We humans continue to label others as outsiders for the benefit of the “insiders,” as they define themselves.  Grace remains scandalous, does it not?  And, as Luke Timothy Johnson has said, the Gospel of Mark suggests that many of those who think of themselves as insiders are really outsiders.

I reject Universalism on the side of too-radical inclusion and a range of narrow definitions of who is pure on the opposite side.  The decision about who is inside and who is outside, of who is pure and who is impure, is one for God alone.  We mere mortals have partial answers regarding that question, for we are not totally lacking in received wisdom.  Yet we tend to use the matter as a way of making ourselves feel better about ourselves much of the time.  Often we lapse into a version of the Donatist heresy, in fact.  We ought to live more graciously and with theological humility instead, for we are all broken, weak, and inconstant.  Each of us depends entirely upon grace.  So who are we to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to do?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 2, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE THIRD DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF SAINT BRIOC, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT TUDWAL, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND BISHOP

THE FEAST OF CHANNING MOORE WILLIAMS, EPISCOPAL BISHOP IN CHINA AND JAPAN

THE FEAST OF JOHN BROWN, ABOLITIONIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT OSMUND OF SALISBURY, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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Adapted from this post:

https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/devotion-for-monday-and-tuesday-after-the-fifth-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-b-elca-daily-lectionary/

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