According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)

Above:  Christ Before Pilate, by Mihály Munkácsy

Image in the Public Domain

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Daniel 7:13-14 (LBW, LW) or Isaiah 51:4-6 (LW)

Psalm 93 (LBW) or Psalm 130 (LW)

Revelation 1:4b-8 (LBW, LW) or Jude 20-25 (LW)

John 18:33-37 (LBW, LW) or Mark 13:32-37 (LW)

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Almighty and everlasting God,

whose will it is to restore all things to your beloved Son,

whom you anointed priest forever and king of all creation;

Grant that all the people of the earth,

now divided by the power of sin,

may be united under the glorious and gentle rule

of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 30

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Lord God, heavenly Father, send forth your Son, we pray,

that he may lead home his bride, the Church,

that we with all the redeemed may enter into your eternal kingdom;

through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 94

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The Last Sunday After Pentecost culminates some apocalyptic themes that have been building for a few weeks.  This Sunday also stands at the crossroads of ecclesiastical time as those themes continue into Advent.  God is the king, we read.  And Jesus is a sort of king, although not the type of king people expected, we read.

This time, I prefer to focus not on the “usual suspects,” but on Isaiah 51:4-6 and Psalm 130.

1. Isaiah 51:4-6 comes from Second Isaiah, preparing exiles for freedom.  The text dates to about one year prior to the termination of the Babylonian Exile.  From this pivot point we read of the impending victory and of a directive to learn from God, never defeated.
2. Divine mercy permeates Psalm 130.  We read that God forgives, and that nobody could stand if God were to mark iniquities.  Consistent with Psalm 130 is Psalm 103, which tells us that God, who knows that we are dust, does not repay us according to our iniquities, and that divine anger does not persist forever.

Divine judgment and mercy remain in balance in the Old and New Testaments.  God knows that balance; we mere mortals cannot grasp it.  As Karl Barth‘s theology insists, the divine “no” works for God’s “yes.”  God is neither a warm fuzzy nor the deity of hellfire-and-damnation preachers.  God, who balances judgment and mercy, is a monarch worthy of respect, awe, and cherishing.

So, O reader, as we stand near the cusp of the transition from one church year to the next one, I encourage you to take that thought into Advent.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 12, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTY-FOURTH DAY OF EASTER

THE FEAST OF SAINT GERMANUS I OF CONSTANTINOPLE, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE, AND DEFENDER OF ICONS

THE FEAST OF SAINT GREGORY OF OSTIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT, CARDINAL, AND LEGATE; AND SAINT DOMINIC OF THE CAUSEWAY, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT

THE FEAST OF PAUL MAZAKUTE, FIRST SIOUX EPISCOPAL PRIEST

THE FEAST OF ROGER SCHÜTZ, FOUNDER OF THE TAIZÉ COMMUNITY

THE FEAST OF SYLVESTER II, BISHOP OF ROME

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Adapted from this post

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According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)

Above:  Icon of Hosea

Image in the Public Domain

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Hosea 2:14-16 (17-18) 19-20

Psalm 103:1-13

2 Corinthians 3:1b-6

Mark 2:18-22

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Almighty and everlasting God, ruler of heaven and earth: 

Hear our prayer and give us your peace now and forever;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978)

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O Lord, mercifully hear our prayers,

and having set us free from the bonds of our sins,

defend us from all evil;

through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns

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

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 30

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…our sufficiency is from God….

–2 Corinthians 3:5b, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition

Our (individual and collective) sufficiency is from God.  God qualifies us (individually and collectively) for our callings from God.  God, who has given us many reasons to rejoice, provides our sufficiency.  God, who forgives more readily than many human beings do, gives us sufficiency.

This truth contradicts an old and ubiquitous lie in my culture.  I refer to the lie of the self-made person, as in the self-made millionaire.  Considering even only human factors, one should need only a second or so–if that long–to realize the falsehood of the proposition.  One may realize quickly that teachers, bankers, and road builders, among others, enabled the so-called self-made millionaires on the way to such wealth.  Furthermore, we all depend entirely on God.  We depend upon each other, but we also depend completely on God.  If we think otherwise, we delude ourselves.

When one reads past Psalm 103:13, one finds this verse immediately:

For [God] knows our devisings, 

recalls that we are dust.

–Verse 14, Robert Alter

Psalm 103 goes on to speak of the transience of human lives and the timeliness of God, whose kindness to the faithful never ends.  And, as Hosea 2 tells us this week and Isaiah 43 told us last week, God chooses sometimes to forgive the faithless.

We mere mortals are dust.  If we are to have sufficiency, it must come from God, not ourselves.  May we demonstrate proper humility before God, from whose love we are inseparable.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 14, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF FANNIE LOU HAMER, PROPHET OF FREEDOM

THE FEAST OF ALBERT LISTER PEACE, ORGANIST IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

THE FEAST OF HARRIET KING OSGOOD MUNGER, U.S. CONGREGATIONALISTS HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF NEHEMIAH GOREH, INDIAN ANGLICAN PRIEST AND THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT VINCENZINA CUSMANO, SUPERIOR OF THE SISTERS SERVANTS OF THE POOR; AND HER BROTHER, SAINT GIACOMO CUSMANO, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS SERVANTS OF THE POOR AND THE MISSIONARY SERVANTS OF THE POOR

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM LEDDRA, BRITISH QUAKER MARTYR IN BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY, 1661

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I covered 150 psalms in 82 posts.

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

Above:  Rose Dhu Cemetery, Vidette, Georgia

Image Source = Google Earth

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PART LXXX

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Psalms 143 and 144

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Sometimes in the Hebrew Psalter, identifying the singular voice can be challenging.  The psalms are poetry (Duh!), and personification is a poetic device.  So, the singular voice, seemingly of a person, may be the personified voice of the Jewish exiles or former exiles, for example.  This may be the case in Psalm 144, in which the singular pronouns give way to plural pronouns.  Alternatively, Psalm 144 may be an edited and re-edited text.  Or both hypotheses may be accurate.

As we approach the conclusion of the Book of Psalms, we continue to encounter motifs common in the Psalter.  The dead, in Sheol, cannot praise God.  Preserve my life, please, O God.  Save me from my enemies, O YHWH.  Destroy my foes, too.  Human beings are transitory; God is forever.  These are motifs I have addressed in previous posts in this series.

These psalms acknowledge the contrast between divine righteousness and human righteousness.  Hesed–steadfast love–is a defining characteristic of God.  Psalms keep referring to hesed.  It delivers the faithful from enemies.  Hesed guides the people of God, too.  Hesed forgives.  Then there are people.  Regardless of how pious many of them are, human beings are still like a breath–or, as Psalm 103 tells us, “dust.”  Our days are like a passing shadow (Psalm 144:4).

I have walked in old cemeteries and read headstones.  Reading some of these headstones has proven difficult because of the toll the elements have taken on grave markers.  The people buried in many of these graves lived so long ago that no living person remembers them.  In one sense, these deceased persons are as if they had never lived.

Eventually, O reader, you and I will join them in that status.  Our days are like passing shadows.  Yet our righteousness matters; it is faithful response to God.  And our lives matter, for we affect people we meet and many others whom we will never encounter.  As I ponder my family tree, I understand how two great-grandfathers I never met and one grandfather who died when I was three years old contributed to shaping my character, for both good and ill.  Our days are like passing shadows, butour shadows linger after we die.

So, O reader, make you contribution as positive as possible.  You can succeed, by grace.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 23, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE SECOND DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF SAINTS IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH, POLYCARP OF SMYRNA, AND IRENAEUS OF LYONS, BISHOPS AND MARTYRS, 107/115, 155/156, AND CIRCA 202

THE FEAST OF SANT ALEXANDER AKIMETES ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF AUSTIN CARROLL (MARGARET ANNE CARROLL), IRISH-AMERICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN, AUTHOR, AND EDUCATOR

THE FEAST OF SAMUEL WOLCOTT, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, MISSIONARY, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT STEFAN WICENTY FRELICHOWSKI, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1945

THE FEAST OF SAINT WILLIGIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF MAINZ; AND SAINT BERNWARD, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF HILDESHEIM

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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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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART XXXII

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Psalms 44, 74, 79, and 80

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Psalms 44, 74, 79, and 80 are similar to each other, hence my grouping of them together.

The context, at least some of the time, is the aftermath of the Temple in 587/586 B.C.E.  Even if this is not the original context for all four psalms, that event provides a powerful prism for a collective lament to God.  Has God abandoned the people?  The answer in the Book of Psalms and elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible is “no.”  Yet, in the heat of the moment, this may not seem clear and obvious.

The Temple was a tangible sign of religious unity.  The Ark of the Covenant had been there.  Even after the removal of the Ark of the Covenant from the Temple, the complex remained a focal point of communal spiritual life.  Yet, in the wake of the fall of the Kingdom of Judah and the destruction of the Temple, the center was gone.  Yet God remained present.

Since the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E., Judaism has moved on from the Temple.  The faith did not move on overnight, though.  Many Jews must have prayed at least some of the laments in the wake of 70 C.E.

Faith communities have their foci.  When a community loses its symbol of unity–its tangible focus–or a force threatens or seems to threaten that symbol, emotional and spiritual venom may flow.  The dark side of religion may seem to be pious, but it is not.  And those who spew this venom may believe themselves to be justified in their rancor.  All this is predictable and consistent with human nature.

Do we believe that God also loves those we call enemies?  Do our attitudes in the heat of loss and anguish belie our generous sentiments and slogans from good times?  How God expresses divine love is for God to decide.  Likewise, how we process God loving everyone is for us to decide.  If God were to forgive our enemies, would we think of that as being bad?  Or do we want our foes to suffer?

If I were to write, O reader, that I have always been spiritually generous, I would lie.  I have prayed more than one that God would smite someone or certain people.  Anger is a powerful emotion; may nobody underestimate it.  I know from experience that the longer anger persists, the more spiritually corrosive it becomes.  I know because I have recognized the signs of that corrosion in myself.

So, venting at God is fine.  Then letting go and letting God needs to follow.  Even if letting go as to move forward occurs before forgiveness does, letting go represents tangible progress.  Tangible progress is fine; we cannot do everything at once.  God knows that we are “but dust” (Psalm 103).  Do we know that?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 6, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART XXV

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Psalm 32

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One lesson from the Book of Job that has not pierced the theological shells of many people is that illness or other misfortune is not necessarily divine punishment for sin.  We read Psalm 32, in which the author assumes that his illness resulted from unforgiven sins.  We can also read stories in the Gospels in which characters made the same erroneous assumption.

There is also the matter of psychosomatic conditions, of course.  The Biblical concept of “soul” is not the Platonist version thereof.  The Biblical concept is “essential self,” not that which occupies a body much like a liquid fills a glass.  The boundary between the physical and the mental does not always exist.  Sometimes the border is porous.  Those of us who have been close to a person with at least one mental illness may understand the biological origins of such illnesses, as well as the fluidity extant in the physical-mental dynamic.

The psalmist’s experience involves guilt, which has physical manifestations.  At this point, I say,

I resemble that remark.

I know guilt–much of it misplaced–from the inside out.  I understand survivor’s guilt and the negative consequences of asking,

What if I had…?

So, the sage words of Walter Brueggemann speak to me:

…guilt fully embraced and acknowledged permits movement, a new reception of life, and a new communion with God.  Only then can the guilt be resolved and genuinely relinquished.  There are, the psalm asserts, no alternatives.  The body will not be deceived, even as God will not be mocked.  Freedom from guilt requires embracing it and having it dealt with by the mercy of God.

—The Message of the Psalms:  A Theological Commentary (1984), 97

Knowing that one needs to act accordingly is a good start.  If the old saying that

the end depends upon the beginning

is true, nobody should disparage a good start.  Yet moving beyond that good start requires more than human power.  For example, I know rationally that my survivor’s guilt is irrational and my asking “What if?” is pointless, counterproductive, and destructive.  Yet I carry survivor’s guilt and ask, “What if?”  As I continue to take my guilt to God, I understand my disagreement with myself.  I pray, to quote a man from a story in a Gospel:

Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief.

We human beings are, as Psalm 103 reminds us, “but dust.”  We also bear the image of God.  May we proceed from a correct understanding of ourselves relative to God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 31, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

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

THE FEAST OF HENRY IRVING LOUTTIT, JR., EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF GEORGIA

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, CIRCA  351

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According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)

Above:  Joseph Reveals His Identity, by Peter Von Cornelius

Image in the Public Domain

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Genesis 50:15-21

Psalm 103:1-13

Romans 14:5-9

Matthew 18:21-35

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O God, you declare your almighty power

chiefly in showing mercy and pity. 

Grant us the fullness of your grace,

that, pursuing what you have promised,

we may share your heavenly glory;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 27

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O God, without whose blessing we are not able to please you,

mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit

may in all things direct and govern our hearts;

through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 80

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Years ago, I read a news story about forgiveness.  A man had broken into a church building and stolen some equipment.  Police officers had arrested him.  The pastor of that congregation testified on the man’s behalf at the trial and urged leniency.  The judge agreed.  The thief, reformed, joined that church.

The Church is in the forgiveness business when it acts as it should.  Donatism (in both the original, narrow, and the contemporary, broader definitions of that term) resists forgiving.  Life in Christian community entails much mutual forbearance and forgiveness, thereby fostering unity.  In the context of last week’s Gospel reading, however, forbearance and forgiveness does not entail tolerating the intolerable.  If, for example, someone is a domestic abuser, no church or person should overlook that offense.  The Golden Rule requires siding with the victim(s).  Yet, getting away from extreme cases and embracing the spirit of the best of Calvinism, the theological category of Matters Indifferent becomes useful.  Whether or not one does X is a Matter Indifferent; the difference is minor and of no moral importance.

In Matthew 18:21-35 and elsewhere in the canonical Gospels, the link between forgiving others and receiving forgiveness from God is plain.  The standard one applies to others is the standard God will apply to one.  In other words, we will reap what we have sown.  This is consistent with the penalty for perjury in the Law of Moses; one suffers the fate one would have had inflicted on the innocent party, falsely accused.

Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) insisted that the parts of the Bible he understood the best were the ones that bothered him the most.

I resemble that remark.  I know the difficulty of forgiving others–for offenses far less severe than Joseph’s brothers had committed against him.  Yet I also understand the plain meaning of certain verses in the Gospel of Matthew regarding the importance of forgiveness.

Another issue related to forgiveness is forgiving oneself for offenses, real or imagined.  I know this difficulty, too.  Read Genesis 50:15-21 again, O reader.  Do you get the sense that the brothers had not forgiven themselves?  Do you get the sense that they were projecting onto Joseph?

Matthew 18:22 calls back to Genesis 4:24 in the Septuagint.  “Seventy-seven” means limitless.  Jesus still calls us to forgive each other limitless times.  Forgiveness may not necessarily negate punishment, but it will improve human relationships.  At a minimum, when one forgives, one helps oneself by cutting loose spiritual baggage.  We also need to forgive ourselves limitless times.  All this is possible with grace.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 30, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF CLARENCE JORDAN, SOUTHERN BAPTIST MINISTER AND WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

THE FEAST OF SAINT PETER CHRYSOLOGUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF RAVENNA AND DEFENDER OF ORTHODOXY

THE FEAST OF SAINT VICENTA CHÁVEZ OROZCO, FOUNDER OF THE SERVANTS OF THE HOLY TRINITY AND THE POOR

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM PINCHON, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF SAINT-BRIEUC

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Adapted from this post

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According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)

Above:  Angry Talk

Image in the Public Domain

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Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18

Psalm 103:1-13

1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23

Matthew 5:38-48

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Lord God, we ask you to keep your family, the Church, faithful to you,

that all who lean on the hope of your promises

may gain strength from the power of your love;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 16

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God of compassion, keep before us the love

you have revealed in your Son, who prayed even for his enemies;

in our words and deeds help us to be like him

through whom we pray, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 16

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O Lord, keep your family and Church continually in the true faith

that they who lean on the hope of your heavenly grace

may ever be defended by your mighty power;

through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns

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

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 28

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Whenever I hear someone refer to the God of the Hebrew Bible as mainly judgmental and the God of the New Testament as primarily merciful, I wonder how closely that person has read the Old and New Testaments.  Judgment and mercy remain in balance throughout the Old and New Testaments.  Consider the readings from the Old Testament for today, O reader.  Recall, also, that

an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth 

(Exodus 21:24)

curtails violence.  Furthermore, nowhere does the Law of Moses say to hate one’s enemies.

St. Paul the Apostle, writing to the argumentative and self-destructive church in Corinth, told them that they were God’s temple in that city.  That was good news.  A warning preceded it:

God will destroy anyone who defiles his temple, for his temple is holy…..

–1 Corinthians 3:17a, J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition (1972)

Agents of destruction frequently come from within, as in the case of the Corinthian church.

I wonder what the world would be like if the socially expected and normative behavior was to love people, or at least to be civil toward them.  I wonder what the world would be like if this extended to everyone.  I do not live in that world, of course.  I live in the world in which social media are mostly agents and conduits of anger, misinformation, half-baked conspiracy theories, and damn lies.  I live in the world in which sound advice includes not to read the comments section of a webpage.

Divine judgment and mercy exist in a balance.  I do not pretend to understand what that balance is.  I do not know where judgment gives way to mercy, and mercy to judgment.  I do trust that God gets the balance right.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 26, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS TIMOTHY, TITUS, AND SILAS, C0-WORKERS OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE

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Adapted from this post

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READING EZEKIEL, PART III

Above:  Icon of Ezekiel

Image in the Public Domain

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Ezekiel 3:18-21

Ezekiel 14:12-23

Ezekiel 18:1-32

Ezekiel 33:1-20

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For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for the ancestors’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

–Exodus 20:5b-6; Deuteronomy 5:9b-10, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)

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Maybe not, not withstanding 1 Kings 21:29; Exodus 34:7; Nehemiah 9:17; Numbers 14:18; Psalm 103:9; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Jeremiah 11:21-23; Jeremiah 15:1; Jeremiah 35:18-19.  To the list of passages arguing against intergenerational reward and punishment I add Jeremiah 31:29-30.  (The Book of Jeremiah contains layers of composition and editing.  Parts of that book contradict each other, as in the cases of intergenerational reward and punishment, and whether the deadline for repentance has passed.)

Sin, responsibility, reward, and punishment, in the Bible, are both collective and individual.  The collective varieties are consistent with mutuality.  Individual varieties exist within the context of mutuality, too.

Intergenerational influences are real.  If you, O reader, know enough about yourself and your ancestors for a few generations, perhaps you can identify intergenerational influences, both positive and negative, in your life.  I can identify some in my life.

For the purpose of this post, I bring together four readings on the same theme.  Three of them predate the Fall of Jerusalem (586 B,B.E.).  Ezekiel 33 postdates the Fall of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 14:12-23 follows a section of threats against false prophets and diviners, and echoes Leviticus 26.  Certain individuals may be pious, but, if the population is rebellious against God, these holy people will save only themselves.  Divine punishment and reward are individual, we read.

I loved my father, now deceased.  He had his virtues and vices, like all human beings.  He was responsible for his actions.

I am responsible for my actions, not his.

This message of individual responsibility seems to have fallen primarily on deaf ears, despite repetition, within the Book of Ezekiel.

Imagine, O reader, that you were a Jew born an exile in the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire.  Think about how hearing these words would have resonated with you.  Imagine, perhaps, that this teaching would have given you hope that God would not judge you for what your ancestors had done wrong.  Imagine, maybe, that these words would have encouraged your spiritual journey.

Imagine, O reader, that you were a Jew born in Judea after the end of the Babylonian Exile.  Imagine how you may have welcomed the news that, as you strove to live piously, God would judge you based on yourself, not your ancestors.

I am a Christian.  As one, I read passages about individual responsibility, reward, and punishment through the prism of atonement via Jesus.  The atonement–three theories of which exist in Patristic writings–is the game-changer in my theology regarding the topic of this post.  Nevertheless, I affirm that what I do matters.  The atonement does not give me a license to act as I choose.  I am still morally accountable to God and other human beings.  Faithful response to grace is a constant moral principle in Judaism and Christianity.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 22, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ALBAN, FIRST BRITISH MARTYR, CIRCA 209 OR 305

THE FEAST OF DESIDERIUS ERASMUS, DUTCH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, BIBLICAL AND CLASSICAL SCHOLAR, AND CONTROVERSIALIST; SAINT JOHN FISHER, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC CLASSICAL SCHOLAR, BISHOP OF ROCHESTER, CARDINAL, AND MARTYR, 1535; AND SAINT THOMAS MORE, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC CLASSICAL SCHOLAR, JURIST, THEOLOGIAN, CONTROVERSIALIST, AND MARTYR, 1535

THE FEAST OF GERHARD GIESHCEN, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF JAMES ARTHUR MACKINNON, CANADIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, 1965

THE FEAST OF SAINT PAULINUS OF NOLA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF NOLA

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