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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART VII

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Psalms 7 and 17

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Years ago, when I read and blogged my way through the Hebrew prophetic books, my main impression regarded how repetitive they were.  I have begun to feel that way about the Book of Psalms.

Psalms 7 and 17, which I have grouped together because of their similarity to each other, repeat a theme we have already encountered in the Book of Psalms.  An innocent person, beset by enemies, turns to God for vindication and deliverance.  This vindication includes the foes’ wicked plans backfiring.  Psalm 7 and Psalm 17 each conclude with an expression of praise to God.

Psalm 17 may have the more evocative conclusion of the two texts for this blog post.  TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985, 1999) offers:

Then I, justified, will behold Your face;

awake, I am filled with the vision of You.

Robert Alter’s translation reads:

As for me, in justice I behold Your face,

I take my fill, wide awake, of Your image.

The translation by Father Mitchell J. Dahood, S.J., reads:

At the vindication

I will gaze upon your face;

At the resurrection

I will be saturated with your being.

Reputable scholars dispute what 17:15 means.  Dahood’s notes understand the verse to refer to the Final Judgment.  In contrast, the germane note in The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition (2014) argues that

the conception of a heavenly afterworld is absent from the [Jewish] Bible.

–1284

Furthermore, Alter’s note on 17:15 holds that the verse refers to a dream-vision in the wakeful state.  And Artur Weiser notes that this theophany will empower the psalmist

to overcome all his afflictions, afflictions which are caused not only by his enemies, but also by his own troubled heart.

—The Psalms:  A Commentary (1962), 182

I am accustomed to Dahood’s translations and analysis being outliers.  However, outliers are not necessarily mistaken.  Also, Dahood’s notes are extremely scholarly and replete with Hebrew and Ugaritic words.

The Hebrew word usually translated as “to fill” is semantically cognate with another Hebrew verb, which means “to be saturated, to drink one’s fill.”  Therefore, Dahood concludes his translation of Pslam 17 with the put-upon psalmist anticipating being saturated with the divine being.  The Hebrew text uses physically intimate imagery in Psalm 17; in most translations, the psalmist gazes into God’s face and beholds the divine form, as one lover does to another.  That translation may be correct.  It is consistent with Hebrew Biblical imagery of pious fidelity being like a marriage and idolatry being like adultery.  Yet Dahood’s translation is even more intimate, for it states that God will saturate or fill up the psalmist, who gazes upon the divine face.  The psalmist will metaphorically soak in God at some point.  That sounds like intimate communion with God.

As I age, I find myself, much to my surprise, becoming more mystical.  This alarms one member of my family; so be it.  My spirituality is closer to Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy than it is to the Reformed tradition.  So, as I become more mystical, the more the metaphor of becoming saturated with God appeals to me.  I cannot grasp why this translation sends my Presbyterian relative into a ballistic hissy fit, but it does.  I perceive many of the creepy-crawlies that populate my dark side, which I conceal from most people.  Yet I can never hide my dark side from God, who is far more forgiving than many people claim.  I want to soak in God.  I want to become saturated with God in this life and to remain that way in the next life.  The Gospel of John defines eternal life as knowing God via Jesus.  Johannine eternal life can begin in this life.  And becoming saturated with God sounds like eternal life to me.

May you, O reader, become saturated with God, unless you have already done so.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 13, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, “THE GREAT MORALIST”

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN FURCHTEGOTT GELLERT, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, EDUCATOR, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF ELLA J. BAKER, WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

THE FEAST OF PAUL SPERATUS, GERMAN LUTHERAN BISHOP, LITURGIST, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF PIERSON PARKER, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF R. BIRCH HOYLE, ENGLISH BAPTIST MINISTER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

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

Above: Samuel

Image in the Public Domain

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PART VII

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1 Samuel 7:2-17

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Keep me as the apple of your eye;

hide me under the shadow of your wings,

From the wicked who assault me,

from my deadly enemies who surround me.

–Psalm 17:8-9, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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Unlike as in Chapter 4, the link between fidelity to God and military victory is explicit in Chapter 7.

The problem with idolatry in Israel in the Old Testament was NOT that people were NOT worshiping YHWH.  They were.  No, the problem was that they were NOT worshiping only YHWH.  Polytheism was a difficult habit to unlearn.  Astarte (the Canaanite goddess of fertility and love) was allegedly YHWH’s consort.  Some Biblical authors likened idolatry to sexual infidelity, in fact.

Unfortunately, successive generations of Hebrews were serial idolaters.  This was a theme of which authors, their works later cut and pasted during the post-exilic period, wrote.

Idols are easy to find.  An idol can be anything–an object, an activity, an idea, a person, a pet, or an action.  The test is function.  Whatever or whoever functions as an idol, is an idol.  One can affirm the existence of just one deity and still commit idolatry.  Idols distract one from God.  They receive love one should give to God.  In Augustinian theology, sin is disordered love.  Many people, objects, etc., are worthy of love, but not as much as God.  To love x more than one should and God less than one should is to sin and to commit idolatry.

Loving God as one should does not prevent misfortune, of course.  It does not guarantee wealth and good health, either.  The rain falls on the just and the unjust.  Jesus and the plethora of Christian martyrs prove that suffering may result from proper piety.  However, worshiping only God is the best policy.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 14, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM CROFT, ANGLICAN ORGANIST AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF JOHN BAJUS, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF JOHN HENRY HOPKINS, JR., EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND HYMNODIST; AND HIS NEPHEW, JOHN HENRY HOPKINS, III, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND MUSICIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT MAXIMILIAN KOLBE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1941; AND JONATHAN MYRICK DANIELS, EPISCOPAL SEMINARIAN AND MARTYR, 1965

THE FEAST OF SARAH FLOWER ADAMS, ENGLISH UNITARIAN HYMN WRITER; AND HER SISTER, ELIZA FLOWER, ENGLISH UNITARIAN COMPOSER

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Above:  The Reunion of Esau and Jacob, by Francesco Hayez

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 33:1-11 or Isaiah 17:7-14

Psalm 17:1-8

1 Corinthians 4:1, 9-21

Matthew 10:16-33

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One might suffer for any one of a variety of reasons.  One might suffer (as in the case of Damascus, in Isaiah 17) as punishment for idolatry and injustice.  Maybe (as in 1 Corinthians 4 and Matthew 10) one might suffer for the sake of righteousness.  Perhaps one is merely unfortunate.  Or maybe another explanation fits one’s circumstances.

Either way, the commandment to remember, honor, and obey God remains.  Also, judgment for disobedience is both collective and individual.

As worthwhile as those points are, another one interests me more.  Certain verses in Genesis 32 and 33 refer to faces–of Jacob, Esau, and God.  Karen Armstrong, writing in In the Beginning:  A New Interpretation of Genesis (1996), makes a vital point:  they are all the same face.  Jacob, in confronting Esau, also confronts God and himself.

We human beings go to great lengths to avoid facing God, other people, and ourselves.  In the city in which I live, seldom do I enter a store or a restaurant in which music is not playing; silence is apparently anathema.  Unfortunately, the music is almost always bad, especially in one thrift store, the management of which pipes contemporary Christian “seven-eleven” songs over the speakers.  (I avoid that thrift store more often than not.)  Or, if there is no music, a television set is on.  Sensory stimulation is the order of the day.

But when we are alone and silent, we cannot ignore God and ourselves so easily.  And if we cannot face ourselves honestly, we cannot face others honestly either.  If we persist in running away, so to speak, we will cause our own suffering.  It will not be a matter of God smiting us, but of us smiting ourselves.

One would think that silence would be welcome in more churches.  The silence at the end of the Good Friday service in The Episcopal Church is potent, for example.  Yet many churchgoers have an aversion to silence.  And I recall that, one Good Friday, during that potent silence after the service had ended, someone’s cellular telephone rang, causing spiritual and liturgical disruption.

if we are to become the people we are supposed to be in God, we need to take time to turn off the distracting stimulation and face God, others, and ourselves.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 30, 2018 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, FOUNDRESS OF THE SERVANTS OF THE HOLY TRINITY AND THE POOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT WILLIAM PINCHON, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2018/07/30/devotion-for-proper-13-year-a-humes/

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For I reckon that the sufferings we now endure bear no comparison with the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is in store for us.

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

Image in the Public Domain

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FOR THE TENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, ACCORDING TO A LECTIONARY FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP IN THE BOOK OF WORSHIP FOR CHURCH AND HOME (1965)

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O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity:

Mercifully grant to us such a measure of your grace, that we,

running the way of your commandments, may obtain your gracious promises,

and become partakers of your heavenly treasure;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

–Modernized from The Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965), page 139

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1 Samuel 9:15-17; 10:1

Psalm 17

Romans 8:14-39

Luke 18:18-30

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–Romans 8:18, The Revised English Bible (1989)

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Suffering can have a multitude of possible causes; one might be innocent, one might have brought one’s fate on oneself, or reality might be complicated.  One might suffer for the sake of righteousness, due to political perfidy, or one’s misplaced spiritual attachments, among other reasons.

Let us consider wealth, one of the issues in Luke 18:18-30.  We are reading from the Gospel of Luke, which tells us that the poor are blessed (6:20) and the rich (woe to them, the text says) have received their consolation (6:24).  Wealth and poverty are major themes in the Gospel of Luke.  The greater matter in this story, however, is attachment–in this case, to wealth.  To reduce the question to wealth is to oversimplify it and let many people off the hook.  Anything that becomes a crutch, thereby preventing one from acknowledging one’s total dependence on God, is functionally a spiritual problem.

Although we read in Luke 18:23 that the man went away sorrowful, the story is open-ended.  One might wonder if he eventually reordered his priorities.  One function of open-ended stories in the Bible is to invite the reader/listener into the narrative, and thereby to ask him or her how he or she will respond to any given story.

This story challenges me, for I have my own attachments.  You, O reader, also have your attachments.  All of us have attachments that stand between us and God.  The story should therefore challenge all of us.  How will we deal with the challenge?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 5, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

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

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 MARGARET MACKAY, SCOTTISH HYMN WRITER

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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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Book Five:  Psalms 107-150

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119:1-32

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Also in the Greek:  Psalm 151

151

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POST V 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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Psalm 15 is consistent with the Law of Moses, which teaches that we human beings depend on God, are responsible to God and each other, rely on each other, and have no right to exploit each other.  The text describes ethical and moral obligations in practical terms.  That is useful, for a simple statement of a timeless principle without the offering of even one culturally specific example can prove to be confusing.

The faithful can come from a variety of backgrounds.  Some of them are converts, as in the case of the author of Psalm 16.  Some of the faithful have to endure false accusations.  Consider, O reader, the author of Psalm 17, accused of idolatry.  The text does not indicate how long he has been walking with God.  We can say for certain that his accusers are among those who cast slurs on their neighbors.

Often, out of an excess of caution, motivated by the best of intentions–to refrain from judging, lest God judge us according to the standards by which we judge others–many of us in the human race choose not to state the unpleasant and the obvious.  Malicious people exist.  They do not strive to live according to the Golden Rule.  They also occupy all strata of societies.  They range from school bullies to certain government and corporate officials.  Many might even imagine themselves to be pious.  A host of them certainly put on airs of piety.

The real test, of course, is that one will know a tree by its fruit.  So, O reader, what kind of tree are you?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 31, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA, FOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS

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Above:  Temple of Solomon

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:

Jeremiah 7:1-15 or Daniel 2:1-49

Psalm 17:8-14 (15) or Psalm 83

Matthew 24:1-8 or Mark 13:1-8

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

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Timothy Matthew Slemmons, creator of the Year D project and author of the book in which I find the citations for this series of devotions, sets aside five Sundays for “the Apocalyptic Discourse,” which precedes “the Prelude to the Passion” (four Sundays) and “the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ” (ten Sundays), which leads directly into Christ the King Sunday.  This arrangement presents an opportunity to delve into material usually ignored, minimized, or squeezed into Holy Week.

Holy rituals and the Temple at Jerusalem are not protective talismans that shield us as we commit idolatry, oppress the vulnerable, victimize foreigners, shed the blood of the innocent at holy places, commit adultery, steal, and/or murder, Jeremiah says.  He and other Hebrew prophets agree that proper worship of God entails not just correct ritual but good morality; the first without the second is a mockery of God and the ritual.  Do not trust too much in the Temple, Jeremiah says.  Jesus makes a similar statement about that Temple’s successor.  Both buildings will cease to exist in time, we read.

They did.

The apocalyptic theme continues.  In Daniel the quality of material in the statue from the dream becomes progressively less impressive.  The world of human beings, with their military-based empires, degrades.  One should not trust much in those either.  Neither should one put much stock in marriage, according to St. Paul the Apostle.  According to St. Paul in 1 Corinthians, marriage is a cause for anxiety and distraction from a spiritual orientation during the last days (which he thought were in progress), but at least it is preferable to sinning.

Where, then, should one place one’s trust?  In God, of course.  The two options for this psalm this Sunday are pleas for divine vindication and destruction of one’s enemies (in contrast to the treatment of the Aramean raiders in 2 Kings 6:8-23).  In Year D (2013) Slemmons emphasizes Psalm 83, with,

Cover their faces with shame, O LORD,

that they may seek your Name.

–Verse 16, The Book of Common Prayer (1979),

a rendering, with some variations, common to many translations.  Yet, as I read Psalm 83, I notice that

that they may seek your Name

is out-of-place with the rest of the text, which pleads for their destruction.  One might explain this inconsistency by pointing out that human beings are frequently inconsistent, holding two mutually exclusive opinions simultaneously.  The translation by the late Mitchell J. Dahood, an eminent scholar of Semitic languages, for The Anchor Bible, tilts toward

a coherent exegesis within the immediate context

—Psalms II (1968), page 277,

and renders the verse in question thusly:

Fill their faces with shame,

and let your Name, Yahweh, avenge itself.

As a Presbyterian minister I know says,

Translating Hebrew is a bear.

Certainly the apocalyptic mindset and genre thrives during times of difficulty, especially oppression.  We humans tend to seek the destruction of our foes anyway, but more so during times of oppression.  I understand that the deliverance of the righteous by God might entail the destruction of the wicked, especially at times when the oppressors insist on oppressing and not repenting, but the story of capturing Aramean raiders, treating them kindly before repatriating them (2 Kings 6) sticks in my memory.  As I wrote in the post in which I dealt with that account, how we treat others–especially our enemies–is really about who we are, not who they are.

So who are we?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 17, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-FIRST DAY OF ADVENT

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, ABOLITIONIST AND FEMINIST; AND MARIA STEWART, ABOLITIONIST, FEMINIST, AND EDUCATOR

THE FEAST OF EGLANTYNE JEBB AND DOROTHY BUXTON, FOUNDERS OF SAVE THE CHILDREN

THE FEAST OF FRANK MASON NORTH, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER

THE FEAST OF MARY CORNELIA BISHOP GATES, U.S. DUTCH REFORMED HYMN WRITER

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2016/12/17/devotion-for-proper-10-year-d/

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Above:  Christ on the Cross, by Gerard David

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:

Numbers 10:33-36

Deuteronomy 10:11-12:1

Judges 5:1-31

Song of Songs 4:9-5:16

Isaiah 26:1-21

Psalms 7; 17; 44; 57 or 108; 119:145-176; 149

Matthew 7:1-23

Luke 7:36-8:3

Matthew 27:62-66

1 Corinthians 15:27-34 (35-38) 39-41 (42-58)

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In Luke 7:38 the former Gerasene demoniac, recently healed by Jesus, seeks to follow Jesus physically.  Our Lord and Savior has other plans, however.  He sends the man away with these instructions:

Go back home and report all that God has done for you.

–Luke 7:39a, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

The text informs us that the man obeyed Jesus.

The theme of the Great Vigil of Easter, as evident in assigned readings, is salvation history.  In Hebrew thought God is like what God has done–for groups as well as individuals.  The responsibility of those whom God has blessed is to proclaim by words and deeds what God has done–to function as vehicles of grace and to glorify God.  Salvation history is important to understand.  So is knowing that salvation is an ongoing process.

Happy Easter!

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 10, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JOHANN NITSCHMANN, SR., MORAVIAN MISSIONARY AND BISHOP; DAVID NITSCHMANN, JR., THE SYNDIC, MORAVIAN MISSIONARY BISHOP; AND DAVID NITSCHMANN, THE MARTYR, MORAVIAN MISSIONARY AND MARTYR

THE FEAST OF CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER, POET AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN LUDWIG BRAU, NORWEGIAN MORAVIAN TEACHER AND POET

THE FEAST OF SAINTS JOHN LEONARDI, FOUNDER OF THE CLERKS REGULAR OF THE MOTHER OF GOD OF LUCCA; AND JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS, FOUNDER OF THE CLERKS REGULAR OF RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS

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Adapted from this post:

https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2016/10/10/devotion-for-the-great-vigil-of-easter-year-d/

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Above:   Moses and the Burning Bush

Image in the Public Domain

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The Collect:

O God, our eternal redeemer, by the presence of your Spirit you renew and direct our hearts.

Keep always in our mind the end of all things and the day of judgment.

Inspire us for a holy life here, and bring us to the joy of the resurrection,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 52

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The Assigned Readings:

Exodus 3:13-20

Psalm 17:1-9

Luke 20:1-8

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Weigh my heart, summon me by night,

melt me down, you will find no impurity in me.

–Psalm 17:3, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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Moses had been a fugitive from Egyptian justice from Exodus 2.  Egyptian juris prudence frowned upon killing taskmasters in charge of slaves (2:11-15).  Moses was safely distant from Egypt and hopefully happily married when God called him to return to Egypt, to participate in the liberation of the Hebrews.  In reply to the request for a name, God provided a non-name, indicating the absence of human control over the divine.

Throughout the long narrative of the Bible prophets were frequently inconvenient to people in authority.  There were false prophets who agreed with the monarchs who favored them, but prophets of God were often in the faces of kings.  St. John the Baptist, standing in this tradition, ran afoul of religious authorities and Herod Antipas.  Jesus, greater than the prophets, had many confrontations with religious authorities and proved to be a better debater than any of them.  God was doing a new thing via Jesus, and religious authorities, wedded to their traditions and collaborating with the Roman Empire, found it threatening.

Tradition itself is not bad; neither is it inherently good.  Tradition is simply that which one generation passes down to another.  The best question to ask in this context is the one which evaluates any given tradition on its merits.  May we avoid becoming so attached to our traditions that we oppose the work of God, who is beyond our control.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 3, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF WILL CAMPBELL, AGENT OF RECONCILIATION

THE FEAST OF SAINTS LIPHARDUS OF ORLEANS AND URBICIUS OF MEUNG, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOTS

THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS OF UGANDA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MORAND OF CLUNY, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND MISSIONARY

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2016/06/03/devotion-for-saturday-before-proper-27-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/

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