READING THE BOOK OF JOB

PART VI

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Job 15:1-17:16

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The best-crafted lies include objectively accurate material; it lends credibility to the lies.  This generalization, adapted for honest yet inaccurate statements, applies.  Eliphaz, for example, accuses Job of flouting piety and having a guilty conscience.  Eliphaz is rude, also.  Eliphaz, not Job, is full of hot air.

Job’s retort to Zophar the Naamathite in 13:5 applies here, too, as well as elsewhere in the Book of Job:

If you would only keep quiet

It would be considered wisdom on your part.

—TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

Does Eliphaz imagine that he is defending God?  Probably.  Yet God requires no human defense.  Any deity who does require a human defense is unworthy of human worship.

Job’s opening lines in his answer to Eliphaz summarizes my reaction to the alleged friends:

I have heard much of this sort,

wretched consolers are you all.

Is there any end to words of hot air,

or what compels you to speak up?

–16:1b-2, Robert Alter

What compels Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar to spew hot air and to call it wisdom?  What compels anyone alive to do the same?  Depending on each circumstance, the answer may vary.  In the bst-case scenarios, the answer is the delusion that one is (a) correct, and (b) helping.  In the worst-case scenarios, the answer is cynical self-interest.

Job’s anguish is evident in his reply.  He needs consolation, not lectures that could come from a hand dryer in a restroom.  His so-called friends are spiteful mockers who have shut their hearts to his plight and their minds to reason.

One need not be spiteful to make unhelpful statements to people in anguish.  Unhelpful statements may come from the desire to console, too.  When one’s life has collapsed, one needs consolation.  One needs for kind people to listen and to be present.  One needs shoulders on which to cry.

In my experience, cats have modeled the ideal response.  When needed, they have been present.  Cats have curled up and been nearby.

Job’s alleged friends should have been real friends.  They should have been like consoling cats.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 27, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES INTERCISUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, CIRCA 241

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM COOKE AND BENJAMIN WEBB, ANGLICAN PRIESTS AND TRANSLATORS OF HYMNS

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READING THE BOOK OF JOB

PART V

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Job 11:1-14:22

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Zophar the Naamathite’s first speech overflows with irony.  He asks:

Is wordiness in man a proof of right?

–Job 11:2b, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

That line reminds of Polonius, in Hamlet, saying that brevity is the wit of wisdom.  The line is ironic in the mouth of a motormouth.

Then Zophar babbles, just as he accuses Job of having done.  Zophar babbles pious platitudes and continues to blame a victim.  Much of what Zophar says could come from Psalms or Proverbs.  Consider one example, O reader:

Can you claim to grasp the mystery of God,

to understand the perfection of Shaddai?

–Job 11:7, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

Yet Zophar refuses to grapple with suffering that contradicts his orthodoxy.  He vainly imagines to have grasped some of the mystery of God.

In contrast, Job admits an uncomfortable reality:

And yet, the tents of brigands are left in peace,

and these who challenge God live in safety,

and make a god of their two fists!

–Job 12:6, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

Job is an honest monotheist; he knows that there no other deities to blame for anything.  Job understands that God us ultimately responsible, for nobody else can be ultimately responsible.  This theological honesty exceeds the grasp of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.

I wish someone would teach you to be quiet

–the only wisdom that becomes you!

–Job 13:5, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

“You” is plural.  (I even checked five French translations.)  Job is correct; the alleged friends are not helping him.

A friend is one who behaves like a friend.  A friend does not make the already miserable life of someone more miserable.  No, a friend acts in that person’s best interest.

In the context of the story, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar may think that they are being good friends.  They may imagine that they are staging a spiritual intervention, much as one confronts a drug addict for the addict’s own good.

This point may condemn some of us.  We may be oblivious to when we are being insensitive jerks yet imagine that we are being good friends.  There is much wisdom in not speaking when one should be quiet.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 26, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT SIRICIUS, BISHOP OF ROME

THE FEAST OF H. BAXTER LIEBLER, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND MISSIONARY TO THE NAVAJO NATION

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN BERCHMANS, ROMAN CATHOLIC SEMINARIAN

THE FEAST OF SOJOURNER TRUTH, U.S. ABOLITIONIST, MYSTIC, AND FEMINIST

THE FEAST OF THEODORE P. FERRIS, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND AUTHOR

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READING HAGGAI-FIRST ZECHARIAH, PART II

Above:  Icon of Haggai

Image in the Public Domain

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Haggai 1:1-15

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King Cyrus II of the Persians and the Medes (r. 559-530 B.C.E.) conquered the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 B.C.E.  The following year, he issued a decree permitting Jewish exiles to return to their ancestral homeland (Ezra 1:1-4).  The first wave of exiles to return to the ruined homeland (Ezra 1:5-2:70; 1 Esdras 2:8-30; 1 Esdras 5:1-73).  The old, prophetic predictions of the homeland being a verdant paradise of piety and prosperity did not match reality on the ground.  Grief and disappointment ensued.  The land was not as fertile as in the germane prophecies, and the economy was bad.

As of 520 B.C.E., proper worship, as had occurred before the Fall of Jerusalem (586 B.C.E.), had not resumed.  People had set up an altar–most likely in 520 B.C.E. (as 1 Esdras 5:47-55 indicates, not in 538 B.C.E. (as Ezra 3:1-8 indicates).

Construction of the Second Temple began (Ezra 3:10-13; 1 Esdras 5:56-65a).  Yet opposition to that effort caused a pause in construction (Ezra 4:1-23; 1 Esdras 5:65b-73).

Haggai 1:1-15 establishes two dates and three names:

1. The first date (1:1), converted to the Gregorian Calendar, is August 9, 520 B.C.E.
2. The first name is Haggai, who prophesied from August 9 to December 18, 520 B.C.E.
3. The second name is Joshua ben Zehozadak, the chief priest.
4. The final name is Zerubbabel ben Shealtiel (of the House of David), the satrap (governor).   Notice the lack of the Davidic monarchy, O reader.
5. The final date (1:15) is September 21, 520 B.C.E.

Haggai offered a simple explanation of why the drought was severe and the economy was poor.  He blamed everything on the lack of a completed Temple in Jerusalem.  The prophet argued that such disrespect for God was the culprit, and that the poverty and drought were punishment.  Work on the construction of the Second Temple resumed.  Surely resuming construction of the Second Temple ended the drought and revived the economy, right?  No, actually, hence Haggai 2:10-10.

Haggai’s heart was in the right place, but he missed an important truth that predated Jesus:

[God] makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.”

–Matthew 5:45b, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)

Haggai could have recalled certain laments from Hebrew literature.  He could have remembered Psalm 73, for example.  Why did the wicked flourish and the righteous falter?  Haggai could have recalled the Book of Job, in which the innocent, titular character suffered.

I make no pretense of being a spiritual giant and a great spring of wisdom, O reader.  However, I offer you a principle to consider:  God is not a vending machine.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 11, 2021 COMMON ERA

PROPER 10:  THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF NATHAN SODERBLOM, SWEDISH ECUMENIST AND ARCHBISHOP OF UPPSULA

THE FEAST OF SAINT DAVID GONSON, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 1541

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN GUALBERT, FOUNDER OF THE VALLOMBROSAN BENEDICTINES

THE FEAST OF SAINTS THOMAS SPROTT AND THOMAS HUNT, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS, 1600

THE FEAST OF SAINT VALERIU TRAIAN FRENTIU, ROMANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND MARTYR, 1952

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Above:  The Stoning of St. Stephen, by Paolo Uccello

Image in the Public Domain

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The Collect:

Ever-living God, your Son gives himself as living bread for the life of the world.

Fill us with such knowledge of his presence that we may be strengthened and sustained

by his risen life to serve you continually,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 45

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The Assigned Readings:

Job 11:1-20 (Thursday)

Job 12:1-25 (Friday)

Job 13:1-19 (Saturday)

Psalm 34:9-14 (All Days)

Acts 6:8-15 (Thursday)

Romans 16:17-20 (Friday)

John 4:7-26 (Saturday)

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See that you never say anything wrong;

do not deceive people by telling lies.

Turn from bad behaviour to good,

try your best to live in peace.

–Psalm 34:14-15, Harry Mowvley, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers (1989)

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One might start by refraining from blaming victims for their plights.

The titular character of the Book of Job, the opening of that composite text informs us, suffered not because of any sin he had committed.  No, God had permitted Satan, then an employee of God in the Hebrew theology of the time, to test the loyalty of Job.  (The adversary did not become God’s rival in Jewish theology until much later.  Many readers miss that point and read the Book of Job anachronistically.)  The primary guilty party in the case of the suffering of the impatient Job, then, was God.  (The expression “the patience of Job” makes no sense to me, based on the text which bears his name.)  Job’s alleged friends, including Zophar the Naamathite, argued however that God, being just, would not permit the innocent to suffer, so Job must have done something wrong.  Job gave as good as he got, as Chapters 12 and 13 indicate:

But you invent lies;

All of you are quacks.

If you would only keep quiet

It would be considered wisdom on your part.

–Job 13:4-5, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Nevertheless, much of what Job’s alleged friends said sounds like what one reads elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, especially in the Books of Psalms and Proverbs, stated authoritatively.  (Those books are too naively optimistic in places.  Of course some of those raised to follow God grow up and depart from the proper path, despite Proverbs 22:6, for example.)  These alleged friends were not entirely wrong, but they proceeded from a false assumption, one common in antiquity as well as today.  Old ideas–including demonstrably false ones–persist.  If one’s sins necessarily lead to one’s suffering, how does one explain the crucifixion of Jesus, the living bread, the living water, and the sinless one?  One must also, if one is to be intellectually thorough and honest, contend with the sufferings and martyrdoms of many faithful, mere mortals, from antiquity to current events.

There are, of course, various reasons for suffering.  The Buddhist statement that suffering results from wrong desiring covers much of that territory well.  One might suffer because of the wrong desiring of another person or because of one’s own wrong desiring.  Even that, however, does not account for the suffering one must endure apart from that with causation in wrong desiring.  Why do some children enter the world with terrible diseases with genetic causes, for example?

St. Paul the Apostle, writing in Romans 16:17, urged his audience

to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them.

—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

I file Zophar the Naamathite and the false witnesses against St. Stephen in that category.

A complicating factor is that “those who cause dissensions and offenses” usually do not think of themselves as such.  They might even consider themselves as righteous people, or at least as people who perform necessary, if unpleasant, deeds for the greater good.  Furthermore, you, O reader, and I might be among these people, according to others.  The only infallible judge of such matters is God.

We can attempt to act kindly, at least, and to refrain from blaming victims for their afflictions.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 1, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAMUEL STENNETT, ENGLISH SEVENTH-DAY BAPTIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER; AND JOHN HOWARD, ENGLISH HUMANITARIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT JUSTIN MARTYR, APOLOGIST

THE FEAST OF SAINTS PAMPHILUS OF CAESAREA, BIBLE SCHOLAR AND TRANSLATOR; AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS

THE FEAST OF SAINT SIMEON OF SYRACUSE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2015/06/01/devotion-for-thursday-friday-and-saturday-before-proper-15-year-b-elca-daily-lectionary/

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Above:  A Question Mark

Image in the Public Domain

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The Collect:

Almighty and merciful God,

we implore you to hear the prayers of your people.

Be our strong defense against all harm and danger,

that we may live and grow in faith and hope,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 41

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The Assigned Readings:

Lamentations 1:16-22 (Thursday)

Lamentations 2:1-12 (Friday)

Lamentations 2:18-22 (Saturday)

Psalm 30 (All Days)

2 Corinthians 7:2-16 (Thursday)

2 Corinthians 8:1-7 (Friday)

Luke 4:31-37 (Saturday)

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Weeping may spend the night,

but joy comes in the morning.

While I felt secure I said,

“I shall never be disturbed.

You, LORD, with your favor, made me as strong as the mountains.”

Then You hid your face,

and I was filled with fear.

–Psalm 30:6-8, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition (1996) defines theodicy as

A vindication of God’s goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil.

Defenses of divine goodness and justice also occur in the context of misfortune attributed to God’s judgment of sinful people.  It is present in the readings from Lamentations and in Psalm 30, for example.  The anonymous authors of Lamentations wept over sins, wrote bitterly that the foe had triumphed, and thought that God had acted as a foe.  Yet the book ends:

Take us back, O LORD, to Yourself,

And let us come back;

Renew our days as of old!

–Lamentations 5:22b, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

The titular character in the Book of Job says of God:

He may well slay me; I may have no hope;

Yet I will argue my case before Him.

In this too is my salvation:

That no impious man can come into His presence.

–Job 13:15-16, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Modern translations of the Bible, with some exceptions, depart from the King James rendering, which is:

Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him….,

which comes from a marginal note in the Masoretic Text.  Saying

I may have no hope

differs from uttering

yet I will trust in him,

at least superficially.  The first translation fits Job 13:15 better than does the second rendering, but pressing the lawsuit against God indicates some hope of victory.

But I know that my Vindicator lives;

In the end He will testify on earth–

This, after my skin will have been peeled off.

But I would behold God while still in my flesh.

I myself, not another, would behold Him;

Would see with my own eyes:

My heart pines within me.

–Job 19:25-27, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Job, in that passage, speaks of a divine hearing within his lifetime.  During that proceeding a defender (presumably not a relative, since his sons had died and his surviving kinsmen had abandoned him) will speak on his behalf.  The translation of this passage from The Jerusalem Bible gets more to the point, for it has an Avenger, not a Vindicator.  These rendering differ from the familiar King James text, which George Frederick Handel set to music in The Messiah (1742) as a reference to Jesus:

For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth….

We who claim to follow God ought to proceed carefully when defending God.  First, God does not require the defenses which mere mortals provide.  Second, many human defenses of God depict God erroneously, as either a warm fuzzy on one hand or a cosmic bully or thug on the other hand.  Often our attempts to justify God to ourselves and others obstruct a healthy relationship with God and dissuade others from following God.  We need to question inadequate God concepts.

The God of Luke 4:31-37, who, through Jesus, delivers people from illnesses allegedly caused by demonic possession is the same God who has blessings and woes just two chapters later (Luke 6:20-26).  This is the same God who encourages repentance–the act of turning around or changing one’s mind.  Apologizing for one’s sins is a fine thing to do, but repentance must follow it if one is to follow God.

I do not pretend to have worked out all or even most of the answers to difficult and uncomfortable questions regarding God and human-divine relationships.  No, I acknowledge that my doubts and unanswered questions in these realms outnumber my answers.  Furthermore, some of my answers are certainly wrong.  I am, however, comfortable with this reality.  I can repent of my errors, by grace, and progress spiritually.  Besides, knowledge is not the path to salvation, as in Gnosticism.  No, grace is the path to salvation.  God has the answers.  That is fine with me.  I remain inquisitive, however, for the journey itself has much merit.

I pray that my conduct of my spiritual journey will encourage others in their pilgrimages with God and prompt others to begin, not have a negative affect on anyone.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 27, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF CHARLES VILLIERS SANFORD, COMPOSER, ORGANIST, AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF CHARLES HENRY BRENT, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF WESTERN NEW YORK

THE FEAST OF JOHN MARRIOTT, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT RUPERT OF SALZBURG, APOSTLE OF BAVARIA AND AUSTRIA

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/devotion-for-thursday-friday-and-saturday-before-proper-8-year-b-elca-daily-lectionary/

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Above:  A Job Illustration by William Blake

Image Source = William Safire, The First Dissident:  The Book of Job in Today’s Politics (New York, NY:  Random House, 1992)

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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The Collect:

Mighty God, you breathe life into our bones,

and your Spirit brings truth to the world.

Send us this Spirit, transform us by your truth,

and give us language to proclaim your gospel,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,

who lives and reigns with and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 36

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The Assigned Readings:

Genesis 2:4b-7 (Thursday)

Job 37:1-13 (Friday)

Psalm 33:12-22 (Both Days)

1 Corinthians 15:42b-49 (Thursday)

1 Corinthians 15:50-57 (Friday)

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Our soul waits for the LORD;

he is our help and our shield.

–Psalm 33:20, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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We come from God and hopefully return to God.  Our bodies are perishable, but we will have imperishable bodies one day.  We depend on God for everything, so our sufficiency comes from God alone, not from ourselves.  Psalm 33 tells us to trust in God, as does Elihu from Job 37.  But what about the times we find doing so difficult?

Elihu, shoehorned into the Book of Job between Job’s concluding argument and God’s response thereto, repeated arguments of Job’s alleged friends.  God is just, they and he said, so God does not permit the innocent to suffer.  The Book of Job contradicts Elihu on the final point, however, for it tells the reader at the beginning that God permitted Job’s suffering as a test of loyalty.

God does not torment,

Elihu told Job.  But is there a practical difference between tormenting and permitting torment?  The fact that Elihu’s remarks resemble God’s subsequent speech adds another layer of interpretative difficulty to the Book of Job, but I digress.

The Book of Job is, among other things, a useful caution against easy answers to difficult questions.  I prefer Job’s attitude in 13:15-16 (TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures, 1985):

He may well slay me; I may have no hope;

Yet I will argue my case before Him.

In this too is my salvation:

That no impious man can come into His presence.

At least Job was willing to speak to God, not just speak of God.  And arguing faithfully with God is among the most wonderful aspects of Judaism.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 20, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-FIRST DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF SAINT DOMINIC OF SILOS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF SAINT PETER CANISIUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST

THE FEAST OF KATHARINA VON BORA LUTHER, WIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER

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Adapted from this post:

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2014/12/20/devotion-for-thursday-and-friday-before-pentecost-sunday-year-b-elca-daily-lectionary/

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Above:  Saint Paul Writing His Epistles, by Valentin de Boulogne

Image in the Public Domain

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The Collect:

Everlasting God, in your endless love for the human race

you sent our Lord Jesus Christ to take on our nature and

to suffer death on the cross.  In your mercy enable us to share

in his obedience to your will and in the glorious victory of

his resurrection, who lives and reigns with you and the

Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 29

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The Assigned Readings:

1 Samuel 16:11-13 (32nd Day)

Job 13:13-19 (33rd Day)

Psalm 31:9-16 (Both Days)

Philippians 1:1-11 (32nd Day)

Philippians 1:21-30 (33rd Day)

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Some Related Posts:

1 Samuel 16:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/week-of-2-epiphany-tuesday-year-2/

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/devotion-for-thursday-friday-and-saturday-before-the-third-sunday-after-epiphany-year-a-elca-daily-lectionary/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/fourth-sunday-in-lent-year-a/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/proper-6-year-b/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/devotion-for-july-31-august-1-and-august-2-lcms-daily-lectionary/

Job 13:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/devotion-for-february-18-and-19-in-epiphanyordinary-time-lcms-daily-lectionary/

Philippians 1:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/eighth-day-of-advent-second-sunday-of-advent-year-c/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/proper-20-year-a/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/week-of-proper-25-friday-year-2-and-week-of-proper-25-saturday-year-2/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/devotion-for-september-8-lcms-daily-lectionary/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/devotion-for-september-9-lcms-daily-lectionary/

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But my trust is in you, O Lord.

I have said, “You are my God.

My times are in your hand;

deliver me from those who persecute me.

Make your face to shine upon your servant,

and save me for your mercy’s sake.”

–Psalm 31:14-16, Common Worship (2000)

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Sometimes people suffer because they have done something wrong; they reap what they sown.  Other times people suffer because they have done something for God.  When the light shines in the darkness, elements of the latter cannot or will not abide the former.  And sometimes neither of the above reasons applies.

The Book of Job establishes that the titular character was righteous, that God permitted his manifold and terrible sufferings, and that Job had bad excuses for friends.  Our excerpt from Job 13, in the voice of the titular character, rebuts Zophar, who had told him to confess his sins.

Be quiet! Kindly let me do the talking,

happen to me what may.

–Job 13:13, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

seems like a mild translation to me.  Job and Zophar did commit the same error—presuming to know how God does or should act.  But at least Job was not as annoying as his alleged friend.

God has worked in ways we do not always expect.  A young shepherd became a king.  A persecutor of nascent Christianity became one of its most important evangelists.  The most important figure of an age was a Palestinian Jewish carpenter and stonecutter, not any of the Roman Emperors.  And God continues to be full of surprises.

May we not presume to know more than we do.  More important than being right and proven so is acting compassionately.  I would rather be compassionate and objectively incorrect on some point of doctrine than mean-spirited or unkind in my dealings with people and objectively correct on points of doctrine.  Perhaps the character of Zophar thought that he was helping, but he was wrong.  Good intentions are insufficient.  What are the effects?

That is a difficult and high standard to pass.  May we succeed, by grace.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 28, 2013 COMMON ERA

THANKSGIVING DAY (U.S.A.)

THE FEAST OF SAINT STEPHEN THE YOUNGER, DEFENDER OF ICONS

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH PIGNATELLI, RESTORER OF THE JESUITS

THE FEAST OF KAMAHAMEHA AND EMMA, KING AND QUEEN OF HAWAII

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Adapted from this post:

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2013/11/28/devotion-for-the-thirty-second-and-thirty-third-day-of-lent-year-a-elca-daily-lectionary/

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Above:  Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Covington, Georgia, August 28, 2011

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

(https://picasaweb.google.com/114749828757741527421/ChurchOfTheGoodShepherd#5645994888067659138)

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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 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Job 13:13-28 (February 18)

Job 14:1-22 (February 19)

Psalm 51 (Morning–February 18)

Psalm 54 (Morning–February 19)

Psalms 85 and 47 (Evening–February 18)

Psalms 28 and 99 (Evening–February 19)

John 6:22-40 (February 18)

John 6:41-59 (February 19)

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Some Related Posts:

Job 13-14:

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/fortieth-day-of-lent-holy-saturday/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/eve-of-the-feast-of-saint-francis-of-assisi-october-3/

John 6:

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/proper-13-year-b/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/proper-14-year-b/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/proper-15-year-b/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/proper-16-year-b/

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Job argued that God was omnipotent and was, in his case, abusing power.  His alleged friends agreed with him that God was omnipotent yet insisted that there was no abuse of power, for Job must have deserved such grave suffering.  Jesus, in John 6, spoke of his flesh as being

the living bread which has come down from heaven…for the life of the world (verse 51, The New Jerusalem Bible)

This comparison ran afoul of Jewish sensibilities.  God does offend us from time to time.

Job was correct; he did not deserve such grave suffering.  That reality “did not compute” with his alleged friends.  I argue that Job was correct to take offense at God, given the narrative the Book of Job provides for me to read and ponder.  As for sensibilities surrounding flesh and blood, the language in John 6 does seem similar to cannibalism, does it not?  But I affirm Transubstantiation, so I trust that I take the body and blood of Jesus into my body each week.  I have learned not to take offense.

Taking offense at God is a difficult situation.  When is it excusable or appropriate?  This, I suppose, is a question one needs to address on a case-by-case basis.  Usually, however, I propose that it is inappropriate.

Until the next segment of our journey….

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 26, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS REMACLUS OF MAASTRICHT, THEODORE OF MAASTRICHT, LAMBERT OF MAASTRICHT, HUBERT OF MAASTRICHT AND LIEGE, AND FLORIBERT OF LIEGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; LANDRADA OF MUNSTERBILSEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND OTGER OF UTRECHT, PLECHELM OF GUELDERLAND, AND WIRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES

THE FEAST OF CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, POET

THE FEAST OF SAINT PASCHASIUS RADBERTUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF ROBERT HUNT, FIRST ANGLICAN CHAPLAIN AT JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA

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Adapted from this post:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/devotion-for-february-18-and-19-in-epiphanyordinary-time-lcms-daily-lectionary/

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Above:  Walking on Water, by Ivan Aivazovsky

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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 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Job 13:1-12

Psalm 67 (Morning)

Psalms 46 and 93 (Evening)

John 6:1-21

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Some Related Posts:

John 6:

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/thirteenth-day-of-easter/

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/fourteenth-day-of-easter/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/proper-12-year-b/

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Job’s reply continues in 13:1-12.  He says in part,

Indeed, I would speak to the Almighty;

I insist on arguing with God.

But you invent lies;

All of you are quacks.

If you would only keep quiet

It would be considered wisdom on your part.

–Job 13:3-5, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

Those words attracted my attention and agreement.  Then I noticed an accurate prediction:

Will it go well when He examines you?

Will you fool Him as one fools men?

He will surely reprove you

If in your heart you are partial toward Him.

–Job 13:9-10, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

Job’s alleged friends misunderstood God, whose reputation they strove to defend.

In John 6:1-15 some of

as many as five thousand men (verse 10, The New Jerusalem Bible)

misunderstood Jesus.  He had just fed them with five barley loaves and two fish, ending up with

twelve large baskets of scraps (verse 13, The New Jerusalem Bible).

Recognition of our Lord as an apocalyptic prophet led people to want to set him up as a king in opposition to the Roman Empire.  So he fled them.

The Gospel of John being the Gospel of John, the narrative is more theological than historical and the meal was not just a meal.  I recognize Eucharistic imagery in the account.  And Jesus was not a national liberator, despite the understandable hopes of many people.  The narrative conveys that point quite well.

The methods of God are mysterious and frequently unexpected.  Sometimes they are so mundane as to fly under our radars, so to speak.  And they are spectacular and unusual at other times.  May we, by grace, recognize as many of them as possible and respond to God appropriately.

Until the next segment of our journey….

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 26, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS REMACLUS OF MAASTRICHT, THEODORE OF MAASTRICHT, LAMBERT OF MAASTRICHT, HUBERT OF MAASTRICHT AND LIEGE, AND FLORIBERT OF LIEGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; LANDRADA OF MUNSTERBILSEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND OTGER OF UTRECHT, PLECHELM OF GUELDERLAND, AND WIRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES

THE FEAST OF CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, POET

THE FEAST OF SAINT PASCHASIUS RADBERTUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF ROBERT HUNT, FIRST ANGLICAN CHAPLAIN AT JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA

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Adapted from this post:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/devotion-for-february-17-in-epiphanyordinary-time-lcms-daily-lectionary/

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