Above:  Fields Near Greene Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, 2019

Image in the Public Domain

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Yesterday I completed the posting of devotions written to Year B of the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary.  Posting slightly edited versions of lectionary-based devotions, stripped of their dates and retitled, has been part of the raison d’être of BLOGA THEOLOGICA since I created it in 2010.

More than a decade ago, when I began to write weblog posts based on lectionaries, I was fresh.  Now I have plowed the same ground on different lectionaries that I have been repeating myself, to my irritation.  Yes, I have read books and changed my mind regarding certain topics.  And yes, I have grown and altered spiritually.  Nevertheless, I have, more than once, hesitated and groaned before writing yet another post with the same theme.  I have learned that there is little variety in Christian lectionaries.

So, I have made some decisions.  I have decided (a) to write based on Year C of the ILCW Lectionary then to let the lectionary blogging field lie fallow for as long as necessary, and (b) to continue my blogging through the Hebrew Bible and the Roman Catholic Old Testament.

Many of my fellow and sister Christians misunderstand the Hebrew Bible terribly and give it short shrift.  They persist under the stereotype of an “Old Testament God” who is more judgmental than merciful.  Many of them also seek evidence of Jesus in every other nook and cranny of the Hebrew Bible, as if Jewish scripture is a Where’s Waldo? book and Jesus is Waldo.  The Hebrew Bible can stand on its own, but the New Testament cannot stand without the Hebrew Bible.   My historical mindset guides me.  And there is plenty of judgment and mercy in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.  The God of Revelation is no warm fuzzy or pushover, and the God of the Hebrew Bible expresses much forgiveness and tenderness.

I understand that I stand in contradiction to much of Christian tradition when I resist seeking Jesus in every other nook and cranny of the Hebrew Bible.  So be it.

Last night I drafted in long hand the first post in a series about the Song of Songs, a book I feel that life has finally equipped me to address properly.  Christian lectionaries have long ignored most of the Song of Songs, a text which the great Rabbi Akiva described as “the holy of holies.”

I have also decided to study and blog about, in order:

1. Ecclesiastes
2. Proverbs
3. Ecclesiasticus/Sirach, and
4. Wisdom (of Solomon).

Eventually I will, “the Lord willin’ and the crick don’t rise,” blog my way through the Genesis-Judges project, too. My Biblical Studies library contains sources–many of them Jewish–to guide me through that project when I am ready to commence.

However, the Song of Songs and other examples of wisdom literature will occupy much of my attention for the time being, of course.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 13, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTY-FIFTH DAY OF EASTER

THE FEAST OF HENRI DOMINIQUE LECORDAIRE, FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, DOMINICAN, AND ADVOCATE FOR THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

THE FEAST OF FRANCES PERKINS, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF LABOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT GEMMA OF GORIANO SICIOLI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC ANCHORESS

THE FEAST OF SAINT GLYCERIA OF HERACLEA, MARTYR, CIRCA 177

THE FEAST OF UNITA BLACKWELL, AFRICAN-AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, RURAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST, AND MAYOR OF MAYERSVILLE, MISSISSIPPI

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Advertisement

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:  The First Paragraph of the Shema

Image in the Public Domain

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Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Psalm 119:1-16 (LBW) or Psalm 119:121-128 (LW)

Hebrews 7:23-28

Mark 12:28-34 (35-37)

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Lord, when the day of wrath comes

we have no hope except in your grace.

Make us so to watch for the last days

that the consumation of our hope may be

the joy of the marriage feast of your Son,

Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 29

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O Lord, we pray that the visitation of your grace

may so cleanse our thoughts and minds

that your Son Jesus, when he shall come,

may find us a fit dwelling place;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 89

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Jesus knew the tradition of Rabbi Hillel, as he proved in Mark 12:29-31.  Christ stood within his Jewish tradition and within the school of Hillel, in particular.  So, the Christian tradition of pitting Jesus against Judaism has always been erroneous.

After Rabbi Hillel quoted the same verses Jesus eventually quoted also, Hillel said:

The rest is commentary.  God and learn it.

That ethos permeates Psalm 119, in which the Torah refers to divine instruction, with the Law incorporated into it.  Traditional Christian disregard for the Law of Moses–a subsequent theological development–contradicts Psalm 119 and Deuteronomy 6:1-9.

Deuteronomy 6:1-9 drips with hindsight, irony, and melancholy. The author, reflecting centuries after the time in the wilderness, understood what had transpired in time and in Jewish folk religion, as opposed to Jewish priestly religion.  This author, consistent with Deuteronomistic theology, affirmed that collective and national disaster was the inevitable result of this pattern.

As Christianity emerged from its Jewish roots, Christian theology developed along divergent paths.  Part of the church, consistent with Judaism, never developed the theology of Original Sin and the Fall of Man, with the ensuing corruption of human nature.  Augustinian theology, which postdates the Epistle to the Hebrews by centuries, could not have informed that document.  The author of Hebrews–perhaps St. Apollos, although Origen wrote that only God knew the author’s identity–affirmed that Christ is the timeless, sinless high priest who covers sins and intercedes for sinners.

So, regardless of one’s opinion of Augustinian theology and the role of the Law of Moses, one can frolic in the good news that God is not chomping on the bit to throw lightning bolts at anyone.  Christ intercedes for us.  Do we even notice, though?

I, without minimizing or denying the importance of works in moral terms, choose not to walk the Pelagian path.  Salvation is a process of grace, and God is in charge of the process.  I also affirm Single Predestination, so some people sit on the chosen list.  How one responds to grace remains an individual decision, with individual responsibility.  Yet grace surrounds even this situation.  The longer I live, the less inclined I am to think of any people as belonging in Hell.  Matters of salvation and damnation are in the purview of God.  I am not God.  Neither are you, O reader.

We–like the author of Deuteronomy 6:1-9, possess hindsight.  We–like the author of Deuteronomy 6:1-9–also live in something called the present.  Therefore, we can have only so much hindsight.  And even the most perceptive human hindsight is…human.  God knows far more than we do.

Yet we can live according to love and mere decency.  This is a certain way to embody divine love, honor God and human dignity, and get into trouble with some conventionally pious people and sometimes with legal authorities.

Nevertheless, this is one standard Jesus upheld in Mark 12:28-34.  The Golden Rule should never be controversial, but it frequently is.

Our works matter morally.  May we, by grace, make them count for as much good as possible.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 11, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTY-THIRD DAY OF EASTER

THE FEAST OF HENRY KNOX SHERRILL, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

THE FEAST OF BARBARA ANDREWS, FIRST FEMALE MINISTER IN THE AMERICAN LUTHERAN CHURCH, 1970

THE FEAST OF SAINT GJON KODA, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1947

THE FEAST OF JOHN JAMES MOMENT, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTEO RICCI, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY

THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHÊÔ LÊ VAN GAM, VIETNAMESE ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 1847

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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:  Cross Out Slums, by the U.S. Office of War Information, 1943-1945

Image in the Public Domain

National Archives and Record Administration ID 513549

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Isaiah 50:4-10

Psalm 116:1-8

James 2:1-5, 8-10, 14-18

Mark 8:27-35

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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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Deuteronomistic theology–ubiquitous in the Hebrew Bible–teaches that the Babylonian Exile was justified punishment for centuries collective and habitual disregard of the Law of Moses.  This is the position of Second Isaiah shortly prior to the promised vindication of the exiles by God.  Divine judgment and mercy remain in balance.

Many exiles did not expect the Babylonian Exile to end; they had become accustomed to the status quo and fallen into despair.  This was psychologically predictable.

Likewise, St. Simon Peter, immediately following his confession of faith in Jesus, did not expect the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  And how many Christians have expected to suffer and perhaps to die for their faith?  Yet many have taken up their crosses and followed Jesus to humiliation and/or martyrdom.  St. (John) Mark, supposedly the author of the Gospel of Mark, died by dragging through the streets of Alexandria, Egypt.

The messages in the lection from James 2 may shock some people, too.  The category of the “deserving poor” is old, even in traditionally Christian cultures.  The opposite category, of course, is the “underserving poor.”  So, allegedly, we may help the “deserving poor” and ignore the “undeserving poor” with a clear moral conscience, right?  Wrong!  The categories of the “deserving poor” and the “undeserving poor,” taken together, constitute a morally invalid and false dichotomy.  God takes mistreating the poor seriously.  All of the poor are the “deserving poor.”

Whoever acts without mercy will be judged without mercy, but mercy triumphs over judgment.

–James 2:13, The Revised New Jerusalem Bible

James 2:13 is consistent with the Sermon on the Mount:

Judge not, that you may not be judged; For by whatever verdict you pass judgment you shall be judged, and in whatever measure you measure it will be meted out to you.

–Matthew 7:1-2, David Bentley Hart, The New Testament:  A Translation (2017)

Clarence Jordan‘s Cotton Patch Version of the Gospel of Matthew puts a Southern Low Church Protestant spin on these verses:

Don’t preach just to keep from getting preached to.  For the same sermon you preach will be applied to you, and the stuff you dish out will be dished up to you.

Jordan’s rendering of James 2:13 also gets to the point:

For there is merciless judgment on a merciless man, and mercy is much more preferred than judgment.

Divine judgment and mercy remain in balance.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWELFTH DAY OF EASTER

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

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

THE FEAST OF SAINT CHIARA BOSATTA, CO-FOUNDER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF SAINT MARY OF PROVIDENCE

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

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

THE FEAST OF ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES, ANGLICAN HYMN WRITER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

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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:  The Raising of Jairus’ Daughter, by Paolo Veronese

Image in the Public Domain

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Lamentations 3:22-33

Psalm 30 (LBW) or Psalm 121 (LW)

2 Corinthians 8:1-9, 13-14

Mark 5:21-24a, 35-43 or Mark 5:24b-34

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O God, you have prepared for those who love you

joys beyond understanding. 

Pour into our hearts such love for you that,

loving you above all things,

we may obtain your promises,

which exceed all that we can desire;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 25

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O God, because you have prepared for those who love you

such good things as surpass our understanding,

pour into our hearts such love towards you that we,

loving you above all things,

may obtain your promises,

which exceed all that we can desire;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 67

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Lamentations is hardly the most exuberant book in the canon of Jewish and Christian scripture.  Its name is accurate; the book contains lamentations from the Babylonian Exile.  Lamentations likens God to a predator–a lurking bear and a lion (verse 10).  The male persona in chapter 3 writes that God has mangled him, shot him full of arrows, broken his teeth on gravel, and ground him into the dust.  This persona–representing the exiles–then states that he still has hope in God, who does not reject forever, but afflicts then pardons.  Divine judgment and mercy remain in balance.

That remarkable statement of collective faith is consistent with Psalms 30 and 121, in which God protects people.  That remarkable statement of collective faith is consistent with the ethos of 2 Corinthians 8:1-14, in which God provides for people via other people.  That statement of collective faith is consistent with the double healing in Mark 5, in which the body of Christ destroyed the cause of the desperate woman’s ritual impurity and Jesus restored a daughter to her bereft father.

We do not always receive what we seek, at least when we think we should receive it.  We may, for example, pray for the healing of one who is seriously ill.  Yet that person may die.  Or we may receive what we prayed for, but later than we anticipated.  But God still cares.  And we have human agents of grace all around us.  We may recognize this fact if we pay attention.  Furthermore, God can still act directly.  Our perspective is limited.  We do not always distinguish between needs and wants, between what is best and what is not.  Yet we are never alone.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 6, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTY-EIGHTH DAY OF LENT

MAUNDY/HOLY THURSDAY

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF CARTHAGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 413

THE FEAST OF BENJAMIN HALL KENNEDY, GREEK AND LATIN SCHOLAR, BIBLE TRANSLATOR, AND ANGLICAN PRIEST

THE FEAST OF DANGIEL G. C. WU, CHINESE-AMERICAN EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND MISSIONARY

THE FEAST OF EMIL BRUNNER, SWISS REFORMED THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF MILNER BALL, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, LAW PROFESSOR, WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, AND HUMANITARIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT NOKTER BALBULUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

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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:  Good Shepherd

Image in the Public Domain

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Acts 4:23-33

Psalm 23

1 John 3:1-2

John 10:11-18

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God of all power,

you called from death our Lord Jesus Christ,

the great shepherd of the sheep. 

Send us as shepherds to rescue the lost,

to heal the injured,

and to feed one another with knowledge and understanding;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

OR

Almighty God,

you show the light of your truth to those in darkness,

to lead them into the way of righteousness. 

Give strength to all who are joined in the family of the Church,

so that they will resolutely reject what erodes their faith

and firmly follow what faith requires;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 22

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Almighty God, merciful Father,

since you have wakened from death the Shepherd of your sheep,

grant us your Holy Spirit that we may know the voice of our Shepherd

and follow him that sin and death may never pluck us out of your hand;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 52

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The Fourth Sunday of Easter is Good Shepherd Sunday on more than one lectionary.

• YHWH is the Good Shepherd in Psalm 23.  In that text, only divine goodness and steadfast love either pursue or accompany the psalmist.  The enemies, not invited to the divine banquet, do not harm the psalmist.
• Jesus is the Good Shepherd in John 10.   He knows his sheep, who, in turn, recognize him.  And the Good Shepherd sacrifices himself for his sheep.
• Yet many in the “the world”–kosmos, in Greek–fail to recognize God and Jesus.  These spiritually blind people live according to the values which the Beatitudes (Matthew 5) and the Beatitudes and Woes (Luke 6) contradict.  Many of these spiritually blind people are conventionally religious, by the standards of their cultures or subcultures.

“Sacred violence” is a value of the kosmos, the morally disordered world.  Notice the absence of “sacred violence” in Psalm 23 and John 10, O reader.  God does not smite the psalmist’s foes.  God does, however, force them to watch a grand banquet to which God did not invite them.  And the perpetrators of the violence in John 10 are not acting out of divine love.  These two readings contradict some disturbing stories of violence committed in the name of God and allegedly in obedience to divine commands.  Elijah’s massacre of the prophets of Baal Peor (1 Kings 18:40-41) comes to my mind immediately.

I, having read the full canon of the Bible–all 73 books–reject the stereotype of God changing character between Testaments.  Divine judgment and mercy exist in balance in both the Old and the New Testaments.  Beautiful passages about divine mercy exist in both Testaments.  Likewise, so do harrowing passages about divine judgment.

I am a Christian.  Therefore, my concept of God hinges on Jesus of Nazareth.  I read stories about Jesus dying violently, not having people killed.  I read about Jesus expressing righteous anger, something everyone should do.  Yet I read no stories about Jesus ordering hatred or violence.  So, God, as I understand God, does not order hatred and violence either.  No, God is love.  God triumphs over hatred and violence with love.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 21, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH, AND JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH, COMPOSERS

THE FEAST OF SAINT LUCIA OF VERONA, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC TERTIARY AND MARTYR, 1574

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARK GJANI, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1947

THE FEAST OF SAINT NICHOLAS OF FLÜE AND HIS GRANDSON, SAINT CONRAD SCHEUBER, SWISS HERMITS

THE FEAST OF SAINT SERAPION OF THMUIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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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:  The Brazen Serpent, by James Tissot

Image in the Public Domain

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Numbers 21:4-9

Psalm 27:1-9 (10-18)

Ephesians 2:4-10

John 3:14-21

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God of all mercy, by your power to hear and to forgive,

graciously cleanse us from all sin and make us strong;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 18

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Almighty God, our heavenly Father,

your mercies are new every morning,

and though we have in no way deserved your goodness,

you still abundantly provide for all our wants of body and soul. 

Give us, we pray, your Holy Spirit

that we may heartily acknowledge your merciful goodness toward us,

give thanks for all your benefits,

and serve you in willing obedience;

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), 37

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Before the seraphim became a class of angels in Hebrew thought, they were venomous snakes.  This helps to explain why the vision in Isaiah 6 was terrifying; Isaiah ben Amoz reported a vision of venomous snakes.  The snakes in Numbers 21:4-9 were seraphim, too.  And the cure for their bites was sympathetic magic–in this case, gazing upon a copper representation of such a seraph.

Numbers 21:4-9 offers another story I find theologically troubling.  My concept of God–modeled on Jesus–does not mesh with YHWH sending venomous snakes to bite ungrateful, murmuring Hebrews in a desert.  Yet I acknowledge that at least one Biblical author attributed that action to God.

During the Hellenistic period, a Jewish author, writing as Solomon, also accepted that YHWH had sent the seraphim, among other natural punishments (locusts and flies) at different times.  That author wrote, in part:

For when the dire venom of beasts came upon them

and they were dying from the bite of the crooked serpents,

your anger endured not to the end.

But as a warning, for a short time they were terrorized,

though they had a sign of salvation, to remind them of the precept of your law.

For the one who turned toward it was saved,

not by what was seen,

but by you, the savior of all.

–Wisdom of Solomon 16:5-7, The New American Bible–Revised Edition

Divine judgment and mercy remain in balance.  What is that balance?  Sometimes we wrongly blame or ascribe credit for misfortune to God.  We need to be careful about what we say and write about God, even reverently.  Otherwise, we may depict God as a monster, one whose face we would quake and tremble to seek.  Yet God is not a warm fuzzy, of course.

Judgment is real.  God sends nobody to Hell, though.  No, as C. S. Lewis wrote, the doors to Hell are locked from the inside.  People condemn themselves.  Salvation comes by grace; damnation comes by free will.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 16, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTIETH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT ADALBALD OF OSTEVANT, SAINT RICTRUDIS OF MARCHIENNES, AND THEIR RELATIONS

THE FEAST OF SAINT ABRAHAM KIDUNAIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT; AND SAINT MARY OF EDESSA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ANCHORESS

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN CACCIAFRONTE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, ABBOT, BISHOP, AND MARTYR, 1183

THE FEAST OF SAINT MEGINGAUD OF WURZBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND BISHOP

THE FEAST OF THOMAS WYATT TURNER, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC SCIENTIST, EDUCATOR, AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST; FOUNDER OF FEDERATED COLORED CATHOLICS

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM HENRY MONK, ANGLICAN ORGANIST, HYMN TUNE COMPOSER, AND MUSIC EDUCATOR

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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 the Transfiguration of Jesus

Image in the Public Domain

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2 Kings 2:1-12a

Psalm 50:1-6

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

Mark 9:2-9

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Almighty God, on the mountain you showed your glory

in the transfiguration of your Son. 

Give us the vision to see beyond the turmoil of our world

and to behold the king in all his glory;

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

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

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 17

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O God, in the transfiguration of your Son you confirmed

the mysteries of faith by the witness of Moses and Elijah,

and in the voice from the bright cloud

you foreshadowed our adoption as your children. 

Make us with the king heirs of your glory,

and bring us to enjoy its fullness,

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with

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

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 17

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O God, in the glorious transfiguration of your only-begotten Son

once confirmed the mysteries of the faith

by the testimony of the ancient fathers,

and in the voice that came from the bright cloud

you wondrously foreshadowed our adoption by grace. 

Therefore, mercifully make us coheirs with our King of his glory,

and bring us to the fullness of our inheritance in heaven;

through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with

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

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 31

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I have been writing lectionary-based weblog posts for more than a decade.  I have, therefore, written about the Transfiguration of Jesus–upon the occasions of August 6 and the Last Sunday After the Epiphany–already.

My comments from previous years, accessible at ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS and BLOGA THEOLOGICA, remain available for reading.  I choose not to duplicate them in full here.

The glory of Christ, evident in one way at the Transfiguration, was usually evident in his faithful and compassionate service.  Yet a visual demonstration–the fulfillment of Mark 9:1–was helpful.

Sometimes we mere mortals need the visual element to reinforce that of which we have heard.  We, like apostles in the Gospel of Mark, may not understand despite the evidence we have seen.  Then, after the spectacular show, we may still not understand as we should.

Psalm 50:1-6, with its imagery of fire, fits well with the First Reading.  The psalm, as a whole, contains contrasts–the faithfulness of God, the fidelity of some, and the judgment of the faithless.  I mention this for the sake of completeness, so that nobody may legitimately accuse me of cherry-picking verses in this matter of divine judgment and mercy.  One may also recall that, in readings from the Hebrew Bible for the last two Sundays on this series, we have read of God forgiving faithless peoples for divine purposes.  Yet we read this week, if we keep reading Psalm 50 past verse 6:

Understand this, you who forget God,

lest I tear you apart, with no one to save you.

–Verse 22, Robert Alter

Divine judgment and mercy exist in a perpetual balance I know I do not understand.  May none of us begrudge divine mercy, upon which we depend.  Some mercy is an example of divine glory.

May this glory shine in our lives as we deal with each other.

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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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:  Jesus Heals the Man with Palsy, by Alexandre Bida

Image in the Public Domain

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Isaiah 43:18-25

Psalm 41 (LBW) or Psalm 130 (LW)

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Mark 2:1-12

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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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The key word this week is forgiveness.  A second word–faithfulness–relates to it.  As we read in 1 Corinthians 1:18, God is faithful.

I, I wipe away your transgressions for My sake,

and your offenses I do not recall.

–Isaiah 43:15, Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible:  A Translation with Commentary, Vol. 2, Prophets (2019), 766

Those are words addressed to Jews at the twilight of the Babylonian Exile.  This forgiveness is unconditional and absolute, apparently without any sign of repentance.

Psalm 130 reminds us that nobody could endure if God were to “watch for wrongs” (Robert Alter) and encourages the chosen people of God to wait for God, in whom is steadfast kindness.

Psalm 41 cites the betrayal by the author’s enemies, including a former friend.  The author, not forgiving, seeks divine vindication:

But you, LORD, take note of me to raise me up

that I may repay them.

–Psalm 41:11, The New American Bible–Revised Edition

A rejoinder from the Gospels is appropriate:

For if you forgive others, the wrongs they have done, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs that you have done.

–Matthew 6:14-15, The Revised English Bible

Forgiveness, from a human perspective, can be challenging to commit or to accept.  Committing forgiveness liberates one, regardless of the effect on the person or persons forgiven.  Lugging a grudge around is never spiritually helpful and healthy.

Forgiving someone is a matter separate from seeking justice.  Some deeds are inexcusable and indefensible.  Sometimes justice requires punishment.  Forgiveness precludes revenge, not justice.

Isaiah 43:25 occurs in a particular context.  I notice the lack of penitence and repentance between verses 24 and 25.  This does not mean that penitence and repentance are irrelevant; they occur in other passages.  Yet Isaiah 43:25 tells us that sometimes God forgives for divine purposes.

Divine judgment and mercy exist in balance throughout the Bible.  Trust nobody, O reader, who pretends to know what that balance is.  I have some guesses.  Some may be correct for the same reason for the same reason that a broken clock is correct twice a day.  Grace remains a glorious mystery.

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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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:  Ruins of Nineveh

Image Source = Google Earth

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Jonah 3:1-5, 10

Psalm 62:6-14 (LBW) or Psalm 62:5-12 (LW)

1 Corinthians 7:39-31

Mark 1:14-20

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Almighty God, you sent your Son to proclaim your kingdom

and to teach with authority. 

Anoint us with the power of your Spirit, that we, too,

may bring good news to the afflicted,

bind up the brokenhearted,

and proclaim liberty to the captive;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 15

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O Lord God Almighty, because you have always supplied your servants

with the special gifts which come from your Holy Spirit alone,

leave also us not destitute of your manifold gifts nor of grace

to use them always to your honor and glory and the good of others;

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), 24

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For the world in its present form is passing away.

–1 Corinthians 7:31b, The New American Bible–Revised Edition

Yet here I am in March 2023, typing words (in English translation) dictated in Greek in the fifties C.E.  So, we may consider the marital advice in the verses before and after 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 in the context of an inaccurate prediction of the Second Coming of Jesus.

We read in Mark 1 that “the Kingdom of God has drawn near.”  In the canonical Gospels, the Kingdom of God is simultaneously present and future.  The Kingdom of God, partially realized, is present.  The fully-realized Kingdom of God awaits.  Nevertheless, I harbor much sympathy for Alfred Loisy’s lament:

Jesus foretold the kingdom, and what came was the Church.

Now we return to the Gospel of Mark:

The time has arrived; the kingdom of God is upon you. Repent, and believe the gospel.

–Mark 1:15, The Revised English Bible

David Bentley Hart translates a particular Greek verb not as “repent” but as “change your hearts.”  Although “repent” is familiar, many people misunderstand it.  Many think, for example, that repentance is remorse for sins.  No, remorse precedes repentance.

In much of the Bible, repentance can prevent divine judgment.  That is the sense in Mark 1:15.

Yet, in the brilliant and profound work of fiction called the Book of Jonah, the reluctant prophet does not offer repentance to his enemies.  No, he predicts their destruction in the near future.  Jonah seeks his foes’ annihilation.  In the story, however, the population of Nineveh overturns it ways; it repents.  God does not overthrow the city, much to Jonah’s distress.

I have read the Hebrew prophetic genre closely enough to understand that the genre is inconsistent regarding whether collective repentance will suffice to prevent destruction.  Any given Hebrew prophetic book may contain several strata.  So, for example, a layer from before the Babylonian Exile may state that the time for repentance has passed and that God will no longer forgive.  Yet a stratum from during or following the Babylonian Exile may hold that repentance remains possible.  This contradiction would bother me if I were an Evangelical or a fundamentalist.  I have no such problem, fortunately.

I argue that repentance may remain a feasible option longer than many people may think.  When repentance ceases to be a feasible option is for God to decree.  I am not God.

But why wait to repent?  Why wait to respond favorably and faithfully to God?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 10, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF MARIE-JOSEPH LAGRANGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF SAINT AGRIPINNUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; SAINT GERMANUS OF PARIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT DROCTOVEUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF ALEXANDER CLARK, U.S. METHODIST PROTESTANT MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMNAL EDITOR

THE FEAST OF FOLLIOT SANDFORD PIERPOINT, ANGLICAN EDUCATOR, POET, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOHN OGLIVIE, SCOTTISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1615

THE FEAST OF SAINT MACARIUS OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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Adapted from this post

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