Archive for the ‘Suffering’ Tag
Above: Jeremiah, from the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, by Michelangelo Buonaroti
Image in the Public Domain
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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)
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Jeremiah 15:15-21
Psalm 26 (LBW) or Psalm 119:105-112 (LW)
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:21-26
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O God, we thank you for your Son,
who chose the path of suffering for the sake of the world.
Humble us by his example,
point us to the path of obedience,
and give us strength to follow his commands;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 27
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Lord of all power and might, Author and Giver of all good things,
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and bring forth in us the fruit of good works;
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), 78
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The assigned readings for this Sunday speak of obeying God and suffering for doing so. Recall, O reader, the fate of the prophet Jeremiah–involuntary exile in Egypt. Consider, too, the crucifixion of Jesus. And, given that I publish this post on the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, consider the execution of that saint.
Persecution of the Church was usually intermittent in Roman times. Empire-wide persecutions were rare. Regional persecutions came and went. Yet the pall of persecution–actual or possible–hung over the writing of the New Testament. The Church was young, small, and growing. Pulling together in mutuality was good advice.
It remains good advice. No bad context for mutuality exists. Reading past Romans 12:8, every day is a good day to avoid evil, to practice brotherly love, to regard others as more important than oneself, to work conscientiously with an eager spirit, to be joyful in hope, to persevere in hardship, to pray regularly, to share with those in need, and to seek opportunities, to be hospitable.
The results of taking up one’s cross and following Jesus are predictable, in general terms. Details vary according to circumstances. To take up one’s cross and follow Jesus is to reorder one’s priorities so that they become Jesus’s priorities. Doing so invites an adverse reaction from agents of the morally upside-down world order, constrained by conventional wisdom.
Blessed are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.
–Matthew 5:11-12, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
Who can make the point better than that?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 24, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST
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Adapted from this post
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Above: St. Paul the Apostle
Image in the Public Domain
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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)
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Isaiah 55:10-11
Psalm 65
Romans 8:18-25
Matthew 13:1-9 (18-23)
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Almighty God, we thank you for planting in us the seed of your word.
By your Holy Spirit help us to receive it with joy,
live according to it,
and grow in faith and hope and love;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
or
Lord God, use our lives to touch the world with your love.
Stir us, by your Spirit, to be neighbors to those in need,
serving them with willing hearts;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 25
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O almighty and most merciful God,
of your bountiful goodness keep us, we pray,
from all things that may hurt us that we,
being ready in both body and soul,
may cheerfully accomplish whatever things you want done;
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), 69
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When reading the assigned lessons in preparation for drafting a post, I often notice that one lesson is an outlier. Today I choose to focus on the outlier. The theme of God sowing, complete with the Matthean version of the Parable of the Sower/the Four Soils, is a topic about which I have written and posted more than once. You, O reader, may access my analysis of that parable by following the germane tags attached to this post. I also refer you to this post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA.
Romans 8:18-25 flows from what precedes it immediately: Christians are heirs–sons, literally–of God, through Jesus, the Son of God. The gendered language is a reflection of St. Paul the Apostle’s cultural setting, in which sons, not daughters, inherited. As “sons of God,” we Christians bear witness with the Holy Spirit that we are members of the household of God.
Literally, Christians are “sons of God” or have received the “spirit of sonship” in verses 14, 15, and 23. We are “children of God” in verses 16, 17, and 21, though. (I checked the Greek texts.) These distinctions are obvious in translations that do not neuter the Greek text. I check genders (male, female, and neuter) via the Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002). My historical training tells me that before I can interpret a document in context, I must know what the document says.
Romans 8:18-30, from which we extract 8:18-25, tells of the renewal of all things. In the midst of suffering, the future glory of the human race in God still awaits. The renewal of creation itself awaits. The sufferings are birth pangs. Meanwhile, Christians must wait with patience and expectation.
For obvious reasons, I leave comments about birth pangs to women who have given birth.
St. Paul the Apostle understood suffering for Christ. St. Paul the Apostle mustered optimism in dark times, by grace. This has always astounded me. I, having endured suffering less severe than that of St. Paul the Apostle, have found depression and pessimism instead.
I write this post during dark times for the world. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage around the world. Authoritarian forces endanger representative governments around the world. Polarization has increased to the point that opposite camps have their own facts. (Objective reality be damned!) I have found more causes for depression and pessimism than for optimism.
Yet St. Paul the Apostle, speaking to us down the corridors of time, tells us that these are birth pangs of a better world. I hope that is correct. I pray that these are not birth pangs of a dystopia.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 18, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JACQUES ELLUL, FRENCH REFORMED THEOLOGIAN AND SOCIOLOGIST
THE FEAST OF SAINT CELESTINE V, BISHOP OF ROME
THE FEAST OF SAINT DUNSTAN OF CANTERBURY, ABBOT OF GLASTONBURY AND ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
THE FEAST OF GEORG GOTTFRIED MULLER, GERMAN-AMERICAN MORAVIAN MINISTER AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF SAINT IVO OF KERMARTIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ATTORNEY, PRIEST, AND ADVOCATE FOR THE POOR
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Adapted from this post
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This is post #2750 of BLOGA THEOLOGICA.
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Above: Jeremiah
Image in the Public Domain
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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)
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Jeremiah 20:7-13
Psalm 69:1-20 (LBW) or Psalm 91 (LW)
Romans 5:12-15
Matthew 10:24-33
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O God our defender,
storms rage about us and cause us to be afraid.
Rescue your people from despair,
deliver your sons and daughters from fear,
and preserve us all from unbelief;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 25
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O Lord, whose gracious presence never fails to guide
and govern those whom you have nurtured
in your steadfast love and worship,
make us ever revere and adore your holy name;
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), 66
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Following God is frequently a guarantee that one will experience rejection, often from devout people. The Golden Rule exists in most of the world’s religions. Yet, O reader, practice the Golden Rule and notice how much criticism you receive from some adherents to some of these religions, including your own.
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
Faith has the power to transform people. Religion often reinforces positive and negative tendencies people have. God or a deity frequently functions as a justification for what one wants to do anyway. People often create God in their image.
Jeremiah did not create God in his image. The Weeping Prophet struggled with God, complaining while obeying. The authors of the assigned texts from the Hebrew Bible wrote of divine protection. Divine protection kept Jeremiah alive yet did not prevent his involuntary exile in Egypt. And Jesus died horribly via crucifixion.
Martyrs populate Christian calendars of saints. This is consistent with various sayings of Jesus from the canonical Gospels. Commandments to deny oneself, take up one’s cross, and follow Jesus dovetail with Matthew 10:24:
No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master.
—The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)
Yet, in sovereignty, God makes unjust suffering work for a positive end. Persecutions and martyrdoms water the church. Redemption comes via the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Often, social injustice prompts a backlash in favor of social justice. The New Testament depicts the violent, oppressive Roman Empire as an involuntary tool of God. God works with what is available.
As much as I enjoy forces of evil functioning involuntarily as agents of God, I assert that being a voluntary agent of God is superior. I try to be one of these voluntary agents of God. To the extent I succeed, I do so by grace. May you, O reader, succeed by grace, in that effort, too.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 4, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT CEFERINO JIMENEZ MALLA, SPANISH ROMANI MARTYR, 1936
THE FEAST OF ANGUS DUN, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF WASHINGTON, AND ECUMENIST
THE FEAST OF SAINT BASIL MARTYSZ, POLISH ORTHODOX PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1945
THE FEAST OF SAINT JEAN-MARTIN MOYË, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MISSIONARY IN CHINA, AND FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE AND THE CHRISTIAN VIRGINS
THE FEAST OF SAINTS JOHN HOUGHTON, ROBERT LAWRENCE, AUGUSTINE WEBSTER, HUMPHREY MIDDLEMORE, WILLIAM EXMEW, AND SEBASTIAN NEWDIGATE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, 1535
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Adapted from this post
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Above: The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
Image in the Public Domain
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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)
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Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:1-5, 9-16 (LBW) or Psalm 92 (LW)
Philippians 2:5-11
Matthew 26:1-27:66 or Matthew 27:11-54
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Almighty God, you sent your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ,
to take our flesh upon him and to suffer death on the cross.
Grant that we may share in his obedience to your will
and in the glorious victory of his resurrection;
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), 19
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Almighty and everlasting God the Father,
who sent your Son to take our nature upon him
and to suffer death on the cross
that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility,
mercifully grant that we may both follow
the example of our Savior Jesus Christ in his patience
and also have our portion in his resurrection;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Worship (1982), 39
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In context, Isaiah 50:4-9a is an odd lection to read on this Sunday. The speaker–the prophet/servant (Second Isaiah)–is pious yet merely human, therefore, sinful. He believes that the suffering of the exiles during the Babylonian Exile has been justified. Yet he also anticipates the divine vindication of that exiled population, for the glory of God. Applying this reading to sinless Jesus (who suffered an unjust execution as an innocent man) requires astounding theological gymnastics.
The hymn St. Paul the Apostle quoted back to the Philippian Christians in the 50s C.E. indicates something about the development of Christology by that time. One may wonder how old the human was when St. Paul quoted it. One may keep wondering, for one has no way of knowing. Yet one may know that the time from which it originated was at or near the dawn of Christianity.
Palm Sunday functions as the Reader’s Digest version of Holy Week through Good Friday in many churches. It does on the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship lectionary. So be it. With that in mind, I invite you, O reader, to ponder the injustice of what Jesus suffered during Holy Week. I also encourage you to place yourself inside the narrative and to ask yourself who you would have been in the story. Depending on your honest answer, you may have uncovered a sin (or sins) of which to repent.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 29, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF CHARLES VILLERS SANFORD, COMPOSER, ORGANIST, AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF DORA GREENWELL, POET AND DEVOTIONAL WRITER
THE FEAST OF JOHN KEBLE, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND POET
THE FEAST OF SAINTS JONAS AND BARACHISIUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, 327
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Adapted from this post
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Above: Icon of the Beatitudes
Image in the Public Domain
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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)
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Micah 6:1-8
Psalm 1
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Matthew 5:1-12
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O God, you know that we cannot withstand
the dangers which surround us.
Strengthen us in body and spirit so that, with your help,
we may be able to overcome the weakness
that our sin has brought upon us;
through Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 16
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Almighty God,
you know that we are set among so many and great dangers
that by reason of the weakness of our fallen nature
we cannot always stand upright;
grant us your strength and protection to support us in all dangers
and carry us through all temptations;
through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Worship (1982), 25
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Sacred ritual is part of the Law of Moses. So are moral mandates regarding how people ought to treat each other. A sacred ritual is not a talisman. To treat it as such is to make a mockery of it.
“The man” of Psalm 1:1 is a student of the Torah. He, in the original cultural setting and in the Hebrew text, is a man. In my cultural setting, that role is no longer gender-specific, for the better. Certain details change, according to physical and temporal setting. Others remain constant, though, for better or worse. For example, “the man” of Psalm 1:1 is stable. The language of positions in Psalm 1:1 is interesting. “The man” contrasts with the impious, who are in motion–walking, following, and standing–before finally sitting down in the seat of scoffers. True stability exists in God alone.
The readings from the New Testament tell us that divine values differ from dominant human values. Conventional wisdom may get some details right. After all, a broken clock is right twice a day. Yet conventional wisdom tends to be foolishness. The ethics of the Beatitudes, for example, look like folly to “the world.”
Micah 6 contrasts with what God has done with what people have done, collectively. The Bible frequently concerns itself with collective actions and inactions. My Western culture, with its individualistic emphasis, does not know how to comprehend collective guilt, sin, and repentance. Yet the Bible does. Mutuality, not individualism, is a Biblical virtue. Remember, O reader, that in three of the four readings for this Sunday, the emphasis is on “we,” not “me.” Furthermore, “we” and “me” coexist in Psalm 1.
The emphasis on “we” terrifies me. I may try to follow God daily, to practice the Golden Rule, et cetera. Yet I also belong to a community, a culture, a society, a nation-state, and a species. The sins of others may cause me to suffer because of my group memberships–community, culture, society, nation-state, and species. Recall, O reader, that the population in Micah 6 addressed included pious people. Remember, O reader, that not all Christians in Corinth were querulous jerks.
Ponder, O reader, how we–the “we” of wherever you live–can improve relative to Micah 6:8. How can “we” do justice, love goodness, and walk modestly with God?
THE FEAST OF SAINTS MIROCLES OF MILAN AND EPIPHANIUS OF PAVIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ALBAN ROE AND THOMAS REYNOLDS, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS, 1642
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN YI YON-ON, ROMAN CATHOLIC CATECHIST AND MARTYR IN KOREA, 1867
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Adapted from this post
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Above: The Parable of the (Barren) Fig Tree, by Jan Luyken
Image in the Public Domain
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READING LUKE-ACTS, PART XXXIII
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Luke 13:1-9
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Some people never learn from the Book of Job. Suffering does not necessarily result from one’s sin. Some people sound more like Job’s alleged friends than Job himself. Even God, in the Book of Job, criticizes the alleged friends and says they spoke inaccurately. Yet some people never learn from the Book of Job.
Luke 13 opens with misinterpretations of the the deliberate killing of rebellious civilians (on the orders of Pontius Pilate) and the accidental deaths after the collapse of the Tower of Siloam, Jerusalem. We read of Jesus scotching those misinterpretations. We also read of Christ moving the metaphor from physical death to spiritual death.
The Parable of the (Barren) Fig Tree emphasizes (a) the value of each sinner, and (b) the importance of repentance. One may wonder why the “certain man” had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. Perhaps he liked fig trees. Jesus is the vinedresser who urges the vineyard owner (God) to give the unproductive fig tree another chance. But will the fig tree ever bear figs?
The fig tree stands for a struggling sinner. Divine judgment and mercy exist in balance. God is patient, but not infinitely so. Sooner or later, the fig tree must bear figs, or else. This is a parable about repentance, divine forbearance, and human procrastination. So, as I like to tell people, procrastinate later.
JANUARY 8, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT THORFINN OF HAMAR, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF A. J. MUSTE, DUTCH-AMERICAN MINISTER, LABOR ACTIVIST, AND PACIFIST
THE FEAST OF ARCANGELO CORELLI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF NICOLAUS COPERNICUS AND GALILEO GALILEI, SCIENTISTS
THE FEAST OF HARRIET BEDELL, EPISCOPAL DEACONESS AND MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF SAINT PEPIN OF LANDEN, SAINT ITTA OF METZ, THEIR RELATIONS, AND SAINTS AMAND, AUSTREGISILUS, AND SULPICIUS II OF BOURGES, FAITHFUL CHRISTIANS ACROSS GENERATIONAL LINES
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Above: St. John the Baptist
Image in the Public Domain
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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)
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Isaiah 35:1-10
Psalm 146
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11
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Almighty God, you once called John the Baptist
to give witness to the coming of your Son and to prepare his way.
Grant us, your people, the wisdom to see your purpose today
and the openness to hear your will,
that we may witness to Christ’s coming and so prepare his way;
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), 13
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Almighty God, through John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ,
you once proclaimed salvation;
now grant that we may know this salvation and serve you
in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Worship (1982), 13
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If I seem like a proverbial broken record, I am. I am like a proverbial broken record because the Bible is one on many points. In this case, the point is the balance of divine judgment and mercy. Divine judgment on the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire in Isaiah 34 balances divine mercy (via a second exodus) in Isaiah 35. Divine mercy on the faithful balances divine judgment on princes in Psalm 146. Jesus is simultaneously the judge and the advocate in James 5:7-10. Despite divine faithfulness to the pious, some (such as St. John the Baptist, in Matthew 11) suffer and die for their piety. Then God judges the oppressors.
The twin stereotypes of the Hebrew Bible being about judgment and the New Testament being about grace are false. Judgment and mercy balance each other in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.
The inclusion of the fate of St. John the Baptist in Advent reminds us that he was the forerunner of Christ in more than one way. About two weeks before December 25, one may prefer not to read or hear such a sad story. Yet we all need to recall that Christmas commemorates the incarnation of Jesus, who suffered, died, then rose. Advent and Christmas are bittersweet. This is why Johann Sebastian Bach incorporated the Passion Chorale into his Christmas Oratorio. This is why one can sing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” to the same tune (EASTER HYMN).
God is active in the world. So are evil and misguided forces, unfortunately. Evil, in the Biblical sense, rejects dependence on God. Evil says:
If God exists, God does not care. Everyone is on his or her own in this world. The ends justify the means.
Evil is amoral. The misguided may be immoral, at best. The results of amorality and immorality may frequently be identical. Yet God remains constant.
That God is constant may constitute good news or bad news, depending on one’s position.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 7, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF FRANÇOIS FÉNELON, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF CAMBRAI
THE FEAST OF SAINT ALDRIC OF LE MANS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF LE MANS
THE FEAST OF JEAN KENYON MACKENZIE, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARY IN WEST AFRICA
THE FEAST OF LANZA DEL VASTO, FOUNDER OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE ARK
THE FEAST OF SAINT LUCIAN OF ANTIOCH, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 312
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM JONES, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND MUSICIAN
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Adapted from this post
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Above: The Celestial City and the River of Bliss, by John Martin
Image in the Public Domain
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READING REVELATION, PART XV
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Revelation 21:1-22:5
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God’s creative destruction finally complete, the fully-realized Kingdom of God may arrive. The language of the Kingdom of God in the New Testament is simultaneously present tense and future tense. The partially-realized Kingdom of God is here and has been here for a long time. Yet much remains to come.
In Revelation 21:1-22:5, finite language speaks of infinite grace and a new world order. Death, grief, pain, chaos, and other causes of suffering are no more. The New Jerusalem is a new, renewed creation. It is paradise restored, after Genesis 3. Mythological language, best suited to describe the fully-realized Kingdom of God.
Presbyterian minister Ernest Lee Stoffel, writing in The Dragon Bound: The Revelation Speaks to Our Time (1981), proposed:
The re-creating power of Christ’s suffering love is time-less. The reign of Christ’s suffering love is time-less. The re-creating power of suffering love can happen “in time” and “beyond time.”
–103
He was, I suppose, channeling C. H. Dodd’s Realized Eschatology–the Kingdom of God does not come; it is. God is time-less. Our perspectives are time-bound, however. Therefore, certain events make the reality of the Kingdom of God more evident than before.
I recognize much of merit in the case Dodd made. Maybe the temporal perspective of this student of the past is too strong for Realized Eschatology to satisfy me fully. Nevertheless, I admit that my point of view is limited.
Stoffel’s case makes much sense. In Genesis 1:1, God began to create. God continues to create. God continues to re-create.
That satisfies me fully.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 20, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF PHILIP SCHAFF AND JOHN WILLIAMSON NEVIN, U.S. GERMAN REFORMED HISTORIANS, THEOLOGIANS, AND LITURGISTS
THE FEAST OF FRIEDRICH FUNCKE, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, COMPOSER, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JAMES W. C. PENNINGTON, AFRICAN-AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST AND PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, EDUCATOR, AND ABOLITIONIONIST
THE FEAST OF JOHN HARRIS BURT, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF OHIO, AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST
THE FEAST OF MARY A. LATHBURY, U.S. METHODIST HYMN WRITER
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Above: The Adoration of the Lamb
Image in the Public Domain
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READING REVELATION, PART IX
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Revelation 4:1-5:14
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One of the advantages of apocalyptic literature, politically subversive and treasonous in the context of the days of the Roman Empire, was that Roman imperial censors could not understand it. How would a censor have interpreted the beginning of Revelation 4, for example? He may have given up quickly, in frustration.
Without getting lost in the symbolism and numerology, one can grasp that this is a scene of divine judgment. All created things, as well as all people of faith in the Old and New Testaments, are near yet separated from the throne of God. Mercy tempers divine judgment. The audience praises God.
Holy, holy, holy is God the sovereign Lord of all, who was, and is, and is to come!
–Revelation 4:8b, The Revised English Bible (1989)
God was worthy to receive glory, honor, and power in 4:11. Jesus–the lamb–was worthy to receive the scroll and break its seals in 5:9-10.
Presbyterian minister Ernest Lee Stoffel offered this analysis:
What is this really saying? I believe it is saying that the suffering love of God is the key that will help us live with our suffering and with ourselves. There is something in the universe that has not been defeated by pain and evil and sin. That something is the crucified love of the Creator….
Revelation is saying that faith does have some place to go. And God knows we need some place to go–some live option of faith….
And I think it must also be said that even those Christians of the first century did not see the heavens opened. But they accepted this option of faith and died with it. They believed that the love of God, not Rome, would have the victory. The other option is to live without meaning or purpose, it seems to me. In the meantime, it means that I may not be delivered from it, but I can be delivered through, by the suffering of him who died, but is “alive for evermore” (1:18).
—The Dragon Bound: The Revelation Speaks to Our Time (1981), 43-45
One may lose oneself in sacred music (such as Worthy is the Lamb) based on parts of these chapters. One should do so. Doing so may prove easier than really believing that the love of God, not (insert the name of an oppressive earthly power here) will have the victory. I consider myself fairly devout, and I harbor doubts sometimes. How could I not?
Nevertheless, in the words of Soorp Soorp, from the liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Church:
Holy, Lord of hosts.
Heaven and Earth are full of Thy glory.
Blessing in the highest.
Blessed art Thou that didst come and art to come in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Amen.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 14, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS CALLIXTUS I, ANTERUS, AND PONTIAN, BISHOPS OF ROME; AND SAINT HIPPOLYTUS, ANTIPOPE
THE FEAST OF JEAN-BAPTISTE LAMY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO
THE FEAST OF SAINT ROMAN LYSKO, UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1949
THE FEAST OF SAMUEL ISAAC JOSEPH SCHERESCHEWSKY, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF SHANGHAI, AND BIBLICAL TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF THOMAS HANSEN KINGO, DANISH LUTHERAN BISHOP, HYMN WRITER, AND “POET OF EASTERTIDE”
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READING THE GENERAL EPISTLES, PART II
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James 1:1-27
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This is pure religion, and undefiled before our God and Father, to look after orphans and widows in their affliction, and ever to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
–James 1:27, Helen Barrett Montgomery, Centenary Translation of the New Testament (1924)
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That verse concludes the first chapter and sets up the second chapter. Textual context is crucial. I will work my way through the first chapter.
- Verse 1 names the author as “James,” presumably St. James of Jerusalem (d. 62 C.E.). This is a pseudonymonous ascription, a common practice in Biblical times.
- There is wordplay in the original Greek text in verses 1 and 2. Verse 1 reads, in part, “Greetings,” literally, “Be joyful,” or “Rejoice.” Verse 2 reads, in part, “Regard it as a complete joy.”
- Verse 1 identifies the audience as Jewish diaspora Christians.
- Rejoicing in “various trials” (verses 2-12) requires grace, which suffices.
- The theme of attitudes toward wealth and status debuts in verse 9. It recurs later in the first chapter and the book.
- During trials, remain anchored in God (verse 6) for stability.
- God does not tempt us (verses 13-18). Times of trial, therefore, are not temptations God has sent.
- Unrighteous anger (as opposed to righteous anger) is dangerous to oneself and others. It also belies true religion. The Law of Love works against unrighteous anger. Grace liberates us to be our best possible selves in God (verses 19-25).
- The use of speech and writing manifests both positive and negative tendencies. Taming one’s words, whether spoken or written, is essential (verse 26). Ergo, true religion is to care for the vulnerable and to reject secular standards of success and status, grounded in power and wealth.
More about language and the control of it will ensue in a subsequent chapter.
Impious deeds must not belie pious words. In Jewish terms, God is like what one has done and does. Likewise, we mere mortals are like what we have done to the extent that we continue to commit those deeds.
I, as a student of history, understand that I cannot always determine the motivation of a group or an individual. I can, however, point to what a group or an individual did, said, did not say, and did not do. That information frequently leads to a moral evaluation, and renders the lack of information about motivation irrelevant.
Political-social context is crucial. Commentaries inform me that the Epistle of James targeted religious prophets of doom–political agitators who imagined they could hasten God’s righteous judgment. One may understand why such people were perilous when the Church was young and small, albeit growing. One may grasp that such agitators attracted unwelcome imperial attention. The Epistle of James favors constructive, counter-cultural morality (as in the Beatitudes), not agitation that threatened to bring the imperium down upon the Church.
I, as a student of history, know that religious communities who have practiced James 1:27 have frequently incurred the wrath of governments and the scorn of societies, however. I think immediately of the Quakers, the Amish, the Mennonites, and the Hutterites, for example. Governments often react badly when they go to war, and when pacifistic dissenters refuse to cooperate.
James 1:27 also cautions against becoming enmeshed in unholy intrigues. This theme unfolds in subsequent chapters, too.
How do you, O reader, think of “the world”? Do you identify it as Satan’s domain? Or do you think of it as your neighborhood, for which you are partially responsible? God–in both the Old and New Testaments–mandates that the people of God transform the world, not give up on it and seek to flee from it. The people of God have divine marching orders to be a light to the nations and to function as salt. Confronting evil is part of that mandate. Telling the truth is essential. Consult the record of the prophets and Jesus, O reader.
Offering a positive alternative is also crucial.
Mutuality informed the Law of Moses, the examples of the Hebrew prophets, the lived and uttered teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, and the culturally-specific writings of the New Testament. These sages knew what many moderns never learned or have forgotten–that whatever one does to others, one does to oneself. They grasped that human beings are responsible to and for each other, under God. These sages understood the importance of orthopraxy, grounded in an inseparable from orthodoxy.
Reading these ancient texts in historical, cultural, and political contexts tells us what they originally meant. Then we can properly apply these texts to our contemporary situations.
I write these words during the COVID-19 pandemic. I witness the economic disparities the pandemic has made worse. I see needless suffering. I notice that many people have fallen though the cracks in the social safety net. I witness cynical, opportunistic, fearful, and selfish people refusing to do what is necessary and proper to take care of each other, especially those too young to get vaccinated. I also notice much shameful behavior (such as I have described in this paragraph) coming from self-identified Christians.
Lord Jesus, save me from your followers!
Timeless principles may seem vague. This is why the Bible includes many culturally-specific examples of them. In that spirit, I offer a new, updated version of James 1:27, just for these times:
Pure, undefiled religion, in the eyes of God our Father, during this pandemic, is this: getting vaccinated when eligible (unless one has a legitimate medical reason not to do so), wearing masks, practicing social distancing, coming to the help of the elderly, the young, and those with compromised immune systems. It is living in accordance with the Golden Rule and the Lukan Beatitudes.
How is that for a sound and a radical standard?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF HENRI NOUWEN, DUTCH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND SPIRITUAL WRITER
THE FEAST OF ELIZABETH KENNY, AUSTRALIAN NURSE AND MEDICAL PIONEER
THE FEAST OF JOHN COLERIDGE PATTESON, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF MELANESIA, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS, 1871
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIE THERESE OF SAINT JOSEPH, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE CARMELITE SISTERS OF THE DIVINE HEART OF JESUS
THE FEAST OF NELSON TROUT, FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN LUTHERAN BISHOP
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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