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 and His Disciples

Image in the Public Domain

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Genesis 3:9-15

Psalm 61:2-5, 8 (LBW) or Psalm 28 (LW)

2 Corinthians 4:13-18

Mark 3:20-35

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O God, the strength of those who hope in you: 

Be present and hear our prayers;

and, because in the weakness of our mortal nature

we can do nothing good without you,

give us the help of your grace,

so that in keeping your commandments

we may please you in will and deed,

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 24

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O God, from whom all good proceeds,

grant to us, your humble servants,

that by your holy inspiration we may think the things that are right

and by your merciful guiding accomplish them;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 64

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In the great mythology of Genesis 3, the knowledge of good and evil is not intellectualized and academic.  No, this is lived knowledge.  One can have this knowledge of good and evil only by performing good and evil.  The consequences for humans include the inevitable estrangement from God, who had required only obedience.  This estrangement from God is the opposite of what we read in the selected psalms and in the epistle lection.  In Christian terms, the point of the Incarnation and the Atonement is to reverse that estrangement.  Thus, as one can read in the Epistle to the Ephesians, Christ breaks down the walls of estrangement have from each other.  Nevertheless, O reader, as you may observe, even Christians rebuild these walls of estrangement and separation.  How ironic is that tendency?

The lection from Mark 3 brings us to the topic of the unpardonable sin.  The textual context is invaluable in understanding the unpardonable sin–blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.  The context of the inability to discern between good and evil–in this case, manifested in attributing the deeds of Jesus to an alliance with Satan–indicates estrangement from God.  This estrangement is of human origin.  Those who, for any reason, persist in this estrangement from God cut themselves off from God, who reaches out to them.  Many of them may not know of their estrangement from God.

In textual context of the Gospel of Mark, we can read 3:1-6, in which Jesus scandalously healed a man with a withered hand in a synagogue on the sabbath.  That story tells us that some conventionally pious people–other Jews–sought to accuse Jesus of violating the Sabbath for healing that unfortunate man on that day.  In Mark 3:1-6, all the educators are Jewish, so we read of an intra-Jewish dispute.  Verse 5 tells us that Jesus felt anger toward those accusers and grieved their hardness of heart.  Verse 6 informs us that plotting for the death of Jesus ensued immediately.  So, Mark 3:20-35 plays out in the context of a conspiracy to kill Jesus–in the name of God, of course.

Religion–regardless of its label–is what adherents make of it.  If one seeks justification for killing people, one can find it.  One may have to distort that religion to locate that mandate or permission slip, but seeking usually culminates in finding.  And if one is prone to being merciful and compassionate, one can find justification for that in religion, too.  As David Bentley Hart astutely and correctly observes, there is no such thing as generic religion.

In Mark 3, the religion is Second Temple Judaism.  The existence of capital offenses in the Law of Moses is a fact.  Yet so are cultural considerations of antiquity relative to the first century of the Common Era.  Lest we Christians rush to judgment against Judaism, the Law of Moses, or those conspiring Pharisees and Herodians, may we not neglect the logs in our proverbial eyes and the violent sins of our tradition.  We have the blood of victims of crusades, inquisitions, pogroms, and wars of religion on our collective hands.  David Bentley Hart contextualizes this violent past by (a) explaining that the drivers of it were usually political, and (b) that the religious moral vision exposes the sinfulness of such violence.  That is a nuance–one worth considering while never minimizing the devastation of such violence.

Lambasting long-dead Pharisees and Herodians is easy.  Condemning long-dead Christians for killing in the name of Jesus (himself executed horribly) requires minimal moral effort, too.  But think, O reader:  Is there someone whose death you would cheer?  Have you ever applauded anyone’s execution, murder, or any other mode of death?  If so, are you any different from those whom you deplore for plotting or committing violence, especially in the name of God?  If so, you may be estranged from God.  This estrangement need not persist, though.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 3, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTY-FIFTH DAY OF LENT

MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK

THE FEAST OF LUTHER D. REED, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND LITURGIST

THE FEAST OF SAINTS BURGENDOFARA AND SADALBERGA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESSES, AND THEIR RELATIVES

THE FEAST OF MARC SAGNIER, FOUNDER OF THE SILION MOVEMENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARY OF EGYPT, HERMIT AND PENITENT

THE FEAST OF REGINALD HEBER, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF CALCUTTA, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SIDNEY LOVETT, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND CHAPLAIN OF YALE UNIVERSITY

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Adapted from this post

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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:  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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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART XLIV

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Psalms 58, 59, 140, and 141

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Psalms 58, 59, 140, and 141 are similar; they emphasize justice and honesty.  Prayers that the wicked will suffer the consequences of their actions also exist in all four texts.

The concepts of justice and righteousness require explanation in Biblical terms.  The two terms are interchangeable.  Also, righteousness denotes right relationship with God, self, others, and all creation.  So, O reader, I disagree when I read Psalm 58:11a (Robert Alter):

The just man rejoices when vengeance he sees….

Justice and righteousness may be interchangeable, but vengeance is neither just nor righteous.  Justice may entail punishment, but never revenge.

The superscription of Psalm 59 links that text to 1 Samuel 19:11, in which Michal helped David, her husband, escape from men whom her father, King Saul, had sent to kill David.  The superscription is dubious, for:

1. Psalm 59, in the form in which we have it, is the product of authors and editors.  The content and the style are inconsistent.
2. Psalm 59 refers to both individual and national foes, including “all the nations” (vers 6, Jewish versification).
3. If we accept Robert Alter’s hypothesis, physical violence may be a metaphor for slander (verse 13, Jewish versification).

Psalm 59 likens the foes to a pack of wild dogs.  This reference comes from a cultural context in which dogs were unclean animals, not beloved pets.  The “dogs” of Psalm 59 are aggressive evildoers.  They are also arrogant and never satisfied.

Yet God is the haven of targeted righteous and the falsely accused.

The emphasis on honest speech is an evergreen issue, for it never ceases to be relevant.  It may be more important in the age of social media and the Internet.  Technology accelerates the speed of character assassination and the spread of lies and inaccurate information.  So, the prayer that slanderers will have no place in the land becomes more urgent with the march of time and the progress of technology.

A related issue is the spread of inaccurate information–not necessarily lies.  A lie is an intentional deception.  So, one may spread objectively false information while believing that it is true and accurate.  This matter is a major problem in the age of “alternative facts.”  A person’s motivation and perception filters aside,

the proof of the pudding is in the eating,

to quote an old saying.  Objective reality is what it is, regardless of what anyone thinks about it.  “Fake news” is objectively inaccurate information, not whatever is accurate and true yet politically inconvenient for a person, for example.

Discerning the liars and slanderers from the deluded fools may prove difficult sometimes.  The consequences of their words may be the same, though.

By grace, may we speak the truth, honestly.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 18, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE CONFESSION OF SAINT PETER THE APOSTLE

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART XI

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Psalm 12

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I write this post in politically perilous times.  A vocal element of the body politic in the United States of America–my homeland–is openly authoritarian and fascistic in its inclination.  Some elected members of the United States Congress support Russia in its war against the people of Ukraine and with that the insurrection of January 6, 2021, had succeeded.  They say so openly.  Antisemitism is more commonplace and edging back into the political mainstream.  So is its equally vile cousin, Christian Nationalism, laced with racism.

Words matter in the Bible.  Mythology tells us that God spoke the created order into existence (Genesis 1).  The Law of Moses condemns bearing false witness.  The penalty for perjury in the Law of Moses is to suffer the same fate one would have had the innocent person suffer.  Psalm 12 condemns those with slippery and slick language–those with pernicious speech and flattering words.  The imagery of cutting off lips and cutting off tongues is vivid in Psalm 12.  This may disturb a reader, but, in context, those lips and tongues form words that serve as a weapon or an army for the wicked.

Poetry is poetry, of course.  I oppose maiming anyone, especially in the name of God.  Neither does this text favor maiming any person.  Psalm 12 uses shocking language to attract attention.  Shocking and sometimes inexact language is a rhetorical tool commonplace in the prophetic books and the Book of Psalms.

Words matter.  Just as God, mythologically, spoke creation into existence, our words–in oral and written forms–help to shape our circumstances and those of others.  This is why libel and slander are offenses that lead to court cases.  This is why language that provokes violence falls outside the bounds of constitutional protection.  This why if I were to engage in speech that led to someone’s needless injury or death, I would be criminally liable.  I am a nice person who tries to keep faith with objective reality and live peaceably with others individuals in community, fortunately.

We ought to interpret Psalm 12 in the context of mutuality, a virtue hardwired into the Old and New Testaments.  We human beings, who depend entirely upon God, depend upon each other, too.  We are interdependent.  We have responsibilities to and for each other.  So, slick, slippery, and pernicious speech endangers the common good.  Those who engage in such speech may be self-serving, but they also endanger themselves.  The common good is their good, also.

May your words, O reader, build up the common good.  And may you oppose those whose words endanger the common good.  The love of God and your neighbors compels such attitudes and actions.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 24, 2022 COMMON ERA

CHRISTMAS EVE:  THE LAST DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR A

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART III

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Psalm 3

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Psalm 3 is a first; it is the first psalm “of David.”  “Of David” may carry one of three meanings:

1. David wrote it,
2. Someone else wrote it and attributed it to David, or
3. Someone else wrote in the style of David.

Given the frequent, later tacking on attributions in the Book of Psalms and elsewhere in the Bible, (2) and (3) are the most feasible options.

For the sake of thoroughness, though, I note that the story of Absalom’s rebellion is in 2 Samuel 15-19.

The psalmist, under threat from many violent foes, prayed for divine deliverance.  He prayed that God would

break the teeth of the wicked,

as if God had already done so.  These were the same teeth through which the same wicked people had declared that God would not deliver the psalmist.  Alternatively, the psalmist imagined how King David must have felt then written accordingly.

Psalm 3 affirms human dependence on God, that the reality of God shapes human identity and destiny. This understanding contradicts a cultural norm in North American Christianity, infected with individualism and self-reliance.

God helps those who help themselves

comes from Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac, not the Bible.  A seminary professor I heard speak jokes that such sayings allegedly from the Bible come from the First Book of the Babylonians.

The petition for divine, avenging violence is common in the Book of Psalms.  It is also common in human beings.  Yet may none of us forget that God loves us and our enemies.  Nevertheless, deliverance for the oppressed may prove catastrophic for the oppressors.  We may understandably weep for victims of the Third Reich and not shed one tear for any Nazi.  And I, as a student of history with a strong social conscience, read accounts of violent and rebellious slaves.  I always side with the slaves, forced into a corner.  I never shed one tear for the White people who died in such rebellions and other rebellious acts.  I affirm that such violence was part of the price White people paid for maintaining slavery.  Besides, I favor the underdogs and the oppressed every time.

One brutalized slave who escaped to freedom in British North America before the Civil War offered his thoughts in writing.  He had been the property of a Baptist deacon who had beaten him often.  The slave had seized his opportunity to pursue freedom when the deacon died.  The former slave wrote that he did not know if the deacon had gone to Heaven or Hell.  The ex-slave wrote that he (the former slave) hoped to go to the other place in death.  The former slave’s hostility toward the bastard who had owned him was understandable.

Some people are sympathetic; others are not.  Chickens do come home to roost, too.  Some people are so unsympathetic as to be morally monstrous.  But God loves them, too.  And if their worst fate is suffering the smashing of their teeth, they get off lightly.

Such people could have turned out differently.  Something went horribly wrong; they took a wrong turn and headed down a destructive path.  They may even have done so with good intentions, the paving stones of the road to Hell.

So, how can each of us avoid such a path?  We all have moral blind spots.  We all carry assumptions, some of which are erroneous.  The short answer to my question is grace.  Yet, if I say,

There but for the grace of God go I,

I err.  If I commit that error, I imply that others lack grace.

Here, as when pondering the Book of Job, I rebel against pat answers to difficult questions.  I am the hero of my own story.  Nevertheless, someone, somewhere, may think of me as a villain.  Reality is what it is; objective reality exists.  Perceptions are subjective, of course.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 9, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAINT LIBORIUS WAGNER, GERMAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1631

THE FEAST OF DAVID BRÜNING, U.S. GERMAN EVANGELICAL MINISTER, HYMNAL WRITER, AND HYMN TUNE COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF GEORGE JOB ELVEY, ANGLICAN COMPOSER AND ORGANIST

THE FEAST OF JOHN ZUNDEL, GERMAN-AMERICAN ORGANIST, HYMNAL EDITOR, HYMN TUNE COMPOSER, AND MUSIC EDITOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT PETER FOURIER, “THE GOOD PRIEST OF MATTAINCOURT;” AND SAINT ALIX LE CLERC, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATON OF NOTRE DAME OF CANONESSES REGULAR OF SAINT AUGUSTINE

THE FEAST OF THOMAS MERTON, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MONK, AND SPIRITUAL WRITER

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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:  Jeremiah

Image in the Public Domain

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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.

—Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

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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READING LUKE-ACTS, PART LXXI

Above:  St. Paul

Image in the Public Domain

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Acts 21:17-23:22

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St. Paul’s Third Missionary Journey spanned 53-58 C.E.  He was back in Jerusalem for Passover in 58 C.E.

St. Paul’s reputation preceded him.  He agreed to St. James of Jerusalem’s plan for damage control.  St. Paul accompanied four men to the Temple, where they made their Nazarite vows.  He also sponsored sacrifices, consistent with the Law of Moses.  This strategy failed.  A Jewish mob beat St. Paul outside the Temple.  They would have killed him had Roman soldiers not rescued him.  The mob’s cries of “Kill him!” echoed another mob’s cries of “Crucify him! Crucify him!” (Luke 23:21).

Notice the sympathetic portrayal of the Romans, O reader.  It is consistent with the Lucan motif of identifying good Roman officials even though Luke-Acts presents the Roman Empire as being at odds with God.  Alas, Luke-Acts presents the empire as being an unwitting tool of God sometimes.

St. Paul had impeccable Jewish credentials as well as Roman citizenship.  As a citizen, he had the legal right to appeal to the emperor.  This fact led him to Rome.

Roman soldiers had to save St. Paul from a Jewish conspiracy a second time.  The soldiers transferred him to Caesarea.

Keep in mind, O reader, that I have been writing this weblog for more than a decade.  During those years, I have made many opinions abundantly clear and repeated myself at least a zillion times, lest someone who reads a post without having read other posts or many other posts mistake me for someone who holds positions I find abhorrent.

For the sake of clarity, I repeat for time number zillion plus one that I reject and condemn anti-Semitism.  Really, I should not have to keep repeating myself in this matter and many other matters.  Yet I do, for even a dispassionate statement of objective historical reality may seem hateful to certain people.  I live in an age of ubiquitous hyper-sensitivity, which I find as objectionable as ubiquitous insensitivity.  I favor ubiquitous sensitivity instead.

As I keep repeating ad nauseum in this series, I have no interest in condemning long-dead people and resting on self-righteous laurels.  I may condemn long-dead people, but I refuse to stop there.  No, I examine myself spiritually and draw contemporary parallels, too.  Sacred violence is an oxymoron, regardless of who commits it.  And I should never approve of it.  Also, my Christian tradition has a shameful legacy of committing and condoning “sacred violence” against targets, including Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

By this point in the narrative, St. Paul was taking a circuitous route to Rome, to bear witness for Jesus there.  The Roman soldiers and officials, as well as the homicidal Jews of Jerusalem, were tools to get him to the imperial capital.

Ask yourself, O reader:  What would push you over the edge into homicidal tendencies?  Answer honestly.  Then take the answer to God in prayer and repent.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 2, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ALEXANDER OF ALEXANDRIA, PATRIARCH; AND SAINT ATHANASIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, PATRIARCH AND “FATHER OF ORTHODOXY”

THE FEAST OF CHARLES SILVESTER HORNE, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH HASSE, GERMAN-BRITISH MORAVIAN COMPOSER AND EDUCATOR

THE FEAST OF ELIAS BOUDINOT, IV, U.S. STATESMAN, PHILANTHROPIST, AND WITNESS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

THE FEAST OF JULIA BULKLEY CADY CORY, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT SIGISMUND OF BURGUNDY, KING; CLOTILDA, FRANKISH QUEEN; AND CLODOALD, FRANKISH PRINCE AND ABBOT

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READING LUKE-ACTS, PART LXVII

Above:  St. Paul the Apostle

Image in the Public Domain

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Acts 13:1-14:28

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Terminology and context matter.  A reading of Acts 13:1-14:28 reveals a few mentions of “the Jews.”  Recall, O reader, that Sts. (Joseph) Barnabas and Paul the Apostle were Jewish.  Remember, also, that many of the people they converted were Jews.  “The Jews,” therefore, refers to Jews hostile to Christianity–sometimes, violently so.

We have the same issue in the Gospel of John, a book with mostly Jewish characters and composed during a time of conflict between Jewish Americans and non-Christian Jews.  Another wrinkle in the Johannine Gospel, though, is that “the Judeans” may be the correct translation sometimes.

The hostility of “the Jews” toward Christian Jews and Sts. Paul and Barnabas, in particular, should inspire spiritual examination in the reader or listener.  I think of the shameful record of violence Christians have committed in the name of Christ against Jews, Muslims, other Christians, and other people.  I understand that I am not immune to the dark side of human nature.  How dare I fall into complacent self-righteousness and mistake myself for someone who would never commit or condone such an act, given different circumstances?

Such violence arises from hatred, which flows from fear, which comes from a lack of understanding.  Such violence also indicates the severity of the perceived threat Sts. Paul and Barnabas allegedly posed.

We also notice a pattern in evangelism–taking the message to the Jews first then to the pagans.  This is consistent with St. Paul’s outreach to Gentiles while including Jews in his mission.

For St. Paul, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus ended one epoch and inaugurated another one.  Therefore, in his mind, outreach to the Jewish population made sense.

We read of two miraculous works–a healing and a blinding.  I am happy for the man born crippled, for I rejoice in his healing.  Yet I cannot rejoice in the blinding of Elymas Magus (Bar-Jesus), a magician and a false prophet.  The physical blindness indicated spiritual blindness, mixed with fear of losing influence with Proconsul Sergius Paulus.

Perhaps the magician’s temporary blindness is a metaphor of the failure he and others like him have in blinding people to the course of God’s salvation.

–Robert W. Wall, in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 10 (2002), 190

A relevant matter is the name “Bar-Jesus.”  “Jesus” is simply “Joshua,” a common name.  Yet the irony of “Son of Joshua” opposing nascent Christianity is ironic.  We read that St. Paul described Bar-Jesus as

son of the devil

instead.  The implication here is that opposition to the Gospel was a moral failing.  We readers are supposed to recall the conflict between Jesus and Satan and evil spirits in the Gospel of Luke.  Also, we are supposed to contrast St. Paul, blinded on the road to Damascus, with Elymas/Bar-Jesus.

Speaking of the name “Bar-Jesus,” another rendering is “Bariesou,” similar to “Barieu,” or “wrongdoer.”

Luke-Acts dates to circa 85 C.E.  Recall, O reader, that Gentiles were the intended audience.  Consider, also, the rising tensions between Christians (both Jews and Gentiles) and non-Christian Jews at the time.  Read in context, we may reasonably guess how members of the original audience related Acts 13:1-14:28 to their lives.

This seems like an appropriate setting in which to repeat myself from previous posts:

1. Judaism at the time understood that God accepted righteous Gentiles.
2. Luke-Acts documented some Gentiles who had positive relationships with their local Jewish communities.
3. Intra-Jewish arguments occurred in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles.
4. Anti-Semitism has always been wrong.
5. Legalists have always distorted non-legalistic religions.

I have made these points in writing many times.  I tire of the necessity of repetition, but I feel obligated to commit it sometimes, just in case someone has missed all of the ten zillion times I have condemned anti-Semitism, for example.

Recall the Parable of the Mustard Seed, O reader.  The Kingdom of God is like a really big weed–an unwanted plant, by definition–derived from a tiny seed.  The Kingdom of God goes where it will.  I live in Georgia, so I understand the “kudzu theory” of the Kingdom of God.  This kingdom’s shape may not necessarily be what one expects, but the kingdom is present and tenacious.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 23, 2022 COMMON ERA

SATURDAY IN EASTER WEEK

THE FEAST OF TOYOHIKO KAGAWA, RENEWER OF SOCIETY AND PROPHETIC WITNESS IN JAPAN

THE FEAST OF MARTIN RINCKART, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT TERESA MARIA OF THE CROSS, FOUNDER OF THE CARMELITE SISTERS OF SAINT TERESA OF FLORENCE

THE FEAST OF WALTER RUSSELL BOWIE, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, SEMINARY PROFESSOR, AND HYMN WRITER

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READING LUKE-ACTS, PART LX

Above:  Saint Stephen, by Luis de Morales

Image in the Public Domain

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Acts 6:8-8:3

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…but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.

–Acts 6:10, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)

St. Stephen, one of the original seven deacons (Acts 6:1-7), had a simple job–to provide social services in the name of Christ.  Simply put, he, as a deacon, was supposed to provide the ancient equivalent of Meals on Wheels (Acts 6:2).  He died for his preaching, though.

Rather than focus on the reported contents of that fateful sermon, or on the politics of it circa 85 C.E. (when St. Luke composed the Acts of the Apostles), I choose other emphases:

1. St. Stephen’s martyrdom resembles the crucifixion of Jesus.  The servant is not greater than the master, after all.
2. We meet Saul of Tarsus, still a persecutor of the nascent Church.
3. We read of sacred violence, one the most egregious oxymorons.

Those who behave violently toward the nonviolent do not impress me.  I understand that violence is sometimes the lesser evil; I am a realist.  Yet I contend that violence is usually unnecessary.  Violence in defense of another person, other human beings, and oneself is necessary at times, sadly.  yet violence against the nonviolent is never morally justifiable.

Nevertheless, violence in the name of God, especially against the nonviolent, is a repeating theme in history.  I, as a Christian, regret that violence in the name of Jesus, crucified despite being innocent of the charges against him, is a dark stain in Christian history.  And I, as a citizen of the United States of America, know that my nation-state, not exempt from human nature, has a record of incarcerating and martyring pacifists during wartime.  My Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days (available at SUNDRY THOUGHTS) includes some of these martyrs.  I also know about the four Quakers the Puritan government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony executed for merely being Quakers.  My Ecumenical Calendar also lists these four martyrs.

The variety of theological certainty that, in one’s imagination, justifies violence against the nonviolent is morally unjustifiable.  Consider the Lucan presentation of the execution of Jesus, O reader.  Remember that the Lucan account emphasizes the innocence of Jesus, hence the injustice of his death.  We have a similar murder here, in Acts 7:54-60.

I, as a Christian, have an obligation to follow Jesus.  I do not recall the verse in which he called for smiting the heretics and evildoers.  That verse does not exist.  I do recall reading about Jesus dying for the heretics and evildoers, though.  And I remember reading about Jesus praying that God would forgive them.

As for pacifists, they are harmless at worst and beneficial at best.  If one disagrees with them, one has the right to do so.  Yet nobody has the moral right to harm them, to seek to harm them, or to consent to their harm.  Why not permit them to lead their nonviolent lives without harassment and persecution?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 15, 2022 COMMON ERA

GOOD FRIDAY

THE FEAST OF SAINT OLGA OF KIEV, REGENT OF KIEVAN RUSSIA; SAINT ADALBERT OF MAGDEBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; SAINT ADALBERT OF PRAGUE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND MARTYR, 997; AND SAINTS BENEDICT AND GAUDENTIUS OF POMERANIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, 997

THE FEAST OF SAINTS DAMIEN AND MARIANNE OF MOLOKAI, WORKERS AMONG LEPERS

THE FEAST OF SAINT FLAVIA DOMITILLA, ROMAN CHRISTIAN NOBLEWOMAN; AND SAINTS MARO, EUTYCHES, AND VICTORINUS OF ROME, PRIESTS AND MARTYRS, CIRCA 99

THE FEAST OF SAINT HUNNA OF ALSACE, THE “HOLY WASHERWOMAN”

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READING LUKE-ACTS, PART XXXV

Above:  Herod’s Gate, Jerusalem

Image in the Public Domain

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Luke 13:22-30

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Two prominent Lucan themes exist in this passage.  They are: (1) the inclusion of Gentiles, and (2) the reversal of fortune.

Consider the narrative context, O reader:  Jesus was en route to Jerusalem to die.  For all the mixed metaphors, 13:22-30 is about the Jewish rejection of Jesus and the inclusion of faithful Gentiles.  Judgment and mercy coexist in 13:22-30, and many people will be shocked that they do not pass through the narrow door or gate to enjoy the heavenly banquet.

I reject anti-Semitism, an unjustifiable Christian tradition.  Let us–you, O reader, and I–be clear about that as we move forward in this post.  And let us not take the easy way out in (mis)interpreting 13:22-30.

The ultimate message of caution is not to presume on grace.  Our efforts to obey God matter, as faithful response.  They are spiritual fruits.  Yet passage through the narrow gate depends on grace.  Many people exclude themselves by closing themselves to receiving grace.

Consider the context circa 85 C.E., O reader.  The Church was young, small, and growing.  Christianity was still a Jewish sect, albeit one with many Gentile members.  Tensions between Jewish Christians and non-Christian Jews were rising.  And many Christian Jews argued that Gentile Christians must convert to Judaism.  Judaism and Christianity were careening toward a schism, which occurred in 137 C.E., during the Second Jewish War.

The four canonical Gospels, which exist in the shadow of the First Jewish War, include the language of invective, often aimed at non-Christian Jews.  I admit that some of this may be historical in relation to Jesus clashing with religious authorities.  Co-religionists arguing remains a current practice, after all.  Yet I, trained in historical methodology, know that people recount the past through the lens of their present day–circa 85 C.E. for Luke-Acts.  Therefore, we read some circumstances circa 85 C.E. projected onto Jesus’s time.

Invective disturbs me.  Read in historical context, it makes sense.  One can dispassionately interpret invective, especially if one does not have a dog in the fight, so to speak.  Yet, read out of context, invective becomes justification for bigotry and violence, as in the case of Christian anti-Semitism.  I understand the link between centuries of Christian anti-Semitism and the Holocaust.

I dare not pretend to know who will enter through the narrow door or gate and who will not; I am not God.  Besides, not all people who profess of follow Jesus will make the cut anyway.  I do, however, notice a common thread in Covenantal Nomism (of Second Temple Judaism) and Luke 13:22-30:  Salvation is by grace, with the obligation to obey moral and ethical mandates.  Repeatedly and unrepentantly violating and disregarding those mandates leads to damnation.  God damns nobody, but people damn themselves

So, what are we supposed to make of grace?  In the U.S. South, we say that grace is like grits; it comes with everything.  (I dislike grits, by the way.)  I recall a t-shirt I wore until I washed it too many times.  It read:

GRACE HAPPENS.

BLOGA THEOLOGICA is a PG-related weblog, so I will not name what, in the vernacular, usually happens.  After that usual thing happens, grace happens.  Yet scripture keeps warning against behaving badly and presuming on grace; this is a theme in both Testaments.  Furthermore, as the the late Episcopal Bishop Henry Irving Louttit, Jr., said in my hearing:

Baptism is not fire insurance.

As for the Jews, I affirm that God’s covenant for them remains.  I, as a Gentile, come in via a second covenant.  Covenants are, by definition, about grace.  A covenant is not a contract; it is not a transactional relationship.

Grace is free yet not cheap.  Grace requires much of its recipients; they may even die because they fulfill these duties.  Grace also imposes the responsibility to extend grace to each other.  Saying and writing that last sentence is easy.  Living it is difficult, though.  But living grace is possible via grace.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 14, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MACRINA THE ELDER, HER FAMILY, AND SAINT GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS THE YOUNGER

THE FEAST OF ABBY KELLEY FOSTER AND HER HUSBAND, STEPHEN SYMONDS FOSTER, U.S. QUAKER ABOLITIONISTS AND FEMINISTS

THE FEAST OF EIVIND JOSEF BERGGRAV, LUTHERAN BISHOP OF OSLO, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND LEADER OF THE NORWEGIAN RESISTANCE DURING WORLD WAR II

THE FEAST OF KRISTEN KVAMME, NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF RICHARD MEUX BENSON, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND CO-FOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST; CHARLES CHAPMAN GRAFTON, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, CO-FOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST, AND BISHOP OF FOND DU LAC; AND CHARLES GORE, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF WORCESTER, BIRMINGHAM, AND OXFORD; FOUNDER OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE RESURRECTION; THEOLOGIAN; AND ADVOCATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND WORLD PEACE

THE FEAST OF SAVA I, FOUNDER OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH AND FIRST ARCHBISHOP OF SERBS

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