Devotion for Friday and Saturday Before the Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year C (ELCA Daily Lectionary)

Above:  Icon of Christ Pantocrator

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

The Glory of the Lord, Part I

MAY 27 and 28, 2022

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The Collect:

O God, form the minds of your faithful people into one will.

Make us love what you command and desire what you promise,

that, amid all changes of this world, our hearts

may be fixed where true joy is found,

Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you

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

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 35

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The Assigned Readings:

Exodus 33:12-17 (Friday)

Exodus 33:18-23 (Saturday)

Psalm 97 (Both Days)

Revelation 22:6-9 (Friday)

John 1:14-18 (Saturday)

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The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD,

at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

The heavens declare his righteousness,

and all the peoples see his glory.

–Psalm 97:5-16. The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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Psalm 97 is consistent with the concept of divine glory in the Hebrew Bible.  God is invisible, but evidence of divine mighty acts is visible.  YHWH is an active player on the stage of human history.

Moses, interceding on behalf of the Israelites between the infamous Golden Calf (Golden Bull, really) incident (Exodus 32) and the restoration of the covenant (Exodus 34), asked not only to know what God wanted him to do but to see God’s Presence, or, as some versions translate the Hebrew word, glory (33:18).  God consented to the first request and to a partial view of the divine Presence/glory, for a full view would be fatal to humans.  The connection to Exodus 32 was that the Golden Calf/Bull was, for those who adored it, a physical stand-in for God, who became angry yet held back from destroying such a stiff-necked people (33:3).

In the Gospel of John Jesus was the physical embodiment of divine Presence/glory, which was evident in his deeds as well as in his resurrection.  Even though Moses had a close relationship with God, Jesus was more intimate with YHWH.  And many people saw, met, and interacted with Jesus.  They saw God, but many of them did realize that.

Often we seek God and settle for substitutes, which can only prove inadequate.  John of Patmos reported a vision in which he fell down to worship an angel, who rebuffed the effort immediately:

You must not do that!  I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book.

–Revelation 22:9b, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

Among the themes in the Gospel of John is that Jesus, the physical embodiment of the divine Presence/glory, came into the world and encountered much rejection.  Many people preferred an inadequate glory instead.

Many people still do.  How many of them know this about themselves?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 7, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF FRANCOIS FENELON, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF CAMBRAI

THE FEAST OF SAINT ALDRIC OF LE MANS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF SAINT LUCIAN OF ANTIOCH, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/01/07/the-glory-of-the-lord-part-i/

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