Devotion for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year C (Humes)

Above:  The Denial of Saint Peter, by Caravaggio

Image in the Public Domain

Loving Like Jesus

MARCH 14, 2021

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The Collect:

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ,  who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Micah 4:1-7

Psalm 137

Jude

Luke 22:54-65

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I detect two different moods in the set of readings for this Sunday.  On one hand, we have judgments, as in Psalm 137 and Jude.  On the other hand, we have Jesus almost certainly looking compassionately at St. Simon Peter, who had just denied knowing him.  We also read of an ideal future in Micah 4:1-7, in which the nations will seek religious instruction in Jerusalem.  That prophecy contradicts Micah 5:14, in which some nations will remain disobedient and suffer the consequences, however.

With which side of that divide do we identify?  Do we really want to bash our enemies’ babies’ heads against rocks?  Or do we really seek to be like Jesus?  My bishop, Robert C. Wright, says to “love like Jesus.”  I affirm that standard.  I also know how Jesus loved–so much that he died.  Loving like Jesus is a difficult challenge.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 26, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARGARET CLITHEROW, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 1586

THE FEAST OF FLANNERY O’CONNOR, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC WRITER

THE FEAST OF GEORGE RUNDLE PRYNNE, ANGLICAN PRIEST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JAMES RENDEL HARRIS, ANGLO-AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST THEN QUAKER BIBLICAL SCHOLAR AND ORIENTALIST; ROBERT LUCCOCK BENSLY, ENGLISH BIBLICAL TRANSLATOR AND ORIENTALIST; AGNES SMITH LEWIS AND MARGARET DUNLOP SMITH GIBSON, ENGLISH BIBLICAL SCHOLARS AND LINGUISTS; SAMUEL SAVAGE LEWIS, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND LIBRARIAN OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE; AND JAMES YOUNG, SCOTTISH UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND LITERARY TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT LUDGER, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF MUNSTER

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/03/26/loving-like-jesus-part-ii/

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