Archive for the ‘Luke 20’ Tag
Above: Icon of Habakkuk
Image in the Public Domain
Maintaining Faith During Difficult Times
FEBRUARY 28, 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:
Habakkuk 3:1-19
Psalm 27
Titus 2:1-15
Luke 19:45-20:8
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For the record, I drafted this post in longhand on December 22, 2019, before Coronavirus/COVID-19 spread across the planet. Certain statements are always true, but especially cogent at particular times.
The Letter to Titus is a mixed bag. On one hand, it insults all inhabitants of Crete (1:13) and does not oppose slavery (2:9-10). I cringe when I read those verses. On the other hand, the epistle offers sound advice about how to live: live in such a matter that opponents and enemies will put themselves to shame when making negative statements “about us.”
There is never a shortage of people willing to lie and distort, to cherry-pick and to blow out of proportion, to repeat unsubstantiated rumors, or to start them, thereby shaming themselves. assuming that they have the capacity to feel shame. They do, however, show their bad character while attacking those of good character. These people of bad character are the ones whose skulls cracks open, as in Habakkuk 3:13. (Who says the Book of Habakkuk uses no violent imagery?)
In the meantime, the righteous remain vulnerable to the dastardly, the unjust, and the wicked. Wait for God, Psalm 27 tells us. In the midst of rampant injustice, do we share the attitude of Habakkuk?
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
Exult in the God who delivers me.
The Lord GOD is my strength:
He makes my feet like the deer’s
and lets me stride upon the heights.
–Habakkuk 3:18-19, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
This can be a difficult attitude to maintain. It is faith.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 24, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT OSCAR ROMERO, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF SAN SALVADOR; AND THE MARTYRS OF EL SALVADOR, 1980-1992
THE FEAST OF SAINT DIDACUS JOSEPH OF CADIZ, CAPUCHIN FRIAR
THE FEAST OF PAUL COUTURIER, APOSTLE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY
THE FEAST OF THOMAS ATTWOOD, “FATHER OF MODERN CHRISTIAN MUSIC”
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM LEDDRA, BRITISH QUAKER MARTYR IN BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY, 1661
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/03/24/maintaining-faith-during-difficult-times/
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Above: Figs
Image in the Public Domain
And Pour Contempt On All My Pride
MAY 21, 2023
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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:
Jeremiah 9:23-24; 24:1-10
Psalm 115
Mark 11:27-33 and 12:35-37 or Luke 20:1-8 and 20:41-47 or John 21:20-25
2 Corinthians 10:1-17
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Boasting is overrated. It is a pastime for many and a profession for others, but the fact remains that hubris will go before the fall. The only proper boast is in divine grace and the merits of Jesus Christ. A vocation from God is a cause to reflect on one’s responsibility and one’s total dependence on grace, not on one’s greatness or virtues.
Part of the Law of Moses is the reality that we depend completely on God, whom we have an obligation to glorify and to whom to return in repentance whenever we stray. Nevertheless, many of us stray repeatedly and without the habit of repentance. We might, as in the case of the scribes in Mark 12 and Luke 20, engage in or condone economic injustice–in violation of the Law of Moses. More mundanely, we might question the authority of Jesus in our lives. He will win that argument ultimately, of course. We have the gift of free will; may we, by grace, refrain from abusing it often. None of us can use free will properly all the time, but we can, by grace, improve over time.
May we say, with Isaac Watts (1674-1748),
When I survey the wondrous cross
where the young Prince of Glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.
And, consistent with Matthew 25:31-46, may we care for the least of Christ’s brethren.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 12, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARTIN DOBER, MORAVIAN BISHOP AND HYMN WRITER; JOHANN LEONHARD DOBER, MORAVIAN MISSIONARY AND BISHOP; AND ANNA SCHINDLER DOBER, MORAVIAN MISSIONARY AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF EDITH CAVELL, NURSE AND MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT KENNETH OF SCOTLAND, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF SAINT NECTARIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, ARCHBISHOP
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/10/12/and-pour-contempt-on-all-my-pride/
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Above: Odd Fellows Widows’ and Orphans’ Home, Corsicana, Texas, 1910
J149681 U.S. Copyright Office
Copyright deposit; Jno. J. Johnson; 1910
Copyright claimant’s address: Ennis, Tex.
Photographer = John J. Johnson
Image Source = Library of Congress
Reproduction Number = LC-USZ62-133853
The Idol of Public Respectability
MAY 18, 2023
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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:
Proverbs 1:1-7
Psalm 119:145-176
Mark 12:35-37 or Luke 20:41-47
1 John 2:3-29
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The term “fear of God” should be “awe of God,” for the latter translation conveys the concept accurately. Certain distractions can draw our attention away from God and the awe thereof. Among these are suffering (not necessarily a distraction, per Psalm 119, yet a distraction for many), worldly appetites (also not necessarily distractions inherently, but distractions for many), and false teaching (always a distraction). The issue is idolatry. An idol is an object, teaching, philosophy, or practice that draws attention and awe away from God. Many idols for many people are not idols for many other people. If someone treats something as an idol, it is an idol for that person.
One can seem to be holy and free of idols yet be disingenuous. In the parallel readings from mark (extended) and Luke Jesus condemns those who put on airs of righteousness yet crave public respectability and devour the property of widows, in violation of the Law of Moses. The spiritual successors of the scribes Jesus condemned are numerous, unfortunately. Some of them even have their own television programs.
Public respectability is not a virtue in the Gospel of Luke:
Alas for you when the world speaks well of you! This was the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.
–Luke 6:26, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
That saying’s companion is:
Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, then your reward will be great in heaven. This was the way their ancestors treated the prophets.
–Luke 6:23, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
This is a devotion for the Feast of the Ascension. The selection of these lections seems odd, I admit, but one can make the connection. After the Ascension Jesus was no longer physically present with his Apostles. Afterward, however, the Holy Spirit descended upon them and empowered them to do much to spread the word of Jesus and to glorify God. Of the original Apostles (including St. Matthias, who replaced Judas Iscariot) only two did not die as martyrs. St. John the Evangelist suffered much for God and died of natural causes. Those Apostles (minus Judas Iscariot) did not crave and did not receive public respectability. They did, however, glorify God and change the world for the better.
May we resist the idol of public respectability and, by grace, live so as to glorify God and benefit our fellow human beings.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 12, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARTIN DOBER, MORAVIAN BISHOP AND HYMN WRITER; JOHANN LEONHARD DOBER, MORAVIAN MISSIONARY AND BISHOP; AND ANNA SCHINDLER DOBER, MORAVIAN MISSIONARY AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF EDITH CAVELL, NURSE AND MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT KENNETH OF SCOTLAND, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF SAINT NECTARIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, ARCHBISHOP
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/10/12/the-idol-of-public-respectability/
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Above: Tamar and Judah, by Aert de Gelder
Image in the Public Domain
Taking Difficult Passages of Scripture Seriously
APRIL 30, 2023
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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:
Genesis 38:1-30 or Ecclesiastes 5:1-20
Psalm 10
Matthew 22:23-33 or Mark 12:18-27 and Luke 20:39-40
2 Corinthians 7:2-16
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I recall that, in 1996, my father began his tenure as pastor of the Asbury United Methodist Church, north of Baxley, in Appling County, Georgia. Shortly after this I began to attend to services at St. Thomas Aquinas Episcopal Church in town, for I had been an Episcopalian for a few years. Nevertheless, I was never a stranger at Asbury Church during my father’s tenure there.
One of the adult Sunday School classes at Asbury was discussing the Book of Genesis at the pace of a chapter a week. On one Sunday morning in the summer of 1996 the leader of the group, having covered Chapter 37 the previous week, skipped over Chapter 38 to Chapter 39, with little explanation. The story of Judah, Tamar, levirate marriage (the background of the question in the readings from the Gospels), and temple prostitution was a really hot potato, so to speak. The narrative in Genesis 38 does not criticize a young, childless widow for having sexual relations with her father-in-law at a pagan temple and becoming pregnant with twins. In her situation she did what she needed to do to secure her future.
Deuteronomy 25:5-10 commands the practice of levirate marriage, for the benefit of a childless widow in a patriarchal society without a government-defined social safety net. In the case of Genesis 38 the practice, applied to a particular set of circumstances, makes many modern readers of the Bible squirm in their theological seats. This is no excuse for ignoring the chapter, of course. Whenever a portion of scripture makes one uncomfortable, one should study it more closely and, in the highest meaning of the word, critically.
The Sadducees in the parallel readings of Matthew, Mark, and Luke did not ignore levirate marriage, but they did employ it in a question meant to entrap Jesus. They did not affirm the resurrection of the dead. That is why, according to a song for children,
they were sad, you see.
For the Sadducees the emphasis on this life helped to justify the accumulation of wealth in a society in which economic injustice was ubiquitous. They, like others, failed to ensnare Jesus verbally. He was that capable.
Koheleth, writing in Ecclesiastes, noted that economic injustice and other forms of social injustice ought not to surprise anyone. After all, he mentioned, perpetrators of injustice protect each other. Nevertheless, as the author of Psalm 10 understood, those who exploited the poor (in violation of the Law of Moses) could not escape divine justice.
Just as the painful letter of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthian congregation led to the changing of hearts there, the study of difficult passages of scripture can lead people to learn more about the Bible, ask vital questions, think more critically about scripture, and grow spiritually. It can also change hearts and minds for the better. May we who call ourselves followers of God neither ignore nor use such passages flippantly, but take them seriously instead. Then may we act accordingly. We might even learn that we are committing or condoning social injustice, perhaps that of the economic variety.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 11, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT PHILIP THE EVANGELIST, DEACON
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/10/11/taking-difficult-passages-of-scripture-seriously/
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Above: Moses Striking the Rock, by Pieter de Grebber
Numbers and Luke, Part VIII: The Sin of Pride
MAY 26 and 27, 2023
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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 everlasting 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:
Numbers 20:1-21 (48th Day of Easter)
Numbers 20:22-21:9 (49th Day of Easter)
Psalm 96 (Morning–48th Day of Easter)
Psalm 92 (Morning–49th Day of Easter)
Psalms 50 and 138 (Evening–48th Day of Easter)
Psalms 23 and 114 (Evening–49th Day of Easter)
Luke 20:19-44 (48th Day of Easter)
Luke 20:45-21:9 (49th Day of Easter)
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The readings for today occur against the backdrop of death. Miriam and Aaron die. Jesus will die soon. And, in the midst of all this, the main sin common to the readings from Numbers and Luke is pride, being spectacular. That was the sin of Moses, whose disobedience detracted from the glory of God. And the scribes in Luke 20:45-47 reveled in public acclaim while devouring the property of widows. Furthermore, those who wasted our Lord’s time with a political trap and with sophistry earlier in Luke 20 probably thought their rhetorical powers and mind games clever. They were mistaken.
To have a balanced self-image, or ego, is crucial. We are neither worms nor demigods. We are, however, bearers of the image of God. And, as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote in poetic terms, we are slightly lower than the angels. So we ought to acknowledge our potential, its source, and our limitations. To miss the mark–to aim too high or too low–is to arrive at an inaccurate estimate of our true worth.
May we therefore think neither too highly nor too lowly of ourselves. And may we let God appear as spectacular as possible. Not to do so is to commit the sin of pride.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 23, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT NICETAS OF REMESIANA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF WIREMU TAMIHANA, MAORI PROPHET AND KINGMAKER
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/numbers-and-luke-part-viii-the-sin-of-pride/
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Above: The Wicked Husbandmen
Numbers and Luke, Part VII: Accepting or Rejecting the Chosen of God
MAY 25, 2023
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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 everlasting 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:
Numbers 16:41-17:13/17:6-28
Psalm 47 (Morning)
Psalms 68 and 113 (Evening)
Luke 20:1-8
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TECHNICAL NOTE:
Numbers 16:41-17:13 (Protestant versification) = 17:6-28 (Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox versification).
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The theme of authority and rebellion against it continues from previous readings in the Book of Numbers and the Gospel of Luke.
One day prior to the setting of the Numbers reading Moses had ordered that the fire pans of Korah and his people be melted down and made into copper plating for the altar as a warning against any future rebellions. Yet he and Aaron faced a rebellion which, the narrative tells us, God punished with a plague which killed 14,700 people. And God affirmed the Aaronic priesthood; I ought to mention that detail.
Much later, in Jerusalem, during Holy Week in 29 CE, Jesus faced challenges to his authority. The textual context makes abundantly clear that the wicked tenants in the parable were stand-ins for people such as those who were confronting him.
Here I am, almost eleven months ahead of schedule, writing a devotional post for just a few days before Pentecost Sunday, and the lectionary I am following has me in Holy Week! Anyhow, the message is timeless: Do not oppose the chosen ones of God. Since I am writing for just a few days before Pentecost Sunday, I choose to focus on the Holy Spirit here and now. It goes where it will. Through it God the Father speaks to us. We need it to interpret Scripture correctly. The one unpardonable sin in the Bible is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which I understand to be to mistake good for evil, to be so spiritually oblivious as not to know the difference.
May we–you, O reader, and I–recognize the fruits of the Holy Spirit in people. We see them in many ways. When people of God strive for social justice, which entails inclusiveness more often than not, the Holy Spirit is probably at work. When love and compassion win, the Holy Spirit is at work. The test is fruits, or results. And may we support the good ones (the ones of the Holy Spirit, of God) and reject the rest.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 22, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ALBAN, FIRST ENGLISH MARTYR
THE FEAST OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE UNITING CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA, 1977
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN FISHER, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF ROCHESTER
THE FEAST OF SAINT PAULINUS OF NOLA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/numbers-and-luke-part-vii-accepting-or-rejecting-the-chosen-of-god/
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Above: The Wicked Husbandmen
Genesis and Mark, Part XXI: Reconciliation Versus Destruction
MARCH 20, 2023
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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 everlasting 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:
Genesis 42:1-34, 38
Psalm 119:73-80 (Morning)
Psalms 121 and 6 (Evening)
Mark 12:1-12
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A Related Post:
Prayer:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/prayer-for-monday-in-the-fourth-week-of-lent/
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Selling anyone into slavery is a wicked act. That statement seems self-evident, does it not? Yet that is what Joseph’s brothers plotted to do to him. And so he went to Egypt involuntarily. Years later, with severe famine widespread, most of these brothers met Joseph again without recognizing him. And he tested them while setting in motion plans for a family reunion. In return for wickedness there was grace, even if it wore a disguise.
In contrast we have the Parable of the Wicked Tenants, which we find in all three Synoptic Gospels. (It also appears in Matthew 21:33-46 and Luke 20:9-19.) The chronology in each case is quite similar: It is Holy Week, Jesus having expelled the money changers from the Temple recently. The accounts from Mark and Luke end in the same way, more or less, as does that of Matthew, but the latter adds an explicit wrinkle left implicit in the other Gospels:
I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
–Matthew 21:43, The New Jerusalem Bible
This is a troublesome parable. God looks like an absentee landlord who demands the fruits of other’s labor. So one might sympathize with the frustrations, if not the violence, of the wicked tenants. Yet that is beside the point. In textual context, Jesus is the murdered son and the Temple authorities are the wicked tenants. Read in the context of the First Jewish War and the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, events in the shadows of which the canonical Gospels exist, the Christians (many of them Jewish at the time) are the new tenants.
Such stories have become fodder for Anti-Semites. This is most unfortunate. I reject hatred toward any group of people, especially the Jews, the truck of the tree onto which my branch, the Gentiles, is grafted, by grace.
So we have two responses to evil: reconciliation and destruction. The latter attitude, as reflected in the Parable of the Wicked Tenants, is understandable in the context of the long and messy separation of Christianity from Judaism. The earliest canonical Gospel, Mark, dates to no earlier than 67 CE. John, likely the latest one, probably comes from the 90s. Mutual anger, resentment, and misunderstanding characterized the parting of the ways between Judaism and Christianity, its offspring. The canonical Gospels are documents from that particular era, so they reflect the time of their origin. We humans recall and retell the past in the context of our present; the Gospels are consistent with this rule.
Reconciliation is preferable to destruction, anger, resentment, and misunderstanding. It is not always possible, for reconciliation is a mutual state. Yet, if reconciliation does prove impossible because one party is unwilling, the willing party can forgive and refuse to hold a grudge any longer, if at all. And that is better than mutual hostility. Did Jesus condemn from the cross? No, he forgave! May we, by grace, follow his example and forgive–reconcile, if possible.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 22, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF RICHARD BIGGS, ACTOR
THE FEAST OF ROTA WAITOA, ANGLICAN PRIEST
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/genesis-and-mark-part-xxi-reconciliation-versus-destruction/
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LENTEN AND EASTER DEVOTIONS 
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