Book Three - Internal Consolation

     The Fifty-Second Chapter / A Man Ought Not To Consider Himself Worthy Of Consolation, But Rather Deserving Of Chastisement

     The Disciple

     LORD, I am not worthy of Your consolation or of any spiritual visitation. Therefore, You treat me justly when You leave me poor and desolate. For though I could shed a sea of tears, yet I should not be worthy of Your consolation. Hence, I deserve only to be scourged and punished because I have offended You often and grievously, and have sinned greatly in many things. In all justice, therefore, I am not worthy of any consolation.

     But You, O gracious and merciful God, Who do not will that Your works should perish, deign to console Your servant beyond all his merit and above human measure, to show the riches of Your goodness toward the vessels of mercy. For Your consolations are not like the words of men.

     What have I done, Lord, that You should confer on me any heavenly comfort? I remember that I have done nothing good, but that I have always been prone to sin and slow to amend. That is true. I cannot deny it. If I said otherwise You would stand against me, and there would be no one to defend me. What have I deserved for my sins except hell and everlasting fire?

     In truth, I confess that I am deserving of all scorn and contempt. Neither is it fitting that I should be remembered among Your devoted servants. And although it is hard for me to hear this, yet for truth’s sake I will allege my sins against myself, so that I may more easily deserve to beg Your mercy. What shall I say, guilty as I am and full of all confusion? My tongue can say nothing but this alone: “I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned; have mercy on me and pardon me. Suffer me a little that I may pour out my grief, before I go to that dark land that is covered with the shadow of death.”

     What do you especially demand of a guilty and wretched sinner, except that he be contrite and humble himself for his sins? In true sorrow and humility of heart hope of forgiveness is born, the troubled conscience is reconciled, grace is found, man is preserved from the wrath to come, and God and the penitent meet with a holy kiss.

     To You, O Lord, humble sorrow for sins is an acceptable sacrifice, a sacrifice far sweeter than the perfume of incense. This is also the pleasing ointment which You would have poured upon Your sacred feet, for a contrite and humble heart You have never despised. Here is a place of refuge from the force of the enemy’s anger. Here is amended and washed away whatever defilement has been contracted elsewhere.

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST

     Unbelievable! This day, May 1st, in the year 305 AD, the most powerful man in the world, Emperor Diocletian, stepped down from ruling the Roman Empire. Just two years prior he began the most systematic persecution of Christians, intending to exterminate them once and for all. He forbade worship, burned books, arrested clergy, and demanded that everyone sacrifice to pagan deities or be killed. From Europe to Northern Africa, countless believers became martyrs to the faith. Suddenly Diocletian was struck with a painful disease. He abdicated his throne and took up farming in Yugoslavia.

William J. Federer. American Minute

God is not a cosmic bellboy
for whom we can press a button
to get things done.
--- Harry Emerson Fosdick


The feeling remains
that God is on the journey, too.
--- Teresa of Avila


When the world smiles upon us, and we have got a warm nest, how do we prophesy of rest and peace in those acquisitions, thinking with good Baruch, great things for ourselves, but Providence by a particular or general calamity overturns our plans (Jer. 45:4,5), and all this to turn our hearts from the creature to God.
--- John Flavel

... from here, there and everywhere

1     A person is responsible to prepare his heart,
but how the tongue speaks is from ADONAI.

2     All a man’s ways are pure in his own view,
but ADONAI weighs the spirit.

Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.

                Insight not emotion

     I have to lead my life in faith, without seeing Him. --- 2 Cor. 5:7. (Moffatt.)

     For a time we are conscious of God’s attentions, then, when God begins to use us in His enterprises, we take on a pathetic look and talk of the trials and the difficulties, and all the time God is trying to make us do our duty as obscure people. None of us would be obscure spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our duty when God has shut up heaven? Some of us always want to be illuminated saints with golden haloes and the flush of inspiration, and to have the saints of God dealing with us all the time. A gilt-edged saint is no good, he is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and altogether unlike God. We are here as men and women, not as half-fledged angels, to do the work of the world, and to do it with an infinitely greater power to stand the turmoil because we have been born from above.

     If we try to re-introduce the rare moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are making a fetish of the moments when God did come and speak, and insisting that He must do it again; whereas what God wants us to do is to walk by faith. How many of us have laid ourselves by, as it were, and said—‘I cannot do any more until God appears to me.’ He never will, and without any inspiration, without any sudden touch of God, we will have to get up. Then comes the surprise—‘Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!’ Never live for the rare moments, they are surprises. God will give us touches of inspiration when He sees we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never make our moments of inspiration our standard; our standard is our duty.

Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest

Farm Child

Look at this village boy, his head is stuffed
  With all the nests he knows,
  his pockets with
  flowers,
  Snail-shells and bits of glass,
  the fruit of hours
  Spent in the fields by thorn
  and thistle tuft.
  Look at his eyes,
  see the harebell hiding there;
  Mark how the sun has freckled his smooth face
  Like a finch's egg under that bush of hair
  That dares the wind, and in the mixen now
  Notice his poise;
  from such unconscious grace
  Earth breeds and beckons to the stubborn
  plough.


R.S. Thomas Selected poems, 1946-1968

Rich

I am a millionaire.
  My bedroom is full of gold
  light, of the sun's jewellery.
  What shall I do with this wealth?
  Buy happiness, buy gladness,
  the wisdom that grows with the giving
  of thanks? I will convert
  a child's holding to the estate
  of a man, investing the interest
  in the child mind. Beyond this
  room are the arid sluices
  through which cash pours and the heart
  desiccates, watching it pass.
  Men draw their curtains against
  beauty. Ah, let me, when night
  comes, offer the moon
  unhindered entry through trust's
  windows so I may dream
  silver, but awake to gold.


R.S. Thomas Residues

     D’RASH

     What is more important: What we do, or why we do it? Rav Yehudah takes the standard Jewish view: actions are what count the most. It is better to do the right thing, even if it is for the wrong reason. The boss is in the hospital. We don't really like him all that much, and if we had our choice, we would rather not go to see him. If we do pay him a visit, it would only be as a way to get on his good side and "score points": Thinking of asking him for a raise, we were hoping that this little visit might make him think more favorably of us. Rav Yehudah would say: "Go see him; it's a mitzvah to visit the sick. Deeds are more important than intentions. Better to live in a world filled with people doing good deeds even if for all the wrong reasons."

     Rav Naḥman takes a very different approach: "It's the thought that counts. Don't judge people by what they accomplish; judge them by what they intend." Imagine a mother who comes home from work and finds her kitchen a shambles. The sink is filled with running water cascading onto the floor. Dishes are broken. Sugar is spilled everywhere. The refrigerator is left wide open. The mother is furious at her children, whose footprints she can see in the mess. Just as she is about to yell and scream at them, they surprise her with the birthday cake they have made for her, from scratch. Even though the kitchen—and the cake—are disasters, she now considers this one of the most precious gifts she has ever received.

     The examples Rav Naḥman brings are rather startling, as they deal with sexual ethics. They remind us of the proverb found in the Midrash: "She sells her body for apples, and then gives them away to the sick" (Leviticus Rabbah 3, 1). It is quite daring of the Rabbis to question—and condemn—the motives of Sarah, Rachel, and Leah, and at the same time to praise Jael for her seduction of Sisera.

     Ultimately, both Rav Naḥman and Rav Yehudah teach us to try to do the right thing for the right reason, to combine good deeds with good intentions. Knowing human nature, they were willing to settle for only half. We struggle throughout our lives to achieve the ideal and to add the other half.

     By the measure that a person measures, so is he measured.

     Text / Mishnah (1:7): By the measure that a person measures, so is he measured. She dressed herself up to sin, the Holy One dressed her down. She exposed herself to sin, the Holy One exposed her. She started to sin with the thigh, and afterwards the belly; therefore, the thigh suffers first and the belly afterwards. And the rest of the body does not escape punishment.

     Gemara: Rav Yosef said: "Even though the measure is abolished, 'by the measure' is not abolished."

     Context / The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: If any man's wife has gone astray and broken faith with him in that a man has had carnal relations with her unbeknown to her husband, and she keeps secret the fact that she has defiled herself without being forced, and there is no witness against her—but a fit of jealousy comes over him and he is wrought up about the wife who has defiled herself; or if a fit of jealousy comes over one and he is wrought up about his wife although she has not defiled herself—the man shall bring the wife to the priest.… The priest shall bring her forward and have her stand before the Lord.… After he has made the woman stand before the Lord, the priest shall bare the woman's head and place upon her hands the meal offering of remembrance, which is a meal offering of jealousy. And in the priest's hands shall be the water of bitterness that induces the spell. The priest shall adjure the woman, saying to her, "If no man has lain with you, if you have not gone astray in defilement while married to your husband, be immune to harm from this water of bitterness that induces the spell. But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and have defiled yourself, if a man other than your husband has had carnal relations with you"—here the priest shall administer the curse of adjuration to the woman, as the priest goes on to say to the woman—"may the Lord make you a curse and an imprecation among your people, as the Lord causes your thigh to sag and your belly to distend.…" (Numbers 5:11–16, 18–21)

     The Mishnah here is expanding on the case of the "straying wife," the woman suspected of adultery, as the Torah delineates the law in Numbers 5:11–31. In fact, the name for this entire tractate of Talmud is Sotah, "[the woman] who has gone astray," the technical name for the woman who is suspected of being unfaithful to her husband. The Torah describes the ritual to which she had to submit. The woman is brought to the kohen, where she drinks "water of bitterness," whereupon the kohen recites a formula: "If you have been faithful to your husband, may nothing happen to you because of these waters; if you have not been faithful, may the Lord curse you with sickness." It is possible that the effect of the ritual is for a woman guilty of adultery to suffer a self-induced illness. The specific nature of this illness is not known, though some scholars believe "thigh" to be a euphemism for genitals. Thus, this curse would impair her reproductive abilities, a severe curse in biblical times and even today.

     The principle of "measure for measure" in the text assumes a symmetry between the sin and the punishment: The woman sinned by trying to look beautiful for her paramour; she is punished by being made to look ugly in the eyes of the onlookers: Her hair is shaven; she is dressed in ugly clothes; and her jewelry is removed. And just as she exposed herself to attract the man, God exposes her by having her disgrace made public, in the eyes of all onlookers. Since her sin was with her sexual organs, her punishment (in the words of the curse) should be on these very same reproductive organs.

     In the Gemara, Rav Yosef explains that even though we no longer punish according to the actual measure, since capital punishment had been abolished by the time of the Gemara, "by the measure," apparently a reference to divine retribution, has not been abolished. Though we cannot be strict in meting out punishment, we can rest assured that justice will, in the end, prevail.

Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving . Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.

     Jesus was welcomed by the Jerusalem crowds; hailed as the Messiah on what Christians call "Palm Sunday." Jesus' enemies were aroused by this event, and renewed their attacks. Jesus silenced them—and in turn boldly condemned their wickedness and hypocrisy.

     In these chapters we find many of Jesus' most familiar parables. And we find the clearest exposition in the Bible of legalistic pathways which falsely promise spiritual growth. Religious people are all too prone to walk these promising paths, which actually lead to spiritual emptiness and to judgment.

     Praise. The joyful response of the people to Jesus that first Palm Sunday is a beautiful illustration of praise. Several Hebrew words and concepts enrich our grasp of this richest of words in the vocabulary of worship. Halal means "to acclaim," "to glory in," and expresses deep satisfaction in exalting God's wonderful acts and qualities. Yadah suggests acknowledging God's works and character, often with thanksgiving. Zamar means to "sing praise" or "make music," while sabah expresses praise or commendation. What delight we can have in responding to God and His works with growing love and praise.

     Woe. In both Testaments this is an exclamation of grief or denunciation. How tragic. For those who love and praise Jesus there is joy. But for the rest, as Jesus' words in Matthew 23 reveal, there is only woe.

     Commentary / We have a tendency today to see gentleness as weakness.

     This tendency probably explains, at least partially, why people of all times tend to draw back from Jesus' picture of leadership as servanthood. "But," they object, "we want leaders who are strong. We want leaders with authority!"

     The fact of the matter is that only in Christ's kind of servanthood do we find true spiritual strength. Gentleness is not weakness. Compassion is becoming to the King.

     So it is not Mr. Milquetoast that Jesus sets before us as our example, but Himself. In these next chapters of Matthew, which portray Jesus in direct conflict with His enemies, we see our Lord speak out boldly in His full authority as King. In dealing with little ones the Leader is gentle. In facing foes, He is bold.

     The Triumphal Entry: Matthew 21:1–17

     It was the Passover week, a few brief days before the Crucifixion. Coming to Jerusalem, Jesus sent two of His disciples to bring a donkey and colt to Him for a long-prophesied entry into Jerusalem. Isaiah and Zechariah had both spoken of it:

     Your King comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Matthew 21:5

     Without pomp, humble and on a humble beast of burden, the King would come.

     On this day the crowds that soon would turn against Jesus swelled with enthusiasm for Him. "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they shouted. "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Matthew 21:9)

     Christ moved purposefully to the temple. There He went into the court, which was to be reserved for prayer, and found merchants.

     The Old Testament ruled that only unblemished animals might be offered in sacrifice. The priests set up a very lucrative trade in "approved" lambs and pigeons. Animals brought from the country for sacrifice might easily be disapproved by priestly inspectors, and worshipers forced to buy from the temple merchants. What had been set aside for prayer had become a "den of robbers"
(Matthew 21:13).

     As Jesus stood in the cleansed temple yard, the blind and the lame came to Him and He healed them. With even greater enthusiasm, the crowds proclaimed "Hosanna to the Son of David!" The chief priests and the scribes saw all these wonderful things which Jesus did and "they were indignant" (Matthew 21:15). Hardened as ever, the leaders were totally unwilling to acknowledge Jesus as their King.

Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. (1987). The Teacher's Commentary (323). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

     The late-Hellenistic and early Roman periods saw a tremendous expansion of the Jewish Diaspora. By the first century C.E., large and prosperous Jewish communities existed all over the Mediterranean from Syrian Antioch to Asia Minor from Greece to Alexandria in Egypt. There was some settlement in Italy and in Rome, but there is no evidence for Jews in the Western Mediterranean until the Late Roman period. Although there were some Jews living in the countryside, in general during the Roman period, the Diaspora was an urban phenomenon. In cities such as Alexandria, Jews lived in self-regulating communities, which were isolated either by law or by custom.

     The heart of any Diaspora community was the synagogue, and each Jewish community had at least one, although larger communities had several. These synagogues evolved into more than just meeting places. Especially after the destruction of the Temple in 70, they became the main location for religious expression and communal interaction. The Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible composed in Alexandria, was the most standard version of Scripture in the Diaspora. Indeed, for Jews such as Philo, the Septuagint had divine authority.

     In terms of religious practice, there was a certain amount of regional variation among Diaspora communities. Nevertheless, according to the often-negative comments by non-Jewish authors, the religious practices of Diaspora Jews were quite similar to those in Judea. Diaspora Jews practiced circumcision, kept kosher, and observed the Sabbath. During the reign of Herod the Great, an embassy of Ionian Jews appealed to the king to intercede with Marcus Agrippa on their behalf. One of their complaints was that their Gentile neighbors were dragging them into court on Shabbat and their other holy days (Ant. 16.27). Such an incident attests to the importance of Sabbath observance for Diaspora Jews. The Diaspora also supported the Temple in Jerusalem by paying the half-shekel tax incumbent upon all Jewish men. In the Ionian Jews’ petition to Herod, another of their complaints was that the money they had raised to be sent to Jerusalem was being unlawfully seized by the non-Jewish government (Ant. 16.28). Further evidence of this practice appears in a speech by Cicero in 59 B.C.E. in which he defended the proconsul of Asia, Lucius Valerius Flaccus (Cicero, Pro Flacco 28.66–69).

     In general, Diaspora Jews seem to have coexisted peacefully with their non-Jewish neighbors. The massacres and violence perpetrated by both sides in the wake of the First Revolt probably reflect local conflicts and disputes that had originated years before and about whose causes and origins we can only speculate. Roman officials usually protected Jewish rights and interests, and a number of edicts and letters that appear in Josephus’ narratives show Roman leaders such as Caesar, Antony, Augustus, and Agrippa upholding Jewish rights and condoning their religious, political, and social distinctiveness (Ant. 14.186–267, 306–23; 16.166–73). Violations did occur, but in most cases the Roman government quickly remedied the situation. When Marcus Agrippa heard about the offenses against the rights of the Jews of Ionia, he immediately ruled in their favor (Ant. 16.58–61). When the Jews of Asia and Cyrenaica again experienced discrimination and the confiscation of the money they had raised for the Temple tax, they complained directly to Augustus, who ruled in their favor (Ant. 16.160–65). Although these incidents testify to periodic tension between Jews and non-Jews, in general Diaspora Jews were tolerated by their pagan neighbors.

     The Diaspora community about which we know the most is Alexandria. The Jewish community of this city had thrived under the later Ptolemies because of direct royal patronage. During this period, the Jews enjoyed a civil status almost equal to that of their Greek neighbors. However, the situation changed with the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty. When Augustus took control of the country, he demoted them to a status equivalent to that of the native Egyptians because it was consistent with his policy of entrusting the government and political power to the Greeks of the Eastern Mediterranean. Such relegation was extremely irksome to many Alexandrian Jews, who felt themselves to be fully immersed within the wider Greco-Roman culture, despite maintaining their distinct Jewish identity. The history of Alexandrian Jewry during the Roman period is marked by a consistent drive to remove the ignominious burden of the laographia (poll tax) and achieve isopoliteia (political autonomy).

     The troubles of the Alexandrian Jews reached a dangerous level in 38 C.E., when the newly appointed King Herod Agrippa I visited Alexandria on his way to Judea. His presence in the city stirred up an unruly mob of non-Jews, who publicly insulted him by parading a local madman into the arena and using him to parody Agrippa. Then the mob started calling for graven images to be placed within the synagogues of the city. As a result, the mob attacked and desecrated the synagogues and eventually started attacking the Jews themselves, shutting them off into one section of the city and causing hundreds of casualties. Homes were ransacked and businesses were destroyed (Philo, In Flaccum 25–85, 95–96). In his Embassy to Gaius, Philo again describes the anti-Jewish riots of 38, but in this text he blames the violence on Emperor Gaius and the anti-Jewish Alexandrians rather than on the Alexandrians and Flaccus.

     Once peace had been restored to the city, both sides sent embassies to Gaius in order to exonerate themselves of blame for the riots and to seek an imperial edict codifying the position of the Jews within the city. According to Philo, the emperor was stirred against the Jews by a small group of Alexandrian advisors, especially a certain Helicon. Ultimately, neither embassy achieved its goal of receiving an official answer from Gaius. At the time of his murder, the issue was still open. Claudius finally settled the matter when he ordered both sides to behave but telling the Jews that they lived in a city not their own, and warning them not to aim for more than what they had (CPJ 153; the edict of Claudius, as reported by Josephus in Ant. 19.280–91 is much more positive toward the Jews than the papyrus, and is of doubtful authenticity).

     Roman Jews also experienced mixed relations with their non-Jewish neighbors. The Jewish community in the city of Rome was composed mostly of the descendants of slaves brought to the capital after Pompey’s conquest in 63 B.C.E. and that of Gaius Sosius in 37. This community had expanded during the early Principate, and under Augustus many of these slaves received their freedom. Despite their new liberty, these Jews largely remained within the lower classes of the city, living across the Tiber in Trastevere. Yet even in the face of the usual toleration granted by the government, the Jews of Rome periodically experienced official persecution, such as their expulsion under Tiberius (Tacitus, Annales 11.85; Suetonius, Tiberius 36; Josephus, Ant. 18.65–84) and later under Claudius (Acts 18:2; Suetonius, Claudius 25; Dio 60.6). During both expulsions, it is unlikely that many Jews actually went farther than Rome’s suburbs. Even if they did, the Jewish community quickly returned. By the end of the Roman period, as evidenced by the catacombs in Rome, a large Jewish population inhabited the city.

Adam Kolman Marshak (2010). From Pompey to Hadrian.The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism

     There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. --- Luke 15:10.

     Our text teaches us the sympathy of the two worlds. (Classic Sermons on Angels (Kregel Classic Sermons Series) ) Imagine not that you are cut off from heaven! Do not think that there is a great gulf between you and the Father, across which his mercy cannot come and over which your prayers and faith can never leap. Believe that there is a bridge across that chasm, a road along which feet may travel. This world is not separated, for all creation is one body. The same great heart that beats in heaven beats on earth. The love of the eternal Father that cheers the celestial makes glad the terrestrial, too. Rest assured that though the celestial is one and the terrestrial is another, yet they are only another in appearance; they are the same. You are no stranger in a strange land—a houseless Joseph in the land of Egypt, shut out from his father and his [brothers], who still remain in the happy paradise of Canaan. No, your Father loves you still. There is a connection between you and him.

     When a tear is wept by you, don’t think that your Father does not see it. Your sigh is able to move the heart of Jehovah; your whisper can incline his ear to you; your prayer can stay his hands; your faith can move his arm. Do not think that God sits on high in eternal slumber, taking no account of you. Engraved on the Father’s hand your name remains, and on his heart. He thought of you before the worlds were made. Before the channels of the sea were scooped or the mountains lifted their heads in the clouds, he thought of you. He thinks about you still. You move in him. In him you live and have your being.

     Remember again that you are not only linked to the Godhead, but there is another in heaven with whom you have a strange yet near connection. In the center of the throne sits One who is your brother, allied to you by blood. The Son of God—eternal, equal with his Father—became the son of Mary. He was—is—bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. Oh, poor, disconsolate mourner, Christ remembers you every hour. Your sighs are his sighs; your groans are his groans; your prayers are his prayers. You live in him, and he lives in you, and because he lives you will also live.
--- C. H. Spurgeon

Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers

     The mid-1680s is remembered as the Killing Time in Scotland. Royal regiments martyred Scottish Presbyterians at will. Despite the danger, Presbyterian John Brown fell in love with Isabell Weir. He proposed to her, but warned that he would one day seal his testimony with blood. Isabell replied, “If it be so, I will be your comfort. The Lord has promised me grace.” They were married in a secret glen by the outlawed minister, Alexander Peden. “These witnesses of your vows,” said Peden, beginning the illegal ceremony, “have come at risk of their lives to hear God’s word and his ordinance of marriage.” The vows were spoken, then Peden drew Isabell aside, saying, “You have got a good husband. Keep linen for a winding-sheet beside you; for in a day when you least expect it, thy master shall be taken.”

     The Brown home soon included two children. It was happy, filled with prayer and godly conversation. Fugitive preachers were hidden and cared for there. But on May 1, 1685 John rose at dawn, singing Psalm 27, to find the house surrounded by soldiers. The family filed onto the lawn. The commander, Claverhouse, shouted to John, “Go to your prayers; you shall immediately die.” Kneeling, John prayed earnestly for his wife, pregnant again, and for his children. Then he rose, embraced Isabell, and said, “The day is come of which I told you when I first proposed to you.”

     “Indeed, John. If it must be so, I can willingly part with you.”

     “This is all I desire,” replied John. “I have no more to do but to die.” He kissed his children, then Claverhouse ordered his men to shoot. The soldiers hesitated. Snatching a pistol, Claverhouse placed it to John’s head and blew out his brains. “What thinkest thou of thy husband now, woman?” he snarled. Isabell, fixing Claverhouse in her gaze, told him she had never been so proud of him. Claverhouse mounted his horse and sped away, troops in tow. Isabell tied John’s head in a napkin and sat on the ground weeping with her children until friends arrived to comfort them.

  Armies may surround me, but I won’t be afraid;
  War may break out, but I will trust you.
  I ask only one thing, LORD:
  Let me live in your house every day of my life
  To see how wonderful you are
  And to pray in your temple.
  Psalm 27:3,4.

     Morgan, R. J. On This Day 365 Amazing And Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs And Heroes

SS. PHILIP AND JAMES
YEARS 1 & 2

MORNING PRAYER

Psalms Psalm 119:137–160
Old Testament Job 23:1–12
New Testament John 1:43–51

Index of Readings

PSALMS
Psalm 119:137–160

137 You are righteous, O LORD,
and your judgments are right.
138 You have appointed your decrees in righteousness
and in all faithfulness.
139 My zeal consumes me
because my foes forget your words.
140 Your promise is well tried,
and your servant loves it.
141 I am small and despised,
yet I do not forget your precepts.
142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
and your law is the truth.
143 Trouble and anguish have come upon me,
but your commandments are my delight.
144 Your decrees are righteous forever;
give me understanding that I may live.

145 With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD.
I will keep your statutes.
146 I cry to you; save me,
that I may observe your decrees.
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I put my hope in your words.
148 My eyes are awake before each watch of the night,
that I may meditate on your promise.
149 In your steadfast love hear my voice;
O LORD, in your justice preserve my life.
150 Those who persecute me with evil purpose draw near;
they are far from your law.
151 Yet you are near, O LORD,
and all your commandments are true.
152 Long ago I learned from your decrees
that you have established them forever.

153 Look on my misery and rescue me,
for I do not forget your law.
154 Plead my cause and redeem me;
give me life according to your promise.
155 Salvation is far from the wicked,
for they do not seek your statutes.
156 Great is your mercy, O LORD;
give me life according to your justice.
157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,
yet I do not swerve from your decrees.
158 I look at the faithless with disgust,
because they do not keep your commands.
159 Consider how I love your precepts;
preserve my life according to your steadfast love.
160 The sum of your word is truth;
and every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.

OLD TESTAMENT
Job 23:1–12

23 Then Job answered:

2 “Today also my complaint is bitter;
his hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his dwelling!
4 I would lay my case before him,
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would learn what he would answer me,
and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; but he would give heed to me.
7 There an upright person could reason with him,
and I should be acquitted forever by my judge.

8 “If I go forward, he is not there;
or backward, I cannot perceive him;
9 on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;
I turn to the right, but I cannot see him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.
11 My foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured in my bosom the words of his mouth.

NEW TESTAMENT
John 1:43–51

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49 Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

EVENING PRAYER

Psalms Psalm 139
Old Testament Proverbs 4:7–18
New Testament John 12:20–26

Index of Readings

PSALMS
Psalm 139

To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.

1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
O LORD, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.

7 Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end—I am still with you.

19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
20 those who speak of you maliciously,
and lift themselves up against you for evil!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

OLD TESTAMENT
Proverbs 4:7–18

7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever else you get, get insight.
8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
9 She will place on your head a fair garland;
she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”
10 Hear, my child, and accept my words,
that the years of your life may be many.
11 I have taught you the way of wisdom;
I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
12 When you walk, your step will not be hampered;
and if you run, you will not stumble.
13 Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;
guard her, for she is your life.
14 Do not enter the path of the wicked,
and do not walk in the way of evildoers.
15 Avoid it; do not go on it;
turn away from it and pass on.
16 For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

NEW TESTAMENT
John 12:20–26

20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

The Episcopal Church. Book of Common Prayer Lectionary