Monday • 11/14/2022 •

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 89; Habakkuk 2:1-4,9-20; James 2:14-26; Luke 16:19-31 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2-6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3-4, BCP, p. 94) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions. I’m Reggie Kidd, and every Monday through Friday, I offer devotional observations on some portion of that day’s readings for Morning Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer. Thanks so much for joining me this Monday of Proper 28 in Year 2 of the Daily Lectionary.  

Different aspects of faith come into view in today’s readings. Here’s food for the soul! 

Habakkuk on living by faith. … but the righteous live by their faith. — Habakkuk 2:4. The prophet Habakkuk rises up sometime after the Babylonians have conquered Judah, burned Jerusalem, and razed and plundered the temple. Babylon has been God’s instrument of judgment against God’s sinful people. Nonetheless, in yesterday’s reading, Habakkuk has bitterly complained to God about Babylon’s own arrogance, violence, and idolatry: “Why do you look on the treacherous, and are silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they?” (Habakkuk 1:13).   

In today’s reading, Habakkuk proclaims hope. Yahweh has not abandoned his people. He has not set aside his covenant love for them. Through Israel, ultimately “… the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). And though the earthly temple lies in ruins for now, God’s heavenly—and true—temple still stands, inviolate: “But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him” (Habakkuk 2:20). Habakkuk imagines Yahweh turning the tables on Babylon who forced upon Judah the cup of judgment: “The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and shame will come upon your glory!” (Habakkuk 2:16).  

When Habakkuk says the “righteous live by their faith,” what he means is that if God’s people will stay true, even in the face of discouragement, dismay, and delay, they will find that life will come to them. As we discover in the New Testament, life has come in Jesus Christ, Messiah and King. It is marvelous to consider the larger backdrop in Habakkuk when Paul appeals to this verse about “the righteous living by faith,” in his letter to the Romans. In fact, Romans 1:16 hoovers up rich depths of Habakkuk’s meaning.  

• In the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ, Israel’s true Son, indeed, the promise is being fulfilled that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.  

• Precisely where people are “present[ing their] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is [their] spiritual worship,” the Lord of heaven and earth is indeed in his holy temple—and all the earth, indeed, should bow in awed silence (Romans 12:1-2).  

• And, altogether in agreement with the Revelation of John’s verdict on Babylon, “the great whore,” who is forced to drink the cup of the wrath of God, Paul asserts that “the God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20). Fittingly, Paul concludes: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

James on faith and works. Apparent discrepancies—and they are merely apparent discrepancies—between Paul’s approach and James’s should not mask the profound synchronicity between them. Leaving a full treatment of this rich passage for treatment at another time, let me make a dual observation.  

In response to legalists (those who teach that right living establishes a relationship with God), Paul stresses lex credendi lex vivendi, “your believing will determine how you live.” Paul says “faith apart from (God’s taking account of) works” justifies (Romans 3:28; Galatians 2:16). He would absolutely agree with James that works are part of the package of the Christian life: he tells the Galatians that what matters is “faith working through love,” and he tells the Corinthians that what matters is “keeping the commandments of God” (Galatians 5:6; 1 Corinthians 7:19). Moreover, Paul would be able himself to pen James’s: “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (James 2:17).  But when Paul has to stand up to people who proudly think they can “climb a stairway to heaven,” he insists: only faith will get you there!   

In response to antinomians (those who maintain that in the Christian life, obedience is “an elective course,” not “a required course”), James stresses lex vivendi lex credendi, “your living will manifest what it is you actually believe.” James says, “a person is justified by works and not by a faith that is alone” (a more accurate translation of James 2:24). James would entirely agree that faith in “our glorious Lord Jesus Christ” is necessary, and that that life is a gift from God himself (James 1:18; 2:1). But when James has to stand up to people who people who slothfully and cynically manipulate statements of theological orthodox (“God is one!” “Jesus is Lord!”) to justify mistreatment of the poor (see James 2:1-7,14-15), he insists: your only justification for calling yourself God’s child is that you show it in your life!  

Paul and James may need to emphasize different aspects, given the pastoral needs of their people, but they both agree: faith and works are inseparable—distinguishable, to be sure, but inseparable nonetheless. 

The rich man and Lazarus. Lessons from James and Habakkuk are so nicely personified in this powerful parable. Plain and simple, for a person who claims to know the God of the Bible to live a life of exorbitant luxury and ease when disease and poverty are camped out in front of their house—well, that is to refute, rebut, and betray that faith. By contrast, for a person holding fast to faith in the God of deliverance, while suffering running sores, scorn, and neglect—well, that is to make the most elegant, eloquent, and compelling statement of faith possible. Let those who have an ear to hear, let them hear.  

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+