John August Swanson: Celebration
Luther Seminary Fine Arts Collection, St. Paul, Minnesota.
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
The Cure for Itching Ears
How did this ancient author know the time in which we live?
This “having itching ears” describes so many who now give
Their hopes for greatness over to the tellers of big myths
With which our godly heritage of grace for all conflicts.
Oh, preacher, simply tell of Christ, who came the world to
save,
Whose fearless love could no more end with cross, or then
the grave
Than any love his followers would dare to live these days,
And thus not point to self or tribe but sing the maker’s
praise!
Scott L. Barton
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly
believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have
known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through
faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for
teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so
that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good
work.
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge
the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I
solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is
favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience
in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound
doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers
to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and
wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the
work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
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Jeremiah 31:27-34
What We Might All Know
In time to come, there'll be no blame,
One generation to the next;
To save one's pride, none will inflame,
Claim by another tribe they're vexed;
But each one will, within their heart,
A common humanness believe;
Such is the covenant for which God yearns,
That we perceive, conceive, receive.
Scott L. Barton
(2016, revised)
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow
the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed
of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to
overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to
plant, says the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say: “The parents have
eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” But all shall die
for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on
edge. The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like
the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to
bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was
their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with
the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within
them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each
other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to
the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember
their sin no more.
+ + +
Luke 18:1-8
Better Than a Calm Façade
It's quite all right to bother God!
That's better than a calm façade,
Or resignation of your lot;
For Jesus says the one who's got
The gumption not to knuckle under
Exhibits real faith and wonder
That justice, always, God intends,
Although we may not comprehend
The schedule! Thus, the widow's might
Is in her cry the judge make right -
Which teaches us to fight despair
By voicing what becomes real prayer.
Scott L. Barton
(2013)
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray
always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who
neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow
who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For
a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God
and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will
grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” And
the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant
justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in
helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when
the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
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