2247AFC090922 – Reflecting on Glowing
Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.
Exodus 32:9-10 – 9 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10 Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”
1 Timothy 1:15 – 15 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.
Luke 15:7 – 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. This weekend is going to make for some exciting teaching and reaching. There is so much good material in the readings for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 9/11/22. Please take a moment right now to pause and say “NEVER AGAIN!” in remembrance of the attacks on the World Trade Center and all of the other terrorist attacks since then – including Ukraine. We ask God to strengthen us so that our resolve to stand up for what is right never falters. Now, let’s move on to the Key Verses for today. I want to tell you a little about one of the most precious gifts our Creator built into me with my parents’ help.
God gave me the desire and the ability to look for and recognize exceptional people, and then to glow on them a little (sometimes a lot!). Exceptional people often feel a little left out of everything because – well, because they are exceptional. They don’t fit the “common mould” – they are shaped differently from the rest of us. That’s why I am using the archaic spelling of “mold” – mould – to distinguish from that icky green stuff that grows on your cheddar or grapefruit. I like to glow on people who have been moulded differently than the rest of us so that they can feel that perhaps they aren’t so totally excluded from their surrounding community. I suppose that desire and ability to glow is a bit odd – not everyone seeks that – but I also believe all of us have the desire to see what is good in people and acknowledge that goodness. We all want other folks to do that for us – see the good that we do and let us know we’re special too. When I glow on someone, they usually light up, too; the light up from within, with their own light, and not as a reflection of my glow. Please remember that special thing because it will make better sense later.
This Sunday Jesus talks about the lost-and-found events in life. A lost sheep, a lost coin, and the joy finding those objects bring to us and to our friends. We also have the story of a 
lost son. Many homilies will be centered on that story, I’m sure. Some will focus on the errant lad, some on the begrudging brother, and some on the everlasting love of a father. (↔ Music Link) When we contemplate on Love like that, we recall how God chose Israel to be his unique people, a chosen race to be a light to the nations. One of the passages we hear about that is in Isaiah 42:6 – 6 I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations. All the Hebrew pronouns here – you, your – are first-person singular. This prophecy is part of a description of the Messiah. It is often used to illustrate that we carry that light in us. One reason that association is made is because of Matthew 5:14-16 – 14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. We rejoice in that we are called to be The Light of The World. (↔ Music Link)
Again, it is the Messiah who is indicated in Isaiah 49:6 – 6 he says,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Here, “too light a thing” means something that is a “mere trifle.” Being the Servant of God, the Messiah, and to restore God’s people to their rightful presence in his Kingdom is a small thing compared to being a Light to the gentiles as well thereby allowing for their salvation. There’s that APP again, assuring us that God wants everyone to be saved, not “just his chosen ones, the people of Israel.” THE APP IS WAY BIGGER THAN THAT. Isaiah 52:10 – 10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God. And so we sing All the Ends of the Earth (↔ Music Link) because God wants us back! Why? Why does God want us back?
I’m going to just do this in a sort of outline form:
- God created us in Love and for Love. He Loves us and wants our Love.
- When our First Parents learned sin, they also learned death, and darkness, and separation from God. God, on his part, immediately set up a Plan of Correction for that – an Absolutely Perfect Plan – and we are part of that plan!
- Israel was chosen by God to demonstrate his Goodness, his Power, and his Love. He did that so “Not-Israel” – the gentile nations – would be as in Isaiah 60:3 – 3 Nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
- By adoption, we are All One Body (↔ Music Link). As such, we are heirs of The Promise in the APP, coheirs with Christ.
- Through Christ, who is the Light of the World, we have Christ’s Light in us. This is a special thing I want us to understand:
- We can reflect the Light of Christ to others and shed his light on them, OR
- We can radiate the Light of Christ to others and share his light in
them.
- WHICHEVER WE CHOOSE, God’s Light goes out from us and God is glorified in that ministry of our giving to others what he has given to us. The easiest way to say that is “It’s all good, adelphos*, because it’s all God.” * brethren
- We have the Light! We, though sinners, have the Light of Christ. (OK, Please go ahead and sing [Music Link ↔] This Little Light of Mine). Here’s how we got it: John 12:36 – 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.”
- What are we supposed to do with the Light? Belovéd, we share it!. Matthew 5:14-16 – 14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (In this passage, unlike the previous passage in Isaiah 42:6, all the personal pronouns are second-person plural! That means it includes US!!)
- The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:8 – 8 For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light — We are Children of light not of darkness, so we can say (and sing) I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light (↔ Music Link)
- Now, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE WALK IN THE LIGHT? We ….. (say it …) Repent and Believe the Gospel! And when we do that, our sins are washed away. Do you remember this? I Know a Fount (↔ Music Link)
- When our sins are washed away, when our little light shines (radiates); when we find what is lost (our closeness to God) we also find that God is standing patiently in the narrow road with arms outstretched to greet us saying “Welcome home, my dear child! I have been longing for your presence.”
Now, all of this takes some “presence of mind;” we have to pay attention. When we do, we see how working with God is the same as God working with us. Look back at that passage in Exodus. God says to Moses, “ of you I will make a great nation.” Moses says, in effect, “Let’s not forget the Promises you made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We wouldn’t want the Egyptians to say you brought our people out here to slay us.” (See Exodus 32:11-14) Moses did not usurp the authority or Promise of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Because of his commitment to Truth, God relented in his just wrath.
Because of that, Jesus was able to fulfill God’s promise by coming to save sinners like The Apostle Paul – and like us. In Christ Jesus we have the fulfillment of the covenant promised first to Eve and Adam, then to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the nation of Israel, the prophets and judges, the gentiles, and finally, to us. In God’s absolutely perfect plan Jesus notifies us saying in John 8:12 – 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” This is later confirmed in the Acts of the Apostles: Acts 26:22-23 – [The Apostle Paul said,] 22 To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: 23 that the Messiah must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”
God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan is that everyone would see HIS Light and radiate his light because HIS Light will be IN us. (Check out Ephesians 5:8 again) If we believe God keeps his promises, then we should be shouting for joy from the rooftops. God is real, God is present, God is Love, and that means he’s not some secret to be hidden from view of the World. Shine, Belovéd! Shine at the top of the hill! When we do that, it’s called evangelization which means we are living out Jesus’ command to the Apostles and to all of us. You can find that in Matthew 28:19. THERE IS A PLAN, and Jesus is counting on us to remember we are part of it. Evangelization is the service we give when Jesus asks for our help to find and to convert just one more sinner so there will be great joy in Heaven. It’s the best job on the planet! Get out there and Glow!
You might also enjoy 1937AFC091319 – Relentless Relenting
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
2247AFC090922 – Reflecting on Glowing
Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.
Exodus 32:9-10 – 9 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10 Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”
1 Timothy 1:15 – 15 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.
Luke 15:7 – 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. This weekend is going to make for some exciting teaching and reaching. There is so much good material in the readings for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 9/11/22. Please take a moment right now to pause and say “NEVER AGAIN!” in remembrance of the attacks on the World Trade Center and all of the other terrorist attacks since then – including Ukraine. We ask God to strengthen us so that our resolve to stand up for what is right never falters. Now, let’s move on to the Key Verses for today. I want to tell you a little about one of the most precious gifts our Creator built into me with my parents’ help.
God gave me the desire and the ability to look for and recognize exceptional people, and then to glow on them a little (sometimes a lot!). Exceptional people often feel a little left out of everything because – well, because they are exceptional. They don’t fit the “common mould” – they are shaped differently from the rest of us. That’s why I am using the archaic spelling of “mold” – mould – to distinguish from that icky green stuff that grows on your cheddar or grapefruit. I like to glow on people who have been moulded differently than the rest of us so that they can feel that perhaps they aren’t so totally excluded from their surrounding community. I suppose that desire and ability to glow is a bit odd – not everyone seeks that – but I also believe all of us have the desire to see what is good in people and acknowledge that goodness. We all want other folks to do that for us – see the good that we do and let us know we’re special too. When I glow on someone, they usually light up, too; the light up from within, with their own light, and not as a reflection of my glow. Please remember that special thing because it will make better sense later.
This Sunday Jesus talks about the lost-and-found events in life. A lost sheep, a lost coin, and the joy finding those objects bring to us and to our friends. We also have the story of a lost son. Many homilies will be centered on that story, I’m sure. Some will focus on the errant lad, some on the begrudging brother, and some on the everlasting love of a father. (↔ Music Link) When we contemplate on Love like that, we recall how God chose Israel to be his unique people, a chosen race to be a light to the nations. One of the passages we hear about that is in Isaiah 42:6 – 6 I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations. All the Hebrew pronouns here – you, your – are first-person singular. This prophecy is part of a description of the Messiah. It is often used to illustrate that we carry that light in us. One reason that association is made is because of Matthew 5:14-16 – 14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. We rejoice in that we are called to be The Light of The World. (↔ Music Link)
Again, it is the Messiah who is indicated in Isaiah 49:6 – 6 he says,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Here, “too light a thing” means something that is a “mere trifle.” Being the Servant of God, the Messiah, and to restore God’s people to their rightful presence in his Kingdom is a small thing compared to being a Light to the gentiles as well thereby allowing for their salvation. There’s that APP again, assuring us that God wants everyone to be saved, not “just his chosen ones, the people of Israel.” THE APP IS WAY BIGGER THAN THAT. Isaiah 52:10 – 10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God. And so we sing All the Ends of the Earth (↔ Music Link) because God wants us back! Why? Why does God want us back?
I’m going to just do this in a sort of outline form:
- God created us in Love and for Love. He Loves us and wants our Love.
- When our First Parents learned sin, they also learned death, and darkness, and separation from God. God, on his part, immediately set up a Plan of Correction for that – an Absolutely Perfect Plan – and we are part of that plan!
- Israel was chosen by God to demonstrate his Goodness, his Power, and his Love. He did that so “Not-Israel” – the gentile nations – would be as in Isaiah 60:3 – 3 Nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
- By adoption, we are All One Body (↔ Music Link). As such, we are heirs of The Promise in the APP, coheirs with Christ.
- Through Christ, who is the Light of the World, we have Christ’s Light in us. This is a special thing I want us to understand:
- We can reflect the Light of Christ to others and shed his light on them, OR
- We can radiate the Light of Christ to others and share his light in
them.
- WHICHEVER WE CHOOSE, God’s Light goes out from us and God is glorified in that ministry of our giving to others what he has given to us. The easiest way to say that is “It’s all good, adelphos*, because it’s all God.” * brethren
- We have the Light! We, though sinners, have the Light of Christ. (OK, Please go ahead and sing [Music Link ↔] This Little Light of Mine). Here’s how we got it: John 12:36 – 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.”
- What are we supposed to do with the Light? Belovéd, we share it!. Matthew 5:14-16 – 14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (In this passage, unlike the previous passage in Isaiah 42:6, all the personal pronouns are second-person plural! That means it includes US!!)
- The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:8 – 8 For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light — We are Children of light not of darkness, so we can say (and sing) I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light (↔ Music Link)
- Now, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE WALK IN THE LIGHT? We ….. (say it …) Repent and Believe the Gospel! And when we do that, our sins are washed away. Do you remember this? I Know a Fount (↔ Music Link)
- When our sins are washed away, when our little light shines (radiates); when we find what is lost (our closeness to God) we also find that God is standing patiently in the narrow road with arms outstretched to greet us saying “Welcome home, my dear child! I have been longing for your presence.”
Now, all of this takes some “presence of mind;” we have to pay attention. When we do, we see how working with God is the same as God working with us. Look back at that passage in Exodus. God says to Moses, “ of you I will make a great nation.” Moses says, in effect, “Let’s not forget the Promises you made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We wouldn’t want the Egyptians to say you brought our people out here to slay us.” (See Exodus 32:11-14) Moses did not usurp the authority or Promise of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Because of his commitment to Truth, God relented in his just wrath.
Because of that, Jesus was able to fulfill God’s promise by coming to save sinners like The Apostle Paul – and like us. In Christ Jesus we have the fulfillment of the covenant promised first to Eve and Adam, then to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the nation of Israel, the prophets and judges, the gentiles, and finally, to us. In God’s absolutely perfect plan Jesus notifies us saying in John 8:12 – 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” This is later confirmed in the Acts of the Apostles: Acts 26:22-23 – [The Apostle Paul said,] 22 To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: 23 that the Messiah must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”
God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan is that everyone would see HIS Light and radiate his light because HIS Light will be IN us. (Check out Ephesians 5:8 again) If we believe God keeps his promises, then we should be shouting for joy from the rooftops. God is real, God is present, God is Love, and that means he’s not some secret to be hidden from view of the World. Shine, Belovéd! Shine at the top of the hill! When we do that, it’s called evangelization which means we are living out Jesus’ command to the Apostles and to all of us. You can find that in Matthew 28:19. THERE IS A PLAN, and Jesus is counting on us to remember we are part of it. Evangelization is the service we give when Jesus asks for our help to find and to convert just one more sinner so there will be great joy in Heaven. It’s the best job on the planet! Get out there and Glow!
You might also enjoy 1937AFC091319 – Relentless Relenting
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
About Chick Todd
American Roman Catholic reared as a "Baptiterian" in Denver Colorado. Now living on Kauaʻi. USAF Vet. Married for over 50 years. Scripture study has been my passion ever since my first "Bible talk" at age 6 in VBS.
