2329AFC072123 – So help me God
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Wisdom 12:18 – 18 Although you are sovereign in strength, you judge with mildness,
and with great forbearance you govern us;
for you have power to act whenever you choose.
Psalm 86:15 –
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
Romans 8:26-27 [i] – 26 In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. 27 And God, who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of his people and in accordance with his will. GNT
Matthew 13:30 – 30 Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love. This coming Sunday, the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we continue with readings that include Jesus’ parables. Last week we heard the Parable of the Sower and the Seed Scattered and Sown (↔ Music Link). There is a similar parable here, and yet there are some important differences we can’t help 
but notice. For me, the most significant of those differences is the fate of the weeds (Darnel, also called tares cf 1035AFC or 1729AFC) sown by the Enemy, ha-Satan – The Accuser. This action is described in the short passage from Matthew 13. The weeds are collected, bundled into sheaves, and sent off to be burned. That was a prudent judgment. The lesson in the parable is that the Good and the Evil among all earthlings will be left together until it is time for the harvest. When that conclusion of the planting comes upon us, those whose lives are evil will be removed and destroyed in fire, and those whose lives are good will become bread as a blessing. It seems to me that it is then we will know for sure who is the wheat and who is the weed. (↔ Music Link) That’s something we mentioned in 2324AFC061623 – Get Right and Get Left.
Note also that it was the laborers who noticed the mixing of the wheat and tares (darnel seeds also called tares). They alerted the landowner who was most likely the sower. It was his judgment to make, and his laborers followed his wise instructions. It is the same with God’s judgments. He alone is the one who decides on the type and extent of reward. His absolutely perfect Power certainly makes him sovereign in strength, but because of his great Love for us who are part of his Creation and therefore part of the Absolutely Perfect Plan, he will judge [us] with mildness, and with great forbearance [he will] govern us. That sovereign omnipotence which allows him to do whatever he wills is constantly and consistently directed at one Goal: To restore our relationship with him. This requires that we learn to recognize, understand, and hold to Truth. One very good way to work toward achieving that requirement is to recognize, understand, and know what he means when he speaks. In the Gospels especially, God’s manner of speaking has some very clear characteristics that serve as pointers for information God wants us to know and understand. It’s like when our math teacher said, “Copy this down. This will be on the test.” One very simple device is repetition.
We are all familiar with the expression “Verily, verily I say unto you.” Another way this is expressed is “Amen, I say to you.” ( אָמֵן amane ἀμὴν amen) In the Gospel of John the form is “Amen, Amen, I say unto you.” When we see that, we should really, really home in on what follows that pointer.Everything given to us in Scripture is created on and for purpose. When we lose (or misplace) that purpose, we neglect God and each other. When we say amen at the end of a prayer, we are making the elements of that prayer our own as in “so let it be,” or “make it so,” or “it is True. When we lose (or misplace) that purpose, we neglect God and each other. [i] That is the cause of injustice. The remedy to counteract that injustice is metanoia – we must be transformed, by sincere spiritual conversion, to what God’s original intent is in creating earthlings. We disdain “Original Sin” and esteem “Original Justice.” [ii] To do this, to experience metanoia, we must undergo a radical change in heart and mind that realigns us with God’s APP. Essentially, this means that we first listen to what Jesus has said after the double-declarative, and secondly we promise to do that thing.
It is in the realm of our Believer’s Priesthood to say we intend to change and to be true to that change. In situations where we state our intentions to be true to what we are taught, or to declare our commitment to Truth, we often (usually) use the words of an oath such as “I promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” What God asks of us through Jesus’ ministry of salvation is not only tell the Truth, but also to LIVE the Truth. When we declare this commitment to Truth, we must also declare our confirmation of that commitment. As an example, we read in Psalm 119:106
106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
to observe your righteous ordinances.
God expects us to rigorously construct and maintain our vows to him and to each other – even if doing so might bring us deeper suffering. Take for example
Psalm 15:4 – 4 in whose eyes the wicked are despised,
but who honor those who fear the Lord;
who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
In other words, we are to keep an oath – a promise made freely to another whether God or earthling – no matter what possible negative effects ensue. “How can God expect that sort of thing?” Because that’s how he rolls; just ask Jesus what happened when he freely agreed to obey God, no matter what. And so, Belovéd, whenever we renew our Baptismal Promises, we renew our commitment to “Live the Truth, the Whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.” In our mental audio-visual library, that sort of statement is familiarly followed by, ” – So help me God.”
So help me God are words we are used to hearing at the end of an oath to a person or institution in authority. An oath is a fervent statement for specifying the factualness of what we say or write down, the trustworthiness of our pledge, and the fidelity of our obligation to serving as promised – such as the oath taken by members of the Armed Forces to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Oaths that conclude with “So help me God” are usually expected when the oath is under or within the authority of national or local office, ecclesiastical, and governmental actions. In legal oaths, such as when a witness is sworn in to take the stand and give testimony in a court of law, the person states, “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.”
In a judicial setting – a criminal or civil trial for example – an officer of the court of convening authority will “swear in” a witness before s/he takes the stand to give testimony. That oath is considered binding, and taking it frivolously or deceptively can bring severe punishment under the rules of perjury. Personally, I’ve always sort of bristled at that particular oath because I most certainly don’t know “The Truth, the Whole Truth, and nothing but The Truth.” Only God knows that, so I just tell myself to rely on God and say to him, “So, help me, God.” That phrase is not in the Constitutional Oath of Office, but it usually gets tacked on anyway. My puny little protest isn’t about to change it. Amen and Amen!
That double-affirmative, as we have said, is an important indicator that something important is about to follow immediately. When we hear “amen,” it’s usually at the end of a prayer, but when it comes at the beginning of a declarative statement, it emphasizes that the speaker or writer has the authority to make that statement, and additionally has direct personal and original experience with the subject. It would be as if to say, “I know this to be true because I have directly experienced it (or) personally created it.” When Jesus used this language form, he did three things. [1] He declared his authority to say or do it, [2] He declared his intimate knowledge of what was said, and [3] He declared that the Truth he declared was from his Father because he was from the Father. Actually, Jesus was able to go way beyond that. In John 10:30, he told his listeners, The father and I are one. The Jewish leaders then thought this was blasphemy and were ready to stone him. Their imaginations about God were sort of like what we call “whack-a-mole” – instant and long-lasting punishment for transgressing The Law. Remember John 3:17 – 17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Those who opposed Jesus’ teaching somehow forgot what the Psalmist said:
Psalm 86:15 –
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. We recall that “steadfast love” is a biblical term for Mercy. This is reiterated in our Key Verse from Romans where The Apostle Paul says in Romans 8:26-27 [ii] – 26 In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. 27 And God, who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of his people and in accordance with his will. GNT [iii] Our Almighty-Everliving God prays for us – he prays on our behalf. Can we even imagine that? God asking God to forgive us, then God allowing God to die for us to save us from the wages of sin and the curse of death, and then God coming into our hearts and minds to help us love him more and more? No?!?
Nope, actually it’s YES. God himself did all of that – for us. If I did not believe that, it would be incredible, but Amen, Amen, I say to you, God cannot fail to be generous to those who love him, to those whom he has first loved and that is why he gave us Jesus, the Lord (↔ Music Link) Consider this Old Testament flashback from The Apostle Paul:
1 Corinthians 2:9-10 – 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
What then are we to do about this God who refuses to stop loving us and allows us to choose whether or not we will love him? One thing we can do is remember how that parable about the tares and the wheat ends: Matthew 13:40-43 – 40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears [to hear], listen! Very truly I tell you, refusing to listen blocks out the sun’s brightness by blocking the Son’s Light. One of the titles ascribed to Jesus is “The Father’s Amen.” That means that Jesus is the absolutely ultimate declaration of God’s promise to bless and protect his chosen People whether by birthright or adoption. We close with Psalm 72:19 –
19 Blessed be his glorious name forever;
may his glory fill the whole earth.
Amen and Amen.
All he asks in return is Come back to me! (↔ Music Link) Repent and believe the Gospel. Amen, Amen I tell you he has included every one of us in his Absolutely Perfect Plan – so help me God.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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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.
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Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
[i] Mission – Fr. Ace Tui, March 15, 2023. Used by permission
[ii] Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission
[iii] Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission
[i] Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission
