2409AFC030124 – What do we do?
The Road to Jerusalem Series #3
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Exodus 20:5 b– 6 – I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Psalm 19:8 – (GNT) [1]
8 The laws of the Lord are right,
and those who obey them are happy.
The commands of the Lord are just
and give understanding to the mind.
1 Corinthians 1:22-23 – (GNT) 22 Jews want miracles for proof, and Greeks look for wisdom. 23 As for us, we proclaim the crucified Christ, a message that is offensive to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles
John 2:23-25 – 23 When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. Today we are continuing the Journey to Jerusalem, and in today’s readings for Cycle B, we hear the 10 commandments. The Psalmist chimes in with a song about the laws of the Lord. The Apostle Paul tells us about the core of his testimony – Christ crucified, something which makes the Jews distrustful and the Gentiles baffled. The Gospel finishes up with Jesus driving the moneychangers and vendors out of the Temple Area with a whip made of cords. When confronted with the questions, “Who are you to do something like this?” He gives a mysterious answer: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” No one but Jesus understood what that meant.
In parishes where there are catechumens elected to receive the Sacraments of Initiation, the readings will be from Year A – God brings water from the rock, The Apostle Paul tells us that For Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly. The Gospel is from John 4:5-42 – Jesus met the woman at the well in Sychar. In that passage, Jesus reveals himself as the Messiah, and many in that small village near Jacob’s well on a parcel of land Jacob gave to his son Joseph. This is the Sunday of the 1st Scrutiny by which the elect – catechumens who have demonstrated their commitment to continue – begin a three-week examination of their commitment. This self-evaluation is supported by their community as well as the entire Church. The Scrutinies are rites commemorating repentance and conversion – turning away from whatever might serve as a hindrance to accepting the Love of God – and encouraging them to continue to draw closer to Christ.
We can begin looking at today’s Key Verses with the passage from Exodus. Some folks use this verse, and others like it, to say that God is vengeful and flawed because he describes himself as being “jealous.” Further objections are raised about punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation. These objections arise mostly out of “selective hearing” they hear what they want to hear and tune out the rest of what is said. The phrase immediately following this segment is of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. Let’s first deal with jealous.
The important distinction here is that this word connotes zeal, and God’s zeal is for his Chosen Ones. God’s omnibenevolent Love embraces everyone who will – in return – love and obey him. We love and obey, God Loves and protects. It is a jealousy of exclusivity, and the sense of it is “you shall not permit yourself to bow down to any gods other than me.” Does that sound familiar? “I AM the Lord, your God. You shall not have other gods besides me.” One might ask, “Why would God punish the children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren for the sins of their ancestors?” The answer is in the dichotomy between God’s illustrations. Correction – chastisement – lasts only a short while, whereas reward lasts until the thousandth generation. The purpose of chastisement is to instill wisdom and repentance. God zealously seeks to draw all men closer. (See John 12:32)
The Key Verse taken from this Sunday’s Psalm reinforces that Truth. The laws of the Lord are right, and those who obey them are happy. God is Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, And Eternal Salvation. As rational beings we can see that it is irrational to want anything less. That irrationality is the result of our own unwillingness to properly use the faculty of Free Will. This consequence of original sin is reminiscent of Genesis 6:5 [2]– (NLT) The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. That was God’s assessment before the Flood and before the giving of The Law, the guidance he gave to his chosen people.
Once God had chosen Israel to be “the Best among the best,” it was his expectation that they would be the exemplars of Love and Obedience so that all other nations would want to know, love, and serve the God of Israel. Moses described it well in Deuteronomy 4:7-8 – 7 For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? 8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today? Long story short, God says, “I chose you, now, you choose me in return.” If choosing God results in eternal blessedness and if rejecting God results in eternal penalty, I ask again, “Why would anyone want anything less?” Indeed, it’s a formidable mystery how we can be so oblivious to the obvious as seen in 1 John 4:16 – 16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
Regrettably, that is not enough for – I’ll go ahead and say it – most people. Fewer and fewer earthlings are convinced of the reality that God is omnipotent, omniscient, 
omnipresent, omnibenevolent, and with good reason expects us to know that. I say “with good reason” because we are created in his image and likeness, and therefore his own beloved creatures among all of his Creation. “Creature? How come you call me a creature when I am a child of God?” Go to Chapter 1, verse 12 of John to be assured (↔ Music Link) you are a Child of God only by virtue your Baptism “in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” When that happens to us, we become Children of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and just as Israel was led through the desert by the Spirit of God in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, we will be led by the Power and the Light of the Holy Spirit. Only in the most general sense are non-Christians “children” of God because he created us in his image and likeness and put into us the breath of his own Life.
Do we really need miracles to convince of that Jesus is the Christ of God? The miracle of our own anointing as Priest, Prophet, and King evokes our family heritage. Do we need 
further insight into the Nature of God to be able to perceive his role in our salvation through Christ Jesus? Why do we preach “Christ crucified?” It was the death of Christ which accomplished our Salvation. It was the Resurrection of Christ which assured our reunion with God at the Day of Reward. If we choose – again choose – to make sense of that or to see proof of that, then that Old Serpent is having his way with us … again. God does not condemn those who have chosen to trust, Love and Obey him (See John 3:17-19) Why would anyone want anything less except that s/he chooses to reject that Gift?
While Jesus was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, “many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone. Whether the proof was wisdom or miracles, many in Jerusalem believed in him and his Name. That is what we do, we believe in Jesus and in his name, as in 1 John 3:23 – 23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
Belovéd, we have gone from the Ten Commandments to the Command of Jesus – God the Son – and we know that what we must do is in Micah 6: 8 (GNT) – 8 No, the Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God. That fits perfectly with Deuteronomy 6:5 – 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might – as well as John 13:34 – 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. That is what we must do, because Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romas 13:10) Jesus fulfilled the Law COMPLETELY. If we are doing what Jesus does, we are doing the right thing. (← Check it out!) That beautiful first Ten Commandments was the perfect instruction manual at the beginning of the Beginning of the B.I.B.L.E., God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan, and throughout that resource there is one constant theme: “Repent and Believe the Gospel” which is what we do because he created us to know and accept YOLO-F.
Perhaps we need to DO is decide on whom we should follow (↔ Music Link)
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
[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible
[2] Passages marked NLT are from the New Living Translation Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
