2609AFC022726 – As it is … ← PODCAST LINK 😀
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Genesis 12:4 a – 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר ka-’ă-šer
Psalm 33:22 –
22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you. כַּ֝אֲשֶׁ֗ר ka-’ă-šer,
2 Timothy 1:8 b (GNT) [1]– [ … ] take your part in suffering for the Good News, as God gives you the strength for it. κατὰ kata
Matthew 17:9 – 9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
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. Here at the outset I can tell you
IT’S GOOD TO BE BACK!
I deeply appreciate the prayers, well-wishes, and concerns expressed during my stay in Wilcox Memorial Hospital with pneumonia – again. It was an interruption I did not enjoy one scintilla. Nonetheless, God is so good and he provided me with an intervention by my Pulmonologist that probably saved my bacon. The doctors watching over me flooded me with powerful antibiotics and I was able to see significant improvement in about a week. While the infection is [mostly] gone, the recovery from the nearly cachexic effects will take 3-6 weeks more for slouching around and recovering my strength. I have said this was not a trip for death’s door by a long shot, but I think I did make it to the first step on the front porch. There. that’s enough of that. time to get busy with Scripture!
As you can see, I’m back to showing the words behind the words – a peek at the Hebrew and Greek originally used for these passages. While reviewing the readings for next Sunday – the Second Sunday of Lent – I noticed a pattern centering on the word “as.” Some readers might recall the importance of that word in 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. In this construction, the phrase “just as” can be – should be – understood to mean identically which we have represented many times as ≡. That’s not an Internet “hamburger menu button;” it is a mathematical symbol that represents the expression of identity. This thing is identical to that thing. This action is identical to that action. The fullness of our Love must be identical to the fullness of his Love. (↔ Music Link)
OUCH! That sounds impossible – until we recall Gabriel’s words to our Mother, Mary, “For with God, all things are possible.” That should not be construed as “God can do anything he wants.” It means something far more important and challenging. It means we must have God in each and every thought, word, and deed. When we are truly with God, we are gifted with the Grace to Love and Live in, for, and through him. Our success in Loving as Jesus Loves is not dependent on how much Grace we need but perhaps rather how much Grace we decide to accept and use. We are here reminded of 2 Corinthians 12:9 GNT) 1 – 9 But his answer was: “My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak.” I am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ’s power over me. Now, there is a state-of-being to be longed for! The Apostle Paul learned that allowing God to work in and through his Apostle to the Gentiles, things he could not do on his own were possible because he was able to get out of the way of God’s working.
I’m sure you’ve heard this before: “Some people are very willing to serve God, but mostly in an advisory capacity.” Another thought along the same line came from our Pastor at St Catherine of Alexandria Catholic Church, Fr. EJ Resinto: “When you come in for confessions, make sure you’re confessing your sins and not everyone else’s.” Our predilection for serving our own Pride very often (almost always?) gets in the way of serving our Creator. In other words, we make of ourselves and idol we can serve, an idol that gets what we want when we want it and, if we don’t get it, that idol blames God for the lack and delay. “Why won’t he give it to me?! I’m faithful. I go to Church every Sunday. I try to avoid being bad” Hmmm, yup I’m going to drop a pretty long “Scripture bomb” here from the letter of James.
James 4:3-10 – (GNT) 1 3 And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures. 4 Unfaithful people! Don’t you know that to be the world’s friend means to be God’s enemy? If you want to be the world’s friend, you make yourself God’s enemy. 5 Don’t think that there is no truth in the scripture that says, “The spirit that God placed in us is filled with fierce desires.” 6 But the grace that God gives is even stronger. As the scripture says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
7 So then, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you. 8 Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you hypocrites! 9 Be sorrowful, cry, and weep; change your laughter into crying, your joy into gloom! 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
We make ourselves to believe that God will always accept us AS IS (↔ Music Link), and – in most cases – that is enough to get started. Shall we recall again the words for Jesus spoke as he began his ministry? “Repent and Believe the Gospel.” What are the Law and the Prophets all about? They are about Loving God, serving God, loving and serving our neighbors, and doing what is right when right things need to be done. How about a slightly smaller Scripture Bomb? Matthew 9:27-31 – 27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying loudly, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” 28 When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” 29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to [as is] your faith let it be done to you.” 30 And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly ordered them, “See that no one knows of this.” 31 But they went away and spread the news about him throughout that district.
Sinner! Enter in! Leave the world outside, and dare to be assimilated. Lay aside your idolatry, and in the space where you have emptied it, let it be filled up with the Christ of God. remember the APP – God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan. YOLO-F. Because of his Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, Eternal Salvation, Immutable Justice, Irreproachable Wisdom, and Incomparable Grace! How dare we think that we can substitute our own frail faculties for the Divine economy of Salvation. If we will but give him our emptiness, he will fill it with all our needs in “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over.” (See Luke 6:38) As it is him in us, so shall it be us in him.
Glory Halleluiah two times and AMEN thrice! I hope to see you next week. Keep those prayers and feedback coming. We’ll see if we can also resurrect Tuesdays with Chick once I get back to at least 80%.
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.
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
[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) are from the 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.
