Aloha Friday Message – August 25, 2023 – God’s got you pegged

August 25, 2023

2334AFC082523 – God’s got you pegged.

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.

Isaiah 22:22-23 – 22 I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut, and no one shall open. 23 I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his ancestral house.

Psalm 138:1 –
1 With all my heart
I will praise you, Lord.
In the presence of angels
I will sing your praises.(CEV) [1]

Romans 11:33 – 33 O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

Matthew 16:19 – 19 I will give you the keys * of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. * kleidas plural of κλεῖς – key

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Christ Jesus our Lord. We are already at the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. The reading in this cycle (A) point us toward the investiture of The Apostle Peter as “The Rock.” Now, this is not the Rock like Dwayne Johnson. No, this is The Rock like the Rock of Ages (↔ Music Link) and that Rock – Jesus the Lord – bestowed that stability on The Apostle Peter and the Εκκλησία – Church (See Matthew 16:18) which he would build. He gave The Apostle Peter the Keys of the Kingdom (See Matthew 16:18-19). The Key of the Kingdom are the insignia, the badge, of power. That’s the importance of our first reading from the Prophet Isaiah – I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. The Apostle Peter was given the keys to the Church, and since the Church was established on the Rock of Jesus’ authority through God and the House of David, not even the gates of Hell could conquer it. This is similar to the promise made to Eliakim in today’s Key Verse from Isaiah.

Eliakim (meaning “whom God will raise up”) was the son of Hilkiah (meaning “my chosen portion”). God chose Eliakim to take over the duties of Shebna (perhaps “Jehovah has brought me back) who was a spectacular failure and who built his own very elaborate sepulcher while he was still alive. He was a self-absorbed show-off who held the position of the King’s secretary or scribe. Isaiah called him out and predicted his fall from his fantasy of glory. In his place, God set Eliakim – his chosen servant – and Eliakim eventually became the King’s Prime Minister – the person who was the supreme gatekeeper for the House of David. Whenever he spoke, he spoke with the authority of the King. If he shut the door, it was shut. If he opened the door, it stayed open unless or until he shut it. This is a prefiguring of the authority given to The Apostle Peter. He held Christ’s authority to open or shut the door.

Whatever door is closed by Christ cannot be opened by any other for any reason. Jesus opens to us the door of eternal salvation for soul and body, but to those who refuse to enter by that door, the door will be shut as surely as God closed the door on the Ark (See Genesis 7:16) Christ has this authority from God. It is his to use, or to share, as pleases him. He himself stated this unequivocally. Then he shared it with his Apostles, and their successors who share it among us to this very day. This is another of the Core Principles in the Absolutely Perfect Plan. This is why we say “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!”

You can see several passages such as these that show how Jesus described his own authority: Matthew 11:27, Matthew 28:18-20, John 3:35, John 17 (←IMPORTANT!), Daniel 7:13-14. I want to give you the text of Matthew 28:18 as it represents the other passages well. It says, 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” This is part of “The Great Commission”  where Jesus gave his authority to all Disciples (including us) to spread the Gospel. It is Scripture that is the framework for the Church, and the foundation of the Church is the teaching of the Apostles, especially Peter.

Why do we say, “especially Peter?” We say that because it was Peter who received the “badge of authority,” the Keys of the Kingdom, the very Kingdom that God promised through David, the Kingdom over which Eliakim presided. Only Jesus had the power to elevate The Apostle Peter to this position of authority, and that designation was made “in accordance with the Scriptures.” Eliakim was given authority over the post vacated by Shebna in the same way that Isaiah prophesied that the government would be on the shoulders of the coming Messiah –  “And the government shall be upon his shoulder.” (Isaiah 9:6 ← Multiple translations) Government in Hebrew is ham-miś-rāh – dominion, rule, government. In the same way that Christ himself addresses the church in Philadelphia and in the same way as in Daniel 7, the Kingdom of the Son of Man, the Messiah, is an everlasting kingdom with authority over all of creation because he is the “God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great God mighty and awesome,” (See Deuteronomy 10:17-18) who reigns forever and ever (See Exodus 15:18). That is our God! He is indeed an Awesome God (↔ Music Link) in Three Persons who reign from Heaven above and it is that Awesome God that gives us the Rock of Ages called The Church which is built upon the Rock of the Apostle Peter. Our Holy Triune God – who is the Rock of our Salvation – has used his authority to commission a sure and safe place in the tradition of the Psalms. You perhaps will recall this gem in Psalm 18:2 – 2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. That is such an inspiring image!

When we think of inspirations, we often think of images like this one. For those of us who have music constantly playing in our heads, we might hear certain tunes going off: Here’s a great tune by Stewart Townend and Keith Getty and performed by Keith & Kristyn Getty, with Alison Krauss: In Christ Alone (↔ Music Link)  Here is another hymn that reminds us of Jesus’ words to The Apostle Peter: Upon this Rock. Just as God set Eliakim in a place of authority and secured him as “a firm peg” (or nail), The Apostle Peter was set in an unassailable position of authority. There are so many connections between the prophesies of Isaiah and the Gospels!

The entire book of Isaiah is a compilation of prophetic poetry, mostly composed by the Prophet himself, and the section here mentioned, 56-66, is notable for the contrasting hopes of the families who have returned from exile and the condemnation and destruction of the corrupt leaders of Israel. The warnings God had given to King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7 include the oft-quoted 2 Chronicles 7:14 where God states that the nation who repents and calls upon him will be saved. As Paul Harvey used to say, “Wait ’til you hear the rest of the story.” In that same chapter there is a very blunt, stark, and (frankly) scary Word from the Lord. Take a look:

2 Chronicles 7:19-22 – 19 “But if you* turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will pluck you up from the land that I have given you; and this house, which I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 And regarding this house, now exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished, and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?’ 22 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord the God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore he has brought all this calamity upon them.’” * In Hebrew this pronoun is plural – the Nation. It is a central theme throughout the entire Bible – if you fail to love God and neighbor, you must repent. If you do not repent, the consequences will be very unpleasant. If you do repent, the consequences will be wonderfully splendiferous. Now, doesn’t that seem like a no-brainer? Well, that’s pretty much how most of us handle it – with no brains. That’s easier to spot than you might think. You’ve heard this one many times: “by their fruits you will know them.” We have all heard about the “deeply faithful Catholic” who carries a rosary in his pocket but still won’t follow the teachings of the Church. We call people like that “good for the country.” That’s like calling elephant scat “milk.” We rename someone/something bad as something/someone good. So, you know what is coming next, correct?

Isaiah 5:20-23 – (use this link to study the GNT version)
20 Ah, you who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
21 Ah, you who are wise in your own eyes,
and shrewd in your own sight!
22 Ah, you who are heroes in drinking wine
and valiant at mixing drink,
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of their rights!

Wisdom 5:14 –
14 Because the hope of the ungodly is like thistle-down carried by the wind,
and like a light frost driven away by a storm;
it is dispersed like smoke before the wind,
and it passes like the remembrance of a guest who stays but a day.

If you want to read something that will cheer you up, follow this link: Wisdom, Chapter 5 and read about the eternal rewards earned by the lifetimes of the righteous and the wicked.

Isaiah 43:11-13, 25 (GNT) [2] –
11 “I alone am the Lord,
the only one who can save you.
12 I predicted what would happen,
and then I came to your aid.
No foreign god has ever done this;
you are my witnesses.
13 I am God and always will be.
No one can escape from my power;
no one can change what I do.

25 And yet, I am the God who forgives your sins,
and I do this because of who I am.
I will not hold your sins against you.

Isaiah 3:11 –
11 Woe to the guilty! How unfortunate they are,
for what their hands have done shall be done to them.

Belovéd, are we the guilty ones? Are we crossing the swamp or standing on the rock? Are we held in a firm place like a peg, or are we blowin’ in the wind? God has us pegged into a safe and secure place if we repent, believe, and live the Gospel.

The people addressed by Isaiah in this passage would recognize the image of a peg pounded into a wall to hold pots, jugs, bowls, wineskins, or other items securely. It was a common practice to have such pegs to keep items safe and organized (“A place for everything and everything in its place,” as my dad used to say.) Now, in this image we do not see Eliakim held up against a wall and pounded over the head with a hammer! What we do see is Eliakim held firmly in the hands of El Shaddai so that he might be a blessing to his People. The same is true for us – IF we allow God to establish our secure position instead of always saying “I do it myself!” We have already learned that saying that is in direct disobedience to God’s will and God’s Way. If God’s got us pegged he’s got our true nature defined and has still put us in a protected place where we can use our strength in him to support others, to support materials for our ministry, or to hold onto  what has been handed down to us by the Apostles: the Gospel. We rest in God knowing that he’s got us covered no matter what. Here’s a tune about being secure as sung by Johnny Cash: I shall not be moved (↔ Music Link) Our YOLO-F life is safest when we entrust it to God so he can hold us in the hollow of his hand. (↔ Music Link)  I’m looking forward to that because when I get there I am going to live out the opening of my favorite Psalm:
1 With all my heart
I praise you, Lord.
In the presence of angels
I sing your praises.

Adelphos, once I make it Home, “I shall not be moved!” I’ve been pegged in where I belong. See you there!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

 Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

[1] (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. Used by permission.

[1] Passages marked CEV are from the Contemporary English Version (CEV) Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible. All right reserved. Used by permission.

 

 

 

 

Aloha Friday Message – August 18, 2023 – Heartbreaking news

August 18, 2023

2333AFC081823 – Heartbreaking news

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.

    Isaiah 56:6c – 7
… all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it,
and hold fast my covenant —
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.

Psalm 67:4 –
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah

Romans 11:29 – 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Matthew 15:24-28 – 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

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. Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! This has been another difficult week here in Hawaiʻi. For those of you who have expressed some concern for our home in Kapahi, we are A-OK. The Maui fires are about 215 miles from us. Nonetheless, we mourn those whose lives ended in such terrifying circumstances. Regrettably, there is already plenty of scapegoating going on – which is neither Aloha nor Pono – and many of the overly-entitled folks affected are blaming each other with hundreds of “yes-but” responses to each other. The bottom line for us is that whatever safeguards were in place to protect against a normal wildfire were insufficient for this extraordinary, cataclysmic day. Our island of Kauaʻi is drier than it could be, but so far we have not experienced any large fires. We are also watchful of storms in the mid-Pacific. In 1992, Hurricane Iniki surprised everyone by making an unexpected turn northward and decimating Kauaʻi.

The Maui event was exacerbated by Hurricane Dora, passing far to the south of us, and a huge high-pressure area north of us. That caused a pressure gradient that upped the winds to speeds of 80 mph over Maui. That is why the fire so quickly overran the town of Lahaina. So far, we on Kauaʻi are blessed to have only minor impacts from recent storms. Please continue your prayers for those who died, but even more so for those who have survived. There is a lot of anger brewing in the hearts of a few – note that, a few – who believe “the government” or some other public authority could have prevented it, and should have been onto the island within hours bringing them food, water, and protection. Instead, it took days, and that has become a serious point of contention. Their eyes are closed to the facts, and that is the invitation for evil to move in and stir up certain hearts that feel broken. At times like these we often hear, “How could God have allowed (or caused!) this?!? It just breaks my heart to see suffering like this!” One truly remarkable response to this disaster is that many survivors of the fires (there were several across the island) started sharing whatever they had with the people who had lost everything. They organized boats and went into the damaged areas of Lahaina with food, water, clothing and whatever resources they had. This is Aloha. This is pono (pono means goodness, uprightness, morality, moral qualities, correct or proper.) They were doing the works God commands for the poor – Corporal Acts of Mercy. (← Check it out!). .

Right off the bat, I am reminded of Psalm 147:3-5 –
3 He heals the brokenhearted,
and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.

There are many people on Maui, and indeed across the globe, who have put their trust in God, gathering in prayer and worship and comforting one another. This only happens where Faith is based in the primacy of God. You may recall we have said that living in the house of God did not simply mean hanging out at the Temple or Church. “House” means family as in “the house and lineage of David.” If we look at the last two lines of our Key Verse from Isaiah, we read “… for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” Those who are part of God’s family – heirs by inheritance as well as heirs by adoption – are a family of prayer by and for everyone – all Peoples. This is great news, because it means that once we give God primacy in all things, we are family, and family is community, and community is one of the Key Principles of the Absolutely Perfect Plan. Because of that, those who are in the Family of the Lord and who “walk according to his ways” benefit most from his leadership, his prodigious Gifts, and his Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, and Eternal Salvation through Christ our Lord.

I confess, none of that like sounds heartbreaking news. What is heartbreaking is when people abuse community, do not walk in his ways, seek their own counsel, and harm their community. We see a description of that in
Isaiah 65:1-2
I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask,
to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,” * [behold]
to a nation that did not call on my name.
2 I held out my hands all day long
to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
following their own devices …
*Behold – הִנֵּ֣נִי hin-nê-nî (↔ Click Link)

If we look out across the World with Love in our eyes, we see the World somewhat as God sees it. Seeing thus, we see what is truly heartbreaking news. Do you remember The Apostle Paul’s long list of persons who have no place in the Kingdom of God? Let me list that reference again, and I ask that as you to read each word, recall someone you know or whom you have seen that is described by that particular word. Here we go: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – 9 Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, 10 thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.

  • Fornicators – those who share the sexual embrace without matrimony, “consensual sexual intercourse between a man and especially a single woman who are not married to each other; “shacking up,”  “hooking up; ” “just living together” “boyfriend + girlfriend = ‘friends with benefits'” (and often children).
  • Idolators – all those folks who place anything at a higher station in their lives than they place God. “I’m not going to miss this game just because of Church!”
  • Adulterers – even just in our hearts we can break the fidelity of matrimony.
  • Male prostitutes and sodomites – these men have traded the natural for the unnatural; the same applies to those of the only other gender.
  • Thieves – including those who turn to looting in the mistaken notion that they are entitled to someone else’s belongings.
  • The greedy – one of the worst forms of idolatry where the acquiring and possessing of material things is the driving force to the life they lead.
  • The revilers – oh, we have so many of these, especially in politics (seen any rallies on TV lately?), but also in sectarian, racial and ethnic prejudices, and violence as in Eastern Republic of Congo and Iran.
  • Robbers – more than just thieves, robbers enter another’s property illegally, hoping to gather up costly items that they can fence to persons who knowingly buy stolen goods to resell them at a profit.

Each and every one of these states of being is heartbreaking news, because all of them represent mortal sins – infractions against the Ten Commandments – and people who die unrepentant of mortal sin have chosen to accept the full wages of sin: DEATH forever. Do you remember what we said about Solomon, the “wisest man in history?” In 2330AFC072823 – Another smart move, we stated, “There is no word in Scripture that he ever got to that stage (repentance). He may have died unrepentant, and that was definitely not another smart move.”

What happened on Maui is horrific, and we rightfully mourn for the lives lost and even grieve for the cultural and communal losses of structure, properties, and memories. Nonetheless, what is happening all around us throughout the entire World is especially heartbreaking news because most of the people who are surrounded by and stuffed-full of mortal sins don’t care about their state in Life, don’t want anyone to try to correct them, and don’t believe one tiny bit in YOLO-F. Even in worse circumstances are the folks who bear an indelible Mark of God’s election through Baptism and Confirmation, but live double lives showing one side as the image of fervent religiosity, and the other side as the image of utter indifference to the Rules of the Universe. The ha-Satan is collecting those Marks so he can show them off at the end of Time when the universe will be completely remade.

The universe is God’s creation. We are part of that creation. There are rules, laws, decrees, and patterns that govern all of creation – including us. When we live by the rules, creation is at our hand to enjoy as a natural consequence of obedience. When we flaunt the rules, all creation is against our hand as a natural consequence of disobedience. What is the state of those who fail to obey God’s commands (remember it’s God in Three Persons)? Well, their YOLO-F is spent in Hell, while those who are obedient eventually experience their YOLO-F in Heaven. The heartbreaking news is that there are so many souls living in complete indifference to God’s Way for us because they don’t believe or don’t care that God exists. Heartbreaking!

We are instructed to deal with those who bear those indelible Marks by admonishing and instructing them as listed in the Seven Spiritual Acts of Mercy (← Check it out!) For those outside, those who do not bear those indelible Marks, we are instructed to evangelize them. For those with the indelible Marks, but live a double life, we are instructed to evangelize them “in the pews.” Something we often overlook is what is “what’s in it for us.” IF we live up to our pledge of fidelity to the principles for which we were anointed – to be Priest, Prophet, and King – then we must do whatever we can to sanctify our own lives and the lives of our families. We are required to teach and edify those who rely on our servant-leadership whether young or old. In this way we help govern our lives and our family’s lives in the ways that obey God’s APP. When we do that, we are blessed with the rewards of faith – including the blessing from those we have guided toward God’s Great Throne. On the other hand, if we become a stumbling block for others, if we think we can be sneaky enough that God won’t notice and neither will our family – well, then, we are not going to have a good outcome, but rather a heartbreaking YOLO-F.

Do any of you watch the “true crime” stories on TV? One of the most common themes is a spouse who decides it is better to murder her/his spouse than to get a divorce – usually because they want to keep the financial security, life insurance, or to make sure they have custody of the kids. Even though you may be sick of hearing it from me, “the universe” cannot do a thing for you. It won’t answer your prayers, won’t guide you using the stars, won’t realign itself to make your life better or worse. STOP PRAYING TO THE UNIVERSE! (See 2330AFC072823) Stop praying to a pantheon of gods just to cover all your bases! Stop saying “It’s only a piece of paper. We really love each other and that’s enough.” No. It is not. Matrimony is a Sacrament instituted by God in Genesis to ensure we are free to marry (no skeletons to be found), we freely consent to become one flesh, we plan to make marriage a lifetime covenant commitment to each other and to God, and to “be fruitful and multiply” so that children carry forth our sacred commitments. This is our calling, to be the Servants of God and our prayer should be like that of the Canaanite woman: “Lord, help me.”  Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” What we should all be able to remember as a template for Christian living is the acronym J.O.Y. – J is for Jesus, O is for others, and Y is for you. God comes first; all else should be a distant second.

The Gifts and Call of God are irrevocable! He will not cancel them, but if we refuse those Gifts and that Call, he will not force us to accept them! This is our call: Belovéd, pray for one another. Pray for faith, discernment, patience, and perseverance, and especially humility for yourself, for the MBN, for world leaders, and most especially for every living soul that refuses God’s irrevocable call and gifts. That’s not just about Maui; it’s about the entire World. We are not far from the point where God may say this: Genesis 6:6-7 – 6 And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” That was followed by The Flood in Noah’s time. Indications are the next purge will be with fire. Might we learn something from what happened in Maui about how to return to God? Remember, Malia Lanakila Church survived the fire, and that’s something to sing about (↔ Music Link). Selah. Heart-mending!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

 Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – August 11, 2023 – What will it take?

August 11, 2023

2332AFC081123 – What will it take?

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.

1 Kings 19 b:12-13 – after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Psalm 85:10
10 Love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will embrace.

Romans 9:4-5 – 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; 5 to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

Matthew 14:28-33 – 28 Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord.

We begin with something familiar – I certainly hope it is familiar! – which is an action that requires a motive. Now, psychologists tell us, “All behavior is positive in intent.” This is a presupposition in Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). With that in mind, what happens when we speak, and hear ourselves speaking, this?

I believe in God, the Father,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.

Or if we say and hear, “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

Of course that sounds familiar! We say one of these Creeds every Sunday, at every daily Mass, with every Rosary, and it’s just always there for us to speak and to hear – but do we only speak and hear it? Can we conscientiously say we pray the Credo? At an even deeper level, can we attest that what we are saying, hearing, and praying is actually, precisely, and truly what we believe? Or do we get on autopilot and just bop on through it? Have you ever noticed that during the Scrutinies for catechumens when we use the Apostles Creed that somehow our brain jumps the track and we’re trying to fit the Nicene creed into our recitation? Perhaps we could scrutinize our own participation in the profession of our faith. Are we really present in that moment? Is what we are speaking, hearing, praying, and professing TRULY what we believe? What would it take to speak, hear, pray, and profess the truth handed down to us from the Apostles? For some of us, sadly, it would take a miracle – kind of like what The Apostle Peter experienced in Sunday’s Gospel. Let’s begin with that, and then move on to our other Key Verses.

This episode comes right after Jesus has delivered a bunch of parables and then, when teaching in the synagogue at Nazareth, the people “took offense at him” and refused to believe what he was teaching. Because of that lack of faith, we read “And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief. (See Matthew 13:58) What would it have taken for them to believe? What could have changed their “A-h-h-h, baloney!” attitude? Miracles? They didn’t have enough faith to believe in the Word, so they didn’t have enough faith to accept miracles. How did they fall so short in Faith? They would not hear the Word, and therefore could not accept the Word. WE have the Word, hear the Word, speak the Word, pray the Word, profess the Word, so surely we must believe the Word, including the miracles.

At the beginning of Matthew 14 we have the account of the execution of John the Baptist followed by the feeding of the 5,000. After that event, Jesus dismissed the crowds and went to a deserted place to pray until evening came. He had sent the Disciples ahead by boat to another destination. We all know the story – Master, The Tempest is Raging (↔ Music Link), and we remember The Apostle Peter’s part in it. So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me! Here it comes again, a common thread in these posts lately: HE FORGOT. Peter is “just two chapters away” (See Matthew 16 beginning at verse 13) from declaring that Jesus is the Messiah. In all fairness, it’s not so much that The Apostle Peter forgot, he just had not yet made up his mind. I have always marveled at the phrase, “So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water.” Peter was on the verge of being a miracle, but he doubted. Fortunately, he did have enough faith in his Master to believe that he could save him from death. Do I, do you, do we have enough faith to actually believe Jesus will save us? I know that many of us do, and we have that faith because we, too, were on the verge of being a miracle when we realized we couldn’t handle it and asked Jesus to save us. What did it take?

For some of us it was a twelve-step program. For others it was time in the box with a Priest acknowledging our sincere contrition and commitment  to successful repentance. Others still might have been in a near-death situation like a serious accident or a deeply personal loss. I want to share with you something that made me change. In 2222AFC060322 – Who ya gonna call?, I told you about the time I nearly died and instead made a wonderful friend in the Holy Spirit. That whole months-long episode began with an examination of conscience that went profoundly deeper than I had ever gone before. I asked the Holy Spirit to come into my heart and clean out all the trash there. As I prayed, watched, and listened, the Holy Spirit helped me speak, hear, pray, and profess the truth – it was a mess in there!

Honestly, it is still pretty messy, and I don’t show up in the box often enough to keep it presentable for My Lord. Yet, I have not forgotten this: In 2 Timothy 1:12, Paul tells Timothy, “I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed (↔ Music Link) and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” I know with absolute, joyful, expectant confidence that there is a place for me, and for you, and for everyone who enters in through The Way given to us by God’s Only Begotten Son. When we reach up in desperate fear of drowning in our own mess, Jesus reaches out and pulls us away from danger and then – guess what! The storm subsides, the wind dies down, and the waves of sin and regret disappear. He hears us always. Do we hear him? What will it take to do that?

In “The Bible According to Otto Preminger” (← Check it out!), God speaks with a thundering, deep bass voice. It’s not always like that. Take Elijah’s experience for example.

Elijah’s flight.

After traveling 40 days and 40 nights from Jezreel to Mt Sinai to escape the vengeance of Jezebel, he climbs up mount Horeb (aka Sinai). God tells him “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.” Then all manner of things happen that Hollywood loves to hype – hurricane winds, earthquakes, fire – but God was not in any of these. The special-effects ended and there was a nearly-silent whispering sound. At that, Elijah covered his face and went to the mouth of the cave to meet God. He was in for a surprise – as is anyone who steps out to see God – as God said to him “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah says he’s running to save his life. God tells him to get up and go back North up to Damascus where he will crown a man to be King of Aram, another man as King of Israel, and finally to anoint Elisha as his successor. That was Elijah’s retirement assignment. Later, Elijah would be caught up into Heaven in a fiery chariot that swung low (↔ Music Link) to pick him up. Elijah lived in and for God and always provided a testimony to the mighty power of God.

When we live out our lives as servants of the Lord, we find that he is able to handle whatever it is we think we cannot share with him. How silly of us to think that he won’t clear away the messes we make, just so that he can draw us closer to him! When we Walk By Faith(↔ Music Link), we end up walking with The Man From Galilee (↔ Music Link) – even if he is walking on the water! Peter started to sink because he was afraid, and because he thought he could walk on the water of his own volition. Once again, we have to say, he forgot to Be not afraid (↔ Music Link) Whenever God Acts to restore us – that is, to bring us closer to him – his steadfast love and faithful promise will open the way for righteousness and peace to be present to us even after we have banished them from our thoughts and our hearts. We are reminded of Isaiah 32:17 –
17 The effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. This is also reflected in Isaiah 30:15-a –
15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. This inspiring notion is also found in Psalm 103:1-5 (← Check it out!). Those who fail to bless the Lord, those who appear to be walking in the Lord’s way but are actually following their own concupiscence are earning for themselves A Hellacious Outcome (↔ Learning Link) which is not only avoidable, but also permanent. (YOLO-F) “Forget not all his benefits,” isn’t just some slogan for the T-vangelists. It is the most-righteous way to stay close to God – to keep that attitude of gratitude that he appreciates because he put it into us in the first place. Please put this chorus into your background-music collection – you know, the one that sticks a tune in your head that plays all day. It’s called Thank you Lord (↔ Music Link). Here’s another easy exercise for this coming week.

Please take 2 minutes and read this beautiful passage in Deuteronomy 7:8-13. You will find this instructive because it contains all we need to know about God’s expectations and the results of accepting or rejecting him. This weekend when you hear about The Apostle Peter and his misadventure on the Sea of Galilee, remember that it is OK to step out in faith, but if we do, we have to keep going like Elijah did – and often with little preparation other than what God provides for us. We cannot forget that it is always enough to finish whatever he asks of us and all that happens to us. “My Grace is sufficient for you.” Sometimes his Grace includes a sponsor, a friend, a pastor, a confessor, or just a good, long talk with the Holy Spirit. Set aside a specific time to – as in make an appointment for – meet with God for a Sweet Hour of Prayer (↔ Music Link) and make it daily. After all, if God is with us and we are with God, then we know what it will take to meet him in his Sweet Sacrament Divine  (↔ Music Link) the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever.  Amen.

What will it take to make God preeminent in our lives? (↔ Learning Link). If we’ve been using our B.I.B.L.E., then we know he expects nothing less than HIS preeminence in our lives.

Neither should we!

And now, May the God of Peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Maran atha! Marana tha!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

 

Aloha Friday Message – August 4, 2023 – The Way Out

August 4, 2023

2331AFC080423 – The Way Out

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.

    Daniel 7:14 –
14 To him was given dominion
and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
that shall never be destroyed.

Psalm 97:9 –
9 For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.

2 Peter 1:16-17 – 16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved,[a] with whom I am well pleased.”

Matthew 17:1-3 – 1 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him. This coming Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. An account of this event is in all three synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) and each account varies slightly from the others. Today we will look into this event and mention some things that sort of slide right by when we listen to this chronicle from the life of Jesus. We’ll use the core questions of journalism – where, why, who, when, what, how – along the way.

Where did the transfiguration happen? The best answer is we don’t know for certain;  but, there are two locations which fit the description in the Gospels. The location with the oldest tradition is Mount Tabor. It’s a fairly low mountain – only about 1,800 ft – but it stands alone on the plain of Esdraelon near Nazareth. It was an important landmark on a trade route called The Way of the Sea at the western edge of the Jezreel Valley. Though not very tall, it provided a panoramic view of the surrounding lands. Another location frequently cited by scholars is Mount Hermon. In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, we read “he took them (Peter, James, and John) up a high mountain.” Mount Hermon is around 9,232 feet in elevation, so that certainly qualifies as higher than Mount Tabor. Ultimately we’re not sure where the event actually took place; what is important is that it did happen and it has many lessons to teach us.

Why was Jesus transfigured? And what does that mean anyway? Perhaps another word will help: Transformed. He was, as we say, “robed in Glory.” As the Psalmist said in our second Key Verse, “For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth.” His face and body radiated the Sh’khinah Glory (← Check it out!) of El Shaddai-Olam. He looked very much like the Ancient One and the Son of Man in Daniel’s vision in the 7th Chapter of the Book of Daniel. He was transfigured in a way that demonstrated his Holiness as the Only Begotten Son. His transfiguration was the final preparation for his next pathway – the Road to Golgotha.

Who was with Jesus when this event occurred? We see in all three Gospel that the Apostles Peter, James, and John went with him. These three men had disclosed their willingness to be martyred for the Kingdom. Jesus shared this essential moment in his life to help strengthen them for what was just days away. But there were other persons there, too. Moses and Elijah appeared alongside him and they, too, were radiating the Glory of Eternity. They represent the Law and the Prophets, and with Jesus in the center, all met together, in, and with him. Can you recall who else was there? Yes! The Holy Trinity! St. Thomas Aquinas has said, “The whole Trinity appeared: the Father in the voice; the Son in the man; the Spirit in the shining  cloud.” All of this was a bit much for The Apostle Peter. He and his comrades fell to the ground and hid their faces.

After they sneaked a peek, The Apostle Peter suggests they build three “booths,” (it was the Festival of Sukkot ← click link for details) one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Then they really had a “come to Jesus moment.” A shining cloud came over them and a booming voice from within the cloud said, “THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, WITH WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED; LISTEN TO HIM.” Jesus then led them back down the mountain and told them not to disclose this event to anyone “until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

When did all this happen? If we consult a parallel Gospels example (← Check it out!), we see that Matthew and Mark say, “six days later,” and Luke says “about eight days later.” Later than what? This event takes place right after Jesus was in the region of Caesarea Philippi. It occurs right after Jesus asks the Disciples “Who do they say that I am?” It is right at the point in Jesus’ life that he begins telling them about his true Mission: He will undergo tremendous suffering, be killed, and be raised to life three days later. (See Matthew 16:21-23) In that conversation, The Apostle Peter comes forward and declares they believe he is the Messiah. How right he was! Just “around a week later,” we’ll say, Peter is standing in the presence of the Messiah, the Law and the Prophets, the Holy Trinity, and the Sons of Thunder.

What were Jesus, Moses, and Elijah discussing? We only have a statement in Matthew and Mark that the three were speaking to one another. In the Gospel of Luke, however, we have some additional – and very revealing – information. Here’s the passage: Luke 9:28-31 – 28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. This is very important information, and once again we’re going to turn to the original Greek to help clarify why it is good to know.

What is meant by “his departure?” The Greek word used here is – ἔξοδον exodon from ἔξοδος (exodos) {ex’-od-os}. Does that look familiar – a bit like exodus? Yes, Jesus was preparing for his Exodus from his life of ministry to his Life of Salvation. You’ll recall that after he left the area of Damascus, he “set his face resolutely toward Jerusalem.” Now he has ascended a high and holy mountain with three well-trusted disciples and shown forth the Glory of his heritage as the Only Begotten Son of God. His departure from this world will be agonizing for him and all who Love him. Ah, but the Joy that awaits them in The Promise! Even now, more and more is being revealed by God about the Absolutely Perfect Plan he has been unfolding for millennia. At the center of that plan is God’s original intention for the earthlings he created – Eternal Life with HIM – YOLO-F.

How did The Transfiguration affect Peter, James, and John, The Sons of Zebedee? James was executed by Herod Agrippa – the first Apostle to be martyred. John, the Belovéd Disciple, is thought to have been the youngest. After the Assumption of Mary, he relocated to the region of Ephesus where he was the Bishop over the church founded there by The Apostle Paul. It is believed he was in Ephesus when he wrote the three epistles credited to him. He is also credited with the narrative Gospel of John and The Revelation of Jesus Christ (often misnamed “Revelations”). Peter, as the Bishop of Rome, was eventually crucified upside down by the Romans. The Transfiguration affected him immensely throughout his life. As he neared the end of his life, he said this in our Key Verse from 2 Peter: 16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Peter’s time was near, yet he still wrote and spoke encouragingly to his parishioners. He who had seen the Light of Christ on the mountaintop knew that such Glory awaits all who profess the name of Jesus. Just up the page from that quote is this: 2 Peter 1:12-15 – 12 Therefore I intend to keep on reminding you of these things, though you know them already and are established in the truth that has come to you. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to refresh your memory, 14 since I know that my death will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure (exodon) you may be able at any time to recall these things. Dearly Belovéd, let us all pray that The Transfiguration makes us more and more like the Apostles Peter, James, and John.

Christian Fundamentalist, Christian Evangelical, Orthodox Christian, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, “Protestant,” Universalist, Mormon, or even just “Religion-Curious,” whatever your particular persuasion, you have been called to hear, and by hearing you are called to faith, and by faith you are called to accept the Gift of Love in Christ Jesus. Did you know you can be the voice through which The Word is heard? It is often said, “Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read.” Beloved, consider making your life an audio-book as well as a pop-up action book. Whatever your calling in Christ, honor the Giver by accepting – and sharing – the Gift of The Living Word. “Now hear ye the Word of the Lord.” He is calling! If you listen, you will hear; if you hear, Faith is just a “yes” away. With The Apostle Peter, I also say, “as long as I am in this body” I will continue to shine a little light on the Word so as to call out in encouragement to all of us on our departure (exodon) homeward. God bless each of you always and all ways. On The Way Out, we remember that we are commanded by God to look toward the Son and LISTEN TO HIM.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

 Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

 

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – July 28, 2023 – Another smart move

July 28, 2023

2330AFC072823 – Another smart move

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.

   Matthew 13:49-50 – 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Romans 8:29 – 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.

Psalm 119:129-130 –
129 Your decrees are wonderful;
therefore my soul keeps them.
130 The unfolding of your words gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple.

1 Kings 3:11-12 – 11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12 I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you.

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 anticipate the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

In our readings, Jesus continues with more parables addressing the Kingdom of God and who will inherit it. The manner of inheritance is not how we usually think of it. When “our rich uncle dies,” we fantasize about coming into a sizable fortune left to us for some mysterious reason. We envision the unknow gratitude accreted into our uncle from who-knows-what. What was it that made him decide to reward us so abundantly? As tantalizing as all that sounds, what we  can inherit from our Heavenly Father is incomprehensively more generous and, above all, eternal. Those who inherit the Kingdom of God will receive abundant rewards – eternity in Heaven with the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit along with all the angels and saints and all the holy people who pleased God with their service to him and to others. Those who displeased God receive rewards in abundance as well – an abundance of eternal suffering and separation from the entirety that Heaven holds. Once again we see that evil persons are separated from holy persons and are the first to be sent off to their eternal reward – they will be thrown into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (See Matthew 13:50 above.) We may never know what led that rich uncle to bless us, but we know “for sure and for certain” why God will bless his good and faithful servants. It’s really pretty simple: Keep his commandments, reverence his Being, and Love God and neighbor in the same way God loves each of us – completely. I am very certain that all of us have had that goal in mind. I am also very certain that all of us often fall short of reaching that goal. In this Sunday’s readings, we have a great example of good intentions paving the road to Hell.

The reading from 1 Kings is part of the story of Solomon, one of the sons born to David and Bathsheba. In 2 Samuel, there are lists of the sons of King David; only one daughter, Tamar, is listed. The total number of sons is around 19, and by my count, Solomon was the tenth-born. As was the case with several (or many) Old Testament males, David had more than a few wives. As we see in today’s Key Verse, Solomon was appointed by God to take over his father’s throne and to rule Israel. Solomon was just a youth – a mere 12 years old – when he began his reign. This is why it makes sense that he would ask God for help in ruling “so vast a people.” (See 1 Kings 3:3-9) Solomon started out following faithfully in his father’s ways of serving God. One very important thing to remember about the life of King David was that he made bunches of colossal mistakes, but he always repented. Solomon was operating in the same way early in his reign, so God came to him and said, “Ask what I should give you.” Solomon asked for wisdom and a discerning heart so that he could know what is right and wrong. When I think about this request, I visualize it as  kind of counteraction to the effects of original sin. Eve and Adam learned about the existence of good and evil. Solomon asked for understanding of good and evil so that he could use it to help God’s chosen race. Adonai was pleased with this answer and so gave him exceptional wisdom. He also gave him everything he didn’t ask for – wealth, freedom from enemies, honor greater than any other ruler. It was indeed an auspicious beginning. However, Solomon, like his father, was also aware of the advantages of alliances through marriage. It started with marriage to the daughter of Pharaoh. It did not end there, though.

A few chapters later, in 1 Kings 11, we read that Solomon “loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh.” In verse three we read: 1 Kings 11:3 – 3 Among his wives were seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. As Solomon brought more outside influences into the Kingdom, his attention to God drifted. He began “going along to get along” with his wives – and probably their families – by worshipping their gods with them. He worshipped at the shrines of gods Adonai had specifically warned against including Ashtoreth, Molech, and Chemosh. He married women from Ammon, Moab, Sidon, Edom, and Hittite women, too. All of these were countries God had specifically forbidden to Israel for intermarriage. Solomon collected them all. When I present this to other people, there is usually at least one comment, “What are you going to do with 700 wives and 300 concubines?”

The best answer I have is, “Nothing good.” God allowed Solomon to keep on defying him in the hope that – like his father, David – he would repent. Every time Solomon took in another princess from another forbidden country or another concubine from another forbidden family, he was apparently thinking he was making another smart move to preserve his wealth, honor, and security. Actually it was just the opposite. He only impoverished himself and his people, he lost all honor from God and men, and enemies sprouted up all around and within Israel. Time was running out for Solomon to repent. There is no word in Scripture that he ever got to that stage. He may have died unrepentant, and that was definitely not another smart move.

We have commented here many times recently on the importance of Jesus’ command, “Repent and believe the Gospel.” Belovéd, when we procrastinate on fulfilling that command, that is definitely not another smart move. When is the best time to repent? NOW! How? 1 John 1:9-10 – 9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. This is a double-admonition. Verse 9 says if we confess, God forgives and cleanses us. Verse 10 says if we claim we did not sin, we are in essence denying and defying God! Catholics have the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation handed down from the Apostles. When used properly, we are indeed cleansed of all sin. When used improperly, we are no better than Solomon worshipping idols and false gods. We all know that God knows and sees everything. How can we possible think that by not admitting sinning, God will not see what we have done?! Well, there’s another smart move! NOT! The universe is God’s creation. We are part of that creation. There are rules, laws, decrees, and patterns that govern all of creation – including us. When we live by the rules, creation is at our hand to enjoy as a natural consequence of obedience. When we flaunt the rules, all creation is against our hand as a natural consequence of disobedience.

Yes, Belovéd, it is true that often the wicked seem to prevail and be showered with every blessing … even when they refuse Grace. But, it is that refusal of Grace that is another dumb move because – in refusing the free, and unlimited, undeserved favor of God – we countermand everything in the universe that might keep us in his Presence. We who believe know that there are safety-devices all over the place to prevent us from giving up that Grace which surpasses all understanding. It appears to be something David and Solomon knew, but they forgot. David wrote this about it:
Psalm 119:129-130 –
129 Your decrees are wonderful;
therefore my soul keeps them.
130 The unfolding of your words gives light;
He also wrote –
Psalm 119:105 –
105 Thy Word (↔ Music Link) is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.

When I was working in Quality Assurance – later called Performance Management – one of the guiding principles was that we can’t improve what we don’t measure and we can’t measure what we don’t observe. Looking at the two passages from Psalms, we see that we must know the decrees, and then live by them. As we unfold the words of God’s decrees, they become a light that shows us where our feet are standing and where our feet can go. Trying to move around without that light is surely no smart move. God sent prophets, judges, seers, even enemies to try to straighten out Israel, but they persisted in ignoring him.

I’m going to paraphrase something from Catechism In A Year (↔ Learning Link) – a podcast from Ascension Press hosted by Fr. Mike Schmitz: “God, I know what you want, but I don’t want to do that. I’m going to do what I want to do.” God says, “Do this.” The four-year-old inside of me takes over and says, “NO! I do it myself!” There’s nothing smart about that, folks. God is going to let me get away with that for a while. He’ll send me some disciplinary measures to blunt my obstinance. He’ll invite me to confess and repent. If I play it smart, all I have do is “Repent and believe the Gospel” and then live like that.

Remember Your decrees are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them – unless I foolishly try to characterize God as a liar, as The Apostle John told us. If it is the Light that makes moving forward safely in every circumstance, then why not walk in the light? (↔ Music Link) Jesus certainly knows where we are, where we’re going, and does everything he can to make sure we arrive at the Place he has prepared for us. Every single soul who has ever walked the Earth has full access to the saving Grace of Salvation. Untold numbers ignore that, oppose that, or – worse – are indifferent to that. The result is that they themselves vote themselves out of the Family of God. They vote with they feet by walking away from the Light. The Apostle Paul commented about that:

Romans 8:29 – 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. Now there are some words here that get some folks a little edgy. We hear questions like this: “Does that mean God created certain people to intentionally send them to Hell and others to intentionally take them to Heaven?” In CCC 600 (↔ Learning Link), we are reminded that when we try to impose our linear concept of time onto God’s nonlinear omniscience, we are easily confused. Every living soul is invested with Free Will and thus able to choose to obey the decrees for the universe or not to comply. God permits the consequences of each of our actions to follow the consistencies of obedience or disobedience. In CCC 1037 (↔ Learning Link), we understand that God never creates a soul intentionally destined for Hell. We are allowed to choose between Life and Death, Blessing and Curse (IMPORTANT: See Deuteronomy 30:19) until we draw our last breath. At the next moment one of three things will happen when we receive our particular judgment (↔ Learning Link):

  1. We will immediately see the blackened form of a demon rise up from beneath our feet to snatch our unrepentant soul straight to Hell where we shall spend eternity first as spirits and then as resurrected bodies.
  2. We will suddenly be ushered by our angel into a place of purging – purification – where we will have the opportunities to receive temporal recompense for sins completely forgiven but for which we have not yet relieved the debt of punishment and correction. This is what we see in Matthew 5:25-26 – 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court] with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
  3. We will instantly arrive into a place of endless Joy where we shall “see him as he is for we shall be like him.” (See 1 John 3:2, paraphrased here). We will dwell with all the spiritual beings in Heaven until God restores our bodies then glorified as the Body of his Son.

All three of these come down to YOLO-F.

We’ll finish up with Matthew 13:49-50 – 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “There are no inconsequential actions.” And some actions have complex, compound, or compound-complex components – like broken bones, the worse the break, the longer the healing. The thing is, there are endless, and I mean endless, opportunities to “settle with your accuser” (i.e., kick Satan in the butt 😊) before that last moment of Earthly life. After that moment, there are no do-overs. What’s done is done, and what we’ve won, we’ve won. God gives us the biggest and best opportunities to get it right and make a final smart move when he calls us by name, points to his son and says, “This is Jesus.” (↔ Music Link) Of course, Belovéd, we have that opportunity to see Jesus “every moment of every day“. (↔ Music Link) We also know that at any moment we can leave this Earth. Are we ready today, right now, for that irrevocable outcome at the end of our lives which is based on all our choices? Our making sure each of us is indeed fully and righteously prepared for that moment is the smartest move of all. How do we know? Try this: John 14:23 – 23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Loving Jesus is a really smart move.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

For an extra list of scripture on this topic look in the end section of this online version:

Sirach 47
Exodus 15:26
Deuteronomy 15:4-5
Joshua 22:5
1 Kings 9:4-5
Leviticus 18:26
Leviticus 20:8
Ecclesiastes 12:13
Luke 11:28
1 John 5:3-4

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – July 21, 2023 – So help me God

July 21, 2023

2329AFC072123 – So help me God  

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.

   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!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

[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

Aloha Friday Message – July 14, 2023 – Something’s happening here …

July 14, 2023

2328AFC071423 – Something’s happening here

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.

     Isaiah 55:11 –
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Psalm 65:9 –
9 You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.

Romans 8:22-23 – 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

Matthew 13:12-13 – 12 For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 13 The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’

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 Sunday we will hear one version of The Sower and Seed. This parable appears in all three of the Synoptic Gospels – Matthew 13:1-53; Mark 4:1-34; Luke 8:1-18.

When we see that happen, it means that the message for us is necessary for our edification. This Sunday, the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, has some pretty cool readings – not that there are any Scripture readings that are uncool! In the reading from the Prophet Isaiah, for example, God is declaring how he uses the rain and snow to water the earth and provide for the growth of crops that can be used for food, as he intends in his Divine Will, and he tells us that in just the same way – as part of his Absolutely Perfect Plan – he sends his Word out to the Earth to accomplish whatever is his intention. The water he brings to the Earth does what he wants it to do, and so does his Word. This is important to understand, and there are some nice symbolic connections here, too.

Water is a sign of the Holy Spirit. When God sends forth his Holy Spirit, “the Earth is renewed.” When he sends forth his Word – here understood as his Logos – his Word will fully accomplish the objective he commands. His command and his intent were accomplished in and through the Holy Spirit: “By the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” The Word did not return to his Father “void,” that is in vain and without effect. Jesus told his Disciples, and therefore us, who are also his, in John 6:38 – 38 for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

God’s care for his creation of Earth and all its creatures is echoed in Sunday’s Psalm. Let’s reread that excerpt above:
Psalm 65:9 –
9 You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.

The Psalmist tells us repeatedly that God really does know what he’s doing – and that he always knows what we are doing. Way too often we act like we somehow don’t know that, or that somehow – even if God knows – he’s not going to tell or remember. We trust him to forget all our sins. There is a qualifier on that promise. He will forget the sins of which we admit and repent. It is an unwise plan to wait for death to be at the door and then say, “Oh yeah, Father, about that time I ______’d. I neglected to tell you; I’m sorry for that, too. I apologize for not admitting it sooner.” What do you think might happen if we didn’t get to finish that sentence? Would we find ourselves looking into an elevator with just one Big Blue Button marked with a large H?

Next The Apostle Paul reminds us that God’s creation and preservation of the Earth has one and only one culmination – the restoration of every living person to the Glory of Eden, the redemption of our bodies. He says that it is not just us, not just the Earth, but the entire Creation that groans and labors for that moment. He encourages the Church in his letter to the Romans to willingly bear all suffering present now in our lives because there is a greater Gift awaiting us. It is the Gift of freedom to be reunited with God as he intends – just as he intends that the earth be watered and his Word will not be voided. Belovéd, that is the incomprehensible Hope we have in Christ Jesus. It is a Hope that is brighter than all the stars and galaxies in the universe, and it is that Light, that Truth, that Way of Life that draws us and everyone we meet nearer and nearer to God’s Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, and Eternal Salvation through Christ our Lord. But we forget about that. We forget about YOLO-F. We forget about the APP. We forget there is no place to hide from the Divine Presence, the Divine Will, the Divine Love, and the Divine Wrath of our Almighty and Everliving God.  His Plan is that we will grow in Grace as he prepares us for his gathering-in at the end of time – the Day of Reward. In the parable in Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a wonderful example of how the Word, which guides us to our Heavenly Home, is given and received.

You know the story. If you don’t, there are the three links above for the parallel Gospels that carry this important message. Usually when we think about this parable, we think about the seed because the seed is the Word. The whole purpose of the sower (in this parable, the Lord God) is to scatter the Word in every place in the field of harvest which here represents the entire World. Jesus describes four scenarios for the scattered seed. Three end in fruitlessness. One ends in a return of 30-, or 60-, or 100-fold. That’s the seed that falls on the good soil. In this parable, we want to be like the good soil. We want the Lord of the harvest to send the waters of dew, and rain, and snow on our good soil and sanctify our own Spirits. We want the Lord of the harvest to till the soil, to prune the vineyard or the orchard to increase the yield. We want to wait in joyfully eager anticipation of the rich fullness of the harvest. Why, then, do we take the extra trouble to cover that fertile, tilled, and watered soil with a two-foot-thick layer of rocks, broken branches, dead vines, trash, and garbage? Shall we tell the Lord of the Harvest, “Oops, sorry. I forgot we were planning on harvesting a crop here. We can clean it up later, OK?” That brings us to the quote from the Gospel. Why did Jesus say that?

We usually assume that Jesus told these engaging stories because what he really wanted to say was incomprehensible to the masses. Note, though, that he quotes a very strong admonition from Isaiah 6:9-10 –
9 And he said, “Go and say to this people:

‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.’
10 Make the mind of this people dull,
and stop their ears,
and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and comprehend with their minds,
and turn and be healed.”

Jesus has said clearly and plainly what his Father has told him to say. The Apostles ask him why he teaches the people in parables. He tells them it is because they will not listen to what he has plainly told them. When he quotes Isaiah, he indicates that they are not trying to grasp the Truth. They only want to see more signs and hear more stories. He is upbraiding them for closing their eyes and ears to what is True. The Marcan version of this parable makes this more evident. The Apostle Matthew softens it a bit. Here’s what he says:

Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them. Jesus is saying that the crowds have not grasped the mystery and impact of his message because understanding has not been found in them even though he has told them – both plainly and in parables – what the kingdom of God is like. For those who accept what Jesus has laid out before them, they will be enriched by the fullness of Graces they receive. For those who reject or fail to embrace Jesus’ message, what little understanding they had will be lost to them. Because why?

Because when we are given the richness of the Word and bring those seeds of Graces into our lives, our hearts, and our minds, we are to treasure them, nurture them, tend them like a precious effect of God’s loving provision for us both physically and spiritually. When we are converted, we are healed. When we acknowledge our sins and repent as we feed more fully on the Word, we find the Gospel, the Love of God, and the message of Christ Jesus to be the most satisfying part of our lives. Some will understand YOLO-F as You Only Live Once – Fuhgeddaboudit. There is no poorer ground on which the Seeds of Grace can fall. Belovéd, let us promise each other never to forget because we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

There is one more thing I am led to share. It may or may not make sense to you. I’ll tell you what I think it means, but I believe you just might have a better handle on it. Here we go:
One is the beginning of infinite. Zero is the beginning of eternal. This could also be written as ±1≥∞ and X÷0=∞. If you were to represent these statements graphically, the first would be the x-axis, and the second would be the y-axis. Infinity does not start at zero, it has to start at 1 and build from there. It can’t start at -1 because that would be regressive and therefore not infinite. Zero is the beginning of Eternal because God exists outside of time and space, and started both time and space with nothing, and built it into Eternity – an Eternity with him. Before that, there was no such thing as time; but, when God created light we are told in Genesis 1:5 – 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. Yup, I’m sounding totally crazy, but I have just told you what I was told to tell you. When I was told, he also said, “Don’t forget to tell them.” Like everything he says, it is a good reminder of how vast is his Love for us! It is because of that Love that something is happening here. Back in the sixties, we used to say, “Hey, what’s happening?” We know the answer if we know the Lord. We are watching as creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God. That is most definitely “SOMETHING.”

If you’d like to read something that will make your heart ache, READ Psalm 53. If you want to read something that will make your heart REJOICE, read Isaiah 55. That’s what’s happening!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – July 7, 2023 – All Yoked Up

July 7, 2023

2327AFC070723 – All Yoked Up

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.

     Matthew 11:28-30 – “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves; for my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Romans 8:9 GNT – 9 But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to — if, in fact, God’s Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 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

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Have you ever had a day when it just seems there is too much work left at the end of the day? I’d like to see much more day at the end of the work! Jesus says if I take up his yoke, I’ll feel better about the end of today and the beginning of tomorrow.

What is a yoke, anyway? Here’s what the Greek word ζυγός (zugos) {dzoo-gos’} means: “a wooden bar placed over the neck of a pair of animals so they can pull together; (figuratively) what unites (joins) two people to move (work) together as one,” like this:

So the idea is that two work together as one. Another image is like a balance that has two pans balanced on either side of a fulcrum. Whatever you do to change one side moves with the other side

A yoke can also be worn by one person to do the work of two more easily. One example is carrying a heavy load balanced on a yoke across the shoulders, like this→

 

 

A yoke, then, is something that keeps us joined so that we can work together with more control. It is a tool that allows us to share a burden and lighten it. A yoke allows a wider span of control – I can carry two heavy buckets instead of one, control a team of oxen, or even a prisoner. A yoke can be used to force an animal or a person to carry a heavy burden. It can be used as a device of punishment or even torture. We even talk about being “under the yoke of oppression.”

When Jesus says, “My yoke is easy and by burden is light” what is he telling us? This passage only exists in the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew’s community of predominantly Jewish converts to Christianity, they believe it is only possible to be a true disciple of Jesus if one keeps The Law (See Matthew 5:17-20). Jesus was critical of the heavy burden the Pharisees laid on people of Israel. Matthew presents him as a second law-giver, a new Moses – just as Paul saw Jesus as a new Adam. Jesus saw hypocrisy in the actions and attitudes of the Pharisees and that hypocrisy imprisoned and oppressed the people who were the nation of Israel. Here’s what he said: Matthew 23:4 – They tie up heavy burdens [hard to carry] and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.

Jesus is saying that, compared to what the Pharisees taught with their hundreds of nit-picky little rules about every little detail of life, Jesus’ “rule” – his yoke – was easy. Here is another word that has a rich depth of meaning. The word is χρηστός chréstos (khrase-tos’) – and it carries the meaning of fitting well, of being useful, pleasant to use, and even kind/gentle. Jesus commands his disciples to love one another. (← Check it out!) The Pharisees demand the people to obey the law. By comparison, Jesus yoke – his rule for togetherness – is a better fit, kinder, gentler, more useful that the Pharisees’ harsh, judgmental stance. It yokes us to Love as Jesus Loved we can love one another as he does. (↔ Music Link)

But Jesus does ask a lot of us in his Law of Love. How much is “a lot?” We start out with “love God and love your neighbor with equal intensity.” Then, as we saw just over 10 years ago,(← Check it out, PLEASE!) it became “Love one another in the same way as I have loved you.” That is still a lighter yoke than the heavy demands of THE LAW. Keeping THE LAW is tiring. Sharing THE LOVE is not.

But don’t you get tired of all those “Goody-Two-Shoes?” I’d answer that, “Not really.” Here’s why: “… learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” Instead of the prideful one-upmanship of the Pharisees used to control people, Jesus asks that the humble docility of the disciples be used to serve people. Paul touched on this in his letter to the Galatians.   Galatians 6:9-10 – 9 So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. 10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith – which is the Christian household or Church. Doing good has a universal object (Good to, for, and with all), but the local community makes specific the reality of those to be served. We witness the effect of our witnessing. Awesome!

OK, but does it really make any difference? I mean, nobody¸ is going to notice. Haven’t you ever heard “no good deed goes unpunished?” Sometimes when we go out of our way to be kind or generous or thoughtful, it doesn’t turn out well. It’s true; people often “bite the hand that feeds them.” We also say, “Virtue is its own reward.” Well, sometimes it seems life doesn’t always work out that way. What Paul is saying is that when we live our lives consistently for the purpose of “doing the right thing,” it may not always pay off in immediate rewards, but in the long run it will always bring a great harvest. It is not tiring to be nice, to be as loving as Christ’s Law of Love commands. And believe me, God notices.

Take a look at what Paul wrote in his letter to the Hebrews. Hebrews 6:10 – 10 For God is not unjust; he will not overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. Paul knows what he’s talking about because he understood what Jesus was saying. Instead of being subject to THE LAW, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection freed us from THE LAW and all the “silly little things” the Scribes added on to make it even more complicated and convoluted. Jesus calls his disciples to find rest and peace in the simplicity of obedience to his Law of Love.” John 15:10 – 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

So, if we take on Jesus’ yoke, it’s more than “Love God and love neighbor.” (↔ Click Link) It is how we can love God and neighbor the way Jesus loves Father and neighbor? Yes. Exactly! And when we learn from Jesus, that is an easy yoke which brings peace and rest. My mind and body may grow weary, (↔ Music Link) but my soul is refreshed by him.

“Take my yoke upon you.” How, exactly, does that work? Remember that a yoke is a way to unite two individuals so they can pull together; something which unites two people to move together as one. Work beside Jesus as his disciple and “The Yoke’s on You.” (Sorry, that’s too hard to resist.) When you are working with him, side-by-side, you are “yoked together.” And when you share Jesus’ yoke with others, you are also yoked with them.

OK, I get it; but what’s that thing about being “unequally yoked?” That’s in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, (↔ EXTRA SPECIAL Learning Link)* It says we should “Stop forming inappropriate relationships with unbelievers. Can right and wrong be partners? Can light have anything in common with darkness?  Can Christ agree with the devil? Can a believer share life with an unbeliever?” But we also need to remember that we can experience what some have called “sanctification by association.” (↔ EXTRA SPECIAL Learning Link)* Paul taught that if a Christian marries a non-Christian, the

home and its children are sanctified (blessed, consecrated, purified, approved) by the presence of the believing spouse. Here again, the yoke of loving service brings rest and peace to all who are joined together by it. Rather than a yoke of oppressive control it is a union of inspirational freedom, freedom to love and to be loved as God has loved us – perfectly.
* These quotes are from translations we don’t normally use, however, in this instance, the “modern language” makes the message more accessible.

How can I “get into” this yoke Jesus is talking about? We start by getting rid of what we don’t need, the needless burdens that wear us down. Throw away the burdens of anxiety and fear – God knows our hearts (↔ Music Link) and he sees the Good that’s all dingy with the crud of sin. Follow this link and really think about what he knows. Read it while you listen to that music link.

1 Peter 5:7 –  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. See Also Sirach 2:1-18 for some really good advice while you listen to the music.

Next, move forward in the shelter of his protection – 1 Corinthians 15:58 – 58 Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. The Apostle Paul uses the word adelphos – meaning brethren, or Belovéd. He adds to that word of kinship the word agapētoi – which means divinely loved as are Christians, as beloved by God, Christ, and one another. We repent and we believe because it’s the way of the APP.

It seems to me that, quite simply, I just have to trust Jesus to take care of the stuff I have to deal with, but I can’t expect him to take care of the stuff I don’t hand over – that stuff I need to dump off – it’s all my fault, that’s for sure. It doesn’t seem fair that anyone else should have to deal with it, but Jesus says he’ll be able to handle whatever I throw His way. No matter how I shift the load, he can handle it and keep us moving forward. Sometimes I think we act as if we believe we cannot or should not be forgiven. We think perhaps God is going to say…

Now, that’s crazy, I know, but sinners do crazy things. We’ll hold onto the very worst about our lives as if God didn’t know they were there. And even if we ask God to help us with laying that burden down, when we ask for the graces we need to be righteous, we sometimes don’t trust the answer he gives us! Jesus’ Love makes it possible for us and Jesus to work together on our sojourn to Heaven. Beloved, that is so much easier than trying to do it on your own!

Not only are we able to work together with and for Jesus, but – because of the Love between Jesus the Son and El Shaddai Olam the Father – we have the Holy Spirit who works in and with us for and with Jesus and Our Father. ¡¡WOW!! Now, The Apostle Paul threw in a little modifier phrase there. He said, “if, in fact, God’s Spirit lives in you.” And, Belovéd, if we are yoked with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, then we are also yoked with the Body of Christ – the Church. THAT seems impossible. If we have so much light-and-easy-to-access HELP, then why do we walk around all glum and whining because we have a burden of sin? We know the song. What does it say?

Are we weak and heavy-laden,
‘Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge —
Take it to the Lord in prayer; (↔ Music Link)

Prayer is our yoke with Jesus and all the saints. It’s time to get all yoked up.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

 Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

MPW, BS, RB, RL, & and all cancer patients. Thank you!

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – June 30, 2023 – Dead in the Water

June 30, 2023

2336AFC063023 – Dead in the water

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.

    Romans 6:3 – 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Romans 6:11 – 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 10:39-40 – 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 40 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.

Psalm 89:1 – 1 I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever;
with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.

2 Kings 4:8-10 – 8 One day Elisha was passing through Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to have a meal. So whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for a meal. 9 She said to her husband, “Look, I am sure that this man who regularly passes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let us make a small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”

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. This coming Sunday has two themes in the readings. One mentions death, the other mentions life. We can start with the quotes from The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans because it mentions both, and also ties into our title. This Scripture addresses Baptism – the first of the Initiation Sacraments. Baptism is the beginning of our life as a child of God. We have often pointed out here that only the baptized are children of God – reborn into life “by water and the spirit.” (See John 3:5-6) We have cited the prologue to the Gospel of The Apostle John in chapter 1 John 1:11-13 – 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. (My emphasis added) “But what about people who aren’t Baptized? Aren’t they God’s children, too?”

Narrowly speaking, no because it is only through rebirth by water and the Holy Spirit that we are the adopted daughters and sons of God. In the broadest sense, since all humans are created in the likeness and image of God, they might be called God’s children, but more specifically they are the creatures of God’s creation whom God wishes to save through remission of sin in Christ Jesus. If one passes up that opportunity, there is still the possibility of benefiting from the irrepressible Grace of God who “does not look on the outward person but on the heart.” In the final analysis, God chooses and he alone decides. For purposes of these lessons, a child of God is a person who has been Baptized into the Body of Christ “in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

So, how can The Apostle Paul say we are Baptized into his death? It was his Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension that made that possible. Since “the wage of sin is death,” Jesus paid that in full at Calvary for “whosoever believes in him.” Therefore by his death, we receive Life – his Life – and are joined to his Body, the Church. As described by The Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 1:1-4 – 3 His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. Because why? YOLO-F?

Because only the divine, saving power of Christ can free us from the effects of sin. There is salvation in no one else. “What about people who have not known Christ and have not been Baptized?” As before, God decides. Based on the life they lead and the innate desire to find God, HE will make that decision at the end of days. That’s the Absolutely Perfect Plan, and he made it for everyone, so everyone has an equal shot. Baptism is a spiritual bath that justifies, purifies, and sanctifies. It is in this way, through “springs of living water,” that we are cleansed and prepared for Life in the Kingdom. We are Baptized with the Baptism of Jesus (which he did for “the sake of all righteousness”), and have new life in the Body of Christ because we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Isn’t that APP completely amazing?!?

Now we can move on to what Jesus said in our passage from the Gospel of Matthew. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 40 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Some may have read (perhaps in these pages), “If you’re looking for your “true self” inside yourself, that may be all you will find.” What if we looked inside our inner-self and found Jesus there? He wouldn’t be there unless we welcomed him, and whenever we welcome him, we welcome the One who sent him. Selah. If we claim our lives as our own, how can they belong to God? Moreover, “ya gotta serve somebody,” so if we are self-serving, that’s exactly what Satan has always wanted from we earthlings – to be selfish enough to try to grasp Eternity in our own grubby little fingers. That path of selfishness always leads to exclusion from the Joys of being part of the Body of Christ. (↔ Music Link) We in the Body of Christ are not millions of separate earthlings wondering and wandering around looking for meaning. We Are One Body, (↔ Music Link) and we do not ever stand alone, and THAT is because of God’s Mercy, his Steadfast Love.

That is something that is experientially real – unlike so much of what we see proffered for our consumption in the “news” from MSMOs, sports presentations, dramas and other cinematic presentations. Everything can be made to look real – talking dogs, deep-fake people, Internet “influencers,” even religious fervor for televangelists. With all that goings-on, sometimes we (here he goes again!) forget; we forget that God is Real, God is community, and we are called to be a continuous presence in that community of reality. We are created to love and worship God and to love and stand in solidarity with our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. They – we – are no longer merely earthlings, no longer creatures of Creation. We are sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of the Messiah, we are given the Holy Spirit at the moment of our adoption, and the scourge of sin and death is washed from our souls. We see that in this passage about Jeremiah’s visits to the Shunammite woman and her husband.

Jeremiah was a remarkable man; I think of him as a “heroic Prophet.” He did everything he could to warn God’s people that they were on a collision course with disaster, and even when that disaster landed full-force, he continued to preach what God planted in his heart. He was beloved by many and hated by many more. The couple from Shunem were among those who cared about him. They decided to help him, and that is in the spirit of what God expects from all of us – just help each other rather than beat up, ostracize, hate, and kill each other. In short, we are created to DO THE RIGHT THING ALWAYS. (↔ CQQL! Learning Link) That is another core principal of the APP. To do that, we must always strive for holiness by reaching up to God as far as possible and then accept the fact that he will make up the rest of the distance on our behalf. “God will Take Care of You” (↔ Music Link) That’s not just a saccharin sentiment, it’s an actual fact. It is because of this fact that we can sing with the Psalmist, “I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.

That brings up another matter to be addressed. We are a community in God, but we are not always a community in Church. We have our “preferred pew;” we Catholics might stand and kneel, and sit but might not sing, and we surely don’t clap hands to the music. Now maybe you’re from a Parish, or even a conservative non-Catholic congregation, that doesn’t celebrate the Lord full-throatedly. Nonetheless, we need to be worshipping as a community and not as an aggregation of well-informed critics of those around us. Yes, that means gossipers. We’ve passed through the waters along with Moses and the Israelites, along with Jesus and the Jordan, with Jesus on the Lake of Galilee, and again on the hill of Calvary. The Water and the Blood and the Spirit testify. Just as in the Old Testament serious matters and decisions required the witness (Gr: Martureó) of three persons, we learn in (Learning Link ↔) 1 John 5:6-8 – 6 This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. 7 There are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. Again, we see the concept of community. When we try to “buck the system” by insisting on doing salvation our own way, we might end up in a similar situation like Saul of Tarsus experienced on the road to Damascus. “Hey! You! Why are you persecuting me with your disobedience?” That sort of selfishness is easily overlooked when we are overly-certain of our standing in the Kingdom. We need to be “Standing In The Need of Prayer” (↔ Music Link) first – in the community of the Body of Christ through the Baptism in the Water and the Blood and the Spirit where we are dead to sin in the Waters of Rebirth and made alive in the Living Water by passing through the River of Life that flows from the Word.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – June 23, 2023 – Heard in Passing

June 23, 2023

2325AFC062323 – Heard in Passing

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.

    Matthew 10:32-33 – 32 Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; 33 but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

Romans 5:15 – 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many.

Psalm 69:9 –
9 It is zeal for your house that has consumed me;
the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.

Jeremiah 20:10-11 –
10 For I hear many whispering:
“Terror is all around!
Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
All my close friends
are watching for me to stumble.
“Perhaps he can be enticed,
and we can prevail against him,
and take our revenge on him.”
11 But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
and they will not prevail.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonor
will never be forgotten.

Matthew 10:28 – 28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (See also 2319AFC051223 – Sanctifying Fear)

¡Que la bendición esté siempre con ustedes y que Dios los bendiga, Amados! (May blessing always be with you and may God bless you, Belovéd!) We’re back in Ordinary Time again, and for this Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, we start off with something that sounds like soundbites from a current political rally. It kind of reminds me of that old song by Fred Niel, Everybody’s Talkin‘. (↔ Music Link) There’s just so much YADA-YADA-YADA one can take in, and it comes from every direction, and of course every voice claims to be telling the unvarnished, unbiased, unmitigated Truth – to which we all reply, “Yeah. Right.” That’s for the Major Syndicated Media Outlets – MSMOs – and lately it’s been difficult to find a public information source that is consistently even half-right. That’s nowhere near the reputation for the information cited above. That is Scripture, and it is breathed into being by God in the Holy Spirit. It is maximally TRUE. Let’s see why we’re referring to these verses starting with Jeremiah.

This passage comes from the second section of the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah which is referred to as “Oracles Primarily from the Days of Jehoiakim.” Jeremiah was a remarkable Prophet who spoke the Lord’s words to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. The corruption of the kings of this era was … disgusting. “They did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Ultimately – in Jeremiah’s lifetime – the Babylonians captured and deported most of the people of Judah and Israel and held them captive for 70 years. There God told them through Jeremiah, “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. (See Jeremiah 29:4-7) That was a hard lesson! But, as time passed, they learned to long for God in ways they had forgotten in their defiance of him. What they heard in passing during this long “reset” of their relationship with The God of Hosts (aka Jehovah Sabaoth) was the story of how deeply God loves all his people; in fact, God loves all of his Creation and knows that all of it is Good because he made it so. He is their Creator and they are his creation and all creation rightly gives him joyful thanks and praise. But, they forgot, and it took them 70 years to remember well enough that they could go home.

Reflect for a moment on how many people in the World could use a good lesson in the adage, “Take care of the place where you live, and it will be a blessing for you.” Israel failed to take care of the homeland they were given, failed to heed the messengers – the Prophets – God had sent them, they failed to do the two simple things God required of them: To Love him, and to Obey him. Are we not all guilty of those two omissions at times? What if we never learned that lesson until we come to our deathbed? As we pass into eternity, would we hear words of regret, or words of hope? Certainly there were reasons for hope. Isaiah had told them that the Lord had said that Zion’s children would be brought home:
Isaiah 49:7-8 – 7 Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers,
“Kings shall see and stand up,
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
8 Thus says the Lord:
In a time of favor I have answered you,
on a day of salvation I have helped you;
I have kept you and given you
as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
to apportion the desolate heritages;

Even so, Jeremiah had to deal with a false Prophet named Hananiah who prematurely claimed that Babylon would release the captives and restore all the sacred vessels taken from the Temple “within two years.” That ended up bringing an even harder oppression of the exiles by Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah had told them that the “wooden yoke” of Nebuchadnezzar was God’s will for the nation and its leaders. Hananiah thought he could gain fame and favor by contradicting that. The intrigue around the contest of wills between these two men gave folks a lot to say in passing, but it did not change God’s plan. (Remember, it is the Absolutely Perfect Plan). It is the person who stands firm in the Word who is the one consumed with zeal for the ways of the Lord, and indeed it is they who are assaulted with the insults of those who have insulted God.

Think of a time when you or someone you know has stood up for what is right only to be shouted down and insulted by those who know what is right but prefer to do wrong by choosing their own will and devices. We all know someone who did that. It actually got him kicked out of Heaven! This is why the Psalmist said, “It is zeal for your house that has consumed me; the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. Satan just can’t stand being around anyone who stands up for God, remember? “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) We can easily forget that’s a two-parter. Part 1 is “submit to God.” Part 2 is “resist the Devil.” A left-hook and an uppercut for the Prince of the Air! Now, that is another amazing gift of Grace from God. Let’s look back at what The Apostle Paul said to the Romans about it.

“But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many.” Here the Greek for “free gift” is charisma (↔ Learning Link) – a gift of Grace, a gift of undeserved favor. The form is more directly translated as a Grace-Gift – an endowment, a legacy, a superb bequest – and it is given for the purpose of edifying the Church by enlightening the Believers. That is the Gift of the Absolutely Perfect Plan – that Jesus emptied himself of all his Glory and Power to become one of us so that he could willingly offer himself up as atonement for our sins. He did “our hard time in Babylon” all by himself and all in himself once for all souls and all time. The magnitude of that Grace-Gift cannot be measured in human understanding. Now, let’s look out the window and see who and how many will gratefully receive that gift by submitting to God and resisting the Devil. All we need to do is look at the MSMOs perfectly unbiased reporting, and we know the answer. Fewer and fewer are willing to submit to God. Jesus has something to say about that:

Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven. Who will we acknowledge and serve? (↔ Music Link) Imagine what those who are denied by Jesus before our Father will experience. PRAY FOR THEM AND FOR THEIR SOULS! Remember, he also said Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (See 2319AFC051223 – Sanctifying Fear) These are the folks who are convinced that everyone else is wrong and only they are right. We who are the Children of God through adoption know that all of us are wrong and only Jesus is right. It is hard for me to think of the death of such persons who cause so much division. [Please See 1829AFC072018 (↔ Click Link [1])] I think it pains me more than the deaths of any others because they have chosen and earned eternal suffering.

For me the passing of a loved one – family, friend, acquaintance, or any person for that matter – is another opportunity to think about “what if.” What if when we die it is not as we expect? I think of four scenarios.

  1. Nothing happens. Life ends, there is no afterlife, and no more concern for eternity.
  2. Something happens and it is that there is an afterlife in a way that is neither eternal bliss nor eternal agony.
  3. Something happens and there is an afterlife of eternal bliss.
  4. Something happens and there is an afterlife of eternal agony.

I’ve based my whole life on the belief that #1 is not true, and agreed with the premise of Pascal’s Wager – See more HERE. (↔ Click Link) So even if there is nothing that is even vaguely like an afterlife with God, it is best to take steps to (and actually arrive at) a belief in God, and that brings me to a belief In Jesus the Christ and everything that goes along with that decision. Therefore #1 is not an option for me.

The second scenario is like what Catholics think of a Purgatory, Jews might call it Olam Ha-Ba (↔ Learning Link). It is a place where the righteous wait for God’s plan to be completed and then every living soul he created will be rewarded for the righteousness they achieved. If it is very great righteousness, the reward will be very great bliss. Not so great, the reward is less blissful. Unrighteousness rather than righteousness, the reward goes the other way toward greater and greater agony.

That of course brings us to scenarios three and four – Heaven and Hell. You have heard me say that dying is like getting into a little elevator. When the door closes, you notice that there is just one big, blue button to push. On the button there is one big white H. You push the button. Will you be surprised at the direction the elevator goes? Heaven? Or Hell? If you believe in one, you have to believe in the other, for sure. There are thousands of years of arguments and apologetics about that question, but I come down on the side of “yes, there’s an afterlife, and yes, I’m shooting for the blissful one.”

But in the final analysis, whichever of the four scenarios is true, this also is true: The one who has died has been freed for having to choose between righteousness and unrighteousness. There is no more sin, no more knowledge of choices, no more to worry about, nothing to do but be elsewhere. We always say things like “She’s in a better place,” and “At least he’s not suffering anymore.” Yes. And Amen. Whichever of these four scenarios s/he is experiencing right now, it is different – and probably better – than anything s/he experienced in her/his earthly life. That is sufficient for me. Mourning is for the living. The dead have found their place and our mourning is for the absence we feel when they have gone from us.

Because of this, I have great Hope which shines like a Light to drive away the darkness and draw me and everyone I meet to God’s Perfect Integrity, Infinite mercy, Everlasting Love, and Eternal Salvation through Christ Jesus our Lord. I expect to hear in my passing from this life to the next the voice of my Guardian Angel saying, “Finally! Let’s get going! Heaven is waiting for you.” For those who will not submit to the Lord and resist the Devil, my heart aches to think of the screeching howls of demons as the souls of the unrepentant are sucked down into everlasting torment. I have been with dying people, and have seen both kinds of death described here. All this is written for you today so that in your passing you, too, will hear, “Heaven is waiting for you!” Then you may push that Big Blue Button with heavenly and blissful confidence. Even though we forget, God will always want us to come Home and to Grow Where He Sends Us. (↔ Learning Link) And here’s a Bonus (↔ Music Link)

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

[1] Look for the words calamities and division.

Pages Email Newsletter
Categories Archives Connect

  • Connct to us here