Aloha Friday Message – May 28, 2021 – Believe it or else.

May 28, 2021

2122AFC052821 – Believe it or else. 

     Deuteronomy 4:33-35 – 33 Has any people ever heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and lived? 34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 35 To you it was shown so that you would acknowledge that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.

Romans 8:15-17 – 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Matthew 28:16-17 – 16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.

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. I use that form of greeting often in these pages. It is based on the Apostle Paul’s greetings for many of his epistles. All three of the Persons in the Holy Trinity are mentioned, and so when I read it, or think it, or say it I give a slight bow of my head. (See GIRM §275 Bows.) Critics of Christianity tell us that nothing we believe is credible, and that such “rituals” we call Sacraments are meaningless. They refuse to know God, and fail to understand the Unity of God’s Diversity. That is why last week’s topic on Pentecost is so baffling to non-Christians. Frankly, a lot of Christians have difficulty grasping it. Nonetheless, God himself has given us so many signs and wonders to understand who and what God is. God is our Creator, our Deliverer, our Savior, and our Mystery.

These three passages for our Key Verses today give a thumbnail history of God’s relationships with us – we, the earthlings he created. First, he tells us that no other “little-g god” can do what he has done for Israel. They witnessed it. They passed it down through generations. They wrote it into the Torah. God sent them Judges, and Prophets, and Kings, and Priests, and Rites, and Laws, and they really should have had it all “down pat,” as we say. There shouldn’t be any questions such as “who is God and what did God do?” It’s all right there in front of us for millennia.

Second, in the reading from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, the Holy Spirit tells us through inspired writing that we are the adopted children of God – as he promised! He spoke through the Prophet Hosea in Hosea 11:1 – 1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. God loved his chosen people as his children. Popular culture has it that every earthling is a child of God. That’s the point-of-view from the World. Even then, Hosea – who prophesied toward the end of the Divided Kingdom and was for a time a contemporary of Isaiah and Micah – it was clear that God’s plan of Salvation was headed toward the birth of the Messiah who would be Immanuel – God among us, born of a virgin and therefore human. Thus Immanuel, God’s only-begotten Son, was our Brother, and as our Brother he makes us joint heirs of all of God’s covenants … IF WE LOVE AND OBEY HIM.

Lastly, we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if only, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Whoa, now wait a minute! “Joint heirs,” “with Christ,” “suffer with him,” and “glorified with him.” It’s the Family Tradition, so if you want the benefits of that Tradition, you gotta be part of the Family! And how does that happen? Well, in Matthew 28:19,(↔ Click Link to see this in context) just a couple of verses down from our Key Verse, Jesus says, “19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, …” That is how we get into “The Family.” You remember how that works: Repent. Believe the Gospel. Be Baptized. Like it says in John 1:12 – 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, …

Belovéd it’s all in The Book, you know, the Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. Now, I want us to focus on what that Key Verse from Mathew says, the one before Jesus gives his Great Commission. Think about this: It is quite likely there were more than just The Eleven remaining Disciples there. This was at the end of the 40th day after the Resurrection – the day of Ascension. He’s been with up to 500 persons at a time – although we don’t know how often. They’ve watched him, talked with him, ate with him, learned with him, and they know that it is HIM. Why would they doubt? Looking back at the history of Israel’s relationship with God, we know they frequently needed a “faith-lift.” But, could it be that maybe he did look a wee-bit different? Does a glorified body have a little bit of shimmer from that Sh’khinah Glory of the Living and True God? Might they be wondering – as they see him in that Glory – is this really the same guy? No one among them, I am sure, had ever seen a Resurrected and Glorified Body. And he was giving such new instructions like making Disciples of all nations. What? We’re going to convert Gentiles? Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now think: This is before Pentecost, right? How does that formula work, and what does it mean to baptize “in the name (singular) of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Triune)?” We shouldn’t be surprised that maybe a few of them – hopefully none among the Eleven now that Thomas got it straight – might be a little fuzzy-minded about what happened, what’s happening, and what’s gonna happen. Can we call that doubt? Perhaps.

I confess that even after 2000+ years, there are still things about those first 40 days of the establishment of the New Covenant that I just have to blink at twice and say, “O-o-o-o-K. I got it (I hope).” We also know that at some point (or two) in Jesus’ ministry some of the followers decided it was all a bunch of hooey, and left the pack. They never got to be part of The Family – that is unless they repented, believed the Gospel, and got baptized. We don’t often think of it this way, but there really is a fourth part to that – it is the Confirmation of Faith we obtained when we received the Holy Spirit. That is your Membership ID for The Family. It’s like the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:3c – (↔ Click Link) no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. How are we going to get to that point in our faith-walk unless remember that

  1. God is God, and he’s told us that about a gazillion times
  2. We are not God, and that should be pretty easy to figure out based on what we cannot do
  3. Jesus is God, because His Father said so, and so did Jesus
  4. Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit who is God so that we can finally know God as God is
  5. We receive the Holy Spirit when we repent, believe the Gospel, are baptized, and are confirmed in the Holy Spirit.

    As I always say “PIECE OF PIE!” (I’m not that fond of cake.) So, May the Piece be with you, with me, with us because within that piece of pie, which is easy as pie to understand and to enjoy, is the Grace and Peace of God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. That is the Family Tradition. We keep and reinforce that tradition through our prayers because … (c’mon now, you know this one!) – THE FAMILY THAT PRAYS TOGETHER STAYS TOGETHER! Want some clues on how that works? Try this: 1522AFC052915 – Whole in One. I’m praying for you. Please pray for me. Pray for this ruptured America. Pray for each other. Pray for everybody everywhere anywhere all the time because we’re all in the same canoe (↔ Music Link). PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!!! All things that are Good come together in our El Shaddai-Olam, the Living and True God in Three Persons – Blesséd Trinity (↔ Music Link) for They alone are HOLY.

Let us pray: O glorious God who have given us all things that are good, grant that we who call upon Thee as Family may live to embrace all that is perfect in Thee and nothing that is contrary to Thy holiness, Thy perfect integrity, Thy endless mercy and Thy eternal Salvation through Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever-and-ever. AMEN

Belovéd, if we do not believe, what else can we expect except the “or else” of eternal separation from The Family? Matthew 10:30-33 – 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.

Believe it or else. He said it, I believe it, and I’m stickin’ to it! It’s a joy to be Part of The Family of God!! (↔ Music Link) My Abba wants all of us to join in on Chapter 1, Verse 12 of John.

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

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer. (Puh-LEEEZ?)

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 – May 21, 2021 – Together Again

May 21, 2021

2121AFC052121- Together Again

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.

    John 20:19-20 – 19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  

    Acts 2:1-4 – 1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

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. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Yes, Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. We’re going to look at two of the readings from the Mass During the Day on Pentecost. The first occurs on the Day of Resurrection – the first day of the week. Jesus had a busy day on that first day of the week. First the Resurrection, then instructing Mary Magdalene to carry a message to the Apostles, a walk with two other Disciples on the Road to Emmaus, and then – that evening – a surprise appearance in the Cenacle – the “Upper Room” where a number of his closest followers were gathered together as they tired to figure out what to do next.

Can you imagine how frightened they were? Jesus, the Messiah in whom they placed their hopes for the restoration of Israel, had been arrested, severely beaten, dragged through a preposterous trial, and the Jewish leaders and the Romans conspired to crucify him! He died. Right in front of his Mother and a handful of close friends, he died. Were his followers next? If they could capture and kill the Messiah who was God’s anointed Savior, what would they do with a bunch of common men and women whose only “crime” was loving and following the Man who they believed was the King of Heaven.

Then there were those outlandish reports from Mary, from Peter and John, and from the pair who saw him disappear from the dinner table in Emmaus. It was all unbelievable. Nothing like that could possibly happen. Then Jesus simply popped into the room unannounced without so much as opening the door and says, quite calmly, “Peace be with you.” Talk about a “Kodak Moment!” Fear was converted to incredulity, disbelief transmuted to Joy, sorrow and grief were disintegrated in an explosion of validation. “Look at my hands and my feet. Reach in and feel the wound in my side. Here, WHOOOOOSH, receive the Holy Spirit. Now you can forgive or bind sins just like me.”

For forty days, he met with them, taught them further about the kingdom of God, appeared to hundreds of them at a time, ate with them, walked with them – I’m willing to wager he even laughed with them, maybe even sang some songs like the ones they sang (↔ Click Link) just before he was arrested. At the end of those forty days, they were still struggling with what happened to Jesus and to them. And what about this clear and stern warning to stay in Jerusalem, a very dangerous place for all of them? Here’s a little memory refresher on that commandment found in Acts 1:4-5 – 4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” John the Baptist had talked about that, but what did that really mean anyway? And why on Pentecost? What does that mean, “When the day of Pentecost had come “?

To help answer that we need to know about the Convocation Festivals ordered by God for the nation of Israel. Pentecost: It is the central Convocation Festival (↔ Click Link) in the list of observances Jehovah commanded should be celebrated by Israel. Here are the feasts described in Leviticus 23, the section of Leviticus devoted to “Holiness Laws”: 1. Passover (Pesach) – 2. Unleavened Bread (Chag Hamotzi) – 3. Firstfruits (Yom Habikkurim) – 4. Pentecost (Shavu’ot) The Feast of Weeks or Festival of Harvest – 5. Trumpets (Yom Teru’ah) – 6. Atonement (Yom Kippur) – 7. Tabernacles (Succoth). The “Feast of Weeks” was a festival of seven weeks. All Jewish males were required to travel to Jerusalem to attend the rites and rituals for this Harvest Feast. It occurs exactly fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits. It is one of the Three “Solemn Feasts” 1. Passover, 3. the Feast of Weeks, and 7. the Feast of Tabernacles. All able-bodied males were required to attend these festivals and to offer specific sacrifices. Jesus’ resurrection is characterized as the “First Fruits of them that sleep.” (See 1 Corinthians 15:20) Then, in accordance with God’s Perfect Plan, Jehovah commanded that eight days be set aside by Israel to celebrate Passover. For Christians, there are eight days from the start of Christ’s passion on Palm Sunday through the Day of Resurrection. Jesus was the “Passover Lamb” sacrificed for all earthlings, the pure and spotless victim of our sin and the curse of death. Fifty days later, Peter preached a real whopper of a sermon, remember? (↔ Click Link) On rare occasions – like this year – the feast of First Fruits occurs on the Day of Resurrection.

   On Pentecost Sunday, Peter preached at Solomon’s Portico, and BOOM! The Church happened when 3,000 new believers were claimed in the name of Jesus, chosen by God (↔ Click Link) for eternal life. As Jesus had commanded, the Gospel went out beginning in Jerusalem (See Luke 24:44-49) as the Holy Spirit Jesus had promised ignited the hearts, minds, and spirits of thousands upon thousands – the First Fruits of the Church – in a matter of days! You have experienced how we Christians are always telling each other “God is good.” “All the time.” “All the Time.” “God is good.” Well, there it was – the New Spiritual Harvest of the New Covenant – just as God planned it! (and remember Belovéd, “as” ≡ “important”).

Alright, so on the Day of Resurrection, Jesus popped in and started convincing the Apostles and other Disciples that it was really him. Have you ever wondered why the Resurrected Jesus asked them to touch his wounds or why he is shown with the marks of the nails and spear still there? That is to show that his Resurrected Glorified Body is the same human body that was tortured to death on the cross, but now it is restored to the Divinely Ordered body as it was in Adam before his sin. The new Adam is like the original Adam, only now without sin and death.

I’d like to show you something that I made at least 25 years ago, but have never used – until today! Here is what I call “The Seven C’s of the Catholic Church.” The things we celebrat as Catholic Christians are included in this little diagram:

    If we “sail the Seven C’s” we cover the essential parts of our catholicity. Everything is centered around building and being Community in  Christ because God is community. We should know and understand our Creed, the summary of our faith. We should understand the celebration of Word and Sacrifice in the Mass. We should understand the value, importance, and Divine institution of the Sacrament of Reconciliation often called Confession. We should confirm and sustain our commitment to the Gospel, to the Magisterium, and to Apostolic Tradition. We should understand that we the people of God are The Church and that when the Mass has ended we should be evangelizing as soon as we reenter the World. Lastly, we should know that Communion, the Eucharist which is “the source and summit of our faith” is participation in the Divine Life of Jesus Christ and that to receive it in an unworthy manner is a grave sin. We should “sail The Seven C’s” every moment of every day. To do that, we must open our hearts and minds and spirits to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as Pentecost is upon us again – and this time it can happen like is did in the Second Chapter of Acts not just once, but every day! We will find that doing that does indeed bring us “all together in one place,” and in that place, the Holy Spirit will refresh The Church. (↔ Music Link) Knowing that, Belovéd, let us pray:

Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit. Enter the hearts of thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy Holy Love.

Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created and thou shalt renew the face of the Earth.

O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit has instructed the hearts of the faithful, grant that in that same Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Thou, O LORD, shalt open my lips,
and my tongue shall announce Thy praise.
Incline unto my aid, O God.
O LORD, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father, … AMEN.

Romans 15:13 – 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 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 – May 14, 2021 – Important As This.

May 14, 2021

2021AFC051421 – Important As This

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.

THIS WEEKEND MANY PARISHES AROUND THE WORLD WILL BE COMMEMORATING THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION. THAT EVENT OCCURS ON A THURSDAY (MAY 13TH THIS YEAR), BUT THE CELEBRATION IS OFTEN TRANSFERRED TO SUNDAY SO THAT MORE OF THE FAITHFUL CAN PARTICIPATE. I HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT THE ASCENSION MANY TIMES IN THESE PAGES, SO FOR TODAY, I AM GOING TO LOOK AT THE READINGS FROM THE SEVENTH SUNDAY IN EASTER. THERE ARE SOME REAL GEMS IN THOSE READINGS. You can find those readings HERE. If you read them, you will see that indeed God is our Help. (↔ Music Link)

   John 17:16-21 – 16 They do not belong to the world, just as* I do not belong to the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As* you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

20 “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one. As* you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Today we will link up with some previous posts as background for today’s peek into Scripture. A couple of years ago there was an Aloha Friday Message called 1917AFC042619 – THIS is important. It was referenced later in “2021AFC052220 – What is doubt?” and “2024AFC061220 – Call it what it is.” Today’s title is like the one in 2019. We’re going to look at another tiny word that doesn’t seem to have much “oomph” to it; but, it is in fact one of the most powerful and most used words in the Bible. The word we are looking at today is “as.”

You’ll recall, I hope, that I’ve told you the New Testament was written in Koine Greek, not Aramaic, or Hebrew, or Latin. Koine Greek is a hybrid blend of four dialects of ancient Greek. Each had their own strengths and weaknesses. After Alexander the Great took rule over Macedonia, he invited all the peoples he conquered to be citizens – not slaves – in his empire. He insisted that the entire empire speak one united language, and gradually Koine Greek solidified. It developed, expanded, intensified, and spread across the known eastern hemisphere up to and beyond the time of Jesus.

For verbs there is tense, voice, mood, person, and number. Each of these components can be added to a root verb to make a very precise and very complex word with intensified meaning. Nouns have case, number, and gender. In the same way that verbs take on accretions of meaning, nouns and pronouns also take on deeper meanings with additional very slight modifications. Adjectives have the same types of modifiers as nouns, so an adjective plus a noun connected to a verb speaks volumes. There can be a paragraph of meaning in English for just a few words in Greek. If we throw in some adverbs, we have indicators for time, place, and manner all related to actions. It grows more and more precise with each part of speech added to the composition – participles, prepositions, conditional “if-then” phrases, and conjunctions. I share this with you to help you understand that one tiny word with one tinier modification can have very clear and intense meaning when surrounded by other words which are also minutely, but precisely modified. If you would like to delve into that more deeply, a good place to start is Grammar & Morphology of Koine Greek by Dr. Todd Bounds.

Now with that background in mind, let’s see what wondrous things we can find in a tiny two-letter word, “as.” In today’s Key Verse I highlighted each occurrence of As*. Here’s what we find in the Koine Greek version of that passage. “As” is καθὼς kathos {kath-oce’} kathōs. It is an adverb. When an adverb modifies a verb, it tells us how, when, where, why, how often, or how much the action is performed. They often, but not always, end in -ly. This word, kathos, is derived from two other Greek words which carry the denotative meanings of “according to,” and “compared to/to the extent of.” Kathos, then is “in proportion, to the degree that” and the connotative meaning is “just as, fully, exactly as, even as, to the same degree.” Thus, when Jesus says, “ They do not belong to the world, just as* I do not belong to the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” the message to the first-century reader of the Gospel (and to you Belovéd and patient reader) is “They do not belong to the world in precisely that same way and for the same reasons that I do not belong to this world.”

Looking at the next occurrence, “ As* you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” we see a conditional form of statement – as and so. “In the exact manner and circumstances you sent me on a mission to do your works in the world I have sent them into the world in that fashion, too.” In verse 21, then, we have, “ As* you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” I know you are familiar with the “identity symbol” – the ≡ sign. We could substitute that symbol for “as”: ≡ you, Father are in me and ≡ I am in you, ≡ may they also be in us ≡ the world may ≡ believe that you have sent me. As you can see in this image, Jesus goes on to say – 22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be ≡ one,  ≡  we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become ≡ completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as  ≡  you have loved me. (John 17:22-23) In this we can glimpse the immensity and totality of the Love of God for his Son and, through and in Jesus, for us. “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you,” and then he prayed for every single one of us to be One with the One God – El Shaddai-Olam – as his friends, as his children, as his Belovéd. ʻŌmea, that is so beautiful as to bring tears to our eyes!

Now, you see that the little word “as” is not a gnat but an elephant. It carries a lot of weight. What if we looked at another “as” verse in the same way? In the 1917AFC042619 message, we looked closely at the phrase “This is my body.” When Jesus says, “this is my body,” his declaration is that what he is about to share – pieces from the broken loaf of bread – IS HIS Body. He is not saying, “this represents my body,” “this is like my body,” “this is a symbol of my body,” or “pretend my body is bread.” He means what he says: “this is my body.” In the next sentence, there is another declaration in the form of a command: “Do this in remembrance of me.” We could employ the same identity equation format here and say “bread ≡ body,” and “do ≡ act in remembrance of me.” Where else do we have a very clear command from Jesus? Well, as you know there are about 150 places where he gives very specific directions, but one that people seem to remember easily is in John 13:34 – 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ≡ love you, ≡ one another. Or how about John 15:9 – 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide (↔ Click Link) in my love. ≡ Father has loved me, ≡ I have loved you; stay connected to us in our love. And again in John 15:12 – 12 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. As ≡ my commandment, ≡ you love one another ≡ I have loved you.

What Wondrous Love (↔ Music Link) we share!! We carry such a treasure, held in earthen vessels, (↔ Music Link) as our Great Joy (↔ Music Link). Shall we refuse to Love One Another (↔ Music Link)?

Belovéd, as Jesus loves us, let us love as Jesus, and in Jesus, let us love one another as he commands because God Is Love – 7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:7-12) As we listen, as we pray, as we worship, remember THIS as is important. Now we know that in Scripture we should hear more than AS when we hear as in our hearts and minds as Jesus intended it. Let us hear not only “as” but also “≡,” because Important ≡ THIS.

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

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

I entreat you to at least mention the Intercessory Prayer List in your daily prayers. You can also visit the webpage often. We are counting on your prayers.

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 – May 7, 2021 – You are here by choice

May 7, 2021

2119AFC050721 – You are here by choice

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.

     Acts 10:34-35 – 34 Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

Psalm 98:3b-4a – 3b All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God. 4a Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.

1 John 4:10-11 – 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.

John 15:16-17 – 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

John 15:9 – 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Thank you for your kind messages regarding my stasis ulcer! We’re trying everything the good doctor knows to get it to heal. It’s been gradually growing since January, so – quite frankly – has our impatience. Also, I appreciate those of you who have gone to https://www.catholic365.com/ to read Renewed Again – Part 1 and Part 2. Mahalo nui loa!

This coming Sunday is the Sixth Sunday in Easter. The readings focus on the growth of the Church. It is growing because the leaders of The Way have been gifted with extraordinary courage, insight, and Power in the Holy Spirit. Peter – Cephas – is so greatly transformed one would hardly recognize him. The rough-hewn fisherman whose pride and confidence were completely reworked after Jesus’ resurrection now speaks to large crowds as if he has done it all his life. One might even say he has the same sort of crowd-pleasing pull his Master, Jesus, had. Young John, “the Belovéd Disciple” is right there with Peter and some of the others as they stare down their fear and boldly do what they have been trained to do – spread the Good News, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. They all know that at any moment the Romans or the Jewish leaders or both could come down on them with deadly force. They kept testifying anyway – and ʻŌmea, you remember what “testify” means; you know its root is the same as the root for our word martyr. They know death is just one sly betrayal behind them. How did they find that strength?

1 John 4:10-11 – 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. They remembered HIS love (↔ Music Link), and that was enough. Every Disciple suffered martyrdom; pious tradition has it the Belovéd Disciple John survived his death penalty (some sources attest he was plunged alive into boiling oil, but survived that martyrdom) and was banished to the Isle of Patmos. Further traditions (non-biblical) place him later in Ephesus where he died around the close of the first century AD. It was Love that kept them together. How could they be so fearless?! Here is what John said about that in 1 John 4:18-19 – 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19 We love [him] because he first loved us. He Loves us. We Love him. We Love each other. He Loves us again.

Does that make us special? Of course it does! No one would claim that being Loved by God is not extraordinary. God Loves every­body, right? So why doesn’t everybody love God? Why are there so many hateful haters in the World? Did God really pick just a few people to be saved? I’m going to give you a link to part of Peter’s speech at Solomon’s Portico and quote just a small section of it. I really want you to follow the link and see the quoted passage in the context of Acts 2:22-24. Here is what I want you to weigh in your own mind: 3 this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed. Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says in §600 To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of “predestination”, he includes in it each person’s free response to his grace: “In this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”395 For the sake of accomplishing his plan of salvation, God permitted the acts that flowed from their blindness.396 Now, let’s compare that with what Peter said to the

New Testament 3 Production Still Photography

Centurion, Cornelius: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Let’s try the old, “phrase by phrase, precept by precept” approach on that.

First he says God shows no partiality. No partiality in what? Did he not choose Israel to be his nation, “a particular people,” and set them aside as his sanctified friends and servants? Yes, he did that and we know that the purpose for that election was to provide for the installation of a Messiah who would reverse the curse of sin and death. Every living soul has access to that reversal, which is why Peter says, “but in every nation.” Peter now understands that souls outside the Chosen are also beneficiaries of the salvific Grace in Jesus’ Gospel, Life, death, and resurrection. It is not just Jews who are chosen by God; it is anyone from any nation.

Next he says “anyone who fears him and does what is right.” Ahhh, there’s a familiar concept – Do The Right Thing. (↔ Click Link) Now most readers will know that in this context “fear” doesn’t mean frightened; it means reverence – to show God respect, admiration, awe; to worship, to venerate, to trust and obey. And Belovéd, why would we do all those things? We love [him] because he first loved us. He Loves us. We Love him. We Love each other. He Loves us again. It’s a LOVE thing (↔ Click Link).

Lastly he says is acceptable to him. Altogether, then, God has decreed there is no partiality, no exclusivity, not a speck of prejudicial treatment when it comes to Salvation. It’s ours for free if we take it, it’s ours if we honor the Giver by accepting the Gift, it’s ours whenever we Love. Think about that for a moment. I’ve often asked in these pages, “Why would you want anything less?” (↔ Click Link) How would you feel (how should you feel) if anything and everything you did that was wrong simply disappeared? See if this comes close: 3b All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God. 4a Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises. These days, it seems to be acceptable form that instead of applause, a crowd gives up raucous screams, whistlings, and fist pumps. That’s kinda like grabbing every musical instrument you can find and playing them all at once while shouting and dancing and singing and just celebrating until we fall over – the ultimate happy dance! And not just us, but all the earth rejoices as well. That would be celebrating something we should recognize by now – We love [him] because he first loved us. He Loves us. We Love him. We Love each other. He Loves us again. How do we deserve to be so blessed that we can go back to him!?!? (↔ Music Link)

Ready for a bit of a curveball?  Here we go:

16 You did not choose me but I chose you. You see, that’s what I mean when I say, “You are here by choice.” God has chosen me, (↔ Music Link) chosen you, chosen us as the recipients of the Perfect Gift of Love. Why is it a Perfect Gift? Because no matter how much of that Love we give away, there is always more than we can give because he first loved us. He Loves us. We Love him. We Love each other. He Loves us again. You get it now, right? What is the point? Like me, perhaps sometimes you turn tearfully to God and say, “Why have you chosen me? (↔ GREAT Music Link) Q: What did we do to deserve this? A: Nothing, for there is nothing we can do to deserve that perfect Integrity, endless Mercy, and eternal Salvation. How then did he choose us? And what does he mean when he says, “I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last“? The word here for “appointed” is ethēka meaning planned or ordained. In this context, Jesus is saying, “My plan has always been for you to take the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. It is the Work of my Father which I now pass on to you so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.” That is the choice he made – the choice to make us his own. Honor the Giver by accepting the Gift. The Gift is the very paragon of one-sided Love.

“Huh? How can that be – One-sided love? But what about that we-Love-each-other thing?” An Illustration: Do you love your Dad, or your Mom? Is there a sibling you love? Is there a spouse you love? If you stopped loving that extraordinary person in your life, WOULD THEY STILL LOVE YOU? I can tell you this – my Mom and I didn’t always get along really well. We had many tense moments before I went out to the World. But, I always knew, no matter what, my Mom loves me (yes, present tense). That’s one-sided love. It becomes two-sided love when we give someone our one-sided love – completely given with nothing held back. When we give that sort of love to Someone who gives us Love, Perfect, Endless, Selfless Love, we are chosen in HIM to bear much fruit, and to receive the gifts from the Father because the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

Why would we ever want anything less? John 15:9 – 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. Now we know: In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He chose us to receive the atonement from that sacrifice. We are here by choice  – his choice.

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 – April 30, 2021 – Rooting for Fruit

April 30, 2021

2118AFC043021 – Rooting for Fruit 

     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.

Acts 9:31 – 31 Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

1 John 3:18, 23-24 – 18 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. […]23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

John 15:4-9 – 4 Abide* in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.

* μένω (meno) {men’-o} – abide, remain, dwell, continue, tarry, endure; to remain, abide in reference to place, to sojourn, to tarry, not to depart, to continue to be present, to be held, kept continually; to continue to be, not to perish, to last, to endure; of persons: to survive, live, to remain as one, not to become another or different, to wait for someone In the Old Testament it is יָשַׁב (yashab) {yaw-shab’} – to sit, remain, dwell; abide, live, stay tarry, connect

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! That’s a lot of stuff up there, so I should just get on with it. I’m hoping my Spell-Check will catch the typos I make. My right hand is numbing up (or numbing down?) and thus my typing is weirder than usual. Nonetheless for the topic at hand, we begin with a riddle: Q: What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back? (Come on, you know this one) A STICK! Now, what do you call a branch cut off from the tree? You want to say “a stick,” but that’s not correct. A branch cut off of the tree is kindling. Matthew 7:19 – 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. In either case, whatever is cut away ends up getting burned. I see you’ve figured out where we’re going with this, so “Per aspera ad astra!” Or perhaps Per ardua ad astra.

When I looked ahead at the readings for this Sunday my heart and mind did a little jumpity-jump. I remembered this passage from 1817AFC042718 – Heard It IN the Grapevine Suppose I know that you really love grapes. I decide I want to give you a memorable present, so I go to a vineyard being pruned and gather up a few of the pruned branches, and wrap them in a pretty velvet bow as a friendship present to you. “Not much of a present,” you say. “What am I supposed to do with these? They’re already wilting.” You get the idea. You do not define your life, or anyone else’s, by the fruit that can’t be grown on pruned branches. Like the artist who throws away everything he does not need in a chunk of marble so that only the figure remains, the branches that are pruned are discarded because they allow the true purpose of the vine to become manifest. The vine bears more fruit after it is pruned.

No fruit will come from a vine or a tree or grass or wheat or any green growing thing unless it has its roots in a nourishing environment. Belovéd, where are your roots? I hope by now you know where mine are – they are in the Word, not the World. I make it a point throughout every day that I must be in the Vine. Those who know me best know that in addition to being in the vine daily, I also need (and often receive) a severe and well-deserved pruning as well. Let’s grab another branch from these roots. Here we go with another flashback:

1518AFC050115 – Fruit to Root 

You can make a climbing rose look like a grape vine by tying clusters of grapes to it. You can make a cactus look like it is bearing figs by sticking them to the thorns. Would that really fool anyone? Yet sometimes we try to do that with our lives; we try to make them appear as though we are yielding those spiritual fruits by showing the outward signs of them. Do those signs last? If they don’t start at the root, then of course they don’t last! The same is true of false prophets. They drape themselves with the supposed fruits of their prophecy, but everything they produce smells of decay and ruin. They reek of the fruits of the flesh as found in Galatians 5:19-23 – fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. In this time of upheaval we could also add terror, murder, blasphemy, deceit, persecutions, violence, evil appetites, and many things like these. When people produce this kind of fruit, it is because of where the root is growing. It grows from a bad tree and produces only bad fruit. When that fruit is fed to others, it takes root in them as well – we are what we eat. If, then, Christ is in us, then the fruit we bear will be good fruit if we remain in HIM. Will parts of our lives be like a slightly-fruitful vine that is pruned away to make better growth? Will we remain true to our roots? Will we produce the fruits to feed others? “Dear God, I hope so” is the prayer that helps us defeat the famine that is crushing the world. The prophet Amos described that famine:

Amos 8:11 – 11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord God,
when I will send a famine on the land;
not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.

Do you watch the news? Have you seen what’s on TV? Are you connected through “social media?” If and of these are part of your environment, then you know the audacity and intensity of all those things the Apostle Paul mentioned; they are constantly around us. What has happened? How did we get this far into a broken World of ubiquitous evil? I am reminded of the Curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal. You can find that fascinating story in Judges 9. It is the story of the rise and fall of an evil man named Abimelech. He conspired with the rulers of Shechem to depose the rightful king and his family. They killed all 70 of Abimelech’s brothers! Only one escaped – Jotham, the youngest. Jotham prophesied against his brother saying that if God wanted such a king – whom he likened to a bramble bush, then God would support him; however, if God saw Abimelech as an evil man who seized power that was not properly his, then Abimelech and his supporters would perish as if a flame set fire to the brambles. In this story, the wrongful king is mortally injured when a woman hurls the upper part of a millstone down on him from a high tower. He fell, and ordered his armor bearer to run him through with his sword so that no one could say a woman had killed him. Judges 9:56-57 – 56 Thus God repaid Abimelech for the crime he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers; 57 and God also made all the wickedness of the people of Shechem fall back on their heads, and on them came the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal. The biblical principle in that account is that we must not follow an unsuitable leader, particularly one associated with evil. Those who depend on and support reprehensible leaders will ultimately be destroyed by those same leaders. Whoever has eyes to see, let them see! (↔ Click Link)

We are given gifts from God that are assigned to us for the purpose of being fruitful. When we live fruitless lives, we are failing to make us of those Gifts. “Honor the Giver by accepting the Gift.” If we’re gonna make fruits, we gotta have roots. Note that the power to make fruit is not in the root, nor is it in the branch. It is in the nourishment that comes from soil, and air, and sunshine – from the Word, the Worship, and the Light of the Nations. All of that comes from the seed that is sown in suitable soil. Belovéd, we’re in pretty lousy soil right now if we do not get deep into the Word and away from the World. You might ask, “Can a tree or a vine get up and walk away to find better soil?” Well, yes, if you’re an Ent. But we can control our “diet” by getting off all the junk-food misinformation and intentional chaos. The phrase I’ve found most useful for that is, “I don’t need to do that.” Another useful “adage” is “Do what you know is right. Avoid what you know is wrong. Ask God to bless your decision.” In other words, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action” since “All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.” Then we will see in the Church “had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. Remember we don’t have to be a sola scriptura Evangelical to evangelize! We root for teams, for underdogs, and – hopefully for the Gospel. Rooted in the Word, we produce good fruit.

Jesus has told us Abide in Me (↔ Music Link) because he also says I am the vine (↔ Music Link). All he asks is “Return to Me” (↔ Music Link) and when we do, we cannot help but Shout to the Earth! (↔ Music Link) because, and you know this so well Belovéd, he has Loved us with an Everlasting Love! (↔ Music Link) We can and will do as Jesus commands: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.”

Jesus Loves us. Let us therefore Love one another in precisely the same way he loves us. We can fill the World with Good Fruits. We just need to stick to our Roots.  That way we don’t get burned.

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 – April 23, 2021 – What was that name again?

April 23, 2021

2117AFC042321 – What was that name again?

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.

     Acts 4:12 – 2 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.

1 John 3:1 – 1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

John 10:17-18 – 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.

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.

Many of us can recall a “movement” back in the 60’s and 70’s about “Who are you?” The upshot was that we should think less in terms of what we do – I’m a banker, or I’m a teacher, or I’m a lawyer – and more in terms of who we are. Eventually our thought processes were supposed to lead us to “I am a child of God.” That would be followed by other roles such as “I am a son of loving parents,” or “I am a husband, a dad, and a Sergeant in the Army,” or “I am a Christian.” It was sort of a fad to learn those answers, and – like most fads – it eventually faded out. We haven’t stopped asking the question; we just have different answers to “Who am I?” or “What am I?” I am strong, I am invincible, I am me, I am woman, I am important, I am a winner, I am not a failure. It seems pretty much anything outside of our self-image is unimportant. I think that’s how we ended up with the so-called “PC Movement.” We have to be politically correct, everyone is a winner, everyone gets trophies and sprinkles, participation awards, no one should keep score in sports, and we can’t say anything “negative” even if it is the truth because lying is safer than hurting someone’s feelings.

B-a-a-a-a-loney!!    

There are always winners and losers, always beautiful and ugly, always rich and poor, always successes and failures. Recently I said, “Not even God can please everyone all the time,” yet we have been conditioned to believe we have to please everyone anytime and if we can’t do that we are terrible people. Folks, that’s not the way it works. We can’t just go change God’s rules because their ice cream cone fell over. Stuff happens all the time. “But what about ‘Do unto others?’ Are we supposed to forget that?” No! of course not! But neither are we supposed to be dishonest with one another. Would you tell a four-year-old boy who wants to be a Super Hero that he can really fly if he just starts high enough and then show him the ladder? When we lie to each other, we break down the trust that is the foundation, the bulwark of honesty! Should we go out of our way to remind people they are winners or losers, beautiful or ugly, rich or poor, successor or failures? No! of course not! Well, then what do we do?

We tell the truth, and make honest efforts to help where help is needed. Sometimes that means giving uplifting support, and sometimes that means smacking someone about their shortcomings so they can see the way to improvement. If I’m making a fool of myself, is it better for everyone to tell me, “Chick, that’s awesome!” or is it better for me to hear, “Dude, you better think about what you’re doing.”? What am I driving at here? Simple: LABELS ARE NOT NAMES. We label people all the time – he’s a crook, she’s a liberal, they’re all crazy people, that’s a junkie for you, what a loser, rich guys make me sick, _____ lives matter, never trust a ______, shameless hussy, just another religious nut. These are labels not names. Let me ask you, then, “What is your name?” Even more important than what your name is might be what your name means. I am not referring here to the popular websites that tell you what a baby’s name means. I’m talking about what happens when your name comes up in conversation, or when someone needs help, or what people hope for when your name is mentioned.

We used to think it was good, useful, important, even desirable to say, “I’m a Christian,” or “I’m an American,” or “I’m a child of God.” These days, none of those get us any points for social status. In fact, most stuff like that has been degraded to the level of insult, and that is a great example of how the Devil bends and twists the truth to make what is evil good and what is good evil. As my dear friend, John Kretser, recently said, “Of course, given the character and attitude of the average American, today, the expected response to such a message will be somewhere between dismissiveness and mockery with, perhaps, a stripe of unbelief.” Let’s take a look then at what is in the POWER of a name, and let’s start with a name like Jesus.

Most of you know that his name was Yeshua – Hebrew for Joshua which means Yahweh Delivers or Yahweh is Salvation from the roots יְהוֹ referring to the Hebrew God JAH and יָשַׁע SHUA meaning “to save”. And what did The Apostle Peter say about Jesus’ name? “Acts 4:12 – 2 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” In this case, Savior is not a label; it is a name! For the most part, Biblical names are names not labels. Petra and Cephas (that is KAYphas not SEEphas) are names, however Thomas is a name, and Didymus (Twin) is a label, but Thomas means “A twin” so in John 11:16, it reads “So Thomas (the twin) who was called “The Twin …”

So, what happened to Thomas’ other sibling, the other twin? Maybe there wasn’t one. Thomas is from an Aramaic meaning “twin”. Thomas is the Greek variation of the Aramaic name Ta’oma’. There were too many apostles named Judas (Jude), so Jesus renamed one Thomas – “the twin” – to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot and the Judas also known as Thaddeus whom we now call St. Jude Thaddeus. How about that? Names can have meanings, but labels can harm feelings. Everyone wants to be called by their name not their label. Names are important because they mysteriously affect our inclinations. In societies that have strong familial bonds like clans and tribes, names are connected to life in the group. Here in Hawaiʻi for example, infants are given long, descriptive Hawaiʻian names, and as they grow, they are taught the meaning of the name and the reasons for choosing it. In biblical times, the giving of names was also important, and that is why I often give the translation – the meaning of the name – when I write for you. Let me give you a few examples:

  • Isaiah – Jesaiah or Jeshaiah = “Jehovah has saved.”
  • Samson (note there is no ‘p’ – it’s not Sampson) Shimshown {shim-shone’} Samson = “like the sun.”
  • Miriam or Miryam = “rebellion” The first occurrence of this name is in Exodus 15:20, and there she is described as a prophetess, the sister of Moses. The English name Mary is from a letter-for-letter transcription of the Latin and Greek name Μαρία (Maria), which in turn is an adaptation of the Hebrew name Miriam. This is why I have said in the past, “When ‘Rebellion’ – Mary or Miryam – submitted to God – The Holy Spirit – the Christ who could and would conquer the Rebellion of Lucifer would be conceived in her womb to be consubstantial with God his Father and thus be the Messiah.”
  • Hannah = “grace” She was the mother of Samuel, a wife of Elkanah. Elkanah = “God has possessed” or “God has created”
  • And of course we are thinking about Jesus Ἰησοῦς, (Iésous) {ee-ay-sooce’} Jesus, the transliteration of the Hebrew term, “Yehoshua” or Jehoshua, contracted to “Joshua” which means “Yahweh saves” or “Yahweh is salvation” In Hebrew it is Yeshua (Yeh-SHOO-ah) a contraction of Yehoshua, and therefore Yeshua also means “the Lord (Yahweh) is salvation.” He is the anointed Christ of God.

Now, all of those are names of important people in the Bible and all of the names are … important names because they tell us something about the person called by that name. But have we ever thought about the labels that were applied to Jesus? One of the first and most important is Immanuel, and we also see it spelled Emmanuel. Take a look at how this appears in the Bible only three times:

Isaiah 7:14 – 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

Isaiah 8:8 – 8 it will sweep on into Judah as a flood, and, pouring over, it will reach up to the neck; and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel. (See Isaiah 8:5-10 for context, especially verse 10)

Matthew 1:23 – 23 “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” (See Matthew 1:20-23 for context.) And we also have this famous list from Isaiah 9:6 – 6 For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

He is also called משיח (mashiach/mah-shee-ahch) Messiah, Christos – Christ, Theos – God, Adonai – Lord, Kyrios – Lord, Logos – Word, Only-Begotten and First-Begotten, Elohim – God, the Good Shepherd; Lamb of God, Savior, Mediator between God and Man, our Intercessor, our Advocate; Son of Adam, of Abraham, of David, of God, of Man, of Mary, of Joseph; Anointed (See 2012AFC032020 – Anointed for Good for more information), the Christ of God, Brother, King, Friend; he has many labels, titles if you will, but HIS NAME IS Jesus. Acts 4:12 – 2 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved. God had given his chosen and anointed ruler, Cyrus, a promise that every part of Creation would bow before God, and thus we have this amazing testimony in Philippians 2:10 – 10 so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth (See Philippians 2:5-11 to review in context) American Standard Version (ASV) Public Domain See Also Isaiah 45:23 which is quoted in Romans 14:10-11. Belovéd, I urge you to follow those links because if you do, you will have complete clarity about why the name of Jesus is THE Holy Name.

Now, I want to share with you something that I overheard the other day. It’s a music link to a very popular song from the 60s by the Australian group, The Seekers. As I listened to this song, I realized it was one of those folk-pop tunes that lends itself well to a Gospel message. We’ve done that before with “I will follow him,” for example. Here’s a link to the nifty little tune called Another You. The first verse kind of sets the mind toward today’s topic. Listen along to this recording of Another You (↔ Music Link). The first verse goes like this:

There’s a new world somewhere
They call the promised land,
And I’ll be there someday
If you will hold my hand
I’ll still need you there beside me
No matter what I do
For I know I’ll never find another you  © 1964 Springfield-Music, Ltd Copyright Renewed

Jesus’ name is the only name through which we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. He, Jesus, is indeed the only Savior we have or need because, as he himself said, 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father. And that is why we follow him – where he leads (↔ Music Link) us we will follow because, as we read in John 10:11 – 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

Blesséd be God forever in his Angels, his Saints, and his Children!

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

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

Aloha Friday Message – April 16 – His name alone

April 16, 2021

2116AFC041621 – His name alone

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.

     Acts 3:16 – 16 And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.

Luke 24:45-49 – 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed* with power from on high.”

* enduo – to endue, to endow, to invest as meaning to provide with clothing such as a uniform, to be clothed in transformative change.

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. It is based on the salutations the Apostle Paul uses in nearly a dozen of his epistles – for example 1 Timothy 1:2b – Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. A similar format can be seen in 2 Peter 1:2-4 – 2 May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 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. In the name of Jesus we find Faith, Grace, Peace, and Mercy. Truthfully the Psalmist’s words which brought delight to Israel will also ring true for us today: Psalm 148:13 – 13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven.

We know that hearing and honoring the name of Jesus is an essential component of Christian worship. In Philippians 2:9-11 we read – 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Very few Christians, Catholic or non-Catholic – know that we can and should make a slight bow of our head when Jesus’ name is spoken. (General Instruction of the Roman Missal §275). It is a superb way to “keep one’s head in attendance” during worship whether public or private. In our opening Key Verse for today, we see that it is by faith in his name, his name itself that a man was healed. I chose this particular verse because for some reason it was omitted from the Sunday reading for the Third Sunday of Easter. Peter tells the astonished crowd around him Jesus’ name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Everybody new this guy! This event is recounted in Acts 3 and the passage says that everyone recognized him as the man who was carried daily to the Beautiful Gate at the Temple where he could beg for alms. The city of Jerusalem was already “all shook up” because of what had happened, the rumors that were flying around, and the extraordinary visit to the Apostles by the Holy Spirit. When this well-known beggar was seen leaping and dancing and rejoicing in the Spirit inside the Temple, the news spread quickly. One thing that is not mentioned, but is very important, is that this man could not enter the Temple because he was lame – he was unclean, un-whole. Now, because he is whole, he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All of that by faith in his name. His name alone is exquisitely elegant, the Only Name worthy of Highest Praise.

Woe to those who dishonor that Holy Name! Woe to those who sin against others in that name! Woe to those who speak that name in a curse!! Woe to those who know that Name and are faithless, betrayers, or usurpers!

Immediately after healing this well-known man, Peter goes to Solomon’s Portico in the Temple and unleashes an amazing sermon. Solomon’s Portico was a double-colonnaded porch along the east side of the Temple near the Court of the Gentiles at Solomon’s Portico. Jesus taught there (See John 10:23), and it was a common gathering place for people to come and discuss the Scriptures. The Apostles continued that Tradition. They got in trouble for that, too, and were called in by the Jewish authorities and ordered never to speak or teach in the name of Jesus (See Acts 4:18). So, guess what the Apostles did. They kept right on preaching and teaching in His Name alone. It was a powerful fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to them in Acts 1:8 – 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Later on we read in Acts 5:12 – 12 Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico.

In Acts 5:12-16, we are told that the actions of the Apostles were so marvelous that people from all around Jerusalem and the surrounding villages brought people into the city and laid them on cots so that if only just Peter’s shadow fell over them, they might be healed in the name of Jesus. The Apostles were persecuted, beaten, thrown in jail and escaped miraculously with the assistance of an angel. The High Priest and other elevated officials wanted to kill them, but instead found them teaching outside the Temple again! Preaching and teaching in His Name Alone! When the High Council had them brought in for questioning, Peter and the other Apostles answered “We must obey God rather than any human authority. 30 The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” (See Acts 5:29-32)

In those weeks after the Resurrection and Pentecost, and in that very moment and place in Jerusalem, the promise in Acts 1:8 was made manifest. In His Name Alone, the Church stood and faced the future in the city of Jerusalem – just as Jesus had prophesied: 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Beginning with Abraham and Melchizedek and up to this very day, Jerusalem has been the center of God’s plans, revelations, and actions. It was the destination of Christ resolutely walking to Calvary. It was the center of the Early Church, the point of origin for the Church’s Mission to preach the Gospel to all nations, and for these earliest believers “to the ends of the earth” meant the Roman Empire. It was their mission to tell the World, “We know him, and we know he lives. We’ve heard his voice, we’ve seen his scars, we have been witnesses to all this.” You will remember this: We have been told (↔ Music Link). We have been told! We know! We believe in His Name Alone! Now, because we believe, we also know him – but there are those who know but do not believe. You might remember this passage seen in these pages several times: 1 John 2:5-6 – 4 Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; 5 but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 6 whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked.

Belovéd, In His Name Alone we have the joyous privilege of knowing and living in the Wonderful Grace of Jesus. (↔ Music Link) We have heard. We have been told. How shall we walk? How must we be accountable? Matthew 11:15 – 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear! English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001. Used with permission) All that we have comes to us All Done In His Name. (↔ Music Link) Do you ever make a Daily Offering? What would you give Jesus if you could give it to him in His Name Alone? Would you say to him, “Good morning Lord, and thank you for this day. Let’s go out and help the World together side-by-side all the way. Jesus, All That I Am (↔ Music Link) I offer now to you.”? Peter told the man he healed, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” (See Acts 3:6) What could I, what could you, what could we do in His Name Alone if only we believed, and acted on that faith? In His Name Alone, we can be made clean, made whole, and rejoice in the courts of the Lord.

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.

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

 

Aloha Friday Message – April 9, 2021 – Enduring Mercy

April 9, 2021

2115AFC040921 – Enduring Mercy

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.

     Psalm 118:4 – 4 Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love [Mercy]  endures forever.” 

     Hebrews 4:16 – 16 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 

     John 20:26-28 – 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

1 Peter 1:3-7 – 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7 so that the genuineness of your faith — being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire — may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. We begin today with a familiar story, one that circulates on the Internet every so often:

The Auction

The upstate New York man was rich in almost every way. His estate was worth millions. He owned houses, land, fabulous art, and cattle. But though on the outside he had it all, he was very unhappy on the inside. His wife was growing old, and the couple was childless. He had always wanted a little boy to carry on the family legacy.

Miraculously, his wife became pregnant, and gave birth to a little boy. The boy was severely handicapped, but the man loved him with his whole heart.

When the boy was 5, his mom died. The dad grew closer to his special son and even commissioned a portrait of him to be painted by a well-known artist when the boy was 12 years old. He had it hung on the wall opposite is bed so that it was the first thing he saw in the morning and the last thing he saw at night.

At the age of 13, the boy’s birth defects cost him his life, and the father died of a broken heart soon after. He had arranged with his favorite lawyer to hold a special auction after his death so that his estate would be put to good use.

The estate was to be auctioned before hundreds of bidders. The first item offered was the painting of the boy. No one bid. They waited like vultures for the riches. The auctioneer called out, “The son, the son; who will take the son?”

     Finally, the poor housemaid, who had helped raise the boy, bid $5 for the picture and easily took the bid. The auctioneer shouted, “The auction now concluded.” The room filled with loud chatter and confusion, wondering at the early close of the auction. The auctioneer went on to explain. “In the will of the father, the instructions specifically said to offer for sale the painting of the son first, and that whoever gets the painting of his son gets the whole estate.” To everyone’s shock, the auctioneer pulled out a handwritten will from an envelope glued to the back of the picture. This is what it said. “To the person who thinks enough of my son to buy this painting, to this person I give my entire estate.” The auction was over. The greedy crowd walked away in shock and dismay.

How many of us have sought after what we thought were true riches only to find out later that the Father was preparing to give us His entire estate if we only chose to accept His Only Begotten Son?

Whoever receives the Son receives all from the Father. In the light of eternity, God says to all of us, “This is my Son, Jesus; who will receive my Son? Whoever receives the Son gets everything” – and that includes the message of the stories Jesus told. (From that world-famous writer, Anonymous Author)

Well, perhaps you have seen that story before, but I want to ask you about your experience with choosing the Son. First, why was that choice available? Second, how did you learn about it? Third, what influenced your decisions about that choice? And finally, how has that choice affected you?

Why was that choice available? For many of us, the answer is too simple for our complex minds. Here’s a little hint: Genesis 3:15. That is the promise of Salvation first given to Eve after she and Adam came to know the difference between Good and Evil. Recall also that God moved them out of his Paradise – the Garden of Eden – so that they would not eat of the Tree of Life and thereby live forever as fallen and condemned beings – like Satan. God did not take vengeance on Adam and Eve; God took compassion on them and granted them Mercy. Everything that God gives is Good (See James 1:17), and Mercy is an extraordinarily good Gift. Without God’s Mercy, we would have no Hope of any kind – and especially no Hope for Eternal Life in his presence. Our Key Verse from Psalm 118 mentions his “steadfast love.” Steadfast a word we do not use often, so here are some synonyms to help you remember it: Unwavering, resolute, persistent, dedicated, everlasting, loyal, trustworthy, dependable, reliable, constant, faithful, devoted, steady, untiring, unfailing, lasting, persevering. I am firmly convinced that only God could fully implement every description I’ve listed. Another synonym used very frequently in the Bible is lovingkindness (ḥă-sā-ḏe-ḵā in Hebrew) which especially points to the Abrahamic Covenant. God’s relationship with his Creation of earthlings began with Love and – because it became necessary – continued with Mercy. That is why choosing the Son is an available choice. If we fail to make that choice we will indeed lose everything.

How has that choice affected you? What do we gain by accepting the Son? As in the story of the rich man and his progeny, we gain everything God intended for us from the moment he made Adam and from Adam brought forth Eve. Again, the answers are so obvious that we might overlook them. I guess the first thing we might point to is the fact that we are alive. We have a life, a consciousness, a mind, and a spirit. We have senses that help us appreciate God’s creation. We have feelings – some wonderful, some difficult – but our feelings help us understand each other and also help us to know God. If we think about it, one of the biggest factors in choosing the Son is the way we feel when we realize how much he Loves us – enough to die for us as the fulfillment of that Promise in Genesis 3:15. When we become aware of the choice and then make the choice, we are changed. We are affected in ways that bring us great joy. But, how do we make that choice known? Ah, Belovéd, why make it complicated? We make that choice known by asking for it! “Jesus, come into my heart.” The Apostle Paul put it quite nicely in Hebrews 4:16 – 16 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. If we want the Mercy of God that ensures our Salvation, all we have to do is ask, search, or knock (See Matthew 7:7). That is why God’s Mercy is called steadfast. It is always there, it is always free for those who ask, and it comes with the graces necessary to make good use of the Gift.

What influenced your decisions about that choice? Most of us know someone who “grew up Christian.” God provided for them an environment characterized by Christian teaching and helped them make good use of that opportunity. Probably that includes you; if you’re reading this, it’s because you chose to open it and to read at least this far. I’d venture to say that we who create and follow these posts are influenced by our own “faith-forming experience.” (“What does that mean,” you ask?) Not everyone who chooses the Son “grew up Christian,” so how do they recognize the choice? If we think back to Jesus’ Disciples, they certainly didn’t grow up in a Christian environment, so they chose the Son based on the things Jesus said and did. Remember the axiom WHAT WE DO SAYS WHO WE ARE. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. One disciple who had to do something in order to believe was the Apostle Thomas. Let’s take another look at the well-known faith-forming experience of the Apostle Thomas.

Over the years in these pages, I’ve given Thomas kind of a bad rap by making him out to be the pessimist in the circle of Disciples. When Martha and Mary sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was near death, it was Thomas who said (paraphrasing now), “Well, if Jesus going to Bethany, we might as well go along and die with him there.” Later, of course, Thomas opines (paraphrasing again), “It’s too good to be true that Jesus is alive. I’d have to see it to believe it.” Belovéd, what did we see that made us believe it? What did we hear that convinced us to choose the Son? Whatever it was, it was certainly a gift from God! It was a gift of Mercy and it came to us “with the graces necessary to make good use of the Gift.” So where is this Gift and how do we get it? It’s everywhere! It is even already in you! God is omnipresent and that means his Mercy is omnipresent. He does amazing things for us because he wants us to remember that the Lord is kind and merciful. (↔ Click Link!)

How has that choice affected you? This is one of those essay questions (↔ Click Link) God gives us every once in awhile. I cannot answer it for you. I can’t really even suggest an answer. If you’ve chosen the Son, you already know what you know, and what you know is “a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” If you possess that living Hope it is because you possess the Son for the reason that you freely chose him. What did it cost you? Well, probably not $5 like the poor housemaid paid for the portrait, but we who chose the Son accept that our inheritance includes responsibilities. We are responsible for sharing the Gospel, for sustaining his Church, and for helping others to choose to share the knowledge that his steadfast love [Mercy]  endures forever. After all, he is Loving and Forgiving (↔ Music Link). Honor the Giver by accepting the Gift – the Gift of his Enduring Mercy. Because of that Mercy, we will see Jesus in the Eucharist and say, “My Lord and my God!”

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

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

April 11, 2021 is the Second Sunday of Easter and also Divine Mercy Sunday. I invite you to use this link for The Divine Mercy Chaplet with Meditations by Greg Keuter. This is no longer available on the Internet, so hopefully you will be able to download this and use it often. It is a beautiful way to pray the Chaplet because it unites reflections of the sufferings of Christ with the comforting prayers of the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

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 – April 2, 2021 – While it was still dark

April 2, 2021

2114AFC040221 – While it was still dark

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.

    John 20:1 – 1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Today is “Good Friday.” Last week we mentioned Good Friday as we considered the Repentant Thief crucified to the right of Jesus’ cross, and said, “The Precious Blood of Jesus “is poured out for many” (See Mark 14:24) on Good Friday, but we also know that such grief is “Good Grief” because it is a Holy Grief in the same way that Good Friday is a Holy Day of Remembrance – “Do this in memory of Me.” Our Good Grief contributes to our sincere contrition and effective repentance so that one day we, too, will be with Jesus in Paradise after witnessing That Old Rugged Cross with him.”

This weekend we will experience again the beauty and the sadness of the Triduum which consists of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. These are all celebrated in anticipation of the Great Feast of Resurrection Day which most people call Easter Sunday. Thursday night we remember The Last Supper, the Washing of Feet, the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, and Jesus’ arrest and “trial.” It was during that trial that Peter thrice denied ever knowing Jesus. Then Friday comes after a sleepless night filled with abuse and pain, Jesus is brought before Pilate. Pilate sees no point in stirring up trouble by crucifying The King of the Jews, so he tries to get out of it by having Jesus scourged – nearly to the point of death. The Jewish religious and civil officials insist on condemning Jesus, Pilate finally relents, and turns him over to the Romans for crucifixion at 9 in the morning. Jesus endures hours of agony – the whole point of crucifixion was to cause as much pain as possible – and at 3 in the afternoon he dies.

As evening approaches, a secret Disciple name Joseph of Arimathea asks Pilate for the body so it will not be exposed during the Day of Preparation for the Passover. Jesus is placed in a borrowed tomb. During that day, the Sabbath, he is dead and buried, but he is also alive in Spirit; we know this because he goes to encourage the Souls in Sheol who are waiting for his Resurrection. No one knows that the spectacular event of The Resurrection is only hours away! It would come on the first day of the week, echad which literally means “one” or “first” because the six “workdays” of the week are named 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The Seventh Day is called Shabbat the Sabbath, the day God rested from all his work of Creation and sanctified as Holy. That is why we say to those who celebrate the Sabbath, “Shabbat shalom,” which means Sabbath of Peace. For Jesus’ Disciples, that Shabbat was nowhere near peaceful – it was absolutely horrible. It was so horrible that all of them were justifiably in fear for their lives. Their Lord, the Messiah, had been killed! Who would be next?

And then something extraordinary happens. A truly remarkable woman dis an exceptionally courageous thing. She went to the tomb where the dead body of Jesus had been placed so she could anoint the body with spices in accordance with Jewish burial customs. We have two accounts of this event – one in the Gospel of Mark and one in the Gospel of John. In Mark 16:1-12, we read that “Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.” Mary Magdalene was completely dedicated to Jesus because he had cast out seven demons (See Mark 16:9 and Luke 8:2). In the Gospel of John – our Key Verse for today – Mary is alone, and acting “while it was still dark.” In John’s Gospel, this is an important statement rooted in his theme throughout his account: The Light of the World and the rejection of that Light by the Darkness of Sin and Death.

John sets the scene “while it was still dark,” that is, while the world was still in the grip of sin and death. The World – including Mary Magdalene – does not know that the Light has risen and Darkness flees from that Light – Jesus. John tells us right up front in his Gospel (John 1:1-14 which is often quoted in these pages), and at least 16 times he refers to Jesus and his Mission as Light. After the Resurrection, the Gospel of John continues with important accounts of Jesus interacting with Mary Magdalene, the message Jesus gave her to take to the other Disciples – his Apostles – and the description of Thomas’ reaction to their assertion that they had seen the Risen Lord. Then we have the beautiful recounting of Jesus meeting with seven of the Apostles at Galilee. This narrative includes what I call the Penance of Peter; three times Jesus asks, “Peter, do you love me?” Three times Peter answers, “Yes, Lord, you know I do.” Jesus tells him to feed the lambs, to tend the sheep, and to feed the sheep. Peter is to be the Shepherd for the Holy and Apostolic Church Jesus will establish through Peter’s leadership. We know now what none of the Apostles or Disciples knew in those days after the Resurrection: There would be much for them to endure. One of the greatest examples of that kind of endurance is Mary of Magdala.

     This Mary, the Magdalene, knew the torment of great sin, having given herself over to demonic possession for many years. There are many fascinating “accounts” of her life – even a noncanonical “Gospel” – but what we know of her from Scripture is really all we need to know. She was courageous, outspoken, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and possessing great faith in her Teacher. She would go with him all the way from Capernaum to Calvary and beyond. Several years ago I read an excellent “docunovel” (↔ Click Link) titled Mary, called Magdalene by Margaret George. You might want to try it sometime. It is a fascinating look into the era when Jesus the Christ of God walked on this Earth. One very strong impression I gained from that book was the amazing magnitude of The Magdalene’s endurance. On that topic, I want to share with you another boatload of Scripture on endurance. The purpose will become clear when we come to the concluding remarks in this post. Please read (don’t just skim through) the following:

James 5:11 – 11 Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

1 Corinthians 4:12 – 12 and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;

2 Corinthians 1:6 – 6 if we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering.

Matthew 24:9-13 – 9 “Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. 10 Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Mark 13:13 – 13 and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Hebrews 12:7 – 7 Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline?

1 Peter 2:19 – 19 For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly.

In a recent post – 2106AFC020521 – Searching in the Dark – we “anticipated” this telling of the story of Mary of Magdala. Mary went to minister to Jesus even though everything she knew in this World told her he was gone. She endured the fear, traveled in the darkness and cold, and carried with her the resolution to do the right thing. Recall that Passover was during the Hebrew month of Abib which is now the month Nisan in the current Jewish calendar; this is the March-April part of the calendar we use. Temperatures in Jerusalem would have been in the mid-50s to the upper-60s. Despite the danger, the cold, the immense sorrow she endured, she got up and went to Jesus while it was still dark. Belovéd, this is a dark, dark time, and a time for serious prayer for, with, and about each other; for our Nation, for our civic and religious leaders; for our families, for our neighbors; in thanksgiving, adoration, and praise for our Heavenly Father and his only-begotten Son; for our own souls; for our enemies and oppressors; and for the innocent at all stages of life from conception to natural death. We can learn a lot from Jesus’ prayer life, and it is especially important to learn and know that an early prayer in the dark is a great prayer to make when searching for Peace and Hope. Like Mary of Magdala, we can summon the faith, the discernment, the patience and perseverance, and the humility to exercise THE POWER OF PRAYER. I have come to believe that God only gives four answers to prayer:
1. “Yes!”
2. “Not yet.”
3. “I have something better in mind.”
4. “You’ve got to be kidding!

Jesus leads the way, and the Way goes to Calvary. Mary followed Jesus on the Way, and endured witnessing the horrific death of her Rabbouni. Her love and faith is an example for our struggles in this dark hour. Think about her story, the crushing grief, the paralyzing fear, the indomitable courage, and the inexpressible JOY she knew when Jesus spoke her name.

Listen carefully, Belovéd. He is speaking your name, too. Do you, do I, do we have the faith and love that Mary Magdalene had? Can we not only endure these dark days, but truly prevail over all the World casts onto us? Will we rise early in the morning to minster to Jesus, to feed his lambs, to tend his sheep? Will we walk this Lonesome Valley  (↔ Music Link) with Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome?

As we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord this weekend, let us also anticipate our resurrection with him when he returns in Glory as he promised. It’s not dark when we have The Light of the World (↔ Music Link). HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!

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 – March 26, 2021 – Good Grief!

March 26, 2021

2013AFC032621 – Good Grief! (See also Aloha Friday Message Mercy Series)

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     Mark 15:32-34 – 32 Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.33 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Luke 23:39-43 – 39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

1 John 1:9 – 9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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. It’s almost here. Sunday, March 28th is Palm Sunday and Easter a week later! Today I want to talk about some Extra-Ordinary Mercy, so let’s get right into it.

We say we want to repent, to do the right things, to be all we can be in the Grace of God. Then we come across this little snag in Jeremiah 13:23 – 23 But there is little hope for you ever doing good, you who are so accustomed to doing evil. Can an Ethiopian [Cushite] change the color of his skin? Can a leopard remove its spots? [1] Let’s face it ʻŌmea, we are accustomed to doing evil. Some of us expect to have that pardoned on or before the day of reward. Others we know may be hanging on to the past possible moment to get in a “miraculous conversion” like the guy who ended up going to Paradise with Jesus when they both died from the agonizing pain, blood loss, and suffocation in the crucifixion they endured. That man – often referred to in apocryphal (“unofficial”) pious literature as St. Dismas or Dysmas – is also called the Penitent Thief. His name means “sunset” or “death.” The other guy’s name – according to the same unconfirmed sources – was Gestas. The derivation is from Greek “Gesta” meaning complaining or moaning. Dismas received Mercy as he was dying because he told Gestas to stop insulting and mocking Jesus, then – according to the Gospel of Luke – he turned to Jesus and asked to be remembered when Jesus “came into” his Kingdom. Jesus assures him he will be in Paradise with Jesus that very day.

What and where is Paradise? The New Testament occurrences of the word are written in the spirit of Jewish apocalyptic literature – a genre of literature in the Bible that focuses on the end time. In our Key Verse from Luke, Paradise is the place where Jesus and the Dismas are going. Again, looking at the Greek for the last phrase in this verse (today you will be with me in Paradise) – the word semeron {say’-mer-on} means this very day. Another word of interest here is esē comes from the Greek word eimi {i-mee’} for to be or to exist. All of the words in the phrase are crystal clear about what they denote so that we could read it as “this very day exactly you will actually be with exactly me in exactly Paradise.” Pretty clear what he meant, yes? Considering the pain he and his two fellow victims were in, it was not a time for dithering about word choices. Yet, it is so very much “in character” for Jesus to make a direct confirmation of salvation despite the agony and distress he was feeling at that very moment.

Jesus’ word to this repentant thief was a word of forgiveness, as was Jesus First Word [2] from the Cross, “Father forgive them …” He first forgave his executioners. Next he forgave one who acknowledged the justice of his own punishment, repented of his sins, and asked to be remembered in Jesus’ Kingdom. Today we still read about this man who, at Death’s door, appealed to the Creator of Heaven and Earth for Mercy. Shall we not do likewise and ask for forgiveness in our appeal to The One who overcame Sin and Death? “Forgiveness” is something which is sometimes hard to understand. We might liken it to what people say about art: I don’t know much about art, but I know it when I see it. We have some misguided ideas about forgiveness, though, even if we “know it when we see it.”

Forgiveness is not what we see in today’s “cancel culture” – sanitizing the past. That helps no one because it destroys the good with the bad. Forgiveness destroys only the bad and leaves wholly Holy the good because forgiveness is an act of Grace brought forth by Love. That is the effect of Mercy. If we try to “decontaminate the past,” we end up with vengeance. That is not correction, and certainly not Mercy. Justice can be retroactive, even restorative, but if that kind of action is taken, then Justice must be administered with Mercy; otherwise Justice cannot be rehabilitative, and that is what Grace and Forgiveness accomplish when used together. We are restored to fellowship – communion – with God. (Remember that the Greek word koinonia {koy-nohn-ee’-ah} means fellowship, communion, mutual participation together as community – see CCC §948) By now, we all know that Forgiveness begins with repentance (Greek: metanoia change of mind, repentance, a change of mind, change in the inner man, “doing a 180º back to God”). That’s something we need to get done before Easter arrives.

In a post (↔ Click Link) a few years back, we had a short checklist of seven things to do to do in preparation for Easter: Repent, be baptized, believe, confess, come to Jesus, carry your cross, and follow Jesus. It’s quite a list, especially considering the first step in light of today’s Key Verse from Jeremiah.  If you want to repent and to do good instead of evil, it seems Jeremiah is saying, “Give it up. You’re never going to make it.” Even so, love compels us to try to repent, to reform, to apologize. When we hurt someone we love, they feel terrible, and – if we’re honest about it – we feel terrible, too, because of what we did. I can repent, say I’m very sorry, that I’ll never do that again; but, I am not always able to keep that promise. How about you? Do you find it’s hard to bring your heart and mind to sincere contrition and effective repentance? How does repentance work anyway? A better question might be “How is repentance supposed to work?”

I have trouble with “sincere contrition and effective repentance” *all* *the* *time!* Don’t you? As I meditated on this problem all week I felt stronger and stronger about the idea that my attitude of gratitude needs a better ALtitude. LQQK at all the amazing gifts God has given me! Am I grateful? Sure! Am I grateful for all of it? Sure! Do I know how much “all of it” is? Hmmm …. no. I don’t know that, just like I don’t know how much I sin because I let habits do my thinking and praying for me rather than going one-on-one with God through the Sacrament of Reconciliation (a.k.a. Confession). I can see that in some ways humility is directly attached to gratitude as well. If we turn away from sin we end up turning toward God. That is something for which we can be truly and deeply thankful. When we acknowledge everything that we have and realize it all comes from God, we are grateful and humbled: That gives us the aphorism “The bigger the gratitude, the deeper the humility.” Humility is what makes contrition and repentance sincere and effective. As we have seen, St. Dismas’ appeal to Jesus was way better than Gestas taunting. I sometimes wonder if Gestas took some bitter pleasure when he heard Jesus call out to God with the opening words of Psalm 22 – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” If you’ll take a moment to peek at 1511AFC031315 – Recitation, you’ll see an analysis of that quote in our Key Verse from Mark’s account of the Crucifixion. Compare this with Matthew 27:46 – 46 And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The meanings are the same. The one in Mark 15:34 is in Aramaic and the one in Matthew 27 is of Hebrew origin. I’m going to transplant a section from that 2015 message:

Why did Jesus say that? This is a simple and important question to answer because we now know so much about the Jews of that time and place. Jesus fully understood what was needed; he informed his disciples several times that he was going to be turned over to his enemies, suffer greatly, die, and be raised again. They simply could not understand what all that meant. He also had supreme confidence in God’s purpose, power, and providence – his divine intervention in the fate of all earthlings. Consider that Jews in Jesus’ time were, for the most part, well-trained in the Law and the Prophets. The Psalms were something like the Hymnal of the Hebrews. People, especially men, were expected to know them and to be able to recite them “on demand.” Thus, a teacher of Hebrew Scripture would expect his students to be able to take a cue from the beginning of a Psalm and then recite the entire thing, all the while rehearsing in their mind what they had been taught about its meaning. For example, today if someone were to say or sing “Oh say can you see …” most of us would be able to go on with that famous lyric. If someone said “In the land where I was born / Lived a man who sailed the sea …” we might not be able to recall the entire text, but we would at least know what it was about and generally what happened. If I were to say, “For God so loved the world that …” probably most of the world could finish that sentence. In Jerusalem at that time if someone spoke the words “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani,” the Jewish listeners would know the next 29 verses. They would know the various parts of that Psalm, and that it contained confident praise of God and an assurance of victory by God’s strong hand. Jesus knew this also, and from the cross led many minds to that Psalm which had been memorized by pious students of the Scriptures and was always readily available for recitation. It was often used by Jews to remind them that, even in the face of death, God was with them and would provide the victory for them. Even at the point of unimaginable agony and imminent death, Jesus was moved to PRAISE God!

Belovéd, if we believe that we want to be like Jesus, then we must take up our cross and follow him to Calvary and beyond! Then we will have direct experience with the Joy St. Dismas found that day because, as our final Key Verse says, 1 John 1:9 – 9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is koinonia to the MAX! We cannot “change” the spots and stains of sin on our hearts, but Jesus can wipe them clean. We indeed grieve for the immense suffering Jesus endured. The Precious Blood of Jesus “is poured out for many” (See Mark 14:24) on Good Friday, but we also know that such grief is “Good Grief” because it a Holy Grief in the same way that Good Friday is a Holy Day of Remembrance – “Do this in memory of Me.” Our Good Grief contributes to our sincere contrition and effective repentance so that one day we, too, will be with Jesus in Paradise after witnessing  That Old Rugged Cross with him. (↔ Music Link) That is extra-ordinary Mercy! AMEN.

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] (New English Translation [NET] NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.)

[2] See “Seven Last Words of Christ by Chick Todd” at https://www.catholic365.com/Search/

 

 

 

 

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