Follow Me: A Meditation on Mark 10 for the 21st Sunday after Pentecost

And when he was gone forth into the way,

there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him,

Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

 

And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good?

there is none good but one, that is, God.

Thou knowest the commandments,

Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal,

Do not bear false witness, Defraud not,

Honour thy father and mother.

 

And he answered and said unto him,

Master, all these have I observed from my youth.

Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him,

One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast,

and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven:

and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

 

And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved:

for he had great possessions.

 

The young man who approached Jesus with his earnest question about eternal life (also recorded in Matthew 19) got a bit more than he anticipated from Jesus.  After first having prompted the young man to consider why he though Jesus was good when God alone is truly good, and then reminding him of his obligation before God to keep the Commandments, the young man confessed that He had done so since His youth.  Jesus expressed His compassion for the young man by showing him what he really needed, and what was holding him back:  a total commitment to God.  The young man was instructed to sell off his wealth, give to the poor, take up his cross, and follow Jesus.  While giving to the poor and taking up the horrors of crucifixion didn’t seem to affect the young man as viscerally, selling off his great wealth did—and the young man went away sorrowful, unwilling yet to part with it.

 

The Scriptures from beginning to end describe disciples of God in every walk of life, from poor to rich, and in many kinds of profession or trade, including land owners, shepherds, husbandmen, day laborers, warriors, traders, and politicians.  In each case, the relative profession and wealth were always of less concern than the fidelity of the heart to God and His Word, for from the earliest days of man until the end of the world, God has declared that The Just Shall Live By Faith.  Yet by the same token, no one’s profession or outward actions, even if they be of the priestly class or consecrated Nazarites or prophets or kings, would save them if their heart was not faithful to God.  What the young man of Mark 10 clung to above God was his wealth, and Jesus in His love for the young man, took the time to help him see his folly so that at some future point, he might repent of this idolatry, believe, and live in Jesus.  Regardless of the young man’s outward piety, he wasn’t ready to follow Jesus, because his heart was still trusting in his wealth.

 

It is worth noting that Jesus’ teaching to us is not necessarily that we should sell everything we have, give everything to the poor, then take up a physical cross and follow Him—though it could be.  The invitation Jesus gives us today, and to people in every age, is to examine ourselves before Him and His Word, and figure out what we’re clinging to that we shouldn’t.  All that we have is a gift from God, right down to the life we live and breaths we take, but in our fallen condition, pride and ignorance rise up in our minds to consider what we have, as our own.  Rightly seen, everything we have is given to us to serve God and our neighbor in love and compassion that reflects His love and compassion shown to us by His Cross—and nothing we have is so authentically our own that we should horde it, be obsessed by it, or put our trust in it as if it could save us.  Our wealth, possessions, powers of mind and body, and anything else we have been given, are all gracious gifts from the God who made us, sent us into this world to accomplish His will, and shall one day call us home to give an account of what we did with what He gave us.

 

Ultimately, we know we fail this test, because as Jesus reminded the rich young man, there is no one good but God alone.  Only Jesus could use the fulness of His Incarnation to work the salvation of the whole world, with a full devotion to His Father and compassion upon every soul that will ever walk in this world.  His work was complete and total, undivided in His mind or heart, and there was nothing in His possession that came between Him and His love for us.  He did set aside all the riches of heaven that were and are authentically His by virtue of His full divinity, so that He could be born of the Virgin Mary and walk among us as fully man; it is He who gave everything He had to the poor, that they might know Him, be healed by Him in body and soul, and live in Him forever; it is He alone took up His Cross for the sins of the whole world, suffering the eternal punishment of every soul that would ever exist, so that everyone who trusted in Him might never face that same judgment for their own sins.  Jesus is the Good One, because He is God and Man in one Divine Person, perfectly united with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.  The full measure of devotion we could not muster to earn eternal life for ourselves, He accomplished for the whole world.

 

What Jesus has given to you, dear Christian, is the entirety of Himself, and He calls you to follow Him in the entirety of your redeemed self.  Let go your affections for baubles and trinkets which bind your mind and soul to lesser things, and receive the wholeness of your forgiveness, life, and salvation in Jesus Christ alone.  In your baptism, all of you was united with His death, and all of you rose to eternal life in Him, so that nothing in this world might take your devotion from the One who loved and saved you from every enemy of the human race.  Rejoice and give thanks, for the Lord of Glory is good indeed, and His goodness is poured out upon you by His grace, that you might live forever in Him by faith.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.

 

 

What God Has Joined Together: A Meditation on Mark 10 for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost

And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him,

Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.

And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?

And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.

And Jesus answered and said unto them,

For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;

 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

 

And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.

And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife,

and marry another, committeth adultery against her.

 And if a woman shall put away her husband,

and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

 

In our age of hyper-libertine sexuality, Jesus’ teaching in Mark 10 can seem shocking or quaint.  At the time of this exchange between the Pharisees and Jesus, women not only had limited authority to own property and conduct business, but could be summarily dismissed by their husband through a writ of divorce.  Pious keepers of the Law, the Pharisees challenged Jesus with this teaching which they thought they could hang on an exception in Moses’ writings, justifying themselves.  Jesus, in turn, took them back to the beginning, where Moses wrote of man and woman being made for each other, and their complimentary union blessed by God should not be dissolved by man.  Jesus went further, teaching that if man were to break this union (Matthew’s parallel recording of this teaching adds, for any reason other than sexual infidelity,) and attempt to re-marry, both he and his ex-wife would be guilty of adultery before God.  Since adultery is specifically enumerated among the 10 Commandments given at the covenant of Sinai (and keeping the word of one’s covenant before God listed as the second commandment,) to do so is a breach with both Moses’ teaching and God’s command—a double condemnation for the self-justifying Pharisees and their legal gymnastics.

 

This teaching is clear, and was universally accepted across most of the Church’s history until the early 20^th century when specifically Protestants in the West began following the Pharisees’ old gymnastics in the pursuit of unbounded sexual engagements.  Feeling themselves self-justified, many inside and outside the Church have freely entered and dissolved marriages whenever their interests changed, or life together became challenging.  Failure to keep the Word of God in regard to marriage has brought forth calamity in the societies of the West, scarring the souls of children and parents alike, until libertine sexuality of adults becomes a higher priority than the care of nurture of the next generation.  The deconstruction and devaluation of the family, the central bedrock institution of civilization from the dawn of man, has also brought forth the industrialized plague of infanticide under the guise of abortion, and the horror of children being trafficked for adult sexual gratification.  While modern man might tell himself that the covenant of marriage is nothing of significance, the destruction of his own civilization and the wounding of his own soul declares otherwise, and brings forth the curse of Sinai that whoever despises God and His Word will have judgment poured out upon both himself and his progeny.

 

God, however, looks at the human marriage covenant as a reflection of His saving covenant with mankind.  When God gives His Word, it is immutable—His promises and commandments stand forever as the very scaffolding of the cosmos.  God’s covenants, therefore, are indissoluble, just as He is the guarantor of what He’s promised.  Thus, if God says our decent into evil will bring upon us His judgement, He is good and righteous to declare it.  So, too, if He declares that everyone who repents and trusts in Him, abiding in His Word by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, will be forgiven of their sins and rescued from the hell they have earned, that Gospel is likewise unassailable.  When God made us His people by His Word and Spirit, He did not enter into covenant with us as one who takes his word lightly, nor whose commitment might flag with future disinterest.  Unlike the travesty modern man has made of the wedding covenant between husband and wife, God promises to be wed to His people of faith and repentance in every generation, no matter where they come from or what their condition in life, bringing forth to them the blessing of Sinai by manifesting His steadfast love and compassion upon all who trust in Him.

 

The situation of modern man is not so far removed from the Pharisees of 1^st century Judea, nor of various pagan societies and ages where the Church first brought the light of God’s Word to bear upon their darkness.  While there will be some who reject the Word of God and bring destruction upon themselves and their families, the Word of God does not come to destroy, but that all might have life abundantly in Him.  Our choice before the Word of God is always the same, with God calling everyone to repent, believe, and live by grace through faith in His saving Gospel.  For there is only one God to whom all men are accountable, and through whom all men might be saved, so that there might be one Word Incarnate who has defeated death, hell, and the devil through His one Vicarious Atonement for the sins of the whole world.  The People of God become the Bride of Jesus Christ, prepared for that great wedding feast yet to come, when the fullness of His People have been called into His great and never-ending covenant of grace.  The Promise of God to save everyone who turns to him in faith is not a covenant He makes lightly, nor one He will ever rescind, for the Word of the Lord endures forever.

 

Take heart, dear Christian, however the Word of the Lord has encountered you today.  For it is not the Lord’s will to destroy you in your sin, but to save you by His love and grace in Jesus Christ alone.  Let go the self-justification of your evil desires whatever they may be, and receive the Word of redemption which calls you out of your darkness, and into His marvelous Light.  Hear the Word which comes to you by the power of His Holy Spirit, that each day you might be raised up into the image of your Savior, conformed evermore into the glory of His Word and Will, forgiven and free in Jesus Christ alone—for His covenant never fails.  Soli Deo Gloria! Amen.

Servants of God: A Meditation on Daniel 12 and Matthew 18, for the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels

 

And at that time shall Michael stand up,

the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:

 and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was

since there was a nation even to that same time:

 

and at that time thy people shall be delivered,

every one that shall be found written in the book.

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,

some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament;

and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

 

One of the more ancient Christian festivals on her ecclesiastical calendar is Michaelmas, or the Feast of St. Michael.  Later ages would come to celebrate and reflect upon all the Holy Angels on this feast day, contemplating what the Scriptures teach the world about the angelic servants of God.  In our day, where modernity often shuns the spiritual realities of both angels and demons, the spiritual essence of mankind, and increasingly of God himself, it is worth taking some time to understand the reality of the world in which we live.  As even modern Physics reveals, there is much more about the universe that cannot be seen, than can be, echoing the opening confession of the Nicene Creed where we declare our faith in a God who has created all things—seen and unseen.

 

What are Angels?  In the strict sense, angels are purely spiritual creatures, made by God for their specific service and work, and given particular powers according to their callings.  There is some theological speculation regarding when the angels were created (either before the creation of the earth and material universe, during, or after that creation,) but regardless of when they were created, it is clear that they were.  They appear early in the story of mankind, rejoicing with God in the creation.  There is also a distinction between angels who remain faithful to God, and those who do not—as evidenced by the work of the devil in our first parent’s temptation (a rebellious angel who we later learn is named Lucifer or Satan,) and a warrior angel with a flaming sword sent to guard the way to the Tree of Life after man’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden (a holy angel, fulfilling God’s will to prevent man from living forever in his fallen state, without hope of redemption).  In this we learn that the angels are powerful, intelligent, ancient spirits, either fulfilling their created purpose as servants of the Living God, or corrupted in their wickedness by rebellion against God.  Elsewhere throughout the Scriptures, as in Revelation 12, we learn that they are many in number; though the multitude of their total is not revealed, it is indicated that roughly one third of the angels followed Lucifer in rebellion against God.

 

What do the Angels do?  Often, though the angels are only rarely named, their work is indicated by their names and what they say or do in Scripture.  St. Michael the Archangel is captain of the heavenly armies, defender of God’s people (the Jewish people of the Old Covenant, and the Christian people of the New Covenant,) and the one who cast down the devil out of heaven when Jesus’ victory over sin, death, hell, and the devil were accomplished via His Vicarious Atonement on His Cross.  St. Gabriel the Archangel is known for his annunciations of God’s Word to Daniel in the Old Testament, as well as to the parents of St. John the Baptist, and to Mary the Mother of Jesus in the New Testament.  St. Raphael the Archangel is recorded in the deuterocanonical book of Tobit, and connected with the healing of Tobit’s son, and driving away a demon who tormented his son’s future wife.  Both in Tobit and in Revelation, there are references to seven chief or Archangels who stand before the throne of God, but only three are named in Scripture (other ecclesiastical writings have offered names of the remaining four, but these are sometime contradictory and hard to nail down.)  Jesus, in our Gospel reading for today in Matthew 18, notes that some angels are guardians for people, especially children—cementing the warning Jesus gave about trying to harm a child in any way.  It is clear from Scripture that the Holy Angels do the will of God according to their callings, and that the demons work against that will, even though they are ultimate constrained by God’s will and providence.

 

Ultimately, what the Holy Angels do in the service of God, is help people to know and be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.  As evidenced across history and Scripture, they do not seek their own glory, and most often are completely unknown to people in this world, even as their work can be quite harrowing, doing battle in our defense against the evil angels who roam throughout the world, seeking souls to deceive and devour.  This means that everyone who is reconciled to God, baptized into Jesus Christ and living by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, is also befriended and aided by all the Holy Angels.  Those angels are not our saviors, but they are our fellow servants according to their created order and callings, so that we become members of the same Kingdom of God by the saving work of Jesus.  The Holy Angels live forever in the love and service of God, just as every redeemed soul of man shall live forever in His grace, and together we will sing of His wonders and love unto ages of ages without end.  The demons, and human souls who partner with them, will eventually be cast into the fiery prison of hell by those same Holy Angels, when the final trumpet of God sounds, and the return of Jesus to judge the living and the dead is complete.  Yet until then, the Holy Angels are our mostly unseen encouragers, guardians, and defenders, fellow workers in God’s Kingdom whom we shall see someday when the Lord of Glory calls us home.

 

While we wrestle not against flesh and blood in this world, but against the spiritual powers of darkness in high and low places, we do not wrestle alone—for the victory of Jesus Christ over every dark power is accomplished through His life, death, and resurrection, and His Kingdom shall have no end.  In that Kingdom we serve alongside every other creature who enjoys the friendship, providence, and grace of Almighty God, including the Holy Angels whom God has sent to draw us closer to Himself through His Word and Spirit.  Give thanks, O saints of God, for the gift of salvation which comes to us by Christ alone, in faith alone, and by grace alone—and that we do not strive nor serve our God alone, but in the marvelous and unmatched company all His holy saints and angels.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.

Two Voices Calling: A Meditation on Proverbs 9 and John 6, for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost

Wisdom hath builded her house,

she hath hewn out her seven pillars:

She hath killed her beasts;

 she hath mingled her wine;

 she hath also furnished her table.

She hath sent forth her maidens:

she crieth upon the highest places of the city,

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither:

as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,

Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.

Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

 

 He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame:

and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.

Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee:

rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.

Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser:

teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom:

and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

 For by me thy days shall be multiplied,

and the years of thy life shall be increased.

If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself:

but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.

 

A foolish woman is clamorous:

she is simple, and knoweth nothing.

For she sitteth at the door of her house,

on a seat in the high places of the city,

To call passengers who go right on their ways:

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither:

and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,

Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

But he knoweth not that the dead are there;

and that her guests are in the depths of hell.

 

Solomon’s inspired wisdom anticipated and pointed forward to the words of Jesus 900 years later, when He taught His disciples and anyone who would listen, that:

 

I am the living bread which came down from heaven:

if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever:

and the bread that I will give is my flesh,

which I will give for the life of the world…

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing:

 the words that I speak unto you,

they are spirit, and they are life.

 

What Solomon observed is that there are always two voices calling to mankind, and their respective ends are always the same.  God calls to mankind by His Wisdom through His Word, having built the house of His Kingdom in perfect enduring stability (seven pillars), prepared the feast which would nourish everyone who partakes of it, set the table for dining, and called to everyone to enter into His eternal fellowship and life.  His Word and Wisdom call those who lack wisdom and knowledge to come and learn of Him, to be fed and nourished by Him, and thus enlivened to go forth in the way of understanding, forsaking the path of the foolish.

 

Of course, this also means that there are other voices calling to mankind.  Solomon provided an example in the guise of a foolish and clamorous woman, whose lust and appetites she proclaims from the lofty parts of the city, enticing others to depart from virtue and consume her secret wares.  She also calls to the foolish and the simple, wooing others to a path of submission to their passions and vices, ending in death and destruction.  Though this voice is typified as an impure woman in contrast to the pure woman of Wisdom, the cacophony of voices calling man to destruction are really a dark symphony of vice.  All voices which call man away from God and the life He offers, are calling out from the same darkness and evil, with the same motive and end in mind for the men they call.  While God calls mankind to life, the voices of evil call mankind to slavery, death, and destruction.

 

Jesus spoke to the crowds all around Him about being the bread of life which would be given for the life of the world, and yet, many chose not to listen.  His Word went out with the power to convert every heart, but God still gives man the power to deny Him, and to turn away from life to death.  Like today, many who heard Jesus then turned back to the sultry voices of death rather than embrace the life of grace by faith and repentance He offered them.  Yet that is the curse of mankind, particularly those who think themselves wise, who ask presumptuously of the Word of God Incarnate, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?—or any number of variations on the theme of how God can grant the grace He promises.  Man still has the power to reject the King of the Universe in His offer of divine grace, but he cannot escape the King in His Law; man will either hear His voice and come to Him, forsaking foolishness that they might live, or they will follow the voices of the damned into the place of the damned, lost in the darkness forever.

 

Even so, God does not cease calling the world to Himself, nor in offering His true food and drink for the life of the world.  It is Jesus alone who could accomplish our salvation by His Cross, even when we thought it impossible—only Jesus who could call mankind out of slavery to sin, death, hell, and the devil, into the magnificence of His Kingdom through the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation offered freely by grace through faith in Him alone.  Even we simple and foolish mortals, consumed by our desires and so often lured into dark places by the siren songs of hell, are called today to the banquet of the King.  There is no hinderance placed before mankind to heed the call of His saving Wisdom, except the heart which prefers its own evil over the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and to suffer under the Law rather than to live liberated in the Gospel.  It is God’s good will that all might hear Him, repent, believe, and live, for God desires the death and destruction of no one.

 

Be of good cheer, all you who hear the voice of Wisdom in the Lord Jesus Christ:  for His house stands forever, and His banquet is never diminished!  There is no end to the mercies He pours out to you, withholding not even His own Body and Blood, that you might have food and drink indeed unto everlasting life.  Turn to Him, you who are simple of mind, who lack understanding, and as His disciples of old, He will fill you with the Words of eternal life.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.

 

Food that Endures: A Meditation on John 6, for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost

Jesus answered them and said,

Verily, verily, I say unto you,

Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles,

but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.

 Labour not for the meat which perisheth,

but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life,

 which the Son of man shall give unto you:

for him hath God the Father sealed.

 

In John 6, the crowd followed Jesus in pursuit of the miraculous bread He provided at the feeding of the 5,000.  While physical nourishment is necessary to sustain life in this world, and the working poor would have a reasonable desire for free bread, Jesus wanted to teach them something of much greater significance than a full belly.  While the food a person would eat today would leave them hungry tomorrow, the nourishment Jesus was offering didn’t work that way.  Instead, what Jesus wanted to give the crowd was greater than feeding the hungry, healing the sick, or even raising the dead:  it was eternal life.  Only Jesus could offer them nourishment for their souls, that even when they suffered or died in this world, their lives would be kept forever in Him.  Jesus knew that every material miracle and gift He provided to the people would eventually fade, and that no matter how many diseases He cured or bellies He filled, the greater need for mankind was to overcome death itself.  In this way Jesus would be for them the Bread of Heaven—that which nourished their souls with faith and repentance unto everlasting life, all for the sake of His sacrifice yet to come on the Cross.

 

Of course, the people then as the people today, often misunderstood Jesus.  While it is good to help people in their physical needs, and Jesus did this many times, His miracles were intended to point people toward faith in Him.  Across the thousands of years of the Church’s history, there have been countless miracles of all types and sorts, from healings of diseases, to rescues from foes, to victories in battle, to resurrections, and countless others in between.  Yet all the authentic miracles of the Church are not intended to shine light upon the Church or particular Christians, but rather to point people to Jesus.  When the Church celebrates the miracles of St. Peter and St. Paul recorded in the Book of Acts, or the miracles of Moses recorded in Exodus, or the miracles of Elijah and Elisha recorded in the Books of the Kings, none of those miracles are for the glory of the saints through whom they were conducted, but solely to guide people back to the saving God who sent them.  God’s perspective is eternal, while people tend to fixate on the moment—and in our fallen state, people tend to prefer the gifts that perish with the using, rather than the gifts which endure forever.

 

Take, for example, a person’s priority of physical food over spiritual food.  If I am hungry, I seek nourishment, and often something tasty that satisfies both my hunger and my desire for succulence.  And not only once do I do this, but multiple times a day, allowing my appetites and desires to make me gluttonous in my eating and drinking, and my waistline to show the results.  Even if I supposed myself to be in athletic training, my eating is disciplined toward a goal of performance and recovery, feeding my body with excesses to ensure strong muscles and bones.  But how often do I pursue the food that endures not to the next meal or the next competition, but unto eternal life?  How often do I feed my soul on the Word of Jesus, that I might be nourished in my inner self and prepared to see a life far beyond the few decades I will spend in this world?  In truth, I think it would hard to find any people who spend more time imbibing the Word of God, properly meditating upon it, seeking understanding from it, and resolving to let that Word conform the totality of daily life, than they do in pursuing physical food and drink.  But this is the condition of our fall—seeking to keep that which we cannot by means that will always fail us, while holding in low regard the eternal things which abide forever, and are given to us freely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

 

But the Good News is that Jesus knows what we need, and provides it for us anyway.  Jesus knew what the crowd around Him needed as they clamored for more bread, even as He knows what we need as we clamor for whatever our appetites impudently demand today.  Jesus’ resolute march to Calvary secured for us the forgiveness of our sins which satisfied the justice and wrath of our holy, omnipotent God.  His sacrifice in our place transferred our deadly punishment to Him, that He might give to us His eternal life reconciled to our Maker.  No longer exiled rebels destined for incarceration in the eternal fires of hell, we rise by grace through faith in Jesus with a life that can never be taken from us, in a kingdom that can never fade away.  Jesus is indeed the Bread which came down from Heaven that feeds His people, nourishes them, and sustains them every moment of every day, unto ages of ages without end.  The Word of the Lord endures forever, as do those who abide in it by faith.  All these good gifts Jesus won for us while we were yet sinners, still rebels and enemies of God in our blasphemy and disbelief, so that His Word and Spirit might transform and enliven us forever.  Even when we prefer tacos and tequila, He still brings us His Body and His Blood, that even though we die, we will live.

 

Let go your gratuitous appetites which war against your soul and clutter your mind, so that it may be filled with the good things of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.  Listen to Him by hearing and abiding in His Word, learning of Him, and following Him as the Holy Spirit takes hold of your soul and begins to transform it into a reflection of His glory.  God knows what we have need of in this mortal life, and He provides for our needs out of His good and gracious care, even using His people to care for the physical needs of their neighbors.  Yet the true Bread, the true riches, the most profound gifts of grace and mercy and life come only by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.  May the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, and nourish you in His grace forever.  Soli Deo Gloria—amen.

 

The Message Worth the Danger: A Meditation on Mark 6, for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost

But when Herod heard thereof, he said,

It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.

For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John,

and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake,

his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her.

For John had said unto Herod,

It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.

 

Bearing witness to the Word of God is, and has always been, a dangerous business.  In Mark 6, after reports of the miracles of Jesus spread throughout Judea, King Herod decided in his anxiety that it was John the Baptist come back from the dead—a prophet whom he had arrested and executed for having spoken the Law to him.  King Herod used his power as king to take his brother’s wife, who seemed all too happy to be taken into the royal palace.  The Law of Moses declared this illicit arrangement adultery, and John told the king so… which immediately made him an enemy of the court.  After a drunken bacchanalia, Herod was constrained by an oath to execute John and give his head to his adulterous wife, at the request of her profligate daughter.  While John the Baptist had no political, economic, or social power to stop Herod and Herodias from their wicked union, the mere declaration of their evil was enough to inspire the adulterers to become murderers, as well.  Such has been the fate of many bearers of the Word of God, from the Old Testament Prophets to the New Testament Apostles, and those who have followed in their train ever since.

 

One might pause to consider why bearing the Word of God should be so hazardous.  Bearing the words of Plato or Aristotle are not generally perceived as dangerous, though Socrates was apparently martyred simply for speaking the truth and asking hard questions of those in power.  Nor are there many martyrs across history who speak the words of Machiavelli, Isaac Newton, or Albert Einstein.  It is true that certain teachers have been persecuted across the centuries at one time or another, while also persecuting others when they could—such as the purveyors of lies, slander, and calumny, when the targets of their mischief respond with violence.  However, there is a peculiarity to the persecution of God’s Word in the world that stretches back well over 4,000 years, and even to the dawn of creation itself.  While the Word of God brought forth the cosmos and all the laws which govern its majestic symphony from the subatomic level to the expanses of the furthest galaxies, the agents of chaos seem always predisposed to rebellion against the Creator’s order.  So it was that the devil tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden, and has wooed the corrupted minds of men toward evil ever since.  Wherever the Word of God met the rebels against His Word and His Will, there conflict emerged, often resulting in bloodshed.

 

It doesn’t take long to test this theory in modern times, when the Ten Commandments are applied to any number of popular sins.  Take idolatry, for example, and God’s command to have no other gods before Him:  does anyone doubt that one standing up in our pluralistic society and declaring that it is a grave sin and fundamental evil to abide the worship of any other god in our society, might be met with violence?  Under the Constitution of the United States, no citizen has the power to stop anyone else from worshiping anything or anyone they please, but the mere affirmation that the worship of Allah, or Vishnu, or any other entity (either fanciful or real) is evil, will garner tremendous anger by those who reject the First Commandment.  So, too, would a person be persecuted if they condemned extramarital sex, or any other sexual aberration outside the union of one man and one woman for life.  Honoring your father and mother is a direct command of God, but a command people often feel free to ignore—and get quite irate when told they are committing a great evil to do so.  So also the keeping of one’s oath before God (taking the Lord’s Name in vain,) keeping the Sabbath Day holy, not bearing false witness against one’s neighbor, not stealing, or murdering children, or coveting what belongs to one’s neighbor.  Those who rebel against the Word of God seem hell bent on silencing such messengers by force if they can, even when those who speak that Word bear only the power of persuasion, with no power or intention to coerce anyone.

 

Yet it is the violence and persecution toward the Gospel which reveal its desperate need in our world, and the worthiness of our sacrifice to bear it.  The world, left to itself under the sway of the evil one, will always be at war with God until they find themselves immersed in the eternal flames of hell, imprisoned forever with every foul and rebellious soul of men and demons.  The only hope of men in such a world is the Word and Spirit of the Living God come to save them:  a Word Incarnate who took their penalties upon Himself, and rising with healing for all in His wings.  The Law of God reveals the holiness we have fallen so far from, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ reveals the depths of God’s love and sacrifice to rescue and restore every soul that will repent and believe in Him.  The hope of every soul who has ever walked upon this globe, and for all who are yet to come, is the good news that everyone who repents and believes will be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  Such faith must always come by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God:  so the Church sends forth servants of the Word, just as the Eternal Word once sent forth Prophets and Apostles to proclaim the way of life to the people.  Those who have been born from above by Water and Spirit, washed in the Word of God’s Law and Gospel, raised up in the image of their Savior, are sent as witnesses of that saving Word to a world of souls who need that saving Word just as badly as they do.

 

And of course, those who carry the Word of the Savior into a dark world might find themselves persecuted, tortured, or killed for that witness, but we know that our lives are secure forever in the God who saves us.  Regardless of how God determines the time and place of our homecoming, each of His children in this world go forth bearing the Word which gave them life, so that others might hear that same Word, and live forever by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  Take courage, dear Christian, for Christ as conquered not only the world to which you are sent to bear witness, but the sin, death, hell, and devil which can never touch you again.  You are children of the King, heirs of eternity in His Kingdom, and servants of the Eternal Word which is the Alpha and Omega of all creation.  Go forth in the power and confidence of the King who saves and send you, for you have been given the Word of Eternal Life.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.

Who Is This? A Meditation on Mark 4 and Job 38, for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost

And the same day, when the even was come,

he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.

And when they had sent away the multitude,

 they took him even as he was in the ship.

And there were also with him other little ships.

 And there arose a great storm of wind,

and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow:

and they awake him, and say unto him,

Master, carest thou not that we perish?

And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still.

And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful?

 how is it that ye have no faith?

And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another,

What manner of man is this,

that even the wind and the sea obey him?

 

Mark’s fourth chapter invites the reader to contemplate with Jesus’ disciples one of the central questions of human existence:  who is Jesus?  Not only did Jesus teach His disciples deep and ancient wisdom wrapped up in parables, but He demonstrated His authority over all creation by silencing a boisterous sea with a word of command.  He was not at the mercy of Nature, nor demons or dark powers of any kind, nor the political machinations of the clever and powerful.  Jesus was, is, and always shall be the Eternally Begotten Son of God—the Word of the Father, through Whom all things were made, and to Whom all things shall one day give account.  The great fear of those disciples and others with them in the ship is reminiscent of Job’s encounter with God so many centuries before, where in his fallen humanity, Job finally came to grasp the immense glory and majesty of the King of all Creation, and in knowing God more fully began to understand both himself and his world more fully, as well.  Only in rightly answering the question, “Who is this?” in relation to God, can man eventually answer correctly the questions of, “Who am I?” in relation to himself, and “What is this?” in relation to the world.

 

It is a mark of fallen humanity that our minds are often obsessed with ourselves and what we can get out of the world, rather than be interested in the Creator of both us and the world around us.  The inclination to self-idolatry is strong, and is reflected in selfish ambition, desire, and concern for the self over the neighbor.  Where people strive against each other for personal advantage, they lean into their false conviction that they are the captains of their own ships, serving as their own gods, with their own appetites as the central focus of their lives.  A person who attempts to answer, “Who am I?” without first understanding who God is according to His own Word and revelation, will inevitably come to a wrong conclusion about who they are.  In our own age, this has flowered into various movements that unify a pursuit of hedonistic sexual pleasures with a definition of self identity—a twisting of humanity into a self-serving sexual animal that is defined by the passion being pursued.  But sexual pursuits transformed into personal identity are not the only foibles of modern man, as wrath, envy, pride, greed, and gluttony can result in the same kind of errors.  Man, apart from God, becomes a slave of his passions, so it should not surprise anyone that such willing slaves begin to identify themselves with their captors, and form associations with like-minded delusional deviants.

 

Of course, lies don’t make themselves true by practice, nor by the cacophony of many practitioners.  What lies do tend to accomplish, however, is the destruction of the minds, bodies, and souls of those who embrace them.  Is it any wonder that people consumed by the pursuit of lust, wrath, envy, pride, greed, and gluttony, or any other vice, tend to destroy themselves?  Suicide rates are astronomically high among those who falsely identify themselves with dark passions, as is drug abuse, violence, poverty, and misery.  When the devil leads a soul to define itself according to its passion rather than the Word of God, that soul may believe at first that they have found the ultimate autonomy and freedom, but what they soon find later is the utter debasement of their human dignity.  A soul without purpose or dignity beyond the pursuit of passion is a soul without hope beyond the next pleasurable fix… and those fixes of vice always seem to degrade over time, until the old pleasures lose their flavor.  Deeper and deeper into the vice a soul may plunge, until in darkness and despair, they abandon all hope of recovery.  This is the devil’s ploy rather than the Creator’s intent, but those who follow the devil will eventually find themselves chained and debased in the same darkness to which he is destined.

 

Yet in our confusion, delusion, and self-destruction, Jesus enters in with a Word that dispels evils of every type and kind.  Jesus invites us to know Him as He really is—the Lord God Almighty, full of grace and truth.  In knowing Jesus as our loving Savior we see rightly the Father as our loving Creator, and the Holy Spirit as our loving inspiration to a life of fullness and virtue.  In Jesus we see ourselves restored to the place from which we were fallen, back in communion with the One God who created us to enjoy His good fellowship according to our created order.  Jesus doesn’t just quiet the seas and storms to awe those who see Him, but to teach them that He really is God, the Eternal Word Incarnate, dwelling among men for their good.  In Jesus we see more clearly that God did not create man to torture or destroy him, but that man might have life, and have it abundantly in Him.  The love of God poured out in Jesus as He went to His Cross to save all mankind, rising the third day to declare victory over sin, death, hell, and the devil, is the final answer to, “Who is this?” that gives us also our answers to, “Who am I?” and, “What is this?”  In Jesus we find our hope, our reconciliation, our purpose, and our dignity, all because God has first loved us enough to create, save, and sustain us in His grace.

 

Hear the Word of the Lord as it pierces the darkness of our age with the truth of who God is, who we are, and what this cosmos is made to be.  We were not made for destruction, nor to be slaves of our passions in a false sense of self-worship.  Rather, we were made to be children of God, eternal citizens of His Kingdom which knows no end, enjoying fellowship with our Maker in a love that cannot be exhausted throughout all eternity.  We are who we are, because of who Jesus is, and our lives are given eternal dignity and glory in His service, as we are conformed day by day more in His image.  Let go the false gods and the lies of the evil one, to see the Truth which sets you free, and gives you life everlasting in joy and peace, all for Jesus’ sake.  Soli Deo Gloria—amen.