Behold, I Have Put My Words in Your Mouth: Jeremiah 1:4-10

Jeremiah 1:4-10 "4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 5 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.' 6 Then said I: 'Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.' 7 But the LORD said to me: Do not say, "I am a youth," For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,' says the LORD. 9 Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: 'Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. 10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.'"

The Old Testament reading for Septuagesima is from the Prophet Jeremiah. At first glance this Old Testament lesson doesn't seem to fit in with the Gospel of the day which the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. However, when one considers that the theme of this day is calling or invitation, we can see that this pericope fits, for it embodies the calling of a prophet, specifically Jeremiah.

We can also see in this calling the reluctance of Jeremiah, just like we saw in Moses, the first prophet. Apparently, the prophets didn't learn from Moses, on this point. However, we could take this to be humility on the part of Jeremiah. After all, true servants of God are humble, properly understanding their relationship to the One Who sends thems. This same reluctance is shown in the Gospel reading for today, where the Landowner, our Lord Jesus, asks the ones who are standing idle, why they are doing so. To which they reply, "Because we haven't been asked." And upon being asked they go.

In this calling of Jeremiah, we see how the Lord consecrates or ordains His servants to preach His holy Word. The first step is that He places His hands on Jeremiah's lips. This is also seen in the ordination of the Prophet Isaiah, only he has his lips touched with a lump of coal from the altar. Ouch! Of course this was done to purify the Prophet Isaiah's impure lips. The Prophet Jeremiah, however, only receives the Lord's fingers on his lips. This is done so that the Prophet Jeremiah, as is told to us, may receive the Word of God into his mouth. Now the Prophet can speak the Word of God, proclaim what the Lord God gives to Him to proclaim, and by it he will "root out and pull down, destroy and throw down, and build and plant."

Only two of these things are positive things, that is, building and planting. The rest are forms of destruction. Rooting out implies weeds, getting rid of all the things that prevent the plants from growing. Pulling down refers to the idols that the Israelites have set up in place of the Lord God, which the Prophet Jeremiah is to pull down, and destroy. Destroying and throwing down, are related to the pulling down, destroying the false idols, and throwing down the kingdom of sin that has been established because of the false worship of these idols. And so we see from the first four tasks of Jeremiah, that his may preaching will be against sin, death, and the devil, that is, preaching the Law. After this has been done, then Jeremiah may build and plant the vineyard of the Lord God through the preaching of the Gospel.

Therefore, we see in the preaching of the Prophet Jeremiah, given to him by the Lord God, the preaching of Law and Gospel. He is to both point out sin, and correct sin, through the preaching of the Law of God, especially to this hard-hearted, rebellious people. In order that, after they have been shown their sin, and confess their sin, then Jeremiah may build and plant faith in the people of Israel through the words of the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which proclaims that our sins are forgiven on account of the sacrifice of Christ.

Our Lord had appointed the Prophet Jeremiah for this task before he was even formed in the womb. Before he was born, he was sanctified for this purpose. That was His plan from eternity, but now, here in time, the Lord God, calls the Prophet Jeremiah to the task he was pre-ordained to fulfill. Our Lord still calls men to be His prophets, that is, to proclaim His Law and Gospel, to this rebellious, and hard-hearted people. These men are called to call sinners to repentance, and tear down the false idols that people trust in instead of the Lord God, so that they might repent and hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is to these men that we must listen, for what they speak is the Word of God, and not the man's word. Let us open our ears to hear the holy Word spoken from the lips of those whose mouths are full of the promises of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we might be called by God through them, to work in the vineyard of the Landowner.

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

They Drank of That Spiritual Rock That Followed Them, And That Rock Was Christ: 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5

1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5 "9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

10:1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness."

Today the Church begins a new season. This season is known as Pre-Lent. It is sometimes referred to as "gesimatide." This refers to the names of these three Sunday that link Epiphany and Lent, which are called, Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima. These three Sundays are so named because of their relation to how far Easter is, that is, about seventy days, sixy days, and fifty days, respectively. This particular season is preparation for Lent. Historically this was the time when the people of God would prepare for Lent by getting rid of the things in their cupboards that would not be allowed in during the fast of Lent. These were either eaten, or donated to those who were in need. The penitential season of Lent needed a transitional stage, one that slowly directed ones eyes away from the joy and revelry of Christmas and Epiphany, which revealed our Lord and Savior Jesus as God who was born in the flesh of man for our salvation, towards the reflection upon our own sinfulness, which lead to our Lord's incarnation.

This preparatory season, or transitional season, has always been marked by three themes, one for each Sunday, invitation, instruction, and enlightenment. We see this first theme, invitation, in the Epistle appointed for Septuagesima, where the Blessed Apostle, St. Paul invites us to prepare for a race. It is clear that the Church which has framed the historic lectionary, had in mind when they appointed this Epistle for this day in the Church, the preparation for Lent, that is, the race that is being referred to is the season of fasting, alms, and prayer and study of God's Word, i.e., Lent.

Those who are in training for a race, or those who are athletes, like football players, hockey players, and the like, hold themselves to a certain diet. This is what it means to be temperate. It means to limit the amount of food, or some other form of limitation which would prevent them from performing well in the game. They exercise, and train their muscles to endure the rigors of the athletic event. They study the game, and their opponent, or the race course that is set out before them. They do all this in order that they may win the prize. St. Paul uses here the illustration of the Isthmian games, which took place near Corinth. He points out that in these games there is only one winner.

Not so, in the Christian Church, everyone who prepares themselves for the race, will inherit the imperishable Crown of Life. However, the Christian life is a life of temperance, that is, limitation. This is why the Church fasts at certain times, and on certain days during the Church year. So that it might learn temperance, that is, to live without all the trappings of life. When we learn temperance, when we learn to be content in whatever situation we are in, several things happen.

One, we learn to be humble. Part of humility is contentment, that is, not having to be the biggest, and best, or most famous person on the planet earth, but being content with who we are, and the situation we are in. Two, we also become more ready to hear our Lord, for we are not constantly searching or requesting Him to do this or that, or perform some great and grand task, so that we might be given proof of His existence. Three, we become more generous, and this relates to what is commonly called "alms-giving." Alms come from the word for "mercy." And so, even though alms typically today refers to cash or monetary donations, alms is really about works of mercy, that is, doing for other people what needs to be done for them. When we are content with what we own, we are more willing to give to other people who are in need, because through the exercise of temperance, we have learned that we really need very little in this life, and what we do need, the Lord God will provide for us. Fourth, when we learn that we don't need all of the trappings of this world, we greatly reduce the amount of temptations to sin that affect our daily lives, since we will tend to listen to the Lord God, rather the world, and its lies. And this ultimately is what temperance does for us, is it teaches us to trust in our Lord and Savior, fully and completely.

This is why the Church fasts, why it runs the race set before it, so that it might learn to trust in our Lord God more completely, for in doing so, we win the Crown of Life. This race begins at Holy Baptism, as the Blessed Apostle, St. Paul, points out in regards to the people of Israel at the time of the Exodus.

They were all baptized "into Moses" in the cloud as they passed through the Red Sea. Since Moses, being the prefigurement of our Lord Jesus, is mentioned as the one into whom the Israelites were baptized, meaning they placed their trust solely into Moses, St. Paul is giving a picture of our baptism into Christ Jesus. Indeed they show their faith in Moses, and by extension in God, by eating the food which he supplied, and drinking the water which he supplied, and in so doing they revealed their faith in the promise of the Messiah, who was the True spiritual Rock, and that was our Lord Jesus Christ. However, St. Paul is making a different point. He is pointing out what happened to the Israelites, after their "baptism." They spent forty years in the wilderness, living from day to day, by God's grace, on the rations that were supplied to them.

It is this type of temperance, that the people of Israelites endured that made them trust in the Lord God more fully, and prepared them to enter into the land of Canaan, their promised homeland. We also practice temperance in this life, through fasting, prayer, and study of God's Word, so that we learn to trust in our Lord more fully, and we are prepared to enter into our eternal Canaan, our Heavenly home, where we will receive the Crown of Life.

And St. Paul points out one more thing. He is not telling the people of Corinth to do something that he doesn't do himself. For he also disciplines his body, and brings it into subjection. He also fasts, practices temperance, and does all the things listed above, for St. Paul has learned the value of these things, and he has learned how these things make him a stronger Christian, and increases his relationship with the Lord Jesus.

Therefore, today, St. Paul invites us to be temperant, to run the race that is set out before us, so that we may inherit the eternal Crown of Life. May the Lord grant us grace to receive this great gift, and may we learn the value of fasting, and put it into practice, so that we might learn temperance, and have our faith increased by this spiritual exercise.

God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

Israel Is My Son, My Firstborn: Exodus 4:1-31

Exodus 4:1-31: "1 Then Moses answered and said, 'But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, "The LORD has not appeared to you."' 2 So the LORD said to him, 'What is that in your hand?' He said, 'A rod.' 3 And He said, 'Cast it on the ground.' So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Reach out your hand and take it by the tail' (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), 5 'that they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.' 6 Furthermore the LORD said to him, 'Now put your hand in your bosom.' And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. 7 And He said, 'Put your hand in your bosom again.' So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh. 8 'Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign. 9 And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. And the water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.' 10 Then Moses said to the LORD, 'O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.' 11 So the LORD said to him, 'Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? 12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.' 13 But he said, 'O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.' 14 So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said: 'Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. 16 So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. 17 And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.' 18 So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, 'Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.' And Jethro said to Moses, 'Go in peace.' 19 And the LORD said to Moses in Midian, 'Go, return to Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead.' 20 Then Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand. 21 And the LORD said to Moses, 'When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD: 'Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.'"' 24 And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses' feet, and said, 'Surely you are a husband of blood to me!' 26 So He let him go. Then she said, 'You are a husband of blood!'--because of the circumcision. 27 And the LORD said to Aaron, 'Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.' So he went and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him. 28 So Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. 30 And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 So the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped."

Moses is a very reluctant preacher. So reluctant is he to do what the Lord God is sending him to do, that Moses makes the Lord angry. This anger comes after our Lord God gives Moses three signs that will prove that Moses talked to God, and the Moses was sent by God. In a sense these three signs are Moses' installation into the office of prophet. Moses is afterall the first prophet specifically sent by God to His people. Each of these signs imparts to Moses some divine power that will be useful to him in his calling as prophet. This especially makes sense when we consider that Moses has always been considered a type of Christ; he is a prefigurement of what the Messiah would be. Moses is both entrusted with the Word of God, that is, he is sent to proclaim it, like our Lord Jesus was. He is also given authority to work miracles, and in this sense he is like our Lord Jesus, who has all authority to work miracles so that by them He might lead His people out of the slavery of darkness and sin, just like Moses will use the miracles to lead the people of Israel out of the slavery of Egypt.

Each of these three signs that our Lord works through Moses in his calling, has some particular symbolism attached to it. Let us examine this. Look at the first sign, the turning of Moses shepherd staff into a serpent, and then back again. This staff is the emblem of Moses current vocation of shepherd, in putting down the staff on the ground, it symbolizes that he is putting off his old vocation. That the staff turned into a serpent represents the task that is before him, for the serpent represents the oppression put upon the people of Israel by Pharaoh. Even more than that it represents the serpent that deceived our first parents Adam and Eve. This serpant, represents the evil that exists in the world, and that is prevailing in Egypt. When Moses picks the serpent of the tail up, his former staff is now called, "the rod of God." This represents the power and authority that Moses receives from God to extinguish this serpent, that is, this evil, from ruling over the Israelite people. It also represents the fact that Moses is no longer a shepherd, at least in the sense of tending animals. He will now shepherd the people of God, by proclaiming to them what their Lord God says to them, and by protecting them from the evil oppression of Pharaoh, by doing many signs and wonders that will lead them out of Egypt, so that they can meet with God.

The second sign, is the leprous hand, which happens when Moses puts in hand in his bosom, and is cleansed again, when he puts his hand back into his bosom. In the same way that the staff represented Moses calling, the leprous hand represents that which rules and directs the calling. The bosom, is where the heart is, and it is what drives men to do what they do. It is also what drives our Lord to do what He does. He loves us, just as He loves His people Israel, and desires to rescue them. The fact that Moses puts his hand to his breast, symbolizes that he will now have the care of these people at heart. We will see this in later chapters, when our Lord God would desire to destroy the entire Jewish nation because of their disobedience, but Moses is always pleading on their behalf. The people of Israel, will become for Moses, like a baby suckling at his mother's breasts, or like a shepherd that gathers a lamb into his arms, or David bore the reproach of all the nations in his breast, or our Lord Jesus, who desired to gather Jerusalem into his arms as a mother hen her chicks.

That the hand became leprous represents the condition of the people of Israel currently. They have been tainted and made leprous in their beliefs because of their living in Egypt, and their contact with the Egyptian nation. They lost among themselves what it means to serve the One True God, and have been influenced in their beliefs by the Egyptians. It also represents their current servitude and oppression in the land of Egypt. That the hand when put back into Moses bosom came out clean and whole, symbolizes that God will purify the people of Israel, through the work of Moses, so that they learn to love Him as their God alone again. It also represents the fact that the Israelite nation will be freed from the slavery that they are enduring in Egypt currently.

The third sign is the changng of the water of the Nile into blood. This is reminiscent of our Lord Jesus' first miracle where He turned water into wine. This sign represents the authority given to Moses to destroy the gods of the Egyptians. For the Nile River was considered by the Egyptians to be the source of all life, since from it animals, land and humans were nourished by it, and were in essence given life. If Moses had power over the waters of the Nile, then he would have power over all the false gods of the Egyptians. And this would serve as a comfort to the people of Israel, for they would know that their Lord God would deliver them. These signs served as a testimony to this fact. And we shall see that from these plagues, these signs and wonders done by God through Moses, that the Israelite people would grow in faith and trust in God, and the Egyptians, especially Pharaoh, would grow in hatred toward God.

And this is why our Lord God gives us signs and wonders, so that we may have a testimony of His presence among us. This is why He doesn't just leave us with His Word, even though this in itself has power enough of itself, to free us from the bondage of sin and death. But our Lord Jesus, gives us signs and testimonies of water, bread and wine, so that we may see, taste, and feel that our Lord Jesus truly does forgive us of our sins. Through these means He graciously invites us to be His people. He calls us out of the bondage of slavery and oppression of sin and death, to be His people by these signs and wonders.

That Moses bawked at the signs and wonders, and reveals his unwillingness to do what the Lord God is calling him to do, draws the Lord God's anger. For Moses shows his unbelief. The Lord has the same anger at us, when we despise, neglect, or defile these holy signs which He has given to us by making them into something they are not. Such as, saying that they are a work of man, or that they only are symbols, and that they are not true works of God. Sadly, this happens more than it should, for people are always trying to make salvation their own thing, and not God's work. They would prefer to receive the gifts of Him on their own terms, and not on His.

Moses may have angered the Lord God, but He shows His grace, in that He allows Aaron, Moses' brother, to be the spokesman for him. Aaron would be the voice of Moses, and Moses would be the God of Aaron. This shows the relationship of the Lord God to the prophets, for the Lord God gives them the very words to say, just like Moses would tell Aaron what to say, and the prophets say what the Lord God says, just as Aaron would say what Moses told him to say. Today, the ministers of God, also say what the Lord God has given them to say, and they learned what to say from the Apostles, who learned what to say from our Lord Jesus, Who says what the Father has given Him to say. So, we see from this that our Lord speaks through the men of God, whom He sends. Those whom He has not sent, do not say what He says, instead they say what the itching ears of mankind want to hear: platitudes, a laundry list of good works to do, in order to be saved, political rhetoric, and the like, but none of it is what our Lord God wants his ministers to say.

Therefore, we must heed the signs that our Lord God has given us. We must listen to the men of God whom He has given us. So that through these signs, given out by these men, we might be led out of the bondage and oppression of slavery to sin and death, and might live in the freedom of forgiveness, life, and salvation.

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

Tell Them What Great Things the Lord Has Done For You: St. Mark 5:1-20

St. Mark 5:1-20: "1 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, 'What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.' 8 For He said to him, 'Come out of the man, unclean spirit!' 9 Then He asked him, 'What is your name?' And he answered, saying, 'My name is Legion; for we are many.' 10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. 11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, 'Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.' 13 And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea. 14 So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. 15 Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 16 And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. 17 Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region. 18 And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. 19 However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, 'Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.' 20 And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled."

Today we have the fairly familiar narrative of our Lord Jesus casting out the group of demons called Legion. It is significant to point out the context of this pericope, for this narrative comes directly after our Lord calms the sea, wind and waves, where the disciples felt they were perishing, which this lectionary skips over. The calming of the sea is concluded by the disciples asking themselves and each other, "What manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" The answer to this question is supplied by the our Lord's enemy. For we are told by the Evangelist St. Mark that the demon Legion comes running up to Jesus and worships Him, calling Him exactly who He is, "Jesus, Son of the Most High God."

This is somewhat strange that His disciples do not know who or what He is, however, a group of demons know exactly who and what He is. But in this we see the intent of the framers of this lectionary, for they go straight from our Lord being accused of casting out demons by Beelzebub, to a demon, who states that he has nothing to do with our Lord. "What have I to do with You?" From this we see clearly that devils do not want anything to do with our Lord Jesus, and we also see that He is definitely not in league with them, since He desires to send them all away.

We can also see the power of this particular group of demons, for no other demons converse with our Lord. This can simply be because there are many of them, and their is strength in numbers. But even this great many devils reveal their fear of our Lord, for they know that a final punishment awaits them in the eternal hell fire. This is actually shown us in St. Luke's Gospel where he uses the phrase "into the abyss" where St. Mark says, "out of the country." This statement is to be understood as the place of punishment and torment. And it shows that the devils are fully aware of their impending final judgment. It also shows the audacity of these demons, for in their pleading they lay claim to this region, as if they had a right to torment and persecute this land and region. Then, our Lord, in order to show to His disciples that this man is possessed by a number of devils, asks the devils their name.

This reveals our Lord's power and authority over demons and the powers of darkness. They have no authority, but our Lord has all authority. In this we also see that our Lord has come to destroy the powers of darkness, sin, death, and the devil. And He does it simply by His Word. We can take comfort then when His Word is spoken to us, both in preaching and through the means of grace, that His Word has power to forgiven our sins, to remove darkness and power of the devil within us. We can see this even more readily in the man's response, who is healed. Having been cleansed by our Lord, having heard His Word, and having been restored, he desires to join our Lord, and be with Him.

However, our Lord turns him down. This man is not chosen to be an apostle. He does not have this calling, and is forbidden by our Lord in this way. This shows us that not every person has a call to preach the Word of God. Our Lord says no to certain individuals and to certain genders, as we learn from St. Paul. And certainly, only twelve men were chosen to be apostles. And these apostles, only chose certain men to replace them, and carry on the task entrusted to them by our Lord. But this man is given a task, and that is to tell his friends. He is given the task to tell his friends what great things the Lord has done for him. This is the task that our Lord gives to all of us. This is not the same as preaching and administering the Sacraments which require a man who is rightly called and ordained. This is simply the conversation that one has with his friends and family after receiving the great gift of forgiveness from their Lord. This is how the early Church grew, by the faithful sharing with their friends and family the great things that the Lord did for them. And this is how the Church on earth will continue to grow today, by the faithful telling their friends to what the Lord has done for them, and inviting their friends to come to the Lord's house, so that they may hear and be cleansed of their sins and faults by the Lord through His holy means.

It is interesting also is that the demon-possessed individual, because of the devils inside him, dwelt among the tombs. This was done to lead the people of that region to falsely think that the dead became demons. This is really no different than today with those who falsely believe that the dead become angels, or walk among the living as spirits. One may say that this doesn't really matter, but it is a subtle trick and tool of the devil to lead people away from our Lord. For there are many people today, who on account of this teaching, falsely think that everybody goes to heaven. What that means, is that Satan is trying to convince people, and perhaps himself, that their is no hell; that there will be no final punishment; no everlasting torment, because people will just become spirits that walk the earth.

However, this pericope dispels that notion, by revealing the true wickedness of devils, and by extension shows how the Lord limits the power of the devils, and only allows them to tempt us to a certain point, so that by the temptation we might be led to our Lord, and cling to Him for our salvation. And also by the temptation strengthen us from further assaults of the devil. This is shown us by the swine. The demon Legion, begs our Lord Jesus to send them into the swine, and He obliges. Our Lord could have easily sent them away to the nether regions, the abyss, out of the country. But He instead chooses to show the disciples the true evil of the devils by allowing them to do to the swine as they wished. And possessing the swine, they immediately run off a cliff into the sea, killing and drowning the swine. We can see from this that if our Lord does not hold back and protect us from the attack of the devil, what the devil would desire to do to us, and the whole world. Satan would destroy us completely.

But our Lord Jesus is gracious and compassionate, and does not want any of us to be hurt. Therefore He preaches His holy Word to us, so that we might be strenghthened and renewed in faith and trust in Him. And having received these gifts we share what great things the Lord has done for us, inviting all who would listen to join us in the family of God.

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

The Angel of the LORD Appeared to Him in a Flame of Fire from the Midst of a Bush: Exodus 3:1-22

Exodus 3:1-22: "1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, 'I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.' 4 So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am.' 5 Then He said, 'Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.' 6 Moreover He said, ;I am the God of your father--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. 7 And the LORD said: 'I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.' 11 But Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?' 12 So He said, 'I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.' 13 Then Moses said to God, 'Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, "The God of your fathers has sent me to you," and they say to me, "What is His name?" what shall I say to them?' 14 And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And He said, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you."' 15 Moreover God said to Moses, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: "The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations." 16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, "The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, 'I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; 17 and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.'" 18 Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, "The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God." 19 But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. 20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. 22 But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.'"

Here we have the calling of Moses by our Lord God to bring His people out of Egypt. When our Lord calls to Moses from the fiery bush, He calls Him twice, "Moses, Moses." This reminds us of when Abraham was to sacrifice his son, and our Lord called his name twice, "Abraham, Abraham." Moses' response is the same as Abraham's response, "Here I am." We hear this response, or something similar, from various persons in the holy Scriptures: Isaiah, Samuel, the mother of our Lord, to name a few. This response is the response of faith. It is the response of the willing listener, who hears the voice of the Lord and heeds it; blocking out everything else to give the voice of our Lord God full attention.

Moses, too, is a willing listener. In fact even before this, he shows his faith by turning aside from the path that he was on to see the fiery bush. Upon doing so, our Lord instructs him to take off his shoes, and to come closer, but not too close. Here we see the grace of our Lord. For He invites Moses into His presence. However, on account of the uncleanness and sinfulness of Moses, he is only allowed to come so close. But there is a communal oneness that is shown in this invitation of our Lord to Moses. Our Lord invites Moses to be with Him and join with Him. And this relationship will last for the rest of Moses' earthly days.

There is symbolism also in the fiery bush itself, for bushes are different than trees. And trees show up in figurative language a lot in holy Scripture. Trees represent strength, and fortitude. The bush however, represents humility. This bush is a symbol of the oppression of the Israelites, who live lives of heavy toil. So, in a sense they are being burned up. But, just like the fire does not consume the bush, our Lord God preserves the Israelites in Egypt, so that they are not completely burned up by the oppression in Egypt. We can see in all this, that our Lord allows the oppression, so that they might be prepared for the rigors of life in the desert, which they will endure for forty years. The oppression also prompts them to cry out to the Lord God for salvation.

This is common still today, we cry out and pray to our God the most when we face oppression. Whether that oppression by because of our sin, our some sickness or illness, or because of some physical disability, or loneliness, or the oppression that comes from living in a world that either ignores God, or actively seeks to root Him out of the world, our prayers are greatest when we have struggle and turmoil. The same is true of the Israelites, their labor was hard, they were enslaved, and so they cry out to the Lord God. Here He gives us good news. He hears our cries. Just like He heard the cries of the Israelites. And after they have been prepared to meet Him, and see His wonders, and hear His Word, so that they would follow Him wherever He willed them to go, He comes to call His servant Moses to lead them out of misery and pain.

Our Lord sends us a Moses as well, to lead us out of the oppression that is caused by the slavery of sin, death and the devil. He sends us His ministers to bring us out of oppression through preaching and the Sacraments. Through these things, He purifies us, just as fire purifies, and opens our blind eyes of faith so that we might see Him through this dark world, just like fire produces light so that people can see.

We also see in this pericope the willingness of Moses to serve our Lord God. Moses, for certain, as we see in other parts of holy Scripture, will show his timidity and, one could argue, cowardess. But not here, we see the willing servant of the Lord, willing to do what He wants Him to do. Even when Moses questions our Lord by saying, "Who am I?", this is not meant as doubt. It is really no different than the Blessed Virgin Mary saying, "How shall this be?" Moses does not see what our Lord sees. Moses sees his sinfulness, and unworthyness, but our Lord sees the prophet who was born just for this purpose. Moses reveals his humility. And that is what truly makes a good servant of our Lord, is a humble servant of the Lord.

The humble servant will do what the Lord wills, because he believes Him to be his Lord and Savior. But, this is humility is not to be confused with timidity, or cowardness, for these are the signs of weakness and doubt, not the signs of strength and faith in our Lord. Moses certainly shows during his lifetime that he can be both humble, pleading the cause of the people of Israel to the Lord God who would wipe them off the face of the earth for their disobedience and faithlessness, and bold, defending the will of God, to a people who would rather go back to Egypt, than live in a desert.

Therefore, in the calling of Moses, we learn something about the men who the Lord God calls today to fill Moses' position. He calls those who, in the eyes of the world, are insignificant, just like Moses was an insignificant shepherd. He calls those who are humble, caring more for other people above themselves, desiring, like a shepherd, to lead the sheep beside quiet waters, so that our Lord might feed them with the pure milk of His holy Word. He also calls the bold, those who serve Him willing in the midst of trial and tribulation and persecution, because they fully believe that He is their God and Savior, and will do anything for Him.

May our Lord God grant and send you men of God like Moses who will defend you from the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh, and boldly preach to you all that our Lord God does for you, even when you may not want to hear the truth of His Word.

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

He Who Blasphemes Against the Holy Spirit Never Has Forgiveness: St. Mark 3:1-35

St. Mark 3:1-35: "1 And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand, 'Step forward.' 4 Then He said to them, 'Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?' But they kept silent. 5 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him. 7 But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him. 9 So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him. 10 For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him. 11 And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, 'You are the Son of God.' 12 But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known. 13 And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. 14 Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, 15 and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: 16 Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, 'Sons of Thunder'; 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; 19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house. 20 Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, 'He is out of His mind.' 22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, 'He has Beelzebub,' and, 'By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.' 23 So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: 'How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. 27 No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house. 28 Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation'--30 because they said, 'He has an unclean spirit.' 31 Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. 32 And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, 'Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.' 33 But He answered them, saying, 'Who is My mother, or My brothers?' 34 And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, 'Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.'"

This pericope spans several topics, however, we will concentrate on just one. The teaching that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is the unforgivable sin. Our Lord likens this sin to a battle; a house divided against itself. This can be pictured by reflecting upon a civil war. When a nation wars against itself the nation is torn apart, and is left desolate, on both sides of the war. We can see this from our own nation's past, where differing states from the North and South battled for political reasons. In this war more American soldiers were killed than in any other war in its history. The South was left demolished, and it took many years to rebuild it. In fact, after the war, it took many years for the nation to recover as a whole.

The point is that when a house is divided, nobody wins. It is impossible for good to triumph. The same is true about our Lord Jesus, if He is casting out demons by Beelzebub, as He is accused of, how can Satan stand. For Satan desires the destruction of the human race. He loves when the human race is divided against itself. Therefore, Satan, being evil, will not allow his demons to be cast out of people, for in so doing he is doing damage to himself. Therefore, he cannot win, if he is warring against himself.

Our Lord, however, shows how the devil is defeated, and in so doing, reveals that He is not in league with Satan, but is in fact His enemy. For He is the One Who binds the strong man, which is the devil, and plunders his house, that is, this world. Therefore our Lord destroys the devils abode, cleansing it and making it ready for His Word to be preached and taught to the whole world through His Apostles, who are named in this reading. Our Lord then goes on to say that the one who accuses Him of being in league with the devil, knowing that the things He does are from God, is committing an unforgiveable sin; Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.

This teaching of the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, has led to many misunderstandings about its meaning, and intention. With the assistance of the Early Fathers, we will attempt to clean up some of the mess of teachings.* 

Blasphemy against our Lord, although a very great sin, can be forgiven after repentance, for our Lord was born of a lowly birth, and lived as a man. However, blasphemy against God will not be forgiven. And since the work of the Holy Spirit is to increase the kingdom of God, which shows that He is God, blasphemy against Him will not be tolerated, in this world or the next. What that means is committing this sin warrants eternal damnation. This is a very grave sentence, and causes stern consternation among those of us who desire not to be guilty of such a sin.

But we can take comfort in the fact that this sin is tied to the parable of the strong man, and the division of a house, for only those who try to prevent or limit the work of the Holy Spirit, or make His work out to be something it is not, which in reality is just preventing and limiting His work, are guilty of this sin. Part of this preventing the work of the Holy Spirit, is impenitence. For the Holy Spirit's task is to forgive sins, which He does through the means of grace that our Lord Jesus instituted for our use, but those who refuse forgiveness, or those who do not believe that their actions, thoughts, and words are sinful, remain in impenitence, and therefore cannot be forgiven. This means they have blasphemed the Holy Ghost, and have condemned themselves to eternal damnation.

To carry this thought further, those who live in impenitence, have divided themselves against the Church, and by virtue of the unity of the Church with our Lord, that is, they are Bride and Bridegroom, or Husband and Wife, if they are not in unity with the Church, they are not in unity with our Lord. Again, a house divided against itself, cannot stand. Nor can the impenitent stand in the day of judgment, for they have divided themselves from our Lord. St. Ambrose** carries this idea further by stating that the heretics, like Arius, who divided the Holy Trinity, commit the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, for they divide the Church. Therefore, all those who cause divisions in the Church, by teaching false doctrine, (we are not talking about the divisions that are naturally caused because some hold to the Truth) are blaspheming against the Holy Ghost, for they are dividing the house against itself, and sadly they are leading men into their false teachings and ultimately to their eternal damnation.

This is why it is important to remain faithful to our Lord's teachings, using as our source and norm, holy Scripture, and checking our teachings and what our church body teaches against what holy Scripture teaches. We must also examine and know our enemy the devil, which includes knowing the false teachings that have popped up from generation to generation, to see that we do not make the same mistake those who followed those false teachers have done. We must also recognize, and act upon that recognition when our church body no longer follows the teachings of the historic, apostolic, and catholic (that is, universal) Church. We cannot remain in a church body that teaches falsely, and still expect to be in unity with our Lord. For a house divided against itself cannot stand.

It is especially sad when a church body is content to go with the status quo, and through inaction, refuses to check and re-check her doctrine, so that after many errors have crept in through apathy, people blindly follow these errors, neither knowing, nor caring about the truth. This why a church body must always be concerned about the doctrine that she upholds, and hold the ministers under her care accountable for the doctrines and practice. The same thing is true of ministers and their parishes, they have a duty and obligation to make sure that what their parishes preach and practice are in line with what our Lord taught, and what He instituted to be done in His Church. All this is done to promote true unity and fellowship. And where true unity and fellowship exist, there also exists love and trust among those who are united in doctrine and practice.

Our Lord is indeed abundant in His grace. And even in this pericope He does not accuse the scribes from Jerusalem of blasphemy, but rather warns them of the danger of this sin. This warning serves for us as well. It is an admonition to strive after truth and purity in preaching. It is an admonition to repentance, confessing our sins to our Heavenly Father. It is an admonition to beware of false teachers, who desire, as agents of the devil, to divide and spoil the Church of God on earth. And it is an admonition to unity and fellowship, boldly holding firm to the teachings of our Lord Jesus, which He passed down to us, through His holy Apostles. May our Lord Jesus ever keep you in the One True Faith.

God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

* What follows is a combination of the writings of St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine from the Catena Aurea of St. Thomas Aquinas.

** de Fide, i.1

So She Called His Name Moses: Exodus 2:1-25

Exodus 2:1-25: "1 And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. 2 So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank. 4 And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. 5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. 6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, 'This is one of the Hebrews' children.' 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, 'Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?' 8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, 'Go.' So the maiden went and called the child's mother. 9 Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, 'Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.' So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, 'Because I drew him out of the water.' 11 Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, 'Why are you striking your companion?' 14 Then he said, 'Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?' So Moses feared and said, 'Surely this thing is known!' 15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well. 16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water their father's flock. 17 Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. 18 When they came to Reuel their father, he said, 'How is it that you have come so soon today?' 19 And they said, 'An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.' 20 So he said to his daughters, 'And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.' 21 Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. 22 And she bore him a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said, 'I have been a stranger in a foreign land.' 23 Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them."

Today we get introduced to Moses. Therefore we have the narrative of how Moses came to be born, and how he came to be named and raised among the Egyptians. This chapter is contrasted with the first chapter, where Pharaoh was consumed with the extermination of the Jewish nation. In this chapter we are shown how God plans to deliver them from extermination. It begins with a man, a levite, who we learn from other sections of holy Scripture (later in Exodus, Numbers) that his name was Amram, a Kohathite, meaning he was descended from Kohath. He also married a descendant of Levi, one of Israel's sons, her name we learn from other places in holy Scripture is Jochebed.

We are told here about the birth of Moses, because he will become the vessel of God's deliverance of the Jews, but it should be pointed out that Moses is not the firstborn. Aaron was born before him, and in this chapter we also hear of Moses sister Miriam, who was not a little girl as is depicted in some movies, but was a young woman, since she is referred to as a "maiden," which commonly means young woman. It also referred to someone who was not married, and therefore would be a virgin, but that is another post. Aaron and Miriam, however, were born before the Pharaoh's edict from chapter one to drown all Hebrew baby boys in the River.

It is this edict that causes Moses mother, Jochebed, to hide him away from the Egyptians for the first three months of his life. It is when she can no longer hide him, that he ends up in the River, but not to be drowned, but to be saved. For he is saved from the waters by floating in a small ark. Moses is the new Noah. The one who saves his people by being saved in an ark.

The fact that Moses is drawn out of the water, which is what his name means "drawn out of the waters," also likens him to Noah. And in a certain sense is a picture of Holy Baptism, where the infant is drawn out of the waters, having received the Triune God's Name, and being saved from his sin. There is even theological meaning in Moses' name, for the one who was drawn out, will become the drawer out of the people of Israel.

Also it should be pointed out, contrary to popular movies supposedly portraying these events, that the princess of Egypt knew that Moses was a Hebrew boy, and in spite of the Pharaoh's edict (her own father) and on account of her compassion for the crying baby boy, she saves him. Moses grew up his whole life knowing he was a Hebrew, it wasn't some surprising shock years later, when he discovers a silly blanket. No thank you, Hollywood! In fact, because the sister of Moses, Miriam, follows the ark until the princess finds it, and tells her that she knows someone who can feed the child, the princess tells her to bring the person, who just happens to be his real mother. Therefore, Moses lived with his family until he was weaned, probably about two years old, and then went to live with the princess. And we can assume that the princess paid regular visits to the family of Moses to keep in touch with the lad. Not only that, but Moses mother, Jochebed, was paid to take care of her own child. Pretty sweet deal!

We also learn from other places in holy Scripture, that Moses was fully trained in all the knowledge of Egypt. This is saying something, for at that time, Egypt was the cultural epicenter of the world. It was the place where knowledge was it's greatest. And so, we see from this that our Lord God, uses the wisdom of the world to train his future servant, so that he might use the wisdom of God to thwart the wisdom of the world. Our Almighty Lord's hand is seen in all of this, from Moses birth, to his rescue, to his upbringing.

However, Moses is not perfect. He is a murderer, a sinner. Again, our Lord chooses men who according to the world's eyes are not worthy. But God's ways our not our ways. He uses the frail, the weak, the unworthy, in order to call all the other unworthy ones, so that He might make them worthy through His holy Word. And for the Israelites this man would become Moses, for he would deliver the people of God from Pharaoh.

There are a few things missing from this narrative that cause one to ponder: First, usually there was a prophecy concerning the baby who would perform great things. However, there is no prophecy of Moses, not of his birth, nor of the rescue of the Israelites. Second, we are not told how Moses was accepted into Pharaoh's home, when he clearly wanted the Hebrew boys killed. We can assume that since he continued to be raised in Pharaoh's home, that perhaps he took a liking to the boy, after all, it is said of him that he was a beautiful child. Third, we are not told how Moses maintained his faith in the One True God, in the midst of learning all the knowledge of Egypt. We are only shown that this is true in his murder of the Egyptian task master (representive of the enemies of God) and in his trying to break up a fight between two of his fellow Jews. We are told from St. Stephen's retelling of the narrative, that Moses was forty years old when this happened, so he wasn't young and impetuous, but had lived a fairly decent amount of time.

We see in these actions of Moses, his belief that he could be used by God to deliver the Israelite nation. However, his brothers did not understand it. It wasn't his time, another forty years would pass before that happened. But in this we can see our own and the world's stiff-neckedness. For God desires to deliver us, and sends us ministers to deliver us through His holy Word and Sacraments, but we and the world "understand it not." We do not see that the Lord desires us to be saved us through such simple means. Perhaps it's because we would rather be saved from sin and death, by more extraordinary means, but this is not how our Lord desires to save us.

Therefore we see our Lord's providence in sending the people of Israel a deliver, that is, Moses. God plans to rescue His people who are trapped in the bondage of slavery, and are oppressed by the enemy, Egypt. Our Lord delivers us from the bondage of slavery to sin, and frees us from the oppression of the enemy the devil. Just as Moses was drawn out of waters and saved, so too are we drawn out of the waters of Holy Baptism, and are saved from our sins. And through His holy Word, he keeps us in this salvation, unto life everlasting.

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

Son, Your Sins Are Forgiven You: St. Mark 2:1-28

St. Mark 2:1-28: "1 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. 2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. 3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. 4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you.' 6 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 'Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?' 8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, 'Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven you," or to say, "Arise, take up your bed and walk?" 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins'--He said to the paralytic, 11 'I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.' 12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, 'We never saw anything like this!' 13 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. 14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, 'Follow Me.' So he arose and followed Him. 15 Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, 'How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?' 17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.' 18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, 'Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?' 19 And Jesus said to them, 'Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.' 23 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to Him, 'Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?' 25 But He said to them, 'Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26 how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?' 27 And He said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.'"

In today's reading, our Lord is under constant attack. It seems everything that He does in today's reading from the Gospel of St. Mark is met with accusing questions. We can definitely see the hand of the devil in these questions. The devil seeks to lead men away from the truth, and therefore he plants doubt into men's hearts.

Our Lord is simply doing what the Messiah is supposed to do, heal the lame, preach, and give forgiveness to sinners. However, these are met with opposition. The first thing our Lord is accused of is blasphemy, which is what He is eventually accused of that led to His crucifixion. The Jews considered it blasphemy to forgive someone, for afterall, as the pericope points out, they believed only God could forgive sins. This proves one thing for us for certain, that our Lord Jesus is the Son of God; that He is the God/man incarnate who was promised from long ago, and has come into the world to redeem us. For those of us trained to see these things and believe, it is hard for us sometimes to grasp why the people in the Gospel doubt so much. But this is not an uncommon reaction when people come in contact with the mysteries of God.

The same can be said of the mysteries of today, of water, wine and bread, and word. Our Lord veils Himself in these things, yet we only see these physical elements, just like the Jews of our Lord's day only saw a man. How can water do such great things? How can bread and wine be the Body and Blood of our Lord? How can the proclamation of a guy dressed in a funny robe actually bring forgiveness? These things cannot be by themselves, but it is the Word of God attached to them that makes them these things.

The Jews only see Jesus. He is just a man, they assume. However, His Word, is the Word of God, and this man's sins are forgiven in Heaven, and they are forgiven on earth by our Lord. But our Lord, in order to show the crowds His true authority and reveal His divine nature, He heals the paralytic.

Now, there is a point that should be made here before moving on, and that is that when our Lord tells the paralytic to get up and go, we see His true divine power and nature. For let us view this from the paralytics standpoint. He has lost the ability to use his limbs, and therefore, he has lost his muscle memory. It is easy for us to move around; to get up and go, because we don't need to tell our muscles to react to the brain's impulses, as a matter of fact, we don't even consciously think about getting up to walk, or anything other activity that requires our arms and legs. Not so with the paralytic, he hasn't used them, and he has lost his muscle memory. We can be certain that he has tried many times to will his body to do what he wants it to do, but it just won't happen.

This is what makes this healing so full of awe, because when our Lord says, "Arise, take up your bed and walk," he immediately (and this is one of St. Mark's favorite words in his Gospel) gets up and walks. He doesn't have to think about it, he just does it. Not only that, but this man's limbs would have been useless because of atrophy from lack of use. Again, this does not come into play, for our Lord heals him completely in mind, body, and soul. To say it another way, our Lord has re-created him, restored him to his original self. And not just physically, but also spiritually, for he forgives him of his sins. Even his soul is re-created, that is, restored to its original nature, simply by our Lord speaking His Word.

This is what our Lord does for us when He speaks His Word into our ears, through water, wine and bread, and word. He re-creates us, He restores us to our original nature, removing from us the stain of sin and death, so that we may walk in His way. This re-creation, this restoration, is given to us in the holy means that our Lord has given us to use just for this purpose. And these holy means are found only in the house of God. Therefore, we have a need just like this paralytic, who had to be brought to our Lord Jesus in the house, and even when there was no room, he was let down through the roof. We have this need as well to be brought to where our Lord is giving out His holy Word, in the house of God. So that having been let down into the house, that is, upon humbling ourselves in His presence, we may rightly receive His holy gifts, and be healed of all of our sins.

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

The Children of Israel were Fruitful and Increased Abundantly: Exodus 1:1-22

Exodus 1:1-22: "1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). 6 And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. 7 But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. 8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, 'Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.' 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. 13 So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage--in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor. 15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; 16 and he said, 'When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.' 17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. 18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, 'Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?' 19 And the midwives said to Pharaoh, 'Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.' 20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. 21 And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them. 22 So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, 'Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.'"

God causes the descendants of Israel to increase and multiply so that they filled the whole land. This fulfills the promise that was made in the book of Moses, commonly called Genesis. A couple things should be pointed out, one, the names of the sons of Jacob are listed according to their mothers, from first born to last born. The sons of the two concubines are listed after these names. This is why Benjamin, even though the last overall born, is listed seventh in the list, and not twelfth. The second thing is that Joseph is not listed in the names of the twelve sons. There are a couple of reasons for this, one, he was already in Egypt and this list lists the names of the sons of Jacob who came with him into Egypt from Canaan. Second, Joseph's sons, as we learn from Genesis 47, supplanted Joseph as sons of Jacob. Therefore he is not listed among Jacob's sons.

It is from these sons, that Jacob, who was renamed Israel, is given by God an abundant family. The English doesn't quite capture the nuances of the Hebrew. To "increase abundantly" in the Hebrew means "swarmed." The idea portrayed in the word, is that the descendants of Israel were everywhere. This fruitful increase is a blessing of our Lord God. It is part of the blessing that God made upon all creation when He first created it, when He said, "Be fruitful and multiply." It should be pointed out, since the English language doesn't carry the full wait of what our Lord God is saying through Moses, that this increase of offspring was not just the normal increase that one would see from twelve families having children and their children having children and so forth. This increase was a super-abundant increase, meaning more offspring than was usual. This is why the word "swarm" is used in the Hebrew, for it brings to mind a swarm of bees or locusts or cockroaches. They had so many offspring they filled the whole land.

Well, this becomes a problem for a Pharaoh of a generation long after when Joseph lived. And so he enslaves them, so that they become too weary to fight back, or overthrow their oppression. But again we see our Lord God's abundant grace, for even in the midst of this slavery that basically works the Israelite nation to the bone, the people of Israel still increase abundantly in producing offspring. One has to wonder when they had the time or energy to produce this amount of offspring. It reminds one of the pastor who was a tireless work-aholic, but had a dozen children, and when asked when he found the time, he responded, "A little here, a little there."

Pharaoh it seems is at a loss, for he tries to slow down the producing of offspring by hard labor, but that doesn't work, so he tries another way. He goes to the midwives, who were in charge of assisting with labor of the Hebrew women, and tells them to kill the male children, so that they will eventually not be able to produce as many offspring. However, this also backfires on Pharaoh, for the midwives worshipped the One True God, and followed His commands rather than Pharaoh's and spared the male children. When this plan of Pharaoh's doesn't succeed, he puts the announcement out to all Egypt, that every male child shall be cast into the river. This sets us up for the birth of Moses and the Exodus of the people of God.

We see in this narrative, from a spiritual standpoint, the devil attacking the Church of God on earth. Pharaoh represents the devil, who seeks to destroy and kill the Church, however, our Lord God, despite the devil's best efforts, still increases His holy Christian Church on earth, giving it an abundant increase, so that it swarms over all the world. We can see this especially in the Church's history when it grew exponentially in the first few centuries despite the onslaught of the devil through martyrdom and persecution. The holy Christian Church grew into a great holy nation, through its twelve fathers, the holy Apostles.

We are a part of this family, this Church, and even though the devil still continues to make our lives burdensome and toilsome, so that we face the rigor of sin, death, and the devil, our Lord God still increases His holy Church on earth by granting us new sons and daughters through the birth of Holy Baptism. And someday, our Lord God, will lead us out of this world, this land of Egypt into the promised land of Canaan, that is, Heaven. A land flowing with the pure milk of His holy Word, and the honey of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

May the Lord God ever keep you in His grace.

God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

For This Purpose I Have Come Forth: St. Mark 1:16-45

St. Mark 1:16-45: "16 And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 Then Jesus said to them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.' 18 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. 19 When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. 20 And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him. 21 Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. 22 And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 saying, 'Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are--the Holy One of God!' 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, 'Be quiet, and come out of him!' 26 And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. 27 Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, 'What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.' 28 And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee. 29 Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once. 31 So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them. 32 At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him. 35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him. 37 When they found Him, they said to Him, 'Everyone is looking for You.' 38 But He said to them, 'Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth.' 39 And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons. 40 Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, 'If You are willing, You can make me clean.' 41 Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, 'I am willing; be cleansed.' 42 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43 And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, 44 and said to him, 'See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.' 45 However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction."

Today we leave the Gospel of St. Matthew, and begin reading through the Gospel of St. Mark. In this pericope we have a description of the early ministry of our Lord. This narrative takes place after the temptation of our Lord in the wilderness for 40 days and nights. Our Lord's first task is to call His disciples. These men He had already met shortly after His Baptism, and we can assume that these are the same disciples that are referred to in the Gospel of St. John, who accompanied Him to the wedding at Cana, which happened on the third day after His Baptism.

But our Lord leaves His disciples for awhile and endures the temptation of the devil, so that He might prepare Himself for His ministry. What is His ministry? For what reason did our Lord come? Our Lord tells us Himself, that He has come to preach to the lost and the sinners. He does this preaching in Galilee, which is Zebulun and Naphtali. These were the first kingdoms led away into exile by the Assyrians, when the Northern Kingdom fell. Therefore, our Lord begins His preaching where the darkness of sin is greatest. And, since His disciples are from Galilee, He chooses His first disciples from those who live in the land where the stain of sin and death is greatest. In other words, He chooses as His future vessels to proclaim His word, men who are familiar with sin. St. Peter, who is called Simon in this Gospel, even confesses that He is a sinful, and thereby unworthy man, in another Gospel.

However, our Lord does not consider the man's works, but the man's faith. These men were the first to witness His preaching and miracles, and they were the first to believe that He was the Son of God, the Messiah promised long ago. On account of these men's faith, they would make fine apostles. Indeed, we know that these men did become great apostles. St. James the Elder became the first apostle to suffer martyrdom. His brother outlived all the apostles and his words were the last words of the apostles left as a testimony to their posterity, hence the position of St. John's Gospel as the last, and his epistles and revelation as the close of the canon. St. Andrew would spread the Gospel to far away places, including Scotland and England, and the surrounding isles, and he would suffer the same punishment as our Lord, only on a cross saltire, that is, a cross shaped like an "X." St. Simon Peter would become the leader of the apostles, the man that the others looked to for wisdom and guidance. He would establish churches and Bishops in Alexandria and Rome, where he would also suffer the same fate as our Lord, only upside down, on account that he did not believe himself worthy to die as our Lord did.

These sinful men, who lived in a sinful land would become the preachers of our Lord. And they would be great preachers, for they knew what it meant to be forgiven of their many sins. St. Simon Peter, especially knew this for he denied our Lord three times. But having confessed and repented of his sin, he was forgiven by our Lord, so that he boldly proclaimed this forgivenness in spite of the fear of death.

Our Lord still calls feeble sinful men to proclaim forgiveness. There are some today who think erroneously that this should not be, that ministers of the word should be without sin, and certainly ministers should free from certain public sins, but no minister will be completely free from sin, as in no human being. And this is not a liability but an advantage, for a sinful preacher, knows how to preach about forgiveness. For he knows what it means to be forgiven by our Lord.

And so our Lord, calls these men to follow Him, so that they may be "fishers of men." Then our Lord goes and preaches in this land where sin was most prevalent. That this was so, is shown us by the existence of many demon-possessed individuals. It is clear that this land was solidly controlled by the devil and his demons. The devil had a strangle hold on this land, and our Lord goes directly to his stronghold, and binds him and silences him through His preaching and healing. Our Lord still does this for us today, placing His word where it is needed the most, in the hearts and minds of sinful man, so that He might by His preaching and Sacraments bind and silence the devil and his works, so that we might live in faith and trust that our Lord has forgiveness of our sins, and has destroyed the devil and his works in our midst.

May the Lord give you grace and peace in the knowledge that by His preaching through the voice of a sinful man, who preaches our Lord's forgiveness, your sins are forgiven not only on earth, but also in Heaven.

God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

And He Blessed Joseph: Genesis 48:1-22

Genesis 48:1-22: "1 Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, 'Indeed your father is sick;' and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 And Jacob was told, 'Look, your son Joseph is coming to you;' and Israel strengthened himself and sat up on the bed. 3 Then Jacob said to Joseph: 'God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, 4 and said to me, "Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession." 5 And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. 6 Your offspring whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. 7 But as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).' 8 Then Israel saw Joseph's sons, and said, 'Who are these?' 9 And Joseph said to his father, 'They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place.' And he said, 'Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.' 10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them. 11 And Israel said to Joseph, 'I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has also shown me your offspring!' 12 So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth. 13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near him. 14 Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. 15 And he blessed Joseph, and said: 'God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, 16 the Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; Let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.' 17 Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 18 And Joseph said to his father, 'Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.' 19 But his father refused and said, 'I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.' 20 So he blessed them that day, saying, 'By you Israel will bless, saying, "May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!" And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh. 21 Then Israel said to Joseph, 'Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. 22 Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.'"

Today, Jacob blesses Joseph his son. He does this by blessing Joseph's two sons, Ephraim, the younger, and Manasseh, the older. However, Jacob, who is also called Israel, blesses Joseph's sons in the same way that he was blessed, for Jacob also was the younger son, whom his mother helped to deceive his father, so that he might be blessed before Esau. This displeases Joseph, for he wanted his first born son to receive the greater blessing.

But God's ways are not our ways. The lesser becomes the greater. The greater becomes the lesser. Ephraim receives the greater blessing, his older brother, the lesser. But why? We come to this section, and think, "Why is Moses relating this narrative to us?" It's not simply to explain why Ephraim and Manasseh are counted among the twelve tribes of Israel, and Joseph is not. Although, this certainly explains why that is. And as a side note, we can see how much Jacob loved Joseph, for he gets a double portion of the inheritance of Jacob through his sons. But there is another reason for this narrative, and it has to do with prophecy.

Ephraim was a mountain country just north of Judah. When the two kingdoms split into Israel and Judah, Jereboam made his own altar in Shechem which is in Ephraim. Therefore, Ephraim became synonymous with the northern kingdom. It was really a by-word, much in the same way that Jews viewed Samaritans. But, Jacob, is here predicting that Ephraim will become a great nation, that is, the Northern kingdom. Ephraim means, "doubly fruitful." And it would seem that he became doubly fruitful in the possesion of the land of Israel, for not only did he have is own land and tribe, but his name was also used to refer to the Northern kingdom.

God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

How Often I Wanted to Gather Your Children Together: St. Matthew 23:1-39

St. Matthew 23:1-39: "1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: 'The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, "Rabbi, Rabbi." 8 But you, do not be called "Rabbi;" for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. 13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. 16 Woe to you, blind guides, who say, "Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it."17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 And, "Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it." 19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. 23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, "If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets." 31 Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!"'

Today is the festival of St. Titus, the Bishop. And although not specifically appointed for this festival, we get these instructions on how not to be a minister of God, through the wrong example of the Pharisees and scribes. It seems that our Lord has come to Jerusalem to pick a fight with the religious leaders; a fight He hopes to lose by being crucified for us.

The Pharisees and scribes embody the bad ministers of the world. What makes a bad minister? Two things, his preaching and his life. The bad minister preaches to keep things, that he himself does not keep. He preaches himself, and his good works. He prays long prayers, so that you may be impressed with him. He is only concerned about himself. In so doing, he bars the gates of Heaven, for no one can get in through his preaching because his preaching centers on himself and earthly things, and not on Heavenly things. We see these bad ministers all over the place, they are the ones to whom large crowds flock to, because people are easily deceived by subtle words, and earthly platitudes.

The bad ministers life is the same, it is concerned with only himself. All of his grand gestures, his giving, his lifestyle, his good works, are done so that people will think he is a great guy. He deceives and misleads others in the same path, so that they also are concerned about their appearance before other men. Giving grand shows of giving and good works, and other so-called religious activity so that every one will remark about how great a person and Christian they are. These men are sycophants, people pleasers, and even though they may throw out the occasional prop to our Lord Jesus, even this is only done for their own bellies.

Our Lord Jesus, calls these men, "hypocrites." We've come to know this word as meaning "someone who is not what he seems." In holy Scripture this typically refers to someone who pretends to be a member of the Church, but is really not. An "hypocrite" in every day Greek usage at the time of our Lord was an actor or stage performer. Someone pretending to be something other than he is. Therefore all actors are "hypocrites." They are playing a role, that is not who they really are; they are pretending to be someone else. The bad minister, the Pharisees and scribes, are also "hypocrites." They are pretending to be religious and men of God, but their hearts are from our Lord. They are not whom they seem to be.

So then, how does one identify the bad minister? This is determined by his preaching and life. What is he preaching, or more precisely who is he preaching, and how is he living? A good minister, or to say it more properly, a true minister of God, is selfless, he doesn't do things to curry favor with men, but preaches our Lord Jesus at all cost, he boldly proclaims the truth, even when doing so is not in his best interest. He gives of himself, not expecting something in return, especially praise, he does it simply because that is who he is. He is not putting on airs, he is not putting on a show, he is simply being who he is, that is, a man of God, called to proclaim the Lord Jesus, and the salvation that is found in Him alone. He doesn't preach salvation through works, but salvation in the Lord Jesus alone.

The true minister of God gathers the children of God together, and shelters them under his wing, protecting them from the wolf who wishes to devour and kill them. Our Lord in using this example is showing the self-sacrifice of the true minister of God. He will take on all punishment, in order to defend and protect the flock. Our Lord Jesus is the True Minister of God, for He lays down His life, so that the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh may be defeated, and we may live protected under His mighty wing. He bears the cross of sin and shame, so that we do not have to. He becomes the least so that we may be made the greatest. He does this all out of love for us, because that is who He is. He does not put on airs, He is not pretending to be somebody He is not. He is not just some actor dressed up to appear as the Christ. He is the True and Only Lord Christ, and salvation, life and forgiveness is found only in Him.

Our Lord desires to gather us, His children, under His wing as a mother hen. He has sent us His ministers, descendants of the disciples, like St. Titus, who are true ministers, who preach Christ crucified, because that is who they are, and they do not do it for earthly praise, but because they have the same heart that dwelt in our Lord, a heart that wishes to gather His children into the holy house of the Church, so that they may be fed and nourished and strengthened and protected against the assaults of the devil and the world.

May our Lord gather you under His mighty wing of the holy Christian Church, and feed and nourish you with His holy gifts of Word and Sacrament.

God be with you!

Deacon Dulas