I Will Raise Up For Them a Prophet Like You From Among Their Brethren: Deuteronomy 18:15-19

Deuteronomy 18:15-19: "15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, 16 according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.' 17 And the LORD said to me: 'What they have spoken is good. 18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.'"

Unlike this morning's reading from the Epistle for today, which did not appear to have anything in common with the Gospel reading. This evening's reading, appointed as the Old Testament reading for the Second Sunday after Epiphany, shows the theme of the Gospel rather clearly. This reading from the Book of Moses, commonly called Deuteronomy, relates the prophecy given through Moses to the people of Israel, that our Lord God would raise up from among their brethren a Prophet.

In the Gospel for today we heard of our Lord Jesus manifesting Himself as God by working His first miracle. In this He shows that He is the Propet that our Lord God promised to the Israelites. We are told that His disciples believed on Him, on account of the miracle at Cana.

Our Lord God tells us that this Prophet would speak all the Words that He gave to Him. And whoever does not listen to them, or heed them, payment will be required. This is a clear statement that only our Lord Christ is the True Messiah, and that salvation is found only in Him. Those who do not hear His Words, that is, believe on Him as did the disciples in today's Gospel, cannot have salvation. There is only one way to heaven, and that is through the True Prophet, our Lord and Savior Jesus.

The Old Testament prophets were called and sent to preach glad tidings. The glad tidings of our Lord God, specifically the glad tidings of the coming Messiah. Our Lord Jesus as Prophet does the same thing, He proclaims Himself and His work of salvation. In the Gospel from St. John 2, our Lord doesn't speak to proclaim Himself, but He does a work, a miracle to proclaim Himself as the Messiah.

In our Lord Jesus this prophecy recorded in the Book of Moses called Deuteronomy is fulfilled. He manifests Himself as this Prophet by performing a miracle. This is really just the first step in His work of salvation for mankind. From Cana He began to preach and teach about what He was to do, and who He was. His disciples who were with Him in Cana got to spend the next three years with Him hearing His Word, which was the Father's Word. They in turn carried that Word to the whole world, until it reached our ears. We have been given the proclamation of the True Prophet. We have been told about our Lord Jesus and the great things that He did for us.

And through the mouths of the prophets of today, who proclaim our Savior, we continue to hear what He has done, that He fulfilled the Law perfectly for us, and suffered and died in our place. We hear of how our Lord Jesus sent us the Holy Ghost to work through means to give us faith and eternal life, so that we might have peace and joy in Him. And we hear of all the good things that our Lord Jesus continues to do for us through His Word and Sacraments, and that on the Last Day, He will raise us up, along with all the dead, and we who believe on Him; who have heard and listened to His Word, will live with Him forever in heaven.

May God keep you in His holy Word, and strengthen you richly and daily with His Holy Spirit.

God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

Be of the Same Mind Toward One Another: Romans 12:6-16

Romans 12:6-16: "6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. 9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble."

This mornings reading which is the Epistle appointed for the Second Sunday after Epiphany, doesn't really seem to have anything to do with the Gospel reading for today, which is our Lord's first miracle, the changing of water into wine at the wedding at Cana.

There is something to be said about this, that is, that certain Epistles throughout the Church year are what they call "continua lectio." This is an ancestor of the ancient practice of reading the Scriptures continuously, the Bishop telling the Deacon when to stop reading. The Deacon would start up the next time where he left off. One can see this pattern when one looks at the list of Epistle reading for Epiphany, they are all from Romans 12 and 13 with only a few gaps in between. Hence, certain Epistles in the Church year were not meant to necessarily relate in theme to the Gospel, but instead were certain parts of Scripture that were read at certain times of the year.

However, the theme of the Gospel, that our Lord manifests Himself as God, can be seen in this Epistle. Our Lord Jesus is manifested through the saints who prophesy, minister, teach, exhort, give, lead, or show mercy. When the saints do these things, they show the love of our Lord, Who shows His love in the Gospel reading today, by not only providing for a need, but revealing Himself to His disciples that He is the Messiah, and foreshadowing the blessed Sacraments of baptism and communion.

Of course the Blessed Apostle, St. Paul qualifies his statement to the Church of Rome by saying that just doing these things, doesn't manifest our Lord, but rather, those who do these things without hypocrisy, that is to say, doing these things in faith; Believing that when these things are done, our Lord Jesus Christ is manifested to those who receive them in faith. This is similar to the Gospel reading for today, for those who saw the sign, done for the benefit of those at the wedding in Cana, manifested our Lord Jesus, and His disciples believed in Him. That is to say, they had faith that He was the Messiah.

This faith is really only fostered in unity. For where there is discord and strife, a roadblock to faith is put up, for people are so consumed with the discord that they lose sight of the thing that truly matters. However, it should be stated up front that unity does not come at the cost of the Word of God. True unity exists where people dwell together in the peace of like teaching. When there is unity in teaching and belief according to those teachings, there is a trust and bond that truly displays the love of our Lord Jesus Christ through us.

This is such an important point, that the Blessed Apostle, St. Paul, tells the Church at Rome to "be of the same mind toward one another." Or, in other words, be in unity in doctrine and practice. This is only accomplished through humility. Humility comes by submitting yourself to someone else. In the Church this is done by fellow ministers of the Word submitting themselves to examination of their doctrine, life, and practice by their other fellow ministers of the Word. This is only fostered by an enviroment of accountability, meaning, when your brother ministers challenge your doctrines or life or practice, that minister should listen to them, and humble himself before them., especially if that fellow minister of the Word be a Bishop, who has the care of the ministers under his authority.

Where this humility and accountability exists, love, trust, and peace exist. Our prayer is that the whole Church on Earth might experience this great gift of our Lord God.

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas