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