Welcome back to the Sunday Mass notes for 10-16-2016. This week we learn about what is called a “type of Christ” in the first reading and much about prayer in the Gospel reading. We begin this week’s study with a story from another Gospel passage that provides some important insights into faith and prayer that are relevant to the Gospel lesson.

Once upon a time there was a woman who enjoyed an abundant life with many friends and material blessings. Even the weather smiled on her as she lived in a region where it was nice most of the time.  This lady went to worship services every week and enjoyed fellowshipping with her friends from the community.  One of the things that she enjoyed most was shopping at the market near the largest and most beautiful lake in the country.  This person felt loved and accepted and was very thankful for all that God had granted to her. 

One day, things began to change.  This blessed woman started getting very weak and was troubled by a wound that no matter what she did just wouldn’t stop bleeding.  She went to the local doctor and when he couldn’t find a cure she spent more money and went to all of the doctors in the region.  However, no doctor was able to solve her chronic medical condition.  This was very troublesome for her because as time went by it became common knowledge around town that she was sick from this certain disease.  Because her faith community considered blood to be unclean those with whom she worshipped began to consider her unclean.  In fact, the leaders prohibited her from even entering the worship center until she could find a cure.  The people in her faith community wouldn’t help because remember, she was considered unclean.  She longed to go down to the market and buy the things that she used to.  To make matters worse she had spent so much on the doctors that she didn’t have much money left to buy food there anyway.  She had no one to turn to except God.  Every day she poured out her heart in prayer and begged Him to heal her.  Years passed yet she continued to slide deeper into despair.  

The situation for the women in the story was dire.  If we consider our own lives, how bad do things have to get before we pray?  What circumstances would have to arise in order for us to pray for others?  We shared the story because it helps set the stage for the Gospel lesson later in this week’s study.

The story of the woman with the incurable disease is found in the Bible in the Gospel of Saint Luke, Chapter 8. 

43 And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, 44 came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. 45 And Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched Me?” And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had gone out of Me.” 47 When the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him, and declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” (Luke 8:43-48 NASB)

The Bible says to pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17) regardless of the circumstances.  How hard do you think the woman in this story prayed for help?  Since she had nowhere else to turn it’s easy to imagine that she was very persistent in her calling upon God for help.  Certainly, God allowed these dire circumstances in the woman’s life in order to bring her to faith in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of her sins.  Perhaps the woman was always faithful to pray, even before she became afflicted with the disease. 

How bad do things have to get before we pray?  What about praying for the needs of others, how are we to sense that their needs are serious enough for us to pray for them? Regardless of the seriousness of the circumstances, God has called us not to wait until troubles come our way, but to be faithful and pray in order to obey.

Introduction to the First Reading:

The woman in Luke 8 was a person who turned to Jesus in faith.  Another great person of faith in the Bible was Moses.  The Scripture says that he, “chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season” (Hebrews 11:25).  Let’s move to the first reading to see an instance of how this godly man prevailed through a close walk with God in prayer.  The context was a battle with the Amelekites just after God’s provision of manna for food and water from a rock in the Wilderness of Sin, an appropriate title for the way the people had been behaving!  “Why now have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst” (v. 3)?  Did the Hebrew exiles really believe that God didn’t know that they needed water to drink and for their animals?

First Reading:

Exodus 17:8-13 NIV 8 The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.” 10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up– one on one side, one on the other– so that his hands remained steady till sunset. 13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

In the story Moses acted as what is known as a “type” of Christ. A “type” is a theological term for people, statements, or events prefiguring or superseded by antitypes.  In this case, Moses’ actions through praying with his staff and outstretched arms prefigured the antitype Jesus Christ, the one to whom people would eventually look to for their ultimate victory of sin and the devil.  During the battle the people were compelled to look to Moses for victory or face certain annihilation.  Moses was a type of Christ who acted as an intercessor between the people and God.  In Deuteronomy 18 Moses said, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him (v. 15, emphasis added).  Moses knew to whom this verse pointed, the future Savior that we know as Jesus.  Moses acted as God’s appointed leader for His chosen people during this tremendous time of trouble.  As long as the people of God looked to Moses with his outstretched arms calling out to God they were victorious in battle.  However, when they shifted their focus away from Moses (and God) the advantage moved to the enemy.  In the same way we must focus our attention upon God, both in prayer and through the dedication of our thoughts and actions.  Prayer and reading of the Bible are the two main ways in which we communicate with God.

Introduction to the Second Reading:

Moving onto the second reading for today we find some remarkable truths about the source and value of Scripture.  Understanding Scripture is important for us because the more we know the Bible, the better we understand God!  Prayer is about deepening our relationship with God.  Memorizing is also important because we don’t always have a Bible available at the times when we may need it.  Let’s read from Saint Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy.

Second Reading:

2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:2 NIV 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage– with great patience and careful instruction.

In the reading today Paul provided some foundational principles for living as a Christian.  He said that the source of Scripture was from God the Holy Spirit, the breath of God (v. 16a). He affirmed that salvation was through faith in Jesus (v. 15).  The result of learning the Scriptures was that they “are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (v.15), and “so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (17a).  Paul called believers to minister to people through the Word of God, whether it was convenient or inconvenient, and said to do so with “great patience and careful instruction” (4:2b).  Paul’s foundational teaching was very important to the church at this time because it revealed the great value of Scripture, something for which believers in the early church had to be willing to die.  

Introduction to the Gospel Reading:

Let’s move onto the Gospel lesson from Luke 18:1-8.  This is another in a series of parables and happened after Jesus’ return to Jerusalem from Samaria where he had healed a group of lepers that we discussed last week.  As you read, see if you can catch the rhetorical method Jesus used known as “arguing from lesser to greater.”

Gospel Reading:

Luke 18:1-8 NIV 1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Let us back up a bit and briefly look at how Jesus taught using parables.  His method for teaching through this genre was to provide a simple story in order to illustrate a significant spiritual truth.  We have to be careful to try to make a parable “walk on all fours.” Instead, our objective must be to search for the single intended meaning.  There may be multiple applications in our lives with the single meaning gleaned from the parable.  In this particular story, Jesus made it very easy for us in that he stated the spiritual meaning before he told the story.  “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (v.1).  Jesus call was to be persistent in prayer while waiting on God’s timing.  The theological application of this spiritual truth was that God is faithful by teaching us the necessity of prayer.  

Examine the parable more closely.  The story was about a widow who through her constant pleading finally convinced the “unjust judge” to agree to her request.  Widows were one of the lowest of people of all the social classes in the Bible.  God has commanded throughout the Scripture to care for people in this lowest of social classes, along with orphans and aliens (not people from Mars).  Jewish Law included many provision for widows including the right to glean crops from the corners of the field left un-harvested for this purpose.  The fact that someone with no social standing could convince a judge to rule in their favor provides evidence just how persistent this particular woman must have been!  Jesus didn’t mean that God was an unjust judge.  Instead he used a rhetorical method of arguing from lesser to greater.  Jesus used a very similar method in another parable in Matthew.  “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11 NIV).  What Jesus meant in Luke’s parable was that if the unjust judge was able to be swayed by the persistent pleading of someone from the lowest level of society, how much more would God delight to grant answers to our prayers as believers in Jesus and part of the family of God?  

A second but very important point arose indirectly from the parable, something that was often repeated in the Bible.  God not only called us to be persistent in prayer but also to wait for His timing.  Psalm 37:7 says, “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him.”  Psalm 27:14 said, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”  Paul said in Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Hebrews 4:16 said, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  Patience is essential in prayer, as only God knows the best timing to answer our requests!

What are some practical ways that we may improve our level of persistence in prayer?  Here are some methods that have worked for me, although they may not be suitable for everyone.  

1. Write your prayer requests down on a 3×5 card.  Carry this with you and as you find time pray throughout the day.  It’s helpful to categorize your requests, such as “Healing” or “Come to Faith in Jesus.”
2. Consider if you construct a kind of “prayer maize” in your head by assigning the people for whom you are praying to a geographical map of where they are located.  For example, you could begin with praying for people in your home town, then move on to prayers for those located in the western part of your state, then to the north, east, and so on.  This has proven very helpful to me since many times I pray for people during my daily exercise where I would not have access to cards on which I had listed prayer requests.
3. Finally, pray!  Ask God to show you ways to improve your prayer life.  Remember what we discussed several weeks ago in the section on Luke 16:1-13.  The application of this text was that God has called us to use our talents and ingenuity in order to lead people to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Pray and ask God to energize your prayer life through the use of your time, talents, and materials possessions. This includes using our technological devices like smart phones and computers.

I bet that some of you are mighty prayer warriors and that your prayer lives came about because of certain circumstances that God allowed.  Others may just need a bit of encouraging from time to time about keeping up with the discipline of prayer.  Remember, God has called us not to wait until troubles come our way, but to be faithful and pray in order to obey. We shouldn’t do this out of guilt or obligation, but to deepen our relationship with the Father.  

Bottom Line: Questions for Reflection

1.  Ask God to reveal to you the spiritually lost people in your life.  Who are the lost causes in your life whom only God could change?  Write down their names and as God leads pray for them like the persistent widow.  

2.  We said that prayer and reading of the Bible are the two main ways in which we communicate with God.  What are some others ways that God communicates with us? 

Going Deeper:

Do you have a story to share about the power of persistent prayer?   You can email me at [email protected].  

Recommended Readings on Prayer:

“A Journey to Victorious Praying” by Bill Thrasher (Moody, 2003)

“Prayer” by Ole Hallesby (Augsburg, 1994)

“The Way of the Heart” by Henri Nouwen (Ballantine, 1981). 

Readings for the Week  

Note: For a listing of readings for the Roman Catholic Mass, visit this web site:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/101616.cfm

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 147

Sources:  Online Scripture verses for most Bible versions can be found at:  http://www.biblegateway.com/

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB

Welcome back to the Sunday Mass notes for 7-24-2016. This week we cover three excellent readings in which we learn more about God’s righteous nature, the forgiveness that we have through Jesus Christ, and how Jesus teaches us to pray.

Introduction to the First Reading:

The first reading from Genesis picks up where we left off in last week’s reading where we saw Abraham meet with two angels and the Lord Jesus Himself. This week’s reading deals with Abraham’s pleading with God concerning the people of the region of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities were located just north of the Dead Sea in an area known for its great fertility. Today’s reading chronicles the events leading up to the destruction of the cities turning them into the wasteland that they are today.

First Reading:

Genesis 18:20-32 NAS95 20 And the LORD said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. 21 I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” 22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the LORD. 23 Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” 26 So the LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account.” 27 And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 He spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” 30 Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” 31 And he said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” 32 Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.”

The LORD told Abraham about the terrible sin of the people of the region of Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 20). The text says that the LORD would go “down” to Sodom (v. 20), a word which brings with it two meanings, geographically south and downwards spiritually. Looking back to chapter 13, we see how Abraham’s nephew Lot chose to live in this fertile region when the land would not support both of their herds and there was a conflict among their herdsmen (Genesis 13:7). Abraham, a man who was well acquainted with God and knew of His grace and forgiveness, pleaded with the Lord Jesus before He went down to the region to judge them. We are not told how Abraham knew that the LORD’s visit meant judgment. Regardless, Abraham began pleading on the basis of whether there were fifty righteous people in the cities would the LORD not destroy the people? Jesus’ answer was implied as negative, there were not fifty righteous people in the region. After Abraham received this negative implication, he proceeded to boldly decrease the number, first to 40, then 30, 20, 10, and finally just 5. By implication by not responding to Abraham’s final question the region of Sodom and Gomorrah did not contain even five righteous people. What a terrible condition the region had come to without having even five righteous people in the region!

We may ask, how many righteous people were there in these cities? We know that there was at least one righteous person in the land, the person of Lot, or at least he came to be righteous in his later life after the destruction of the region of Sodom and Gomorrah in which he lived. Even if Lot was righteous in the eyes of the Lord, this would not have brought the total number to the value of five predicated by Abraham’s question. We know that the LORD did not destroy Lot. Rather He sent the two angels with whom Abraham had met and they eventually led him away from the city before the fire rained down (Genesis 19:24-25). Looking a bit deeper at Lot, although he may or may not have a righteous man at the time of the story in Genesis 18, we do know that sometime later he repented and was added to the hall of faith in the New Testament. We also know that God spared the city of Zoar from destruction because of Lot’s request (Genesis 19:20-21).

The rest of Lot’s family didn’t fare so well. We know that Lot’s wife didn’t make the grade (Genesis 19:26). The relationship between Lot’s daughters and God is murky since we know that they later engaged in immoral sexual relations with their father since they felt that after the destruction of Sodom every man was dead and that they had to save the race from extinction (Genesis 19:19:31). This severe faithlessness may be abrogated a bit in light of the fact that they had just witnessed the terrible extermination of everyone in the region in which they lived by fire and brimstone raining from the sky (Genesis 19:24). This brings to mine the story of Elijah when he thought that he was the last believer alive in the entire world (1 Kings 19:14). Then the LORD reminded this great prophet during his brief season of faithlessness that there remained 7,000 who had or would be true to Him (1 Kings 19:18). So although Lot’s daughters may have doubted God’s promises made through Abraham we are not told the ultimate condition of their heart.

Abraham brought out the central point of the reading in his question at end of verse 25, “Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” The answer, one that is woven throughout the narrative of the decreasing numbers, is a resounding yes. Yes, the Judge of all the earth shall do justly, including the destruction of the wicked. Although in our day God mostly withholds judgment of the “wicked” until after they die, the Bible is clear that judgement is a certainty for those that deny the Lord Jesus and don’t yield to His Holy Spirit in giving up their sinful lives.

It is useful to read what Saint Peter wrote about today’s story and Lot:

2 Peter 2:6-9 NAS95 6 (emphasis added) and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

Peter’s explanation helps us to understand the implications of living a lifelong pattern of sin without repenting through God’s empowerment found through faith in Jesus Christ. Peter was clear that we are to learn from other’s mistakes, and Sodom and Gomorrah stands as a “doozie” of an example useful to all of us today. Paul said, “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1Corinthians 10:11). This leads us to the main point of the reading. If Lot can find forgiveness and faith in God in spite of the series of poor choices he made, we took can do the same. God stands ready to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9b-ff). Through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we are motivated to confess our sins (1 John 1:9a) and receive God’s blessing upon our lives demonstrated by our service to Him.

Introduction to the Second Reading:

The context of the second reading from Colossians continues from last week (Colossians 1:24-28) but skips forward to verse 12 of the second chapter. The context of the omitted verses 1 -11 in the second chapter leading up to today’s reading is Paul’s affirmation of Jesus’ humanity and divinity, something which the Gnostics opposed. This was because the false teachers that had infiltrated the church taught that since only spirit was good in contrast to flesh that was evil, the person of the Lord Jesus could not have truly manifested Himself as divinity in the flesh. Paul said, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). He also taught the Colossian church how they were complete in Christ Jesus and spiritually circumcised in their heart without the necessity of the physical operation itself (vv. 10-11). The reading continues with important teaching on a Christian’s identity in Christ.

Second Reading:

Colossians 2:12-14 NAS95 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Paul taught that as believers our spiritually dead carnal life is buried in baptism as a picture of being born from the Spirit of God. When a person is immersed in baptism they make a statement that their sins are buried with Jesus Christ’s burial, but when they emerge from the water they are raised in the newness of life in a similar was as when Jesus rose from the dead. Although Jesus was dead, God raised Him from the dead (v. 12d). Through faith God in a sense raised believers from the dead (v. 12c). In addition, as believers God forgave all of our sins – past, present and future (v. 13) and nailed the record of our transgressions to the cross of Christ (v. 14). This hostile “certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us” (v. 14a) has been forever taken away from us!

What does it mean to have all of our sins taken away, forever, with even the record of them being destroyed? One aspect is that if Satan (or we do in our ourselves) brings our past sins back into our mind, we can call upon God in prayer to fight this spiritual battle raging against us with a one hundred percent certain outcome. This is because as believers our God has forgiven us through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. It is only when we doubt our standing as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ that these attacks can harm our minds. Another aspect is that we can trust that although people may bring up our past sins God will never do it. God through Jesus Christ has placed our sins as far as east is from west (Psalm 103:12).

Next, as we turn to the Gospel reading, we will learn something from the Lord Jesus about how He instructed His disciples to pray specifically concerning their needs. This study will be useful because we know that prayer is the antidote to worry that comes when our enemies (spiritual and physical) bring up our past sins.

Introduction to the Gospel Reading:

The Gospel reading from Luke is the Lord Jesus’ teaching on prayer that He gave in response to one of His disciple’s questions, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” As you read, begin to develop a list of bullet points from Jesus’ teaching. Ask, what is Jesus teaching me about prayer?

Gospel Reading:

Luke 11:1-13 NAS95 1 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” 2 And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” 5 Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. 9 So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. 11 Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? 12 Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

What can we learn about prayer from the Lord Jesus? The big idea of Jesus’ teaching on prayer was to pray to the Person of the Father, pray specifically and pray persistently. Prayer is an antidote to worry, as when Satan brings to mind our past sins as we just mentioned in the second reading. In order for this to be an antidote to worry, we must enter into the reality of this prayer, not just recite it. Here are some other points that we can learn about prayer from today’s reading.

• We have a Father (that implies a relationship with someone bigger, wiser and more able to cope with this world than ourselves; we are not orphans).
• Our Father is in heaven (He is above the fray of this world and has power and resources at his command that we cannot even fathom).
• His name is holy (His name refers to his character and essence. If he is holy, then he relates in a way that is set apart from the world’s way. His holiness is what creates a foundation of trust for us to surrender our will to His will, to turn to Him in our time of need.
• He has a kingdom that is on the move. We can choose to be part of His kingdom and allow His way of heaven to infiltrate this world through my life. Instead of worrying about how I’m going to make it in this world, I am now focused on being used by God to bring His ways to bear on this world.
• He forgives us, and through His strength we can extend forgiveness to others. This is a quality of the Kingdom of God that is countercultural to the world’s ways.
• He leads us out of temptation and delivers us from evil. Do I really want to be delivered from temptation and evil, or do I want only to be delivered from the negative consequences of sin?
• He has a kingdom, power and glory that will be manifested forever. Do I want to be a part of this, or do I think that doing life on my own is a better option?
• God calls us to be specific in our prayer. If we (or others) are sick Jesus is teaching us to pray that we may be well. This may be intuitive to you, but how often have you been sick and not prayed for your own healing? Perhaps Jesus will allow sickness in your own life such as to give you compassion for others who are sick.
• God calls us to be persistent in prayer. This is clear not only in today’s teaching but also in Jesus’ teaching on the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8). In that case Jesus applauded the efforts of a woman who continually nagged a judge to resolve her case. Jesus calls us to be persistent.

These are some amazing realities that Jesus understood and allowed Him to live in a countercultural way, free of worry and anxiety, because He knew who His Father was. He offers that same type of perspective to us, if we will ask Him to teach us to pray in this way.

As believers, we can be confident that God not only hears our prayers, but answers them. John said, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (1 John 5:14-15). The key is praying according to God’s will. We do that by learning His will, and the way to do that is to study His revealed will in the Bible, the Word of God. God’s answers to our prayers may not be as we expect. He may answer yes, not, wait, or lead us in another direction to pray. God calls us to pray boldly as we see in Hebrews: “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

We hope that what you have learned today will help you to pray more effectively and fervently by having the confidence that God will hear and answer you. Over the years I have prayed for a very long list (about 150) people each day concerning their salvation. Over the course of the last almost two decades I have seen God answer my prayers in miraculous ways. In one case a man who had experienced God’s miraculous intervention in an accident came to know the Lord Jesus much later in his life as a result of a second drunk driving arrest. This was a man that I had been praying for over the course of about 15 years. He later told me that he had felt called to God during that entire time and this was the natural outcome of what had to happen. He was thankful for God bringing him to this point of decision by using the bad events in his life to turn him around onto the track of following Him. Perhaps one of my faithful readers will recognize the person about whom I am speaking. May God be glorified in all that we do and may we praise Him for His intervention.

Bottom Line: Questions for Reflection

1. Today we learned something from Jesus about how to pray. In what ways does Jesus’ teaching challenge your current prayer life?

2. Look back at your some urgent prayers you made to God in the past year. Were any of these written in a journal? How were these prayers answered? How helpful would it be for you to write down certain prayer requests in a journal in order to be able to remember and to look back and update them with notes about how God responded? Consider starting a prayer journal and using note cards to write down your urgent prayer requests that you carry with you each day.

Note: For a listing of readings for the Roman Catholic Mass, visit this web site:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072416.cfm  

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 111

Source(s):

Online Scripture verses for most Bible versions can be found at:  http://www.biblegateway.com/

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB

Welcome back to the Sunday Mass notes for 5-22-2016. This week examine a reading from Proverbs and learn something about the Person of Jesus Christ. In the second reading we see how God uses trials in the life of a believer to make them grow in their faith and trust in Him. In the Gospel reading we learn about how Jesus promised His disciples how He would send the Holy Spirit to empower them to accomplish His work and to persevere through the tribulations that He predicted would come upon them. 

Introduction to the First Reading:

Proverbs is a Book that provides wisdom from God on a variety of matters. Most of the Proverbs were written by King Solomon. While reading this section of the Bible we have to remember that these biblical principles were delivered to a people bound to the Mosaic Law. Additionally, we must keep in mind that they are general proscriptive principles and not prescriptive in every case. For example, Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.” While this is a good and godly principle all of us are acquainted with circumstances of parents who closely followed this principle but yet had wayward children. Proverbs 8 begins with the personification of wisdom, a common theme in this Book. “Does not wisdom call, And understanding lift up her voice?”

First Reading:

Proverbs 8:22-31 NAS95 22 “The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. 23 From everlasting I was established, From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth. 24 When there were no depths I was brought forth, When there were no springs abounding with water. 25 Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills I was brought forth; 26 While He had not yet made the earth and the fields, Nor the first dust of the world. 27 When He established the heavens, I was there, When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, 28 When He made firm the skies above, When the springs of the deep became fixed, 29 When He set for the sea its boundary So that the water would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth; 30 Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, 31 Rejoicing in the world, His earth, And having my delight in the sons of men.”

The reading opens with the idea of the eternity of a certain person, “me” in verse 22. While we can say that God foreknew those whom He also “predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29) and therefore knew us as believers in eternity past, the plain sense of these verses points to the eternality of the Person of Jesus Christ. The wording used by the author aligns with what John said about Jesus Christ in his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The proverb says about this Person that He was established from everlasting, “From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth” (v. 23a). John said about Jesus, “We was in the beginning with God” (John 1:2). The proverb also speaks to the role of Jesus as the creator, while at the same time brings out the unity that exists between the Father God and the Son. Verse 30 says, “Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him.” Colossians 1:16 says, “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through Him and for Him.” Yet Isaiah said, “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, “I, the Lord, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself, and spreading out the earth all alone.” Finally, in Genesis 1:2 we see that “the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters” during creation. Therefore, the Trinity of God was involved in the creation process, we see a sense of this in today’s reading.

Introduction to the Second Reading:

The context of the second reading from Romans follows Saint Paul’s teaching on justification by faith alone. Today’s reading opens with the word “therefore,” and as always we need to reflect upon what this word is “there for.” In the reading that follows, the “therefore” provides the linkage to Paul’s persuasive argument to the Christians in Rome regarding how God had justified them through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Paul looked back to how “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Romans 4:3) Paul taught how Jesus “was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification” (Romans 4:25). Paul’s point was that as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we inherit the righteousness of God through our faith in Him, “just as if” we had never sinned at all. Understanding the legal concept of justification is essential because otherwise it makes our salvation the result of our “good” works. Salvation is something which God has stated expressly we cannot earn. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Through our faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross we have a new judicial standing before the throne of God, “just as if” we had never sinned. For once we believe God has “removed our sins as far as the east is from west” (Psalms 103:12). Our faith is extremely important in the eyes of God, for God sees us through the righteousness of Christ (Romans 13;14, Galatians 3:27, Job 29:14, Isaiah 61:10, Revelation 3:4).

[Note: Our online readers will benefit by being able to quickly peruse these verses by the verse lookup feature by hovering over each of them. We encourage everyone to study all of the quoted verses used each week in Mass Notes.]

Second Reading:

Romans 5:1-5 NAS95 1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Paul taught how through our faith we are justified and “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 1). Paul taught in Colossians how as nonbelievers we were alienated from God (Colossians 1:21). Interestingly, in that same section of Colossians Paul continued with the concept of rejoicing in suffering (Colossians 1:24), which is exactly what Paul did in verse three of today’s reading. Paul said, “we also exult in our tribulations” (v. 3a). He said that the reason we are called to do this is because it builds perseverance which leads to godly character, then onwards to hope (v. 4).

In applying today’s reading we may ask how tribulation produces perseverance, character, and hope? Tribulation, a word which literally means “suffering,” are any type of tests to your faith. This includes things like health problems, broken or strained relationships, persecution by nonbelievers, financial concerns, and the death of a loved one. If we turn to God during our trials, we can expect to experience growth in our faith as we see how God delivers us through them. God may deliver us from them, or sometimes He may. But regardless, the promise in today’s reading is that if when we persist in faith God will use our trials to conform us more perfectly to the image of Jesus Christ, the Suffering Servant of God (Isaiah 53:1-12).

As I was reflecting upon the ways in which God has worked in my own life (see study question #2), I reviewed some of the thoughts that I had written in one of my prayer journals. In one journal entry dated 9/13/2011 me and my wife had been praying for a man we know to find a godly wife. I am pleased to report that he got married in the summer of 2015 to a very godly young woman whom he met at church. In another entry dated 12/4/2011 I had been praying for God to provide a means for me to pay off a $25,000 surgical bill. In that case God provided through a combination of insurance and provisions through bonuses and my salary at work. As I continued to review my prayer journal I see how God has worked in so many different people’s lives. Yet some of the people whom we have been praying continue to struggle. One in particular has had a half-down year long struggle in her life with chronic pain in her back. Perhaps God desires us to continue to pull together as believer to pray for her, and I am confident that He will continue to work in her life.

More recently however, God has been working in a miraculous way in my life. Men frequently don’t share the struggles with their wives that they may have in their thought life. We should however share these both with God and when appropriate with a prayer partner of the same sex who would understand. Recently after watching a Christian movie that focused upon how God is able to produce miracles in the lives of people who pray boldly with faith I sensed a calling from God to present to Him a particular struggle that I was having with my thought life. After I was all pumped up spiritually after watching that Christian film, I brought this matter boldly to the Lord in prayer.  After a week went by in which I did not struggle with this particular thought pattern, the thought occurred to me that perhaps God was up to something in my life.  After a month had gone by I began to understand that God had indeed intervened in my life, and then began to focus upon ways to prevent myself from falling into this particular pattern again. What are some areas in which you are struggling? We encourage you to bring these to God and expect His answer as you persist in prayer to Him. If you feel your faith is weak, pray that God would first give you the faith that you need. Perhaps He will lead you to study a particular book, or meet with a particular person. But do expect God to show up when you come to Him boldly in prayer.

Introduction to the Gospel Reading:

The Gospel reading from John chapter 16 is Jesus’ counsel to His disciples about how they will be able to prosper once He leaves the world through His sending of the Holy Spirit. They are to expect great persecution and be “outcasts from the synagogue” (John 16:2). In fact the deception of nonbelievers in world will be so bad that “everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God” (v. 2b). Jesus promised how then when He went away He would send the “Helper,” Who would “convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (v. 8).

Gospel Reading:

John 16:12-15 NAS95 12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

Jesus taught His disciples how the Holy Spirit would “guide them into all the truth” (v. 13b). The prophecy of the Holy Spirit led to the inspiration of our Holy Bible. Peter spoke about this by saying, “for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21). The Word of God is but one of many ministries of the Holy Spirit that we as believers possess. The Spirit also works to draw unbelievers to faith in the Lord Jesus, convict both believers and nonbelievers of their sin, regenerate our spirits making us “born from above” (John 3:3), sanctify us in the Lord, help us in prayer, guide us in understand Scripture, provide us with comfort through His divine power dwelling within us, and provides us with gifts and fruits of the Spirit. Although Jesus’ disciples certainly couldn’t understand the implications of His prophecy concerning the coming of the Spirit, they spent their lives living out the fullness of all that the Spirit had to offer them even though they endured unparalleled tribulation in their lives.

We too are called to partake of God’s divine gift through the ministry offered to us in the Holy Spirit that lives within us. It is this Spirit that empowers us to live lives pleasing to God. In order to take advantage of the Spirit’s guidance “into all the truth” mentioned in today’s reading, we must endeavor to become students of God’s Word in the Bible. Our prayer is that these weekly studies will prompt you to go further in your study of God’s word, and “test all things, holding fast to that which is true” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Bottom Line: Questions for Reflection

1. What is something through which you either are suffering, or have suffered in recent years?  In what ways have you seen how God produced in you the character qualities noted by Paul of increased faith, perseverance and character?

2. Perhaps one of the most useful ways in which you can learn from the tribulations allowed by God in your life is to journal about your experiences and then look back upon how God used these circumstances for His eternal purposes and your own good (Romans 8:28). If you have written down anything in past years, retrieve these journal entries and review the changes that have occurred since then. In what ways can you see how God actively used these trials to produce perseverance and character in your life?

Note: For a listing of readings for the Roman Catholic Mass, visit this web site:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052216.cfm   

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Lectionary: 166

Source(s):

Online Scripture verses for most Bible versions can be found at:  http://www.biblegateway.com/

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB

Welcome back to the Sunday Mass notes for 1-11-2015. This week there are two alternative readings provided both for the first and second readings, we will look at each of them.  Then we move to a brief Gospel lesson from Saint Mark in which we see John the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus’ baptism in which all three Persons of the Holy Trinity are represented. 

There were two choices given this week for both the first and the second readings, we will give a brief analysis of all four. The first reading is from the Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah prophesied during the time from 739 – 681 BC to the Jewish people who had walked away from God in their hearts and instead observed rote repetitive religious practices which were meaningless to them. Additionally, though they were rich in physical blessings, Isaiah warned them about their harsh treatment of the poor (Isaiah 3:15). Isaiah frequently uses a technique called “prophetic foreshortening” in which significant yet distant events are displayed as happening in the near term, such that their fulfillment is “telescoped” or “foreshortened” together with near term events.  He also uses a significant amount of Messianic typology such as the display of Jesus as the Suffering Servant in Chapter 53. A theological type is something that prefigures it’s ultimate explanation, such as the Prophet Jonah being three days in the belly of the fish which prefigured Jesus being in the grave for three days (see Matthew 12:40). Another of the types that he displayed was King Cyrus who was the King of Persia under whom the later Babylonian captivity of Judah (the southern kingdom) ended. Isaiah named Cyrus as God’s chosen instrument under whom the 70 year Jewish captivity would be broken hundreds of year before he was even born (Isaiah 44:28). In Chapter 42, it seems that Isaiah is once again speaking of Cyrus as a type of the coming Messiah (Jesus). As you read the opening verses of Chapter 42, you should recognize the typological representation of King Cyrus whose identity is soon lost in the revelation of the Person of the Messiah. As we read the text from Isaiah, we likely don’t immediately see the person of Cyrus but rather Jesus because we are so familiar with how Jesus fulfilled this prophecy. For us the distant event in Isaiah’s day of the coming of Jesus Christ completely overshadowed anything about the immediate circumstances being encountered by the Jewish people during Isaiah’s time. Note: The reading omitted verse 5 that has been included in the text below.

1 “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. 2 He will not cry out or raise His voice, Nor make His voice heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. 4 He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.” 5 Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and its offspring, Who gives breath to the people on it And spirit to those who walk in it, 6 “I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations, 7 To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the dungeon And those who dwell in darkness from the prison. (Isaiah 42:1-7)

The opening verse reads almost exactly like God’s pronouncement made at the baptism of Jesus Who said, “This is my Son in Whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). The baptism of Jesus displayed the Holy Trinity of God much like we see in this reading. At the baptism the Spirit of God descended on Him as a dove (Matthew 3:16) along with the Father’s pronouncement as we just noted. In Isaiah’s text we see the Father pronouncing His pleasure in the Son along with the proclamation that God has put His Spirit upon Him (v. 1), something that certainly looks far beyond King Cyrus. As Isaiah continues he explains the nature of Jesus and His ministry, he will be quiet and meek (vv. 2 – 3), not boldly proclaiming as had his predecessor John the Baptist, but quiet and not even breaking a brittle reed or extinguishing a smoldering lamp wick (v. 3). Verse 4 says that Jesus will “not be disheartened until He has established justice in the earth.” In verse five Isaiah provides God’s profound stamp of creative authority, He is the One “Who spread out the earth and its offspring . . . .” He is also the One who called the people in righteousness to worship Him alone and reminded the Jews of His covenant with them (v. 6). He reminded them that one of their purposes was to be a light to the nations (v.6) to open the spiritually blind eyes of the people (v. 7). When the Messiah comes, He would also be a light to the nations, as Luke said in Luke 2:32 regarding Jesus.  The Messiah will open the blind eyes of the people held in bondage, both to their sin as well as to the captivity they would experience under various civil kings such as Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus. Saint Peter referred to this when he mentioned freeing the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:19).  As believers, we can proclaim that although we have not seen Jesus we believe that He has freed us from the darkness of our own spiritual prisons where we were held by the evil one in darkness (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

The alternative first reading is also from the Prophet Isaiah. The context is just after the depiction of Jesus as the Suffering Servant on the cross, something that happened over 700 years after Isaiah penned it (Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12). An interesting note about Isaiah 53 is that it is a forbidden Book in Jewish circles, something the rabbis avoid and the vast majority of Jews have never heard. “Who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed,” Isaiah said (53:1). This powerful display of Jesus is followed by chapter 54 in which Isaiah shows God’s everlasting kindness. “For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will regather you. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you, says the Lord your redeemer” (Isaiah 54:7-8). The reading today from Chapter 55 is just before God more fully revealed His plan to bring salvation to the Gentiles who would be in-grafted into His plan of eternal salvation (Isaiah 56). As you read, try to keep in mind the context in which Isaiah gave his message in a time when the Jews weren’t listening to the voice of God.

1 “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. 2 “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. 3 Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David. 4 Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, A leader and commander for the peoples. 5 Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, And a nation which knows you not will run to you, Because of the LORD your God, even the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you. 6 Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. 8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:1-11)

Isaiah’s message is a picture of God’s grace and provides some important information about God and our relationship to Him. God is impartial (v. 1). “Everyone who thirds” can come to Him.  Second, God’s grace cannot be earned (v.2), it is unmerited favor (see Ephesians 2:8-9). Third, God’s Word is life but we have to listen to it to obtain this life (v. 3). Fourth, God’s promises to His people are eternal and specifically the ones in the Davidic Covenant will be fulfilled (v. 3). We can rest in the fact that God will complete the good work that He began with Israel regardless of how hopeless things may appear in the Middle East at any given instant. 

In verses 6 – 9 the Prophet emphasized the need for a person in the Old Testament to see the Lord before it was too late (v. 6), repent of their sin (v. 7a), trust in God’s ability to forgive sin (v. 7), and recognize their insufficiency and sovereignty of the Lord (vv. 8-9). His message in this section was a general evangelistic calling that also gives us some insights into the nature of God. First, God is compassionate and forgiving of sin even though He is far above people in His ways and thoughts. Second, God calls everyone to repent of his or her sin and place their trust in Him. Third, people must not wait to place their faith in God as it may easily become too late when they become hardened by sin and the opportunity for them to believe passes. Finally, God reminds us that His ways are far above our own. In context this means that the way that God brings sinners to repent of their sin and place their trust in Him is beyond our understanding, it is a mystery of God (John 3:8). This is what we discussed a in a previous issue when we studied Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John Chapter 3.

In the closing verses (10 – 11), Isaiah said that in the same way that the seasons are regular and reliable (v. 10) so it is that God’s Word is regular and reliable (v. 11). The rain and snow water the seeds and make them fruitful. Therefore, God’s Word operates in the hearts of His people through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-13) in order to make them fruitful.

The first alternative for the second reading is from the Book of Acts. The context is Peter’s speech to the Roman centurion Cornelius (Acts 10:1), a god-fearing Gentile who respected the Jews by giving them alms (Acts 10:2). Cornelius had seen an angel of God telling him to send a delegation to bring Peter to Joppa so he could speak with him.

34 Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35 but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. 36 The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all) — 37 you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. 38 You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:34-38)

Peter explained how as we saw in Isaiah 42:6 that God’s plan of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ wasn’t limited just to the Jews but extended to anyone who believed. Peter’s speech came after he had seen a vision of a great sheet descending from the sky and filled with animals that were ceremonially unclean to the Jews (Acts 10:9-16). In this vision, God commanded Peter to “kill and eat,” and said that these animals were not to be regarded as clean because they had been cleansed by God (v. 15). In order to further emphasize the importance of this vision God repeated it three times. Therefore, when Peter met with Cornelius and heard about the miraculous events that had happened with him too seeing a vision from God (in the form of an angel) Peter understood that the plan of salvation had been extended to the Gentiles. In the New Testament era the church has stepped in where Peter left off, proclaiming the message of salvation to everyone, not just to the Jews as was Peter’s (the Rock) primary ministry.

The second alternative for the second reading is from the Book of First John. The context of Chapter 5 is John’s teaching on the nature of a person whose heart has been spiritually born of God (John 3:3). As you read, take note of both the characteristics of a Christian and second the assurance that God has provided them in His promises.

1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 6 This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. (1 John 5:1-9)

The Book of First John provides a series of tests that reveal the heart of a true believer, and in the reading today we see several of them. First, a true believer follows the commandments of God (v. 2 -3), meaning the Ten Commandments plus the rules written on their heart through their conscience through the working of the Holy Spirit. Second, the true believer overcomes the world (v. 4), meaning that they are separated from it in a spiritual sense. Finally, a true believer is in tune with the Spirit of God that is truth (v. 6), who also testifies that Jesus is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit reveals this through the Holy Scriptures and in order to follow His testimony we must endeavor to read and study the Bible that is His revelation. Finally, John provided a picture of the Holy Trinity present at Jesus’ baptism that we will see again in the Gospel lesson.

The Gospel lesson is from Saint Mark. The context is John the Baptist’s proclamation of the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. John was described as a most unusual man “clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist” (Luke 1:6). John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin, having been born to Elizabeth (Luke 1:34-37, Jesus’ disciple John, the one whom Jesus loved, was also Jesus’ cousin). His coming marks the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3, “A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.” Here John introduced the Servant spoken of by Isaiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

7 And he was preaching, and saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. 8 I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” 9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11 and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” (Mark 1:7-11)

Now that John the Baptist had come, he was announcing the glorious coming of Jesus Christ (v. 7). John the Baptist said, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I” (v. 7a), then humbly said, “and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals” (v. 7b). John the Baptist then foretold how Jesus would not only baptize with water, such as he was doing, but would send God’s Holy Spirit (v. 8). He then testified about the baptismal event of Jesus in which all three Persons of the Trinity were represented including the voice of the Father (v. 11), the Holy Spirit descending like a dove (v. 10c), and of course Jesus Himself.

What does all of this mean for us as we live out our lives as Christians? First, like John, we also are called to “prepare the way of the Lord” by preaching the Good News to the world that if they repent of their sin and place their faith in Jesus Christ they will have eternal forgiveness in eternity with God. Although the church has in no way replaced Israel, the church is God’s light to the Jews and the Gentiles during the church age until Jesus returns in glory. God is “patient and not willing that any should perish” to the extent that He uses unusual people like John the Baptist and even more unusual people like you and me to do His work! Finally, since the return of the Lord Jesus is imminent we need to accelerate our proclamation of this message, as well as live in a way befitting of His soon return.

Have a great week and if you get a chance please stop by the web page and leave a comment on this article. 

Bottom Line: Questions for Reflection

Read the following verses and answer the questions that follow.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 NAS95 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

1.  In the reading from Isaiah 42 we saw how the Messiah would be a light to all of the nations to open their spiritually blind eyes and hearts.  What does Saint Paul say regarding the identity and actions of the active agent who blinds the eyes of everyone who does not believe that Jesus Christ bore the penalty for their sins on the cross?

2.  The Jews were called as a light to the nations to bear witness of His glory and the divine plan of redemption through faith in God’s promises and the coming of the Messiah who would bear their sins (Isaiah 53). As an “ingrafted” (Romans 11:17) believer in the faith of Abraham, in what ways are you working to combat the activities of the blinding agent(s) to bring the light of the glory of the Gospel to the people in your life? After you answer, would you consider building a list of those people in your life that don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ and commit to pray for them on a regular basis until it becomes a habit?

Note: For a listing of readings for the Roman Catholic Mass visit this web site: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011115.cfm    

First Reading IS 42:1-4, 6-7 or IS 55:1-11

Second Reading ACTS 10:34-38 or 1 JN 5:1-9

Gospel Reading MK 1:7-11

Source(s):

Online Scripture verses for most Bible versions can be found at:  http://www.biblegateway.com/

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB

Many of us have a heart for spiritually lost family members, coworkers, friends and others and spend time in daily prayer pleading with God to reach their stony hearts with the Gospel.  Like those that share this concern I pray each day for a large group of people including many with whom I used to work in one of my previous careers.  Of the people on this long list five particular people stand out, let’s call them the “five guys.”  One day as I was pouring out my heart to God about this long list of people and I came to an interesting understanding of how I could be praying for them but especially my five guys.  

Genesis chapter 18 chronicles a very interesting exchange between God and Abraham.  The context is that God just announced that He was going to destroy the world because of their sin. Abraham pleads with God not to take this extreme action. Reading from verse 23 Abraham says, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? (NKJV and all verses thereafter).”  He goes on, “Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?  The dialogue continued.

Genesis 18:25-33 NKJV 25 (Emphasis Added)  “Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” 26 So the LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” 27 Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: 28 “Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.” 29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?” So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.” 30 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” 31 And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.” 32 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” 33 So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.

Abraham started his plea asking God to save the world if just 50 righteous people could be found within the city of Sodom.  After he received a positive answer from God Abraham worked his way down from  50 to 45, then 40, 30, 20, and finally stopped at 10. God agreed that if He could find just ten righteous people in all of Sodom He would not destroy the rest of the people because of those ten.   

As I was praying my daily prayer list including pleading with God for the salvation of the long list of my friends, family and others I came to a wonderful understanding of how I should pray for my five guys from my very long list of those who need the Lord Jesus.  It went like this:  

God, if there is only one person (me!) praying for these five guys I ask you to save them.  This is because when they get to heaven you can show them that you brought them to believe in the finished work of Jesus on the cross through your hearing of just one believer’s prayer!  

 Next I changed my prayer:

God, if there are only one or two of us praying for these give guys I ask for you to reach out to them and change their circumstances such that they come to trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

My five guys are a diverse group whom I met over many years through various circumstances.  One of them is a man who I added to this list in response to a challenge that I gave a small group to whom I was leading a Bible study on evangelism.  I challenged my small group to begin praying for the salvation of person whom they knew personally and that would be the most impossible to come to faith in Jesus Christ.  The reason that I gave that challenge was because my brother Mike issued a similar challenge to a small group that he was leading.  After I came to faith in Jesus Mike told me about this challenge and that the person that he chose was me!  

What about you, are you praying that God will save someone that you know?  Perhaps you and and at most one other person are praying for them.  Do you consider it to be almost impossible for them to come to faith in Jesus Christ?    In closing let’s pray.

Dear God, You are King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  You alone are worthy of all glory and praise.  I bring to you the remembrance of your word to Abraham.  I fall at your throne and even dare to go beyond what Abraham asked of You.  I beg of You that if only two of us believers are praying for the salvation of my five guys that You would intervene and save them. Please show them when they get to you in heaven that you answered my prayer just because it would glorify your name.  Today I lift up Tony, Erik, Doug (the impossible one), Mike, and Ken.  I pray this in the boldness and name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  

Please let me know your thoughts on what I said here.  Jim Hill, May, 2013  Winona Lake, Indiana