Welcome back to the Sunday Mass notes. This week we open with a comprehensive introduction to Ezekiel from the first reading. Then move to Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans and conclude with Matthew 18, where we discuss the procedure God has given us for resolving disputes among believers.  We would like to think we would never need this, but conflict is an inevitable consequence of mankind’s fall (Genesis 3).

Introduction to the First Reading:

The first reading is from the Prophet Ezekiel. He was an animated prophet who sometimes acted out the message that God gave him in very peculiar ways. For example, one time he dug a hole in the side of his house (Ezekiel 12), cooked his food using human waste as fuel (Ez 4:9), and lay on his right side for 390 days, then for 40 days more only on his left! Ezekiel was among about ten thousand in the second group of Jews that were carried off to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar’s invading forces in 597 BC. He ministered after the tragic death of godly King Josiah in 609, who had enacted broad reforms in Judah. However, the people were so entrenched in their idolatry that they quickly returned to their tragic way of living after the king’s death at the hands of the Egyptian army. Ezekiel’s message, like many, if not most, of the prophets, is easier to understand after it has been fulfilled than when interpreted in the predictive sense. For example, chapter 38 of his book contains a frightful prophecy about something that will come upon Israel in the future. We know from the description of the events in that section that nothing like this has ever come upon them up until now, but interpreting Ezekiel’s message is extremely difficult without the benefit of hindsight. Such was the case even for Jesus’s own disciples in interpreting relatively straightforward messages from Isaiah regarding the Lord Jesus himself. Interestingly enough, the meaning of today’s reading is very clear.

The context of today’s reading is clearly illustrated in the first six verses that precede it:

1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’” (Ezekiel 33:1-6)

Ezekiel illustrated the people’s responsibility to warn one another about their sin by likening it to the necessity of a person appointed to a military position to warn his superiors of an approaching army. It is common sense that a person appointed as a military guard would quickly report an approaching army, yet the people didn’t warn each other about the approaching sin, even within their own souls.

With this context in mind, let’s continue reading the text of the first reading.

First Reading:

7 Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. 9 But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.( Ezekiel 33:7-9)

Part of Ezekiel’s role as a prophet was to vindicate the theocratic kingdom rule that God had ordained through the Law. This message was very specifically directed towards Ezekiel. Notice that the word “you” (and your) appeared no less than seven times in reference to Ezekiel. Verse one provided a good summary of the reading’s big idea. “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me.” This message was not, as some have said, in the context of evangelism. This admonition was addressed specifically to the Prophet Ezekiel, in the context of warning his fellow Israelites about God’s strong call for them to live according to the terms of their covenant. Ezekiel’s role was to call them back to their covenant relationship with God. Not only was Ezekiel a watchman for the house of Israel, but so were all the prophets, including the New Testament prophet John the Baptist, who acted in that role.

We can draw a theological principle from the text. Sometimes love is tough; we don’t always want to hear what the authorities are saying when we are stepping out of line with God’s plan for our lives. God, in His kindness, warns us when we are moving in destructive ways, but we are responsible for heeding the warning. God warns us not only through His Word in the Bible but also through other people who embrace and then speak the truth of His Word. He also warns us through allowing certain difficult circumstances to intervene. Sometimes our first instinct is to attack the person who brought us the information that made us feel convicted. Later, when we study the Gospel lesson, we will see how Jesus provided a procedure for resolving conflicts among believers.

Introduction to the Second Reading:

The second reading is from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans. The context is just after Paul finished explaining his compelling desire for all of Israel to come to faith in the Lord Jesus, including those before his time (Romans 9), those during his time (Romans 10), and those that will come after him (Romans 11). Next in Chapter 12, he explained how Christians were called to live transformed lives and present their bodies as living sacrifices. This is in contrast to what the author of Hebrews said about the Jewish Law, “Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins” (Hebrews 10:11) since Jesus offered his body not as a victim but willingly on the cross once for all (Hebrews 10:10).

The reading today is from Chapter 13, which opens with an admonition for believers in the Lord Jesus to submit to their government authorities.  Paul said, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (Romans 13:1). He continued:

Second Reading:

Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor” (Romans 13:2-7)

It’s important to remember that God commands us to obey our government authorities. As we will see in the reading, he puts this admonition on the same level as our need to obey the Commandments. With this context in mind, let’s proceed with the second reading.

8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

Paul quoted from the Old Testament and provided the seventh, sixth, eighth, and ninth commandments (Exodus 20:13-17). Paul also included Jesus’ statement in Mark 12:31, which summed up the last five commandments. Christians are called to be careful stewards of their resources and to obey the commandments God has already placed on their hearts (Romans 2:15). As you can see, the heart of what God wants for us is to love one another. We fulfill this “law” by treating others with dignity and respect, the way we ourselves would want to be treated. Instead of trying to take advantage of people for our own gain, we should “owe” them nothing except love. What an amazing contrast Christians would be if we lived according to this passage.

Introduction to the Gospel Reading:

The Gospel lesson is from Saint Matthew. The context was just after the transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:2) when Jesus began to teach the disciples about God’s kingdom values. The disciples asked who was the greatest in the kingdom. They evidently were alluding to the argument recorded in Luke about which of themwas the greatest (Luke 22:24). Jesus settled the matter by setting a child before Himself and saying, “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4). Jesus continued to teach them that the kingdom of heaven lies in sharp contrast to the kingdom of this world.

Gospel Reading:

15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” (Matthew 18:15-20)

Today’s Gospel lesson can be applied in two contexts. First, the matter of resolution of an issue between two Christians, whether or not they attend the same church. Second, the procedure set forth by God for handling issues related to church discipline. The process for resolving either type of dispute is similar. In the reading, Jesus provided a four-step process for resolving conflict. First, Jesus taught that the offended person should talk to the offender privately, “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother (v. 15).” The Greek word translated “show him his fault” is elegchō, which in this context might better read, “to convince and turn them away from their sin.”  In Galatians, Paul directed that this must be done “in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted” (Gal 6:1).  Second, Jesus stated that if the private meeting did not result in repentance and satisfaction, the offender was to be approached by a small group, “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED” (Matt 18:16).  The second meeting provided the offender with another opportunity to repent, albeit more forceful than a private meeting.  Paul affirmed this doctrine as applicable to the church: “Reject a factious man after a first and second warning” (Titus 3:10). 

The third step that Jesus outlined in Matthew was a “public corrective summons.”  In this announcement, Jesus said, “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church (ekklesia in the original)” (Matt 18:17a).  The word ekklēsia means, “a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation.

The fourth and final step that Jesus outlined regarding corrective discipline in the Jewish assembly was a “public corrective exclusion.” Jesus continued his discourse in verse 17 and said, “and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (v. 17b). 

Should this four-step process outlined by Jesus for correction within the Jewish assembly be utilized in the church at large? Yes. It would seem that Jesus intended this four-step process for all believers. In Matthew 18:17, this is the second and last occurrence of the word “church” in the gospels. It is used in a different sense here from that in Matthew 16:18. In the earlier occurrence it makes reference to the body of Christ composed of those who are baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13).  However, here it speaks of the local assembly, a body of believers gathered together as a fellowship.  Both times the Lord uses the term, He is anticipating the future beginning of the church age after His resurrection from the dead. Second, Paul evidently believed that Jesus’ teaching applied to the church, as he offered similar advice.  In 2 Thess 3:6 and 1 Corin 5:5, Paul said, “deliver such a one to Satan,” which is very similar to Jesus’ teaching in the fourth step in Matthew 18:17b.  In 1 Tim 5:20, Paul’s advice was very similar to Jesus’ third step (Matt 18:17a), “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.”  Paul’s advice in 2 Thess 3:15b to “admonish him as a brother” was very similar to Jesus’ first step in restoring a sinning brother in Matt 18:15. Paul, in describing the process of disciplining an elder, used very similar language to Jesus in 1 Tim 5:19-20.  It is evident from the biblical evidence that Paul and the apostles relied upon Jesus’ teaching on discipline within the Jewish assembly, and that this teaching was relevant to the yet-to-exist church.

What does this mean for our lives? First, the goal of church discipline is restoration, with the secondary purpose of restraining sin in the church. Paul said, “(W)ith gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” Church discipline was also for the purpose of restraining sin, as is evident in 1 Timothy, “Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning” (5:20).  The same theme is evident in the narrative of Ananias and Saphira in Acts 5 with the conclusion of the account by Luke, “And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things” (v. 11). 

Second, Paul and Peter made it clear that a secondary purpose of church discipline was to preserve the church’s Christ-like reputation among the Gentiles.  Paul spoke to the Philippians, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world” (2:14-15).  Peter made a similar statement in 1 Peter 2:12. 

Finally, an additional insight from the Epistles is that Paul intended church discipline to keep false teachings from the church.  In Galatians 5:7-9, Paul stated the principle that even a little sin in the church spoils the whole assembly. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul stated the principle explicitly, “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us” (3:6).  A final insight offered in the Epistles is the restorative goal of church discipline.  In 2 Timothy, Paul stated, “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2:25-26).  The insights from the Acts and Epistles help to clarify both the process and purposes of church discipline.

Reflection Questions

1.  How do you handle conflict? What steps of this four-step process could you begin to practice this week?

2.  When Christians live under God’s kingdom values, our lives should look very different from those who are still ruled by worldly values. This week’s Scripture focused on the following themes. Which of these do you already practice? Which do you want to see increased in your life? Use this to guide your prayer life with God this week:

A. Because God tells the truth and warns humans of impending danger connected to sin, we likewise are called to tell the truth and warn others. We saw this in the first reading from Ezekiel.

B. Because God loves us, we too ought to love others. Instead of exploiting people or approaching them selfishly, we move toward them in love. We saw this in the second reading from Romans.

C. Because God’s heart is one of restoration, we can become peacemakers in the midst of conflict and sin.

Welcome back to the Sunday Mass notes. This week, we learn about forgiveness from Paul’s Letter to Philemon. Then we study Jesus’ teaching on the cost of being His disciple. Have you ever acted like an idiot? We are going to talk about that today in the context of forgiveness.

First Reading:

The first reading is from the Apocryphal book of Wisdom.

WIS 9:13-18B Who can know God’s counsel,
or who can conceive what the LORD intends?
For the deliberations of mortals are timid,
and unsure are our plans.
For the corruptible body burdens the soul
and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.
And scarce do we guess the things on earth,
and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty;
but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?
Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high?
And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.

This reading confirms some things that we know in the Bible, such as the fact that we are imperfect and need God’s Holy Spirit to guide us. God enables us to follow His wisdom and learn His ways through the study of His word in the Bible. Praise God for granting us this provision.

Introduction to the Second Reading:

The Book of Philemon is a story about a servant named Onesimus, who, having stolen from his master Philemon, met up with Paul during his imprisonment in Rome. Upon meeting with Paul, Onesimus’ heart was changed by God, and he repented of his former sins. The Book opens with Paul’s address to Onesimus, who was obviously a fellow believer and church leader and whom he called “our beloved brother and fellow worker” (Philemon 1). Today’s reading is a portion of Paul’s appeal to Philemon to forgive and accept Onesimus back.

Second Reading:

Note: Includes verses 11-12 that were omitted from the reading.

Philemon 1:9-17 NAS95 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you –since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus– 10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, 11 who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. 12 I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, 13 whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel; 14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will. 15 For perhaps he was for this reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17 If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me.

Paul made a heartfelt appeal to Philemon to receive Onesimus back not as a slave, but as a “beloved brother” (v. 16) for the sake of love (v. 9). Paul told of how useful Onesimus’ ministry had been to him in prison and appealed to Philemon to accept his former servant back because during the time Onesimus had been gone he had become a brother in the Lord. Paul asked Philemon to do so willingly if he “regard[ed] [him] as a partner” and to “accept him as you would me” (v. 17). We know that as a function of Paul’s leadership position in the church he could have commanded Philemon to forgive his servant, but rather he asked him to do so without compulsion. We also know from looking past today’s reading that Paul promised to pay back anything that Onesimus owed (Philemon 18-19).

Each week in mass when the Lord’s prayer is recited, you say these very important words from the Lord Jesus’ model prayer in Matthew 6:12, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” With this in mind, the big idea in the reading is God’s calling to forgive people of their trespasses against them, and especially their Christian brothers and sisters, because of their positions relative to the Lord. Paul’s appeal to Philemon provided an excellent illustration of forgiveness in action. Although he appealed to Philemon on the basis of grace (unmerited favor), he also recognized the physical debts incurred by Onesimus and offered to pay for these expenses. Sin has consequences, and although they can be forgiven, there still may be consequences that have to be taken care of.

I remember one windy morning when I was visiting a friend in Florida to escape the cold up north, I took advantage of a windy day to load up my windsurfing equipment in my friend’s very large van to go sailing on the ocean. After we pulled into a parking spot next to a nice retired couple parked there in a nice but older four-door sedan. As I began to open the door, the wind was much stronger than I anticipated. As it came from directly behind the van, the door became a giant sail, propelling itself into this nice couple’s very clean-looking car. As I got out to survey the damage, my friend called me something like an idiot, and I got control of the door and spoke to the man about the damage. The door from our van had placed a small dent in his door. I told him how sorry I was and explained that after a short while, to please give me his name and address so I could pay for the repairs. I also left him with my name and address and tried not to let this occasion ruin both of our days. He was very gracious, and although he did give me his address, he seemed quite pleasant about the whole thing. The moment I got home, I sat down and wrote an apology to him and asked him to send me the repair bill. Some weeks later, I got a nice note back from him thanking me and saying that he did not want me to cover any of the repair costs. His compassion deeply moved me and I have always remembered what happened and how gracious he was to me, even though I acted as my friend said, “as an idiot.”!

As I have reflected upon the parking lot incident over the years, it has caused me to be more compassionate with other people’s mistakes. Jesus said, “Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37e), foreshadowing the ultimate forgiveness that would come through His offering of Himself on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. This is one of the main “takeaways” that we can walk away with from Paul’s message. The more we grow as Christians, the more we learn to forgive others like our Father in heaven has forgiven us.

Introduction to the Gospel Reading:

This week, we continue in the Gospel of Luke and come to some more difficult passages. Often, we may assume that Jesus’ teachings are good moral messages. But again, this week, we move into God’s teachings, which demand a response in how we live out our daily lives. The title above this section in my Bible is “The Cost of Discipleship.”

Gospel Reading:

Luke 14:25-33 NAS95 25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”

It’s obvious from examining the whole of Scripture that we should not literally hate our father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even ourselves, as this says if taken literally.  What Jesus means is that we are called to love him above everyone else, even ourselves.  Love plays out through our thoughts and also our actions.  Our love for Jesus plays out in a myriad of ways through our daily making of decisions grounded in scriptural principles.  The most basic scriptural principles God calls us to keep are the Ten Commandments, even the hard ones from that short list.  We can find the entire list of commandments in Exodus chapter 20 in the Old Testament.  Turn there yourself and read them as a refresher.  Verses 3-5 read, “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven above, in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord God, am a jealous God.”  How many times are we tempted to rely upon some physical representation of God to help us feel His presence?  But we are commanded not to even make such an object.  God in His wisdom knows that we are weak and that to create such a thing would quickly become a stumbling block for us.  How far any of us can push this commandment is unknown at least until we begin to go past a point of no return.  Yes, we reflect upon the cross in our churches, but we don’t worship the cross. 

In the next section of Jesus’ teaching, he introduces the concept of carrying our own cross.  The Scripture is clear in Matthew 11:30 that “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Jesus said outright that the burden of being a disciple wasn’t a heavy one, so is he contradicting Himself?  Clearly not. What Jesus is saying is explained in the subsequent section, where He tells of the wisdom of a builder to make a plan before he builds a tower and a king planning a battle.  Jesus’ disciples didn’t understand that he would be crucified on a cross, even though He had already told them about this prophecy.  When we read this section and hear the word “cross,” our mind jumps to Jesus dying on the cross.  However, in this context, Jesus referred to what the disciples would have understood about the cross.  They would have understood that the cross beam was carried to a person’s own execution.  The cost of the cross for that person was their own death, and Jesus was foreshadowing the fact that for many of His disciples, the cost of their cross would be their lives. This remains true in many parts of the world, and especially in the Middle East.  Likely, most of us won’t have to give our lives for our faith in Jesus.  Carrying the cross for Jesus in our lives is a bit more complicated than what God calls us to do for Him through our daily thoughts and actions.

Here is the bottom line: what Jesus is saying is this. Consider the cost of being a disciple in various circumstances in advance so that when these conditions do arise, you will be ready with a well-reasoned response, especially when you have to answer instantly.  You may wonder how it could be possible to consider every possible circumstance that might happen.  It’s not, and the Scripture says in 1 Timothy 3:15, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” The message again is to be prepared in advance, so when it happens, we are ready.  Consider the most common situations that could arise.  In today’s age, that means confronting the issue of homosexuality, same sex marriage, gay rights, single moms, and divorce – such issues as we should expect to find around us on a given day.

I managed a computer consulting company, and one of my clients was a multi-national telephone company. The manager of a certain department with whom we did about half a million dollars of business a year came to me and asked if I would donate to a charity called the Triangle Foundation. This organization advocates for the gay, lesbian, and transgender community.  He never implied that not making this donation would harm our business relationship, but there was, of course, a strong chance that this would happen.  What did I do?  I searched the Bible and found that it treated homosexuality as a sin, but not necessarily as any greater sin than the other ones listed, including drunkenness, lust, and pride.  I liked this particular customer, and he had always been fair with me, but making a donation to a group that advocated a certain sin greatly troubled me.  In a sense, I could have been asked to send a donation to a group that supported the rights of men who chose to view pornography.  After much discussion with one of the other managers, I prayed about the situation for a long time and decided that we would not make the donation.  I decided to tell our customer that we were choosing not to donate, but did not give a reason for our decision.  To his credit, the customer did not push the point and dropped the whole matter.  A few months later, the employee left the company, which ended the matter.   Was this some sort of test that God allowed for me?

As Christians, there will undoubtedly be times during which God will require us to count the cost. Sometimes it may be obvious to us, like if confronted by an Islamic terrorist asking us to deny the Lord Jesus. At other times, it may be less obvious, like paying the repair costs for a car you hit because the wind caught your door, even though it wasn’t explicitly your fault. Perhaps you will run into an ethical situation at work.

Jesus said in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets” (Luke 6:22-23). Jesus went before us as the extreme example of divine forgiveness. Jesus not only forgave those who sinned against Him but also bore the penalty for their sin. Through His example, we can persevere in our Christian lives to forgive those who sin against us.

Reflection Questions

1.  Can you think of a time when you graciously and boldly forgave an “idiot” in your life? In what ways does knowing how God forgave you of your sins (past, present, and future) help you to forgive others?

2. When was a time that you encountered a situation in which you had to count the cost of being a Christian? How does what you learned from Jesus today help to inform you about your past choice? In light of what you learned, what would you have done differently?

Welcome back to the Sunday Mass notes. This week, in the first reading, we examine the Prophet Isaiah’s message regarding the future healing coming from God upon the whole sin-broken world. Then we continue the study of the Book of James in the second reading and close with the continuing study of the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus heals a deaf and mute man.

Introduction to the First Reading:

This week, in the first reading, we examine the Prophet Isaiah’s message regarding the future healing coming from God upon the whole sin-broken world. This message especially resonated to the Jews who were under attack from the King of Assyria during this time.

First Reading:

The first reading is from the Prophet Isaiah. The historical context is during the time when King Hezekiah had made an alliance with Egypt (Isaiah 30:1-2) thereby provoking Sennacherib the King of Assyria. Hezekiah’s revolt against Assyria ultimately led to his humiliation in which he was forced to cede reparations as recorded in Second Kings. The people were very afraid of the Assyrian King because he had already conquered and taken captive the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Hezekiah’s unwise decision to trust in an alliance with Egypt angered God. However, at some point he came to his senses and confessed his wrongdoing, then tried to buy peace with Sennacherib. “King Hezekiah of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, ‘I have done wrong; withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear.’ The king of Assyria demanded of King Hezekiah of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s house. At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the doorposts that King Hezekiah of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria “2 Kings 18:14-16).

Equally important in the historical context is the location of the reading in the whole of Isaiah and the overall theological context. Today’s reading from Chapter 35 precedes a section in Isaiah regarding the future judgment of the Edomites. This is a people group that can be taken both literally (as a region) and figuratively, as anyone (or nation) who opposes God. Edom is the nation that descended from Isaac’s firstborn son, Esau. Esau was Jacob’s brother and the one who claimed the promises of God and the blessing from Israel. Although Esau didn’t war with the Hebrew people during the time of Jacob, his descendants became sworn enemies of the Jews. God says about the Edomites in Chapter 34, “For My sword is satiated in heaven, Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction” (Isaiah 34:5). Although we don’t know exactly how God’s judgment of Edom will play out, we are told many details about the judgment of the earth which must take place before Jesus returns to rule the earth. Scripture seems to indicate that the timing of the judgment is in the distant future, during what is known as the Day of the Lord (DOL). This period of God’s judgment of the seals, trumpets, and bowls as described in Revelation will be accompanied with signs in the heavens. Isaiah said “the sky will be rolled up like a scroll” (Isaiah 34:4b) just as it says in Revelation 6:14. Today’s reading is a message regarding the future restoration after the terrible period of time after the DOL. As in many of the prophetic passages in the Bible, and especially in Isaiah, we can locate both near term fulfillments as well as unfulfilled events that will happen sometime in the future. In some cases we can clearly see partial fulfillments of certain passages through the first coming of Jesus, but yet it is clear that the complete fulfillment won’t occur until the second coming of the Lord. This is the case with today’s reading.

First Reading:

Isaiah 35:4-7 NAS95 4 Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” 5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah. 7 The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes.

The heart of the message was that God would first destroy His enemies and then restore the land. Although the message contained a message of physical healing, the prophet was also speaking metaphorically about the spiritual healing that would occur in the future when all of Israel would be saved (Romans 11:26). In terms of the historical context, Isaiah spoke to the people of Judah that were being threatened with attack from the Assyrian Empire who had already devastated their brothers in the Northern Kingdom. The Prophet provided a message of hope to the people, that ultimately God would prevail over his enemies by “com[ing] with vengeance, with terrible recompense” (v. 4d). This will lead to the salvation of the people, “He will come and save you” (v. 4f). During that time, the land shall be restored from war, all the evils of the world will be reversed, including blindness, deafness, lameness, and the inability to speak (v. 5). The desert shall be watered (v. 6c) and the hot sand shall be blessed with cool water (v. 7). The land, including the region of Edom that was destroyed by God (Isaiah 34:5) and had been turned into the haunt of jackals will be restored. The Prophet’s message would have provided comfort to the people as they faced the onslaught of King Sennacherib while their own king tried to buy the country’s freedom against this vast imposing army. While the people lived with the imminent threat of the Assyrians, Isaiah’s message would have been a rallying cry for exclaiming the power of the one true God over their enemies.

When we look at the ways in which Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled after his time we see that Jesus quoted from this very text. The way in which this happened was while John the Baptist was in prison. He evidently began to have some doubts as to whether Jesus truly was the Messiah. Perhaps he questioned why Jesus would allow him to be imprisoned. John the Baptist sent word to Jesus from prison saying, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”(Matthew 11:3). Jesus answered by quoting from Isaiah. “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM” (Matthew 11:4-5). Jesus said that His healing ministry was in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Later in the Gospel reading, we will see another instance of how Jesus fulfilled this prophecy from Isaiah. Like many prophecies in the Old Testament, this one was only partially fulfilled during Jesus earthly lifetime. The final fulfilment will happen when the Lord returns to establish his kingdom on earth.

The message of Isaiah for our current day includes a couple of possible application points. One, we can believe in Jesus as the Messiah and be saved from the destructive nature of sin in our own lives. No matter what we have done or what has been done to us that is sinful, Jesus the Messiah, can heal and restore the brokenness of sin. Two, when we have this type of relationship with Jesus, we can also see God the Father’s heart, now, through a different lens. Instead of fearing God’s wrath and punishment for sin, we can draw close to God’s heart that is tender and fiercely loyal to His sons and daughters who are in distress. Romans 8:1 tells us that there is no longer any condemnation associated with those who are in Christ Jesus. So we can boldly approach the throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:16). The fact that God is eager to save and embrace us should encourage and embolden us to live in light of His abiding presence in our lives.

You may wonder how things turned out for Judah. If you read further ahead in Isaiah, you can see how God worked mightily but only after Hezekiah came to his senses. Instead of leaning upon foreign alliances and gold to buy his way out, King Hezekiah eventually turned to God for deliverance, “he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the LORD” (Isaiah 37:1). God answered his heartfelt plea by devastating the Assyrian army: “Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead” (Isaiah 37:36).

Introduction to the Second Reading:

The second reading is a continuation of the study begun in James last week. The Book of James is a Book called the “Proverbs of the New Testament” and is filled with practical wisdom for being a Christian. This reading follows James’ teaching on the basic practices of religion which included “visiting orphans and widows in their distress, and keeping oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27). This James is the one who led the first Ecumenical Council recorded in Acts 15 which dealt with rebutting the false teaching that “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). During this meeting, James stood up, announced a summary of the scriptural teachings on the matter (from the Old Testament), and provided the authoritative, final judgment on how the church should proceed. His teaching in the Book by his name came to the early church with the same sense of authority that he had during the proceedings of the first church council. 

Note: The reading omitted verses 6 – 7 which have been included below.

Second Reading:

James 2:1-5 NAS95 1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? 5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?  7 Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?

This passage is teaching the importance of reflecting the nature of God by treating everyone with fairness and honor. Showing favoritism in the church reflects a muddy picture of God’s heart, confusing people about who God is and what He values. We are to value each person as God values them, and thus avoid the class wars and pecking orders of the world. The poor in this world have a lot to teach those who are supposedly “rich” by material standards. Instead of favoritism dictating our treatment of people, God’s love for all should level the playing field. We can now approach others (rich or poor) with a sense of humility, giving them honor as image bearers of God.

James provides an excellent warning about how God hates pride (Proverbs 8:13) and desires for unity in the Church (John 17). If you think about it, the higher a person is, the further they have to fall! James’ lesson closely parallels the Parable of the Wedding Feast:

7 And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them,  8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him,  9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place.  10 But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you.  11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Lu 14:7-11)

In the parable, the central truth is Jesus’ message regarding the sinfulness of pride as well as a call to servanthood. In reality, using the illustration of the feast, the proudest person in the room may be the one collecting the food trays after the meal!  Only God truly knows the heart (1 Corinthians 2:11), although wealth and power are often accompanied with pride. In this illustration, Jesus is calling us to reflect upon the times in which we have positioned ourselves “at the head of the table,” or when we have learned from the mistakes of others in positions of power.

As a college professor who taught in various state prisons for a half dozen years, one of the primary lessons I learned was to avoid rushing to judgment of a person based upon their appearance. Prison had a way of leveling the class differences because although everyone dressed uniformly, between hairstyles, tattoos (and scars) the students had ways of making themselves appear differently. Yet even with the students wearing the same uniforms over the course of the class, it would become obvious that there was a “pecking order” among them. Some, like the rich man, “sat” in positions of power, regardless of the location of their physical desk in the classroom. Others were subservient to the leadership positions among the students which became obvious to me over the course of the semester, but which the students already knew. Places of power don’t always mean sitting at the head of the table.

It is instrumental to have a proper understanding of the point that James and Jesus were getting at in order to apply these lessons to our lives. The meaning that they had in mind is best illustrated by Psalm 73. Let’s read that entire text and meditate upon it before moving onto the Gospel lesson.

Psalms 73:1-28 NAS95 1 <<A Psalm of Asaph.>> Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart! 2 But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped. 3 For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 For there are no pains in their death, And their body is fat. 5 They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like mankind. 6 Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them. 7 Their eye bulges from fatness; The imaginations of their heart run riot. 8 They mock and wickedly speak of oppression; They speak from on high. 9 They have set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue parades through the earth. 10 Therefore his people return to this place, And waters of abundance are drunk by them. 11 They say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge with the Most High?” 12 Behold, these are the wicked; And always at ease, they have increased in wealth. 13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure And washed my hands in innocence; 14 For I have been stricken all day long And chastened every morning. 15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children. 16 When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight 17 Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end. 18 Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. 19 How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! 20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form. 21 When my heart was embittered And I was pierced within, 22 Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. 23 Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. 24 With Your counsel You will guide me, And afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. 28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.

Although the people who are rich in faith may suffer during this lifetime, those that are only rich in material things and full of pride will suffer eternal destruction.

Introduction to the Gospel Reading:

The Gospel reading continues from Mark that we looked at last week. This week the context is Jesus’ teaching in the Gentile region of the Decapolis to the east of the Jordan. Today’s reading follows the healing of a Gentile in the region of Tyre and Sidon (Mark 7:24) when Jesus cast out a demon from the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter (Mark 7:24-30). Interestingly, the Decapolis was the same region in which Jesus was asked to leave after healing the man possessed by a legion of demons. Once the demons left the out of control man, they entered a herd of 2000 pigs, which caused them to run off a cliff into the Sea of Galilee and be destroyed. When the owners found out about this “they began to implore Him to leave their region” (Mark 5:17). Nonetheless, Jesus returned there and resumed His healing ministry. Perhaps this was because the formerly demon possessed man whom He healed went and told many others in that region about Jesus (Mark 4:20).

Gospel Reading:

Mark 7:31-37 NAS95 31 Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. 32 They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him. 33 Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; 34 and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” 35 And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. 36 And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. 37 They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

He took a very long and circuitous route to get to the Decapolis by going from Tyre through Sidon and then back to the Decapolis (v. 31). We are not told the reason why he would have taken this route and the possible many months it would have required. Despite them having earlier asked Jesus to leave their region someone brought a man to Him for healing. Jesus separated the man from the crowd then proceeded to heal him. Jesus used two physical signs to manifest the healing given to Him by His Father God. First, he put his fingers into the man’s ears, and then placed His own saliva on the man’s tongue (v. 33). Evidently, he did this to accommodate the others who were watching (“they” in v. 37). Jesus looked up to heaven and sighed showing His reliance upon God the Father as well as His compassion for the man’s condition brought on by the fallen world. Next, the first thing Jesus told them including the man whose speech was restored was to keep silent! Jesus knew that His time had not yet come (John 7:6) and having these people broadcast about Him wouldn’t serve the timing of the perfect plan the Father had for Him. Another perspective is that His statement to keep quiet had more to do with His disciples than about the Gentiles who were present during the healing. As we mentioned in the first reading, the prophets like Isaiah used physical blindness and deafness as a metaphor for the people’s spiritual condition. At this point Jesus’ own disciples didn’t understand the spiritual significance of all that was going on because in the very next chapter He told them, “Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR?” (Mark 8:17c – 18b). Jesus, knowing that by asking the Gentiles to keep quiet may stir them on to proclaim the healing that much more, may have been making a statement to His disciples about their unbelief. This, along with the fact that the disciples would have been familiar with the Old Testament metaphor of blindness and that Jesus opened the eyes of a blind man lends more credence to this interpretation. Jesus is in effect telling His disciples that He can open the eyes of the blind, but they were still spiritually blind to many of the realities of His nature. Although Peter soon afterwards confessed that Jesus is the Christ (Matthew 16:16), all of them had a lot to learn about Jesus – even after He rose from the dead. 

There are many applications of Jesus message for our lives today, here are a few:

• Jesus’ healing of the blind man’s physical ailments reminds us of the need for everyone’s need for a spiritual birth. Spiritual blindness is the primary condition that vexes humanity today, the only unforgivable sin (Mark 3:22-30). In John’s Gospel Jesus said that “unless a person is born from above they will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (John 3:3). Saint Paul said that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and “the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Paul continued by saying, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). The Scripture is clear that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). We cannot earn this free gift but must accept it in faith. “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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
• If we desire to be like Jesus, we too can be drawn to minister to the handicapped. Considering what we learned from James, the “handicapped” aren’t necessarily just the people with obvious physical issues. Instead, we can pray to consider ministering to those who are marginalized in our society.
• As we learned in the reading from Isaiah, if we and others for whom we care are struggling with handicaps, remember how the prophetic messages in the Bible point us to the perfect healing we will one day receive with the Lord Jesus. For some, this may mean experiencing physical death and meeting Jesus in heaven (John 14:3).
• We too can be astonished that Jesus does all things well (v. 37a,b)! Jesus lived a perfect life and we can be changed by how He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).

Reflection Questions

1.  Develop a list of some categories of people who are marginalized in our society. Second, ask God in what ways you can be praying for specific people that you know fall into this category. Ask God to show you His will regarding ways in which you could minister to one of these people before the end of the year.

2.  Read John 14:1-3 and answer the question that follows.

John 14:1-3 NAS95 1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

A. How does knowing that Jesus is 1. Going to prepare a place for you, and 2. Going to meet you when you get there, help you to face the handicaps you are experiencing in your life today? 

B. Especially in light of how God has helped you with any “handicaps,” would you consider sharing your testimony with the fellow readers of Mass Notes?  If so, please send me your testimony or upload it in the form provided on the web site. 

Welcome back to the Sunday Mass notes. This week, in the first reading, we examine the Prophet Isaiah’s message regarding the future healing coming from God upon the whole sin-broken world. This message especially resonated to the Jews who were under attack from the King of Assyria during this time. Then we continue the study from the Book of James in the second reading. We close with the continuing study from the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus heals a deaf and mute man.

Introduction to the First Reading:

This week, in the first reading, we examine the Prophet Isaiah’s message regarding the future healing coming from God upon the whole sin-broken world. This message especially resonated to the Jews who were under attack from the King of Assyria during this time. Then we continue the study from the Book of James in the second reading. We close with the continuing study from the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus heals a deaf and mute man.

First Reading:

The first reading is from the Prophet Isaiah. The historical context is during the time when King Hezekiah had made an alliance with Egypt (Isaiah 30:1-2) thereby provoking Sennacherib the King of Assyria. Hezekiah’s revolt against Assyria ultimately led to his humiliation in which he was forced to cede reparations as recorded in Second Kings. The people were very afraid of the Assyrian King because he had already conquered and taken captive the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Hezekiah’s unwise decision to trust in an alliance with Egypt angered God. However, at some point he came to his senses and confessed his wrongdoing, then tried to buy peace with Sennacherib. “King Hezekiah of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, ‘I have done wrong; withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear.’ The king of Assyria demanded of King Hezekiah of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s house. At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the doorposts that King Hezekiah of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria “2 Kings 18:14-16).

Equally import to the historical context is the location of the reading in the whole of Isaiah and the overall theological context. Today’s reading from Chapter 35 precedes a section in Isaiah regarding the future judgment of the Edomites. This is a people that can be taken both literally (as a region) and figuratively, as anyone (or nation) who opposes God. Edom is the nation that descended from Isaac’s firstborn son, Esau. Esau was Jacob’s brother and the one who claimed the promises of God and the blessing from Israel. Although Esau didn’t war with the Hebrew people during the time of Jacob, his descendants became sworn enemies of the Jews. God says about the Edomites in Chapter 34, “For My sword is satiated in heaven, Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction” (Isaiah 34:5). Although we don’t know exactly how God’s judgment of Edom will play out, we are told many details about the judgment of the earth which must take place before Jesus returns to rule the earth. Scripture seems to indicate that the timing of the judgment is in the distant future, during what is known as the Day of the Lord (DOL). This period of God’s judgment of the seals, trumpets, and bowls as described in Revelation will be accompanied with signs in the heavens. Isaiah said “the sky will be rolled up like a scroll” (Isaiah 34:4b) just as it says in Revelation 6:14. Today’s reading is a message regarding the future restoration after the terrible period of time after the DOL. As in many of the prophetic passages in the Bible, and especially in Isaiah, we can locate both near term fulfillments as well as unfulfilled events that will happen sometime in the future. In some cases we can clearly see partial fulfillments of certain passages through the first coming of Jesus, but yet it is clear that the complete fulfillment won’t occur until the second coming of the Lord. This is the case with today’s reading.

First Reading:

Isaiah 35:4-7 NAS95 4 Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” 5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah. 7 The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes.

The heart of the message was that God would first destroy His enemies and then restore the land. Although the message contained a message of physical healing, the prophet was also speaking metaphorically about the spiritual healing that would occur in the future when all of Israel would be saved (Romans 11:26). In terms of the historical context Isaiah spoke to the people of Judah that were being threatened with attack from the Assyrian Empire who had already devastated their brothers in the Northern Kingdom. The Prophet provided a message of hope to the people, that ultimately God would prevail over his enemies by “com[ing] with vengeance, with terrible recompense” (v. 4d). This will lead to the salvation of the people, “He will come and save you” (v. 4f). During that time the land shall be restored from war, all the evils of the world will be reversed including blindness, deafness, lameness, and the inability to speak (v. 5). The desert shall be watered (v. 6c) and the hot sand shall be blessed with cool water (v. 7). The land, including the region of Edom that was destroyed by God (Isaiah 34:5) and had been turned into the haunt of jackals will be restored. The Prophet’s message would have provided comfort to the people as they faced the onslaught of King Sennacherib while their own king tried to buy the country’s freedom against this vast imposing army. While the people lived with the imminent threat of the Assyrians, Isaiah’s message would have been a rallying cry for exclaiming the power of the one true God over their enemies.

When we look at the ways in which Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled after his time we see that Jesus quoted from this very text. The way in which this happened was while John the Baptist was in prison. He evidently began to have some doubts as to whether Jesus truly was the Messiah. Perhaps he questioned why Jesus would allow him to be imprisoned. John the Baptist sent word to Jesus from prison saying, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”(Matthew 11:3). Jesus answered by quoting from Isaiah. “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM” (Matthew 11:4-5). Jesus said that His healing ministry was in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Later in the Gospel reading we will see another instance of how Jesus fulfilled this prophecy from Isaiah. Like many prophecies in the Old Testament this one was only partially fulfilled during Jesus earthly lifetime. The final fulfilment will happen when the Lord returns to establish his kingdom on earth.

The message of Isaiah for our current day includes a couple of possible application points. One, we can believe in Jesus as the Messiah and be saved from the destructive nature of sin in our own lives. No matter what we have done or what has been done to us that is sinful, Jesus the Messiah, can heal and restore the brokenness of sin. Two, when we have this type of relationship with Jesus, we can also see God the Father’s heart, now, through a different lens. Instead of fearing God’s wrath and punishment for sin, we can draw close to God’s heart that is tender and fiercely loyal to His sons and daughters who are in distress. Romans 8:1 tells us that there is no longer any condemnation associated with those who are in Christ Jesus. So we can boldly approach the throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:16). The fact that God is eager to save and embrace us should encourage and embolden us to live in light of His abiding presence in our lives.

You may wonder how things turned out for Judah. If you read further ahead in Isaiah you can see how God worked mightily but only after Hezekiah came to his senses. Instead of leaning upon foreign alliances and gold to buy his way out, King Hezekiah eventually turned to God for deliverance, “he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the LORD” (Isaiah 37:1). God answered his heartfelt plea by devastating the Assyrian army: “Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead” (Isaiah 37:36).

Introduction to the Second Reading:

The second reading is a continuation of the study begun in James last week. The Book of James is a Book called the “Proverbs of the New Testament” and is filled with practical wisdom for being a Christian. This reading follows James’ teaching on the basic practices of religion which included “visiting orphans and widows in their distress, and keeping oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27). This James is the one who led the first Ecumenical Council recorded in Acts 15 which dealt with rebutting the false teaching that “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). During this meeting James stood up, announced a summary of the scriptural teachings on the matter (from the Old Testament), and provided the authoritative, final judgment on how the church should proceed. His teaching in the Book by his name came to the early church with the same sense of authority that he had during the proceedings of the first church council. 

Note: The reading omitted verses 6 – 7 which have been included below.

Second Reading:

James 2:1-5 NAS95 1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? 5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?  7 Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?

This passage is teaching the importance of reflecting the nature of God by treating everyone with fairness and honor. Showing favoritism in the church reflects a muddy picture of God’s heart, confusing people about who God is and what He values. We are to value each person as God values them, and thus avoid the class wars and pecking orders of the world. The poor in this world have a lot to teach those who are supposedly “rich” by material standards. Instead of favoritism dictating our treatment of people, God’s love for all should level the playing field. We can now approach others (rich or poor) with a sense of humility, giving them honor as image bearers of God.

James provides an excellent warning about how God hates pride (Proverbs 8:13) and desires for unity in the Church (John 17). If you think about it, the higher a person is, the further they have to fall! James’ lesson closely parallels the Parable of the Wedding Feast:

7 And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them,  8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him,  9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place.  10 But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you.  11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Lu 14:7-11)

In the parable, the central truth is Jesus’ message regarding the sinfulness of pride as well as a call to servanthood. In reality, using the illustration of the feast, the proudest person in the room may be one collecting the food trays after the mea!  Only God truly knows the heart (1 Corinthians 2:11), although wealth and power are often accompanied with pride. In this illustration Jesus is calling us to reflect upon the times in which we have positioned ourselves “at the head of the table,” or when we have learned from the mistakes of others in positions of power.

As a college professor who taught in various state prisons for a half dozen years one of the primary lessons I learned was to avoid rushing to judgment of a person based upon their appearance. Prison had a way of leveling the class differences because although everyone dressed uniformly, between hairstyles, tattoos (and scars) the students had ways of making themselves appear differently. Yet even with the students wearing the same uniforms over the course of the class, it would become obvious that there was a “pecking order” among them. Some, like the rich man, “sat” in positions of power, regardless of the location of their physical desk in the classroom. Others were subservient to the leadership positions among the students which became obvious to me over the course of the semester, but which the students already knew. Places of power don’t always mean sitting at the head of the table.

It is instrumental to have a proper understanding of the point that James and Jesus were getting at in order to apply these lessons to our lives. The meaning that they had in mind is best illustrated by Psalm 73. Let’s read that entire text and meditate upon it before moving onto the Gospel lesson.

Psalms 73:1-28 NAS95 1 <<A Psalm of Asaph.>> Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart! 2 But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped. 3 For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 For there are no pains in their death, And their body is fat. 5 They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like mankind. 6 Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them. 7 Their eye bulges from fatness; The imaginations of their heart run riot. 8 They mock and wickedly speak of oppression; They speak from on high. 9 They have set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue parades through the earth. 10 Therefore his people return to this place, And waters of abundance are drunk by them. 11 They say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge with the Most High?” 12 Behold, these are the wicked; And always at ease, they have increased in wealth. 13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure And washed my hands in innocence; 14 For I have been stricken all day long And chastened every morning. 15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children. 16 When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight 17 Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end. 18 Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. 19 How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! 20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form. 21 When my heart was embittered And I was pierced within, 22 Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. 23 Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. 24 With Your counsel You will guide me, And afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. 28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.

Although the people who are rich in faith may suffer during this lifetime, those that are only rich in material things and full of pride will suffer eternal destruction.

Introduction to the Gospel Reading:

The Gospel reading continues from Mark that we looked at last week. This week the context is Jesus’ teaching in the Gentile region of the Decapolis to the east of the Jordan. Today’s reading follows the healing of a Gentile in the region of Tyre and Sidon (Mark 7:24) when Jesus cast out a demon from the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter (Mark 7:24-30). Interestingly, the Decapolis was the same region in which Jesus was asked to leave after healing the man possessed by a legion of demons. Once the demons left the out of control man, they entered a herd of 2000 pigs, which caused them to run off a cliff into the Sea of Galilee and be destroyed. When the owners found out about this “they began to implore Him to leave their region” (Mark 5:17). Nonetheless, Jesus returned there and resumed His healing ministry. Perhaps this was because the formerly demon possessed man whom He healed went and told many others in that region about Jesus (Mark 4:20).

Gospel Reading:

Mark 7:31-37 NAS95 31 Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. 32 They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him. 33 Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; 34 and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” 35 And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. 36 And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. 37 They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

He took a very long and circuitous route to get to the Decapolis by going from Tyre through Sidon and then back to the Decapolis (v. 31). We are not told the reason why he would have taken this route and the possible many months it would have required. Despite them having earlier asked Jesus to leave their region someone brought a man to Him for healing. Jesus separated the man from the crowd then proceeded to heal him. Jesus used two physical signs to manifest the healing given to Him by His Father God. First, he put his fingers into the man’s ears, and then placed His own saliva on the man’s tongue (v. 33). Evidently he did this to accommodate the others who were watching (“they” in v. 37). Jesus looked up to heaven and sighed showing His reliance upon God the Father as well as His compassion for the man’s condition brought on by the fallen world. Next, the first thing Jesus told them including the man whose speech was restored was to keep silent! Jesus knew that His time had not yet come (John 7:6) and having these people broadcast about Him wouldn’t serve the timing of the perfect plan the Father had for Him. Another perspective is that His statement to keep quiet had more to do with His disciples than about the Gentiles who were present during the healing. As we mentioned in the first reading, the prophets like Isaiah used physical blindness and deafness as a metaphor for the people’s spiritual condition. At this point Jesus’ own disciples didn’t understand the spiritual significance of all that was going on because in the very next chapter He told them, “Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR?” (Mark 8:17c – 18b). Jesus, knowing that by asking the Gentiles to keep quiet may stir them on to proclaim the healing that much more may have been making a statement to His disciples about their unbelief. This, along with the fact that the disciples would have been familiar with the Old Testament metaphor of blindness and that Jesus opened the eyes of a blind man lends more credence to this interpretation. Jesus is in effect telling His disciples that He can open the eyes of the blind but they were still spiritually blind to many of the realities of His nature. Although Peter soon afterwards confessed that Jesus is the Christ (Matthew 16:16), all of them had a lot to learn about Jesus – even after He rose from the dead. 

There are many applications of Jesus message for our lives today, here are a few:

• Jesus’ healing of the blind man’s physical ailments reminds us of the need for everyone’s need for a spiritual birth. Spiritual blindness is the primary condition that vexes humanity today, the only unforgivable sin (Mark 3:22-30). In John’s Gospel Jesus said that “unless a person is born from above they will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (John 3:3). Saint Paul said that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and “the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Paul continued by saying, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). The Scripture is clear that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). We cannot earn this free gift but must accept it in faith. “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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
• If we desire to be like Jesus, we too can be drawn to minister to the handicapped. Considering what we learned from James, the “handicapped” aren’t necessarily just the people with obvious physical issues. Instead, we can pray to consider ministering to those who are marginalized in our society.
• As we learned in the reading from Isaiah, if we and others for whom we care are struggling with handicaps, remember how the prophetic messages in the Bible point us to the perfect healing we will one day receive with the Lord Jesus. For some this may mean experiencing physical death and meeting Jesus in heaven (John 14:3).
• We too can be astonished that Jesus does all things well (v. 37a,b)! Jesus lived a perfect life and we can be changed by how He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).

Reflection Questions

1.  Develop a list of some categories of people who are marginalized in our society. Second, ask God in what ways you can be praying for specific people that you know fall into this category. Ask God to show you His will regarding ways in which you could minister to one of these people before the end of the year.

2.  Read John 14:1-3 and answer the question that follows.

John 14:1-3 NAS95 1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

A. How does knowing that Jesus is 1. Going to prepare a place for you, and 2. Going to meet you when you get there, help you to face the handicaps you are experiencing in your life today? 

B. Especially in light of how God has helped you with any “handicaps,” would you consider sharing your testimony with the fellow readers of Mass Notes?  If so, please send me your testimony or upload it in the form provided on the web site. 

Welcome back to the Sunday Mass notes. This week we open with a comprehensive introduction to Ezekiel from the first reading. Then move to Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans and conclude with Matthew 18 where we discuss the procedure given to us from God regarding the resolution of disputes between believers.  We would like to think that we would never need this but conflict is one inevitable consequence of the fall of mankind (Genesis 3).

Introduction to the First Reading:

The first reading is from the Prophet Ezekiel. He was an animated prophet who sometimes acted out the message that God gave him in very peculiar ways. For example one time he dug a hole in the side of his house (Ezekiel 12), cooked his food using human waste for fuel (Ez 4:9), and laid on his right side for 390 days and then 40 days more only on his left! Ezekiel was among about ten thousand in the second group of Jews that were carried off to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar’s invading forces in 597 BC. He ministered after the tragic death of godly King Josiah in 609 who had enacted broad reforms in Judah. However, the people were so entrenched in their idolatry that they quickly returned to their tragic way of living after the king’s death at the hands of the Egyptian army. Ezekiel’s message, like many, if not most of the prophets, is easier to understand after it has been fulfilled versus interpreting it in the predictive sense. For example, chapter 38 of his book contains a frightful prophecy about something that will come upon Israel at some future date. We know from the description of the events in that section that nothing like this has ever come upon them up until now, but interpreting Ezekiel’s message is extremely difficult without the benefit of hindsight. Such was the case even for Jesus’s own disciples in interpreting relatively straightforward messages from Isaiah regarding the Lord Jesus himself. Interestingly enough, the meaning of today’s reading is very clear.

The context of today’s reading is clearly illustrated in the first six verses that precede it:

1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’” (Ezekiel 33:1-6)

Ezekiel provided an illustration of the responsibility for the people to warn each other regarding their sin by relating it to the necessity of a person appointed in a military position to warn his superiors of an approaching army. It is common sense that a person appointed as a military guard would quickly report an approaching army, yet the people didn’t warn each other about the sin that was approaching and even inside of their own souls.

With this context in mind let’s continue reading the text of the first reading.

First Reading:

7 Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. 9 But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.( Ezekiel 33:7-9)

Part of Ezekiel’s role as a prophet was to vindicate the theocratic kingdom rule that God had ordained through the Law. This message was very specifically directed towards Ezekiel. Notice that the word “you” (and your) appeared no less than seven times in reference to Ezekiel. Verse one provided a good summary of the big idea of the reading. “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me.” This message was not, as some have said, in the context of evangelism. This admonition was made specifically to the Prophet Ezekiel in the context of warning his fellow Israelites about God’s strong admonition for them to live according to the terms of their covenant. Ezekiel’s role was to call them back to their covenant relationship with God. Not only was Ezekiel a watchman for the house of Israel, but all of the prophets, including the New Testament prophet John the Baptist acted in that role.

We can draw a theological principle from the text. Sometimes love is tough, we don’t always want to hear what the authorities are saying when we are stepping out of line with God’s plan for our lives. God in His kindness warns us when we are moving into destructive ways, but we are responsible to heed the warning. God warns us not only through His Word in the Bible but also through other people who embrace and then speak the truth of His Word. He also warns us through allowing certain difficult circumstances to intervene. Sometimes our first instinct is to attack the person that brought us the information about which we felt convicted. Later when we study the Gospel lesson, we will see how Jesus provided a procedure for dealing with conflicts between believers.

Introduction to the Second Reading:

The second reading is from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans. The context is just after Paul finished explaining his compelling desire for all of Israel to come to faith in the Lord Jesus including those before his time (Romans 9), those during his time (Romans 10), and those that will come after him (Romans 11). Next in Chapter 12, he explained how Christians were called to live transformed lives and present their bodies as living sacrifices. This is in contrast to what the author of Hebrews said about the Jewish Law, “Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins” (Hebrews 10:11) since Jesus offered his body not as a victim but willingly on the cross once for all (Hebrews 10:10).

The reading today is from Chapter 13 which opens with an admonition for believers in the Lord Jesus to submit to their government authorities.  Paul said, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (Romans 13:1). He continued:

Second Reading:

Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor” (Romans 13:2-7)

It’s important to remember that God commands us to obey our government authorities. As we will see in the reading he puts this admonition on the same level as our need to obey the Commandments. With this context in mind let’s proceed with the second reading.

8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

Paul quoted from the Old Testament and provided the seventh, sixth, eighth, and ninth commandments (Exodus 20:13-17). Paul also included Jesus’ statement from Mark 12:31 that summed up the last five commandments. Christians are called to be careful stewards of their resources and to obey the commandments given by Him and which God has already placed on their hearts (Romans 2:15). As you can see, the heart of what God wants for us is to love one another. We fulfill this “law” by treating others with dignity and respect, the way we ourselves would want to be treated. Instead of trying to take advantage of people for our own gain, we should “owe” them nothing except love. What an amazing contrast Christians would be if we lived according to this passage.

Introduction to the Gospel Reading:

The Gospel lesson is from Saint Matthew. The context was just after the transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:2) when Jesus began to teach the disciples about God’s kingdom values. The disciples asked who was the greatest in the kingdom. They evidently were alluding to the argument recording in Luke regarding who of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24). Jesus settled the matter by setting a child before Himself and saying, “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4). Jesus continued to teach them that the kingdom of heaven lies in sharp contrast to the kingdom of this world.

Gospel Reading:

15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” (Matthew 18:15-20)

Today’s Gospel lesson can be applied in two contexts, first for the resolution of an issue between two Christians (whether or not they attend the same church), and second, as a procedure set forth by God for handling issues related to church discipline. The process for resolving either type of dispute is similar. In the reading, Jesus provided a four-step process for resolving conflict. First, Jesus taught that the offended person should talk to the offender privately, “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother (v. 15).” The Greek word translated “show him his fault” is elegchō, which in this context might better read, “to convince and turn them away from their sin.”  In Galatians, Paul directed that this must be done “in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted” (Gal 6:1).  Second, Jesus stated that if the private meeting did not result in repentance and satisfaction, the offender was to be approached by a small group, “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED” (Matt 18:16).  The second meeting provided the offender with another opportunity to repent, albeit more forceful than a private meeting.  Paul affirmed this doctrine as applicable to the church: “Reject a factious man after a first and second warning” (Titus 3:10). 

The third step that Jesus outlined in Matthew was a “public corrective summons.”  In this announcement Jesus said, “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church (ekklesia in the original)” (Matt 18:17a).  The word ekklēsia means, “a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation.

The fourth and final step that Jesus outlined regarding corrective discipline in the Jewish assembly was a “public corrective exclusion.” Jesus continued his discourse in verse 17 and said, “and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (v. 17b). 

Should this four-step process outlined by Jesus for correction within the Jewish assembly be utilized in the church at large? Yes. It would seem that Jesus intended this four-step process for all believers. In Matthew 18:17 this is the second and last occurrence of the word “church” in the gospels. It is used in a different sense here from that in Matthew 16:18.  In the earlier occurrence it has reference to the body of Christ composed of those who are baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13).  Here it speaks of the local assembly, a body of believers gathered together as a fellowship.  Both times the Lord uses the term He is anticipating in the future when the church age would begin after His resurrection from the dead. Second, Paul evidently believed that Jesus’ teaching applied to the church since he provided similar advice.  In 2 Thess 3:6 and 1 Corin 5:5, Paul said, “deliver such a one to Satan,” which is very similar to Jesus’ teaching in the fourth step in Matthew 18:17b.  In 1 Tim 5:20, Paul’s advice was very similar to Jesus’ third step (Matt 18:17a), “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.”  Paul’s advice in 2 Thess 3:15b to “admonish him as a brother” was very similar to Jesus’ first step of restoration with a sinning brother in Matt 18:15.  Paul in describing the process of discipline against an elder used very similar language to Jesus in 1 Tim 5:19-20.  It is evident from the biblical evidence that Paul and the apostles relied upon Jesus’ teaching on discipline within the Jewish assembly, and that this teaching was relevant to the yet to exist church.

What does this mean for our lives? First, the goal of church discipline is restoration as well as the secondary purpose of restraining sin in the church. Paul said, “(W)ith gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” Church discipline was also for the purpose of restraining sin, as  is evident in 1 Timothy, “Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning” (5:20).  The same theme is evident in the narrative of Ananias and Saphira in Acts 5 with the conclusion of the account by Luke, “And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things” (v. 11). 

Second, Paul and Peter made it clear that a secondary purpose of church discipline was to preserve the Christ-like reputation of the church among the gentiles.  Paul spoke to the Philippians, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world” (2:14-15).  Peter made a similar statement in 1 Peter 2:12. 

Finally, an additional insight from the Epistles is that Paul intended church discipline to keep false teachings from the church.  In Galatians 5:7-9 Paul stated the principle that a little bit of sin in the church spoiled the whole assembly. In 2 Thessalonians Paul stated the principle explicitly, “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us” (3:6).  A final insight offered in the Epistles is the restorative goal of church discipline.  In 2 Timothy, Paul stated, “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2:25-26).  The insights from the Acts and Epistles help to clarify both the process and purposes of church discipline.

Reflection Questions

1.  How do you handle conflict? What steps of this four-step process could you begin to practice this week?

2.  When Christians live under God’s kingdom values, our lives should look very different from those who are still ruled by worldly values. This week’s Scripture focused on the following themes. Which of these do you already practice? Which do you want to see increased in your life? Use this to guide your prayer life with God this week:

A. Because God tells the truth and warns humans of impending danger connected to sin, we likewise are called to tell the truth and warns others. We saw this in the first reading from Ezekiel.

B. Because God loves us, we too ought to love others. Instead of exploiting people or moving toward them in selfish ways, we move toward them in love. We saw this in the second reading from Romans.

C. Because God’s heart is one of restoration, we can become peacemakers in the midst of conflict and sin.

Welcome back to the Sunday Mass notes. This week we learn about forgiveness from Paul’s Letter to Philemon. Then we study Jesus’ teaching on the cost of being His disciple. Have you ever acted like an idiot? We are going to talk about that today in the context of forgiveness.

First Reading:

The first reading is from the Apocryphal book of Wisdom.

WIS 9:13-18B Who can know God’s counsel,

or who can conceive what the LORD intends?

For the deliberations of mortals are timid,

and unsure are our plans.

For the corruptible body burdens the soul

and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.

And scarce do we guess the things on earth,

and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty;

but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?

Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom

and sent your holy spirit from on high?

And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.

This reading confirms some things that we know in the Bible such as the fact that as people we are imperfect and need God’s Holy Spirit to guide us. God enables us to follow His wisdom and learn His ways through the study of His word in the Bible. Praise God for His provision in granting us this provision.

Introduction to the Second Reading:

The Book of Philemon is a story about a servant named Onesimus who having stolen from his master Philemon met up with Paul during his imprisonment in Rome. Upon meeting with Paul, Onesimus’ heart was changed by God and he repented of his former sins. The Book opens with Paul’s address to Onesimus who was obviously a fellow believer and church leader and whom he called “our beloved brother and fellow worker” (Philemon 1). Today’s reading is a portion of Paul’s appeal to Philemon to forgive and accept Onesimus back.

Second Reading:

Note: Includes verses 11-12 that were omitted from the reading.

Philemon 1:9-17 NAS95 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you –since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus– 10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, 11 who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. 12 I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, 13 whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel; 14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will. 15 For perhaps he was for this reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17 If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me.

Paul made a heartfelt appeal to Philemon to receive Onesimus back not as a slave but as a “beloved brother” (v. 16) for the sake of love (v. 9). Paul told of how useful Onesimus’ ministry had been to him in prison and appealed to Philemon to accept his former servant back because during the time Onesimus had been gone he had become a brother in the Lord. Paul asked Philemon to do so willingly if he “regard[ed] [him] as a partner” and to “accept him as you would me” (v. 17). We know that as a function of Paul’s leadership position in the church he could have commanded Philemon to forgive his servant, but rather he asked him to do so without compulsion. We also know from looking past today’s reading that Paul promised to pay back anything that Onesimus owed (Philemon 18-19).

Each week in mass when the Lord’s prayer is recited you say these very important words from the Lord Jesus’ model prayer in Matthew 6:12, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” With this in mind, the big idea in the reading is God’s calling to forgive people of their trespasses against them, and especially their Christian brothers and sisters because of their positions relative to the Lord. Paul’s appeal to Philemon provided an excellent illustration of forgiveness in action. Although he appealed to Philemon on the basis of grace (unmerited favor), he also recognized the physical debts incurred by Onesimus and offered to pay for these expenses. Sin has consequences, and although they can be forgiven there still may be consequences that have to be taken care of.

I remember one after when I was visiting a friend in Florida to escape the cold up north I took advantage of a windy day to load up my windsurfing equipment in my friend’s very large van to go sailing on the ocean. After we pulled into a parking spot next to a nice retired couple parked there in a nice but older four door sedan. As I began to open the door the wind was much stronger than I anticipated and as it was coming from directly behind the van the door became a giant sail which then propelled itself into this nice couple’s very clean looking car. As I got out to survey the damage by friend called me something like an idiot and I got control of the door and spoke to the man about the damage. The door from our van had placed a small dent in his door. I told him how sorry I was and explained after a short while to please give me his name and address so I could pay for the repairs. I also left him with my name and address and tried not to let this occasion ruin both of our days. He was very gracious and although he did give me his address seemed quite pleasant about the whole thing. The moment I got home I sat down and wrote an apology to him and asked him to send me the repair bill. Some weeks later I got a nice note back from him thanking me and saying that he did not want me to cover any of the repair costs. I was deeply moved by his compassion and have always remembered what happened and how gracious he was to me even though I acted as my friend said, “as an idiot.”!

As I have reflected upon the parking lot incident over the years, it has caused me to be more compassionate with other people’s mistakes. Jesus said, “forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37e), foreshadowing the ultimate forgiveness that would come through His offering of Himself on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. The is one of the main “take aways” that we can walk away with from Paul’s message. The more we grow as Christians the more that we learn to forgive others in the same way that our Father in heaven as forgiven us.

Introduction to the Gospel Reading:

This week we continue in the Gospel of Luke and come to some more difficult passages. Often times we may assume that Jesus’ teaching are good moral messages. But again this week we move into teachings by God which demand a response in how we live out our daily lives. The title above this section in my Bible is “The Cost of Discipleship.”

Gospel Reading:

Luke 14:25-33 NAS95 25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”

It’s obvious from examining the whole of Scripture that we should not literally hate our father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even ourselves as this says if taken literally. What Jesus means is that we are called to love him above everyone else, even ourselves. Love plays out through our thoughts and also our actions. Our love for Jesus plays out in a myriad of ways through our daily making of decisions grounded in scriptural principles. The most basic of all scriptural principles which God calls us to keep are the Ten Commandments, even the hard ones from that short list. We can find the entire list of commandments in Exodus chapter 20 in the Old Testament. Turn there yourself and read them as a refresher. Verses 3-5 read, “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord God am a jealous God.” How many times are we tempted to rely upon some physical representation of God to help us feel His presence? But we are commanded not to even make such an object. God in His wisdom knows that we are weak and to create such a thing would quickly become a stumbling stone to us. How far any of us can push this commandment is unknown at least until we begin to go past a point of no return. Yes, we reflect upon the cross in our churches, but we don’t worship the cross.

In the next section of Jesus’ teaching he brings up the concept of carrying our own cross. The Scripture is clear in Matthew 11:30 that “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus said outright that the burden of being a disciple wasn’t a heavy one, so is he contradicting Himself? Clearly not. What Jesus is saying is explained in the subsequent section where He tells of the wisdom of a builder to make a plan before he builds a tower and a king planning a battle. Jesus disciples didn’t understand that he would be crucified on a cross, even if He had already told them about this prophesy. When we read this section and hear the word “cross” our mind jumps to Jesus on dying on the cross. But in context Jesus was referring to what the disciples would have understood about the cross. They would have understood that the cross beam was something which was carried on the way to a person’s own execution. The cost of the cross for that person was their own death, and Jesus was foreshadowing the fact that for many of His disciples the cost of their cross would be their lives. This remains true in many parts of the world, and especially in the Middle East. In light of the recent unrest in Syria and Egypt many Christians are proving Jesus’ prophesy to be true. It’s likely that for most of us we won’t have to give our lives for our faith in Jesus. Carrying the cross for Jesus in our lives is a bit more complicated as to what God calls us to do for Him through our daily thoughts and actions.

Here is the bottom line, what Jesus is saying is this. Consider the cost of being a disciple in various circumstances in advance of them happening so that when these conditions do arise you will be ready with a well-reasoned response especially in terms when you will have to answer in an instant. You may wonder how it could be possible to consider every possible circumstance that might happen. It’s not, and the Scripture says in 1 Timothy 3:15, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” The message again is to be prepared in advance so when it happens, we are ready. Consider the most common situations that could arise. In today’s age that means confronting the issue of homosexuality, same sex marriage, gay rights, single moms, and divorce – such issues as we should expect to find around us on a given day.

I was managing a computer consulting company and one of my clients was a multi-national telephone company. The manager of a certain department with whom we did about a half a million dollars of business a year came to me and asked if I would make a donation to a certain charity called the Triangle Foundation. This organization is an advocate for the gay, lesbian and transgender community. He never implied that by not making this donation our business relationship would be harmed, but there was of course a strong chance that this would happen. What did I do? I searched the Bible and found that it treated homosexuality as a sin, but not necessarily as any greater sin than the other ones listed including drunkenness, lust, and pride. I liked this particular customer and he had always been fair with me, but making a donation to a group which advocated a certain sin greatly troubled me. In a sense I could have been asked to send a donation to a group which supported rights for men who chose to view pornography. I prayed about the situation for a long time and after much discussion with one of the other managers decided that we would not make the donation. I decided to tell our customer that we were choosing not to make the donation but did not give a reason for our decision. To his credit the customer did not push the point and dropped the whole matter. A few months later the employee left the company and that was the end of the matter.   Was this some sort of test that God allowed for me?

As Christians, there will undoubtedly be times during which God will require us to count the cost. Sometimes it may be obvious to us, like if confronted by an Islamic terrorist asking us to deny the Lord Jesus. At other times it may be less obvious, like paying the repair costs to a car you hit because the wind caught your door even though it wasn’t explicitly your fault. Perhaps you will run into an ethical situation at work. To use an illustration from one of our readers (we are praying for you sir), maybe you would receive inside information about the price of your competitors bid before you making your own. Or, using an illustration from my world of pay per click advertising, using a competitors trademarked name in your online ad in order to draw them away from that competitive product to your own.

Jesus said in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets” (Luke 6:22-23). Jesus went before us as the extreme example of divine forgiveness. Jesus not only sinned those who sinned against Him but also bore the penalty for our sins. Through His example, we can persevere in our Christian lives to forgive those who sin against us.

Reflection Questions

1. Can you think of a time when you graciously and boldly forgave an “idiot” in your life? In what ways does knowing how God forgave you of your sins (past, present, and future) help you to forgive others?

2. When was a time that you encountered a situation in which you had to count the cost of being a Christian? How does what you learned from Jesus today help to inform you about your past choice? In light of what you learned, what would you have done differently?

Copyright Statement and Source for Apocryphal Readings:

Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner. Source: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings

Welcome back to the Sunday Mass notes. This week, in the first reading, we examine the Prophet Isaiah’s message regarding the future healing coming from God upon the whole sin-broken world. This message especially resonated to the Jews who were under attack from the King of Assyria during this time. Then we continue the study from the Book of James in the second reading. We close with the continuing study from the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus heals a deaf and mute man.

Introduction to the First Reading:

This week, in the first reading, we examine the Prophet Isaiah’s message regarding the future healing coming from God upon the whole sin-broken world. This message especially resonated to the Jews who were under attack from the King of Assyria during this time. Then we continue the study from the Book of James in the second reading. We close with the continuing study from the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus heals a deaf and mute man.

First Reading:

The first reading is from the Prophet Isaiah. The historical context is during the time when King Hezekiah had made an alliance with Egypt (Isaiah 30:1-2) thereby provoking Sennacherib the King of Assyria. Hezekiah’s revolt against Assyria ultimately led to his humiliation in which he was forced to cede reparations as recorded in Second Kings. The people were very afraid of the Assyrian King because he had already conquered and taken captive the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Hezekiah’s unwise decision to trust in an alliance with Egypt angered God. However at some point he came to his senses and confessed his wrongdoing, then tried to buy peace with Sennacherib. “King Hezekiah of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, ‘I have done wrong; withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear.’ The king of Assyria demanded of King Hezekiah of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s house. At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the doorposts that King Hezekiah of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria “2 Kings 18:14-16).

Equally import to the historical context is the location of the reading in the whole of Isaiah and the overall theological context. Today’s reading from Chapter 35 precedes a section in Isaiah regarding the future judgment of the Edomites. This is a people that can be taken both literally (as a region) and figuratively, as anyone (or nation) who opposes God. Edom is the nation that descended from Isaac’s firstborn son, Esau. Esau was Jacob’s brother and the one who claimed the promises of God and the blessing from Israel. Although Esau didn’t war with the Hebrew people during the time of Jacob, his descendants became sworn enemies of the Jews. God says about the Edomites in Chapter 34, “For My sword is satiated in heaven, Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction” (Isaiah 34:5). Although we don’t know exactly how God’s judgment of Edom will play out, we are told many details about the judgment of the earth which must take place before Jesus returns to rule the earth. Scripture seems to indicate that the timing of the judgment is in the distant future, during what is known as the Day of the Lord (DOL). This period of God’s judgment of the seals, trumpets, and bowls as described in Revelation will be accompanied with signs in the heavens. Isaiah said “the sky will be rolled up like a scroll” (Isaiah 34:4b) just as it says in Revelation 6:14. Today’s reading is a message regarding the future restoration after the terrible period of time after the DOL. As in many of the prophetic passages in the Bible, and especially in Isaiah, we can locate both near term fulfillments as well as unfulfilled events that will happen sometime in the future. In some cases we can clearly see partial fulfillments of certain passages through the first coming of Jesus, but yet it is clear that the complete fulfillment won’t occur until the second coming of the Lord. This is the case with today’s reading.

First Reading:

Isaiah 35:4-7 NAS95 4 Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” 5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah. 7 The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes.

The heart of the message was that God would first destroy His enemies and then restore the land. Although the message contained a message of physical healing, the prophet was also speaking metaphorically about the spiritual healing that would occur in the future when all of Israel would be saved (Romans 11:26). In terms of the historical context Isaiah spoke to the people of Judah that were being threatened with attack from the Assyrian Empire who had already devastated their brothers in the Northern Kingdom. The Prophet provided a message of hope to the people, that ultimately God would prevail over his enemies by “com[ing] with vengeance, with terrible recompense” (v. 4d). This will lead to the salvation of the people, “He will come and save you” (v. 4f). During that time the land shall be restored from war, all the evils of the world will be reversed including blindness, deafness, lameness, and the inability to speak (v. 5). The desert shall be watered (v. 6c) and the hot sand shall be blessed with cool water (v. 7). The land, including the region of Edom that was destroyed by God (Isaiah 34:5) and had been turned into the haunt of jackals will be restored. The Prophet’s message would have provided comfort to the people as they faced the onslaught of King Sennacherib while their own king tried to buy the country’s freedom against this vast imposing army. While the people lived with the imminent threat of the Assyrians, Isaiah’s message would have been a rallying cry for exclaiming the power of the one true God over their enemies.

When we look at the ways in which Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled after his time we see that Jesus quoted from this very text. The way in which this happened was while John the Baptist was in prison. He evidently began to have some doubts as to whether Jesus truly was the Messiah. Perhaps he questioned why Jesus would allow him to be imprisoned. John the Baptist sent word to Jesus from prison saying, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”(Matthew 11:3). Jesus answered by quoting from Isaiah. “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM” (Matthew 11:4-5). Jesus said that His healing ministry was in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Later in the Gospel reading we will see another instance of how Jesus fulfilled this prophecy from Isaiah. Like many prophecies in the Old Testament this one was only partially fulfilled during Jesus earthly lifetime. The final fulfilment will happen when the Lord returns to establish his kingdom on earth.

The message of Isaiah for our current day includes a couple of possible application points. One, we can believe in Jesus as the Messiah and be saved from the destructive nature of sin in our own lives. No matter what we have done or what has been done to us that is sinful, Jesus the Messiah, can heal and restore the brokenness of sin. Two, when we have this type of relationship with Jesus, we can also see God the Father’s heart, now, through a different lens. Instead of fearing God’s wrath and punishment for sin, we can draw close to God’s heart that is tender and fiercely loyal to His sons and daughters who are in distress. Romans 8:1 tells us that there is no longer any condemnation associated with those who are in Christ Jesus. So we can boldly approach the throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:16). The fact that God is eager to save and embrace us should encourage and embolden us to live in light of His abiding presence in our lives.

You may wonder how things turned out for Judah. If you read further ahead in Isaiah you can see how God worked mightily but only after Hezekiah came to his senses. Instead of leaning upon foreign alliances and gold to buy his way out, King Hezekiah eventually turned to God for deliverance, “he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the LORD” (Isaiah 37:1). God answered his heartfelt plea by devastating the Assyrian army: “Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead” (Isaiah 37:36).

Introduction to the Second Reading:

The second reading is a continuation of the study begun in James last week. The Book of James is a Book called the “Proverbs of the New Testament” and is filled with practical wisdom for being a Christian. This reading follows James’ teaching on the basic practices of religion which included “visiting orphans and widows in their distress, and keeping oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27). This James is the one who led the first Ecumenical Council recorded in Acts 15 which dealt with rebutting the false teaching that “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). During this meeting James stood up, announced a summary of the scriptural teachings on the matter (from the Old Testament), and provided the authoritative, final judgment on how the church should proceed. His teaching in the Book by his name came to the early church with the same sense of authority that he had during the proceedings of the first church council.

Note: The reading omitted verses 6 – 7 which have been included below.

Second Reading:

James 2:1-5 NAS95 1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? 5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? 7 Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?

This passage is teaching the importance of reflecting the nature of God by treating everyone with fairness and honor. Showing favoritism in the church reflects a muddy picture of God’s heart, confusing people about who God is and what He values. We are to value each person as God values them, and thus avoid the class wars and pecking orders of the world. The poor in this world have a lot to teach those who are supposedly “rich” by material standards. Instead of favoritism dictating our treatment of people, God’s love for all should level the playing field. We can now approach others (rich or poor) with a sense of humility, giving them honor as image bearers of God.

James provides an excellent warning about how God hates pride (Proverbs 8:13) and desires for unity in the Church (John 17). If you think about it, the higher a person is, the further they have to fall! James’ lesson closely parallels the Parable of the Wedding Feast:

7 And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. 10 But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Lu 14:7-11)

In the parable, the central truth is Jesus’ message regarding the sinfulness of pride as well as a call to servanthood. In reality, using the illustration of the feast, the proudest person in the room may be one collecting the food trays after the mea! Only God truly knows the heart (1 Corinthians 2:11), although wealth and power are often accompanied with pride. In this illustration Jesus is calling us to reflect upon the times in which we have positioned ourselves “at the head of the table,” or when we have learned from the mistakes of others in positions of power.

As a college professor who taught in various state prisons for a half dozen years one of the primary lessons I learned was to avoid rushing to judgment of a person based upon their appearance. Prison had a way of leveling the class differences because although everyone dressed uniformly, between hairstyles, tattoos (and scars) the students had ways of making themselves appear differently. Yet even with the students wearing the same uniforms over the course of the class, it would become obvious that there was a “pecking order” among them. Some, like the rich man, “sat” in positions of power, regardless of the location of their physical desk in the classroom. Others were subservient to the leadership positions among the students which became obvious to me over the course of the semester, but which the students already knew. Places of power don’t always mean sitting at the head of the table.

It is instrumental to have a proper understanding of the point that James and Jesus were getting at in order to apply these lessons to our lives. The meaning that they had in mind is best illustrated by Psalm 73. Let’s read that entire text and meditate upon it before moving onto the Gospel lesson.

Psalms 73:1-28 NAS95 1 <<A Psalm of Asaph.>> Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart! 2 But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped. 3 For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 For there are no pains in their death, And their body is fat. 5 They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like mankind. 6 Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them. 7 Their eye bulges from fatness; The imaginations of their heart run riot. 8 They mock and wickedly speak of oppression; They speak from on high. 9 They have set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue parades through the earth. 10 Therefore his people return to this place, And waters of abundance are drunk by them. 11 They say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge with the Most High?” 12 Behold, these are the wicked; And always at ease, they have increased in wealth. 13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure And washed my hands in innocence; 14 For I have been stricken all day long And chastened every morning. 15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children. 16 When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight 17 Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end. 18 Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. 19 How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! 20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form. 21 When my heart was embittered And I was pierced within, 22 Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. 23 Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. 24 With Your counsel You will guide me, And afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. 28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.

Although the people who are rich in faith may suffer during this lifetime, those that are only rich in material things and full of pride will suffer eternal destruction.

Introduction to the Gospel Reading:

The Gospel reading continues from Mark that we looked at last week. This week the context is Jesus’ teaching in the Gentile region of the Decapolis to the east of the Jordan. Today’s reading follows the healing of a Gentile in the region of Tyre and Sidon (Mark 7:24) when Jesus cast out a demon from the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter (Mark 7:24-30). Interestingly, the Decapolis was the same region in which Jesus was asked to leave after healing the man possessed by a legion of demons. Once the demons left the out of control man, they entered a herd of 2000 pigs, which caused them to run off a cliff into the Sea of Galilee and be destroyed. When the owners found out about this “they began to implore Him to leave their region” (Mark 5:17). Nonetheless, Jesus returned there and resumed His healing ministry. Perhaps this was because the formerly demon possessed man whom He healed went and told many others in that region about Jesus (Mark 4:20).

Gospel Reading:

Mark 7:31-37 NAS95 31 Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. 32 They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him. 33 Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; 34 and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” 35 And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. 36 And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. 37 They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

He took a very long and circuitous route to get to the Decapolis by going from Tyre through Sidon and then back to the Decapolis (v. 31). We are not told the reason why he would have taken this route and the possible many months it would have required. Despite them having earlier asked Jesus to leave their region someone brought a man to Him for healing. Jesus separated the man from the crowd then proceeded to heal him. Jesus used two physical signs to manifest the healing given to Him by His Father God. First, he put his fingers into the man’s ears, and then placed His own saliva on the man’s tongue (v. 33). Evidently he did this to accommodate the others who were watching (“they” in v. 37). Jesus looked up to heaven and sighed showing His reliance upon God the Father as well as His compassion for the man’s condition brought on by the fallen world. Next, the first thing Jesus told them including the man whose speech was restored was to keep silent! Jesus knew that His time had not yet come (John 7:6) and having these people broadcast about Him wouldn’t serve the timing of the perfect plan the Father had for Him. Another perspective is that His statement to keep quiet had more to do with His disciples than about the Gentiles who were present during the healing. As we mentioned in the first reading, the prophets like Isaiah used physical blindness and deafness as a metaphor for the people’s spiritual condition. At this point Jesus’ own disciples didn’t understand the spiritual significance of all that was going on because in the very next chapter He told them, “Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR?” (Mark 8:17c – 18b). Jesus, knowing that by asking the Gentiles to keep quiet may stir them on to proclaim the healing that much more may have been making a statement to His disciples about their unbelief. This, along with the fact that the disciples would have been familiar with the Old Testament metaphor of blindness and that Jesus opened the eyes of a blind man lends more credence to this interpretation. Jesus is in effect telling His disciples that He can open the eyes of the blind but they were still spiritually blind to many of the realities of His nature. Although Peter soon afterwards confessed that Jesus is the Christ (Matthew 16:16), all of them had a lot to learn about Jesus – even after He rose from the dead.

There are many applications of Jesus message for our lives today, here are a few:

• Jesus’ healing of the blind man’s physical ailments reminds us of the need for everyone’s need for a spiritual birth. Spiritual blindness is the primary condition that vexes humanity today, the only unforgivable sin (Mark 3:22-30). In John’s Gospel Jesus said that “unless a person is born from above they will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (John 3:3). Saint Paul said that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and “the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Paul continued by saying, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). The Scripture is clear that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). We cannot earn this free gift but must accept it in faith. “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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
• If we desire to be like Jesus, we too can be drawn to minister to the handicapped. Considering what we learned from James, the “handicapped” aren’t necessarily just the people with obvious physical issues. Instead, we can pray to consider ministering to those who are marginalized in our society.
• As we learned in the reading from Isaiah, if we and others for whom we care are struggling with handicaps, remember how the prophetic messages in the Bible point us to the perfect healing we will one day receive with the Lord Jesus. For some this may mean experiencing physical death and meeting Jesus in heaven (John 14:3).
• We too can be astonished that Jesus does all things well (v. 37a,b)! Jesus lived a perfect life and we can be changed by how He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).

Reflection Questions

1. Develop a list of some categories of people who are marginalized in our society. Second, ask God in what ways you can be praying for specific people that you know fall into this category. Ask God to show you His will regarding ways in which you could minister to one of these people before the end of the year.

2. Read John 14:1-3 and answer the question that follows.

John 14:1-3 NAS95 1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

1. How does knowing that Jesus is 1. Going to prepare a place for you, and 2. Going to meet you when you get there, help you to face the handicaps you are experiencing in your life today?

1. Especially in light of how God has helped you with any “handicaps,” would you consider sharing your testimony with the fellow readers of Mass Notes? If so, please send me your testimony or upload it in the form provided on the web site.

Welcome back to the Sunday Mass notes. This week we open with a comprehensive introduction to Ezekiel from the first reading. Then move to Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans and conclude with Matthew 18 where we discuss the procedure given to us from God regarding the resolution of disputes between believers.  We would like to think that we would never need this but conflict is one inevitable consequence of the fall of mankind (Genesis 3).

Introduction to the First Reading:

The first reading is from the Prophet Ezekiel. He was an animated prophet who sometimes acted out the message that God gave him in very peculiar ways. For example one time he dug a hole in the side of his house (Ezekiel 12), cooked his food using human waste for fuel (Ez 4:9), and laid on his right side for 390 days and then 40 days more only on his left! Ezekiel was among about ten thousand in the second group of Jews that were carried off to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar’s invading forces in 597 BC. He ministered after the tragic death of godly King Josiah in 609 who had enacted broad reforms in Judah. However, the people were so entrenched in their idolatry that they quickly returned to their tragic way of living after the king’s death at the hands of the Egyptian army. Ezekiel’s message, like many, if not most of the prophets, is easier to understand after it has been fulfilled versus interpreting it in the predictive sense. For example, chapter 38 of his book contains a frightful prophecy about something that will come upon Israel at some future date. We know from the description of the events in that section that nothing like this has ever come upon them up until now, but interpreting Ezekiel’s message is extremely difficult without the benefit of hindsight. Such was the case even for Jesus’s own disciples in interpreting relatively straightforward messages from Isaiah regarding the Lord Jesus himself. Interestingly enough, the meaning of today’s reading is very clear.

The context of today’s reading is clearly illustrated in the first six verses that precede it:

1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’” (Ezekiel 33:1-6)

Ezekiel provided an illustration of the responsibility for the people to warn each other regarding their sin by relating it to the necessity of a person appointed in a military position to warn his superiors of an approaching army. It is common sense that a person appointed as a military guard would quickly report an approaching army, yet the people didn’t warn each other about the sin that was approaching and even inside of their own souls.

With this context in mind let’s continue reading the text of the first reading.

First Reading:

7 Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. 9 But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.( Ezekiel 33:7-9)

Part of Ezekiel’s role as a prophet was to vindicate the theocratic kingdom rule that God had ordained through the Law. This message was very specifically directed towards Ezekiel. Notice that the word “you” (and your) appeared no less than seven times in reference to Ezekiel. Verse one provided a good summary of the big idea of the reading. “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me.” This message was not, as some have said, in the context of evangelism. This admonition was made specifically to the Prophet Ezekiel in the context of warning his fellow Israelites about God’s strong admonition for them to live according to the terms of their covenant. Ezekiel’s role was to call them back to their covenant relationship with God. Not only was Ezekiel a watchman for the house of Israel, but all of the prophets, including the New Testament prophet John the Baptist acted in that role.

We can draw a theological principle from the text. Sometimes love is tough, we don’t always want to hear what the authorities are saying when we are stepping out of line with God’s plan for our lives. God in His kindness warns us when we are moving into destructive ways, but we are responsible to heed the warning. God warns us not only through His Word in the Bible but also through other people who embrace and then speak the truth of His Word. He also warns us through allowing certain difficult circumstances to intervene. Sometimes our first instinct is to attack the person that brought us the information about which we felt convicted. Later when we study the Gospel lesson, we will see how Jesus provided a procedure for dealing with conflicts between believers.

Introduction to the Second Reading:

The second reading is from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans. The context is just after Paul finished explaining his compelling desire for all of Israel to come to faith in the Lord Jesus including those before his time (Romans 9), those during his time (Romans 10), and those that will come after him (Romans 11). Next in Chapter 12, he explained how Christians were called to live transformed lives and present their bodies as living sacrifices. This is in contrast to what the author of Hebrews said about the Jewish Law, “Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins” (Hebrews 10:11) since Jesus offered his body not as a victim but willingly on the cross once for all (Hebrews 10:10).

The reading today is from Chapter 13 which opens with an admonition for believers in the Lord Jesus to submit to their government authorities.  Paul said, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (Romans 13:1). He continued:

Second Reading:

Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor” (Romans 13:2-7)

It’s important to remember that God commands us to obey our government authorities. As we will see in the reading he puts this admonition on the same level as our need to obey the Commandments. With this context in mind let’s proceed with the second reading.

8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

Paul quoted from the Old Testament and provided the seventh, sixth, eighth, and ninth commandments (Exodus 20:13-17). Paul also included Jesus’ statement from Mark 12:31 that summed up the last five commandments. Christians are called to be careful stewards of their resources and to obey the commandments given by Him and which God has already placed on their hearts (Romans 2:15). As you can see, the heart of what God wants for us is to love one another. We fulfill this “law” by treating others with dignity and respect, the way we ourselves would want to be treated. Instead of trying to take advantage of people for our own gain, we should “owe” them nothing except love. What an amazing contrast Christians would be if we lived according to this passage.

Introduction to the Gospel Reading:

The Gospel lesson is from Saint Matthew. The context was just after the transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:2) when Jesus began to teach the disciples about God’s kingdom values. The disciples asked who was the greatest in the kingdom. They evidently were alluding to the argument recording in Luke regarding who of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24). Jesus settled the matter by setting a child before Himself and saying, “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4). Jesus continued to teach them that the kingdom of heaven lies in sharp contrast to the kingdom of this world.

Gospel Reading:

15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” (Matthew 18:15-20)

Today’s Gospel lesson can be applied in two contexts, first for the resolution of an issue between two Christians (whether or not they attend the same church), and second, as a procedure set forth by God for handling issues related to church discipline. The process for resolving either type of dispute is similar. In the reading, Jesus provided a four-step process for resolving conflict. First, Jesus taught that the offended person should talk to the offender privately, “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother (v. 15).” The Greek word translated “show him his fault” is elegchō, which in this context might better read, “to convince and turn them away from their sin.”  In Galatians, Paul directed that this must be done “in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted” (Gal 6:1).  Second, Jesus stated that if the private meeting did not result in repentance and satisfaction, the offender was to be approached by a small group, “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED” (Matt 18:16).  The second meeting provided the offender with another opportunity to repent, albeit more forceful than a private meeting.  Paul affirmed this doctrine as applicable to the church: “Reject a factious man after a first and second warning” (Titus 3:10). 

The third step that Jesus outlined in Matthew was a “public corrective summons.”  In this announcement Jesus said, “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church (ekklesia in the original)” (Matt 18:17a).  The word ekklēsia means, “a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation.

The fourth and final step that Jesus outlined regarding corrective discipline in the Jewish assembly was a “public corrective exclusion.” Jesus continued his discourse in verse 17 and said, “and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (v. 17b). 

Should this four-step process outlined by Jesus for correction within the Jewish assembly be utilized in the church at large? Yes. It would seem that Jesus intended this four-step process for all believers. In Matthew 18:17 this is the second and last occurrence of the word “church” in the gospels. It is used in a different sense here from that in Matthew 16:18.  In the earlier occurrence it has reference to the body of Christ composed of those who are baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13).  Here it speaks of the local assembly, a body of believers gathered together as a fellowship.  Both times the Lord uses the term He is anticipating in the future when the church age would begin after His resurrection from the dead. Second, Paul evidently believed that Jesus’ teaching applied to the church since he provided similar advice.  In 2 Thess 3:6 and 1 Corin 5:5, Paul said, “deliver such a one to Satan,” which is very similar to Jesus’ teaching in the fourth step in Matthew 18:17b.  In 1 Tim 5:20, Paul’s advice was very similar to Jesus’ third step (Matt 18:17a), “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.”  Paul’s advice in 2 Thess 3:15b to “admonish him as a brother” was very similar to Jesus’ first step of restoration with a sinning brother in Matt 18:15.  Paul in describing the process of discipline against an elder used very similar language to Jesus in 1 Tim 5:19-20.  It is evident from the biblical evidence that Paul and the apostles relied upon Jesus’ teaching on discipline within the Jewish assembly, and that this teaching was relevant to the yet to exist church.

What does this mean for our lives? First, the goal of church discipline is restoration as well as the secondary purpose of restraining sin in the church. Paul said, “(W)ith gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” Church discipline was also for the purpose of restraining sin, as  is evident in 1 Timothy, “Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning” (5:20).  The same theme is evident in the narrative of Ananias and Saphira in Acts 5 with the conclusion of the account by Luke, “And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things” (v. 11). 

Second, Paul and Peter made it clear that a secondary purpose of church discipline was to preserve the Christ-like reputation of the church among the gentiles.  Paul spoke to the Philippians, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world” (2:14-15).  Peter made a similar statement in 1 Peter 2:12. 

Finally, an additional insight from the Epistles is that Paul intended church discipline to keep false teachings from the church.  In Galatians 5:7-9 Paul stated the principle that a little bit of sin in the church spoiled the whole assembly. In 2 Thessalonians Paul stated the principle explicitly, “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us” (3:6).  A final insight offered in the Epistles is the restorative goal of church discipline.  In 2 Timothy, Paul stated, “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2:25-26).  The insights from the Acts and Epistles help to clarify both the process and purposes of church discipline.

Reflection Questions

1.  How do you handle conflict? What steps of this four-step process could you begin to practice this week?

2.  When Christians live under God’s kingdom values, our lives should look very different from those who are still ruled by worldly values. This week’s Scripture focused on the following themes. Which of these do you already practice? Which do you want to see increased in your life? Use this to guide your prayer life with God this week:

A. Because God tells the truth and warns humans of impending danger connected to sin, we likewise are called to tell the truth and warns others. We saw this in the first reading from Ezekiel.

B. Because God loves us, we too ought to love others. Instead of exploiting people or moving toward them in selfish ways, we move toward them in love. We saw this in the second reading from Romans.

C. Because God’s heart is one of restoration, we can become peacemakers in the midst of conflict and sin.