St. Paul s Anglican Church 24th Sun after Trinity, Matt 9:18-26 Nov 11, 2018 Rev. Tom Burr Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament and its events are believed to have taken place 400 to 450 years before the birth of Christ. Many of the Israelites have returned to Jerusalem from bondage in Babylon but the spiritual condition of this remnant is not good. Even the religious leaders do not take God seriously, and even though the people think it is vain to serve God, they do not understand why He has not totally restored them to the prominence of King David s days, nearly 600 years previous. In our reading, the prophet Malachi assures them that God will return to them to punish the evil doers and reward the faithful. God said, They, the faithful, shall be my special possession on the day when I act. Then once more you shall distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. So, serving God is never a vain, or useless endeavor; it is not a waste of our time. A few verses after our reading, God promises, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. This prophet will prepare the way of the Messiah, the Savior, the One who will punish the evil doers and reward the faithful; and Jesus identified the one who came in the spirit and power of the great prophet Elijah as John the Baptist. Now, skipping 400 years after Malachi, while Jesus is early in his ministry in Galilee, some of John the Baptist s disciples came to Him. They asked why they and the Pharisees often fast, but his disciples do not. Our Lord responded, Can the wedding guests mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. In those days wedding guests did
not fast, and they were not expected to partake in other religious activities either. The concept of the wedding feast was used to designate the time of the Messiah, so, when Jesus said the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, He is speaking about Himself who will be taken away, crucified and resurrected. Jesus is telling John s disciples, and all who are present that He is the Messiah, the Savior. Our gospel reading from Matthew follows this interaction and in it our Lord gives tangible evidence to support this claim. There came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead; but come and lay your hand upon her, and she shall live. This ruler is most likely the person who presides over the services and administration of the local synagogue; and he has probably heard Jesus teaching and witnessed his earlier miracles. He knows that only God can raise the dead, yet he pleads, come and lay your hand upon her, and she shall live. He recognizes our Lord s Messianic power. As they traveled to the ruler s house to minister to his daughter, a second opportunity for Jesus to claim his Messiahship was thrust upon Him. A woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment. The woman also recognizes our Lord s Messianic power, for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. Jesus ability to heal physically and spiritually is witnessed as our Lord rewarded her trust in Him saying, Daughter, be of good comfort; your faith has made you whole. Being made whole indicates her disease was removed from her, and also, through her faith, her sins were forgiven. Jesus restored her to physical and spiritual well-being. So far, our Lord has demonstrated power to remove a disease that no one else had been able to heal, but a greater challenge awaits Him. While the synagogue ruler believes He will restore life to his daughter, not everyone does. When Jesus came into 2
the ruler's house, he said to them, Give place, or depart, for the maid is not dead, but sleeping. And they laughed at him. When confronted with the power of Jesus today, many still laugh at Him. Unaffected by their lack of faith, our Savior gave further proof to his claim; for when He took her by the hand, the maid arose. Jesus Christ healed a disease that had been incurable, recognized a truly repentant woman s heart and thereby forgave her sins, and raised a dead girl to life, surely these miracles prove He is the Son of God. Now, only those who totally reject Him and the Father who sent him, will deny his divinity. Before we throw a huge victory party, we need to examine Paul s epistle to the Colossians. He had received reports that while the local church demonstrated faith in Jesus and practiced godly love, several heresies, or false teachings, were being introduced as Church doctrine. One of these was a form of Arianism, so even after his resurrection and Ascension, some who professed belief in Him, denied his divinity, denied He is God. In our reading from the first chapter, Paul begins to address the errors in this early church by offering a sincere prayer that they may be filled with the knowledge of God s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; and increasing in the knowledge of God. Paul prays they will be given an accurate concept of truth. The ability to properly apply truth in their lives will enable them to walk worthy of the Lord, being fruitful in every good work. But, spiritual knowledge, wisdom and understanding, and the good deeds they lead us to perform, do not make us worthy of the salvation we receive through our faith. Paul said we are to give thanks to the Father, who has made us meet, (qualified) to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Through our faith, God gives us the tools to please Him, and makes us worthy to share everlasting life with all saints who have gone before us. There is nothing we can do to earn a one-way ticket to heaven because only God makes us worthy. But as we gain spiritual knowledge, wisdom and understanding, we are changed, and should find joy in doing the work He calls us to do. 3
On the cover of the October s Veterans of Foreign Wars magazine, there is a picture of retired Navy SEAL, David Goggins. He received the 2018 VFW Americanism Award for raising funds and awareness for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which ministers to the children of fallen special forces troops. In the article, David speaks about the obstacles he faced growing up. He had low self-esteem, and lived in a town, as he said, that had many great people, but also, a lot of people that didn t like blacks. He said all he saw was hatred and that his upbringing was just built that way, but he also said, my mother taught me how to get up when I was knocked down. He enlisted in the Air Force but had to drop out of special operations training after he was diagnosed with sickle cell trait, which can be deadly. Sometime after his discharge, he applied for the Navy Seal program and was required to lose 100 pounds in three months simply to qualify to try. This time he succeeded; and after several of his comrades were killed in June of 2005, he began helping children of fallen troops. I wondered how someone facing so many obstacles evolved into a successful author and sought-after motivational speaker, so I checked the internet. I was not surprised with what I found. Here is the secret to David Goggins success in his own words. One thing I don t talk about is my relationship with God. I don t care what you believe in. But if you believe in nothing what s the point in living? Believing in something bigger than me has always kept me in the fight. The path God put in front of me was full of adversity and failure. Well that path of adversity and failure led me right to peace. Hope is all around you. The problem isn t life. The problem is how we think about our own life. When Christians face obstacles, as David Goggins did, we need to remember the lessons he learned and those from today s readings because they are intertwined. First, serving God is never a vain, or useless endeavor. We gain much more than we give. Next, Jesus Christ, the Great Healer, forgives our sincerely confessed sins, and makes us whole; He makes us worthy of being 4
partakers of the inheritance of the saints. So, as he raised the young girl to life, through our faith He will raise us to everlasting life. And finally, as we gain spiritual knowledge, wisdom and understanding, we are changed so that we find joy in doing the work God calls us to do. So, let each of us allow the light of Jesus Christ shine through us bringing his love and his peace into this perverse world. Now unto God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be ascribed all might, majesty, power, dominion and glory, both now and evermore. Amen. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. St. Matthew ix. 18. WHILE Jesus spake these things unto John's disciples, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples. And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, he said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land. Malachi 3:13-4:3 5
13 Your words have been stout against me, says the Lord. Yet you say, How have we spoken against thee? 14 You have said, It is vain to serve God. What is the good of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? 15 Henceforth we deem the arrogant blessed; evildoers not only prosper but when they put God to the test they escape. 16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another; the Lord heeded and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and thought on his name. 17 They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. 4 [a] For behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. Colossians i. 3-13 WE give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth: as ye also learned of Epaphras our dear 6
fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. 7