What Manner of Love the Father hath bestowed on us

Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity, Sunday, November 17th, 2013

Fr. Todd Bragg

St. Margaret Anglican Church

Indianapolis, Indiana

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God."  (I St. John 3:1ff)

Remember from the Old Testament the story of Moses that the sons of the Hebrews were ordered to be killed and the mother of Moses placed Moses in a basket and floated him down the river where he was found by Pharaoh's sister, who raised Moses as her son.   Of course, we all remember this played out in that wonderful movie, the Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston?  Basically, if you remember the movie . . . and who doesn't . . . . it is very dramatic when Moses is portrayed as living the "Life of Riley" in the palace with all kinds of servants, and wearing fine clothing, and having power unimaginable.  But then he finds out that he is really a Hebrew, the son of Hebrew slaves and he chooses to live as a Hebrew, even if it meant living in bondage to the Egyptians.  From Hebrews we hear:  "By faith Moses, when he was come of years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter."  (Hebrews 11:24)  And further on, we read:  "By faith (Moses) forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible."  In other words, Moses had faith in God, and would rather live in bondage with other slaves than to live in luxury under Pharaoh.  

In today's Epistle coming to us from the First Letter of St. John, we hear that the love that God has for us that He has called us to be His children.  It is interesting to hear about what people do in order to adopt children today.  All of the paperwork that they have to fill out.  All of the investigations that have to be done in regards to their background.  All of the thousands and thousands of dollars in regards to paying legal fees, medical bills, etc.  And, yet, they do all of this because they chose the one that they wanted to call their very own child.  Now, of course, adopting a child is not about the money that is involved but we only raise that issue to point out what people do in order to adopt a child and the price that they pay in order to place that child in a loving home.  Well, God paid the price as well when He adopted us:  He sent His only Son into the world to become a human; and that same Son paid the ultimate price upon the Cross.  So, seen in that respect, God, Our Heavenly Father, also paid a dear price for us as His adopted children here on earth:  He paid with His Son.

"And I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."  (II Corinthians 6:18)

But St. John goes on in this passage by pointing out that not only are we sons and daughters of the Father through adoption, but that we need to acknowledge this adoption by not sinning or giving into sin.  Now, of course, each one of us is human and therefore, we are all imperfect.  But we are called to do what we can by keeping in God's grace and away from sin as much as possible.  "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear: but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Romans 8:14-15)

St. John goes on to point out that we know that we are following in Our Father's footsteps by the way in which we treat those around us.  "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments."  (I St. John 5:2)  Thus, let us do what we can to not only obey the Commandments of God but also do what we can to love those around us.  Now, of course, we are not always going to like everyone that we come in contact with, but we need to do what we can to love those in whom we come into contact with.

The maid is not dead, but sleepeth

Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity, Sunday, November 10th, 2013

Fr. Todd Bragg

St. Margaret Anglican Church

Indianapolis, Indiana

". . . for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth.  And they laughed Him to scorn."  (St. Matthew 9:24)

In today's Gospel passage, St. Matthew tells about two miracles.  As Jesus is gathered together with some of John's apostles, St. Matthew tells us that a ruler comes to ask Our Lord to come and heal his daughter because she is on the verge of death.  As they went to the house, a woman who had been sick for twelve years touches the hem of Our Lord's garment and is cured.  Now, St. Luke adds a bit to this same story.  He points out that there were a huge multitude of people when this woman touched the hem of His garment and immediately Our Lord asked, "Who touched Me?  When all denied, Peter and they that were with Him said, Master, the multitude throng you and press you, and say you, Who touched Me?"  (St. Luke 8:44)  But in St. Matthew's version, Our Lord merely turned to the woman and told her that it was her faith that made her whole.  

Now, when Our Lord had arrived at the ruler's house, He soon discovered that the young woman had died already.  St. Matthew tells us that there were people there at the home bewailing the death of the young girl.  We are told that there were minstrels / musicians there in the house as well playing lamentations about the girl's death.  Our Lord stated, " . . .  give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth." (v. 24)   Now, in all fairness, if it were you and I facing the same circumstances and some stranger walks into the house and calmly announces that our friend was not really dead, we would probably have the same reaction.  But Our Lord did what He came to do.  He got everyone out of there so that He could go to work.  He raised the young girl to life again.  

Now, a couple of observations in regards to this story.  First, Our Lord used the word "sleep."  Note that He also used that word "sleep" in similar story.  Remember that He used this word when He was speaking of Lazarus.  See St. John 11:11:  "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth."    Now, St. Bede wrote concerning Our Lord using this phrase:  "As though He said, to you she is dead, but to God, Who has power to give life, she sleeps only, both in soul and body."  In Psalm 119:7, we also hear: "Turn, O my soul, into thy rest, for the Lord has been bountiful to thee."  

Secondly, what seems foolish and laughable to those who are not believers, Our Blessed Saviour is able to turn something truly unbelievable into something miraculous.  " . . . with men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible."  (St. Matthew 10:27)   God is the One Who makes things possible.  He is the One Who achieves what we thought is not attainable.  He is the One Who performs miracles just when we had lost hope.  What seems impossible to us, is not impossible to God.  As Christians, we are called to look beyond our physical sight, our physical vision.  We are called to looked down deep.  Because what appears one way to the outward senses is something completely different from reality. 

Following pictures were taken on Sunday, November 10th, 2013 when Bishop Larry Shaver and Mrs. Carol Shaver visited St. Margaret of Scotland Church.  We are always happy when they are able to join us for Mass.  

Above:  Mrs. Carol Shaver along with His Grace, Bishop Larry Shaver

Above:  Mrs. Margaret Simpson; Bishop Shaver; Jean Smith

Above:  Mrs. Linda Decker with Bishop and Mrs. Shaver

Above: Fr. Todd Bragg along with His Grace, Bishop Larry Shaver, after Mass.

Above:  Bishop Larry Shaver at the Coffee Hour

Render unto Caesar

Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity, Sunday, November 3rd, 2013

Fr. Todd Bragg

St. Margaret Anglican Church

Indianapolis, Indiana

"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."  (St. Matthew 22:15ff)

Did you ever hear the phrase, "Politics makes strange bedfellows?"  In today's Gospel passage from St. Matthew, we see some strange bedfellows joining together to trap Our Blessed Lord in His words.  On the one side, we have the Pharisee's, who saw themselves as extremely devout Jews, who prided themselves on following Jewish laws and customs down to the letter.  They wanted nothing to do with the local Roman authority and did not even want to pay tribute to the local officials because, as devout Jews, they felt that they should only have to pay tribute to God and not to man.  On the other side, we have the Herodians, who followed King Herod, the Roman-appointed king.  Thus, the Herodians very much supported the Roman government and its' local officials.  Thus, we have two opposite sides joining together to trap Our Saviour.  Strange bedfellows, indeed.

Now, they prefaced their question to Him by smoothing Him over.  They gave Him lots of compliments prior to asking the question if it is lawful to pay tax or not.  Now, of course, in their own way, they were very clever to ask this question because they knew that they would have Him either way whichever way He answered.   Because if He answered that it was not lawful to pay tribute, then they could accuse Him of  not obeying the local Roman authority.  But on the other hand, if He stated that it was permissible to pay tribute, then they could accuse Him of paying heed to man before God.

Now, before He answered their question, He also prefaced His answer by first telling them that they were hypocrites because He knew their hearts and He knew that they were asking the question merely to trap Him in the answer that He gave.  But, true to form, Our Lord out-flanked both parties by giving them an answer that they had not expected in the least.  He asked to see a coin and pointed out that it was Caesar's picture on the coin, and to therefore render to Caesar what belonged to Caesar and to give to God what belonged to God.

As a Man, Jesus knew what it was to be a member of society:  He was a devoted son; He was a carpenter; He was a contributing member of the society in which He lived.  Thus, He certainly was aware that human beings, if they are to reside together, will have to live under a form of government or authority for the good of the whole.   In other words, He was not unfamiliar with living under the authority of others while He lived here on earth.

If we look elsewhere in St. Matthew's Gospel (St. Matthew 17:24-26) we hear the story of Jesus and St. Peter travelling to Capernum:

" . . . and when they came to Capernum, (the tax-collectors) came to Peter and said, 'Doth not your master pay tribute?'"  Meaning, in other words, give up your tax to be here in Capernum.  Now St. Peter went to Our Lord and told Him about the situation and Our Lord responded:  "Lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and taketh up the fish; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money; that, take, and give unto them for Me and thee."

Thus, as we just saw, Our Lord was not opposed to paying His fair-share, just as everyone else did.  But the point is this:  we must always remember that, as Christians we are a sort of dual citizen, we are citizens here in the local communities where we live but we are also citizens of Heaven.  And this is where our true citizenship awaits us because St. Paul reminds us in today's Epistle to the Philipians (3:17):  "For our citizenship is in Heaven; from whence we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ."    We are called to do our part as citizens where we live here on earth but we are never to forget that we are citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom and that it our true home.  Where we are living now is only temporary, our  Heavenly home will be eternal and this is what we are striving towards.