{"id":680,"date":"2015-02-05T09:51:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T14:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=680"},"modified":"2015-03-20T09:54:24","modified_gmt":"2015-03-20T14:54:24","slug":"joy-comes-from-listening-to-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=680","title":{"rendered":"Joy Comes From Listening to God"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time<\/span><\/h2>\n

Heb 12: 18-19, 21-24; Mark 6: 7-13<\/span><\/h2>\n

Deacon Larry Brockman<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know about you, but that first reading sounded kind of scary when I first read it!<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Recall that when Moses led the people to Mt.Sinai, they saw what was truly unapproachable- that which couldn\u2019t be touched because it was feared; a blazing fire; gloomy darkness covered by clouds; a storm; and a voice that those who heard feared greatly.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And as a result, the Israelites asked to be spared of a repeat of the horrible spectacle.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>They asked for someone to speak in God\u2019s name.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Moses made the request, and God appointed prophets in the tradition of Moses.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Moses and these prophets spread God\u2019s word in the form of the scripture and the law.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>They were captured as the ten commandments and the other laws handed on by tradition in the Jewish scripture.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But over the course of Israeli History, the people didn\u2019t listen to the prophets.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>They were disobedient.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And Israel was scattered in exile. But not before these same prophets had predicted a new order- a New Covenant; one in which God would send his only son.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>God\u2019s son would be like all the rest of us, human in form.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And his word would be direct, not through prophets, but through his own example and spoken word as God\u2019s son.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus spent three years telling his good news- the Gospel, a message of the heart, a message of love.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And Jesus spoke and acted with \u201cauthority\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cAuthority\u201d is that special quality one has who speaks and acts with power delegated from above, the power of God- just as the prophets spoke with authority.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But Jesus acted and spoke with a \u201cfidelity\u201d that rang true.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus not only spoke for God, he was God.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Gospel, we see Jesus delegating his \u201cauthority\u201d to the Apostles. And we hear that the Apostles worked the same wonders in healing as they spread God\u2019s word.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>How fortunate we are to have the Bishops and leaders of the Church who today lead us with the same authority that was delegated to the 12 Apostles.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The message that we have received from the Gospel is exhilarating and exciting.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>By following the Gospel of Jesus, by accepting God\u2019s word on Faith, and living as Jesus taught, we can share in the legacy of Jesus- eternal life in the resurrected state in the kingdom of God.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This is what Paul is talking about in the second half of the first reading.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We share in this promise by preparing to approach Mount Zion as we go through our earthly lives.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And what are we approaching?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The city of the living God- Mount Zion and the new Jerusalem with.countless angels in festive gathering; and the assembly of Jesus, the firstborn, in heaven, along with the spirits of the just made perfect.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>That is us- the spirits of the just made perfect.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So rather than scary, that first reading should bring us much joy because it is a message of hope and of eternal happiness for those who believe.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Heb 12: 18-19, 21-24; Mark 6: 7-13 Deacon Larry Brockman \u00a0 I don\u2019t know about you, but that first reading sounded kind of scary when I first read it!\u00a0 Recall that when Moses led the people to Mt.Sinai, they saw what was truly unapproachable- that which couldn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[329],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":681,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions\/681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}