[00:00:05] Hello, my name is Sally Moriarty-Flask. Welcome to: From His Word to Our Hearts, my weekly Bible Study podcast. Together we will explore the readings to be proclaimed at the Catholic Mass on Sunday, August 9, 2026, the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
This week's episode is entitled: Startled by God, and these readings remind us that we encounter plenty of storms in our lives, some very real and some metaphorical, and that sometimes we are overwhelmed by our very human fears, which cause us, like Peter in this week's Gospel, to take our eyes off Jesus and sink into the depths of our own negativity. But that doesn't mean we have to remain there.
As we journey through the readings this week, consider the following:
When Peter heard Jesus’ voice, he stepped out of the boat and onto the water, but then he saw the wind and began to sink. We expect God to come to us amid fanfare and trumpet blasts, but that's not always how God works. Sometimes he comes, not in the wind or the earthquake or the fire, but as a still, small voice - just as he came to Elijah on Mount Horeb. So, how do we turn down the volume of a raucous and noisy world so that we can hear God when he whispers to us?
[00:01:40] Let's begin in prayer:
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Heavenly Father, help us to recognize the many ways you speak to us - in Sacred Scripture, in prayer, and through the kindness of others. And help us, in turn, share all of the blessings you bestow upon us with those who may not even recognize their need for them in this beautiful but noisy world. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now that we've opened our hearts in prayer, let's listen to what God is telling us in the Scriptures.
[00:02:21] Our Gospel this week is from Matthew 14:22-33.
“[After he had fed the people, Jesus] made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. When evening came, he was alone there, but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out for fear. But immediately he spoke to them, saying, ‘Take heart, it is I; have no fear.’ And Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, bid me to come to you on the water.’ He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus; but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me.’ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught [Peter], saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’”
[00:04:00] This week's passage takes up right where last week's passage left off. Jesus had multiplied the five loaves and two fish and used the resulting abundance to feed a great crowd consisting of five thousand men and an undisclosed number of women and children. In the Bible, the next verse simply begins with the word: “Then” but those who compiled the Lectionary need to set the scene for those who will hear this Gospel proclaimed at Mass, so the passage in the Lectionary begins: “After he had fed the people.”
And remember too, that Jesus had intended to go off alone to grieve the death of John the Baptist as last week's passage began, but the crowds followed him and Jesus could not allow them to go hungry… not for his words, not for the healing that he could accomplish for them, and not for the very practical food they needed. Now Jesus finally has the opportunity he needs to grieve properly.
[00:05:15] So, let's listen to what Matthew has to tell us…
[00:05:19] “[After he had fed the people, Jesus] made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side,”
[00:05:28] Matthew tells us that Jesus MADE the disciples get into the boat, in other words, he pushes his disciples a bit there. Jesus' actions demonstrate that he trusts the disciples to make their way in the world on their own - kind of like a mama bird pushing her fledglings out of the nest, trusting that they are ready to fly - while Jesus does his own thing apart from the watchful eyes of his disciples.
Jesus is also setting the scene, if you will, for what will happen later. And remember, a boat has become one of the symbols for the Church. In fact, we sometimes refer to the Church as the Barque of Peter (and the word Barque is not b-a-r-k, bark, but B-a-r-q-u-e). It is a French word for a three-masted sailing ship. That word's origin comes into the French from both Latin and Greek.
One other fun fact - the non-specific Latin word for a ship or boat is navis… from which we derive the word nave. A nave, of course, is the main section of a church stretching from the rear doors to the beginning of the sanctuary. So, two different words for boat, both having to do with the Church.
Okay, so Jesus made his disciples get into a boat…
“while he dismissed the crowds.”
[00:07:15] We aren't told what Jesus said to dismiss the crowds - none of the disciples were present to witness that - but I can't help but be reminded of the dismissal from a Catholic Mass.
[00:07:31] After all, the crowds were fed by Jesus in a meal that prefigured the Last Supper AND our modern Sacrament of the Eucharist, and Jesus himself dismisses those whom he fed to go away from the place where they were gathered and go back to their daily lives.
[00:07:55] Now, there are four different options for dismissal from the Mass… the shortest is: “Go in peace” and the longest is: “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.”
[00:08:11] I sincerely doubt that Jesus used either of those specific formulas… I imagine he would have had to do quite a bit of convincing to get everyone to leave. And that phrase: “he dismissed the crowds” encourages us to put ourselves in the scene and imagine what Jesus may have said or done to both disperse and still encourage the crowd. However, the only detail Matthew actually offers to us is…
“And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.”
Jesus’ prayer to the Father is not uncommon in Matthew's Gospel, but the words he uses are not often witnessed or recorded. Matthew recounted Jesus’ prayer of gratitude to the Father a few weeks ago on the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 11:25).
[00:09:21] Jesus taught his disciples the prayer we call the Our Father during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6; in Matthew 26, we will hear Jesus' prayer to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, and in Matthew 27, we will hear Jesus call to the Father as he hangs on the Cross, where he quotes Psalm 22.
[00:09:52] Matthew tells us here, however, THAT Jesus prayed… but not WHAT Jesus prayed. This opportunity that Jesus now has to be by himself - away from his disciples, away from the crowds - gave Jesus the opportunity he needed to pray to his Father, but also to finally grieve for John the Baptist.
[00:10:22] “When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land,”
[00:10:32] A furlong is an Old English word of agricultural origin, meaning 220 yards or about an eighth of a mile.
[00:10:43] The Sea of Galilee is about 13 miles long and 8 miles wide, and Matthew - who was a tax collector, not a fisherman - wants his audience to know that he is a bit uncomfortable and we get that sense when he says that their boat was…
“beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them.”
Again, Matthew was not particularly familiar with boats in the first place, so this entire outing would have been quite disturbing to him. And the further from shore a boat ventured, the more unpredictable sailing conditions became, so boats usually stayed fairly close to shore. That way they could reach land If a storm blew up suddenly, as often happened on the Sea of Galilee. Then Matthew tells us…
[00:11:46] “in the fourth watch of the night [Jesus] came to them, walking on the sea.”
This is another one of those instances when we don't immediately understand what Matthew means. And while I have gone over this in the past, it's worth covering again. At the time of Jesus, days and nights were divided into (roughly) 12-hour periods based on the rising and setting of the sun.
[00:12:19] The day was further divided into segments called hours, which were identified by ordinal numbers… we are most likely to recognize the 6th and 9th hours because of Good Friday, when we are told that darkness covered the land at the 6th hour (which is six hours after sunrise or about noon), and that at the 9th hour (which would be nine hours after sunrise or about 3 pm) Jesus gave up his spirit.
[00:12:57] The night, on the other hand, was divided into segments called watches, each lasting about three hours. The 1st watch, which was called evening watch, lasted from about 6 to 9 pm; 2nd watch, called the midnight watch, lasted from about 9 pm to midnight; 3rd watch, which was called pre-dawn watch, lasted from about midnight to 3 am; and the 4th watch, which was also called morning watch, lasted roughly from 3 to 6 am. And it was during that 4th watch that Jesus walked across the Sea of Galilee toward the boat carrying the disciples.
Now, now if we really think about that, we realize two things… first, that Jesus spent the entire night in prayer, and second, that these men were out by themselves all night… tossed about by the waves and probably fighting some sort of squall or storm.
“But when the disciples saw [Jesus] walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear.”
[00:14:27] That 4th watch would have been the darkest time of the night. If there would have been a moon, and we don't know if there was or not, but if there would have been a moon, the moon would have set behind the hills and the sun would not have yet risen above the level of the surrounding hills.
[00:14:49] The disciples had been fighting that storm for hours, they were exhausted, they were vulnerable, and - let's face it - their imaginations simply got the better of them. If we put ourselves in their places, we can appreciate their very understandable fear. And notice that Matthew doesn't just say they were afraid - he says they were terrified.
[00:15:22] Which invites us to consider the types of things that we fear… because we all fear something - whether it's spiders, or heights, or falling - we all have something that makes us afraid. And when we're afraid, we too are vulnerable - just as the disciples were vulnerable. And maybe that will help us to be more sympathetic to the disciples, rather than judging them. Because truthfully, it's very human to judge others for their shortcomings.
[00:16:09] “But immediately [Jesus] spoke to them, saying, ‘Take heart, it is I; have no fear.’”
Jesus’ words are a type of theophany, a revelation of his divinity. When he says: “it is I” that is equivalent to him saying: “I AM” in John's Gospel - Jesus is revealing his divine identity and authority.
[00:16:43] And the words: “have no fear” are the same words Jesus WILL say to Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17 after they see Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah.
“And Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water.’”
[00:17:09] Notice how Peter addresses Jesus - as Lord. So we often misinterpret his next words, thinking they suggest some level of doubt, but that is not actually the case.
[00:17:28] In fact, some scholars have suggested that the words translated as: “if it is you” could just as easily have been translated as: “since it is you” - which shows us that Peter's faith in Jesus is absolute.
[00:17:49] And because that action - walking on water - is beyond any merely human capability, Peter's words clearly indicate that he believes he will be able to do anything that Jesus commands… not out of pride, as if he is somehow better than the other disciples, but IN faith and out of a sincere desire to be with Jesus.
[00:18:25] And let's listen to those words with a different mindset now: “Peter answered him, ‘Lord, SINCE it is you, bid me come to you on the water.’”
[00:18:44] “And [Jesus] said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus;”
[00:18:54] That kind of puts all that in a different perspective for us, doesn't it? And as an accomplished fisherman, Peter knew and respected the dangers posed by the Sea of Galilee, and yet - after fighting those dangers for hours - he still stepped out of the boat anyway… going against every ounce of good sense he possessed.
[00:19:32] And while he may not have intended to exert any sort of leadership in that moment, nevertheless that is exactly what he did. Peter alone possessed both the faith and the courage needed to take that risk, to step out of that boat, and go to Jesus. And because Jesus commanded Peter to do so, he was able to walk on water. Through God's grace, Peter accomplished what he could never have accomplished by his human effort alone.
[00:20:27] “but when he saw the wind, [Peter] was afraid,”
[00:20:33] Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and so his very real human fear reasserted itself… and it's not so much that he lost faith in Jesus, it's more likely that he lost faith in himself. And that can happen to any of us!
[00:21:02] “and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me.’”
[00:21:08] That too is an altogether human and faith-filled reaction. When we're sinking into darkness, sadness, illness, fear, we too call out: Lord, be with us… help us… save us.
[00:21:35] “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught [Peter], saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’”
[00:21:48] Jesus saves Peter immediately, doesn't he? There's no question, no reluctance, no hesitation, just rescue. And we tend to think that Jesus’ words are intended to scold Peter, but they're really not. They are meant to correct Peter's momentary distraction and still encourage him to remain fixed on Jesus.
[00:22:28] “And when they (Jesus and Peter) got into the boat, the wind ceased.”
[00:22:37] The storm that the disciples had been fighting for hours simply… ends. Jesus demonstrates his absolute divine mastery over the natural order, but not until HE is ready to do so… not until he himself steps into the boat. And Jesus' command over nature has a profound effect on the disciples, who…
“worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’”
The NAB translates that a bit differently, it says that they “did him homage” but whether it is called homage or worship, that type of attitude is reserved for God alone. So, the disciples acknowledge Jesus as divine - first with their physical bodies and only then with their words, proclaiming him as the Son of God.
[00:24:06] And this is the first of three different instances when mere humans are moved to declare the divine nature of Jesus. It will happen two more times in Matthew's Gospel… Peter will do so at Caesarea Philippi in Matthew 16, and a Roman centurion will make the final declaration after Jesus’ Death on the Cross in Matthew 27.
This passage provides some pointed lessons for our own path of discipleship! That storms come into our lives, and we have no control over them, but that God is always patient with us… he WILL encourage us and he will NOT abandon us.
[00:25:12] It also reminds us that when we turn our attention away from Jesus, we too can falter… so we need to remain focused on Jesus, we need to listen to him… being persistent in prayer and faithfully reading and studying his word in Sacred Scripture will help us turn down the noise of the world and listen to what Jesus has to say to us.
[00:25:51] That takes us to our First Reading, which is from 1 Kings 19: 8b, 9a, 11-13a.
“[At Horeb, the mountain of God, Eli’jah] came to a cave, and lodged there. And [the LORD] said to him, ‘Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD.’ And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. And when Eli’jah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.”
If you think back a couple of weeks, I said that 1 Kings can be divided into two parts - the first part is about the reign of King Solomon, and the second part is about the divided kingdoms that are a result of Solomon's infidelity and come into being after his death.
[00:27:28] That second part is where we find ourselves this week. And when we join the narrative, we learn that Ahab is king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel - and Ahab is a very bad king.
[00:27:51] 1 Kings 16 tells us that Ahab “did what was evil in the LORD's sight more than any of his predecessors” - as I said… he was a very bad king. Ahab married a woman named Jezebel, a Phoenician princess and a worshiper of the Ba’als (the Ba’als were false gods, so that's lowercase “g” gods) and Ahab began to worship the Ba’als as well. And not only did he worship the Ba’als, he built all altars to the Ba’als and spread the worship of the Ba’als throughout the Northern Kingdom. In the midst of that very bad situation, God calls the prophet Elijah and the first thing Elijah does is tell Ahab there will be a drought… and not just any drought - this drought will last for three years!
[00:29:06] Now, there are a lot of famous stories involving Elijah, but the one that gets him into his present peril comes at the end of 1 Kings 18, when Elijah battled the prophets of Ba’al on Mount Carmel, defeated them in spectacular fashion, and then killed them all, earning Jezebel's undying animosity.
In fact, upon receiving the news that the prophets of Ba’al were dead, Jezebel sent word to Elijah that she would kill him just as he had killed the prophets of Ba’al. That sends Elijah into a tailspin! He has done God's work only to be threatened by the queen… he's now depressed, he's dejected, and he's on the run.
[00:30:09] So, let's listen to what happens next…
“[At Horeb, the mountain of God,”
Mount Horeb, you may recall, is another name for Mount Sinai. So on that mountain…
“Eli’jah] came to a cave, and lodged there. And [the LORD] said to him, ‘Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD.’”
It is absolutely natural for us to draw significant comparisons between Moses and Elijah when we hear those words, because - like Elijah, Moses was commanded to stand upon the mountain of the Lord (Exodus 34)… but the comparisons don't end there.
[00:31:00] Both men had fled from danger - Elijah from Jezebel and Moses from Pharaoh; both spent 40 days fasting, both found shelter on the same mountain, where both witnessed winds, earthquakes, and fire; both heard the voice of God, and both hid their faces from God.
[00:31:31] There are so many similarities between the two men that the author of 1 Kings portrays Elijah as: the prophet like Moses that was promised in Deuteronomy 18.
[00:31:47] “And behold, the LORD passed by,”
[00:31:52] Next, the author of 1 Kings will describe a series of manifestations… signs that proclaimed God's arrival to Moses, just as they do for Elijah. But notice, while they proclaim God's arrival, the signs themselves are not God.
“and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rock before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire;”
[00:32:52] All of these signs proclaimed God's presence, but none of them WERE God! So, in a way such signs can become distractions. If we look for God only in fearsome signs, grand gestures, or thunderous noise… we might very well miss God!
[00:33:23] And our world is always ready to provide some sort of boisterous distraction that will divert our attention away from God - not necessarily storms, earthquakes, and fire - but things like money, careers, popularity, social influence, or political power. And devoting ourselves to those types of worldly concerns exclusively will absolutely interfere with our ability to hear God when he speaks to us.
[00:34:14] “and after the fire a still, small voice.”
Ahhh, finally - there is God… in the quiet stillness left behind after the storm passes.
[00:34:36] “And when Eli’jah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.”
[00:34:45] Like the Gospel, this passage from 1 Kings demonstrates God's absolute dominion over the natural world he created… he can command nature to display its fury, or he can - just as easily - command its quietude. And notice also that when Elijah realizes that God is finally present, he wraps his face in his cloak (mantle is another word for cloak), and we can't help but be reminded of the seraphim in heaven whose wings cover their faces out of reverence for God from Isaiah 6.
[00:35:37] When God does speak to Elijah, he entrusts him with a mission… we learn that Elijah is to anoint two kings: one for the Northern Kingdom, one for the Southern Kingdom, and appoint his own successor. Now, it's unlikely that God will ever give us a mission with such profound and lasting importance… but he does have a mission for each one of us.
[00:36:12] Sometimes it's as simple as being patient with those who get on our nerves, sometimes it's a call to champion a cause or branch out in a new and unexpected direction, it may involve getting into politics in order to help those who are less fortunate, or founding an organization that protects the environment or helps those in need.
[00:36:42] But if we don't listen to what God has to say to us, we'll never know what he expects of us. So, we must establish the habit of quiet… we must set aside time when we stop listening to the world and listen instead to God's still, small voice.
[00:37:16] That takes us to our Responsorial Psalm, which is Psalm 85, and the refrain is:
“Show us your merciful love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.”
That, of course, is the RSV text. The Lectionary text is a bit different, it says: “Lord, let us see your kindness and grant us your salvation.” And that also differs from the NAB translation upon which the Lectionary is based. The NAB says: “Show us, Lord, your mercy; grant us your salvation.” You may be asking, why is any of that significant?
Well, that's because of the Hebrew word that appears in the original text of this Psalm which is hesed. Now, hesed can mean mercy, grace, compassion, love, generosity, kindness, or faithfulness, but none of those descriptors - separately or together - provide anything approaching an adequate definition of that word.
Hesed is not just a feeling - it is a feeling that demands action… and it is an essential aspect of God's nature. It is humanity's attempt to capture God's fidelity TO his people and his unfailing love OF his people.
[00:38:58] And because hesed is so complex, translators who encounter that word in biblical texts are forced to settle for words that are only pale substitutes for what the author actually intended. Which is why we end up with so many different English words like kindness, mercy, steadfast love, or merciful love, when hesed is translated.
[00:39:29] So with all of that background in mind, and with the idea that the Psalmist is trying to capture God's hesed, here are the verses:
“Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people. Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.”
“Mercy and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from heaven.”
“The LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and make his footsteps away.”
[00:40:28] This Psalm is actually a Communal Lament. The Psalmist recognizes that God is unhappy with his people, so he asks for the restoration of God's favor. What we don't hear in these verses is that the Psalmist posed a series of questions to God earlier in the Psalm and, beginning with verse 8 - which is our first stanza - the Psalmist is awaiting God's response. Which is why the first stanza begins: “Let me hear what the Lord will speak.”
[00:41:07] The Psalmist then suggests that God will bestow many blessings upon his people… that those who fear the Lord, those who are penitent, those who regret their infidelity, those who are honorable and faithful to the Covenant, will be rewarded with God's blessings. And that first stanza is another reminder that we must always make the effort to listen to God… we must hear what the Lord speaks to us!
[00:41:49] That takes us to our Second Reading, which is from Romans 9: 1-5.
“[Brothers and sisters:] I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed for ever. Amen.”
[00:42:52] As we continue our trek through Romans, we encounter this week a Paul who is sad and dejected. Paul was a Roman citizen, a faithful Jew, a rabbi, and a Pharisee before he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. And keep in mind that even Jesus said salvation comes from the Jews. Jesus was a Jew… Paul was a Jew… and Paul is grieving the Jewish people's rejection of Jesus and his message - the message of salvation.
[00:43:35] Remember, every time Paul visited a new city, his first stop was always the local synagogue to preach his message to the Jews. Only after being rejected by the Jews would Paul and his various traveling companions then speak their message to the Gentiles.
[00:43:57] And the Christian community in Rome, that Paul is addressing in this letter, was made up of both Jewish and Gentile converts to Christianity… so Paul's words are intended for both audiences simultaneously. So, what is Paul's message this week?
[00:44:22] “[Brothers and sisters:] I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying.”
Paul means that everything he says, everything he preaches, is true, which is why he is so sad that his message has so often been rejected.
[00:44:40] “my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.”
[00:44:50] This sorrow, this anguish, is a burden that is with Paul all the time.
[00:44:59] “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”
Paul means that he would willingly sacrifice his own salvation if such a sacrifice would secure the salvation of his people, his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh - his fellow Jews. Then Paul lists a number of blessings that had always been part of the heritage of the Jewish people.
[00:45:44] They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship,”
That is from Hosea 1, which talks about Israel's restoration and their designation as sons of the living God. Hosea 1 says: “it shall be said to them, ‘Sons of the living God.’”
[00:46:08] “[to them belong] the glory,”
The Shekinah glory that descended upon the Tent of Meeting in the desert during the Exodus (in Exodus 40) and the same Shekinah glory that filled the temple built by Solomon when it was dedicated (in 1st Kings 8).
[00:46:31] “[to them belong] the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;”
[00:46:38] I listed all those together because they are all related. God made a series of covenants with his Chosen People… Covenants that brought Israel into relationship with God. The Law was part of the Mosaic Covenant - and it taught the Hebrews how to live as God's own people… worship aligns Israel to God and keeps the Jewish people on the right path… and finally, the promises - those things spoken by the prophets - ultimately led to the Messiah.
[00:47:29] “to them belong the patriarchs,”
The patriarchs are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - men who demonstrated great courage, leadership, and fidelity.
[00:47:43] “and of their race,”
Meaning one who is a descendant of the patriarchs, which King David was… and the promised Messiah, the Christ, was to come from the line of King David. So, of their race… one of the descendants of the patriarchs…
“according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God all over all, blessed for ever. Amen.”
[00:48:16] Paul closes out this portion of his letter to the Romans by pointing out that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises made to the Jewish people throughout their history AND that he is both human and divine… that he was born “according to the flesh” (therefore human) and that he is “God over all” (therefore divine).
[00:48:49] Those are truths that we profess every time we recite the Creed - either the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed, right? We say that Jesus is “true God” and that he “became man” in the Nicene Creed; and in the Apostles’ Creed we say that Jesus is God's “only Son” and that he was “born of the Virgin Mary.”
[00:49:15] Those truths are essential to our Christian faith… a faith that depends upon our having a relationship with, and a commitment to, the person of Jesus Christ.
[00:49:33] And yet we still expect, or perhaps just hope, that Jesus will come to us in some spectacular way. We still expect the Father to manifest himself to us amid lightning and trumpet blasts.
[00:49:56] But God rarely does what we expect.
[00:50:00] How many times have we heard the expression God works in mysterious ways? And it's always true!
[00:50:09] God often comes to us when we least expect him… in a Scripture that remains in our hearts long after we heard it, in an unexplained need to pray for a particular person, in a spontaneous act of kindness from a friend or even a stranger, in the steadfast, unfailing love of family and friends, in the beauty of a sunrise, a haunting melody, the laughter of a child, or the joyous greeting of a beloved pet.
[00:50:59] God rarely comes in ways we expect… and he often startles us.
Which means we have to be ready to listen… we have to be open to those times when we encounter him… we have to be willing to be startled… we have to turn down the volume of a very noisy world so that we can hear God whispering to us.
[00:51:31] If you would like to reach out to me with questions or comments, send me an email at
[email protected]
Thank you for spending this time with me and until next we meet, may God shower his blessings upon you like a soft and gentle rain, and may he hold you safe and secure in the palm of his hand.
From His Word to Our Hearts is produced by SFS Audio Solutions.
The content of the show was assembled by me, Sally Moriarty-Flask.
Our music was composed by Jimmy Flask and is used with the permission of the composer. All rights reserved.
Information regarding references used in preparing the exegesis for this podcast is available upon request.
Thank you for listening and God Bless!
