Podcasts about Judas Maccabeus

A Sermon for Ascension Sunday Acts 1:1-11 by William Klock The King came to Canada this week and I can help but reflect on how providential this event has been—the King of Canada coming to take his throne in the Senate chamber in Ottawa—in the same week that we remember and celebrate the ascension of Jesus.  I might be tempted to title my sermon: A Tale of Two Kings. So a new Parliament needed to be opened.  A throne speech had to be read.  That's normally done by the Governor General, but these are not normal times.  The new President next door, in what has always been Canada's best friend and ally, is now making economic war and daily challenging the country's sovereignty.  It was time for the Sovereign to come and save the day.  And so the King came, and he ascended to his throne in Parliament, and he read a speech.  The last time the Sovereign did this was almost fifty years ago, so this is no small thing.  And yet the King was here for all of about twenty-four hours.  The speech he read was written by government speech-writers, not by the King.  And even then, it's vitally important in our constitutional monarchy that the King avoid any openly political speech—and so the big concern of the day, the big thing that threatens the nation's economic well-being and sovereignty—was only hinted at obliquely.  And everyone applauded.  And then the King got back into his jet and flew home.  And maybe it's just because I'm an American, but it doesn't seem to me that all the pomp and circumstance and expense really accomplished anything.  The King didn't go to Washington to negotiate peace with the belligerent bully or to rough him up a bit or even to give him a good talking to.  Instead, he came here, he sat in the Senate chamber, and recited back to the government the talking points it gave him.  Again, I mean no disrespect to the King or to Canada's constitutional monarchy, but watching and listening to this week's events as an American—although I suspect even the staunches of Christian monarchists can't help but notice it too—that there's a big—an enormous—difference between the ascension of King Charles III in Ottawa this week and the ascension of Jesus that we read about today in both our Epistle and Gospel. I listened to the throne speech and even though I know that the King can't actually do anything, when it was over I still felt like: What now?  The King flies all this way, he ascends to his throne with great pomp and circumstance, he reads a speech intended to stir patriotic feelings—and even as an American, watching and listening I felt pride for Canada—but then he got back into his airplane and went home.  He didn't do anything about the current crisis.  The enemy is still there.  In fact, the King's talk of Canadian sovereignty just seemed to provoke a new round of fifty-first state talk.  It's kind of a let down.  I don't know what I expect the King should do, but he's a king after all and I sort of have a mental image of him taking off his pinstripe jacket, putting on a shining suit of armour, going to Washington, and popping the President in the nose.  In real life that probably wouldn't solve anything.  It's just that kings are supposed to deliver their subjects in times of trouble and cast down their enemies.  Right?  That's what kings are for. This is why the disciples were so discouraged when Jesus was crucified.  They thought he was the Messiah, the anointed king, and then he got himself killed—and that's not what was supposed to happen to the king.  He was supposed to defeat his enemies and take his throne.  And then Jesus rose from death and he met them and they were so excited to go declare the good news to Jerusalem that Jesus actually had to calm them down and tell them to wait.  Enthusiasm isn't enough.  They also needed the power of God's Spirit—but that's for next week.  But for forty days Jesus has been teaching them.  He's been walking them through the scriptures and showing them how it was there along: the Messiah had to die in order to defeat his enemies and take his throne.  Like I said a couple of weeks ago, those forty days must have been the most thrilling days in all of history as Jesus taught them and as it all came together.  And yet, even then, the disciples were still stuck on the wrong things.  But now I'm getting ahead of myself for today.  Keep this all in mind and let's look at our Epistle again.  The first chapter of Acts.  Luke writes: Dear Theophilus, the previous book which I wrote had to do with everything Jesus began to do and teach.  I took the story as far as the day when he was taken up, once he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to his apostles.   Luke is talking about his Gospel.  He goes on in verse 3: He showed himself to them alive, after his suffering, by many proofs.  He was seen by them for forty days, during which he spoke about God's kingdom.  As they were having a meal together, he told them not to go away from Jerusalem, but to wait, as he put it, “for the Father's promise, which I was telling you about earlier.  John baptised with water, you see, but in a few days from now you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”   So good so far.  Forty days of Bible teaching with Jesus.  All about the kingdom.  He thinks they're ready to do the proclamation part of their new ministry, they just need to wait a minute so he can ascend to this throne and send the Spirit who will empower that proclamation.  Jesus thinks their ready to be set loose on the world.  But have you ever taught something to someone, explaining it to them, and they're nodding and you think they understand.  You're ready to turn them loose.  And then they ask you a question and you realise that they still don't understand the central point of what you've been trying to teach them? I took calculus as a freshman in college.  Twice.  The only class I ever failed.  I understood the instructions.  But no matter how hard I tried and no matter how long the professor explained it to me—I had the benefit of sitting next to him in the church choir—I never understood what it was all about.  I didn't get it.  I thought that at least I could just follow the instructions to solve the equations.  I found that usually worked pretty well with math.  But it didn't with calculus.  So he—or my friends who understood calculus—would explain it to me and I'd say, “Right.  I do this, then this, then this, and so on.”  And they'd smile and say, “Yes!”  Like it was finally sinking in for me.  And then I'd do what I thought were the steps and it wouldn't work and they'd ask me to explain it, and I couldn't, because I never could wrap my head around the concept at the heart of it all. Brothers and Sisters, the kingdom was the heart of everything Jesus was teaching and doing.  And the disciples knew this.  That's, again, why they were so discouraged when he died.  Dead kings don't establish kingdoms.  But now Jesus is alive again and they're excited and especially so because for forty days Jesus has been teaching them even more about the kingdom.  And then they ask, “Master, is this the time when you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel.”   I remember the look on my calculus professor's face when he through I'd finally got it through my thick skull and how his smile faded away when he realised I didn't get it at all and I can picture the same look on Jesus' face.  Disappointment and exasperation.  I don't know.  Maybe Jesus knew that no amount of talk would get them straight on this and that it would only fall into place once they saw him ascend and once they'd received the Spirit.  But it's clear: despite all the teaching, the disciples still didn't get it. See, this idea of the “kingdom of God”, for the Jews it had become shorthand for the idea that one day the Lord would fulfil his promises, come back to Israel, take up his throne.  He'd defeat Isreal's enemies and he'd set Israel to rights—and then they'd all live happily ever after with God as their king and the pagans under their feet.  They sang songs, like Psalm 2, about the nations raging and the kings of the earth getting together to plot against the Lord and his people.  And in the middle of the song the Lord bursts out in laughter, mocking the nations and their feeble kings.  And then the Lord lets loose his wrath and announces, “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.”  And then the king speaks: “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have begotten you.  Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.  You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”  And then the Psalmist can announce to the nations: “Now, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.  Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.  Kiss the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.”  It's the king in shining armour come to crush his enemies and set his people to rights. They sang songs like the one in Isaiah 52 about the beautiful feet of the one who brings good news and who announces to Zion, “Your God reigns.”  “The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God.”  This was the same song in which they sang about the suffering servant who would be exalted only after he had borne their griefs and sorrows, only after he'd been stricken and afflicted.”  This was the hope of Israel and this is why the disciples had followed Jesus.  They believed he was the Messiah, the king who would rescue his people and defeat their enemies.  Again, for those three days he was in the tomb it looked like they'd been wrong, but now Jesus was alive again.  They knew with absolute certainty that he really is the Messiah.  And so now they're asking him: “Your resurrection put the story back on track, Jesus.  So when are you going to fulfil those old promises, defeat the nations and their kings, and set Isreal on the top of the heap?” And Jesus says to them in verse 7: “It's not your business to know about times and dates.  The Father has placed all that under his own direct authority.  What will happen, though, is that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.  Then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth.”   I've noticed a lot of people read this and think that Jesus is saying something like, “No.  It's not time to restore the kingdom.  I'll do that sometime in the future and only the Father knows the date.”  But that's not what Jesus is saying at all.  Think of the pair Jesus met on the road to Emmaus.  They were saying that they'd hoped Jesus was the one who would redeem Israel, but well, he'd been crucified so scratch that idea.  And that's the point when Jesus explains to them that it was actually through his crucifixion that he would accomplish God's long-promised redemption.  Even though it was there all along in songs like Isaiah 52, it doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone that the Messiah would usher in God's kingdom by his suffering and death.  And yet when Jesus says this, suddenly a lot of other things he said and did finally make sense.  Think of the stories—the parables—he told.  Over and over: The kingdom is coming—yes!—but it's not coming like you think.  Instead, the kingdom is coming like seed planted in the ground.  The kingdom is coming like leaven in a lump of dough.  The kingdom is like a man who had two sons.  Or when Jesus and the disciples were approaching Jerusalem and they asked this same question: Is the kingdom finally coming now?  And Jesus said that the kingdom is like a nobleman coming back to see if his servants have been faithful with their stewardship.  Over and over Jesus has been saying, “Yes, the kingdom is coming right now, but you keep missing it because it doesn't look like what you expected. At that last Passover meal Jesus ate with his friends, he told them that he would not drink with them again until the kingdom had arrived. And here they are, these forty days after the resurrection eating and drinking with Jesus as he teaches them.  The kingdom has come, Brothers and Sisters.  Too many Christians live as if the mission of the church is to prepare for Jesus to become king, when the church's mission is, in fact, really all about announcing and living out the reality that Jesus is the king even if his kingdom isn't quite what a lot of people expected. And then, just to make all of this absolutely clear, Luke says in verse 9: As Jesus said this, he was lifted up while they were watching and a cloud took him out of their sight.   We're prone to missing the significance of this image because we're not steeped in the Old Testament the way they were.  The disciples, however, understood exactly what was happening: Jesus was acting out the prophecy of Daniel 7.  That's the chapter were Daniel has this nightmare full of beasts coming up out of the ocean.  It's a vision of the nations and their kings raging against God's people.  But then “one like a son of man” is taken up and exalted on the clouds to sit beside the Ancient of Days.  He's given a kingdom, power, and authority so that all people, nations, and languages should serve and obey him.  It's a vision of the kingdom being restored to Israel.  And now, all through Jesus' ministry, we've heard him talking about himself as this son of man, as Israel's representative, and now—in answer to the disciples' question about the coming of the kingdom—Jesus literally acts out Daniel's vision.  He fulfils it.  In fact, in Matthew's telling of the ascension, Jesus even says—echoing the words of the Ancient of Days in Daniel—“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  So you must go and make all the nations into disciples.” The ascension proclaims: Jesus is king and his kingdom is here.  One day Jesus will return to finish what he's begun, but never forget that it has begun.  As Paul says in Romans 15, “He has to go on ruling until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” So the disciples were thinking that Jesus was going to lead a revolution—like Judas Maccabeus or Simon bar Kochba—except this time it wouldn't fizzle out.  This time it would be successful and it would be forever.  And Jesus is saying (and acting out) that no, the kingdom has been inaugurated and it's going to take shape and grow—the nations will be put under Jesus' feet—not as the disciples take up arms, but as they go out into the world as witnesses of Jesus: as they go out and proclaim the good news that Jesus crucified and risen, is the world's true Lord and as they live out the reality of his kingdom.  Like Jesus did, the disciples would work miracles—miracles that underscored that in the kingdom all the sad thing are beginning to become untrue; and they would live lives transformed by the Spirit's fruit, but maybe more than anything else, they would confront the kings of the present evil age with the reality of Jesus' lordship.  And through their witness, the world would begin to change. It's not a linear, always progressing, always upward change.  That was the idea of theological liberalism a century ago, but two world wars and nuclear bombs and fascism and Communism blew that idea up.  But through the witness of the church, the world is changing.  I've mentioned before Tom Holland's remarkable book Dominion and how, in that book, he writes about the profound changes that the gospel brought to Western Civilisation.  Each generation lives in its own brief age and so, if we don't know anything about history, we're prone to not even noticing the changes that have happened, but happen they have.  Christians began taking in the unwanted girl babies of the Greeks and Romans, left to die of exposure, and we taught the world the value of life.  The influence of the gospel put an end to gladiatorial games and slavery.  The gospel has taught the world mercy and grace, the value of life, the dignity of each person.  And on and on.  The church, when we are faithful witnesses of Jesus and living the new creation life the Spirit gives, builds and spreads the kingdom and someday, when the work is done, Jesus will return—not to take us away, but to restore heaven and earth, God and human beings, and to put an end to death and sin once and for all.  To consummate his new creation. But there's work to do in the meantime.  He created us in the beginning to be his stewards—to cultivate his garden.  That's why, when it came time to set us back on that track, God called and created a special people for himself: to be his representative, to be his stewards, to be his living kingdom in the midst of the old.  And so Luke says, They were gazing into heaven as he disappeared.  Then, lo and behold, two men appeared, dressed in white, standing beside them.  “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven?  This Jesus, who has been taken away from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven.”   Brothers and Sisters, there's work to do.  Like Jesus said, they needed to wait a few days before going out, so that when they did go out, they would go out in the power of the Spirit.  The kingdom doesn't happen in our power.  But it does happen as we go out to faithfully fulfil the mission we've been given to witness Jesus.  Our task is to go out in faith, to till the soil, to steward the garden.  It's an overwhelming task.  That's why it takes faith to go out and do it.  But we go out in faith knowing that God has given us his Spirit who infuses what we do with divine power.  We go out in faith knowing that in Jesus—at the cross and in the resurrection—God has already done the impossible part.  Now, as Paul wrote, all he has to do is go on ruling until all his enemies have been put under his feet.  There's no “if”.  It's just “until”.  It's a sure thing.  And so is the witness of his church. It doesn't always seem that way.  Sometimes it seems like we're going backwards and things are getting worse.  People won't listen or won't take us seriously.  Sometimes we're tempted to give up.  Sometimes we act like all Jesus did was come to earth to give us a rousing pep talk, then he went back home to heaven.  But read the Gospels and that's not it at all.  He hasn't just gone back to heaven and left us alone.  He's ascended to his throne, where he rules and reigns over his kingdom, which—remember—is like seed planted in the soil and like leaven in a lump of dough and like a man who had two sons.  And one day, through his people—through us—the work of his word and the work of his Spirit will be done.  The world will know his death and resurrection, it will know the forgiveness of sins, it will know the end of death, it will know mercy and grace.  The knowledge of his glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.  Because Jesus died and rose again, because the Lord's word does not return void, and because he does not give his Spirit in vain. Let's pray: O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus the Messiah with great triumph to your right hand in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us for the task you have given, and that we might look forward in hope to the day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.  Amen.

A Sermon for Palm Sunday Philippians 2:1-11, St. Matthew 21:1-17, and St. Matthew 27:1-54 by William Klock The Pantheon in Rome is famous for being one of the architectural and engineering wonders of the ancient world.  It was one of the buildings we studied when I took Architectural History and I remember our professor stressing that the photos in our book could never do it justice.  It's a great round building covered by the largest vaulted concrete dome in the world.  It looks big.  It is big.  The dome is 43 metres high.  But you don't realise just how big that is until you add people into the photos.  It's about twenty-five times higher than the average person is tall.  And it was built by the Romans two millennia ago.  It's survived all these years, even after builders scavenged the bronze off its roof and left the concrete exposed.  It is, again, known for being an architectural and engineering marvel. But Brothers and Sisters, the Pantheon is important for another reason that's hardly ever discussed.  It was, again, built almost two thousand years ago—in the early second century.  Begun under the Emperor Trajan and finished during the reign of Hadrian.  It stood on the Field of Mars and replaced an earlier temple dedicated to Mars, the god of war, and built by Agrippa during the reign of Augustus.  But the Pantheon, fairly quickly it seems, became an unusual temple.  The Romans usually dedicated a temple to a single god.  The gods were jealous.  They didn't like sharing.  And if a temple were, say, struck by lightning, you'd know that it was the god of that temple who was angry.  But the Pantheon became a temple for all the gods—or, at least, many of them.  That's what the name means: pan…theon.  It was one of the greatest temples of pagan Rome.  But in the Year of Our Lord Six-hundred-and-nine, at the instruction of the Christian Emperor Phocas and the Bishop of Rome, Boniface IV, the Pantheon was stripped of its pagan idols and its pagan altars.  Twenty-eight cartloads containing the bones of Christian martyrs were exhumed from the catacombs and reburied there, a Christian altar was placed in the building, and it was established as a church in honour of the memory of those martyrs whom the pagan Romans had killed in the name of their gods.  To this day, over fourteen-hundred years later, the Church of St. Mary and the Martyrs remains there, a faithful witness to conquest of Rome by the gospel and of the Lordship of Jesus.  A testimony to the power of the cross and the blood of Jesus not only to purify us from our sins and to make us a dwelling fit for God's Spirit, but to wash creation clean from our sins as well. We began Lent, listening as St. Matthew told us the story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness.  The devil took him off to a very high mountain and showed him all the magnificent kingdoms of the world.  Off on the horizon was Rome.  “I'll give the whole lot to you,” the devil said, “if you will fall down and worship me.” It was, after all what Jesus had come for.  He was creation's true Lord.  Caesar and all the other kings were pretenders, shams, parodies of who and what Jesus really is.  All of it, from Jerusalem to Rome and beyond belongs to him.  “There is not one square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” to quote Abraham Kuyper.  But this was not the way.  Jesus will not reclaim his creation without also setting it to rights, without dealing with the problems of sin and death.  Without purifying it from our idolatry.  To do that requires more. And so today we hear Matthew again as he tells us of Jesus' triumphal procession into Jerusalem.  When they came near to Jerusalem, and arrived at Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of the disciples on ahead.  Go into the village over there and at once you'll find a donkey tied and a foal beside it.  Untie them and bring them to me and if anyone says anything to you, say, “The Lord needs them and he'll send them back right away.”  He sent them off at once.   Jesus was about to act out another one of his prophecies.  This time it was to show and to remind the people what sort of king the Messiah was to be.  They did want a king who would set all to rights, but in their heads, to their way of thinking, that meant leading a revolt against the Romans.  He would be like David, who defeated the Jebusites to take their city Jerusalem as his capital.  He would be like Judas Maccabeus, who defeated the Greeks and established an independent Jewish kingdom under the high priest.  The Messiah would be like that, only better, greater, more powerful, and his kingdom would be forever.  He would raise up Israel and put the gentile kings in their place.  The day before or maybe even that same day, as Jesus came to Jerusalem from Bethphage, Caesar's governor, Pontius Pilate, was marching into the city from the opposite direction, from his base in Caesarea, at the front of a column of Roman soldiers.  They were there to represent Caesar's might and to keep the peace during Passover.  If Jesus was the Messiah, now was his time—or so a lot of people thought—now was Jesus' time to finally and really be the Messiah, raise up his army, and cast down Pilate and the Romans and take his throne. But that wasn't the way to the throne any more than bowing down to the devil was.  Matthew says that Jesus did it his way to remind the people of what the Lord had said about the Messiah through the Prophet Zechariah: Tell this to Zion's daughter: Look now! Here comes your King.  He's humble, mounted on a donkey, yes, on a foal, it's young. The king they expected was going to ride into Jerusalem on a chariot or at least on a great warhorse.  But God's king is different.  A great warrior might take care of the Romans and even take his throne.  He could set things to rights in the way of earthly kings, but the world would still be subject to sin and death.  So Jesus acted out the prophecy.  The disciples brought the donkey and Jesus humbly rode it into the city.  And the people cheered all along the way.  They spread their cloaks on the road.  Others cut branches form the trees and scattered them on the road.  The crowds who went ahead of him, and those who were following behind shouted, “Hosanna to the son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!”  And the whole city was gripped with excitement when they came into Jerusalem.  “Who is this!” they were saying.  And the crowds replied, “This is the prophet, Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.   With that prophetic reminder, at least some of the people seemed to get it even if it wasn't what they expected.  Jesus was fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy.  The long-awaiting king had come.  But not everyone got it.  Jesus wasn't finished with his acted out prophesies.  Matthew says that he went straight to the temple and when he got there he threw out the people who were buying and selling in the temple.  He upturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of the dove-sellers.  It is written, he said to them, “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a brigand's lair!”  The blind and lame came to him in the temple and he healed them.  But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the remarkable things he was doing, and the children shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David!” they were very angry.   The king was fulfilling the words of the prophets.  He came in humility.  And he came announcing that he really was going to set the world to rights.  He was going to set the world to rights in a way that would make the temple obsolete.  All through his ministry he'd been showing how he was the new bridge between God and sinful humans and that last week he spent in the temple—starting with this acted out prophecy and continuing as he healed and preached, he made it clear.  So clear that the people invested in the temple and the priesthood and that whole system took it all for blasphemy and had him arrested. Our long Palm Sunday Gospel today—Matthew 27—vividly depicts the Messiah's humble way to his throne.  Betrayed by his friends, rejected by his people.  Standing humbly before the Roman governor so many people expected him to slay.  Facing trumped up charges made by lying men.  Left condemned to death as the people chose instead that Pilate should free a brutal, violent revolutionary—a man truly guilty of the trumped of charges against Jesus.  Standing humbly as the very people he came to save cried out to Pilate, “Crucify him!”  Standing humbly as he, the king, was rejected by his own people who cried out, “We have no king but Caesar!”  Standing humbly as Roman soldiers mocked him, beat him senseless and scourged him, ripping the skin from his body.  Humbly dragging the very cross on which he would be crucified through the city.  The king, nailed to a cross and hoisted to die between two violent thieves as his own people shouted blasphemies at him, as the chief priests and scribes mocked him shouting, “He rescued others, but he cannot rescue himself.  If he's the king of Israel, let him come down from the cross!  He trusts in God; let God deliver him now if he's really God's son!” For hours it went on.  Jesus, pulling on those nails driven through is wrists, pushing on the nails driven through his feet, lifting himself to gasp for breath through the pain, while the people gathered around: Jews, Romans, even the pastors, the shepherds of his people who claimed to speak for God mocked him and shouted blasphemies.  Luke writes that Jesus prayed for them: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.  And eventually his body could take no more and Jesus breathed his last breath.  And, Matthew says, the earth shook.  The great veil that guarded the holy of holies in the temple was torn in two.  And the Roman centurions standing guard were scared out of their wits and announced the very thing Jesus' own people would not: He really was the son of God!   Brothers and Sisters, there can be no Easter without Good Friday.  To set the world to rights—to really set to rights—not just to take a throne, not just to defeat the Romans—but to defeat sin and death and to reconcile sinful men and women to God required a king willing to let evil rise up to its full height, to let evil concentrate itself all in one place, and to let it do its worst, crashing down on him all at once.  It required a king willing to throw himself into the gears of this fallen, broken, and sinful world to bring them to a stop.  It required a king willing to give his life for his own people even as they mocked and blasphemed him, so that he could rise from that humiliating death to overturn the verdict against him, rise victorious over sin and death and the absolute worst that they could do.  Only that humble king could defeat death and bring life—real and true life—back to God's creation and gather a people forgiven, cleaned by his blood, and filled with his Spirit to become a new temple, a new holy of holies where the nations would—where the nations now—enter the presence of God. It was in that humble king that those Roman centurions saw something they had never seen before.  Their Caesar called himself the son of God, but in Jesus they saw the God of Israel at work in all his glory, in all his love, in all his mercy, in all his faithfulness—like no god they'd ever known—completely unlike any god or goddess honoured in the Pantheon.  Whether they knew it or not, those centurions that first Good Friday announced the defeat of Jupiter and Mars, of Hera and Diana, of Neptune and Vesta and all the others.  And they announced the defeat of Caesar, too.  In less than three centuries, the Emperor of Rome himself would be captivated by the good news about Jesus, the son of God, the great King who was setting the world to rights. But Brothers and Sisters, the good news about Jesus, crucified and risen, didn't go out through the empire and to the nations all on its own.  It was carried, it was stewarded by a people—by a church—that, itself, took on the humility of the Saviour.  The bones of those martyrs buried in the Pantheon are a testimony to the faithful and humble witness of Jesus' people in those early centuries.  They didn't just proclaim a message.  They lived it out as a community—as the vanguard of God's new creation born that first Easter morning.  In the midst of a world of darkness, of false gods and idolatry, of brutality and immorality hard for us to imagine today, they gave the pagans a glimpse of God's future.  By the way they lived, they lifted the veil and showed the world God's new creation.  It was not only the proclamation of the church, but the very life of the church that showed the world a better way, a way no one before had ever known. Here's the truth of it: The people of the humble king must be humble too or it's all for nought.  This is why Paul, writing to the Philippians, says to them, If our shared life in the king brings any comfort; if love still has the power to make you cheerful; if we really do have a partnership in the Spirit; if your hearts are at all moved with affection and sympathy—then make my joy complete!  Bring your thinking into line with one another.  In other words, if you're going to be a gospel community for all the world to see  Have this mind amongst yourselves!  Here's how to do it.  Hold on to the same love; bring your innermost lives into harmony; fix your minds on the same object.  Never act out of selfish ambition or vanity; instead, regard everyone else as your superior.  Look after each other's best interests, not your own.   But it's so hard to do that, Paul!  So, so hard!  And Paul knew that.  And so he takes them back to the cross.  Brothers and Sisters, everything goes back to Jesus and the cross!  This is how you should think amongst yourselves, Paul goes on—with the mind that you have because you belong to Jesus the Messiah.  And now he doesn't quote from the passion narratives because they weren't written yet, although I think that would have worked just as well.  Every Holy Week we immerse ourselves in the passion narratives and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John remind us of the very thing Paul writes here.  But instead Paul breaks out into song.  He reminds them of a hymn they presumably all knew and he copies it out for them: Who, though in God's form, did not regard his equality with God as something he ought to exploit.  Instead, he emptied himself, and received the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men.  And then, having human appearance, he humbled himself, and became obedient even to death, yes, even death on a cross.  And so God has greatly exalted him, and to him in his favour has given the name which is over all names.  That now at the name of Jesus every knee within heaven shall bow—on earth, too, and under the earth.  And every tongue shall confess that Messiah Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.   Paul reminds them of the humble king, the son of God who not only took on our flesh, but who gave his life in the most painful and humiliating way possible so that on his way to his throne he might take us with him. Brothers and Sisters, the only way we will ever be faithful in being the people Jesus has called us to be, the only way we will ever be faithful in being the new creation people the Spirit has made us, the only way will ever be faithful stewards of the gospel is to keep the cross of Jesus always before us.  There's a reason why we confess our sins before we come to the Lord's Table.  There is a reason that we repeatedly recall our unworthiness to enter the presence of God on our own merit.  There is a reason why, as we rise in the morning and as we go to bed at night, we confess our sins.  It's so that as we hear the absolution and as we come to the Table, we will remember just how gracious and merciful and loving God has been to us.  It's why we sing songs like “Amazing Grace”.  Amazing grace is such a sweet, sweet sounds, because apart from grace we are such sinful wretches.  And it is inevitable that when we forget this, when we start to think of ourselves as deserving of the gifts God has poured out on us, when we forget the heinousness and offensiveness of our sins and our rebellion against God, dear Friends, that's when we forget the true power of the gospel and the true mercy of the cross and the great depth of the love of God for sinners.  When we forget the sinfulness of our sin, we lose sight of the amazingness of God's grace.  Eventually we lose the mind of Jesus the Messiah and we cease to be the community of humble servants that he has made us.  And our light grows dim.  Our witness fails. We see it happening all around us in the West.  We've stopped talking about sin and we've thought more highly of ourselves than we ought.  We preach a doctrine of cheap grace.  And our light has gone dim.  Our churches have emptied and the culture has claimed them for its own.  In some they preach false gospels of prosperity or the divinity of man or the goodness of sexual perversion.  We setup idols to politics and earth power in them.  Some are literally gutted, becoming theatres or bars.  Others are little more than tourist attractions: testimonies to the power of the gospel in the days we proclaimed it, but now empty, dead shells.  The culture removes the cross and sets up altars to its idols.  Brothers and Sisters, before it is too late, let us knee before the cross of Jesus and look up.  Let it fill our vision.  Let us remember that he—the sinless son of God—died the death we deserve.  And let us meditate on the depth and power of his grace that we might share the humble mind of our humble king, that we might be the people he has called us to be, the people he has given his Spirit to make us, the people who will steward the gospel until every knee bows and every tongues confesses that Jesus the Messiah is Lord and gives glory to God the Father. Let's pray: Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for mankind you sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility:  Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Unfinished: Encountering Jesus, Becoming Disciples – Learning Who Jesus Is-and Isn't - Dan Lewan - a2vc.org. Like us on fb.com/vineyardannarboror watch our livestream Sundays @ 10:45am - vimeo.com/annarborvineyard Summary: In this powerful and deeply personal sermon, Dan Lewan opens up about a fifteen-year journey exploring the life of Peter, a disciple whose failures, impulsiveness, and transformation make him a compelling leader in the early church. What began as a college observation—that Peter was often wrong—grew into a lifelong fascination with how Jesus patiently shaped Peter through moments of correction and grace. Dan introduces the series by situating Peter's story in its historical context, tracing Jewish hopes for political liberation through figures like Judas Maccabeus, and showing how those hopes colored Peter's expectations of Jesus as a Messiah. Dan explores Peter's journey from a responsible, middle-aged fisherman to a man willing to leave everything to follow Jesus. Through vivid storytelling, he walks us through Peter's highs—confessing Jesus as the Messiah, witnessing miracles—and his lows—rebuking Jesus, denying him, and facing bitter regret. Dan highlights how Peter struggled to reconcile his own vision of who Jesus should be with who Jesus actually was. Jesus wasn't a political revolutionary like Judas Maccabeus, but a suffering servant who called Peter not to reign, but to shepherd. The sermon culminates with Peter's restoration on the beach, where Jesus calls him to love and tend his sheep—not to lead with power, but with humility. Dan draws a clear arc from Peter's first call to his eventual martyrdom, showing how Jesus patiently dismantled Peter's false assumptions to prepare him for true Kingdom leadership. Ultimately, Peter's story is one of surrender—learning who Jesus is not was just as vital as knowing who he is. Dan concludes by reminding us that like Peter, we must lay down our own agendas to embrace the mission of God fully.

“Going back for a master's was exhilarating. So many of the things that I had been doing in my studio were corroborated with education. On the flip side, I had a lot of moments where I thought, “I've been doing that wrong. I should change that.” Having had years doing a lot of my own education—I attended conferences and did everything I could to soak up anything available to me—going back to school and having it corroborated and defined was career-changing.”Award-winning coloratura soprano Alisa Toy has an impressive thirty-year performing and teaching career. She currently teaches and performs at Washington State University as a Lecturer of Voice. Internationally, Alisa soloed in Great Britain, Canada, Pakistan, and Italy, including a concert for Pope Benedict XVI with the Rome Symphony Orchestra. Some of her past favorite soloing opportunities include Mozart's Requiem and Coronation Mass, along with multiple performances of Handel's Messiah and Judas Maccabeus. Opera and musical theatre roles include Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Gertrude in Humperdinck's Hänsel and Gretel, Maria in Bernstein's West Side Story, and Grace in Strouse's Annie.As a choral conductor, Alisa currently serves as the Artistic Director of the Lewis and Clark State College Concert Choir, the Assistant Conductor of the Palouse Choral Society, and previously served as the Artistic Director for the Columbus Choral Society.Memorable performances for her include the world premiere of John Purifoy's Chronicles of Blue and Gray in New York's Carnegie Hall and the world premiere of Benjamin Harlan's The Seven Last Words of Christ in New Orleans. She frequently serves in her church as a soloist, choral conductor, and organist/pianist.Alisa holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Choral Conducting from the University of Idaho and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from Mississippi University for Women. Alisa enjoyed teaching K-12 music for several years in public and private schools and enjoys teaching voice through her private studio, Singingtoy Studio in addition to her appointment at WSU. She is currently working on her Ph.D.To get in touch with Alisa, you can email her at alisa.toy@wsu.edu, find her on Facebook (@toysrusfamily), or follow the SingingToy Studio on Facebook.Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.Podcast music from Podcast.coPhoto in episode artwork by Trace Hudson

Channukkah and XMAS collide 1st night of chanukkah 12/25. The contrast is stark. But with the real history of Chanukkah from the Apocryphal book of 1 Mac. I encourage you to read the first four chapters of 1 Mac. To get that, look at the Brenton translation of the Old Testament. Matthew 24:15-20 is a direct reference to the Maccabean revolt and Channukkah. The abomination of desolation had already been set up once by the Greeks. Their flight was indeed in winter. And they refused to fight the first Sabbath of the revolt due to their obedience to Torah and they lost. The crux of this was compromise and mixing. The first time the Greeks came to Judea, they were welcomed. Many of the Israelites mixed Greek customs with Torah and compromised themselves. The Greeks came back after a battle with Egypt and compromise was no longer an option. They forced Israel to forsake the commandments. No more Sabbath, no more circumcision, no more festival days, temple defiled, and they had to eat pork. Or die. And they had to adopt the Greek holidays and culture wholesale, including the sacrificing of pigs and the eating of the same. This was very bad. Judas Maccabeus couldn't take it and started a revolt, ultimately pushing the Greeks out and restoring Torah to judea. How does this align with Christmas? XMAS is a non-biblical observation where people partake in rituals derived from pagan religions and dine on pork. But they do it in the name of God. This is impossible if we understand Matthew 24 to be warning us against these abominations. I'll be talking about Chanukka on Friday night, December 20, on a friend's study group if you want to learn the details about this commemoration. However, don't lose the irony that the Greeks forced believers into pagan customs while modern Christianity voluntarily partakes. Hopefully more folks will read their bibles and history and come to the realization that the worship of Yahweh is easy if we just relent and to it the way His Son showed us. Have a blessed week!

Cale looks at the military campaigns of Judas Maccabeus and the rededication of the temple. When was Jesus born – was it really toward the end of December?

The time is approaching for the Festival of Dedication on Kislev 25 . Jesus was present during this festival which commemorates the dedication of the temple after the defilement by the Greek and Syrian army in 165 BC by the Maccabees.This was the day the Jewish priestMattathias was the father of Judas Maccabeus and his family overcame the Greeks and the miracle oil was found so the menorah could be lit.The oil miraculously burned for 8 days - the number 8 represents new beginnings. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit and God is releasing His Spirit which is a “miracle oil “so you will shine bright like the menorah did in the temple. When we set aside time to dedicate our temple unto Him we will be revived by His Spirit.As we seek the Lord and “rededicate” ourselves to Him we submit to His flame and oil igniting our lives ! This is the beginning of wisdom, to revere the Lord.As God hears our prayers of rededication and submission, He will release the spirit of wisdom. Wisdom is when one has faith to hear the voice of the Lord and respond to His voice. Remember man does not live by bread alone but instead every word that proceedeth from God's mouth we need to respond to. That pleases God and builds our relationship with Him! He is pleased with His children who hear His voice and obey.Psalm 21:20 reads, “There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.”Jesus was in the temple during the festival of dedication. This is an important time to dedicate or rededicate yourself unto God!John 10:22-30 reads,“And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.”Rededicate yourself today so you burn brighter for the Lord in this new season!Get Candice Smithyman Ministries product today! Whole month of December ! Www.candicesmithyman.comGet yours 25% off with code 25OFF at checkout or 10OFF for healing products!NEW YEAR RESOLUTION- Join DREAM MENTORS and BECOME A CERTIFIED COACH!Do you want to be trained as good disciples or biblical life coach ? Do you need to experience transformation in your souls so you can be the best God is calling you to be. Go to www.dreammentors.orgIt's time now to sign up for our next Ascension class and join Dr. Candice's Glory Road Community!Maximize Your Prophetic Potential monthly class is Monday January 6 at 10 am and 6 pm EST. You can choose which one. Sign Up here —http://bit.ly/4gfRKXmOnly $30 each month and join Candice Live Zoom!

Fr. Mike breaks down the doctrine of purgatory as we read about Judas Maccabeus and his army praying for the dead in 2 Maccabees 12. We learn that purgatory is a process of purification that our hearts need in order to be ready to love God and to enter into his presence. In our reading of Wisdom today, Fr. Mike emphasizes the insanity of worshipping idols and how it's more tempting to make idols out of good things rather than evil things. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 12, Wisdom 13-14, and Proverbs 25:11-14. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Today, Fr. Mike discusses the confidence that faith in God can provide as we fight the battles of our lives. He also engages with the riddles found in Wisdom 10 and points out that we can now not only understand the characters, stories, and allusions of Scripture, but can recognize the fingerprints of God in the world around us and better understand the main character of Scripture: God. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 10, Wisdom 9-10, and Proverbs 25:4-7. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

As we hear the re-telling of the story of Judas Maccabbeus and his brothers fighting for the honor of the Lord's Temple in 2 Maccabees, Fr. Mike points out how this version gives us an insight into their recognition of God's presence, mercy, and justice in their circumstances. We learn that no matter what we are going through, we can trust that God is our great defender who is present and active in all circumstances of our lives. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 8, Wisdom 5-6, and Proverbs 24:30-34. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike concludes the book of Sirach today and encourages us to continue the pursuit of wisdom. In our reading of 2 Maccabees, we see again the pillage of the Temple and we are re- introduced to Judas Maccabeus. Lastly, in Proverbs Fr. Mike encourages us to resist the temptation to rejoice when our enemies fall. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 5, Sirach 50-51, and Proverbs 24:17-20. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike gives us context for the beginning of 2 Maccabees and recounts the story of Nehemiah's discovery of the sacred fire. He also offers a reflection for those struggling with grief and death, which serves as a reminder to all about the blessing of our lives and the lives of those we love. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 1, Sirach 40-41, and Proverbs 24:1-7. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike guides us through Judas Maccabeus' last battle, his death, and his succession. We learn that part of Judas and Jonathan's victory involved fighting fellow Jews living in the land who were not living according to God's laws. Fr. Mike points out that when the enemy is in the inside, it is especially heartbreaking. Today's readings are 1 Maccabees 9, Sirach 24-25, and Proverbs 23:1-4. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike walks us through the current battles of Judas Maccabeus and the Israelite people, emphasizing that while war is violent, freedom to belong to God and worship him is worth fighting for. He also discusses the importance of spending time with virtuous people to acquire their positive qualities and the need to seek good rather than evil to attain the riches of heaven. Today's readings are from 1 Maccabees 5, Sirach 13-15, and Proverbs 22:13-16. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

In today's reading from 1 Maccabees, we hear about the victory of Judas Maccabeus, which is also the story of Hanukkah. In Sirach, Fr. Mike points out that chasing fame and glory in this world are not worth our time, because they will all fade away after we are gone. The readings are 1 Maccabees 4, Sirach 10-12, and Proverbs 22:9-12. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike points out how advice from books like Proverbs and Sirach may not apply perfectly to every situation, but are meant to help guide us towards wisdom. He also highlights a piece from Sirach that encourages us to avoid "deserted places"—calling us not only to stay away from sin, but to stay away from what leads us to sin. The readings are 1 Maccabees 3, Sirach 7-9, and Proverbs 22:5-8. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

After the death of Judas Maccabeus, his brothers Jonathan and Simon carry the torch to further free Judea from the Greek tyranny. As they make great strides towards freedom, even forming what became known as the Hasmonean Dynasty, proverbial cracks begin to form in the foundation which will ultimately lead many argue whether or not their rule is legitimate. Enjoy this sample from Lesson 3, "From Maccabees to Hasmoneans (1 Mac 9:23—16:24)," from Dr. Nick's course, "1-2 Maccabees: Zealous For The Faith." Anyone can join our community of students and stream the entire audio lesson and full course (and other courses too!) whenever they wish.

The persecutions leveled by Antiochus IV against the Jewish people lead to the courageous resistance movement under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus. For the first time in salvation history we see serious religious persecution and martyrdom of God's people. Many suffer and die willingly for the faith, but just war is also an option to defend God and country. Enjoy this sample from Lesson 2, "Defending God and Country (1 Mac 1:1-9:22)," from Dr. Nick's course, "1-2 Maccabees: Zealous For The Faith." Anyone can join our community of students and stream the entire audio lesson and full course (and other courses too!) whenever they wish.

At That Time Daniel 12:1-13 by William Klock Daniel 12 begins with the words, “At that time”, which means we need to remind ourselves what time Daniel's vision was talking about.  Remember that these last three chapters of the book are one long vision.  It began with Daniel lamenting what he could see.  Pagan kings, instead of being judged for their wickedness, were getting strong and stronger.  And his own people, an awful lot of them, seemed apathetic about the end of the exile.  They'd made lives for themselves in Babylon and simply weren't interested in returning to Jerusalem.  And those who did return were facing opposition at every turn as they worked to rebuild the city and the temple.  Daniel was losing hope.  And so an angel appeared and in the first part of the vision the angel explained that there was more to things than what Daniel could see.  Unseen forces fought a battle in the heavenlies that somehow corresponded to events on earth.  In fact, Daniel was told, the angel Michael fought for the people of God.  Even if he couldn't see any of it, Daniel had reason to hope. And then, in Chapter 11, the angel gave Daniel of vision of things to come, as if to show how God is sovereign even in the wars and intrigues of pagan kings.  First the Persian kings and then the Greeks, as they squabbled and fought over the land of Judah.  That was most of Chapter 11.  Things would get worse before they would get better, but here was a chance to hope—to put into practise that truth that sometimes there's more going on than what we can see.  Even in the intrigue, the subterfuge, the assassination of those Greek kings of Egypt and Syria, even in all that, the God of Israel remained sovereign.  Even as the worst of them came to power.  And that was the heart of Chapter 11: this evil king who wanted to convert the Jews into pagan Greeks. Antiochus made it illegal to live by God's law, he desecrated the Lord's altar, and he forbade the daily offerings made in the temple.  1 and 2 Maccabees tell us how he tried to force Jewish men to eat pork, torturing them and even killing them when they refused and how women who circumcised their sons were thrown off the city walls along with their children.  To remain faithful to the Lord in those days came at a great cost.  Many even paid with their lives.  Meanwhile, a significant segment of the Jewish people capitulated, finding ways to compromise or abandoning their faith altogether.  The faithful died and the unfaithful lived.  It wasn't supposed to be like that.  Daniel was written for these people—to exhort them, to give them hope, and to assure them that the Lord remained sovereign and would vindicate them in the end. And that's where Daniel's vision gets difficult.  Up to the events of about 167BC the vision maps right onto history, but then at 11:40 the angel says, “At the time of the end…”  As I said last week, the natural way to read this is as a continuation of the events that took place under Antiochus Epiphanes.  Verses 40-45 describes another war between Egypt and Syria.  They describe tens of thousands falling, but also being delivered out of his hand.  The king conquers Egypt, Libya, and Cush.  There's a vague description of him going off to another war—or something—and pitching his tent between Mount Zion and the sea, and then—suddenly—he comes to his end. The vision changes in these verses.  What was very specific suddenly becomes vague.  The language becomes more grandiose.  And what's described here doesn't map onto historical events as easily as the earlier parts of the vision do.  So some people think with those words “at the time of the end”, the vision is jumping to some time in the future and that the king is no longer Antiochus Epiphanes, but a future antichrist.  But as I said last week, the vision itself doesn't suggest at all that the timeframe has changed and to interpret it that way ends up undermining the purpose: to give hope to the faithful living under Antiochus.  The reason for the change is twofold.  First, the author of this vision, although writing it as if he were Daniel living centuries before, was really writing it at this point.  Up to now, he's been looking back at events that already happened and now he's looking to the events of the roughly three years that will follow.  Is it actually a prophecy?  Or is it his Spirit-inspired insights based on what he knew of two centuries of Greek fighting coupled with what he knew from the Prophets?  And I think that's key here.  Suddenly, here, the vision borrows language and images from Isaiah and Ezekiel and the Psalms.  He was using those passages to interpret current events and that explains why the language becomes grandiose and why the historical one-to-one's fall apart at this point.  The key truth here isn't so much the exact historical events that would happen, but that in them the God of Israel would act to judge the wicked, and to deliver and vindicate the faithful.  As modern people who tend to think of prophecy mainly as foretelling future events, we forget that prophecy in Israel was always far more interested in telling us about the God behind world events.  And as I said last week, I think that's where the solution to our problems with Daniel lies.  Throughout the Old Testament Prophets we see foretellings of judgement and vindication in history, and we can look back at the historical record and see that they really did happen, but most of the time there's still an eschatological element that we don't see fully fulfilled in the historical events.  As Daniel speaks here of the end, there's the end, the historical end of Antiochus Epiphanes, an end to his blasphemies, an end to his persecution of the faithful, but there's also a sense of this big, this final End with a capital “E”—something that will bring history to a close with a once and for all judgement that ends wickedness forever and sees the faithful, the just fully restored and given justice.  God's judgements in history always point us to a day when all will be set to rights once and forever. So when the angel says to Daniel “at the time of the end”, he is talking about historical events in the near future, but there's an element or an aspect of these events—at least in the way they're described here—that looks forward to and anticipates a future End with a capital “E”. Look at Daniel 12:1-4. “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”   Things are bad, but they're going to get worse, so the angel reminds Daniel of the beginning of the vision.  There's more to what's going on than what Daniel—or the faithful in Judah—can see, so don't despair.  Again, scripture doesn't fill us in on all the details about these battles in the heavenlies.  Is it angel wresting with angel or is it armies of angels fighting with each other?  How does it work?  How are these battles in the heavenlies connected with what's happening here?  We don't know and it's not important.  The key point is that God's people are not alone in our struggles.  Not only do angels fight for us, but Michael, who is apparently the greatest of them, stands on the side of the people of God.  As he fought the angelic powers behind Persia and behind the Greeks, so—I think it's safe to assume—he fights whatever angelic powers lie behind those who persecute the Church today. The angel describes a time of trouble like never before.  These are the words of Jeremiah 30:7 and they call back to the Lord's promise to restore his people at the end of their exile: “Thus says the Lord: We have heard a cry of panic,          of terror, and no peace…. Alas! That day is so great          there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob;          yet he shall be saved out of it.   “And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. (Jeremiah 30:5, 7-9) The Lord will once again hear the cries of his people in their distress and as they stand firm in faith against a wicked king, so Michael will fight for them in the heavenlies.  There is a book, the angel reminds Daniel, and the Lord will deliver everyone whose name is written in it.  This book pops up throughout the Old Testament—Exodus, Isaiah, Malachi, and Psalm 69.  It's a census of the covenant faithful.  The book itself is a reminder that the Lord is not only sovereign, but that he's paying attention—that he knows the names of those who kept the faith. To know that the Lord is paying that kind of attention is itself encouraging.  Think back to 11:33, where we read about the “wise” during these dark days: And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some day they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder.   The world is not as it should be.  The people who deserve life receive death.  But the Lord keeps the books and he will set everything right in the end.  The angel tells Daniel about the many who sleep in the dust of the earth.  Think of Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones.  An image of death, hopelessness, and injustice.  The people who should know the life of God are dead and all but forgotten.  But there's a promise.  The Lord will restore them to share in his life.  The angel, speaking to Daniel, draws on the language of Isaiah 26:19: Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.          You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light,          and the earth will give birth to the dead. The angel here in Daniel takes these old prophetic images of resurrection that were originally illustrating Israel's return from exile, here the angel gives those images a literal fulfilment and the return from exile becomes an image or an earnest, a down-payment, on this even better thing that the Lord will do for his people.  They were longing for a restoration to the promised land where they could once against live with his presence in their midst in the temple, but now through the angel the Lord promises that he will raise his people from death and share his life with them.  Those who were dead will sing for joy.  And the wise, the faithful who put their own lives on the line to exhort the rest of the people to faithfulness, the angel says, they will shine like the stars.  He draws on the image of the suffering servant from Isaiah 52: Behold, my servant shall act wisely;          he shall be high and lifted up,          and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you—          his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,          and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations.          Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see,          and that which they have not heard they understand. The angels speaks of hayyim olam, everlasting life.  It's is the only place this phrase is used in the Old Testament, but it seems to draw on the Lord's promise to the king in Psalm 21.  And it suggests that the Lord is sharing something of himself with the faithful, because everlasting life is something that belongs only to God.  It's what he shared with human beings in the garden by means of the tree of life.  It also calls back to Daniel 2:44 where Daniel is told: The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.   The faithful dead will sin for joy forever.  But giving life to the just only balances one side of the ledger.  The angel says, too, that the wicked—the apostate Jews who conspired with Antiochus—they will be raised as well, but instead of being raised to know the life of God, they will be raised to face judgement and death.  The description of them is taken from Isaiah 66:24: “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”   The wicked, the apostates, and the collaborators who sided with the pagans and forsook the Lord's covenant, who died—presumable natural, peaceful deaths—thinking they'd done the right thing, they are raised briefly so that they can know the Lord's justice, so the books can be set straight, and then we have this image of their corpses being cast in the Valley of Hinnom to rot, a testimony to everyone of the Lord's justice—that regardless of how things may look now, he will in the end give life to the just and destruction to the wicked.   The important thing in all this is the Lord's vindication of his faithful people and, in that, his vindication of himself.  The Lord will make known his faithfulness and, seeing it, the peoples will give him glory.  In reading a stack of commentaries on Daniel, I've noticed that this gets lost.  Everyone puts their attention on when this will happen or they get side-tracked with discussion about what all this means for our concept of the afterlife.  That's not the point.  I love the way the Jewish Bible scholar Jon Levenson puts.  He writes, “The main point…is not afterlife; it is vindication, the vindication of the just and their God against the rebels or defectors who had of late triumphed over them and disgraced them.  In short, in these texts the resurrection of the dead is best conceived as a reversal, not so much of death as of condition and status.  God intervenes to make the downtrodden and the triumphant change places, in the process vindicating his own honor and sovereignty….In stark contrast to recent experience, the faithful traditionalists will live (and the ‘wise' among them will shine radiantly), but the desecrators of the covenant will either die or endure an unending ignominy.”[1] The central part of Chapter 12 comes to a close in verse 4, where the angel tells Daniel to seal all of this up until the “time of the end”.  I think that, again, stresses that the time the author of Daniel was writing about was the days of Antiochus Epiphanes and Judas Maccabeus.  If the book was sealed, no one could read it, so the idea here is that those who read the book would know that this was their time.  And, again, that was meant to give them hope in the midst of very dark days as they watched their own people being killed for their faith. The final paragraph of the book, I think, stresses this pretty clearly.  Look at verse 5 and following: Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. And someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, “How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?” And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished. I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?” He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.”   So we're now back where we started at the Tigris River with this majestic man clothed in linen and gold.  There are now two others who seem to be angels and “someone” asks the man how long it will be to the end of all this”.  And the man swears to heaven as he tells Daniel that it will be a times, times, and a half time.  This isn't the first time we've heard this figure in Daniel and as before, it's sort of a cryptic way of saying three-and-a-half years.  That's the emphasis of this whole paragraph.  Daniel says that he doesn't understand, and the man more or less says the same thing again in two different ways.  From the time the regular offering is taken away and the altar is desecrated—and that points again to this being about those days when Antiochus did that, not some far future—from that time it'll be 1290 days.  And then the man, and without any other cue I think we have to assume he's referring to the same time period, he says 1335 days.  Both numbers work out to a little more than three-and-a-half years.  Bible scholars debate the reason for the two additional numbers that differ a little from each other and from the first.  Some think each is calculating the time using a different calendar: one lunar, one solar.  Others point out that the numbers are symbolic and that you can work out various sums with them that have their own symbolic meaning.  It's a complex discussion with no certain solution.  The simple point seems to be that all of this was supposed to happen in roughly three-and-a-half years.  So it's worth noting that, indeed, Judas Maccabeus and his forces captured the temple in December of 164 BC.  (Jews celebrate that victory every year at Hannukah.)  And Antiochus Epiphanes also died in December of 164 BC.  That was three years from the desecration of the altar.  It probably took some time for the news to get to Jerusalem.  We know the morning and evening burnt offerings were stopped sometime before the desecration of the altar, but not precisely when, so the three-and-a-half years as a rough number with some symbolic significance fits. And yet, even though Antiochus died and the altar and sacrifices were restored, the wicked were punished and the faithful vindicated, no one was literally raised from the dead.  And this is why so many interpreters have insisted that this all must be about something in the future, not the days of Antiochus Epiphanes and Judas Maccabeus.  To see this as describing future events has been the majority opinion for both Christians and Jews, but it isn't the only opinion.  As I've been studying Daniel, one of commentaries I've been reading is on the history of its interpretation and I've found it interesting that some of the earliest Christian readers of Daniel understood this to be fulfilled allegorically in the victory of the Maccabees and the death of Antiochus.  I think they were on the right track.  Again, as I said last week, it's typical of the Old Testament prophets to write about judgement and vindication, whether of Israel or the nations, in a way that we see fulfilled in historical events, but that also points to a future day—to the great and final End with a capital “E”—that has yet to happen.  And I think that's what's happening in Daniel's vision.  He wrote his book to encourage the faithful living through the dark days of the 160s BC and the people to whom it was written obviously found encouragement in it, because they made sure that the book made it into the Bible as scripture.  They recognised the Spirit of God speaking through this man and his stories and visions.  I can't see them, with so much here that grounds Daniel's vision in the events in which they were living, I can't see them projecting this into some distant future.  They knew that no one was resurrection from death in 164 BC but instead of throwing the book out as a failed prophecy, they were encouraged and exhorted by it, it made sense of the events through which they were living, they understood it to be fulfilled in some way in the events they experienced, and so they identified it as God's word.  This is, again, part of the nature of prophecy in the Bible.  It speaks to the original people and rebukes or exhorts them in their historical circumstances, while also pointing to the future. Brothers and Sisters, life is not easy.  Maybe this is why Daniel is grouped with the wisdom books in the Hebrew Bible.  Because Daniel reminds us that to walk in faith with the Lord doesn't mean an escape from the trials and tears of the world; it doesn't mean an escape from wicked rulers or, for that matter, wicked neighbours; it doesn't give us a get-out-of-persecution-free card.  What it does mean is that the Lord holds us in his hands through the trials and tribulations of life.  Daniel reminds us that our names are written in his book.  Daniel reminds us that no matter how bad things that we can see may look, God fights for us in the heavenlies.  But, I think most important, to walk in faith with God is to know that his acts of faithfulness in the past—and even today—give us a sure and certain hope of vindication and of life everlasting in the age to come.  Daniel and his people gathered year in and year out to eat the Passover meal and in doing that they remembered and participated in the events by which the Lord had rescued their ancestors from Egypt, made them his people, given them his law, dwelt in their midst, and made them a promise of life.  They sat down at that table, recalled the past, and looked forward in hope because the past told them who the Lord is and that he is good and faithful.  And if that was true for Daniel and for the faithful Jews living in the days of Antiochus and for Jesus and his disciples sitting down to eat the Passover in the upper room, how much truer is it for us?  Like I said last week, Jesus did with Daniel what Daniel had done with the Prophets.  Jesus saw himself fulfilling that future element of Daniel's vision.  He saw himself finally inaugurating that big and final End with a capital “E”.  Jesus died and rose from death, as Paul would later write, the firstfruits of that promised and long-hoped for resurrection of the dead—the day when the Lord will set his creation to rights, vindicate his people who have suffered disgrace for their faith, and will reveal his glory as he deals once and for all with evil and sin and with death. Brothers and Sisters, think on that as you come to the Lord's Table this morning.  As we eat the bread and drink the wine we remember the events of that first Easter Sunday when the false verdict on Jesus and his disgraceful crucifixion were overturned and he was vindicated by his Father: restored to life and declared the King.  We remember those events by which he has delivered us from death.  As you pass the font, dip your fingers in the water and remember that Jesus has led us through these waters in an exodus from sin and death.  Brothers and Sisters, we remember the goodness and faithfulness of God revealed in Jesus, revealed in the giving of his Spirit, revealed in the new life he has given.  He has made us his people.  Our names are written in his book.  And so we know—we have hope—for the day when he will bring to completion what began the day Jesus rose from the grave.  One day he will wipe away ever tear and we will sing with joy and shine like the brightness of the sky. Let's pray: Gracious Father, fill us with faith.  As we look back on your mighty and saving deeds, remind us of your goodness and your faithfulness and grow our faith that we might remain faithful to you.  Grow our faith that we might stand firmly for you no matter the circumstances.  Knowing that you have given the life of your own Son because you love us, fill us with your grace and teach us to love you in return with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength as we look forward in hope to day when you bring completion this work of new creation begun in Jesus.  Amen. [1] Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life (New Haven: Yale, 2006), 190-191.

Hosanna to the Son of David St. Matthew 21:1-43 by William Klock That first Palm Sunday, Jesus made his last trip to Jerusalem for the Passover.  In the little town on the hill opposite the city he made arrangement for a donkey, then he rode down into the valley, back up to the city, and fulfilling the ancient prophecy of Zechariah about a humble king who would come to deliver his people.  You and I know where this story is headed.  Just in case we might have forgotten, the long Palm Sunday Gospel gives us an opportunity not just to remember but to put ourselves in the story of Jesus' arrest, his trial, and his crucifixion.  But the people on that first Palm Sunday had no idea that the story was headed in that direction.  Jesus had put two and two together—or maybe we should say that he'd put Moses and Isaiah or the law and the prophets together—and he knew that somehow he was headed to his death, despite the acclaim of the crowd.  I have to think that there were a few others amongst his people, wise people steeped in Scripture and who had heard Jesus preach, who might have suspected what was coming.  But that Good Friday, that the Cross, were just a few days away, would have been a complete surprise to most.  They had heard Jesus preaching good news to the poor; they had seen him heal the sick, the blind, and the lame; they had seen him cast out demons and raise the dead.  These were “Messiah things”.  And even if Jesus didn't always make a lot of sense, even if he was doing other things that didn't fit the narrative they had in their heads, the Lord, the God of Israel, was clearly with him.  And now, here he was riding into Jerusalem on a donkey just as Zechariah had prophesied.  He had to be the long-awaited King. Jesus' timing was perfect.  There couldn't have been a better time for the King to arrive in Jerusalem.  This was Passover.  This was the annual festival where the Jews not only remembered how the Lord had delivered them from their bondage in Egypt, but it was also the time when they looked forward with hope to the day when the Lord would deliver them again.  The people travelling the road with Jesus were on their way to gather with friends and family to tell the story of Moses and Pharaoh, of the ten plagues, of the angel of death and the Passover lambs, the crossing of the Red Sea, and of the Lord meeting them at last in the wilderness.  They were rehearsing a story over a thousand years old, but it was their story.  This was how they became the Lord's people and how he became their God.  It was a story of deliverance in the past and as they retold it each year they expressed their longing for and their faith in God's deliverance in the future.  And now, in Jesus, they see the King finally arriving, and that meant that the covenant renewal and the Lord's visitation and vindication of his people had to be just around the corner. There were a lot of other stories of deliverance in Israel's history, but as they waved their palm branches that first Palm Sunday, the people had to have in mind the story of Judas Maccabaeus.  Two hundred years earlier, he and his army had marched on Jerusalem.  They defeated their Greek overlords and retook the city.  And after retaking the city, Judas cleansed the temple, which Antiochus, the Greek king, had desecrated.  The people of Jerusalem had greeted Judas Maccabeus with palm branches too.  For about a century the Jews lived in freedom under the Maccabees and many in Jesus' day were looking for a King to come like Judas, to once again drive out the oppressors—and this time the Lord would truly be with and stay with his people.  Finally, he would set the world to rights. But Jesus' procession into Jerusalem wasn't the only one.  Pontius Pilate had his own procession into the city.  He lived in Caesarea, down on the Mediterranean coast, but to keep the peace during the Passover as the city was packed with people, Pilate, the Roman governor marched up to Jerusalem with his soldiers.  Pilate would have arrived from the opposite direction as Jesus.  He might have arrived the day before or later that same day, but it's entirely possible that he and Jesus arrived at the same time, King Jesus representing the Lord, the God of Israel, and Pilate representing the great Caesar.  The people caught on.  They were expecting a showdown.  They saw Jesus on the donkey and they remembered Zechariah's prophecy of the coming King.  And in thinking of the King they would certainly also have remembered other prophecies about the King.  They sang psalms on the road to Jerusalem and may have been singing some of the royal psalms about the King coming to conquer the nations, breaking them like a rod of iron and smashing them like pottery.  Jesus looked pretty humble and peaceful now, but many of the people expected him to throw off the humble itinerant preacher disguise to rise up like another Judas Maccabeus.  He would drive out the Romans, the corrupt Herodian sell-outs, and the corrupt priests who governed the temple.  And then he would rule like David and Solomon. So we can imagine the excitement of the people when Jesus headed straight for the temple.  Our lesson from Matthew 21 in the Liturgy of the Palms stops just short of that bit of the story.  Jesus marched into the temple and promptly set about upsetting everything.  He drove out the very people who sold animals and made the sacrificial system possible.  Jesus' problem wasn't so much with the buying and selling.  Sacrifices required pure animals.  Carrying animals all the way from places like Galilee was impractical.  They could escape, get injured, or die on the journey.  The people selling animals were offering a needed service and there was nothing wrong with making a profit—they had to feed their families like everyone else.  The money changers were necessary too, because the temple had its own currency.  No, quoting Jeremiah 7:11, Jesus shouted out that they had turned the temple, God's house, into a house of robbers.  When Jeremiah said these words, he was rebuking people who thought that they could find comfort in God's house while continuing unrepentant in their sin.  By Jesus' time the word for “robber” had taken on added meaning.  The Jews had borrowed the word from Greek and used to refer to violent revolutionaries, like the Zealots, who wanted to overthrow the Romans.  The temple was supposed to be the place where the people came to the Lord in prayer and submitted to his will and his agenda, but instead the people had made it the focal point of their hopes and dreams for violent revolution—of another Maccabean revolt and a violent Messiah like Judas.  And so Jesus did something that disrupted the temple and that stopped the sacrifices.  It was an acted-out prophecy declaring that the temple's days were over and with it the old order.  God was about to do something new.  Jesus had been teaching this all along—and acting it out as well.  Whenever Jesus healed and forgave and declared people clean and bypassed the temple and the system of ritual and purity, he was sending the message that the temple's days were coming to an end and with it the days of the priesthood and the sacrifices.  The Lord, in Jesus, was about to do something new, to offer a better sacrifice, to build a better temple, to make a better priesthood—all centred in him.  So Jesus does it again here in Matthew 21.  Jesus brought the sacrifices in the temple to a halt and then, Matthew says, the blind and the lame came to him and were healed. What kind of King were the people looking for?  Again, they were looking for a warrior like Judas Maccabaeus, but Jesus arrived on a donkey and wept over the city because it did not know the way of peace.  They were looking for a king to come and restore the temple and to once again make it the centre of the world, but Jesus, instead, acted out a prophecy of its destruction and declared that he would tear it down.  They looked for another king like David who would vanquish Israel's enemies, but Jesus instead taught of a king whom the people would reject and murder. Jesus went back to the temple the next day to teach.  Matthew says that the chief priests and elders confronted him to ask by what authority he said and did these things and Jesus threw their question back at them.  They were afraid to answer.  If they admitted that the Lord truly was behind Jesus they'd have to answer for rejecting him.  If they denied it they would lose the respect and obedience of the common people who loved Jesus and, even if they didn't understand him very well, they could see the obvious: God was at work through him.  So the priests and elders simply refused to answer.  They were more concerned with their position of authority than with the truth. Jesus responded with a parable.  This is what he said: “Once upon a time there was a householder who planted a vineyard, built a wall for it, dug out a winepress in it, and built a tower.  Then he rented it out to tenant farmers and went away on a journey.  When harvest time arrived, he sent his slaves to the farmers to collect his produce.  The farmers seized his slaves; they beat one, killed another, and stoned another.  Again he sent other slaves, more than before, and they treated them in the same way.  Finally he sent his son to them.  “They'll respect my son,” he said.  But the farmers saw the son.  “This fellow's the heir!' they said among themselves.  ‘Come on, let's kill him, and then we can take over the property!'  So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.  Now then: when the vineyard-owner returns, what will he do to those farmers?”  “He'll kill them brutally, the wretches!” they said.  “And he'll lease the vineyard to other farmers who'll give him the produce at the right time.”   “Did you never read what the Bible says?” said Jesus to them: “‘The stone the builders threw away Is now atop the corner; It's from the Lord, all this, they say And we looked on in wonder.'”   “So then let me tell you this: God's kingdom is going to be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the goods.  Anyone who falls on this stone will be smashed to pieces, and anyone it falls on will be crushed.” (Matthew 21:33-44 KNT) This time the priests and elders understood.  We know they understood because Matthew goes on to say that they were angry because they knew the parable was about them.  They would have arrested him then and there if it hadn't been for the crowds.  You see, they knew a similar story that Isaiah had told long before.  In Isaiah 5 the story is about a man who lovingly planted a vineyard, but no matter how well he cared for it, it produced only worthless wild grapes.  In the end the man was forced to tear down the wall protecting the vineyard and to let the wild retake it.  Isaiah himself had said that the man was the Lord and the vineyard was Israel.  But, now, in Jesus' version of the story he makes it plain that the problem isn't just the vines producing bad fruit.  It's the tenant farmers refusing to acknowledge the vineyard's real owner: the Lord. Jesus stresses that they've had warning after warning.  The Lord sent his prophets, but they rejected and murdered them.  Now he's sent his own Son whom they're about to reject and murder too.  This is one of the most explicit statements Jesus makes about both his relation to the Lord and about his mission, his vocation to bear himself the hatred and violence of the very people to whom he was sent.  And here Jesus reminds us of the problem.  Again, the people were looking for a David or a Judas Maccabaeus.  They were looking for a king who could overpower Caesar.  But the King who came will, instead, allow the violence of his own people and of Caesar to crush him.  Somehow, Jesus is saying, God's plan will be worked out by everything going terribly wrong in order to make everything perfectly right.  The King will let evil—will let sin and death—do their absolute worst to him.  He will be rejected and scorned.  But the stone that the builders rejected will somehow end up becoming the cornerstone of a new and better temple.  This is where Holy Week is headed.  It's not until Easter, when we find the empty tomb and meet the risen Jesus, that it all makes sense. In the meantime, we need to ask which King we are following.  The world is a mess.  Violence is everywhere.  Strife is everywhere.  Poverty is everywhere.  And the very moment it seems one situation is improving, things fall apart somewhere else.  The things the world looks to for hope never seem to pan out—often they just make things worse.  Brothers and Sisters, we need to ask: In what or in whom do we place our hope for peace and a better world?  Caesar has failed over and over and over.  Many of us place our hope in mammon, but mammon's track record is no better.  We need to declare with Solomon, “Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son!  May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice!” (Psalm 72:1-2). But then we need to ask a more personal question.  The Palm Sunday crowd was fickle, hailing Jesus as King on Sunday and crying out for his crucifixion on Friday, but they weren't wrong in their hope for the Lord's deliverance of his people.  They longed to see God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.  They hoped for the justice and peace of God to set his Creation to rights.  Where they were wrong was in missing, in failing to see the means by which Jesus would usher in God's kingdom, not by violence, but by giving himself.  Brothers and Sisters, Jesus calls us to follow him on the road through Holy Week—this road of rejection, and of suffering, and even death.  He demands our all.  That's what it means to repent—to turn aside from everything that is not him, to turn aside from every source of security that is not him, and to turn aside from every plan that is not his and to give our lives to the task of proclaiming this King, who gave his life for the sake of his enemies.  It means that we give our whole selves in faith and in hope to make his kingdom known on earth as it is in heaven in practical and tangible ways, that through us, no matter the cost, the world may see his justice and his peace, his mercy and his grace. Let us pray: Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for mankind you sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility:  Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Cale looks at the military campaigns of Judas Maccabeus and the rededication of the temple. When was Jesus born – was it really toward the end of December?

The First Sunday in Advent: Jesus Changes Everything Romans 13:8-14 and St. Matthew 21:1-13 by William Klock Advent reminds us that Jesus has changed everything.  The world around us celebrates the beginning of the new year on January 1st, but for the Church the new year begins today, the First Sunday in Advent.  Again, because Jesus has changed everything.  As we approach Christmas, when we recall and celebrate Jesus' birth, Advent calls us to reflect on what Jesus has done: in his incarnation, in his death, in his resurrection, in his ascension.  Advent calls us to count the cost of discipleship, of following King Jesus.  Advent comes, like John the Baptist, and calls out to us: Repent, for the kingdom of God has come.  Let go of everything that is not Jesus, then take hold of him in faith with both hands and follow him into God's new creation.  Let him set you to rights so that you can be part of this new age in which he—through the gospel, through the gospel, through the Spirit—is setting the world itself to rights. The Gospel this morning stands as a signpost to the kingdom.  St. Matthew shows us Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the King, and he gives us a glimpse of his kingdom.  Look at Matthew 21:1-6.   When they came near to Jerusalem, and arrived at Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of the disciples on ahead.  “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied up, and a foal with it.  Untie them and bring them to me.  And if anyone says anything to you, say, “The Lord needs them needs them and he'll send them back straightaway.”   This happened so that the prophet's words might be fulfilled: “Tell this to Zion's daughter: Look now!  Your king is coming to you; Humble and mounted on a donkey, And on a colt, a donkey's foal.”   So the disciples went and did as Jesus had told them.  They brought the donkey and its foal, and put their coats on them, and Jesus sat on them.   Matthew draws on the scriptures and on Israel's story to give depth to what he writes.  Specifically, here, he draws on Zechariah's prophecies that look forward to the Messiah and to the day when the Lord would come in judgement on Israel's enemies.  When Matthew says that Jesus came to the Mount of Olives, this isn't just a casual geographical reference.  Jesus' ministry was full of acted out prophecies and here he chooses this spot knowing that it was the spot, according to Zechariah, where the Lord would stand when he brought judgement.  And Matthew draws on Zechariah again to explain Jesus' strange command to the disciples to fetch a donkey.  This was not how kings made their triumphal processions.  At least, not ordinary kings.  They were carried by their servants or they rode on horseback or in a chariot.  But Zechariah, hundreds of years before, had highlighted the humble nature of the coming Messiah.  He was the one who would ride to his coronation on the back of a humble donkey. So Matthew makes it abundantly clear who Jesus is.  He is the Messiah whom the people had hoped for.  But he also highlights the nature of Jesus' rule.  The people expected a king who would come to overthrow the Herodians and the Romans with violence.  Matthew reminds them, by showing how Jesus fulfilled Zechariah's prophecies, that Jesus will take his throne by a very different sort of path.  Yes, he is the judge.  Yes, he will deliver Israel.  Yes, he will set his people and this broken world to rights.  But it's not going to happen the way people thought, at least not yet. As the crowds gather to line Jesus' way into Jerusalem, Matthew continues to draw on Israel's story.  Look at verses 8-11: The great crowd spread their coats on the road.  Others cut branches from the trees and scattered them on the road.  The crowds who went ahead of him and those who were following behind shouted out, “Hosanna to the son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!”  And when he came into Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up.  “Who is this?” they asked.  And the crowds said, “This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”   The crowds surround Jesus and sing royal hymns.  They hail him as the “son of David”.  Here was the Messiah, the Lord's king.  And in telling the story, Matthew again draws on two events in Israel's story that the people would have known well.  First, as he tells how the crowd was spreading their coats on the ground, it would have been hard for his Jewish readers to miss the reference to King Jehu's anointing.  In 2 Kings 9 we read about Jehoram.  He was King of Israel, the son of the wicked King Ahab.  And in Jehoram, the apple had not fallen far from the tree.  He was as wicked as his father, so the prophet Elisha ordered that Jehu, instead, was to be anointed King in his place.  He announced that Jehu would bring the Lord's judgement on the wicked house of Ahab.  As Jehu was anointed by the prophet, the men who were gathered cast their coats on the ground before him and blew a trumpet.  Matthew uses the imagery not only to make sure we know that Jesus is the Lord's anointed King, but also to hint that Jesus is also the King who will bring the Lord's judgement on the wicked. But the other grand image that Matthew draws on here and that leads into the next scene is that of Judas Maccabeus.  2 Maccabees 10:7 describes the people hailing Judas as king by laying wreathes and palm branches at his feet.  Judas had not only defeated Israel's enemies, but he had purified the temple from its defilement by the Greeks.  Judas' kingdom inspired hope, but it did not last.  And now Matthew shows us Jesus, following in Judas' footsteps to the temple.  This time it's different.  This time is for real.  Look at verses 12-13 And Jesus came into the temple and drove out all who were buying and selling in the temple.  He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  “This is what the scriptures say,” he said to them, “‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers.”   Jesus' purification of the temple had at least as much to do with rebuking the people for what the temple had become ideologically as it did with the buy and selling.  The selling of animals for sacrifice was a necessary part of what the temple was and, since the temple used its own currency, someone had to be there to make change.  The more serious issues was that the temple had become a symbol of the violent revolution—a revolution like the one Judas Maccabeus had led—that had become the hope of the people.  But that's not how God's kingdom would come.  That wasn't what Jesus was about. What was really important about this was that Jesus' disruption of the temple put a temporary stop to the sacrifices that day.  This was another acted-out prophecy that brought to a culmination all of his declarations of forgiveness and healing that had bypassed the temple, the sacrificial system, and the priesthood.  This was Jesus' announcement that the temple's days were numbered.  God was about to do something not only new, but better.  Jesus points here to a coming new covenant in which he would take on the role of the temple himself, in which he would be the mediator between God and human beings, he would be the one in whom forgiveness of sins would be found, he would be the one to bring God and man, heaven and earth back together. So the Gospel today shows us this vignette from Jesus' ministry, showing us that in his first advent, Jesus was revealed to be the King whom God had promised to his people.  It also hints at the fact that, while Jesus has inaugurated something new, even now, two thousand years later, we await its final consummation. We still wait for Jesus' second advent.  And this leads us into our Epistle.  Let's look at Romans 13, beginning at verse 8: Don't owe anything to anyone, except the debt of mutual love, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.  For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this saying: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love does no wrong to a neighbor; so love is the fulfilment of the law.  (Romans 13:8-10) A shockwave went out across the world that first Easter morning when Jesus burst from his tomb.  The work of new creation was begun that day.  And yet, except for Jesus' followers, no one else seems to have noticed.  It's often remarkable to me these days, that even though the gospel conquered an empire and transformed Western Civilisation, that even in a post-Christians age, our world is still shaped by ideas like grace and mercy that were foreign to those pre-gospel civilisations, most people seem oblivious to it all.  The present age rumbles along, its rulers go on ruling, and people carry on with their business.  The old gods remain, even if we aren't so crass as to build temples with statues of them.  We may not worship Caesar or Aphrodite or Mammon, but we still worship money and sex and political power.  St. Paul knew that it's surprisingly easy for even Jesus' own people to forget that the kingdom is breaking in and the old powers have been stripped.  It's easy for us to fall back into the ways and priorities of the present age and to give half-hearted allegiance to Jesus.  That had been Israel's problem all along.  Brothers and Sisters, it should not be ours.  Jesus has filled us with his own Spirit.  The law that was once external and written on stone has now been inscribed on our hearts and our hearts have been turned to God.  As Israel had the Exodus behind them and an annual Passover celebration to remind them who they were and the glories that the Lord had done for them, we have the cross and the empty tomb behind us and the Lord's Supper to remind us—and as Jeremiah prophesied for us last Sunday, the Exodus pales in comparison to the glory revealed at the cross.  Problem solved!  Or so you'd think.  But we still need nearly constant reminders, we need to recall Jesus, his death and resurrection, we need God's word and we need his grace.  And so Paul reminds us that, as Jesus' people, it is essential to live the law of love that the Spirit has inscribed on our hearts. Paul puts all of this in terms of the torah and, specifically, the second table of the Ten Commandments: Don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't covet—just don't wrong your neighbour.  To love is to fulfil that law.  Paul uses the Greek word agape, which describes the sort of love that gives of oneself as it puts others first.  This is the love that Jesus showed us on the cross as he took on himself the sins of the very people who had rejected and despised him.  This is the love that defines the kingdom and that the Spirit has poured into our hearts.  Be in debt to no one, Paul writes, except to know that for the sake of Jesus and his kingdom, you owe everyone you meet a debt of love.  Imagine how effective the Church would be if we truly lived this way, coupled with being faithful proclaimers of the good news about Jesus. Instead, though, we're too often like the man who knows he's going to be late for work, but keeps hitting “snooze” on his alarm clock, rolling over, and going back to sleep.  Paul goes on: This is all the more important, because you know what time it is.  The hour has come for you to wake from sleep.  For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.  The night is nearly over; the day is at hand.  (Romans 13:11-12) Paul knew that Jesus would return.  Jesus had promised that the Lord would come in judgement on an unrepentant Jerusalem within a generation.  I think, too, that Paul saw another horizon beyond the destruction of Jerusalem.  After the Lord judged unrepentant Israel and vindicated his faithful people, a time would follow in which the gentiles would come streaming in, having seen the faithfulness of Israel's God.  While the other apostles were carrying the gospel to their fellow Jews, Paul had received a calling to carry it to the gentiles—so that they would hear the good news about Jesus, so that in that good news they would know the faithfulness of Israel's God, and ultimately that they would come to the God of Israel to give him glory.  The time was coming for the King's return in judgement, first on the Jews, and eventually on the gentiles.  He would finish what he had started.  The present evil age and its false gods and false kings would be done away with and God's new creation would be born.  Jesus' first advent was the alarm going off.  Jesus had announced a coming judgement, but in his life, death, and resurrection had established a means of reconciliation with God.  That day the first rays of the sun had begun to peek over the mountaintops.  And now, Paul's saying, the full day will soon be upon us.  So get out of bed and get dressed for work! And then he shifts the metaphor.  From “Get out of bed you sleepy-head” he takes a more serious tone.  It's one thing to sleep in when you should be getting ready for work.  It's a far worse thing to be out carousing all night when you know you've got work to do in the morning.  He goes on: The night is nearly over; the day is at hand.  So let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.  Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.  Instead, put on the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and make no allowance for the flesh, to gratify its lusts.  (Romans 13:12-14) Laziness is bad and there are too many lazy Christians, but even worse are people who know they should be living for Jesus and the age to come, but are instead living for the present wicked age and its false gods and kings.  Paul makes a list of the wicked things people do under cover of darkness: they indulge their appetites, they get drunk, they get involved in all sorts of sexual sins.  But Paul doesn't stop there.  Because most Christians don't do those sorts of things, so Paul goes on with the list, from orgies and drunkenness to quarrelling and jealousy.  I think Paul puts it this way, because we're rightly horrified by those “really bad” sins, but then he follows up with sins that are all too common amongst Christians.  He puts these “respectable sins” in the same category with those unthinkable sins.  It's another wake-up call.  Some churches have self-destructed because of sexual immorality.  Many of us came from one of those churches.  But far more are torn apart by things like quarrelling and jealousy.  Christians get angry with each other, their relationships break down, sometimes churches even split.  These are the works of darkness and they're just as bad and just as unbecoming the people of God as drunken orgies are.  Going back to the first part of the Epistle, people who love their neighbours don't fight and don't become jealous any more than they get involved in sexual immorality. Instead, as befits living in the day, we put on the “armour of light”.  Paul hints at the fact that living as people of the day when we're surrounded by people of the darkness is going to be a struggle and, some days, a downright battle.  We put on the armour of light.  What is that?  Paul goes on to put it in terms of putting on the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.  But then what does that mean?  Paul uses this put on/put off metaphor a lot in his epistles and the gist of it is that we need to remember that we belong to the Lord and that he has made us new. Think of the Israelites.  Pharaoh had claimed them as his slaves, but the Lord had freed them.  But it wasn't freedom for freedom's sake.  The Lord freed Israel from Pharaoh's cruel bondage so that the people could serve him.  They went from belonging to a cruel king to belonging to the King—a king who loves his people.  The Lord would live in the midst of his people, that was his promise.  And, for their part, the people would live as befits people who belong to and fellowship with the Lord—that was the torah and the tabernacle. Brothers and Sisters, the same goes for us as Christians.  Through Jesus, the Lord has delivered us from our bondage to sin and death and has made us his own.  We once were in bondage to the darkness, but now have the privilege and joy of serving the light.  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11: Don't you know that the unjust will not inherit God's kingdom?  Don't be deceived!  Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor dunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers—none of these—will inherit the kingdom of God.  That is, of course, what some of you were!  But you were washed clean; you were made holy; you were put back to rights—in the name of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah and in the Spirit of our God. Brothers and Sisters, as Jesus changes everything, he has changed us.  We're not just the people who live camped around the tabernacle, like Old Testament Israel.  We've been united with Jesus, who is himself the tabernacle, Emanuel, God with us.  He's redeemed us from our bondage to sin and made us holy.  And he's made us, his very people, a temple into which he pours God's own Spirit.  It is astounding what Jesus has done for us, but somehow we're still prone to forgetting.  We hear the alarm sounding, we see the sun peeking through the curtains, and we roll over and go back to sleep.  We do that because we've forgotten the joy of our salvation.  We do that, because we've failed to steep ourselves in God's word.  We do that because we've neglected the fellowship and worship of the saints.  We do that because we've forgotten that God has made us stewards of his grace and of his good news.  We do that, because we've failed to think on and to meditate on the amazing and gracious love God has shown us in Jesus. Brothers and Sisters, the Lord knew we sometimes we would forget these things.  That's why he's given us means of grace to “stir us up” as we prayed in last week's collect.  He's given us each other.  Friends, the Church is a place where we confront each other in our sins and exhort each other to love and good works.  He's given us his word to prick our consciences when we go astray, to remind us of God's faithfulness when we're struggling to trust, and to show us the incredible depths of his love when we're tempted to take a ho-hum approach to our faith.  He's given us the sacraments.  In our baptism he has washed us clean and plunged us into his Spirit.  In that water he made each of us his own, just as he made Israel his own when she passed through the Red Sea.  And in the Lord's Supper he gives us a means of participating in the very events—in the death and resurrection of Jesus—that mark our exodus from the bondage of sin and death. Friends, be prepared.  Knowing that that King has come and that he will come again, avail yourselves this Advent of the means of grace.  Whether you've been carousing as if it were night, or you've been sleeping in while the alarm beeps away, or even if you've been busy about the work of the kingdom, steep yourselves in God's word, be reminded of the sinfulness of sin and of the love and the grace and the faithfulness of God towards us sinners.  Meditate on the cross and on the empty tomb.  Remember the baptismal water through which you once passed and find assurance that you belong to Jesus and that he has called you to the life of his kingdom.  And, finally, come to his Table.  Here is not only the manna in the wilderness for a hungry people.  Here is the bread and wine by which we participate in the death and resurrection of the King and find our identity as the people of God. Let's pray: Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

November 21, 164 BCE. Judas Maccabeus recaptures Jerusalem during the Maccabean Revolt and rededicates the Second Temple, since commemorated in the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more.History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Fr. Mike breaks down the doctrine of purgatory as we read about Judas Maccabeus and his army praying for the dead in 2 Maccabees 12. We learn that purgatory is a process of purification that our hearts need in order to be ready to love God and to enter into his presence. In our reading of Wisdom today, Fr. Mike emphasizes the insanity of worshipping idols and how it's more tempting to make idols out of good things rather than evil things. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 12, Wisdom 13-14, and Proverbs 25:11-14. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Today, Fr. Mike discusses the confidence that faith in God can provide as we fight the battles of our lives. He also engages with the riddles found in Wisdom 10 and points out that we can now not only understand the characters, stories, and allusions of Scripture, but can recognize the fingerprints of God in the world around us and better understand the main character of Scripture: God. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 10, Wisdom 9-10, and Proverbs 25:4-7. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

As we hear the re-telling of the story of Judas Maccabbeus and his brothers fighting for the honor of the Lord's Temple in 2 Maccabees, Fr. Mike points out how this version gives us an insight into their recognition of God's presence, mercy, and justice in their circumstances. We learn that no matter what we are going through, we can trust that God is our great defender who is present and active in all circumstances of our lives. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 8, Wisdom 5-6, and Proverbs 24:30-34. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike concludes the book of Sirach today and encourages us to continue the pursuit of wisdom. In our reading of 2 Maccabees, we see again the pillage of the Temple and we are re- introduced to Judas Maccabeus. Lastly, in Proverbs Fr. Mike encourages us to resist the temptation to rejoice when our enemies fall. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 5, Sirach 50-51, and Proverbs 24:17-20. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike gives us context for the beginning of 2 Maccabees and recounts the story of Nehemiah's discovery of the sacred fire. He also offers a reflection for those struggling with grief and death, which serves as a reminder to all about the blessing of our lives and the lives of those we love. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 1, Sirach 40-41, and Proverbs 24:1-7. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike guides us through Judas Maccabeus' last battle, his death, and his succession. We learn that part of Judas and Jonathan's victory involved fighting fellow Jews living in the land who were not living according to God's laws. Fr. Mike points out that when the enemy is in the inside, it is especially heartbreaking. Today's readings are 1 Maccabees 9, Sirach 24-25, and Proverbs 23:1-4. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike walks us through the current battles of Judas Maccabeus and the Israelite people, emphasizing that while war is violent, freedom to belong to God and worship him is worth fighting for. He also discusses the importance of spending time with virtuous people to acquire their positive qualities and the need to seek good rather than evil to attain the riches of heaven. Today's readings are from 1 Maccabees 5, Sirach 13-15, and Proverbs 22:13-16. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

In today's reading from 1 Maccabees, we hear about the victory of Judas Maccabeus, which is also the story of Hanukkah. In Sirach, Fr. Mike points out that chasing fame and glory in this world are not worth our time, because they will all fade away after we are gone. The readings are 1 Maccabees 4, Sirach 10-12, and Proverbs 22:9-12. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike points out how advice from books like Proverbs and Sirach may not apply perfectly to every situation, but are meant to help guide us towards wisdom. He also highlights a piece from Sirach that encourages us to avoid "deserted places"—calling us not only to stay away from sin, but to stay away from what leads us to sin. The readings are 1 Maccabees 3, Sirach 7-9, and Proverbs 22:5-8. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Between 167 and 160 BC, Judas Maccabeus and his brothers led a revolt against the Greek tyrant who desecrated the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Miraculously victorious, the Jews rededicated the Temple in a festival of lights that became the first Hannukah. A bloody tale of oppression, war, and ancient diplomacy, these books (Maccabees 1 and 2) are a bridge between the Old and New Testaments and are the first places that the Jewish Bible speaks of life after death, intercessory prayer, and purgatory. Matthew and Leeanne Thomas edited and annotated these texts for the Ignatius Study Bible. Matthew is a theologian and professor at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He and Leeanne are both scholars of Biblical Hebrew; they met in graduate school and got married. She had also once been a candidate for ordination in the Anglican Church in Canada before becoming a Catholic. Today, the couple live in Berkeley with their four beautiful children. The First and Second Books of the Maccabees, edited by Matthew and Leeanne Thomas, Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. Matthew Thomas's faculty webpage at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. Matthew Thomas on Almost Good Catholics, episode 02: Who Wrote the Bible? Sorting out the History of the Bible We Have. Matthew Thomas on Almost Good Catholics, episode 03: The Gospels in the Early Church: Evidence for the Chronology and Transmission of the Christian Scriptures. Matthew Thomas on Almost Good Catholics, episode 22: Better Call Paul How Did the Early Jewish Christians Understand “Works of the Law”? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Between 167 and 160 BC, Judas Maccabeus and his brothers led a revolt against the Greek tyrant who desecrated the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Miraculously victorious, the Jews rededicated the Temple in a festival of lights that became the first Hannukah. A bloody tale of oppression, war, and ancient diplomacy, these books (Maccabees 1 and 2) are a bridge between the Old and New Testaments and are the first places that the Jewish Bible speaks of life after death, intercessory prayer, and purgatory. Matthew and Leeanne Thomas edited and annotated these texts for the Ignatius Study Bible. Matthew is a theologian and professor at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He and Leeanne are both scholars of Biblical Hebrew; they met in graduate school and got married. She had also once been a candidate for ordination in the Anglican Church in Canada before becoming a Catholic. Today, the couple live in Berkeley with their four beautiful children. The First and Second Books of the Maccabees, edited by Matthew and Leeanne Thomas, Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. Matthew Thomas's faculty webpage at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. Matthew Thomas on Almost Good Catholics, episode 02: Who Wrote the Bible? Sorting out the History of the Bible We Have. Matthew Thomas on Almost Good Catholics, episode 03: The Gospels in the Early Church: Evidence for the Chronology and Transmission of the Christian Scriptures. Matthew Thomas on Almost Good Catholics, episode 22: Better Call Paul How Did the Early Jewish Christians Understand “Works of the Law”? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Between 167 and 160 BC, Judas Maccabeus and his brothers led a revolt against the Greek tyrant who desecrated the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Miraculously victorious, the Jews rededicated the Temple in a festival of lights that became the first Hannukah. A bloody tale of oppression, war, and ancient diplomacy, these books (Maccabees 1 and 2) are a bridge between the Old and New Testaments and are the first places that the Jewish Bible speaks of life after death, intercessory prayer, and purgatory. Matthew and Leeanne Thomas edited and annotated these texts for the Ignatius Study Bible. Matthew is a theologian and professor at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He and Leeanne are both scholars of Biblical Hebrew; they met in graduate school and got married. She had also once been a candidate for ordination in the Anglican Church in Canada before becoming a Catholic. Today, the couple live in Berkeley with their four beautiful children. The First and Second Books of the Maccabees, edited by Matthew and Leeanne Thomas, Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. Matthew Thomas's faculty webpage at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. Matthew Thomas on Almost Good Catholics, episode 02: Who Wrote the Bible? Sorting out the History of the Bible We Have. Matthew Thomas on Almost Good Catholics, episode 03: The Gospels in the Early Church: Evidence for the Chronology and Transmission of the Christian Scriptures. Matthew Thomas on Almost Good Catholics, episode 22: Better Call Paul How Did the Early Jewish Christians Understand “Works of the Law”? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

Between 167 and 160 BC, Judas Maccabeus and his brothers led a revolt against the Greek tyrant who desecrated the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Miraculously victorious, the Jews rededicated the Temple in a festival of lights that became the first Hannukah. A bloody tale of oppression, war, and ancient diplomacy, these books (Maccabees 1 and 2) are a bridge between the Old and New Testaments and are the first places that the Jewish Bible speaks of life after death, intercessory prayer, and purgatory. Matthew and Leeanne Thomas edited and annotated these texts for the Ignatius Study Bible. Matthew is a theologian and professor at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He and Leeanne are both scholars of Biblical Hebrew; they met in graduate school and got married. She had also once been a candidate for ordination in the Anglican Church in Canada before becoming a Catholic. Today, the couple live in Berkeley with their four beautiful children. The First and Second Books of the Maccabees, edited by Matthew and Leeanne Thomas, Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. Matthew Thomas's faculty webpage at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. Matthew Thomas on Almost Good Catholics, episode 02: Who Wrote the Bible? Sorting out the History of the Bible We Have. Matthew Thomas on Almost Good Catholics, episode 03: The Gospels in the Early Church: Evidence for the Chronology and Transmission of the Christian Scriptures. Matthew Thomas on Almost Good Catholics, episode 22: Better Call Paul How Did the Early Jewish Christians Understand “Works of the Law”? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biblical-studies

Holofernes and Nathaniel pontificate about linguistics over dinner until Armado arrives. Holofernes perks up when Armado describes his friendship with the King, who has asked Armado to present a “delightful performance” for them all to enjoy. Holofernes proposes that they present “The Nine Worthies” and assigns their parts, with Armado as Judas Maccabeus and Moth as Hercules. Back at the Princess's tent, she and her girlfriends laugh in delight at the love letters and gifts the King and his pals have sent to woo them. Soon, Boyet arrives laughing at what he's just seen: The King, Berowne, Longaville and Dumaine have put on disguises and plan to court the ladies as “Muscovites”. The Princess convinces her friends to get back at the men by disguising themselves as each other: The Princess will pretend to be Rosaline, Rosaline will pretend to be the Princess, Maria will be Katharine and Katharine will be Maria. The suitors arrive in their Muscovite costumes with the Howard Marching band in tow and end up getting completely fooled by the ladies.  The Play On Podcast series, “LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST”, was written by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE and translated into modern English verse by JOSH WILDER. Each episode was directed by NELSON T. EUSEBIO the THIRD. The cast is as follows: RUSSELL G. JONES as THE KING OF NAVARRE and THE FORESTER MATTHEW ELIJAH WEBB as BEROWNE ASHLEY BRYANT as THE PRINCESS and JAQUENETTA TIFFANY RACHELLE STEWART as ROSALINE TONYA PINKINS as MARIA, HOLOFERNES, and HIEMS SHAWN RANDALL as COSTARD and DUMAINE BRANDON JONES as DON ADRIANO DE ARMADO and LONGAVILLE WALTER COPPAGE as MOTH, BOYET, DULL and MARCADE SARITA COVINGTON as LADY NATHANIEL and KATHARINE Casting by THE TELSEY OFFICE: KARYN CASL, CSA, and ADA KARAMANYAN. Voice and Text Coach: JULIE FOH Episode scripts were adapted and produced by CATHERINE EATON Original Music and Sound Design by LINDSAY JONES.  Sound engineering by SADAHARU YAGI.  Mix Engineer and Dialogue Editor: LARRY WALSH.  Podcast Mastering by GREG CORTEZ at New Monkey Studio.  Coordinating Producer: TRANSCEND STREAMING (KYRA BOWIE and LEANNA KEYES). Executive Producer: MICHAEL GOODFRIEND. The Managing Director of Business Operations and Partnerships at Next Chapter Podcasts is SALLYCADE HOLMES. The Play On Podcast Series “LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST” is produced by NEXT CHAPTER PODCASTS and is made possible by the generous support of THE HITZ FOUNDATION. For more about the Play On Podcast Series. Visit PLAYONSHAKESPEARE.ORG for more about Play On Shakespeare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sometimes we only see what we want to see. The people in the story saw Jesus as the one who was coming to liberate them from Roman oppression. That's why they were waving palm branches. They'd seen this play out in their history with Judas Maccabeus. Of course that's what they saw. But that's not who Jesus revealed himself to be. He was teacher - healer - nonviolent - etc. But we're not that much different than the people in Jerusalem. We see what we want to see. Christian nationalism, anyone? We want Jesus to come and conquer the things in our lives that get in the way. Of course, Jesus does do that kind of thing on occasion. But like cleansing the temple in Jerusalem, he tends to mess around in places we'd rather him not go. He tries to reorient our lives. He messes with our priorities. He also shows us what kind of life he wants us to lead. He didn't ride in on a war stallion - he rode in on a donkey. Humble - he lived a life of humility. As Paul wrote - Jesus emptied himself. We're always trying to fill up. Sometimes people even talk about worship that way. We go to worship to get filled up for the week. What if we're called to empty ourselves? Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Matthew 21:1-17 https://www.bible.com/events/49057024

Cale looks at the military campaigns of Judas Maccabeus and the rededication of the temple. When was Jesus born – was it really toward the end of December?

November 21, 164 BCE. Judas Maccabeus recaptures Jerusalem during the Maccabean Revolt and rededicates the Second Temple, since commemorated in the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fr. Mike breaks down the doctrine of purgatory as we read about Judas Maccabeus and his army praying for the dead in 2 Maccabees 12. We learn that purgatory is a process of purification that our hearts need in order to be ready to love God and to enter into his presence. In our reading of Wisdom today, Fr. Mike emphasizes the insanity of worshipping idols and how it's more tempting to make idols out of good things rather than evil things. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 12, Wisdom 13-14, and Proverbs 25:11-14. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Today, Fr. Mike discusses the confidence that faith in God can provide as we fight the battles of our lives. He also engages with the riddles found in Wisdom 10 and points out that we can now not only understand the characters, stories, and allusions of Scripture, but can recognize the fingerprints of God in the world around us and better understand the main character of Scripture: God. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 10, Wisdom 9-10, and Proverbs 25:4-7. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

As we hear the re-telling of the story of Judas Maccabbeus and his brothers fighting for the honor of the Lord's Temple in 2 Maccabees, Fr. Mike points out how this version gives us an insight into their recognition of God's presence, mercy, and justice in their circumstances. We learn that no matter what we are going through, we can trust that God is our great defender who is present and active in all circumstances of our lives. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 8, Wisdom 5-6, and Proverbs 24:30-34. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike concludes the book of Sirach today and encourages us to continue the pursuit of wisdom. In our reading of 2 Maccabees, we see again the pillage of the Temple and we are re- introduced to Judas Maccabeus. Lastly, in Proverbs Fr. Mike encourages us to resist the temptation to rejoice when our enemies fall. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 5, Sirach 50-51, and Proverbs 24:17-20. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike gives us context for the beginning of 2 Maccabees and recounts the story of Nehemiah's discovery of the sacred fire. He also offers a reflection for those struggling with grief and death, which serves as a reminder to all about the blessing of our lives and the lives of those we love. Today's readings are 2 Maccabees 1, Sirach 40-41, and Proverbs 24:1-7. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike guides us through Judas Maccabeus' last battle, his death, and his succession. We learn that part of Judas and Jonathan's victory involved fighting fellow Jews living in the land who were not living according to God's laws. Fr. Mike points out that when the enemy is in the inside, it is especially heartbreaking. Today's readings are 1 Maccabees 9, Sirach 24-25, and Proverbs 23:1-4. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike walks us through the current battles of Judas Maccabeus and the Israelite people, emphasizing that while war is violent, freedom to belong to God and worship him is worth fighting for. He also discusses the importance of spending time with virtuous people to acquire their positive qualities and the need to seek good rather than evil to attain the riches of heaven. Today's readings are from 1 Maccabees 5, Sirach 13-15, and Proverbs 22:13-16. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

In today's reading from 1 Maccabees, we hear about the victory of Judas Maccabeus, which is also the story of Hanukkah. In Sirach, Fr. Mike points out that chasing fame and glory in this world are not worth our time, because they will all fade away after we are gone. The readings are 1 Maccabees 4, Sirach 10-12, and Proverbs 22:9-12. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Fr. Mike points out how advice from books like Proverbs and Sirach may not apply perfectly to every situation, but are meant to help guide us towards wisdom. He also highlights a piece from Sirach that encourages us to avoid "deserted places"—calling us not only to stay away from sin, but to stay away from what leads us to sin. The readings are 1 Maccabees 3, Sirach 7-9, and Proverbs 22:5-8. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.