When we were children we were always under the watchful eye of our parents. They exhorted us to “stay by my side,” “don’t wander off,” “ come as soon as you hear me call,” and “never get into a stranger’s car.” To my young mind I was abundantly capable of taking care of myself. It was not a control thing but they knew the world was filled with evil and the safest place to be was by their side.
It amazed me how much I sounded like my parents when my sons were very young. I had no traumatic event that “scared the devil out of me” and yet I was not willing to allow anyone or thing with evil intent near my precious sons. It occurred to me that I was affirming the loving care that my parents sheltered me with by employing the same exhortations and acts.
This morning’s readings focus on deliverance from evil. Jeremiah cried out to the Lord for wisdom to see and understand the hostility and mocking directed at him by the people God sent him to speak the words of life: return to the Lord your God for He is faithful and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Yet, they directed their unfaithfulness to God as attacks on His faithful herald. Jeremiah affirmed that in it all God was his faithful sanctuary, where he knew true peace even as he contended with the people’s malice.
St Paul exhorted the Roman church to “abhor what is evil.” St Paul not only knew why it was vital to abhor evil but was living evidence of someone who had embraced evil as Saul of Tarsus. Satan used the evil acts of his old Adam to inflict spiritual pain on the new creation in Christ Jesus. Yet, St Paul affirmed the good response to such evil acts.
Jesus spoke to His disciples on that day as He speaks faithfully and compassionately to you and me today. The safest and most secure place anyone can be is with Jesus: doing what He calls us to do, when He calls us to do it and where He calls us to do it. To do anything else is not His will but our sinful will exercising its self-righteousness and self-justification that denies God is good, delighting in His will and walking in His way.
St Peter, as did all the disciples, struggled with the good work Jesus was doing as He journeyed to Jerusalem. Jesus alone faithfully and steadfastly affirmed that the divine will and means of salvation was through humble and faithful submission to good and renouncing and rejecting all evil works and ways. This Jesus accomplished as true man, affirming the words He spoke to Adam in the garden of Eden. He would deliver the fatal blow to the evil one while enduring the sin filled strike of the evil one as they battled one another through Jesus’ bitter, innocent suffering and death. On the morning of the third day our heavenly Father affirmed that Jesus’ salvific work on the cross fulfilled the LAW by raising Him as the first born of the dead, the victorious King over sin, death and the power of the evil one and the new covenant in His blood for the forgiveness of sins.
Today’s Gospel reading illuminates that we are lifted up in our confession that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus also cautions us to know and prepare for spiritual and physical trials that will test and prove the grace we have received through faith is steadfast and true. It is a sure defense and a mighty sanctuary against the evil one’s temptations that Satan will employ to deceive and seduce us with thoughts that encourage us to doubt or deny God’s wisdom and choice of means by which we are conformed to the image of Jesus and kept steadfast at Jesus’ side on the path of righteousness.
Fortunately, the Holy Spirit, given to us at our baptism, helps and comforts us as we travel with Jesus on the path of righteousness that leads to our heavenly Father’s house and the wedding feast of the Lamb that knows no end. Thus, this morning we again faithfully affirm God is with us, forgives us our sins for Jesus’ sake, has mercy upon us, feeds us with the words of life in the readings from Holy Scripture, receives our offerings and then gives us His body and His blood of the new covenant before sending us out into a world of lost souls that desperately need God’s free gift of salvation in Christ Jesus.
Let us give God all the glory and praise that He affirms His love for us and the Gospel by giving us the joy, honor, privilege, authority and responsibility to affirm salvation is found only in Christ Jesus alone through faith alone.
Amen and Amen
