Scripture Readings for April 6th/ 3rd Saturday of Great Lent / Both Faith and the Lord: Exodus 14:21-29

[Dan Rudder]

Scripture Readings

Saturday, April 6, 2013

• 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17
• John 5:24-30
• Hebrews 10:32-38
• Mark 2:14-17

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

THIRD SATURDAY OF LENT — Memorial Saturday. St. Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople (582). St. Methodius, Equal-to-the-Apostles, Archbishop of Moravia and Enlightener of the Slavs (885). St. Platonida (Platonis) of Nisibis (Syria—308). 120 Martyrs of Persia (344-347). Martyrs Jeremiah and Archilias the Presbyter (3rd c.). Ven. Gregory the Byzantine (1308). Monk Martyr Gennadius of Dionysiou (Mt. Athos—1818).

Saturday

 

LITURGY

 

Hebrews 10:32-38

 

     32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were enlightened, ye endured a great conflict of sufferings; 33 partly, being made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, becoming partakers with them that were so used. 34 For ye both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of you possessions, knowing that ye have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Cast not away therefore your boldness, which hath great recompense of reward. 36 For ye have need of patience, that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise. 37 For yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry. 38 But my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him.

 

Mark 2:14-17

 

     14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the [son] of Alphaeus sitting at the place of toll, and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. 15 And it came to pass, that he was sitting at meat in his house, and many publicans and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. 16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and publicans, said unto his disciples, [How is it] that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? 17 And when Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

 

 Commemoration of the Dead.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-17

 

     13 But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; 17 then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

 

John 5:24-30

 

     24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life. 25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. 26 For as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself: 27 and he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man. 28 Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, 29 and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. 30 I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is righteous; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

---

Exodus 14:21-29   (04-06-13)   A Reading in Kellia for Saturday, Third Week of Great Lent

 

Both Faith and the Lord: Exodus 14:21-29, especially vs 27: “So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were trying to flee. But the Lord shook off the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.” It is essential, if one would be saved, to follow the directions of the Lord: to heed Him and to obey Him in heart and mind, even before we take any action on His word. Our minds are far too subject to the whim, desires, and fallacies of that which may “seem” obvious. To grasp the point of this truth, take a moment to review what we might call the prelude to the crossing of the Red Sea (Ex 14:15-17), a portrait of the spiritually mature Moses caught between Pharaoh and the sea.

Who initiated the action? “Then the Lord said to Moses” (Ex 14:15). Life goes aright when we follow the initiative of God no matter how things may appear. The word of the Lord was plain enough: “Tell the children of Israel to go forward” (Ex 14:15); yet to protect Moses and the people against precipitous action, the Lord provided a full map or outline to be followed: “Now lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it; and let the children of Israel go on dry ground in the midst of the sea” (Ex 14:16). Imagine that Moses might have had some questions at this point. But see: God already prepared Moses to use his rod against the Egyptians (eg, Ex 7:15; 8:1; 9:22, et al). Another issue God answered before the crossing was loss of trust while obeying, as in asking “Is this working?!” So God says, “I will be glorified in Pharaoh and over all his army....then the Egyptians will know I am the Lord” (Ex 14:17,18).

Applying these insights into the actual crossing of the sea, we should immediately note that God was the prime actor in what took place: “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord carried back the sea by a strong south wind all night and made the sea dry ground” (Ex 14: 21). In His timing, God acts as He wills; His will is trustworthy.

The Lord made the connection between Moses’ outstretched hand and the drying of the seabed to strengthen His people’s faith in Him in the face of the insuperable (vs 22). He does so only if we obey Him. Follow His guidelines carefully, for God provides for the needs of His people; often He supplies our needs beyond the limits of our imagination or understanding.

Observe how rationally the Egyptians behaved: they observed the Israelites crossing the dry pathway in the sea without difficulty. It made sense to follow in order to catch them (vs 23). However, it is a major spiritual error to trust the obvious rather than to submit to God and obey His will foremost. Ever remember Who the Prime Actor is in the spiritual life - trust and obey.

“Now...the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire  and cloud” (vs 24). Never entertain any thoughts from the enemy that the Lord does not know what is going on in our lives. Our gracious God is wholly aware, even if it does not seem as if He knows or is present. The pillar of fire was ignored by the Egyptians, just as the cross of Christ once appeared as “foolishness” (1 Cor 1:18). Indeed, Origen knew Satan is ever laboring to deceive us: “But unless we withdraw far from him and cross the sea and say, ‘As far as east is from west, he has removed our iniquities from us’ (Ps 102:11), we cannot be saved.”

We are told that when the waters returned, “they covered the chariots, the horsemen and all of Pharaoh’s army that came into the sea after them” (Ex 14:28). Let us stir up the embers of the fire of trust and fear in the Lord. As Saint Ephraim the Syrian cautions us: the Egyptians “did not fear the Lord who appeared to them, and they were not deterred by their wheels that were clogged. They boldly drove their chariots with full force.” Wait, pray, heed, and obey God.

The Lord became my helper and...my salvation...and I will glorify Him (Ex 15:2). 

__._,_.___

In Christ,   Rdr. Daniel Rudder www.crosscrafter.com www.web-printsolutions.com