New Testament Episodes – What Does This Mean?

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

[One-Hundredth in a series of posts on Bible Stories]

Encore Post:

The Holy Spirit sent Deacon Philip to meet a eunuch serving Candice of Ethiopia. Candace was not a personal name but a royal title, much like Pharaoh or Caesar. She was the mother of the reigning king of Ethiopia and handled many of the kingdom’s day-to-day affairs. Ethiopians traced their royal line back to the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, and many were influenced by the Jewish faith.

Eunuchs often served as trusted officials of royal households. This man appears to have been the treasurer of Candace’s kingdom. He was a devout believer who had traveled all the way to Jerusalem to worship God. On his journey home, he was reading Isaiah 53, a detailed prophecy of the suffering and death of the Messiah. Puzzled by what he was reading, he invited Philip to explain the passage.

Beginning with Isaiah’s prophecy, Philip told him the good news about Jesus. The suffering servant Isaiah described was Jesus, who suffered, died, and rose again to save the world. When the Ethiopian heard this good news and saw water nearby, he asked to be baptized. Philip baptized him at once. When the Holy Spirit took Philip away, the man continued his journey rejoicing that salvation had come to him.

This encounter shows how quickly the Gospel was spreading beyond Jerusalem. The Ethiopian was both a foreigner and a eunuch, someone who stood on the edge of Israel’s religious life. Yet through faith in Christ and Holy Baptism, he was welcomed fully into God’s family. The good news of Jesus was not only for Jerusalem or even for Israel. It was for the whole world.

According to ancient Christian tradition, this new believer became one of the first people to carry the Gospel into Africa. Whether or not every detail of those traditions is correct, the message is clear. God was already fulfilling Jesus’ command to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Stephen, the First Martyr

Encore Post:

The word “martyr” is Greek for “witness”—a person who reports what he or she sees. Before returning to Heaven, Jesus predicted His disciples would be witnesses to His death and resurrection.

The apostles appointed Stephen a deacon. His task was to feed the widows and the poor using the funds collected for that purpose. God also blessed his work with miracles. When men from the local synagogue asked what he believed, God blessed Stephen’s word so his opponents could not find a reply to his arguments. They finally silenced him by charging him with blasphemy — speaking lies about God.

The same Sanhedrin that had condemned Jesus just a few weeks earlier now convened to hear Stephen’s case. Stephen boldly proclaimed that they had rejected and handed over God’s promised Messiah to death. The last straw came when Stephen related a vision of Jesus standing at the right hand of God in Heaven. For the Jewish people of the time, this was another way of saying that Jesus Himself is God. Jesus said the same thing in that very spot in the early hours of Good Friday. They condemned Stephen to death, too.

This time Pontius Pilate was not in Jerusalem. Feeling safe in defying Roman law, they carried Stephen outside the city and stoned him. As he died, Stephen followed his Lord’s example. He prayed to Jesus and asked that his murderers be forgiven. The first Christian martyr died confessing Christ and showing mercy to his enemies.

A young man named Saul stood nearby. He watched over the coats of those who killed Stephen and approved of what they had done. Yet God was already at work. The same Saul would one day become the Apostle Paul and carry the Gospel throughout the Roman world.

With Stephen’s death and the martyrs who followed, the word “martyr” took on a new meaning. It now referred to those who suffered and died for bearing witness to Jesus Christ. The courage and faith of the martyrs impressed many people in the Roman world. If Christians believed strongly enough to face torture and death rather than deny Christ, perhaps their message was true. Many were baptized because of such witnesses. That is why the Church likes to say:

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Pentecost

[Ninety-Seventh in a series of posts on Bible Stories]

Encore Post:

The Feast of Pentecost is the Greek name (πεντηκοστή) for the Jewish Feast of Weeks (Shavuot, שָׁבוּעוֹת in Hebrew). The day celebrated the harvest of the barley crop and the planting of the wheat crop in Israel. God established this day of thanksgiving on the fiftieth day after Passover, and it was one of three feasts the Torah commanded Jews to celebrate in Jerusalem whenever possible. In the days after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the city was still crowded with Jews from around the world who had remained after Passover to celebrate this feast in the Holy City.

The Christian Church remembers the day as a kind of birthday. On this day, God poured out the Holy Spirit on the whole Church in a public and powerful way rather than only on selected prophets and leaders.

Both the Hebrew and Greek words for spirit can also mean “wind.” The Holy Spirit, or Holy Wind, hovered over the chaos before God created the heavens and the earth. During the Exodus, the Holy Spirit appeared visibly as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit settled in the Holy of Holies as a cloud. When the Prophet Elijah fled to Mount Sinai, God sent a mighty wind, an earthquake, and a fire to get his attention. On Pentecost, the sound of a mighty rushing wind caught the crowd’s attention, and the wind and tongues of fire testified to the Holy Spirit’s presence.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost fulfilled prophecy in the Old Testament (Joel 2:28-32), in the preaching of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:11), and in the promises of Jesus Himself (Acts 1:5). The Spirit enabled the apostles to proclaim God’s mighty works in languages they had never learned. Pilgrims from many nations heard the Gospel in their own tongues. On the day the Church was born, God showed that the message of salvation was intended for people of every nation, language, tribe, and people.

By baptizing His people with the Holy Spirit, Jesus gave them the power to witness to God’s love. He provided them with a Counselor to lead and guide them. Just as the prophets of old proclaimed God’s Word, every Christian now has the privilege of confessing Christ before the world. The same Holy Spirit who filled the apostles at Pentecost continues to call, gather, enlighten, and sanctify Christ’s Church today.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Matthias the Twelfth Apostle

[Ninety-sixth in a series of posts on Bible Stories]

Encore Post:

After Jesus ascended into Heaven, St. Peter gathered the eleven Apostles and the other disciples. The betrayal of Jesus by Judas and his suicide had left a vacancy among them. The number twelve was important. Israel had twelve tribes, and Jesus had chosen twelve Apostles to represent the new Israel, the Church. Before the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and the Gospel began to spread throughout the world, the apostolic circle would be restored.

They chose two candidates: Joseph, called Barsabbas, and Matthias. Both had been with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry. Both had witnessed His teaching, His miracles, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension. The disciples prayed and then chose Matthias by lot, trusting God to guide their decision.

We know little about Matthias. He appears only once in Scripture, in Acts 1. We know he was a disciple of Jesus from the days of John the Baptist until the Ascension. Some early Church Fathers believed Matthias was one of the seventy-two disciples Jesus sent out two by two into towns and villages to announce that the Kingdom of Heaven had come near. Whether this is correct or not, Matthias clearly stayed with Jesus throughout His ministry. He witnessed His teaching, miracles, death, resurrection, and ascension. The other disciples respected him enough to nominate him for the apostolic office. We do not know with certainty what became of him later. Church tradition says he may have preached in northern Turkey, Ethiopia, or even returned to Jerusalem, where he died as a martyr.

We might think Matthias and other little-known disciples were unimportant. Yet God used them to build His Church. Most Christians can name Peter, John, and Paul, but few remember Matthias. Even so, God knew him, called him, and used him. The same is true today. No one is too small or unimportant in God’s eyes.

Soon the Holy Spirit would come at Pentecost. Matthias would join the other apostles in preaching the Gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection. God continues to work through ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. He has a purpose for every Christian and uses each of us to serve our neighbor and bear witness to Jesus.

Originally posted at What Does This Mean? Blog: What Does This Mean?

The posts in the blog What Does This Mean? are now available at What Does This Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Forty Days with Jesus

[Ninety-Fourth in a series of posts on Bible Stories]

Encore Post:

After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples several times over forty days. Like the forty days and forty nights of the flood, the forty years of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness, and the forty days of testing before His ministry, these forty days were a time of preparation. Jesus was preparing His apostles for the work He was about to give them.

At first, they did not recognize Him. But one thing or another- His greeting of peace, His calling of their name, the miracle of a great catch of fish, and the breaking of bread- revealed Him immediately to them. Jesus first reassured them that it was really Him. He had truly risen from the dead, not only in spirit, but in His body as well. He ate bread and fish with them. He still had the wounds of the crucifixion, the holes in His hands and the place where the spear had been thrust into His side. The very same Jesus stood before them in His flesh, only now transformed into a body that would never again die.

During these forty days, Jesus was not merely proving that He was alive. He was preparing the apostles for the work ahead. He spent much of that time conducting what must have been the greatest Bible study in history. He showed them every place in the Old Testament that pointed to His life, suffering, death, and resurrection. He taught them how the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms all spoke about Him and why the Messiah had to suffer before entering His glory.

He also gave them a mission: to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins, baptize, teach, and forgive sins in His name. They would carry this message first to Jerusalem and then to the ends of the earth. The apostles would soon begin that work, proclaiming the Gospel throughout the world.

All of this was preparation. The same Lord who opened the Scriptures to His disciples still teaches His Church through His Word today. Through that Word He creates faith, strengthens His people, and equips them for lives of service. The forty days prepared the apostles for their mission, and through their testimony the risen Christ continues to prepare us as well.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Jesus Loves the Little Children

[Seventy-sixth in a series of posts on Bible Stories]

Encore Post:

In the ancient world, many children died before reaching adulthood. In fact, childhood death was common until the twentieth century. Every couple could expect to bury at least one child during their lifetime. That is why the childhood prayer was taught to generations of young people: “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. If I should live another day, I pray the Lord to guide my way.”

Children and young people, therefore, were kept at an emotional distance and paid little attention. Besides, the children were disruptive, especially when a rabbi was trying to teach. They did not understand abstract thought, so they looked for other ways to entertain themselves and get attention. They were expected to behave, to be just like the adults with them. So, they were pushed aside so that adults could attend to “important” business. Keep them out of sight and out of mind.

Jesus made two points by bringing a child before them. First, all people are important to God, no matter how small. He loves them, cares for them. In fact, Jesus came to die for them, too. They are not the future of the church — they are the church.

Second, children trust adults to take care of them, live humbly, and assume their love. In fact, they are better Christians than adults! To be Christians, after all, means to trust God to take care of us, to deny ourselves, knowing we are cared for, and to dedicate our lives to the service of others. This comes naturally to them. They are not bothered when they cannot understand something adults or God tell them. They accept the truth, rely on it, and build on it because they trust their parents, their teachers, and God. They may not know something, but they know someone. So, ironically, if we want to grow in faith, we need to become like them and trust the God who made us, loves us, died for us, cares for us, and will bring us home one day to be with him forever.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Jesus Calls His Disciples

[Sixty-First in a series of posts on Bible Stories]

Encore Post:

Rabbis in Jesus’ day often had students — disciples—who followed them, observed everything they did, memorized every word they taught, and imitated their actions. Most of the time, the students chose their teachers. Jesus turned that around when He chose his own disciples. Disciples often became rabbis themselves. When Jesus told Peter, James, and John they would “catch people,” his disciples would assume they were to train for that very occupation.

It is easy to think that Jesus just walked up to the disciples with no notice and ordered them to follow him, and they did. But that likely wasn’t the case for any of them. Simon, Andrew, James, and John already knew Jesus when he called them. Jesus had made Capernaum, the headquarters of their fishing business, his hometown. Before this event, Jesus had taught in their synagogue, healed Peter’s mother-in-law, cast out demons, healed a paralytic, the Roman centurion’s daughter, and many others. His brother Andrew and others were disciples of John the Baptist, who identified Jesus as the Lamb of God. Matthew was a toll collector at Capernaum before Jesus called him, but likely heard a lot about him.

Jesus selected twelve disciples to be his closest students. The number twelve reminded Jews of the twelve tribes of Israel. By doing this, he signaled he was re-establishing God’s chosen people. These twelve would eventually be commissioned as his apostles, on whom Jesus would build his church. These would become witnesses to his resurrection and take the gospel to the ends of the Roman world. All but two would die as martyrs — Judas, who betrayed him, and John, who lived a long life and whose own disciples would pass the faith on to new generations.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Temptation of Jesus

[Fifty-ninth in a series of posts on Bible Stories]

Encore Post:

Just after Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit sent Jesus into the desert alone for forty days to fast and pray prior to beginning to minister. The number forty was important to the Jewish people. Their ancestors wandered in the desert for forty years. Moses and Elijah fasted for forty days in the desert. God kept Noah and his family safe in the ark for forty days. For them, the number forty stood for a period of testing.

For us, the temptation of Jesus is wonderful. He could have blown Satan away. But He chose to face temptation in a way that we can face temptation. He quoted God’s will from Scripture. In God’s Word is the power to overcome the Devil — and the world and our flesh, too. The Scripture calls on us to pray to a Lord who was tempted in every way the way we are, except that He did not sin. Because He faced temptation as a human, we know He understands us and is ready to help.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Jesus as a Boy in the Temple

[Fifty-Fourth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: Passover is the highest holy day in Judaism. The Old Testament required all of God’s people to celebrate Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles in Jerusalem (Exodus 23:14-17), but many could not afford to be there more than once a year. Since entire communities would make the trip, they tended to travel in caravans, making the trip a joyful, almost continuous picnic.

A boy’s twelfth year is a year of joyful study. When Jesus grew up, twelve-year-old boys studied God’s word so that they could become a Bar Mitzvah — a son of God’s covenant. When they were ready, they would read a passage from the Bible in Hebrew during a Sabbath service in the synagogue on a Saturday. To do that, he had to learn to recite almost the whole Bible by heart. Once he completed the reading, everyone considered him a spiritual adult.

Since most Jewish people were in Jerusalem for Passover, it was the custom of the faith’s leading rabbis to gather in Solomon’s Porch — the courtyard Herod the Great had built around the temple proper — to teach. Jesus stayed behind in the temple to listen to them. The disciples of these teachers asked them questions. The teacher would ask the disciple a question. Once the student replied, the teacher would comment on the answer. Often these discussions were written down and studied as a part of the oral law — the Talmud.

The rabbis were very impressed with Jesus’ answers. They didn’t know how a young man from faraway Galilee could learn so much about the Torah. In the meantime, Mary, Joseph, and their families began the trip home to Nazareth. They assumed Jesus was with his cousins. When they couldn’t find him, they went looking for him. They found him at the temple.

When Jesus replied to Mary’s scolding, he revealed much about himself. First, he knew God was his Father. Second, that teaching was the family business that he would take up. Finally, in perfect obedience, he followed her instructions perfectly. In this one incident, we learn something important about Jesus’ nature. He is God and man at the same time.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Holy Family Moves to Egypt

[Fifty-Third in a series of posts on Bible Stories]

Encore Post:

King Herod the Great is a figure that the Jews had mixed feelings about. He was not Jewish, although his family converted to Judaism and he was raised in that faith. The Romans appointed him King of the Jews. He adopted a Graeco-Roman lifestyle. In many ways, he represented everything they hated.

Yet Herod built many things that greatly improved the lives of the Jews, including their only Mediterranean port—Caesarea Maritima. His most important project was the rebuilding of the temple into its most glorious form. He was also ruthless. He killed anyone he even imagined threatened his throne, including his sons and his favorite wife. A joke going around Rome at the time was that it was better to be Herod’s pig than his son. It takes little imagination to believe that he killed all the young males in Bethlehem.

It is no wonder, then, that the arrival of the wise men from Persia upset Jerusalem, asking for the newborn King of the Jews. The talk of the Messiah was a real problem for him. This could give rebels a focus against him and Rome. His offer to worship the young child rings hollow to anyone who knew him.

Matthew tells us that the wise men were warned in a dream not to return to Herod. Ancient wisdom valued dreams, and so they paid attention to them. For Joseph, a man named after the Bible’s most famous interpreter of dreams, an angel’s appearance in a dream for a second time moved him to act. He quickly took his family to Egypt.

A Jewish family moving to Egypt was not unusual. For centuries, Egypt’s Greek rulers patronized the Jewish people. Legend tells us that the second such king commissioned the Septuagint—the Greek translation of the Bible used by Jesus and his disciples. A larger Jewish population lived in Alexandria than in Jerusalem at that time. As it turned out, they didn’t have to stay long. Herod died just a few months after he killed the innocent boys of Bethlehem. Matthew tells us that the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt fulfilled the prophecy that Jesus’ life would repeat the history of the people of Israel in one person.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana