What Does This Mean?

Citizen Paul

[One hundred and second in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: St. Paul had a special privilege by birth. He was a Roman citizen. The Roman general, Mark Antony, gave his hometown, the city of Tarsus, the right of citizenship, which Caesar Augustus later confirmed. Anyone born in this city was treated as if they had been born in Rome itself. As a Roman citizen, he would have three names — a given name, probably Saulos — Saul — a Roman family name unknown to us, and a co-name, Paulos — Paul. He was entitled to a fair trial before any punishment at all. He was exempt from certain punishments — including crucifixion. He had a right to trial by the bearer of imperial authority and to have his case heard before Caesar himself. It gave him status that made travel easier and allowed him influence he would not otherwise have.

The Book of Acts mentions several times that Paul claimed his rights as a Roman citizen. He would say, “civis Romanus sum” — “I am a Roman citizen.” When he was in Philippi and the magistrate, having had him beaten and imprisoned, tried to expel him from the city, Paul demanded that the magistrate show him the respect due a citizen. He came personally, apologized, and asked him nicely to leave the city. When the Sanhedrin tried to execute him, a centurion arrested him and proceeded to question him, intending to torture him by flogging. Paul asked if it was legal for them to do that to a Roman citizen, specifically one born a Roman citizen. That brought an end to the matter, and the Tribune was determined to protect Paul. Paul would remain in the custody of two Roman governors until a trial was formally begun against him. He appealed to Caesar, which brought an end to the trial and sent him to Rome.

In his letters, Paul also talks about being a citizen of heaven. We live our lives on Earth, but this is not our home. We are citizens of heaven. One day, we will go home to live with God and all Christians forever. In the meantime, we live in this world, but follow the rules of Heaven.

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

Conversion of St. Paul

[One Hundred and First in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: Saul, a devout Jew and Pharisee, was born in the ancient city of Tarsus, the Roman capital of Asia Minor (Turkey). His father was likely a prosperous tent maker — a good trade to practice in a colony of retired Roman army officers. He received a fine education in both Greek culture and the Jewish faith. Saul became a convinced Pharisee — a religious movement that believed that by observing God’s law as a people, they would speed the return of the Messiah.

So Saul’s father sent him to study with Gamaliel, the greatest rabbi of his time. The great teacher lived in Jerusalem and was a member of the Sanhedrin — the ruling council of the Jewish people. While Saul never mentioned meeting Jesus before his death, he was in the city during Holy Week and would fully know the events of the week. He fully agreed with the condemnation of the Galilean would-be Messiah. Anyone who claimed to be God deserved to die.

So when the cross did not snuff out what he saw as heresy, he volunteered to punish the believers of the Nazarene prophet. When Stephen Martyr witnessed to Christ’s resurrection, he fully consented with the martyrdom. He held the coats of those who stoned the deacon to death. Energized by this success, Saul received credentials from the High Priest to go to Damascus and arrest Christians to be tried in Jerusalem.

Saul persecuted the early Christians because they believed Jesus to be God. So, when heaven opened and light shone on him while on the way there, it caught him by surprise. Yet Saul knew he was in God’s presence. He asked who the figure that called to him was. It was Jesus himself. Now that he was a witness to Christ’s resurrection, a major change began in Saul’s heart and mind. When Ananias healed his vision, Saul was baptized and changed his name to Paul, the Greek form of his name.

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

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 in the service of Candice of Ethiopia, the mother of the reigning king. In Ethiopian society, she took care of the day-to-day duties of the kingdom. Ethiopians believe she was the descendant of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. Many believe they are Jewish.

Eunuchs served as assistants to the royal family. They were often castrated so that they could be trusted to guard royal or noble women and provide physical care to kings and emperors. This man appears to have been the treasurer of Candice. He is devout and has been to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. On his way home, the man is reading Isaiah 53, a detailed prophecy of the suffering and death of the Messiah. Puzzled by it, he invited Philip to explain the text to him. With this opening, Philip tells the man the good news that Jesus is the man Isaiah prophesied. The man responded by asking to be baptized. When the Holy Spirit took Philip away, he rejoiced that salvation had come to him.

This new Christian became, in turn, the evangelist who brought the gospel to Ethiopia. A strong Eastern Orthodox church was born and grew there. Called the Coptic Church, its members still thrive in Muslim Egypt to this day. This man was the first of many Christians to believe in Christ on the continent of Africa.

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

St. Stephen

[Ninety-Ninth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: The word “martyr” is a Greek word that means “witness” — a person who reports what he or she sees. Just before returning to Heaven, Jesus predicted His disciples would be witnesses of His death and resurrection.

The apostles appointed Stephen a deacon. It was his task to feed the widows and the poor, using the funds collected for that purpose. God blessed his work by performing miracles as well. When men from the local synagogue asked what he believed, God blessed Stephen’s word, so that his opponents could not find a reply to answer 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 told the truth — that the Sanhedrin had handed over Jesus to death falsely. This infuriated them. 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. So they felt safe in defying Roman law and executing Stephen by the method ordered by the Jewish Law. They took Stephen out of the city and stoned him to death. The man who would one day be the Apostle Paul held the coats of those who killed Stephen.

With the death of Stephen and others that followed, the word “martyr” took on new meaning. Now it meant dying for witnessing to the truth about Jesus and for preaching the good news. The martyrs’ deaths impressed the Romans. If you believe in something strongly enough to risk death by torture, they thought, then perhaps the martyrs might be right. 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

The Change in St. Peter

[Ninety-eighth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Enore Post: On Maundy Thursday, Jesus told His disciples that they would abandon Him and that St. Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed. Peter swore he would rather die than betray his Lord. Later, Peter denied he knew Jesus — three times.

When Jesus rose from the dead, Peter began to change. Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loved Him. Three times, Peter said he did. Jesus showed He forgave Peter when He commanded Peter three times to feed God’s sheep. From then on, Peter was no longer a fisherman. He was now a pastor — a shepherd — to care for God’s people with God’s word and His sacraments.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached to the crowd. Three thousand people were brought to faith and baptized that day. Peter went everywhere preaching, teaching, healing the sick, and suffering for his Lord. Later, Peter would write two letters that comfort God’s people to this day.

According to tradition, Peter would tell the story of Jesus to a younger companion, John Mark, who would write it down. He would die by the order of Nero Caesar, crucified upside down because he didn’t feel worthy to die the way his Lord did. In his confession of faith, Jesus would build his 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 (Shavuoth, in Hebrew שָׁבוּעֹות ). The day celebrated the harvest of the barley crop and the planting of the wheat crop in Israel. This thanksgiving day was established by God on the fiftieth day after Passover and was one of three that the Torah commanded Jews to celebrate in Jerusalem if at all possible. In the days following Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the city was still crowded with Jews from around the world, who stayed after Passover to celebrate this feast as well in the Holy City.

The Christian Church remembers the day as a kind of birthday of the Church. On this day, God poured out the Holy Spirit on the whole church and not just the prophets he called to proclaim his word.

Both the Hebrew and Greek words for spirit 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 into the Holy of Holies in the form of 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 wind got the attention of the crowd, and the wind and tongues of fire witnessed to the presence of the Holy Spirit.

The pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost fulfilled prophecy in the Old Testament (Joel 2:28-32), by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:11), and by Jesus (Acts 1:5). 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 like the prophets of the Old Testament, every one of God’s children now can proclaim His praises to everyone.

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 others. The betrayal of Jesus by Judas and his suicide left a vacancy among them. The number twelve was important. After all, there were twelve tribes of Israel. In Biblical numerology, the number stands for the whole people of God. When Jesus established the church, the number twelve came to stand for the church. They chose two men as candidates who had been with them from the very beginning and thus witnessed everything Jesus said and did — including the resurrection and ascension. They prayed and chose Matthias by lot.

We know little about Matthias. He appears only once in the Bible and that is in the first chapter of Acts. We know he was a disciple of Jesus from the time that he was baptized by John until the Ascension. He was probably one of the seventy men Jesus sent out two by two to preach the coming of God’s kingdom. All the disciples respected him enough to pick him as one of two men to take Judas’ place as an Apostle. We do not even know what happened to him later. Church tradition has stories: he went to Northern Turkey and set up the church there, or to Ethiopia or that he died in Jerusalem.

We might think that he and other little known Apostles really were not important. Yet God used them to build his church. No one is too small or unimportant in God’s eyes. He has a plan for everyone’s life and uses whatever they do to serve him and to take care of people. Even children can do important things for God, no matter how little those things seem.

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 wandering of Israel in the wilderness, and the forty days of testing before his ministry, these forty days were for preparation. Jesus was preparing them to live without his physical presence.

At first, they would 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, at first, reassured them that it was really him. He had really 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 was thrust into his side. The very same Jesus stood before him in his flesh — only now transformed into a body that would never again die.

He also took the time to teach them more. Most of what he did was conduct a Bible study, showing them every place in the Old Testament that predicted his life, suffering, death, and resurrection. He also showed them how the whole Bible speaks about him.

He also gave them a mission — to baptize, to teach, and to forgive sins. They would do this everywhere in the world. All the while, Jesus promised to be with them until the end of time itself.

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

Breakfast by the Lake

[Ninety-Three in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: In New Testament times, rabbis were not full-time teachers or ministers. Because God is a God who works, rabbis worked at a profession one-third of the time and studied and taught two-thirds of the time. The difference between these teachers and everyday people is that work was just a means to buy food and clothing. Jesus likely worked at His trade as a carpenter (more of a contractor than simply a worker of wood) sometimes. St. Paul continued his trade as a tentmaker.

After Jesus rose from the dead, Peter, James, John, and others moved back to Galilee. They picked up their nets again to earn a living. They caught nothing all night. Jesus called to them from the shore and told them to cast their nets over the right side of the boat. They saw a net full of fish. Jesus did this once before for them — at the beginning of his ministry. John instantly recognized it was Jesus. When they got to shore, the disciples saw Jesus had made a breakfast of fish and bread — just like he had fed 5000 people not long before. By preparing breakfast for his disciples, Jesus shows He blesses the everyday work God has given us. He helps his disciples do their jobs and gives them a hot meal to go with their catch.

But he also gives them another job to do. He asked Peter three times if the disciple loved him. Peter, quite upset by the question, said he loved Jesus three times. Each time Jesus told him to care for God’s people — His lambs and His sheep. That is what Peter and the other apostles did.

Today, Jesus calls on pastors, teachers, deaconesses, and others to do the same. Pastors teach his Word, proclaim the gospel of the forgiveness of sins in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. They forgive sins in his name, baptize, and feed his sheep with Christ’s own body and blood, together with bread and wine. They follow in the footsteps of Jesus, his apostles, and the pastors who went to every corner of the world, making disciples from every nation, language, tribe, and race.

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

Thomas and the Risen Lord

[Ninety-Second in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: St. Thomas was a practical, down-to-earth man. Called “the Twin,” he was a man of few words, yet very direct. When Jesus was determined to go to Lazarus‘ Tomb, not five miles from Jerusalem, Thomas said, “Let us also go and die with Him.” When Jesus told the disciples at the Lord’s Supper that He was going to prepare a place for them, he asked, “Lord, we don’t know where You are going, how can we know the way?”

Subtle Thomas was not. Loyal and strong, he was. When Jesus was crucified, Thomas had no doubt the Lord was dead. He knew every detail. He did not want it to be that way, but he was a realist. Jesus was gone, end of story. So when the other disciples told Thomas with joy, “We have seen the Lord!” Thomas would have nothing of it. He had to see the wounds that marked Jesus in a living man to believe. Even seeing would not be enough. He had to touch the wounds. On something as important as the life of the Lord, Thomas would not be fooled.

All of this changed when Jesus appeared to him and the rest of the disciples on the Sunday after Easter. The doors were locked, and suddenly Jesus was with them. Jesus said, “Shalom,” or “Peace, be with you all.” This greeting, even though it is the Hebrew version of “Hello,” had special meaning for the disciples. Jesus was telling them everything was all right. Turning to Thomas, he invited his hard-headed disciple to see for himself. “Stop doubting,” Jesus said, “and believe.”

This was all Thomas needed. He dropped to his knees to worship Jesus. All he could say was, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus mildly rebukes him and then blesses us. “You have seen and believed,” Jesus said. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” And so it is. Later, St. Peter introduces his first letter, praising God for all He has done for us. “Though you have not seen Him,” Peter says to his readers, “you love Him and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.” Why? Because we know we are receiving what our faith really wants, the salvation of our souls.

In the end, this faith, which Jesus gave to Thomas — a faith that would send the Apostle to India to establish the church there — is itself a gift from God. It comes through His Word and Sacraments. “These are written,” St. John tells us, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believing, you may have life in His name.” Blessed we are indeed to hear and say, “He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

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