The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 311: God Fights for You (2023)

Episode Date: November 7, 2023

As we get closer to the end of the Old Testament, Fr. Mike highlights one of the lessons we've seen time and time again—that God continues to fight for each of us, despite the brokenness and messiness of our lives. He also points out how the reading from Wisdom foreshadows the coming of Jesus. The readings are 2 Maccabees 14, Wisdom 17-18, and Proverbs 25:18-20. 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.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 311. We're reading the second book of the Maccabees, chapter 14, as well as the wisdom of Solomon, chapters 17 and 18, and Proverbs chapter 25, verses 18 through 20. As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version,

Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast, which is a little known fact. I've never mentioned this before, I don't think, when it comes to being able to subscribe. So I'm so sorry that it's taken me until day 311 to note to everyone that you can subscribe to this. And if you do, you get daily episodes and daily updates, and it's just what makes things a lot easier. So I am so sorry that it has taken me this long to mention it. But hopefully you can forgive me because it's day 311 and we're reading 2 Maccabees chapter 14, the book of Wisdom of Solomon chapters 17 and 18 and Proverbs 25 verses 18 through 20. The second book of the Maccabees chapter 14,

Alchemist speaks against Judas. Three years later, word came to Judas and his men that Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, had sailed into the harbor of Tripolis with a strong army and a fleet, and had taken possession of the country, having made a way with Antiochus and his guardian, Lysaeus. Now a certain Alchemist, who had formerly been high priest, but had willfully defiled himself in the times of separation, realized that there was no way for him to be safe or to have access again to the holy altar and went to King Demetrius in about the 151st year, presenting to him a crown of gold and a palm and besides these, some of the customary olive branches from the temple. During that day, he kept quiet, but he found an opportunity that furthered his mad purpose

when he was invited by Demetrius to a meeting of the council and was asked about the disposition and intentions of the Jews. He answered, those of the Jews who are called Hesedians, whose leader is Judas Maccabeus, are keeping up war and stirring up sedition and will not let the kingdom attain tranquility. Therefore, I have laid aside my ancestral glory, I mean the high priesthood, and have now come here, first because I am genuinely concerned for the interests of the king, and second because I have regard also for my fellow citizens. For through the folly of those whom I have mentioned, our whole nation is now in no small misfortune. Since you are acquainted, O king, with the details of this matter, deign to take thought for our country and our hard-pressed nation with a

gracious kindness which you show to all. For as long as Judas lives, it is impossible for the government to find peace. When he had said this, the rest of the king's friends, who were hostile to Judas, quickly inflamed Demetrius still more. And he immediately chose Nicanor, who had been in command of the elephants, appointed him governor of Judea, and sent him off with orders to kill Judas and scatter his men, and to set up Alchemist as high priest of the greatest temple. And the Gentiles throughout Judea, who had fled before Judas, flocked to join Nicanor, thinking that the misfortunes and calamities of the Jews would mean prosperity for themselves. Nicanor makes

friends with Judas. When the Jews heard of Nicanor's coming and the gathering of the Gentiles, they sprinkled dust upon their heads and prayed to him who established his own people forever and always upholds his own heritage by manifesting himself. At the command of the leader, they set out from there immediately and engaged them in battle at a village called DeSau. Simon, the brother of Judas, had encountered Nicanor, but had been temporarily checked because of the sudden consternation created by the enemy. Nevertheless, Nicanor, hearing of the valor of Judas and his men and their courage in battle for their country, shrank from deciding the issue by bloodshed. Therefore he sent Posidonius and Theodotus and Mattathias to give and receive pledges of friendship. When the terms had been fully considered and the leader had informed the

people, and it had appeared that they were of one mind, they agreed to the covenant. And the leaders set a day on which to meet by themselves. A chariot came forward from each army. Seats of honor were set in place. Judas posted armed men in readiness at key places to prevent sudden treachery on the part of the enemy. They held the proper conference. Nicanor stayed on in Jerusalem and did nothing out of the way, but dismissed the flocks of people that had gathered. And he kept Judas always in his presence. He was warmly attached to the man. And he urged him to marry and have children. So he married, settled down, and shared the common life. Nicanor turns against Judas. But when Alchemists noticed their goodwill for one another, he took the covenant that had been made and went to Demetrius. He told him that Nicanor was disloyal to the government, for he had appointed that conspirator against the kingdom,

Judas, to be his successor. The king became excited and, provoked by the false accusations of that depraved man, wrote to Nicanor, stating that he was displeased with the covenant and commanding him to send Maccabeus to Antioch as a prisoner without delay. When this message came to Nicanor, he was troubled and grieved that he had to annul their agreement when the man had done no wrong. Since it was not possible to oppose the king,

he watched for an opportunity to accomplish this by a stratagem. But Maccabeus, noticing that Nicanor was more austere in his dealings with him and was meeting him more rudely than had been his custom, concluded that this austerity did not spring from the best motives. So he gathered not a few of his men, and went into hiding from Nicanor. When the latter became aware that he had been cleverly outwitted by the man,

he went to the great and holy temple while the priests were offering the customary sacrifices, and commanded them to hand the man over. And when they declared on oath that they did not know where the man was whom they sought, he stretched oath that they did not know where the man was whom they sought, he stretched out his right hand toward the sanctuary and swore this oath. If you do not hand Judas over to me as prisoner, I will level this precinct of God to the ground and tear down the altar, and I will build here a splendid temple to Dionysus. Having said this, he went away. Then the priests stretched forth their hands toward heaven and called upon the constant defender of our nation in these words,

O Lord of all, who have need of nothing, you were pleased that there be a temple for your habitation among us. So now, O Holy One, Lord of all holiness, keep undefiled forever this house that has been so recently purified. Raziz dies for his country. A certain Razis, one of the elders of Jerusalem, was denounced to Nicanor as a man who loved his fellow citizens and was very well thought of and for his goodwill was called father of the Jews. For in former times, when there was no mingling with the Gentiles, he had been accused of Judaism

and for Judaism he had with all zeal risked body and life. Nicanor, wishing to exhibit the enmity which he had for the Jews, sent more than five hundred soldiers to arrest him, for he thought that by arresting him he would do them an injury. When the troops were about to capture the tower and were forcing the door of the courtyard, they ordered that fire be brought and the doors burned. Being surrounded, Razis fell upon his own sword, preferring to die nobly rather than to fall into the hands of sinners and suffer outrages unworthy of his noble birth. But in the heat of the struggle, he did not hit exactly, and the crowd was now rushing in through the doors. He bravely ran up on the wall and manfully threw himself down

into the crowd. But as they quickly drew back, a space opened, and he fell in the middle of the empty space. Still alive and aflame with anger, he rose, and though his blood gushed forth and his wounds were severe, he ran through the crowd, and standing upon a steep rock, with his blood now completely drained from him, he tore out his entrails, took them with both hands, and hurled them at the crowd, calling upon the Lord of life and spirit

to give them back to him again. calling upon the Lord of life and spirit to give them back to him again. This was the manner of his death. The Wisdom of Solomon, chapter 17. The Plague of Darkness and Death. Great are your judgments and hard to describe. Therefore, uninstructed souls have gone astray. For when lawless men supposed that they held the holy nation in their power, they themselves lay as captives of darkness and prisoners of long night, shut in under their roofs,

exiles from eternal providence. For thinking that in their secret sins they were unobserved, behind a dark curtain of forgetfulness, they were scattered, terribly alarmed, and appalled by specters. For not even the inner chamber that held them protected them from fear. But terrifying sounds rang out around them, and dismal phantoms with gloomy faces appeared. And no power of fire was

able to give light, nor did the brilliant flames of the stars avail to illumine that hateful night. Nothing was shining through to them except a dreadful, self-kindled fire, and in terror they deemed the things which they saw to be worse than that unseen appearance. The delusions of their magic art lay humbled, and their boasted wisdom was scornfully rebuked. For those who promised to drive off the fears and disorders of a sick soul were sick themselves with ridiculous fear. For even if nothing disturbing frightened them, yet scared by the passing of beasts and the hissing of serpents, they perished in trembling fear,

refusing to look even at the air, though it nowhere could be avoided. For wickedness is a cowardly thing, condemned by its own testimony, distressed by conscience, it has always exaggerated the difficulties. For fear is nothing but surrender of the helps that come from reason, and the inner expectation of help, being weak,

prefers ignorance of what causes the torment. But throughout the night, which was really powerless, and which beset them from the recesses of powerless Hades, they all slept the same sleep, and now were driven by monstrous specters, and now were paralyzed by their soul's surrender. For sudden and unexpected fear overwhelmed them, and whoever was there fell down, and thus was kept shut up in a prison not made of iron. For whether he was a farmer or a shepherd,

or a workman who toiled in the wilderness, he was seized, and endured the inescapable fate. For with one chain of darkness they all were bound. Whether there came a whistling wind, or a melodious sound of birds in wide-spreading branches, or the rhythm of violently rushing water, or the harsh crash of rocks hurled down, or the unseen running of leaping animals, or the sound of the most savage roaring beasts, or an echo thrown back from a hollow of the mountains, it paralyzed them with terror. For the whole world was illumined with brilliant light and was engaged in unhindered work, while over those men alone heavy night was spread, an image of the darkness that was destined to receive them. But still heavier than darkness

were they to themselves. Chapter 18. Therefore, you provided a flaming pillar of fire as a guide for your people's unknown journey and a harmless sun for their glorious wandering. For their enemies deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned in darkness. Those who had kept your sons imprisoned, through whom the imperishable light of the law was to be given to the world. When they had resolved to kill the infants of your holy ones, and one child had been exposed and rescued, in punishment you took away a multitude of their children,

and you destroyed them all together by a mighty flood. That night was made known beforehand to our fathers, so that they might rejoice in sure knowledge of the oaths in which they trusted. The deliverance of the righteous and the destruction of their enemies were expected by your people. For by the same means by which you punished our enemies, you called us to yourself and glorified us. For in secret the holy children of good men offered sacrifices, and with one accord agreed to the divine law, that the saints would share alike the same things, both blessings and dangers. And already they were singing the

praises of their fathers. But the discordant cry of their enemies echoed back, and their piteous lament for their children was spread abroad. The slave was punished with the same penalty as the master, and the common man suffered the same loss as the king. And they altogether, by the one form of death, had corpses too many to count. For the living were not sufficient even to bury them, since in one instant their most valued children had been destroyed. For though they had disbelieved everything because of their

magic arts, yet when their firstborn were destroyed, they acknowledged your people to be God's son. For while gentle silence enveloped all things, a night in its swift course was now half gone. Your all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed, a stern warrior carrying the sharp sword of your authentic command, and stood, and filled all things with death, and touched heaven while standing on the earth. Then at once apparitions in dreadful dreams greatly troubled them, and unexpected fears assailed them. And one here, and another there, hurled down half-dead, made known why they were dying. For the dreams which

disturbed them forewarned them of this, so that they might not perish without knowing why they suffered. The experience of death touched also the righteous, and a plague came upon the multitude in the desert. But the wrath did not long continue. For a blameless man was quick to act as their champion. He brought forward the shield of his ministry, prayer and propitiation by incense. He withstood the anger and put an end to the disaster, showing that he was your servant. He conquered the wrath, not by strength of body

and not by force of arms, but by his word he subdued the punisher, appealing to the oaths and covenants given to our fathers. For when the dead had already fallen on one another in heaps, he intervened and held back the wrath and cut off its way to the living. For upon his long robe the whole world was depicted, and the glories of the fathers were engraved on the four rows of stones, and your majesty on the diadem upon his head. To these the destroyer yielded, these he feared, for merely to test the wrath was enough.

The Book of Proverbs, chapter 25, verses 18 through 20. A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow. Trust in a faithless man in time of trouble is like a war club or a sword or a sharp arrow. Trust in a faithless man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips. He who sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day and like vinegar on a wound. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much. Thank you for this day. Thank you for the opportunity to be able to once again come into your presence, to allow your word to speak to us, to shape our minds, our hearts,

to tell us not only who you are, but how to love, how to live in this world. We ask that you please continue to open our minds, continue to shape our vision, and continue to call us your own. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So we've got some graphic, you know, the battles in 2 Maccabees are all the Bible, obviously, in reading the entire Old Testament up till now. You know, we have one more day and then it's all New Testament all the time, which is really

incredible. In two days from now, the day after tomorrow, we're starting the Gospel of Luke and we'll go through the Gospel of Luke in about a week plus, because it's a long gospel. But what a gift it's been. We get to see maybe in ways that we've never seen before the amount of, gosh, I guess I want to say violence in the scriptures, but I don't just want to highlight the violence. I want to highlight the fact that here is God working through brokenness. Here is God working through broken people. Here is God working through even these horrible situations. And one of the things we recognize is that life is not a Hallmark movie. I mentioned this before in the past, and I know there's a lot of people who are part of this community who are not necessarily from the West, not necessarily from North America

or where you might have the Hallmark channel, but the Hallmark movie version of Christianity, right, is, so what I'm talking about is there are things called Hallmark movies. And in Hallmark movies, things are really neat and things are clean. And a guy meets girl. Girl likes guy. Guy likes girl. But they have some kind of tension keeping them apart from each other. And at the end of the movie, everything is fine and everyone's happy.

And even sometimes the enemy or the person trying to keep them apart is still, has found happiness too. Like every, it's all clean. It's all neat. It's all tidy and orderly. And we recognize that here is the Bible. Here is the story of life in this world. Here's the story of God interacting with his people.

And it is not neat. It is not tidy. It is powerful, but it's not clean. It's messy. And we also recognize that the power of God's entering into the messiness. And now when I say messy, we're not just talking, well, there was a little bit of a, you know, some sin here or some suffering over there. We're talking betrayal. We're talking thousands of people dead. We're talking about the end of the chapter 14 of second Maccabees,

where you have this man, Rassis, who, you caught this, right? He tries to kill himself by falling upon his sword so they couldn't abuse him. Doesn't work super well. So he throws himself off to height, falls into the midst of the people, onto the ground, still in rage. So still alive in this is verse 45, still alive in a flame with anger. He rose and though his blood gushed forth and his wounds were severe, he ran through the crowd. He tore out his entrails, took them with both hands and hurled them at the crowd, calling upon the Lord of life and spirit to give them back to him again. And I'm so sorry. I probably should have had a little alert on this one as well beforehand, but just this sense of, wow, that is very graphic and that is a very horrible way to die. And yet that's in the Bible.

What are we to make of this? And what we are to make of it in so many ways is here is the story. Here is our story. Here is the way in which God is present, even in crazy scenarios like this. Here's the way God is present, even in remarkable scenarios that we would just think, is this from a horror movie? Because that is disgusting and horrible. And yet here's God somewhere in the midst of all of it. Just like in my life, he is somewhere in the midst of all of it. Some days we see it more clearly than others.

Some day we know it more certainly than others, but every day we know that it's true. And it's that we moving on to wisdom of Solomon chapter 17, a couple and 18, a couple of things to highlight the very beginning of chapter 17 is just, it has this line. It says this, it says, for thinking that in their secret sins, they were unobserved behind a dark curtain of forgetfulness. They were scattered terribly, alarmed and appalled by specters. For not even the inner chamber that held them protected them from fear. And there's this thing of like thinking that in their secret sins, they were

unobserved. How often there's that reality of secret sins? How often is there that reality that we were tempted to just give ourselves a pass because like, well, no one knows about this. There's anonymity here. There's a certain idea that this is not hurting anybody. It's unobserved. No one will find out. And the reality, of course, is when we walk in truth, when we walk in wisdom, again, the whole wisdom of Solomon, we realize there's no such thing as secret sins. There's no such thing as a life that is unobserved or that's forgotten. It talks about this dark curtain of forgetfulness. Like, no, that doesn't exist. And there's something so powerful about this to convict us when we're sinning and

to comfort us when we're trying to walk in righteousness, to convict us when we're in sin, to be able to say, okay, Lord, you are present here. Lord God, you do see these things and there is justice, but also to have that word of comfort, that word of assurance. When we're trying to strive after righteousness, that there's no secret virtue either. If there's no secret sins, there's also no secret virtue. And we recognize, or even just attempt at virtue, the fact that you and I are trying to follow the Lord, we're trying to belong to him, is seen. He knows this. The Lord God cares because you matter. Even your attempt matters. But when we have this secret sin at the end of chapter 17, it talks about this. It says, while over those men alone, heavy night was... So this is talking about in the kingdom of Egypt, where the people of God were enslaved.

And there was that section, remember, where darkness came upon where the Egyptians lived, but there was still light where the Hebrews lived. That's this. It says, while over those men alone, heavy night was spread, right? So over the Egyptians, heavy night was spread. An image of the darkness that was destined to receive them, that powerful poetry, but still heavier than darkness were they to themselves. Gosh, while over those men alone, heavy night was spread.

An image of the darkness that was destined to receive them, still heavier than darkness were they to themselves. Because they belonged to false gods, because they had conspired to kill the firstborn or the males of all the Jews, males of all the Hebrew parents. And they were darkness, heavier than darkness were they to themselves. It goes on in chapter 18, verse one, but for your holy ones, there was very great light. Again, it talks about the Jewish people being delivered basically by God's vengeance,

by his justice from slavery in Egypt through that whole next chapter, chapter 18. No, we're almost at the very end. We have one chapter left in Maccabees. We have one chapter left in the book of Wisdom of Solomon. But there's this last note in chapter 18. This is incredible.

Chapter 18, verse 14. This is, I just invite you to go back to your scriptures and highlight this. For while gentle silence enveloped all things, this is talking about the night of the destruction of the firstborn. For while gentle silence enveloped all things and night in its swift course was now half gone. Your, you God, your all powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne into the midst of God, right? This is the justice of God upon the Egyptians that had killed all the males that were born to the Hebrew people.

But there's also a prophecy here, right? I always think of Christmas. This is the nativity. For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, middle of the night, your all-powerful word, the word made flesh, right, leaped from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed,

a stern warrior carrying the sharp sword of your authentic command and stood. And there's, it says, and stood and filled all things with death and touched heaven while standing on earth. Now, obviously we know that Jesus Christ came to bring life, but also he came to conquer death. He also came to fight for us. And this is the powerful news of the good news that we're about to launch into for the rest of the year.

The day after tomorrow is here is Jesus Christ himself, the word made flesh leaping forth from the throne with what, with a voice of thunder leaping forth with a sword of truth and of the Holy spirit and fighting for you. That's the key thing. Fighting for me. Fighting for us. Because as we know, here is God saying, you're worth fighting for. There are things that are trying to kill you and you're worth fighting for. So be fought for. The word leapt forth from the mighty throne of heaven to come to this earth and to fight. And so we trust in him.

We trust in his ability to fight. We trust in his willingness to fight, that he wants to fight for you today. And so we trust in that. And we ask you, Lord Jesus, please fight for us. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. Last day tomorrow of the Old Testament and then all New Testament all the time. I can't wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.