The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 327: Origin of the Diaconate (2022)

Episode Date: November 23, 2022

Fr. Mike draws our attention to the cultural division present in the early Church and the origin of the ordination to the diaconate. He also discusses Paul’s frustration with those who didn’t recognize Jesus as the Christ and offers consolation to those who experience this in the hearts and minds of those close to them, as Paul did. Today’s readings are Acts 6, Romans 9-10, and Proverbs 27:10-12. 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.

Hey everyone, before we get started today, I want to let you know the Bible in a Year has brought the Word of God to so many people. As you know, you're part of this community, changing lives in so many incredible ways. We're humbled to play this role in God's plan and consider it our ongoing mission to keep bringing the Word of God to as many people as possible. So what I'm saying is the end of this year is not going to be the end of Bible in a Year. So far, Ascension has been able to add the podcast to YouTube. You might have found it that way. been able to add the podcast to YouTube. You might have

found it that way. Maybe you're watching right now on YouTube. And also, we're working on translating it into different languages so you could have the Bible in a year in other languages than English. But of course, this takes a significant investment to bring projects like these free of cost to our listening communities. And we want to keep them free of cost to all those people who participate because we want to get the Word of God out there. And because of that, we have to rely on generous contributions from listeners like you to help defray these costs and to enable us to continually provide new audiences with this life-changing content. So if you would like to help support the Bible in a Year mission, you can go to ascensionpress.com support. That's ascensionpress.com support. That's ascension7. We're reading a short chapter, Acts chapter 6, as well as Romans chapters 9 and 10. We're reading Proverbs chapter 27, verses 10 through 12. 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 rating plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You can also subscribe to this podcast. I think that was the fastest I've ever gone through this. You know, just trying to cut down on time, you guys. I know yesterday, last couple of days, the Gospel of Luke was super long. So who knows? Maybe if I race through that intro, then you're like, oh man, you shaved off seven seconds. This is great. As I said, it is day 327, reading Acts of the Apostles, chapter 6, as well as St. Paul's Letter to the Romans, chapters 9 and 10, and the Book of Proverbs, chapter 27, verses 10 through 12.

The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 6. Seven chosen to serve. Now, in these days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer

and to the ministry of the word. And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Promenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed, and laid their hands upon them. And the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. The Arrest of Stephen And Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the freed men, as it was called, and of the Cyrenians and of the Alexandrians and of those from Cilicia and Asia arose and disputed with Stephen, but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke. Then they secretly instigated men who said, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council and set up false witnesses who said, this man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us. And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

St. Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 9. God's election of Israel. I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever.

Amen. But it is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants. But through Isaac shall your descendants be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of Abraham because they are his descendants, but through Isaac shall your descendants be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants.

For this is what the promise said, about this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of his call, she was told, the elder will serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's

part? By no means. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So it depends not upon man's will or exertion, but upon God's mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. So then, he has mercy upon whomever he wills, and he hardens the heart of whomever he wills. God's wrath and mercy. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who can resist his will? But who are you, a man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, Why have you made me thus? Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use?

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he has called not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. As indeed he says in Hosea, those who are not my people, I will call my people and her who was not beloved. I will call my beloved. And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people. They will be called sons of the living God. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved.

For the Lord will execute his sentence upon the earth with rigor and dispatch. And, as Isaiah predicted, If the Lord of hosts had not left us children, we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah. And, as Isaiah predicted, Israel's lack of faith. What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith, but that Israel, who pursued the righteousness which is based on law, did not succeed in fulfilling that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it through faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone

that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall. And he who believes in him will not be put to shame. Chapter 10 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened. For being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to

God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law, that everyone who has faith may be justified. Salvation is for believers in Christ. Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness, which is based on the law, shall live by it. But the righteousness based on faith says, do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down or who will descend into the abyss? That is to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say? The word is near you on your lips and in your heart. That is the word of faith, which we preach. Because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. The scripture says, no one who believes in him will be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. The same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him.

For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news. But they have not all heeded the gospel, for Isaiah says,

Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for their voice has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. Again, I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation. With a foolish nation, I will make you angry. Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me. I have

shown myself to those who did not ask for me. But of Israel, he says, all day long, I have held up my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. The book of Proverbs chapter 27 verses 10 through 12. Your friend and your father's friend do not forsake and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away. Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad that I may answer him who reproaches me. A prudent man sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. Father in heaven, we give you praise and thank you always every day. Gosh, Lord, we thank you so much. Thank you for having chosen us to be your beloved. Thank you for choosing us to make us yours. Thank you for

sending your spirit that transforms our hearts. And thank you for giving us the gift of faith. We make this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, you know, you just pray and you're like, man, I don't know what else to say because there's so many things to be thankful for today. And as we have often said here in this community, it's so big. It is such a large community that we know that today could be your worst day. And so we're praying for you definitely. And yet at the same time for every one of us, there is so much. There always is so much to be thankful for.

Today, we have Acts of the Apostles chapter six. We have a short, very short, only 15 verses long. We have the seven chosen to serve. So what happened is you have this introduction of the term Hellenists. So who are the Hellenists? They were basically Greek speaking Jews from the dispersion. So there's a little note in the Great Adventure Bible. It says they had their own synagogues in Jerusalem and they read the scriptures in Greek. And so a little different, right? They read the Septuagint, which is that Greek language translation of the Old Testament. They were kind of separate. So there's already this cultural division that's happening. And so you have, again, Gentile Christians or Greek speaking Christians, as well as Jewish Christians. And they believed that their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.

Actually, it doesn't even say that they believed that. It says they murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. So basically, here is the Christian community, and they are taking care of widows and orphans. But some of these people who are part of a different group, right, different group of Christians. We're being neglected. And so let's look at this. This is chapter six of the church. The church begins essentially, you know, Jesus said he built his church upon the apostle Peter on that rock. And here in chapter two, we have the day of Pentecost and the birthday of the church right

there. Now, here we are four chapters later in chapter six, and already there are some issues. There are people, there are factions. Later on in 1 Corinthians, we'll see even more kind of factions that are even greater. In fact, we're going to see that in the Acts of the Apostles. But here's the first one. And that first one is some people are being treated different than others. And that is not good.

But it is not unexpected, if that makes any sense. Because while the Holy Spirit is the soul of the church, so it's divine, the church still is made up of human beings who can fail, who do fail. And so here we are. So then what happens? The 12 summon the body of the disciples to say, it's not right that here we are as the 12.

We shouldn't give up proclaiming the word of God to serve tables, although that's really important to take care of the widows and orphans. So let's choose seven men who are of good faith. Basically, this is the beginning of the diaconate. So the Greek word here that Luke uses is those to serve. So diakonoi or diakonos. That's where in the Catholic church we have deacons. And I know in other churches they have that role of deacon. There's some things to note about the role of deacon. But one is that they were anointed or sorry, ordained very clearly in verse six. It says these they set before the apostles and they prayed and lay their hands upon them.

So that sense of here's an actual ordination wasn't like someone just chose themselves and said, I'll do it. I'll serve. And they go off and go. No, this is actually an order in the early church. So the apostles knew that they were the episkopos, right? The episkopoi or the bishops. They knew that they're the presbyteroi or the priests.

And you have this diakonoi or the deacons. Not only that, but the very next thing says that Stephen, one of those diakonoi, one of those deacons who was ordained to serve at table, what's the next thing? The next time they're mentioned, it says that he is full of grace and power. He did great wonders and signs among the people. Basically, he goes out and starts preaching and starts healing. And you're like, wait a second, bro, you just were ordained to serve at table. But here you are doing this supernatural ministry, which is remarkable and incredible. That maybe wasn't what the apostles had intended,

but it seems like that was what God had intended. Stephen, tomorrow we're gonna find out what happens to him because he gives witness to Christ and he becomes the first martyr in the church. Now, the church always considers the holy innocents, those who were killed by Herod, in some ways to be kind of proto-martyrs. John the Baptist, you have kind of like a proto-martyrs. John the Baptist, you have as kind

of like a proto-martyr as well. But the first Christian martyr, fully Christian martyr is St. Stephen, who we'll hear about tomorrow. But today we have also Romans 9 and 10. And you just imagine this is, you know, St. Paul's begins by saying, I'm speaking the truth, not lying. I have great sorrow, unceasing anguish in my heart. Why? Because he has so many brethren who are part of the Jewish people who are not responding to Jesus as the Christ. They're not responding to Jesus as the fulfillment of everything that God had promised. And to even says, I could, I could wish that I myself were accursed. I could wish that I was cut off from Christ so that they wouldn't be. I could wish this, that these, my kinsmen, according to the flesh would be able to

come to know Jesus Christ. And a, that's a heart of a true follower of Christ, right? Is to long for, to be desperate for those people who don't know Christ. There's that sense of, I would do anything. I would give anything. And I know so many of us who are part of this community, we have people in our lives. We have, if you're a parent, maybe you have kids who left the faith. Maybe your parents don't know who Christ is. Maybe every one of us has people in our lives who we love so much, who either have never said yes to Christ or have, but then have walked away. And we would say the same thing as St. Paul here. I could wish that I myself were cut off if they would just come to know who Jesus Christ is. If they would just come to know that

he established his church and that they have a home there, that they belong there. He goes on to say that they're Israelites, right? And to them, he goes this whole list, this is beginning in verse four. And to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs and of the race, according to the flesh, is Christ, who is God. This is remarkable. I want to highlight this just because here we have journey through the entire Old Testament. So we know what St. Paul's talking about. We know. And also the things that aren't not written in the Old Testament, but were part of Jewish life. They're part of Jewish cultic life, or you want to say cultic, I mean like Jewish religious life, part of their spiritual culture.

We know all this. To them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, the promises, all these things that patriarchs, they've been given so much and yet aren't recognizing Jesus. Now, at the same time, we already know that thousands upon thousands of Jews did come to know who Jesus was. I mean, again, the early church was primarily made up of Jewish people who became Christian, who saw that Jesus is the fulfillment. And so that's important for us to remember. But then St. Paul goes on to talk about like, why is that happening?

And essentially, I'm not going to say he says, I don't know. Essentially, he will say that this is the way things go, that there are those who will come to see the truth about Jesus and will respond with their whole hearts. There are those who will come to, they'll hear the word of God and they will respond by surrendering their lives to him. And there also are those who will hear the word of God and will not. And here, St. Paul makes a major claim when he says in verse 16, he says, so it depends not upon man's will or exertion, but upon God's mercy. Remember, go back to Exodus for the scripture says to Pharaoh, I've raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. So then he has mercy upon whomever he wills and he hardens

the heart of whomever he wills. And this is a mystery of, it's the mystery of having faith or not having faith. It's the mystery of some people can hear the word of God and respond, let that soften their heart, remember, or we can hear the word of God and it can harden our heart. And remember, God never does evil. And so hardening one's heart is not the result of God's choosing to harden one's heart to drive them away from him, but we choose to harden our hearts in the face of God. But the potter gets to be in control.

This is one of those mysteries of God's wrath and mercy, the mystery of being chosen and called, the mystery of predestination, and the mystery of saying yes to God or not saying yes to God. But I will go on to say here in chapter 10, there is something that's so powerful. It says in verse 9, because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved for man believes with his heart and so is justified and he confesses with his lips and so is saved, which is such an incredible gift that that role of faith in our lives, you know, we are saved by grace through faith, working itself out in love. That's the kind of the Catholic formulation. We're saved by grace.

It's a completely free gift through faith, which is our response to that completely free gift. As St. Paul says here, profess with your lips, believe in your heart. That's faith, right? In fact, in chapter one, St. Paul says the obedience of faith. So it's not even merely a profession of lips or believing in heart, but it's actually gets to the point of obedience. But we would formulate that we are saved by grace through faith, working itself out in love, that we live as we believe, that we belong to the Lord. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Now, here's the last part that I just think is important. It says, but how are men to call upon him? This is verse 14 of chapter 10. How are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? Goes on to say, so faith, verse 17, comes from what is heard. What is heard comes by the preaching of Christ. And this is why Jesus needs to be talked about. This is why Jesus needs to be proclaimed. And this is one of the reasons why we're doing this

Bible in a year. Why? Because it's one thing to read our Bibles, super important to read them. It's another thing. I wonder if there is not this mysterious power that comes when God's word is heard, not merely read off the page, but actually heard, proclaimed. I think there is something there because here we are having journeyed for 327 days to this day. And so many people have reached out and said, there's something different about hearing God's word than just me reading it on the page. No, it's obviously it's God's word. So we're not going to take anything away from that. But we're also going to say, isn't this fascinating that

St. Paul's letter to the Romans chapter 10 talks about not just the power of God's word, but the power of hearing God's word. I don't know. I think there's something there. I don't know what it is, but I think it's there. Anyways, you guys, as we said, we know that there are many of our friends and family who don't have faith. So we're praying for them.

And even us, there can be days when we struggle to believe, struggle to submit and surrender our lives to the Lord, struggle to profess with our lips and believe in our hearts and to have the obedience of faith. And so we need prayers. We need grace. It's completely God's free gift,

but we can ask for it. And I'm praying for you that you have that grace today. Please pray for me that I have that grace today so that we can all be united in saying one giant yes to the Father who loves us. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.