The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Rising from the Ashes: Encouragement for LA Friends

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

How do we rebuild when we experience devastation? Drawing lessons from the Biblical story of the Israelites' return from the Babylonian exile, Jeff Cavins emphasizes three essential steps in rebuilding: engaging with the sacraments (specifically the Eucharist), studying the Word of God, and fostering community. Snippet from the Show During times of immense devastation, we find solace in the unwavering presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 413, encouragement for L.A. Friends. Welcome to the show this week. Thank you for joining me. I really appreciate it. I've been looking forward to talking to you. all week, especially after last week's show, Show 412 thoughts about the L.A. Fires.

And I mentioned in that show last week that I wanted to put something together, some encouragement for those who have been so devastated by the fires in L.A., and there might be a couple of shows, you know, with this. And I got to thinking about it and prayed about it. And I just want to offer this up in light of what happened in L.A. with the fires. And maybe you aren't in L.A. Maybe you are, you know, in another country, but things have happened in your life where you feel devastated. The carpet's been pulled out from underneath you. The landmarks that you have been so used to in your life are gone. And you're not sure quite what to do. And so I thought I would offer a little bit of encouragement here, particularly from an era of the Bible, since I'm a

Bible teacher with the Great Adventure Bible and the Great Adventure Studies. And there's one episode in the Bible that really, really gives some sound direction for how to rebuild when, you know, you've been devastated. And so the story takes place in the book of Ezra. It's Ezra and Nehemiah. And I'll give you kind of the background on that in a moment here. But just again, thank you for everybody praying for our friends in L.A. And I challenged you last week. to use your gifts, think about how could I, how could I be of some benefit to them? Some of the wonderful people were saying that I don't know what to do. I'm not educated in this.

I don't know about insurance. I don't know about how to dig out of the rubble from nothing, you know, with nothing. And I know a lot of people have responded in beautiful ways. And so building on that, let's continue to encourage and pray for our friends in L.A. as well as around the world who might be struggling with something, something catastrophic. So the story that I want to share with you, it comes from the Book of Ezra and Nehemiah and the background to this story about how a people lose everything and then rebuild. And we're talking about in your spiritual life, in your relationship with God, which is the key.

And I think, you know, we talked last week a little bit about the natural aspect of it, homes and businesses and roads and things like that. But there is the spiritual dimension to catastrophes in terms of rebuilding and getting your life back. Now, the context here was that Israel was divided into two nations in 930 BC. And then we have Israel to the north, 10 tribes, 2 to the south, Judah and Benjamin. And the 10 tribes to the north were defeated by the Assyrians in 722, obliterated, literally. I mean, just sent out to all different parts of the globe eventually. And then in the south, in Judah, whose headquarters, the temple and everything is in Jerusalem, they were devastated by the Babylonians in three waves of exile in 605, 597, 587.

And so in 587, the Babylonian leadership, Debuchadnezzar, they came down, they took Jerusalem. They destroyed it. burned it. They burned it completely to the ground. And that was devastating. The very center of their life was burned. The very heart of their faith and everything that they were familiar with was in ashes now. I think our friends in L.A. can identify with this. Going back into the neighborhoods and looking at their homes is such a devastating sight. And that's what Israel experienced with the temple. So they're in Babylon. And they're going to be in Babylon for for 70 years. And then after 70 years in Babylon, Cyrus, King of Persia is going to allow the

exiles to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild. And you can read about this in Ezra chapter 1 and Ezra and Nehemiah are key to this. And so here we have people who have been devastated. Their past is burned. It's ashes. And now after 70 years, they're going to rebuild their lives. Now, what I'm going to share with you here is the key to rebuilding a life. And it's so important. So when we talk about rebuilding our lives, we're going to see this in three waves. There's going to be three different aspects of rebuilding your life. And it's going to come from this amazing story in Ezra and Nehemiah. And maybe you've already gone. through this and you know you know what that what this entails okay so after cyrus permits them to

return in ezra one versus one through four we have the first return the first wave comes back and god stirred up the heart of cyrus king of persia he stirred up the heart of cyrus and allowed the captives to return to return and they returned in three waves as well now this was actually prophesied in Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 4. I'll put it in the show notes for you. And by the way, if you want the show notes for this and you don't have them, all you got to do is text my name, Jeff Kavens, to the number 3-3-777. We'll get you the notes.

And then you'll be on the list. You'll get them for every show, as long as you want them. Okay, so the first wave back into the country is found in Ezra chapter 3, verse 7 through 618. Now, this first return, a gentleman by the name of Zerubbable, he rebuilds the temple. He comes back into the land of Canaan to Jerusalem, to the ash heap, and he is the one who's going to rebuild the temple. Now, you can read about him in David's lineage, this Zerubbable. He comes back, and he's going to rebuild the temple. Now, it's interesting here, the temple was rebuilt in 20 years.

It took 20 years to rebuild it. So it did take some time. These things don't happen overnight, obviously, and it is work. And that's just part of the rebuilding process. And when people are rebuilding, like in L.A., and it might take a while, we need to be with them. We need to encourage them. We need to pray for them. We need to let them know they're not alone.

And so Zerobabal comes back and he rebuilds the temple. Now, what is that about rebuilding the temple? well that is the heart of the community that is the place where the sacrifices took place that's the place where the name of god resides in the temple and all of life revolves around this temple it's the heart so notice that the very first thing to rebuild your life after it is an ash heap which i'm talking about jerusalem here is the worship the sacrifice it is that communion with god it's the name of God, the presence of God, the Shikina glory, right, throughout the Old Testament in the Holy of Holies. And so the obvious question is, well, we don't have a temple to build in our own hometown

here, you know, or whatever country you might be living in. So how does this speak to my life? Well, you're in luck, or I should say you're in blessing. Because when we read the Bible, we read it in three different ways. We read it in the allegorical way. How does it relate to Christ? The moral way moral law you know the moral aspect i should say and that is how does it relate to me and then the analogical how does it relate to the future so using the moral sense we ask ourselves well how does this relate to me and the devastation that i might be enduring right now and the answer to that is this that when it comes to the temple being rebuilt after 70 years of exile that place is the place of sacrifice and worship. Now, what is that for us as Christians? As Catholics, we have the seven

sacraments, and the center of all of the sacraments, the center of our entire life is the Eucharist. And so the Eucharist comes to us in the mass, the words, the words, this is my body. This is my blood, said by a priest, makes bread into body, makes wine into blood, the blood of God. And the first point of rebuilding is, is the Eucharist, the mass, the sacraments. And for us as Christians, the sacraments, that is, that meeting with Jesus is so critical for you. Not only physically and mentally, emotionally, but spiritually, this is number one. You've got to receive Jesus. You have to make this as much as you possibly can.

would share this with my friends in LA that, you know, all my Catholic friends that in the midst of all of this, I know that it's crazy, but try to find that time and say, I'm going to make this a priority, Jesus, I need you, I want you, I have to have you inside of me. And I want that grace that comes from it. And that is what the Lord is going to give to you. And so, you know, we just had the Eucharistic revival in the United States in Indianapolis. Maybe. Maybe maybe it was for something like this. Maybe people went to that Eucharistic Congress from L.A. And now they have lost their homes. Listen, return to what you learned. Return to what stirred your heart in Indianapolis. Return to the Eucharist. This is going to be big. This is going to be big.

So number one, you need the sacraments. You need the Eucharist. You need the nourishment that comes with it. It's going to get good here. We've got two more things. Two more. waves coming back from Babylonian captivity. Let's take a break. I'll go into those when we come back. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hey guys, my name's Father Mike Schmitz. I am excited to announce that I'll be launching the parables tour this spring. We'll come together and we'll see what the Lord wants to share with us in his word through the parables. And then we'll follow that with a live Q&A. So if you're interested, go to ascensionpress.com slash father Mike tour to find out dates and locations, that's ascensionpress.com

slash F-R-M-I-K-E tour. God bless, and we'll see you there. Thank you for returning. We are talking about rising from the ashes, literally, when the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC. 70 years later, they come back and Zerobel led that first wave back and rebuilt the temple, which we, as Christians see as the sacrifice, the Eucharist, communion. Now number two, the second to return was a gentleman by the name of Ezra. And when

Ezra came back, and you can read about this in Ezra 7-1 through 1044, when he returned, what did he do? He found the scrolls. He found the scrolls. He found the Torah. He found the Word of God. And he, what did he do? He began to teach and he gave the sense of it and how to understand it and how to put it into practice. So the second aspect of rebuilding your life. The first is this encounter with Jesus and the Eucharist, the sacraments, mass. The second is the Word of God. The Word of God. And so what he did in Chapter 7-1 through 1044 is Ezra reestablished the law. And that is the Word of God. Once the temple was built, they had to bring their personal lives into conformity to the will of God.

So in the part of the rebuilding of their life, they want to bring their lives into conformity to the will of God, to be formed to Jesus. And I love what it says in Ezra 710. And I'll just share this with you. It's one of my favorite verses from long, long ago, Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Yeah. Isn't that beautiful? Set his heart to study the law of the Lord. That's you. In L.A., set your heart to study the law of the Lord. I know there's so much going on. And some people would even say, how can we instruct someone who's in such pain? That's what we're here for. That's what we're here for to point people to the source of life. The Eucharist, the Word, two things in mass, right? Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist. And so that is incredibly important. And I know that when you're in the middle of a crisis, going to church, you're finding a place where the sacrament is available in a place that's been burned down can be difficult. And then it might even mean that the Bibles that you had were burnt, you know. I remember seeing one story in the news about as the flames were coming into a temple synagogue that they ran in and they rescued the Torah scrolls. That was the thing they wanted. That was the thing that brought life. And so all my friends who want to help people get to the Eucharist,

help people get the Word of God. If you know of anybody who lost everything, please, buy them a Bible. Get them a Bible. Go to ascensionpress.com. Get a Bible for them, you know, and give it to them telling them this is key. This is really key. Pick them up. Bring them to church.

Volunteer. Get your parish priest. to go into those areas and call people together, have mass. So those are the first two. The first is the rebuilding of the temple, which corresponds to the Eucharist, the sacraments. The second is Ezra returns and teaches the word of God. That is the instruction from God in building our lives back up.

That is absolutely necessary. Now, the third is very interesting, and we talked a little bit about it last week. The third return, Nehemiah was the gentleman. who comes back from Babylonian captivity. You can read all about it in his book, Nehemiah. And what does he do? He rebuilds the walls around Jerusalem. He rebuilds the walls around Jerusalem. You know, in antiquity, you weren't taken seriously as a major city or a city that had something, you know, to protect, unless you had walls. Unless you had walls. And so when he rebuilt those walls,

that speaks of a community, a city, a people with an identity. And we heard in the news so many people who were displaced talking about, this is my community, these are my people, this is all I've ever known. This is where I went to Cub Scouts. I went to church. I went to school. This is where I first learned to ride my bike, you know, the community. And so the third aspect to rebuilding from the ashes in Jerusalem is the community.

It is one another. Don't do this alone. Don't isolate yourself. Don't hide. Become part of the community. Reach out to other believers. Forge new relationships. Reach out to the churches in the area.

We need help. There's a family on the edge. There's someone I need to talk down from the ledge. Can you help me? We need community. We're social people. And clear back in the book of Genesis, God said, it is not good for man to be alone.

It's not good for man to be alone. and it's not. And at a time like this in L.A. or wherever you are at, it's not a good time to be alone. Don't fall for that. Sometimes the enemy will isolate and conquer. Don't allow that to happen. If you know of someone who's beginning to move in that direction, reach out, grab them, grab them and bring them to yourselves and then bring them to Jesus. So Nehemiah rebuilt the walls around the city and that wall really represents the communion of saints. it represents the community. Oh, and that's another point.

It's not just the community here on earth. Oh, no. It is the community of the saints, the communion of the saints. Those who have gone before us, you have access to, to say, St. Augustine, pray for me. St. Jerome, pray for me. That's really, really important. And I want to add this, I want to add this to it. There is someone among the communion of saints.

that you might want to ask for prayers. It's St. Florian. Now, he was the patron saint of firefighters. And so you can even Google this, and you can find various saints that are related to the catastrophes. And particularly here with fire, St. Florian. And I would just say, St. Florian, pray for us.

St. Florian, pray for my friends in L.A. and ask you to intercede for them and bring grace and life to their, lives. So those are three waves in the Bible, good examples of rising from the ashes literally. I can't get more direct, can I? And that is the three key things are the sacraments, the word of God, and the community. This is a starting point, isn't it? And so if you can, take this podcast, share it with all of the people that you know in L.A. or others around the world who are struggling as a beginning point for hope. L.A., we hear you, our brothers and sisters, we hear you, those around

the world, we hear you. You're not alone. You're not alone. We're praying for you. We're offering you the best we have. First of all, that is the relationship with God, the sacraments, the Word of God, and this community that we all belong to, the church that has started 2,000 years ago and still hasn't stopped. Nothing can stop it. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing. Nothing. And so please no, you are not alone. Jesus said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Now next week, next week I'm going to continue this theme and I'm going to talk about redemptive suffering and how we offer up our suffering and union with Christ to make it redemptive, to make it valuable. And we don't want to waste anything, do we? We want to use everything

that we've experienced and it may be for a cause and we'll learn that next week let's pray name of the father and the son and the holy spirit jesus i love you so much i thank you lord for my brothers and sisters and i pray oh god i pray oh god that you come to their aid as their shepherd as their as their physician as their counsel as their king as friend lord jesus embrace those who are suffering right now we intercede for them we agree a we agree a We agree upon this all around the world right now. We come together. We agree on this for our brothers and sisters

and pray that something glorious will come out of their lives. Something beautiful will emerge. And we ask for the intercession of our dear mother, Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners. Now and at the hour of our death, amen.

I love you, my friend. Look forward to talking to you. next week.