The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 358: From Rebellion to Faithfulness (2024)
Mon, 23 Dec 2024
Fr. Mike leads us through the book of Jude and discusses its main message of calling us to lives of faithfulness. He also contextualizes 2 Timothy by highlighting Paul’s imprisonment and his final message to rekindle the gift of God within us. Today’s readings are from Jude, 2 Timothy 1-2, and Proverbs 31:1-7. 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.
Chapter 1: What is the purpose of the Bible in a Year podcast?
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.
Chapter 2: What readings are covered on Day 358?
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 358. We are reading from the letter of Jude. We're reading also the beginning of the second letter of St. Paul to Timothy, chapters 1 and 2. I knew that.
And we're also reading Proverbs chapter 31, verses 1 through 7. 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, because why not? Better late than never. You can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year.
You can also subscribe to this podcast, but I invite you not to. I want you just to not. Just forget about it. It's too late. Too late for you. Just kidding. You can always subscribe. It's day 358. We're reading the letter of Jude. We are also reading second letter of Paul to Timothy chapters one and two, as well as Proverbs chapter 31 verses one through seven. The letter of Jude. Salutation.
Chapter 3: What message does the letter of Jude convey?
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you Occasion of the Letter Beloved, being very eager to write to you of our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
For admission has been secretly gained by some who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Judgment on the Ungodly
Now I desire to remind you, though you were once for all fully formed, that he who saved a people out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the deepest darkness until the judgment of the great day.
Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Yet in like manner, these men in their dreamings defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile the glorious ones.
But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, The Lord rebuke you. But these men revile whatever they do not understand. And by those things that they know by instinct, as irrational animals do, they are destroyed. Woe to them!
For they walk in the way of Cain, and abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error, and perish in Korah's rebellion.
These are blemishes on your love-feasts, as they boldly carouse together, looking after themselves, waterless clouds carried along by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted, wild waves of the sea casting up the foam of their own shame, wandering stars for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved forever.
It was of these also that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord came with myriads of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness, which they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own passions, loudmouth boasters, flattering people to gain advantage. Warnings and Exhortations But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, In the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions.
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Chapter 4: What does Paul encourage Timothy to do?
If anyone purifies himself from what is ignoble, then he will be a vessel for noble use, consecrated and useful to the master of the house, ready for any good work. So shun youthful passions and aim at righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with stupid, senseless controversies. You know that they breed quarrels.
And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, forbearing, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will.
The book of Proverbs chapter 31 verses one through seven.
Chapter 31, the sayings of Lemuel's mother, praise of a good wife. The words of Lemuel, king of Massa, which his mother taught him. What my son, what son of my womb, what son of my vows. Give not your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel. It is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers to desire strong drink.
lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. Give strong drink to him who is perishing and wine to those in bitter distress.
Let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory.
We thank you so much for this opportunity to hear your word, to be shaped by your will, and to find ourselves in your plan, find ourselves in the palm of your hand. Lord God, we just thank you. Help us to walk as faithful people, not as faithless people. You are faithful, even when we are not. Help us to cast our cares upon you because you care for us. In Jesus' name we pray.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. So we have the letter of Jude today. And so it's really brief. Jude is known as one of the relatives of Jesus, right? So Adelphoi is the proper term. Jude is the brother of James. And one of the things that we recognize about Jude in this letter of Jude is we don't necessarily know who he's writing to exactly.
It's like, you know, St. Paul writing to Timothy. We know exactly who he's writing to. St. Paul writing to the Ephesians. We know exactly who he's writing to. But what he's identified, he's identified a number of behaviors that people are not living according to the call they've received in Christ Jesus. There's a lot of immorality happening in their lives.
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Chapter 5: How does Paul describe his faith and suffering?
And so one of the things we know about Jude is Jude knows the Old Testament pretty well. And he knows the Jewish writings really well because he gives examples that we are familiar with right now. He gives the examples of Israel's wilderness rebellion. He gives examples of the rebellious angels from Genesis chapter six, right?
He gives the example of the men of Sodom at the end of the book of Genesis, as well as he even uses some stories that are not actually from the Hebrew Old Testament, but from other stories. For example, he talks about Michael the archangel. And that's from a book, a Hebrew writing called The Testament of Moses. It's just really interesting.
But all those stories are all about people rebelling against God's authority. It's all stories as well about sexual immorality and rejection of God's messengers. Jude goes on to talk about those people who not only rebelled themselves, but who caused other people to rebel. So how Cain, after he had killed Abel, that he went in the line of people that he...
Sired, I guess the cities of Cain were cities of violence. You have a Balaam who again tried to curse God, wanted to curse God, but was unable. We have Korah who led people in rebellion against Moses. So one of those things we recognize is that sometimes our own sins end with us. Well, sorry, we think they end with us. We've talked about this before, but many times our behavior changes.
amplifies or it goes out from us and it can corrupt other people. And so Jude is writing not only about those people who have rebelled against God, against his authority, against his plan for sexual morality, against his messengers, but also who have led others to rebel as well.
And so the kind of the main message of Jude is he's writing to these people who have fallen into the place of rebellion and he's calling them back to a place of faithfulness. And calling him to a place of faithfulness by pointing out, here is what happens to those who are unfaithful. The end is destruction. And God doesn't want you to be destroyed.
And so I'm calling you back to faithfulness because God actually loves you. But here is the big warning. I would not be an apostle of the Lord if I didn't warn you. And that's so important. The last words is the benediction. And he says, now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing,
to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority for all time and now and forever, amen. And that benediction, that blessing at the end, highlights the fact that yes, Jude is giving a hard, hard message to the people, but he also is giving a message that is not the end. He's not a message of condemnation, it's a message of conviction.
And that's one of the things we have to recognize is that we want to hear that message of conviction every time we open the scriptures. God, where am I in these pages? What are you trying to tell me? Are you calling me to repentance in this way or that way? Where are you calling me to belong more and more fully to you? And that's the message of the letter of Jude.
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