11 April 2016 - don't break the seal

[ Today's Readings ]

Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.

If we work only for food that perishes we are unstable. We are "children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes" (see Ephesians 4:14). When princes start meeting and speaking against us we are quick to conform because we're really only interested in the loaves. And they can keep the loaves from us. They have the power to kill the body.

Though princes meet and talk against me,
your servant meditates on your statutes.
Yes, your decrees are my delight;
they are my counselors.

Jesus, your law shows us the way to true freedom. It shows us what is more important than bodily food. It shows us who we should fear more than people who can kill the body (see Matthew 10:28).

Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you. 

If we seek this food we are changed from being double-minded and unstable in all of our ways to being wise and faithful (see James 1:8).

Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds.

The food that endures for eternal life comes from you alone. Only this food can save us from our own ability to fool ourselves:

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions (see Second Timothy 4:3).

This is the secret that Stephen knows.

Stephen, filled with grace and power,
was working great wonders and signs among the people.

We can tell that he knows it because he is utterly unphased by persecution. He has no fear whatsoever of those who can and do kill his body.

All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him
and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

The Father sets his seal on you Jesus. You in turn seal us with the Holy Spirit. 

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (see Epheisans 1:13)

One aspect of this seal is that he can keep all of the lies of the enemy out of our minds. He makes us, as it were, air tight. He is the advocate who reminds us of the truth from God (see John 14:26). He keeps us safe from the enemy who has been a liar from the first (see John 8:44).

Remove from me the way of falsehood,
and favor me with your law.
The way of truth I have chosen;
I have set your ordinances before me.

This is the bread that truly sustains us. These are your words, O LORD, which give us life. Our task isn't as lofty or complicated as we might imagine. This is how we fool ourselves. Instead, we must simply trust you.

Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”