1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,120 In the name of the glorious Trinity, Father and Son and Holy 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,200 Spirit, forever Amen. Glory be to the. 3 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:10,000 Everlasting mercies which sent you to us, O Christ, the light 4 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,520 of the world, and the life of. All give us wisdom. 5 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:16,480 By your law and enlighten our. Impulses by your knowledge. 6 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,560 Sanctify our souls by your truth, and grant that we may be 7 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:24,040 obedient to your words and may fulfil your commandments at 8 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,320 every hour. O you who? 9 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,840 Enlightens the rational with the knowledge of Your greatness. 10 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:34,400 Do enlight, O my Lord, our thoughts, that we may meditate 11 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:37,480 upon Your holy and divine Scriptures at all times, O Lord 12 00:00:37,480 --> 00:00:40,720 of all, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. 13 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:42,400 Forever. Amen. 14 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:05,920 The Acts of the Holy Apostles of our Lord, chapter 12. 15 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:10,320 Verses 1:00 to 5:00. The beheading of Saint James the 16 00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:15,600 brother of John, the sons of Zebedee and the Caesar of Simon 17 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:18,640 the Rock. Let's get into it now. 18 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:22,560 At that very time, here at the king surnamed Agropa, see some 19 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:24,720 of the people of the Church to oppress them. 20 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,920 This was in Jerusalem and he killed James, the brother of 21 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:31,920 John, with the sword. And when he saw that this 22 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:35,600 pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Simon Peter also. 23 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:38,760 This happened during the Days of Unleavened Bread. 24 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:43,280 So he seized him, that is Peter, and put him in prison and 25 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:47,960 delivered him to the care of 16 soldiers to keep him so that he 26 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:51,920 might deliver him to the Jewish people after the past Passover. 27 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:57,800 And while Simon Peter was kept in the prison, continual earnest 28 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,920 prayer was offered to him to God by the church. 29 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:05,400 Let's stop there and have a discussion on these verses. 30 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:08,680 Now who is Herod? Well, Herod was the son of 31 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:15,000 Herod, Herod whom beheaded John the Baptist, Herod whom ordered 32 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:20,280 the slaughter of the 12,000 infants babies in search of 33 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:26,360 Christ, wanting to kill Jesus because he was he was threatened 34 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:30,360 that his throne would be shaken or someone else would be sitting 35 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:34,040 on his throne because he was told that a king was born. 36 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:38,360 But little did he know that the king was his king because Jesus 37 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:42,080 Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, praise be to 38 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:45,200 his name. So this Herod that we are 39 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:49,040 reading about in chapter 12 in the book of Acts is his son. 40 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:53,920 This Herod ordered the trial of Jesus Christ. 41 00:02:53,920 --> 00:02:58,840 He put Jesus to to trial before the the Jewish community. 42 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:01,600 Now James as I said was the son of Zebedee. 43 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,160 This was not James the the the son of Joseph who was the 44 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:07,280 brother of Jesus Christ half brother. 45 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:11,120 This was not that James. This James is the son of 46 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:15,720 Zebedee. James and and John who were 47 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:17,800 called by Christ the sons of Zebedee. 48 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,400 Now there's a question here and I'm sure people are asking and 49 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:24,200 This is why when we read the Holy Scriptures, some people are 50 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:31,800 some way deterred or are skeptical and maybe seize from, 51 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:33,760 you know, stop from reading the scriptures. 52 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:38,200 Why does God permit this death? Why, you know, this could have 53 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:42,720 been this is early Christian era. 54 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:46,320 This could have been the 5th year, the 6th year after the 55 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,880 resurrection and the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ to 56 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:54,120 heaven. Why was God allowing this death 57 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:56,880 to happen? You know some people ask, before 58 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,400 we answer that question, let me let me pose another question 59 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:06,680 asked by non Christians who debate the divinity of Jesus 60 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:09,600 Christ. Why did not Jesus come out and 61 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:15,400 make it so easy to the whole world, to the Christendom and 62 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,560 say I am God, Show me in the Bible. 63 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:21,399 People say show me in the Bible. Show me in your Bible. 64 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:28,360 Where does Jesus say I am God? Well there is 2 answers to that. 65 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:33,360 Show me in my Bible where Jesus says I am not God. 66 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:38,480 Now he may allude that he is not the Father and Amen. 67 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:43,760 Jesus is not the Father, Jesus is the Son, but he is by nature 68 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:45,760 divine. He is God. 69 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:51,600 So just imagine this is this is 4 years of 50 after his 70 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:57,320 ascension and even today 2024 people are having issues having 71 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:00,480 difficulties accepting that Jesus is God. 72 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:06,600 Just imagine Christ coming down from heaven on to earth and 73 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,960 preaching and claiming that he is God. 74 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:18,800 You know, he said when he healed the the leper who was waiting by 75 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:25,480 the pool of Bethsaid and he was healed, the Jews said to him, 76 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:29,520 you know, they didn't care that 38 years he was just laying by 77 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:32,080 the pool and couldn't get in there because someone else was, 78 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:35,200 you know, preceding him beforehand. 79 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:42,040 And they said to him, why have you taken up your your mat and 80 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:45,000 you're walking? This is a Sabbath, you know, 81 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:48,600 totally ignoring the fact that for 38 years this leper couldn't 82 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:51,480 move and now he's moving. He's healed. 83 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,480 They were blinded to that. In any case, Jesus says my the 84 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:58,840 Father is working, so I am working. 85 00:05:58,840 --> 00:06:02,000 And they said, oh, this is even a greater blasphemy. 86 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:05,000 And they wanted to seek them all to kill him because he made 87 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,720 himself to be the Father. No, he didn't. 88 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,120 He didn't say I am the Father, but they want to kill him. 89 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:13,840 So just imagine him coming out and saying I am God. 90 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:16,920 I'm the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel. 91 00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:19,880 I am your creator. I created you. 92 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:24,440 He didn't say that because it wasn't time for that, because 93 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:28,560 you cannot pour new wine in old wine caskets. 94 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:33,360 You can't do that. However, when we read the Holy 95 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:39,280 Scriptures, open minded, we see that yes, Jesus is God according 96 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:43,120 to the Scriptures and according to what he claims, rightly so, 97 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,840 that he is God. All of that is the Father's is 98 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:49,560 mine. He who sees me see, has seen, 99 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:53,840 has seen the Father and more verses like that. 100 00:06:53,840 --> 00:06:58,640 So it's the same. Why did God not stop this 101 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:04,960 murder? Why did God allow Saint James to 102 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:06,960 be murdered? Now I'm going to be quoting St. 103 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:11,320 John Chrysostom, my favorite, as if it just happened by chance. 104 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:16,560 Like he was persecuting the church in Jerusalem and he just, 105 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:20,720 his eyes caught James, St. James, and he grabbed him and he 106 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:25,680 beheaded him, obviously. Now if we ask why God permitted 107 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:29,200 this, and again we're going to look at the Church Father's 108 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:33,720 comments on this in John Chrysostom, we see that Saint 109 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:37,040 John writes that it was for the sake of the Jews. 110 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:46,280 Through this evil, God was persuading the Jews to come back 111 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:51,840 from their evil. Firstly, from this evil God 112 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:56,640 wanted to persuade the Jews again and us today that those 113 00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:03,400 who die for Jesus Christ, those whose blood is shed for Jesus 114 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:08,560 Christ, have eternal life. It is a victory for them. 115 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:12,480 It is a victory. Christians who die for Jesus 116 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:18,040 Christ, not Christians who die because there have been, you 117 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:23,680 know, ignorant or because of their own fault, are victorious. 118 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:28,760 No, no, no, Christians who die for the sake of the Lord Jesus 119 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:33,360 Christ have eternal life. We saw this in Acts Chapter 7 120 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:38,360 verses 54 to 60. Saint Stephen, who was being 121 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:42,120 stoned to death, looked up and saw Jesus. 122 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:46,000 Listen to this. Everyone saw Jesus standing, 123 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:51,120 standing at His throne. Now kings are always seated at 124 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:54,760 their throne, but Christ stands up to receive those who are 125 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:57,280 martyred, who shed their blood for His sake. 126 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:04,680 So it goes to show that those who die for God will live with 127 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:09,720 God in eternity and also God's give. 128 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:14,440 God gives the Jews through this an opportunity after satisfying 129 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:15,760 their anger. Now they would, you know, the 130 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:18,440 Jews that weren't Christian, they didn't accept Jesus Christ. 131 00:09:18,680 --> 00:09:21,840 They were mad at the Jews that received Jesus Christ. 132 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:23,480 You know, they saw them as their enemy. 133 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:28,000 They were angry. So through this, God was 134 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:34,320 attempting, because of free will obviously, to satisfy them so 135 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:36,400 that they would return back from their madness. 136 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:38,800 Now let's use this as an example. 137 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:48,320 You know, evil can be used and can cause people to walk away 138 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:50,800 from evil. And I'll give you some examples. 139 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:58,520 You know, one man's evil can be another man's good and holiness. 140 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:03,360 Now one man's evil, and we're talking Christian here, One 141 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:08,040 man's evil who dies, who receives evil, who accepts 142 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:13,200 punishments and sufferings and death for Jesus Christ, not 143 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:16,200 because of his own fault. Saint Peter writes this, if you 144 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:19,600 suffer because it's your fault, I'm paraphrasing, well, don't 145 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:23,320 expect a reward, but if you suffer for no reason, you suffer 146 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:25,520 for Jesus Christ, Well, you have a reward. 147 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:31,840 So those who suffer evil, not at their fault, but for the Lord 148 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:36,000 Jesus Christ according to God's knowledge and permission, and 149 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,400 their blood is shed, that could be someone else's holiness. 150 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:45,960 Let me give you an example. We try to persuade people not to 151 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:48,560 text while they're driving. I'm a culprit. 152 00:10:48,560 --> 00:10:51,800 Now I'll I'll confess I'm a culprit. 153 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:54,680 And at times I do it. And then when I wake up to 154 00:10:54,680 --> 00:10:58,360 myself, I just throw the phone on the same, say, listen, just 155 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:01,200 focus, all right? And you know what? 156 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:05,840 What, when I do that, after I've done that, I start imagining, 157 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:08,120 God forbid, and you should do this. 158 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:14,200 God forbid if one day I'm texting and God forbid, God 159 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:20,840 forbid I I run someone over, how am I going to live with myself? 160 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:25,280 First and foremost, I can't be in prison because I'll die in 161 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:27,440 prisons because I'm claustrophobic, right? 162 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:33,520 So I'm thinking of that evil, and that evil then becomes good 163 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:38,040 for me because I throw the phone on the seat so that I do not 164 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:41,800 text and drive. You know, people who love 165 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:44,920 drinking, we call them drunk cards. 166 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:47,920 By the way, the scripture says that drunk cards, not people who 167 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,320 drink alcohol. I drink alcohol. 168 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:53,480 Drunk cards will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. 169 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:56,040 Listen to this beloved brothers and sisters. 170 00:11:56,480 --> 00:12:01,160 Drunk cards will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. 171 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:03,080 Saint Paul writes in one Corinthians. 172 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:07,160 So what what you know when you go to a a anonymous alcoholic 173 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:10,840 anonymous, what do they do? They show you videos of car 174 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:14,880 accidents where people have lost their lives and they're so 175 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:19,200 gruesome at times, like there's there's bodies hanging out of 176 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:20,200 cars. Why? 177 00:12:20,560 --> 00:12:23,760 To show you that when you're drinking and you're a drunkard, 178 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:27,800 and especially when you drive, drink and drive, this could 179 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:31,800 happen. And then that evil could be good 180 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:37,360 where you give up alcohol or you do not become a drunkard. 181 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:41,600 Or when they show you photos of drunkards who are, you know, on 182 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:45,520 the streets tumbling over, falling over and, and stumbling 183 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:46,760 and not knowing what they're doing. 184 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:49,440 And then, you know, they wake up in the morning with bruised eye. 185 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:50,760 They're in the they're in the hospital. 186 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:54,200 What happened because they went up against a bouncer and, you 187 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:55,800 know, because they were drunk and what have you. 188 00:12:56,080 --> 00:13:00,120 So what I'm the point is that the evil that is shown is 189 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:04,680 witness could be good for those and bring them back to good. 190 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:09,120 This is why God allowed this to to show the Jews as this is the 191 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:11,640 evil that you are grumbling about. 192 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:15,960 This is what you want. Repent, come back to good. 193 00:13:16,680 --> 00:13:23,240 God also shows through this that James accepting the martyrdom 194 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:30,600 wilfully because we don't read that James was arguing his case. 195 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:35,040 It shows that he was. He consented to that with 196 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,040 happiness. Why? 197 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:42,760 Because the head of each person is Jesus Christ. 198 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:47,720 James had two heads, beloved. He had the physical head that we 199 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:51,440 all have, and he has the spiritual head which is Jesus 200 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:56,160 Christ. Every Christian has a head that 201 00:13:56,160 --> 00:14:02,480 is called Jesus Christ. Now James was happy and was 202 00:14:03,560 --> 00:14:07,440 under pressure to, I'm sorry, James was under pressure to have 203 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:12,200 his spiritual head cut off, but he refused that and said no, 204 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:17,240 decapitate me, get rid of the physical head because I have the 205 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:20,440 Lord Jesus Christ. It is true for every person, 206 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:24,440 every Christian that Christ is how our head and that's through 207 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:26,600 faith. During the ISIS attacks, 208 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:29,000 beloved, how many Christians were beheaded? 209 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:32,920 Do you remember the our brother, the Coptic brothers by the 210 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:36,800 seashore who were beheaded for Jesus Christ? 211 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:42,160 Yeah, they lost their physical head, but they they sustained 212 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:45,480 that spiritual head which was Jesus Christ. 213 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:49,560 Saint Paul writes in one Corinthians verses 11, Chapter 214 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:52,400 11, verse 3. But I want you to know that the 215 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:55,480 head of every man is the Messiah. 216 00:14:55,480 --> 00:15:02,320 That is Jesus Christ, praise be to His name and being our head, 217 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:08,280 being our Lord, being our God, being our Saviour, being our 218 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,440 King, our forgiver, our life giver. 219 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:16,000 We need to preserve regardless of where we go in life. 220 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:25,040 I've mentioned, I believe that after a child is baptized and 221 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:29,960 has been gifted with the provisions of the Holy Spirit, 222 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,920 gift of the Holy Spirit, and has received the Holy Spirit, we 223 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:36,120 place a crown on the head of the child. 224 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:39,600 And the crowns are in the form of ribbons, a red and a White 225 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:41,800 Ribbon. The white, you know, symbolizing 226 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:46,320 the holiness, the cleansingness, the red symbolizing martyrdom, 227 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:50,320 red. And the, the liturgy instructs 228 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:53,120 that the red, the, the, the ribbon is to be tied on the head 229 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:57,400 with the, with the, with the remainder of the ribbons to be 230 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:03,880 hanging before the eyes of the child, which denotes that we at 231 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:08,280 all times hold before our eyes the cleanliness, the holiness 232 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:09,800 that we have received in baptism. 233 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:15,160 But at the same times, it is at all times before our eyes, in 234 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,880 our minds, in our hearts, reminding us that death is 235 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:24,600 inevitable and not only natural death and death caused by 236 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:28,680 disasters or accidents. But no, no, no, the death which 237 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:31,640 entails the shedding of the blood. 238 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:34,360 This is what we learned. This is early church, beloved, 239 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:38,240 early church. The death of the shedding of 240 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:46,440 blood, verses 3 and 4. And when he saw that this please 241 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:49,440 the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Simon Peter also. 242 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:53,080 This happened during the days of the Unleavened Bread and he 243 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:56,680 seized him. And you know, wasn't 1 soldier 244 00:16:56,680 --> 00:17:01,240 or two soldiers sufficient for him? 245 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:05,880 He placed sixteen soldiers because there were four groups 246 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:10,079 of soldiers. Each group had 4, not 24. 247 00:17:10,079 --> 00:17:14,440 Four times, 4 is 16, 16 soldiers. 248 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:18,280 He really wanted this guy to be imprisoned. 249 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:22,240 But the question is how is it that he didn't kill Peter 250 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:27,319 immediately? Well, the reason he's there is 251 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:30,640 it was at the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, which was 252 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:33,880 before Pentecost. Now the Day of Unleavened Bread, 253 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:37,360 which was also known as the Feast of the Unleavened Bread or 254 00:17:37,360 --> 00:17:42,280 the Matzah, was seven days festival that took place between 255 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:45,600 Passover and the Feast of Pentecost. 256 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:50,880 And the festival commemorated the Exodus, the going out of the 257 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:53,840 people of God, the Israelis who have freed the Jews who have 258 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:59,520 freed from slavery in Egypt. But the more likely reason is 259 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:03,600 that he wanted to make a spectacle of the slaughter. 260 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:09,600 He wanted to really put that slaughter on show to bring fear 261 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:14,160 to the Jews. And the question there arises is 262 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:19,040 that why didn't the Jews being mad and angry, they were happy 263 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:21,880 at what happened to the to, to, to Saint James? 264 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:27,160 Why didn't they plead as they pleaded with his father? 265 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:32,760 The Pharisees and the Jewish priests pleaded with his father, 266 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:37,880 with Herod's father, to release Barabbas and to give him Jesus 267 00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:42,640 so that they could crucify him. And they proclaimed to date, to 268 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:47,240 date, that the blood of Jesus Christ, the innocence of the of 269 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:52,280 the death of Jesus Christ or the evil that that was behind the 270 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:56,640 death of Jesus Christ, that blood, the innocence was upon 271 00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:01,360 them and upon their children. Why didn't they say the same 272 00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:03,920 thing? Well, maybe they had learned of 273 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:09,160 Gamaliel. Gamaliel, who was the teacher of 274 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:14,760 Saint Paul of soul when they were wanting to put the word in 275 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:18,080 the book of Acts, the apostles to death, He says, does our law 276 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:22,560 allow us to to, you know, execute someone or to put 277 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:25,400 someone to death before examining them, shouldn't we 278 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:29,720 first examine them? We don't want the the, you know, 279 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:32,120 the the sin of their blood upon us. 280 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:34,440 We don't want that. We don't. 281 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:38,240 We don't want to do what our forefathers have proclaimed upon 282 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:38,920 us. No, no. 283 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:44,600 So they may have adhered to his instructions, abstaining from 284 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:49,520 bloodshedding. They didn't even try to accuse 285 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:52,960 Simon. But they saw that what they 286 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:56,520 wanted was already happening to by the hands of Herod. 287 00:19:56,800 --> 00:19:59,520 They were quite conniving, you know, very smart people. 288 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:02,160 They didn't want to get involved in it, but they were Joyce, You 289 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:06,200 know, sometimes we see evil happening in our lives. 290 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:12,040 We see evil on the street. We see evil everywhere and we 291 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:14,000 don't want to get involved. Why? 292 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:18,720 Because we don't want to have a a partaking in that evil. 293 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:22,800 Well, sometimes maybe we need to get involved to stop evil. 294 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:28,040 For example, when you see someone bashing someone on the 295 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:33,600 street being quite physical. Well, how about you try to maybe 296 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,840 bring peace? How about you don't pull out 297 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:41,760 your video, sorry, your telephone, your cell phone, and 298 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:46,440 start videoing a a student bashing another student at 299 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:51,160 school. My beloved students, that's 300 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:53,720 evil, and you are a partaker of that evil. 301 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:58,520 By the way, if you are taking joy in the suffering of another 302 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:04,520 person, you are partaker of that person who's causing the 303 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:09,360 suffering in a in in place of taking out your cell phone and 304 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:14,440 videographing it and laughing at it and posting it on your TikTok 305 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:21,520 or Instagram, why not try to be a a child of God or a human 306 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:24,560 being? Why not be, we say in a Syrian 307 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:27,960 anasha, a human being, and try to stop that because that is 308 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:30,360 evil. See, these people didn't try to 309 00:21:30,360 --> 00:21:32,880 stop that. They were more joyous, but yet 310 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:34,480 they didn't want to have anything to do with it. 311 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:37,960 So, you know, I didn't bash. I had nothing to do with this. 312 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:41,560 I was just videographing. I was just capturing it because 313 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:46,160 one day I wanted to look at it and enjoy it and place it on, on 314 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,160 social media, posted on social media so that everyone could 315 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:52,520 enjoy seeing a student being bashed or being bullied. 316 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:55,440 That is evil, beloved. That is still evil. 317 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:01,160 So Simon is captured. Simon didn't try to, you know, 318 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,360 plead his case. He's captured humbly again, 319 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:06,400 because Jesus had already told Simon. 320 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:09,520 Simon, you know, when you were young, you would, you would wear 321 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:12,120 your own clothes and you would go to places where you wanted 322 00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:13,600 to. But there's going to be a time 323 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,840 where you're going to be bound and they're going to be taken to 324 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:19,080 places where you did not want to go. 325 00:22:19,120 --> 00:22:20,760 And here it is. He's going to prison. 326 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,840 And Simon would have accepted it gladly. 327 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:29,920 And God allowed that as well to show that we must gladly accept 328 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:35,200 persecutions, accusations for Christ's sake, beloved, because 329 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:39,800 we're going to read how God works in this after Simon is in 330 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:44,440 prison, verse 5. And while Simon Peter was kept 331 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:49,280 in the prison, continual pray without seizing Saint Paul 332 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:53,440 writes continual prayer was offered for him to God by the 333 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:56,880 church. Continual prayer, you know, 334 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:02,120 that's why Saint Paul writes that we must pray without 335 00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:08,400 seizing, because Seoul or Saint Paul was aware of Simon being 336 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:13,600 captured and how prayer is going to be the cause, the weapon, the 337 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:18,000 armor for Sinon to be released from, not escape, but to be 338 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:23,240 released from prison. Prayer arising from a love to a 339 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:25,680 father. He was their father. 340 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:29,680 It was their apostle. You know, earnestly, beloved. 341 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:33,440 It was made earnestly out of loved, heartfelt love for this 342 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:35,440 person. You know, when we pray earnestly 343 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:41,600 when you love someone. And remember, we must all love 344 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:44,880 one another, not just our parents and our best friends and 345 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:47,400 brothers and sisters and wives and husbands and children. 346 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:51,840 No, no, no. By this they will know that you 347 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:55,120 are my disciples. Christ, rise that you love one 348 00:23:55,120 --> 00:23:58,320 another. If we have genuine love for one 349 00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:02,480 another, we will pray earnestly for one one another, and 350 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:06,600 continually we will pray for one another until God replies. 351 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:10,440 And it could take time according to God's perfect timing, perfect 352 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:15,560 will and perfect way and not according to how we want the 353 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:18,320 prayer to be answered. Beloved, you pray for a sick 354 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:21,920 person, you pray for a sick friend, family friend, you know, 355 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,920 for for a relative. You continue to pray. 356 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:27,600 You don't cease praying. But when the Lord says, I've now 357 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:30,680 heard your prayer, now your Father is going to come to me. 358 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:35,920 Praise and glory be to his name. God hasn't promised that we will 359 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,600 receive according to what we want, how we want. 360 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:42,920 That's why Jesus teaches, teaches us, thy will be done. 361 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:46,840 When you pray, you say thy Kingdom come, thy will, your 362 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:49,440 will be done. Earnest prayer, beloved. 363 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,640 It would have been a very, very hectic time. 364 00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:58,640 We just, they just witnessed St. James being beheaded, basically 365 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,040 decapitated, and Saint Peter has been seized. 366 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:07,000 They're probably thinking that's it, it's done, it's finished. 367 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:10,080 Now all the disciples, everyone's going to be 368 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:14,000 persecuted. They didn't complain. 369 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:20,640 They didn't, you know, create a, a coup or an uproar, but they 370 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:24,240 turned to pray. They didn't start to begin to 371 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:29,640 work on how we're going to, you know, plan a release for Simon, 372 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:34,160 how we're going to go and, and and you know, you know, help him 373 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:36,640 escape and escape for no, no, they just pray. 374 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:40,800 They committed it to God and we see this with the disciples, 375 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:44,320 with the church, especially in Acts, in the book of Acts, when 376 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:49,120 they came to fulfill or to, to fill the place of Judas, they 377 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:51,800 prayed, they prayed and then they cast lots. 378 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:56,960 So this is a, a great example within the church. 379 00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,680 This is within the church. We have issues within the 380 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:02,920 church. Why don't we pray about it as 381 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:07,160 opposed to taking sides and propaganding. 382 00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:11,280 That's a word, Steven, you know, campaigning for no, no, why 383 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:15,480 don't we pray about that? Because pray is that true 384 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:22,080 alliance and it's unbeatable. It is a a a a place of refuge 385 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:25,960 for when we are truly in desperate need. 386 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:30,520 They didn't say I'm not worthy. Do you think God's going to hear 387 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:34,160 me? Of course, listen if God hears 388 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:38,080 the prayers of those who are not there, his children yet, because 389 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:42,000 they haven't received his Son and been baptized, but he hears 390 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:45,640 their prayer when they're praying to the Lord to show them 391 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:49,000 the truth. He listens to their prayers and 392 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,200 he sends His Son praise be to his name and they see Jesus 393 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:54,920 Christ, no one else, Jesus Christ. 394 00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:57,240 And then they come to the knowledge and the understanding 395 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:00,080 of God through Jesus Christ. They receive baptism. 396 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:02,880 They proclaim him to be their Lord and Savior and they receive 397 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,400 baptism. How much more God the Father 398 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:08,520 will hear your prayers, the prayer of the the, the, the, the 399 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,800 persistent widower or the evil judge. 400 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,960 God says, do you not think that God, if this man, if this evil 401 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:23,360 judge, for his own benefit, made a judgement and passed his 402 00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:26,720 judgement for the widower, how much more? 403 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,920 God will listen to those who call him day and night, his 404 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:33,560 children day and night, and he will reply according to His 405 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:39,000 will, according to his timing, according to His purpose and His 406 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,960 glory. They prayed because they acted 407 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:49,200 out of love, beloved, and because they acted out of love, 408 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:53,840 nothing else went through their minds as to how we can help our 409 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:56,640 Father Saint Peter, but just prayer. 410 00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:01,520 Prayer, Saint John Chrysostom writes, and this was posted on 411 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:06,680 my Facebook page. Prayer is the place of refuge 412 00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:13,520 for every worry, a foundation for chief fullness, a source of 413 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:18,680 constant happiness and protection against sadness. 414 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:22,640 So, Beloved, early stages of the Church. 415 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:27,640 Early errors of the Church. 50, Maybe the 6th year or the 10th 416 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:31,360 year after the Ascension. Not maybe the first decade. 417 00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:37,560 Within the first decade there is persecution, there is execution, 418 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:42,640 there is capturing. Beloved, there is evil. 419 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:46,440 So how much more today? Yes, the church is being 420 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:49,240 attacked, attacked even more today, more so today. 421 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:53,120 Maybe not so much beheading in the Western countries, this you 422 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:56,960 see in the Islamic Eastern countries, but the church is 423 00:28:56,960 --> 00:29:00,320 especially being attacked today in the Western countries. 424 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:05,320 Beloved, what do we do? If people say, you know, we 425 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:08,360 should demonstrate, we should come out in our numbers, does 426 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:12,240 that really help? Does it really help in numbers? 427 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:14,960 Yeah. If the entire country comes out 428 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:18,240 and demonstrates, yes, it will help because you got the 320 429 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:23,320 million votes there, right? But 10,000 people, 2000 people, 430 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:28,120 1,000,000 people demonstrating peacefully according to their 431 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:29,360 civil rights. Fine. 432 00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:30,880 OK. What does that do? 433 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:35,960 How about we resort to prayer? Remember, there's always going 434 00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:38,520 to be persecutions. And they're going to be even 435 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:40,600 more intensified as the days go by. 436 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:44,960 Beloved, what do we do? Come together in earnest prayer. 437 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:49,680 And remember, we can lose the physical head, but always be 438 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,440 prepared to preserve the spiritual head. 439 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:56,240 That is our faith in our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ. 440 00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:59,600 Praise and glory be to his name now and at all times and 441 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:00,960 forever. Amen. 442 00:30:27,740 --> 00:30:29,740 We hope you enjoyed this week's message. 443 00:30:29,780 --> 00:30:32,980 Please don't forget to rate and review this podcast and share 444 00:30:32,980 --> 00:30:36,340 with your friends and family. For any future topic suggestions 445 00:30:36,340 --> 00:30:39,780 or to give us detailed feedback, please visit our link in the 446 00:30:39,780 --> 00:30:44,800 Show notes link. TR EE forward slash double edged 447 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:47,120 sword. Until next time, God bless you 448 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:47,400 all.