When the Israelites fought against the Amalekites, Moses went to stand on the top of a hill with the staff of God in his hands. As long as he did this, and the staff in his hands was visible to the people, Israel was winning. Whenever he lowered his hands, the tide turned in favour of the Amalekites.

 Moses’ staff was a symbol of divine calling and redemption. It was a visible sign of God’s presence and care. Eventually, Moses became tired and his arms grew heavy so that Aaron and Hur had to hold them up for him. Moses had to hold the staff up, but could not do it alone. He needed help.

It is similar with the Apostles. They cannot carry out their mission, namely to make the salvation in Christ visible, by themselves. Like Aaron and Hur helped Moses, we can support the Apostles in fulfilling their mission. For one, we can do this through our prayers. But we ourselves can—and must—become active. The whole congregation is urged to become involved. One way we can do this is to see the soul in our neighbour that Jesus wants to redeem and treat him or her accordingly. We can do this by testifying of our faith in the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death through obedience and trust, or by seeking fellowship with Christ in divine service and embracing the gifts that we have received through the Apostles. And we can help along by
being willing to forgive and thereby testifying of the grace we ourselves have received.

Let us make an effort like Aaron and Hur did to make divine salvation visible!



Food for thought from a divine service by the Chief Apostle

August 2022