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Seeing him always in ragged clothing, his face and hands black with coal, many scorned him; even children made fun of Alexander the coalman. Indeed, this was the only name by which he was known there m the city. In fact, however, Alexander had received an advanced education; his wisdom and learning could have gained him great respect among the people if he had desired to reveal his talents. But out of love for God he had chosen a poor and humble life. He bore patiently everyone’s scorn, and only the Lord knew his good deeds and superior wisdom. Alexander served Him in deep humility, but it pleased the Lord to raise up his servant for the benefit of many.

The bishop of Comana died and a new bishop had to be chosen. The citizens of the city invited the holy St. Gregory the Wonderworker, Bishop of Neocaesarea, and asked his help in choosing a pastor. Having gathered for this important business, the clergy and people began to vote for those who seemed to be worthy to be bishop. The names set forth were primarily well known people, learned, eloquent speakers, etc. But the hierarch did not voice his approval, as if he were waiting for a sign from above. He reminded those present how the Lord chose David to rule as king, looking not at external merits but at the heart. “Man looks at the face,” he said, “but the Lord looks at the heart, judging not by a man’s outwards merits, but by what is hidden in his heart. Let us likewise try not to pay attention to externals but to seek what God has prepared.”

Among those present, some didn’t care for this advice. They laughingly said to one another, “If one disregards outward appearances, why not elect Alexander the coalman to be bishop?!”

Many found this idea amusing, but Bishop Gregory thought to himself, Is this not perhaps a sign from God that this name has been brought up? “Who is this Alexander?” he asked. “I’d like to see him.” Alexander was found to be standing there in the crowd, and he was brought to the bishop. As usual, he was dressed in a tattered shirt, and covered from head to toe with coal dust. The sight of him provoked a gale of laughter, but Alexander stood before the bishop, calm and quiet, paying no attention to the reaction of the crowd. The Holy Spirit revealed to St. Gregory that God’s grace rested upon this humble man. Motioning Alexander to follow him outside, the bishop had a private talk with him in which he learned the truth–that Alexander was in reality a wise and learned man who, out of love for the Lord and for the sake of Christian humility, had chosen for himself a life of labor and poverty. The bishop told him to wash and put on a clean garment. Meanwhile, he returned to the assembly and began a discussion on the Holy Scriptures.

Soon Alexander appeared. The people barely recognized him: he was wearing clean clothes, and his face, washed of soot, was handsome and intelligent When the hierarch turned to him with some questions concerning the Scriptures, Alexander astonished the people with his wise answers. Many felt ashamed that for so long they had considered him to be an ignoramus and had treated him so badly. With one accord they asked that Alexander be consecrated bishop. He was raised up through the ecclesiastical ranks and very soon was made a bishop by St. Gregory. His first homily profoundly moved everyone’s heart, and all the citizens of Comana, filled with joy, thanked God for having granted them such a pastor.

Bishop Gregory returned to Neocaesarea and Alexander began to guide the Church of Comana, teaching his flock by word and good deeds. His sermons were simple, yet filled with divine wisdom. He wasn’t concerned with delivering beautiful orations, but tried to set forth the rules of the Christian faith in words which everyone could understand. In all his teachings one could sense the grace of the Holy Spirit It was said that once a certain learned man laughed at the simplicity of the bishops words, but afterwards he saw in a vision a flock of white doves, shining with unearthly light, and heard a voice which said to him, “Such are the words of the bishop Alexander at whom you laugh’ The learned man repented and asked the holy bishop’s forgiveness.

During Diocletian’s persecution of Christians, Bishop Alexander was brought before a tribunal. By admonishments and tortures they tried to make him denounce Christ. But their attempts were in vain. Seeing the bishop’s steadfastness, they sentenced him to death and cast him into a furnace.

***As told by “Orthodox America” at http://www.roca.org/OA/100/100g.htm

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Matthew is focusing on the kingly aspects of Jesus. He is the descendant of David, the great king of Israel. He is the descendant of Josiah the king who brought reforms to Israel. He is the King of kings, the king whom other kings either seek out and worship or try to destroy.

The interplay between the Magi and King Herod in this chapter is fascinating. The Magi are seeking out Jesus to worship him because of who he is. Herod is seeking out Jesus to destroy him because of who he is. In most, if not all, people’s lives there comes a time when they realize who Jesus is and they can make the choice to worship Jesus or destroy Jesus. But there also comes a time every day in my life when I choose to either Worship the Jesus who lives in me or try to destroy the Jesus who lives in me. Sometime I choose wisely and sometimes I choose poorly. But by the grace of Jesus I am forgiven for my poor choices and given the opportunity to choose again.

Will I worship or destroy Jesus in my life today?

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They beat Florida International 40-10.  The O-line looked a little shaky, but they’ll get it together.  The kicking game is going to give me a heart attack before the end of the year.  Next week they play a surprising Louisianna Tech team that beat Mississippi state 22-14.  Then we have the big game at #19 South Florida on the 12th.  By the end of that game we’ll know a lot about this team.

My Carolina Panthers begin the season Sunday at San Diego.  If we have to play San Diego I’d rather play them in week 1, before all the rust has been knocked of LT’s tires.  If Delhomme is truly healthy we have a shot.  As Jake goes, so go the Panthers.

Baseball

Well, my Dodgers decided to finish off August by losing seven in a row and dipping below .500.  They still have a shot because the only team they have left to play with a winning record is Arizona, the division leaders who are 2.5 game ahead of the Dodgers.  With a month to play 2.5 games is possible, but they have to start playing better.  Of course, then they would play the Cubs in the divisional series and I’m not too excited about that.

Politics

If you go look at some of my old posts you’ll see that I acurately predicted three out of the four presidential and VP nominees.  I called Obama-Biden and McCain-Huckabee.  McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin is not terribly surprising to me.  She is a strong conservative who appears more moderate than she is.  She will solidify the “James Dobson Republicans” and she has a shot at energizing women (a group McCain does poorly with).  She has a record of ethics reform in the corrupt Alaska political system and will be able to contrast her experiences with Obama’s failure to take on the Chicago political machine.

There will be some tabloid trash about her at the beginning because nobody knows her and so people will believe anything written about her.  I don’t think her daughter’s pregnancy is relevant or warrants media coverage.  Seventeen year olds make their own decisions, some of them good and some of them bad.  A parent’s job is to help the child learn to take responsibility for those decisions and hopefully help them make the better decision when possible.

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We must note that while Matthew says there were 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations from David to the exile to Babylon, and 14 generations from the exile to Jesus, this is not to be taken literally.  The Gospel author in using 3 sets of 14 was emphasizing that Jesus was from the line of David.  David’s number using gematria (a  common system of assigning numerical values to  an alphabet)  is  14.

It is also interesting to note that the gospel author ends the first group of 14 with David, the second group of 14 with Josiah, and the third group of 14 with Jesus.  David was promised an eternal kingship, this kingship was renewed during the time of Josiah by reforms which returned Judah to the worship of God, and the eternal kingship was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus.

Further, each of the individuals mentioned in the geneology deserve their own commentary, but we do not have the space for that here.

Moving on to the second half of Matthew 1, I was impressed with how much Joseph struggled over what he was to do.  1:20a says, “but after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream”.  When Joseph found out that his bride-to-be was pregnant he did not act rashly.  The passage seems to suggest that Joseph took his time in discerning what it was that he was to do. I imagine that Joseph was deeply hurt by the perceived unfaithfulness of his future bride.  However, Joseph considered the situation (and I suspect, althought the Bible does not say, he consulted the scriptures, the rabbis and prayed over the situation).

Too often in life I rush ahead of a situation without considering it.  I act before I pray, I speak before I listen.  I need to learn from Joseph and consider the situations I am faced with and wait on God to lead me in my actions.

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