But the godless are all like thorns that are thrown away;
for they cannot be picked up with the hand;
to touch them one uses an iron bar
or the shaft of a spear.
And they are entirely consumed in fire on the spot.
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This is an optional Old Testament selection from the Episcopal Lectionary for the Twenty-seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Year B 2018, which is the Last Sunday after Pentecost. In the numbering system that lists each Sunday in an ordinal fashion, this Sunday would be referred to as Proper 29, but it is called “Christ the King Sunday.” If chosen, it will next be read aloud in an Episcopal church by a reader on Sunday November 25, 2018. It is important because it is reminiscent of what a true anointed king’s traits are.
The Hebrew word translated as “oracle,” as a repeated word in verse one, is “nə·’um,” meaning “utterance,” or “declaration.” The word “oracle” is understood to mean: “A person considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic opinions; an authoritative or wise statement or prediction; and/or, a command or revelation from God.” [American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition]
The oracle at Delphi.
This makes these last words of David be prophetic, more than a synopsis of David’s life. The repetition of this word is then important to all readers as a statement of a talent of the Holy Spirit.
When we read that David was “anointed of the God of Jacob,” this aspect of anointment has to be seen as a statement of the Messiah, such that the Hebrew word “mashiach” means both “anointed” and “Messiah,” as the “Anointed One.” To read “of the God of Israel,” one has to see “’ĕ·lō·hê” as stating “the god,” implying “God.” As “the god of Israel,” which is only YHWH elohim [the LORD of all gods], the Lord is who anoints the Messiah.
David was anointed by Samuel, at the command of YHWH, which is not quite the same as being the Messiah. David was “the man whom God exalted,” or “the man raised up on high.” This means his physical anointment was as the King of Israel. He was “raised up” to lead a nation of people.” The people were the children of Jacob [Israel].
Interestingly, this translation of verse one does not include the last segment of words, which says that David was “raised up on high , the anointed of the god of Israel ¸ the delightful psalmist of Israel .” The translation read aloud has the last segment saying, “the favorite of the Strong One of Israel.”
The Bible Hub Interlinear does not show any translation substitution of “psalmist” with anything that could be translated as “strong one,” unless one saw writing songs as David’s strength. It clearly shows “zə·mi·rō·wṯ” written, which translates as “psalmist (1), psalms (1), song (1), songs (1), songs (2).” [NAS Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries]
David the psalmist
This says that David’s greatest connection to the Israelites was through his songs. David was like a popular singer-songwriter today, whose lyrics are learned verbatim by his or her fans. David was anointed to sing to the hearts of Israel [which is not the way David’s psalms are seen today]. To assume that strength through music [as David not only sang lyrics, he also played the harp in accompaniment] this makes more sense when verse two begins by saying, “The spirit of the Lord speaks through me, his word is upon my tongue.” That says the Holy Spirit touched the Israelites through the songs of David. It was through David’s psalms that he heard the LORD speak through him. YHWH was his musical inspiration.
When verse three says, “The God of Israel has spoken, the Rock of Israel has said to me,” this misses the first word, which stands alone as an important one-word statement of transition from the lyrics that came to David via the Holy Spirit [“ruah”]. That word is “’ā·mar,” which means, “said,” but often translates as “answered” or “answers.” While the second segment states “spoken,” which can make “said” seem redundant, when understood as “answered,” then “’ā·mar” means the words of the Lord on David’s tongue made the Psalms the answers sent by God, to soothe all the worries and praises the faithful would encounter as His priests.
This means the Psalms are how “the god of Israel has spoken.” It is then the Psalms that are both the “rock” of high praises and the “cliff” of trials and tribulations when the people fail the Lord (both translations from “tsur “). Rather than David making decrees for everyone to follow [a mundane kingly duty], God led the people through David’s songs of praise and lament. The Psalms were how God “ruled over men justly.” The people rule themselves by feeling God’s presence in the lyrics, knowing that God knows their deepest emotions. The people then fear God by seeing, hearing, and feeling the truth of David’s song lyrics.
To read “is like the light of morning,” means the “dawning” or “first light” of insight that comes to the people, through God’s Word. Like the sun “rises,” so too does the faith of the Israelites as more light of truth is shone. All of the “clouds” of nebulosity are gone, so the meaning of the words is vividly clear. The water of emotion forms like dew on the grass after a rain, when the rainbow is seen in the sky. David’s psalms brought forth sweet emotions to the Israelites.
Rather than asking a question, this psalm sang out that the house of David was not claiming divinity or ownership in the songs. The psalms were inspirations freely given by God and lovingly received by David, for the purpose of sharing God’s insight with all God’s people. That statement of separation was then followed by the reminder that all Israelites have a covenant with God – an unbreakable agreement that shall be everlasting. The Psalms are thus ordered by God for David to pass them along, which he willingly did. They were sent, written, and received by the Israelites to ensure the covenant would not be broken.
David’s own salvation was based on his servitude to the Lord, as he was anointed by God, not to be a King of Israel, but to be a prophet through song. David desired to please the Lord completely and lead all of Israel to have the same desire. The psalms were not adding to the covenant [“he will not make increased” demands], as they were simply speaking how God was still with them, as their King, even though David held the title of king.
All reigns are fleeting.
When we read, “The godless are all like thorns that are thrown away,” this is how all other human beings do not have a contract with YHWH. They have “worthlessness” (from “ū·ḇə·lî·ya·‘al”), as “wicked” peoples with the promise of “destruction” in their futures [born as mortals to die]. This comparison is then the future all Israelites will find, should they not maintain the covenant.
When God then said, “they cannot be picked up with the hand,” this is the physical limitations that keep them from being “raised up.” Gentiles could not feel the emotional power of YHWH in David’s psalms because the deep meaning could not be picked up by simply reading Hebrew words, without a Spiritual contract with the One God of Israel. David did not write songs of praise and lament because his hand felt the pulse of the people. He composed when the Holy Spirit would enter him … like an oracle.
As that was written to the Israelites to help them keep from choosing a state of worthlessness over righteousness, that righteousness was the power and strength of Israel, the nation of people, because maintenance of the covenant ensured the Ark of the Covenant would defeat all who threatened Israel with the weapons of war. Should anyone “use an iron bar or the shaft of a spear” against God’s priests, then they would find themselves “entirely consumed in fire on the spot.” That was what David represented to the children of Israel. Therefore, with his death always a certainty, as a mortal, the last words of David should not cause the Israelites to fear their enemies, because YHWH was with them eternally … as long as the covenant was maintained.
As an optional Old Testament reading for the last Sunday of Pentecost, also known as Christ the King Sunday, when one’s own personal ministry for the LORD should already be underway – one should be singing songs of faith, based on the words sent by God to share with others – the message here is to see how these are the last words of Israel’s greatest king. Only God can be an eternal King for His people to follow.
It is important to see that “Christ the King” is God. Jesus of Nazareth was a human, just as was David. Both loved God with all their hearts, minds, and souls. God loved both in return. God anointed David with the talent of prophecy, which he did through song. God anointed Jesus as a greater earthly man than David, because David was the epitome of “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12)
“I wear this crown of thorns Upon my liars chair Full of broken thoughts I cannot repair.” Nine Inch Nails
David would fail God because he exalted himself above the covenant, because he wore a crown on his head. Jesus wore the crown of God on his head, as the Christ Mind, but was exalted by the Father because he died a humble man, so his soul could be released and be placed on the heads of countless men and women – Christians.
This last song of David is then expressing the talent of the Holy Spirit that comes from prophecy. One understands that which is prophesied prior and one speaks prophecy as commanded by God, so others will benefit. For the Israelites to understand the prophecy of the Psalms, God had to be with them. They were then connected to God through the Word that came through David. They then taught the meaning to their children, through the love of those songs. This is the talent of all the writers of the Holy Bible, whether it is songs, stories, history, or prophecy. The words of true prophecy speak for an eternity, because they come from God.
Within the last twenty-five years, there was cable TV talk of a Bible Code [or Torah Code]. A system of letters pulled at expected intervals produce prophetic words, where many known historic events were said to have been prophesied in the Holy Bible [just not realized before those events occurred]. On a cable TV show that addressed that code, it was found present in the words of Herman Melville’s novel, Moby Dick. No one would expect that book to be seen as overtly religious. Believers in the Bible Code said that was marvelous. Skeptics said it was happenchance. I believe God speaks through all of us when we write seriously, such that all writings that impact many have holy intent the writers did not realize was there.
Many popular songwriter-musicians today write lyrics that I doubt they intended a religious message to come forth. When one is ‘in tune’ with the Holy Spirit, then that meaning can be a way for God to communicate to individuals in a deeply spiritual manner, which the moneymakers in the music business reap the benefits of, while having no idea what deeper message is conveyed … they do not care. Still, God speaks to His people through poetry and song, through novels and news articles.
The later history of David, as King of Israel, was he failed God terribly. His failures brought down [they began the collapse of] the nation of Israel. The idea of kings to be like other nations was a failure with Saul, but showed promise with David. David was not seeking to be a king, but when he reached a point in his life when he no longer found pleasure in the fights of the spring – the zest from living for Yahweh – he began believing he was important enough to sin and there was no one who could punish him. He began to worship his self-ego.
The value of this reading is seeing how God is always watching each and every devotee – each and every wife of His – to give them everything they need to remain faithful, while reminding them of all hell breaking loose upon their souls, should they cheat on God. The worthless souls can do as they wish, pleasing self for material gains. They are not married to YHWH.
This means the lesson of Christ the King Sunday is to be like Jesus of Nazareth and humble oneself to God’s Will. Letting God wear the noble robes and golden crown means His humble servants will be promised everlasting life, knowing this momentary physical impediment we find ourselves in [life on earth] will pass … as long as our eyes do not wander and we do not make idols of lesser gods.
We must each become a kingdom for the Lord of all the gods.
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him.
The court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.
As I watched in the night visions,
I saw one like a human being
coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One
and was presented before him.
To him was given dominion
and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
that shall never be destroyed.
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This is an optional Old Testament selection from the Episcopal Lectionary for the Twenty-seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Year B 2018, which is the Last Sunday after Pentecost. In the numbering system that lists each Sunday in an ordinal fashion, this Sunday would be referred to as Proper 29, but it is called “Christ the King Sunday.” If chosen, it will next be read aloud in an Episcopal church by a reader on Sunday November 25, 2018. It is important because Daniel was shown a vision of God as the King, whose throne is within all who serve Him, as kingdoms where the Lord has dominion within those dominions. All who allow God [the Ancient One] to rule are then Sons of Man, through the Christ Mind.
A repeated theme here [including in the unread verse eleven] is “I watched.” As a seer of visions and a dream interpreter, Daniel was given the Mind of Christ by God. As this reading is set up in halves [at the point of omitted verses], each half is begun by the statement “As I watched.” When the second half adds, “in the night” (from “wa·’ă·rū lê·lə·yā” – “behold night”), this aspect of night is symbolic of vision on the earthly plane, where mankind is mortal and born of death. Therefore, the absent of “night” implies heaven, where the light always shines.
The worldly realm is a wheel that turns to the light and then away from the light.
As such, the thrones [plural number] Daniel witnessed are those set for all who have served God on earth, and received the promise of eternal life. As heaven is always lit by the light of God, there is no time there [as humans sense time]. All prophets and priests of YHWH, from all worldly times and eras, have a throne [“The power, dignity, or rank of one who occupies a throne.” – American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.], including Jesus. All thrones are at the right hand of God, because God’s right hand extends to the earthly domain.
When we are told by Daniel, “The Ancient One took his throne,” this segment of words literally translates as, “The Ancient of Days was seated.” This is the seat of the King, to whom all in Heaven submit.
The white robe symbolizes the purity of God, which means none of God’s servants can be less pure. All who are enthroned also wear white robes. The hair of pure wool is a mistranslation that skips over a period mark.
The statement literally says, “his garment of snow” [an implication of “white,” without needing to state the word]. Following a comma mark, the next segment of words say, “white and the hair on his head like wool.” There is no mention of “pure wool,” but the hair is “white” and like that of “wool.” The reference to “white” is again stating “purity,” while “wool” is then an allusion to God being the owner of a flock of sheep. One can assume those sheep also have white hair. Following that is the word “pure,” which is referencing “his throne,” a seat of “flame.” The “flame” is then “pure,” which means there is no ash or particles transformed from matter changing states. In the production of God’s flames, which encircle His throne like a “fiery wheel,” all fire is Spiritual light shining brightly.
We look for evidence of a human King Arthur, but not a human Ancient of Days?
This also becomes an indication of the other thrones that have been set in place, where all thrones are like “burning wheels.” Nothing of this fire is less than pure flames of the light of truth. There is no smoke of lies or deception or past histories of worldly failure. The “wheels” are like the angels Jacob saw going up and down the ladder to heaven. Those are who Daniel said were “A stream of fire issued and flowed out from his presence.”
This number is then said to be “A thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him.” These are the countless numbers of souls who have been sent to the earth by God to guide other souls back to the light of God. All have been listed in the Holy “archives” that were written from the time Adam was sent into the world as the first priest to God. This is the “book” known of as the Akashic Record, of which Daniel was shown.
Following two omitted verses, Daniel then watched as those pure souls entered the realm of darkness, called “night.” This is where the Holy Spirit was shown to descend, “with clouds of heaven.” This means the heavenly is unseen, thus obscured from human eyes, as if a cloud of mist surrounded them. Those angels and spirits will each transform a human being into a “son” of God, born into a “man” [or woman, as a Son of God]. This means all who have this Holy Spirit descend upon them will be like Jesus Christ, even if it happened prior to Jesus of Nazareth being born on earth, of a woman. Jesus Christ is timeless – who was in the beginning, in now, and will always be.
When Daniel said, “And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him,” the literal states: “like a son of man came; coming even to Ancient of Days – he came and before him they brought him near.” This [because it is a vision “in the night” of the worldly plane] was not anyone being brought before God in Heaven. This was the model of the Christ [Jesus Christ] that is the Son of Man, the Son of the Father [the Ancient of Days], who appears “before him” all who serve the Father as a wife, then becoming the Son. They bring Jesus Christ [“him”] “near,” as one with their souls.
Another “fiery wheel” has turned.
When we then read Daniel saying, “To him was given dominion and glory and kingship,” the Hebrew word “ū·mal·ḵū” means “kingdom.” This is how Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not from here.” A “kingdom” means the Ancient of Days [God] is the King of such a “kingdom.” By a soul within flesh and bones allowing God to have “dominion,” through the presence of the Holy Spirit joining with one’s soul [the purification process], then the “glory” comes, which is the “honor” of God’s Holy presence.
Rise My Son and serve well.
When Daniel saw “that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him,” this is from having seen the light of eternity in God’s holy realm. To write, “His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away,” this is the promise given to all who sacrifice of self-ego to become one with the Lord. By giving God “dominion” over one’s soul [and thus flesh], there is an “everlasting” covenant that redeems a soul, preventing it from being on the wheel of death [reincarnation].
The part of the verse that concludes: “and his [kingdom] is one that shall never be destroyed,” this is the power of God to keep one pure. This purity is what joins the presence of God in Heaven with the human who has submitted himself or herself to God’s dominion. That flesh will never be turned away from God by the forces of evil. The “kingdom” is the soul, so that after the flesh has released the soul it will find a throne set at the right hand of God, as one more in the countless number who have “stood attending him.”
As an optional reading selection from the Old Testament for the last Sunday after Pentecost, also known as Christ the King Sunday, when one’s own personal ministry for the LORD should be well underway – one has felt the cloud upon one’s soul and submitted one’s body, mind, and soul to the dominion of God – the message here is to receive the glory of serving God, so one can become a shining example of how “all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.”
The world is headed in the wrong direction. It is breaking apart because of individual human beings dividing the world into an “us or them” place of conflict. No world leader can unify the peoples as one nation, where all are speaking the same language of faith. No man who proclaims self so loudly can ever do anything but lead that self and many other selves to ruin and damnation. This is evident by the number of world leaders who make no proclamations of religious beliefs, with those who do giving little evidence that supports those claims.
All hail the kings of the earth, until new kings replace them.
Christ the King Sunday is the last Sunday of a burning wheel that spins the Holy Spirit from Heaven to earth, as it renews when the wheel’s fiery burn returns to God’s throne. Advent should be a time when seasoned Apostles have their first rewards, from passing on the Holy Spirit into those ripe for self-sacrifice to God.
Alas, fewer and fewer are preaching to the throngs of people that are on their knees praying to a national leader for salvation. It is so much easier preaching to the choir. It is even easier still when the blind preach to the blind, breaking into songs of praise that no one understands, but the emotions feel better with song.
We are leaving the after Pentecost [Ordinary Time] season. Everyone is in the Black Friday spend-spend-spend mood. Christmas trees are going up and there is the jingle of cash in the air.
It seems to be the time to sell some stuff and give baby Jesus credit for all the giving we do [more and more to ourselves]. Not many people are accepting God’s gift sent to us – the opportunity to be His Son reborn. If we did, then we could give the gift that keeps on giving – the Holy Spirit – without needing a credit card. We strike God off our Christmas list because we think He is Santa Claus and nobody ever gives ole Santa more than a glass of milk and some cookies.
Again, no souls for me to collect this year.
It is easier to waste some food, than to make a commitment that would give one’s body, mind and soul to God, letting Him have dominion over a sinner.
Jesus said, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
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This is the Gospel reading selection from the Episcopal Lectionary for the first Sunday of Advent, Year C, 2018. It will next be read aloud in an Episcopal church by a priest on Sunday, December 2, 2018. It is important because it takes up the perception of Jesus telling of the end times, of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, and adds the perception of Jesus coming in the clouds [a Revelation theme]. In reality, Jesus foretold of the Holy Spirit descending upon Apostles and the beginning of true Christianity.
Beginning this reading at verse twenty-five creates a vacuum of context, which is important for grasping the meaning. Verse twenty-four consists of four segments of words, all of which at then relative to the “signs” listed in verse twenty-five. Verse twenty-four states:
“and they will fall by edge of sword ,
and will be led captive into the nations ;
all while Jerusalem will be trodden down by gentiles ,
until when are completed (namely will be) opportunity gentiles .”
That repeated use of “gentiles” (from “ethnōn”) may lead one to see Romans being the ones using swords and taking people from Jerusalem captive, so the Temple will lay in utter ruins. However, the “gentiles” that Jesus was seeing in the future coming were Muslims.
Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock
When that is understood, one is able to see through the apparent suggestion that celestial events (such as eclipses and full moons, along with shooting stars and comets) will be the portends of when Jesus is referring. To say, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars” is so celestially generic, no one will know which solar eclipse, which full moon, or what comet will actually be “the signs” to look for. This is where knowing how to read according to segments is important, and how symbolism has to be applied, rather than literal meaning.
Verse twenty-five breaks down into five segments, with each needing to be analyzed according to a Godly “syntax,” not Greek syntax or English paraphrase, based on Greek syntax. For those who read the interpretation of John’s Revelation, read during the Last Sunday after Pentecost, where a short reading had seventeen uses of the Greek word “kai,” the same application of “kai” (ordinarily meaning “and”) as a symbol marking important information.
If you look back at the translation of segments I presented for verse twenty-four, you will see how two “lines” began by the word “and.” The word “and” is nothing more than a conjunction and is meaningless. When redundantly used, especially following comma marks, it becomes a distraction to “normal” language. It becomes like someone often saying, “uh,” in spoken language. It becomes unnecessary and a sign of illiteracy or poor language skills. Changing “kai” to a written word that is to be used as a symbol [like Nostradamus used ampersands], such that the symbol marks a pronounced statement to follow, shows Jesus spoke and Luke wrote in a holy language [speaking in the tongue of God].
Seeing that, a segmented verse twenty-five literally states:
“Kai there will be signs in sun , kai moon , kai stars ; kai upon the earth distress [or anxiety] of gentiles with perplexity [or doubt] , roaring [or rumor; report] of sea kai rolling surge [or swelling agitation; tempest] ,
In the letters and poetry of Nostradamus, he wrote of the sun and moon and stars often. He wrote French words that relate to “sun” in English over forty times. He had several words that relate to “moon” over thirty times. He only wrote “star” (“astre”) twice, but he made references to multiple astrological constellations of stars. As the theme of Nostradamus’ book – Les Propheties – is of a coming holy war, the symbolism of the sun was Christianity and the symbolism of the moon was Islam.
One needs to see how Jesus was also referring to the light of the sun as the religion bearing the name of Jesus Christ; and one needs to see the phases of the moon (especially the crescent moon) as reflected light that is found in darkness, which becomes the false religion of Mohammed.
In the translation that is read aloud in church, verse twenty-five says, “distress among nations.” The word translated as “nations” is the same word repeated twice in verse twenty-four, which translates as “gentiles” – “ethnōn.”
Even the New International Version translates these two verses with “Gentiles” repeated in verse twenty-four, but magically changed into “nations” in verse twenty-five. This lack of continuity keeps one from grasping “gentiles” as being Muslims. Still, that would be who would eventually – as is the state now – of Jerusalem having the Dome of the Rock (a Muslim mosque) on the very site that the Second Temple had once stood.
When one sees how the “signs in Christianity” [“sun”] have evolved of nearly two thousand years, that spread of light has shown signs of roaring brightly, and spreading around the globe, and over the past century dimming. Islam began after Christianity, thus the use of “moon” is listed subsequent to “sun.” It also has reflected the same growth and spread as Christianity. As such, both have had histories that mirror the stars of deep space, which ignite as stellar nebulae, glow at various brightness categories and magnitudes, then fade as red giants, before exploding as supernovas and then pulsing as neutron stars, white dwarfs or black holes.
Since all of that knowledge was unknown to ordinary human beings in Jesus’ time, the use of “stars” can also be an indication of when man would invent telescopes, then visually explore the phenomena of outer space, before learning to propel rockets beyond earth’s gravitational pull. Such a “sign” of the stars could be the entrance of the Age of Aquarius – a constellation of stars on the Vernal Equinox. That would indicate our present times as being when the “earth” would be “distressed,” due to gentiles without religion [the “doubts” of Communism] would become a most viable threat to both Christianity and Islam.
The aspect of water is then found in the word “sea” (from “thalassēs”), which becomes more than Jesus nebulously referring to either the “Sea” of Galilee or the Mediterranean “Sea.” In the theme presented by Nostradamus, a future invasion of Europe, across the Mediterranean from North Africa, is painted. That makes “rolling surge” become a tsunami of migrants that will spend decades filling Italy, France, Greece and other European “nations” [increasingly “gentile” nations], to become like the Trojan Horse within the walls of Europe, once a military invasion begins.
More than warships on a “sea,” the hatred of emotion [the water of a “sea”] will be the motivation for those attacks. The illegal immigration will be placing “perplexity” within a Christian safe-haven, for the purpose of creating “doubt” about how professed Christians should live up to the teachings of Jesus. The “gentiles” pouring in will have no religious heart [Communists] or hearts raging with hatred for Christians [Muslims].
When Jesus then said, “People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken,” that foretells of the suddenness of warfare coming upon people who will have been so accepting of foreigners – at the expense of arguing against their own kind, who see the dangers of mixing religious races. Europe will not have the hatred to go to war and will quickly lower their arms and attempt to negotiate peace. Unfortunately, the “powers” of satellite communications will have been disrupted and the abilities to control one’s skies will be “shaken.”
In verse twenty-seven, Jesus said: “and [“kai”] then they will experience the Son one of man coming in a cloud.” The capitalization of “Huion” shows the importance that “Son” bears. This could be read [as it commonly is in the Gospels] as the “Son” of God [Jesus], who was born of a woman [“of man – not capitalized]. However, “huion” can also translate as a significant “descendant” that is “one of man,” which would then be “experienced” by It coming in a cloud – such as a vapor trail of an I.C.B.M. comes.
Because this is so far into the future, well after Jesus Christ returned to the “earth,” in the form of the Holy Spirit entering his disciples-transformed into-Apostles – all reborn as Jesus Christ, beginning Christianity – Jesus could not be talking to his disciples here about his return. The “Son of Man” is all human beings who are reborn as the “Son,” while in human form [“of man”]. Since that will have long occurred, for nearly two thousand years, then one needs to see how verse twenty-six ending by stating “the powers of the skies will be shaken,” such that shaking will be the alarm that that power is what is coming in the cloud.
When Jesus ended verse twenty-seven by stating, “with power and great glory,” the literal Greek splits that in two parts, separated by the word “kai.” It actually reads, “with power” (from the “dynameōs,” similar as “of powers” in verse 26) “renown often.” The last two words, “doxēs pollēs” are commonly translated as “glory great,” when applied to the “Son” of God; but when seen as a “power” of man, it is “renown” that is “often” proclaimed, and produced “many” times over.
In Nostradamus’ book, he wrote the word “great” [in several forms] over 450 times, with each time an indication of a “great” nation, as defined by nuclear weapons as its fame [“renown”].
Verse twenty-eight is then very important to understand, as Jesus told his disciples [including those souls seeking to be reborn of his Spirit today]:
“beginning then of these things to come to pass , raise yourself up kai lift up the rulers of you , because draws near the redemption of you .”
So many Christians see this as Jesus coming in a cloud and raising up the believers in a “Rapture,” where they will be spared all the pain and suffering the rest of the earth will experience. That perspective is a trap set by the language of God, as to who belief will be placed. False shepherds will preach this coming again in glory, when Jesus Christ has already come again, many times over, in the Saints that set the world on fire for Christianity. However, this twenty-eighth verse says for those who will be living in the Twenty-first century to see the signs of evil about that will be the beginning of the End Times of earth.
Jesus said NOW is the time to “raise yourself up,” in the Spiritual sense. To be “raised up” does not mean to stand up and be counted as a Christian that believes Jesus Christ is sitting on a heavenly throne, twiddling his thumbs as the world grows most heinous. By saying, “raise yourself up,” Jesus said to sacrifice your self-ego and submit fully to God. That will bring about the Christ Mind and the Jesus ego, which will elevate one to Saintly status.
The subset segment that begins with “kai” then says, “lift up the rulers of you,” where “kephalas” is misleading as “heads.” That translation makes it seems that individuals are asked to “lift up your heads,” which would be a sign of self-importance and arrogant pride, as if being raised by Jesus will be payment received for believing in Jesus as the Messiah. Unfortunately, belief falls well short of faith and one needs much better rulers [or “heads” of intellectual authority] than pastor Bob or minister Lemuel, who forgive all the shortcomings of their flocks … as long as those tithes keep going into the church bank account. One needs Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ruling one’s being … most especially when the nukes start falling.
In the last segment, the word “draws near” (from “engizei”) should not be read as if God is coming close to grant one redemption. Instead, the word should be read as “bringing near to you,” where it is the sole responsibility of each soul in a mortal body of flesh to do what God wants one to do, to “bring close the redemption” of one’s soul. That happens by “bringing near to one” God, through one’s love of God, as shown through total commitment to Him [marriage]. From that union, one then “brings near” the Holy Spirit and the Christ Mind. THAT is what causes “the redemption of you.”
The word “redemption” (from “apolytrōsis”) actually means, “release effected by payment of ransom.” One’s soul is held captive on the material plane by sins. The Holy Spirit joining with one’s soul cleanses the soul of all sins past, as true baptism. One cannot enter the heavenly kingdom of God without that cleansing done first. This is why Jesus said, prior to bringing redemption closer, “raise yourself up kai lift up the rulers of you.” One has to pay the price for having sinned, before one can be redeemed.
Realizing that, one can then grasp the parable Jesus told, where “parable” (from “parabolēn”) means a “comparison” to this time when “redemption draws near.” Jesus said, “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near.” Spring is a time when certain expectations of trees occur, as leaves represent new life coming from the death of winter. New leaves then flower and begin the growth of fruit, which are ready to be picked in summer time. This same natural occurrence in trees is expected in those who say they are disciples of Jesus, as that sprouting of leaves brings the expectation of bearing fruit.
Jesus then told his disciples, “So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.” He said that to the men who had been sent into ministry at the great commission [a premonition of the coming of Christianity], as they were instructed to tell those who rejected their presence and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, “The kingdom of God has come near.” Anyone who has rejected the idea of self-sacrifice for God and Christ will know the signs of the End Times is their “last call” to fall in love with God, repent their sins, offer their soul completely to God, and submit fully to His Will … or their soul will be lost forever.
Jesus then drove home the truth of that statement, by adding: “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” It is then easy to be confused by the words “this generation” and think that means the generation in which the disciples were born. That would limit the future to within fifty years of future time; but the Greek word “genea” can be intended as more generic, as “race, family, or kind.” Therefore, Jesus went to the End Times of the Age of Pisces, which was when the death of a “family” in the name of Jesus Christ would succumb to the Age of Aquarius [Technology and Intelligence].
Christianity will survive until mankind will destroy the earth. While that destruction will forever change the atmosphere [heaven] and the surface of the world [earth], the words of Jesus will be just as valid then, as they were when he spoke them.
Because those words of Jesus will remain valid, Jesus then warned those in the future, “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap.” His disciples could likewise follow that advice, as all mortal lives end with death, when the soul is released. A soul then, however, would recycle back to another body of flesh [reincarnation], to begin again the search for redemption; but when the world is on the verge of no longer being able to support physical life, then one will have fallen into the “trap” of thinking, “I still have time to serve self and sin, rather than commit fully to God too soon.”
When Jesus then added, “For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth,” he said that there will no longer be a safe place where the sun will shine. A cloud will encircle the face of the earth. With no sunlight allowed to penetrate the clouds, all surface life will die. Christianity will likewise die at that time. As such, it is important to read the Greek word “prosōpon,” which translates as “face or surface,” as being the “countenance” of the world. Without the light of truth, none left alive will be able to wear the “face” of God, which shines brightly through all who would be reborn in the name of Jesus Christ. The End Times will come for all mortal beings, which means there can be no redemption possible at that time.
It is also important to grasp how Jesus saying “surface of the earth” does not exclude life from existing under the face, within the earth. This is where one should realize that the angels of Lucifer were cast within the earth and told to go where they could never “face” God again. All the talk of “ancient aliens” is truth, in the sense that Satan’s angels have long lived within the core of planet earth, still living there today. They welcome the destruction of the earth and the final fall of mankind. It is not coincidence that propaganda has begun to acclimate human beings to their possibly being supreme creatures, worthy of praise and glory, as their whispers have led to man’s ability to build the weapons of its demise.
Jesus then ended this reading selection by telling all who would serve him as disciples, “Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” It is important to see how Jesus repeated prior elements in the subset segment of words: “kai to stand before the Son the one of man.”
The Greek word “stathēnai” (rooted in “histémi”) translates as “to stand,” but should be read as “to make a stand,” so one resists evil with “steadfast readiness.” This “stance” can only come with the presence of the Holy Spirit giving one strength, not possible by self-will alone. Most importantly, this transformation must take place “before” (from “emprosthen”) the “Descendant of man” falls as a nuclear holocaust, as well as “before” one can be seen by God as His “Son” in a body “of man.”
As the Gospel reading selection for the first Sunday of Advent, where a new church cycle has begun, it is important to grasp how the last Sunday after Pentecost ended a cycle with lessons that speak of the End Time. While this can seem as a continuation of that theme, it is not. The End Times were the focus of the end of a cycle. Now they are the focus of the beginning of a cycle. The start of a new cycle is thus begun with the importance of what the new cycle is for. It is for not reaching a personal End Time having not prepared for personal redemption.
Anyone with a normal brain can see the hatred that is spewing from televisions and Internet “news” articles every day. The world is just like that big R.E.M. hit song, “Losing My Religion.” Everyone has to do what it takes to buy all the trinkets and gadgetry that are the worldly addictions that pull souls towards sin. The problem with sins if they are easy to enjoy and difficult to see the harm, which is the whispers of Satan saying, “What’s the harm of just a little nibble? You know God doesn’t want you to taste this because it will make you His equal … a god.”
Most Christians want to do good. Many are closer to becoming Jesus Christ reborn than they think. It becomes the point between sincere belief and complete faith that caused Peter to step out on water and sink like a rock. Jesus did not coddle Peter, saying, “There, there Simon. I guess that’s why I call you “the Rock.” Ha ha ha. Here, big guy, let me raise you up out of the water.” Nope. Jesus said, “Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Being near to the kingdom of heaven is headed in the right direction. However, it is not there yet. That is why the commissioned disciples went to the people – to teach them to welcome the Holy Spirit, by seeing the Holy Spirit in men that had been given the power of Jesus Christ. Those who did not want to sacrifice themselves to serve God rejected those who came in the name of Jesus Christ. Therefore, as close as they were to God’s kingdom [as Jews who believed in God] they were given back the dust of the earth they so dearly loved, as the disciple kicked the dust off their sandals, saying “The kingdom of God has come near.”
The End Times are like the quote from the Ancient Mariner: “Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.” There are plenty of emotions that one feels in this world of pleasures and pains, but the water of the Holy Spirit is the only drop that will cure one’s thirst for sin. It is the blood of Christ that saves.
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
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In this chapter of Jeremiah, he has been banished from the temple and sent into the court of the prison. Things were not going well for the split nation of Israel. When we read here of “the promise made” by Yahweh, the Hebrew word translated as “I have promised” is “dib·bar·tî.” The root Hebrew word, “dabar,” more properly means, “to speak.” Therefore, rather than thinking God had promised to give something good to Israel and Judah, which was like a father promising a reward for his children, the reality is God had spoken what would happen in the future [and God knows all].
When the one nation of Israel began its demise under David, and more so under Solomon, when it split into two nations under two kings, one has to recall what God said through Samuel, after the elders of the tribes demanded Samuel anoint them a king to be like other nations. After Samuel said how much sacrifice the people would have to give to a human king, God ended by saying, “When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
The promise spoken is, “You make your bed. Now you have to lie in it.” The ‘reward’ given was their wish to be like other nations had been granted. They had turned away from the One God Yahweh, thus they had no King protecting either nation’s people. Jeremiah was told Israel and Judah had reached the point of being overrun by other nations and would then have to live under foreign domination, or be scattered to the four corners of the earth.
When God then told Jeremiah, “In those [future] days and at that [future] time I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David,” this was initially prophesying Jesus. It is important to know that Hebrew does not have capital letters, but names (such as the Lord, Israel, Judah, and David) receive that honor as proper names, not simple words.
In this statement by God, the translation has capitalized the Hebrew word “tsemach,” showing it as “Branch.” The capitalization is not necessary, as Jesus was a direct descendant of David. Isaiah said, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse,” (Isaiah 11:1a) which implies the tree of Israel (born of Saul and David) was dead [like the fig tree that bears no fruit]. Jesus began a new tree.
This means the “righteous branch” would be the fruit produced from the Jesus tree, as Isaiah also prophesied: “from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” (Isaiah 11:1b) The word “tsemach” means, “sprout, growth [especially of a vine], or a bud of a plant.” Jesus would then be new “growth” from the same root of God’s holiness. The fruit of Jesus would be Christianity, which is the Christ Spirit reincarnated in Apostles, all reborn as Jesus Christ.
This is how a “branch” has greater significance as a continuous vine that spreads as it grows. With its roots in Holy soil [God], from which the fruit [Apostles] receives its nutrients, it is the tree or the vine [Jesus] that always grows from the root and always produces new fruit. Israel had failed to be one nation serving that role. Therefore, Jesus would be sent to “execute justice and righteousness in the land.”
The “vine” metaphor, as the “growth, shoot, or branch,” keeps the same root, which is God. The tree metaphor has family branches, but real trees produce fruit that falls from the branches and makes its own roots. Israel and Judah were like a forked tree that died; but Jesus was like a new vine.
When God then told Jeremiah, “In those [future] days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety,” this certainly was the case when Jesus was born. Judah was then called Judea, as a province of Rome. The Persians secured that region for the returning exiled Jews, who were the remnant of Judah. The Persians rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem for them to safely practice their religion. Jesus came after a beautification process had begun on the Temple; and his ministry was during times when there were no Roman hostilities directed at the Jews.
Still, it should be realized that this prophecy has not ceased to be applicable to today’s world. The name “Judah” [Hebrew “yə·hū·ḏāh”] means, “Let Him (God) Be Praised.” Christianity would become the salvation of what Israel had squandered, because it requires all disciples to fall deeply in love with Yahweh, so He will marry His wives and become one with them [individually]. At that point in the future, when Apostles were made, all would praise God. Because Jerusalem’s name means, “Possession Of Peace” or “Foundation Of Peace,” each Apostles becomes representative of Jerusalem, so each will “live in safety,” protected by the Lord.
As the key component of Jerusalem was the Temple, each Apostle is that sanctuary of God, with the heart of each Apostle where the Ark of the Covenant is kept, with Jesus Christ as the High Priest within. Therefore, Jeremiah spoke of the fruit of the vine of Christianity as being Judah and Jerusalem.
This then led to God saying, “And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.” In this name prophesied by Jeremiah, the Hebrew written is “Yahweh [YHWH] ṣiḏ·qê·nū,” where the root word “tsedeq” means “righteousness.” The modification to that then says, “Yahweh is our righteousness,” in the plural number. Certainly, Jesus professed his righteousness was not self-made, but from the Father, meaning he was righteous because he was the Messiah of God. The plural number then means many will share in one name, where all will be like Jesus, proclaiming, “Yahweh has made us righteous through the Christ.”
As the Old Testament reading selection for the first Sunday of Advent, Year C, we are told of the times when Christians will be the extensions of Jesus of Nazareth, all born as the Christ. The association of this reading with Jesus telling his disciples of future times, when the Temple of Jerusalem will be destroyed, is now seen as the future times shown to Jeremiah, when Jerusalem would live in safety. The paradox is that Jerusalem will be both – destroyed and secured by God’s Peace.
Christians today are that paradox, as some are reflections of a worldly Jerusalem and others are reflections of a spiritual Jerusalem. One professes belief that birthright is all one needs to be blessed. During Jesus’ time on earth, the Jews that saw the worth of a fabulous and splendid building of stone and timber, they would be destroyed just like it. Just like going back to Jerusalem and rebuilding a dead tree on the stump that once was a mighty living tree of God, that dead reconstruction was like the fruitless fig tree Jesus cursed and made to wither and die. Christians that act like Pharisees and resist the teachings of Jesus today are just like a worldly Jerusalem that will face destruction.
Those Christians who are reflections of a spiritual Jerusalem, where the Law has been written on their hearts by the presence of God, through marriage and being cleansed by His Holy Spirit, they are the salvation of Judah. They praise God for taking their eyes off the worldly, through self-sacrifice, which allows them to be reborn as Jesus Christ – the fruit of the living vine.
This reading supports an End Times theme, meaning one has to see the folly of ignoring the urgency of one’s call to choose between destruction and salvation. Those who will survive must take on the name that identifies with God – Yahweh is my righteousness. Righteousness is impossible without God. Self-righteousness is a death sentence – destruction by mortality. One’s personal End Time is faced once again with divine judgment placed on an immortal soul: reincarnation or eternal damnation?
The promise to Israel and Judah are the promises made by God with all who swear an oath to a Covenant, only to find righteousness without the presence of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is too much hard work. If a sworn Christian today is demanding to have a king to be like other nations: by having a politician to worship; by having a political party to align with; by thinking one has a birthright to privilege that allows one to sin and write it off as safety in numbers; or if one simply demands a “right to be me, because I am somebody!” then guess what. Your wish has been granted by God.
Your ‘reward’ is you will become a slave to your addictions; and your addictions will destroy you. The clock is ticking towards a personal End Time, with God only saving those who wear His face.
After his baptism, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”
Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’
and
‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
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Christianity has no idea what the ‘Wilderness experience’ is about. It is not about forty days trying to use will-power to give up some worldly temptation: chocolate, swearing, sex, or anything like that.
The ‘Wilderness experience’ is about self-sacrifice, completely. It is about the death of the ego-driven will, to be reborn of the Mind of Christ. That self-sacrifice brings upon one the Will of God, which cannot be swayed by the illusions of the material world.
We read, “After his baptism, Jesus [was] full of the Holy Spirit.”
That baptism was the cleansing of his soul. The Holy Spirit is what led Jesus into the wilderness. That was not a place, such as the Judean Wilderness, but a state of being. Jesus was led to not be Jesus the man, born of a woman; but to become Jesus Christ, born of Divine Will.
“Forty days” is not a timeframe, such as between Ash Wednesday, March 6, 2019, at 9:00 AM and Palm Sunday, April 14, 2019, at 9:00 AM. Forty days is forty God days, which is forty thousand years, give or take a century. That means “forty days” is an eternity, which encompasses whatever remaining linear years of artificial “time” one has left in the flesh that is draped over one’s soul. “Forty days” is no different than the forty years Moses led the Israelites around in the Sinai wilderness. It was not about place of being; it is all about state of being.
Do you think Noah could jump off the ark and grab whatever delicacies the world had to offer, if he wanted, when it was pouring rain and flood was everywhere? His ‘wilderness’ was all about being willfully within the vessel God told him to build. Jesus was within his ark, which was the vessel of the Holy Spirit being one with his body. Jesus was afloat in the world, without contact to it.
A human being cannot survive forty linear days of ‘time’ without food.
When we read, “[Jesus] ate nothing at all during those days,” it means Jesus did not need worldly sustenance of any kind. The soul of Jesus was nourished completely by spiritual food. Spiritual food, like manna from heaven, is supplied by God, through His angels.
When we read, “and when [the linear lapse of time was] over, he was famished,” the Greek word “epeinasen” (translated as “he was famished”) is better read as “he was hungry.” By Jesus being “hungry,” he was ripe for being tested. Being asked to abstain from something when one is already satiated is no test. One must be hungry first and then told to abstain, if a true test is to be made.
The test of hunger means: One passes the “hunger” test by refusing to be tempted with earthly delights, because the Mind of Christ overrides a brain made of flesh. One fails the “hunger” test by accepting the temptations of Satan, because the gray matter inside a skull lusts for what it has been missing.
“Forty days without chocolate! Maybe forty minutes … maybe.” These are the thoughts of brains that have become addicted to substances. Brains cannot will abstinence when the body is addicted.
Jesus passed the tests because the Father’s Will had replaced that of the body of Jesus.
When Satan tempted Jesus to turn a stone into a loaf of bread, Christians who fail the tests of Lent (everyone?) fail to see the Greek word for “stone” (“lithō”) represents the “tablets of stone” (“luach ebenim”), or the Law of Moses, given by Yahweh to all His priests to adhere to totally. Turning the Law into something soft and deliciously satisfying, where pieces can be easily torn away from the rest and savored as one chews that which is not meant to please the flesh is what Satan recommended to Jesus.
Can you see how often Christians fail to observe the Law? Can you see how that “stone” has been transformed into whatever some false priest, misguided bishop, or antipope (retired or dual in rule) has tempted believers to accept?
“If the stone of the Law and the barrenness of one’s self-imposed ‘wilderness’ is too hard to swallow, try this substitute: (fill in the blank of addiction). It is oh so sweet and tasty. Rather than sacrificing, it is self-serving! Here, take a bite.”
When Jesus was shown by Satan “all the kingdoms of the world,” he was trying to bring his brain back to consciousness. He was trying to awaken Jesus from self-sacrifice, in a Spiritual place that required nothing worldly, and make him see the structures of worldly existence. Instead of the Mind of Christ transforming the body of Jesus into the Kingdom of God, Satan wanted Jesus to see the powers of nations and earthly kingdoms.
The temptation of Satan was to say, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”
Have Christians ever heard a leader of their ‘church’ say, “Let us be political and side with this philosophy of man”? Has anyone ever judged others, based on their opposition to their ‘authority’ to speak for Jesus? Have priests marched in protests wearing the glory of holy robes? Are they not serving Satan’s will, rather than standing pat in Christ? By whose ‘authority’ do they speak, if not for oneself? Satan’s?
How often does Bishop Michael Curry tell Episcopalians, “’Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him”?
I hear him preaching the Gospel of John, Paul, George and Ringo, “All you need is love, love love. Love is all you need.” I see “worship the Lord” as being in that “wilderness experience’, where only Satan projects unattainable commitments as the authority given by the master trickster.
Is not love a will of self? Love of God and serving only Him means everyone else is out of eyesight and out of one’s brainwaves of thought. God’s love led Jesus to reject Satan … to love Satan by telling him, “Get out of my face!”
Finally, Satan tried to make Jesus see the future, when he would be placed high upon the pinnacle of religious buildings … not those sacrificing animals to Yahweh, but cathedrals of Christianity. Satan said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.”
Have not many a Christian cleric thrown Jesus down from atop brick and mortar shrines of worldly worship, saying to the people, “Jesus Christ lives among us of faith, so we welcome anyone, regardless of their sins. We have thrown Jesus down so we now speak for Jesus. Because we believe Jesus was the Son of God, our words will be held up by the hands of angels”?
How often are church leaders saying to the world, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test”?
Not often, because the Christian churches of 2019 are all testing God by failing to be Jesus Christ reborn by the Holy Spirit.
A fancy building cannot be Jesus Christ. The fancier the building the more Satan has had Christians throw Jesus from the pinnacle of their faith.
The ‘wilderness’ is the relationship an individual develops with God. When God speaks to that individual, saying, “This is my Son. In him I am well pleased,” then (regardless of one’s human sex organ) one has been reborn as Jesus Christ (a most Holy male, of the masculine Father). One’s soul has been washed clean of all past sins – FOREVER.
One has then begun an eternity as a servant-slave-subject of God’s Will, with one’s self-ego purged … left behind.
One might remember that the Apostle Philip was also found in the wilderness, when he came upon an Ethiopian eunuch. John the Baptist had his wilderness experience also, prior to his ministry of washing Jews with river water and prior to his presence at the baptism of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. The wilderness experience is a must for salvation. It is what separates wantabe Christians from true Christians – those reborn as Jesus Christ.
A true church is a collection of those who have entered the wilderness and faced temptation; all have passed. Soon after Jesus died, resurrected and ascended, Jesus Christ returned in each of his disciples (sans Judas Iscariot) and the Christian Church was born of those committed souls, who would gather “in the name of Jesus Christ” together.
That selective gathering is no longer as it was. Today, human beings, with their egos still attached and their lusts still leading their hearts, gather in buildings, calling those structures holy. Those human beings are the ones who pretend to sacrifice for forty days, with only one sin being caged up temporarily.
“Don’t worry lust, you will be back out soon.”
Today, more people pay respect to Fat Tuesday than Ash Wednesday. The same trend goes for All-Hallowed’s Eve, rather than All-Hallowed’s Day. Christians love being pagan, more than they love being religious.
That, my friends, is the meaning of us reading in Luke:
“When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.”
These are most opportune times for Satan to tempt the believers of God.
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
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FOREWORD: This is a rather long explanation of a well-known Biblical story. It is a rather simple (seeming to be) story of a repeated lesson that warns the wealthy believers in Yahweh, while giving solace to the poor of faith. It is so seemingly simple to grasp that it is easy to ‘ho-hum’ it and just yawn. I was led to look at it deeper than I had before and was surprised to see what is sweetly hidden in the verbiage that makes this lesson told by Jesus take on a fresh appearance.
Recently, my writing on a book had me researching the mythology behind the names of the planets. What I learned about Pluto was very interesting, which is most befitting the discovery of that orb (since downgraded to a dwarf planet or planetoid). Pluto was discovered in 1930, with the element plutonium discovered in 1934, and produced and isolated in 1940, named as an honor to the discovery of a new planet. Pluto became the symbolic dawning of the nuclear age. The same Greek word from which “Pluto” comes is the same word from which comes “rich man” in this reading (and others of similar focus).
One important thing I found in this reading is relative to each of the characters being named, when it appears only Lazarus stands out. The name Lazarus is representative of a class of people, making the “rich man” also be representative of the same. Therefore, we are all today either one or the other. As such, I write this in-depth explanation for all who might want to know this. Still, it is less for the Christians that sit in pews and more for the ones who will stand before the pewples. My hope is they will give this lesson the proper attention it deserves.
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The Greek text of this lesson taught by Jesus, recounted by Mother Mary to the doctor Luke, begins with a statement about each of two men. Both are identified as “certain,” from the Greek word “tis.” This identifies each man as known individually, while identifying two who were associated with many like them. Their “certainty” is what bonds two of opposite status levels together in this story. As a lesson taught by Jesus to the Jews of Galilee, that use of “certain” then spoke of specific members from their religious group. Therefore, the two men identified in verses nineteen and twenty were not people of uncertain religious beliefs, as each adhered to the principles of Mosaic Law. Being Jewish was “certain” of both men.
The second man is identified as “certain,” with this further specified as “named Lazarus,” from the Greek words “onomati Lazaros.” The mistake that is made in reading those two words that way comes from thinking one man was named Lazarus, which eliminates other symbolic meaning. That not only ignores the meaning behind the name, but it disconnects all later students from relating to the characters of this story. Reading that there was a “man named Lazarus” into a teaching by Jesus leads all who read these words or hear them read aloud in a church and think, “Well this is about somebody long ago, “named Lazarus,” who I have no affinity with.” The mistake comes from not seeing oneself as “Lazarus.”
The truth that Jesus spoke to a Jewish audience bears deep meaning to all Christians also. Christians are supposed to be founded in the principles of Mosaic Law … at least those commonly termed “the Ten Commandments” … but are truly supposed to be seeking to be reborn as Jesus Christ. When one reading this lesson realizes that Jesus spoke in metaphor about Christians today (those who are supposed to be “in the name of Jesus Christ”), then understanding the meaning behind that name “Lazarus” is most important.
The name “Lazarus” (Greek spelling “Lazaros”) is “the Hellenized version of the Hebrew name אלעזר, Eleazar.” (Abarim Publications) The name is then like “El-azarus.” The Hebrew meaning of the root name is then “God Has Helped” or “Helped Of God.” (same Abarim Publications source)
The capitalization should then not be read as simply stating a proper name (a syntactical rule of the English language that misleads, taking one away from the importance of the meaning behind a name), but a significantly important word of meaning, which identifies more than one human being. “Lazarus” is intended to be one character of parable that reflects upon a whole class of faithful that are like “Lazarus.”
This means the capitalized word “Lazaros” is making two statements. First, it is stating the importance of the One God (El) in all who believe in Yahweh. Second, it is stating the importance of all who are “named” as “certain,” being relative to a specific religious set of beliefs commanded by El. That name is then a statement of all who see the value of the Laws of God, through Moses, as worthy of complete commitment and submission. Therefore, “Lazarus” is not naming one person but naming all Jews and Christians who “God Has Helped.”
When one has become comfortable overcoming that limitation of the word “Lazaros” and understand how the capitalization makes this lesson be pointed at every Jew and Christian who believes in Yahweh, the question should be, “Then why is Lazarus (one who God Has Helped) identified in the translation as a “beggar”?
It is important to read these verses (or have them read aloud in one’s presence) and question, “I feel like I have been helped by God, because I am a successful person; so why is one Helped Of God laid at a gate as a beggar?”
One needs to ponder, “If I am truly helped by the One God, how am I reflective of one who is covered in sores?”
The reasoning should be to find out who oneself identifies with in this teaching, as Jesus was not only speaking to a group of Jews in Galilee when he gave this lesson. The reasoning should be to see Jesus speaking to everyone who will read his words forevermore. The reasoning should be to understand what one has overlooked in the past, as a student called again to listen to a lesson with a more mature mind.
First of all, verse twenty begins by stating the Greek word “ptōchos,” a word that is not capitalized. English syntax calls for the first word in a sentence be capitalized, but Biblical Greek text is following divine syntactical rules. The word “ptōchos” translates as “poor, destitute, spiritually poor, either in a good sense (humble devout persons) or bad.” (Strong’s) The lack of capitalization says (silently) that poverty is not an important issue. The lack of material wealth is not an issue for any whom God Has Helped. As this story (eventually) tells of “Lazarus” going to Heaven, one should assume the identification is to one who is “a humble devout person,” whose “poor” status does not deter God from having his needs met, as a devoted servant. The result of one “Helped Of God” is one is “poor” due to a lack of material needs.
HELPS Word-studies states, relative to Jesus’ usage of “ptōchos,” the word’s usage acts as an assumption of a reduction in physical stature, which leaves one a beggar. They state: “ptōxós (from ptōssō, [meaning] “to crouch or cower like a beggar”) – properly [means], bent over; (figuratively) deeply destitute, completely lacking resources (earthly wealth) – i.e. helpless as a beggar. (ptōxós) relates to “the pauper rather than the mere peasant, the extreme opposite of the rich.”’
This word’s usage has led translators to paraphrase what Jesus said, making his words be twisted, creating a misleading visual by saying Lazarus “was laid a beggar.” In reality, those who belong to the class of people “God Has Helped” are “bent over” to Yahweh, subservient to His Will. They are “lacking earthly wealth” that simply keeps them from identifying with the materially “rich.” IF there are any sores visible on their bodies, the sores signify the admission of their sins, which places them prostrate before the gate of Heaven, begging for forgiveness from God.
Knowing this about the identification of one “God Has Helped” makes not seeing Lazarus as a beggar easier to fathom. The descriptive term that makes this lesson of Jesus more powerful says that the person identified as Lazarus was the “extreme opposite of [one who was deemed] rich.” [HELPS Word-studies] Seeing a lame beggar covered in sores as helpless, reduced to seeking crumbs (metaphor for alms for the poor) for survival, makes it quite difficult to grasp the evil of a “rich man.” It almost excuses being rich today, while caring little about how many poor people there are in the world, as if with the attitude, “They should pray to God more.”
Understanding that verse twenty is Jesus setting up a lesson where the one “Helped Of God” is the “extreme opposite of the rich” means looking closer at verse nineteen is important. The literal translation of that verse states, “A man now certain existed rich ,and he was clothed in purple and fine linen , making good cheer every day in splendor.” This verse has three segments of words, set off by the presence of comma marks. It is important not to erase this punctuation (whether it is imagined or real), as it keeps one from paraphrasing what was written. Paraphrase is a trick of human language, but it is the application of syntax not spoken by Jesus.
I have found that wherever the Greek word “kai” (typically translated as “and”) appears it should be read as a statement of importance to come (that which is stated next), rather than as simply stating “and.” English syntax frowns on placing “and” and a comma mark together, so when we see “,and” above this concept that “kai” is written-spoken as a mark of importance to come is supported. Strong’s Concordance states that “kai” is written in the New Testament 9079 times. That repetition should be viewed as more significant than simply being a sttutering use of “and,” like “oh yeah, add this.”
The comma mark separates like a conjunctive word (“and”), while the word “kai” acts as a signal of importance to follow. This non-translation of “kai” as a conjunction (which finds many are deleted from translation, due to redundancy) also means that where it is written “purple and fine linen” there are two statements made. By simply stating “and” (the trick of syntax again), the mind quickly computes “fine purple linen,” missing the importance of “purple.” The word translated as “fine linen” is a separately important description that follows the symbolism of the word translated as “purple.” The word “kai” says, “See the separate elements, “purple” followed by “fine linen.”
When one read verse twenty previously and found that “certain” was followed by “named Lazarus,” where “Lazaros” was less about the name of a specific person but an identification of all devout believers in the One God (and all to come), the parallel should be seen in verse nineteen. There, the word “certain” is followed by the Greek word “plousios,” which has been translated as “rich man.” This should be seen as a parallel ‘name’, just as is “Lazarus.”
The word “plousios” is defined as meaning, “rich, abounding in, wealthy; subst: a rich man.” (Strong’s) This says that the translation as “rich man” is a substitute for the true meaning. Realizing that means “plousios” is how this “certain man” is ‘named’, which separates him from all uncertain wealthy people, misses that he, like “Lazaros,” is named “Plousios,” without the importance of capitalization.
HELPS Word-studies adds to this understanding of usage as such: “ploúsios (an adjective, derived from 4149 /ploútos, “abundance”) – properly, fully resourced; rich (filled), by having God’s “muchness” – i.e. His abundance that comes from receiving His provisions (material and spiritual riches) through faith (4102 /pístis).” This is another way that seemingly justifies seeing value in the “rich man,” as his wealth is assumed to be due to his “faith.” That assumption allows one to wrongfully think, “rich duds on the outside correlates to a wealth of inner goodness.”
This later assumption of “God’s muchness,” which includes “material riches” must be seen as not fitting the set-up that is opposite the lack of material concerns sought by one “God Has Helped.” Yahweh, as the One God, does not help His believers become materially “rich,” making this lesson demand seeing that truth. Despite the mega-churches that have ‘slick Willy’ preachers in thousand dollar suits that only preach, “Jesus wants you to be rich,” that is a lie that does not match what this lesson by Jesus teaches.
It is better to remember what Jesus said to his disciples later in his ministry. Then he said, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich [“plousios“] to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich [‘plousion‘] to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:23-24) Jesus said that after he told a young man [one who owned lots of possessions] how to be assured of going to heaven. The young man walked away sadly, after being told following the Law was (of course) required, but the key to getting to heaven was this: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and [“kai“] give to the poor [“ptōchois“] , and [“, kai] you will have treasure in heaven. Then [“kai” translated as a capitalized “Then”] come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21)
It becomes important to see how the “certain man” of verse nineteen is then given the name of “plusious” (lower-case of insignificance), just as the “certain man” of verse twenty was “named Lazarus.” The lack of capitalization is then a statement of the lack of importance that Jesus gave to all believers who (exactly like the rich men of Jerusalem and Galilee when he taught) place wealth as a statement of their piety. This makes the substitute translation of “rich man” realize another substitute implication, as an identifying name – both for an individual and a group of Jews [and Christians].
The Romans named their god of the underworld Pluto, because Pluto was a form of “plusious.” Pluto’s etymology, according to the Wikipedia article “Pluto (mythology)” is: “Plūtō (genitive Plūtōnis) is the Latinized form of the Greek Plouton. Pluto’s Roman equivalent is Dis Pater, whose name is most often taken to mean “Rich Father” and is perhaps a direct translation of Plouton.” The Romans revered that lesser god as the god of abundance (and with abundance comes power and influence). The equivalent Greek god was named Hades, who was not revered in any way by the Greeks. However, the Romans saw the underworld as where the riches of the world came from, as mineral rich ores that were mined from under the earth’s surface.
By seeing this in verse nineteen, Jesus gave the rich man the extreme opposite name to “God Has Helped,” as being one specifically who the god of the underworld has helped. Verse nineteen can be read as naming an individual Jew named Pluto (or Shepha or Mamónas), if there is only one man named Lazarus. The two men, or those Jews and Christians who are just like one of those two men, claim to be believers in Yahweh, but the verse nineteen group prays to two gods, while those of the second group pray to One God.
This awareness means that it was abundance that enabled the “certain man” of verse nineteen to be “clothed with purple.” The Greek word “porphyran” is a color that represents “power or wealth.” (Strong’s) Purple is the color of the robes of kings, because they wield the power and wealth of nations of people, whose “certainty” is a nationality, more than religious beliefs. To wear that color was a statement of royal status. More importantly, it was a Self-assumed state of power and influence, as no Jews in Galilee or Judea were truly of royalty.
At the time that Jesus taught this lesson, the “certain” Jews of Jerusalem had the power and wealth of the Second Temple that allowed them to pretend to be royalty. The fall of Israel and Judah was due to having followed their human kings to ruin. The were no kings in Jerusalem after Herod the Great died, and Herod owed his royal dynasty to his Roman masters that placed him in power. As the Roman Emperor sought to pacify the Jews of Jerusalem, by letting them think they ran a city state within the province of Judea, that region was placed under a governor from Rome, after Herod the Great died. After their return from exile in Babylon, the ruling class Jews of the Temple had forgotten that God should be their King.
This means the use of “enedidysketo porphyrin” (“he was clothed in purple”) is a statement that one who claimed to be a Jew (today a Christian or believer in Jesus Christ) was “putting on airs.” He (and all like him) “was clothed in” the invisible robes of Self-importance, based solely on how much wealth one had amassed (at the expense of others). The extreme opposite view that fits this segment of words is “putting on the clothes of righteousness.” Righteous is not the view one should have, when reading what Jesus said identifying the one as “rich” (“pluto“).
Evidence in this regard comes from the Apocalypse of John, who wrote of righteous clothing in two verses. He wrote, “But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with me in white [not purple], for they are worthy.” (Revelations 3:4) John also wrote, “It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is [metaphor for] the righteous acts of the saints.” (Revelations 19:8) Isaiah also wrote of righteous clothing (Isaiah 11:5; 59:17; 61:10; and 64:6), and Zechariah 3:4 also spoke of this. David wrote, “Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, And let your godly ones sing for joy” (Psalm 132:9). That was a statement that those of “certain” faith, who served in the Tabernacle. Those priests would wear the sacred garments of the servants of Yahweh, not the garments of kings.
The use of “kai” says that simply dying common clothing the color “purple” was not all the abundant ones did. They enhanced that signal of royalty greatly by adding that color to “fine linen,” which could have been “purple” or any other color when purchased. The Greek word used by Jesus is “bysson,” which [according to HELPS Word-studies] means, “fine linen, i.e. a very expensive (sought-after) form of linen – “a specific species of Egyptian flax or linen made from it that is very costly, delicate.” (J. Thayer).”
This means that in addition to putting on the clothes of self-glorification, rather than the clothes of righteousness, the people who were like this “certain man” always made sure people could tell their status by the clothes they wore, knowing their fabric was imported. This is like men and women today that wear expensive suits that clearly say, “I am powerful.” It reflects an inner drive that forces one to selfishly live up to the English saying: “You have to spend money to make money.” More money must be reinvested in self-appearances and airs.
The comma then leads to the final segment of words that add detail to this acting like royalty that separates oneself from the common class of people by dressing in finery, all because one is of a “certain” faith. The Greek states “euphrainomenos kath’ hēmeran lamprōs,” which literally translates as “making good cheer every day in splendor.” This says, basically, the abundance of one’s position of wealth has made them “feast” (“euphrainomenos “) twenty-four-seven (“kath’ hēmeran“) on the finest of everything (“lamprōs“).
This makes the sum of verse nineteen be about one’s opulence, which is a sign of one’s decadence caused by wealth. That means that if Yahweh has initially given one abundance, then it was as a test of faith. Jesus told the young rich Pharisee how to pass that test and be “perfect.” However, he walked away sad, reflecting how most rich Jews (and Christians today ) fail to deal with “abundance” properly. The projection of self-worth, while ignoring the “poor,” is an imperfect state of being that keeps one from heaven.
When one has a firm grasp of verse nineteen being about everyone of Judaic-Christian values (who believe in Jesus Christ’s lessons), it points to those who misjudge wealth as God’s blessing for them to rule the world. When one can see how “Lazaros” is a powerful statement of true Christians that have been filled with God’s Holy Spirit and been reborn as Jesus Christ (bearing his name as “God Has Helped”), then it is easy to see how verse twenty needs some translation adjustments, so that those who are the extreme opposites of the rich are not seen as crippled beggars.
Verse twenty’s Greek states two segments, separated by one comma mark: “ebeblēto pros ton pylōna autos , heilkōmenos.” That can literally say about “God Has Helped” that one of His faithful “was thrown to outsiders porch same , being full of sores.” This is because “ebeblēto” (from the root “balló“) means, “to throw, cast,” in a stronger sense than “laid” implies (somewhat) “with care” or “gently.” The Greek word “pylōna” refers to “a large gate; a gateway, porch, vestibule,” meaning something more significant than a private gate to a country villa on a dirt road. It implies an entrance to a palace, which fits the royal motif.
When “pylōna,” is realized to translate as “a large gate; a gateway, porch, vestibule,” then this word should be seen as representing Herod’s Temple – a fixture of Jerusalem. It then is a statement that this “certain poor man” of Jewish faith was denied access to the inner courts, deemed too poor to gather along with well-to-do Jews.
The Greek word “ton” simply translates as “the,” but NASB (New American Standard Bible) lists three times it translates as “outsiders,” and four times as “others.” The implication is then creating the imagery of one being “cast” or “thrown” outside the Temple proper, to the Court of the Gentiles, which was beyond the Beautiful Gate and near Solomon’s Porch.
Following the separation from a comma mark, the Greek word “heilkōmenos” states the one exception to this general banishment. If one was “covered in sores,” then one could gain access to the Court of Lepers, in the general area of the Women’s Court, not far from the Nicanor Gate. Still, it would be better to stand outside the temple with “outsiders,” even if the rich and powerful saw that association with Gentiles as sores covering one’s body.
When verse twenty-one begins by stating “kai,” this is again signaling a level of importance that is relative to “longing.” The Greek word “epithymōn” means “desiring,” usually in a negative sense of lustful wanting or longing; but it also means “setting one’s heart on,” where the heart is the seat of the soul. As one “named God Has Helped,” one can make the assumption that that soul’s heart is pure, in this case. Therefore, “to be fed” (from “chortasthēnai“) is less a reference to physical food, and more a statement of needing one’s heart be fed with spiritual food.
The Greek word “chortasthēnai” bears the meaning, “to be satisfied, filled,” where there is an emptiness that needs filling or satisfaction, but that does not necessarily mean in one’s belly. To desire such nourishment “to fall from the table of the rich man” is a statement of lack from the “rich man,” rather than plenty that is shared. Since no one places a “table” (“trapezēs“) in one’s ‘driveway’ by a “gate,” Lazarus was never able to see the “table” of the wealthy. That Greek word, when associated with money, implies a “money-changing or business” “table,” from which Lazarus was denied.
This means that those who pretend to be holy (based on abundance of wealth) and wear fancy clothes rather than priestly robes rarely (if ever) produce morsels of insight that nourish the souls of the faithful. Still, the sequence of words actually states (from the Greek), “from that falling from the table away from the table of the rich man,” where the Greek word “piptontōn” equally states, “falling under (as under condemnation)” and “falling prostrate.” This is then not waiting for food to fall from a dinner table, but “falling down” from having been outcast (“falling under” the decrees of royal priests) and praying to God (“falling prostrate”) outside the Temple gate.
The translation that has verse twenty-one concluding with the statement, “Even the dogs came and licked his sores,” needs refining. The new sentence is confusing, as the word for “dogs” (“kynes“) implies “scavenging canines,” who ran wild and were disdained by the citizens. For Lazarus to be portrayed as a lame beggar that was hungry for crumbs to keep him alive, one would assume a stray dog would likewise compete with him for any crumbs. To lick his wounds, after stealing his crumbs, would be like adding insult to injury. However, this segment of words is poorly translated.
Following a semi-colon mark (absent in the translation above) is the word of exception “alla.” That means “but” or “however,” such that there is a caveat being stated by Jesus, one that is relative to this “falling from the table of the wealthy.” After notice of an exception comes the Greek word “kai” again, which prepares one for an important statement to follow. That statement comes in three segments, which literally can say: “but kai outsiders dogs , coming , were licking clean this wounds the same.”
The exception is then pointing to the importance of “ta kynes,” or “the dogs.” It is the presence of “kai” that alerts the reader to look for meaning that is greater than a simple article (a, an, or the). In this regard, the word “ta” is another that typically translates as “the,” but the NASB lists the same translation options as “outsiders” or “others” (seen for the Greek word “ton“). This way of seeing that translation working here, where “ta” is identified as important, means that “outsiders” become the Gentiles that were also barred from the tables inside the Temple. This makes “dogs,” the literal translation of “kynes,” refer to the figurative translation of the word, so “dogs” is a statement (importantly) of the way the elite Jews viewed Gentiles.
The one-word statement next, following a comma mark, is “coming.” This is then relative to those who were not Jews, but came to the Temple just to stand outside. This would have been Samaritans and Greeks, or any of the scattered Israelites who had become mixed blood, while still believing in the God of their ancestors who were Israelites. It would be outside the Temple that teachers (like Jesus, and later his Apostles) would offer insight about Scripture. The Gentiles came for those morsels falling from the table, rather than hoping to get inside where nothing of importance was ever said. Thus, being among those who were seeking to find God, whether Jew or Gentile, all “were licking the wound” of banishment, exile, and rejection for past sins unforgiven. That is especially true for those of great faith, as not being able to join with those of “the same” stated religious beliefs (the “certain”) is hurtful.
The aspect of “covered in sores” and dogs licking “sores” is what makes it seem that some man named Lazarus was a leper and a poor beggar (perhaps lame too). In the times of Jesus, people like that would have been banned from holy spaces and blamed for their physical plights. “Sores” were seen as outward projections of imperfections stemming from one’s inner being, which were then deemed as evidence of sins.
The Greek root word “helkos” means “a wound, a sore, an ulcer,” often used to denote a “(festering) sore.” (Strong’s) Still, the one-word statement that assumes one person was “full of sores” can also allow for the assumption that one was treated like a leper, when the only ‘sores’ that covered his body were from the honest wear and tear a poor man of values earns from hard labors.
When invisible “sores” are angers that fester within one’s soul, due to unfair treatment at the hands of the rich and powerful (with no recourse other than suck it up and bear it), there is no doubt a faithful follower of Yahweh would be falling prostrate before God asking for forgiveness and strength to continue. Job was an upright man who suffered mightily from sores he did not deserve. Job fell prostrate before the Lord, as he blamed himself for not knowing what sins he did to bring about his plight. Never was Job found blaming God for his plight (although others advised him to do so).
It is very important to see this lesson of Jesus from the perspective of two who have been placed on God’s scales of judgment. God would judge both men (just as God judges all human beings), based on each individual’s faith as “certain men” who claimed to serve Yahweh. They would not be judged by how much wealth and abundance one had or who had physical maladies that others saw as evidence of sins. God’s judgment is based on souls that have no flesh to drape with finery and no flesh to ooze from sores.
This becomes quite evident after both have died. God’s judgment found the one who professed faith in Him (a “certain man”), but lived only to satisfy himself and deny others, as being worthy of entering an eternity of suffering. The one who served God (a “certain man”) and was identified as “God Has Helped” (“Lazarus”) was “carried away by the angels,” taken to the embrace of Abraham in the spiritual realm. The one who most pew-sitting Christians today would root for (as many see themselves in that man), would be the one to go to a burning place.
This is where one must understand that Jesus was not teaching about two imaginary individual characters. He was speaking instead with metaphor, of all who were identified as Jews, which has evolved today to the present state where it includes all who identify as Christians. Jesus told of the fate of everyone who claims to be devoted to Yahweh. His lesson says: Be rewarded in the material world by the joy of fleeting riches, and know the soul will suffer in the afterlife; or, be assured that the soul will be rewarded in the spiritual world by eternal bliss, after momentary suffering in a world that is careless.
This lesson is no different than when Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24) The word for “money” is “mamónas,” which many have translated as the personified deity Mammon. The lower case can make that statement, as Mammon was a lesser god, not close to earning the distinction of personification, where capitalization states important. Still, so many worship “money” as their god, when that “love of money” means a hatred of Yahweh (regardless of what their tongues say).
[“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1 Timothy 6:10)]
It is again at this point of death that the ‘rich man’ is identified by the Greek word “plusios,” as Jesus said, “Died next kaithis plusios kai was buried.” The same words identify what appears to be an unnamed entity that bears the same name as everyone who serves the god of abundance, who the Romans called Pluto. It becomes important to read “plusios ” as one would read “mamónas,‘ where the lower case reflects the inferiority of the god they are named after. Thus, Jesus said, “Died next * this servant of abundance * was buried (i.e.: placed in the ground and covered with earth).”
This is then a powerful statement about the god of the underworld. Hades, according to the Greeks, hated those who attempted to escape the eternity of his unseen realm. Hades would find those who escaped to the surface and bring them back. The god of the Underworld is why it is so poetically stated, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” during funeral rites. The human body is said to now be worth one U.S. dollar, based on the breakdown of elements it contains. As little as that is worth in currency, you still cannot take anything you own with you when you die.
The Greek name of the god of the underworld is Hades, whose name means “the Unseen.” The Greeks paid as little attention as possible on this god, whom they loathed. Their ignorance, countered by the Roman’s adoration of Pluto as a god of abundance from within the earth (i.e.: iron, salt, gold, silver, copper, tin, etc.), left the name Hades relegated to being the name of the realm he ruled. The Underworld became synonymous with Hades.
[Although there is no Hebrew or Israelite mythology, the equivalent master of the Underworld would be the fallen angel that was cast within the Earth for going against God. There is the name Azazel, one of the fallen angels written of by Enoch, but Christians prefer the name Lucifer or Satan. Some Hebrews spoke of Beelzebub. They all share common threads with Hades and Pluto.]
By understanding this mythological ‘history’, then see how Jesus said one who worshipped Pluto in life died and was promptly placed back into the earth (interment underground, either in a tomb hewn into rock, or a six foot deep hole dug into soil), as the rightful property of his god. Jesus said next (in verse 23), “kai en tō hadē,” which very capably states, “kai in the realm of the one Hades.”
[Notice how “hadē” is written in the lower case, but loves to be capitalized in translation?]
Neither “plusios” nor “hadē” is given the respect of capitalization, because those ‘proper names’ are worthy of lower case identification (as lesser gods); but the lesson of Jesus here is: All who worship Pluto (the god of abundance, wealth, riches, and opulence) will find their souls going to Hell (Pluto’s realm), where their god Hades reigns. This is regardless of what came out of their mouths when in the flesh, which made them “certain” as believers in Yahweh.
When the one identified as Lazarus died, his body of flesh was not carried by angles to the bosom of Abraham. His flesh was returned to the earth (give unto Pluto what is Pluto’s). The burial of his flesh is inconsequential, as his flesh had no value to him, nor anyone God Has Helped. It was the soul of one whom God Has Helped that spiritual messengers lifted away. The implication is that Lazarus lived in the spiritual real while trapped in his body, having sacrificed his life in the flesh to serve God [like an Apostle or Saint]. This makes Lazarus like the Lazarus Jesus raised (his brother-in-law), who was then another soul living in the spiritual realm within a body of flesh that had been sacrificed to serve the Lord. When Jesus was resurrected, he too was a living Spirit in a dead and worthless body of flesh.
That identifies all who serve Yahweh in the flesh and suffer momentarily (twenty to sixty human years are like a split second in eternity) from the disrespect of the souls whose worship of Pluto (a.k.a. Mammon), who are treated as ‘second class’ or ‘lepers’ of society, as being “named Lazarus.” All who earn that name, especially those reborn in the name of Jesus Christ, are quite capable of withstanding the suffering of a material world, where the lures of riches no longer are appealing to them. They abstain from taking any more than is necessary to serve Yahweh with strength, meaning they refuse to sell their souls for temporary comfort.
[Joseph of Arimathea was a “rich man,” but he used his wealth to support God’s ministry in Jesus. He did not love money; he loved Yahweh. God rewarded him with money to use supporting God’s Apostles. Had he given all his wealth to those in the name of Jesus Christ, then God would know to trust him with renewed wealth, as an eternal flow of living waters flowing from the earth. This would be as opposed to the efforts required to dig riches from the Underworld.]
The soul of the “rich man” is immediately found unable to withstand an existence that has discomfort, to the point of torment. Fresh from a life in the flesh, where those like Lazarus saw his pretense of royalty and felt the finery of his imported clothing, that soul called out for his fellow “certain man” to serve him with a drop of water placed on the tip of his burning tongue. His soul was so used to living a life of decadence to the max, once removed from a physical body it screamed out for pity, when his former ears ignored the pleas for help that other living beings made to him daily. The karmic reward is shown as being that souls who worship lesser gods in the flesh will find no relief for their souls once removed from that flesh.
Finding that hard lesson too late, the soul that was the property of Hades begged that the one who God Has Helped show mercy on the wealthy brothers he left behind (who probably were even wealthier then, after their brother had died). He wanted Lazarus to go appear as a ghost to warn them of the fate that awaited them. However, Abraham said there would be no ghosts sent to those who serve the god of wealth and abundance; they have Moses and the prophets to guide them, because they profess to be “certain men.” Faith is based on a promise of future gains, not gains realized in the present. They would have to earn their way to the good place, as had “Lazarus.”
The lesson is one that speaks of everything one needs to serve the Lord. That need is Spiritual, not material. This is repeatedly written in the Holy texts. This lesson by Jesus is another in a long line of lessons that repeatedly say, “Love the Lord with all your heart, all you soul, and all your mind.” There is even a Charles Dickens novel that tells the rich to be warned against selfishness.
The problem now is, as it has always been, the souls who pray to “god” for wealth and get it will always make the mistake of thinking the “god” they prayed to was Yahweh. The sad reality is they are praying to Pluto; and Pluto will pay any price in material goods, knowing nothing material will ever be lost from this world. Hades is a hateful god that has claims on every soul in the flesh; and the only way to escape his realm is through Jesus Christ. Then one’s soul will be carried away to eternal bliss by angels.
As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
——–
This reading next will be presented in Episcopal churches on March 22, 2020, as the Gospel selection for the Fourth Sunday in Lent. At the present time, when a fear of coronavirus is grabbing the hearts and brains of American human beings that call themselves Christians, it is doubtful that many people will show up to hear a sermon about this reading. It is doubtful that the fear of death from airborne disease will allow a priest the peace of mind to preach well about this Gospel of John choice for the season of Lent. It is doubtful that the symbolism of self-sacrifice (Lent) will be seen in this reading and taught to those who seek the truth, at a time when so many are fearful of self-loss: health, position, stability, etc. So, this lesson will act as a seed waiting for the fertile ground of a seeker of truth to come and welcome this truth be planted within.
As a precursor, what will probably be pointed out by a priest is this miracle is only told in the Gospel of John. Nothing else will be said that explains, “Why only John?” The same lack of explanation will have been offered the two prior weeks, when the story of Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman at the well are stories only found in John. The same “only in John” story will continue in the fifth Sunday in Lent, when the story of Lazarus being raised from death will be told. No one will say why “only in John.” That lack should be realized for what it is.
It should be understood that the priests who lead churches everywhere, in all denominations of Christianity, learned everything they know about Scripture while they were educated at Children’s church or “Sunday School” as children. Their adult education led them to find little more than adults telling the same childish viewpoints, while offering confusing conjecture, with little research for the truth possible. Devotion to a deeper truth leads men (an now women) to seek ordination (thus education for ministry), so they can expand beyond self-led faith and help others in need. After discernment by organizations that restrict ministry to only the chosen, some feel special for being given a right for higher education and being placed on a path to employed priesthood. That leads them to institutions for higher religious learning … but it is not Biblical explanation they find.
Seminaries do a great job teaching about church history, the dogma of liturgy and the secondary books of prayer. They read overviews of Old Testament New Testament Bible Stories, retold from a scholastic viewpoint of superiority that refuses to get bogged down in the details of the written text (none of which was written originally in English). To further muddle the mind of a priest, they throw brains that struggle with language learning after the age of five electives, such as Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. By the time a priest is evacuated from a seminary, none of them have had time to ponder what it is they profess faith from – the Word. They are told to practice delivering sermons that are based on their memories of personal life – with the modern trend having young priests relating how Scripture mirrored their infancy, not adulthood. Therefore, it is important to see that the parishioners and the priests have all been born blind, because the truth is before them every Sunday, pre-chosen by a lectionary that has been prepared with deep thought involved, but they (pastors and flock) cannot see the truth.
This means the value of this lesson from the Gospel of John is that redemption comes to true seekers of truth, as they beg for guidance in times of darkness. It is no different today than it was in the times of Jesus, when the Jews knew nothing, because their teachers only knew meaningless tidbits taught to them at law school. God sent His Son into a world that was blind, thus Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” The leaders and followers of those who were not Jesus were blind. It is the “same ole same ole” all over again, as nothing ever changes when there will always be crafty snakes to produce false shepherds to watch over ignorant flocks.
John, by the way, was the son of Jesus (born of Mary Magdalene) and John accompanied his father to Jerusalem when it was festival time (Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot, Hanukkah). For instance, in the “only John” reading about the Samaritan woman at the well, why would “the disciples” leave Jesus at a well to go get food, but John was still there, obviously able to tell that story? The simple deduction is that John was not a disciple. He was the one Jesus loved, as his son. Jesus was left alone as far as adult companions were concerned (and women and children did not count in the first century writings). Now, good luck trying finding a priest that will confirm that.
In the first part of this reading, where I placed a map of Old Jerusalem that shows where the Siloam Pool was located, it is always good to get a lay of the land. That visual helps place oneself into the story, rather than keep one thousands of miles and thousands of years away, as a priest stands in an aisle and reads a story that one has heard before. Visualize being there at the time Jesus walked up to the man born blind. That location makes the Tekoa Gate become a probable place where the blind beggar had laid his mat and begged for help. It was festival time (because John is with Jesus in Jerusalem), so the paths were overflowing with pilgrims and residents. From that gate the sound of the water in the pool nearby would be noticeable, making it be a place a blind man could find by sound, after being told “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” By that being followed by John writing, “Then he went and washed and came back able to see,” the blind man did as instructed without assistance. That is important to grasp.
The accompanying Epistle, from Paul’s letter to the Christians of Ephesus, he wrote, “Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light.”
As Saul, he was made blind for three days. He became aware of his darkness. He came out of that blindness with a new way of seeing what he had been blinded from seeing before. Paul was a changed man from becoming a child of light, just as the man born blind suddenly could see. The same ability to see the truth of the Word comes to all sinners are who are reborn as Jesus Christ. But, Jesus is not going to come to a sinner and magically do everything the sinner wants, so the sinner does not have to do anything for redemption – anything more than say “I always believed Jesus died so I could sin and be saved.”
Saul had to go to the place that made him Paul. He had to do that on his own. All sinners have to find their own way to the Pool of Siloam and wash the sin off their eyes, because we are all sinners born of sin in a world of sin. We each, individually, must take those first steps to redemption and we must take them alone. Jesus is later said to have “heard that [the Pharisees] had driven [the man born blind] out,” so Jesus had to go find him to talk with him. That says he put mud on his eyes, told him what to do and then left. Perhaps he left with his disciples, leaving his son John to watch what happened? The point is Jesus heard a prayer for help, answered that prayer, and then left for the prayer’s answer to take effect. It is always up to sinners to do what is necessary to stop sinning, before Jesus comes back to us for good.
John made an aside that says Siloam means “Sent.” According to Abarim Publication’s Biblical Dictionary: ”The verb שלח (shalah) means to send; to send whatever from messengers to arrows. It may even be used to describe a plant’s offshoots or branches.” Siloam is then the past tense of shalah, as “sent,” but using the dictionary’s assessment, the man born blind was “sent” to wash his own sins away. John wrote that aside for our benefit, not to let us know he knew what Siloam meant. If we are to become offshoots or branches of YHWH, we must receive that direction to go to the living waters and be made clean. We are “Sent” to that pool.
The Greek word written by John that makes that aside translation of Siloam is “Apestalmenos,” which is rooted in the word “apostelló,” meaning “I send forth, send (as a messenger, commission, etc.).” (Strong’s) According to HELPS Word-studies, “This verb is used of closely connecting the Lord (the sender) to the believers He personally commissions.” Here, it should be recognizable that “apostelló” is the root word for the noun “Apostle,” as those who are sent by God as His messengers – His “offshoots and branches”. The capitalization of the Greek makes this a spiritually increased meaning, not a low-level one. [Notice how God is the sender of Apostles sent, not a prestigious seminary?]
Prior to Jesus acting upon the man born blind, he was asked by his disciples, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” That says Jesus was not only with his son John, but with some number of disciples. It then becomes important to realize the disciples heard Jesus’ response, but after hearing his response they went their separate ways. The disciples who were taught, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world,” then left Jesus without grasping what that meant. They did not say, “Master, please tell us what that means,” or one of them would have written about an amazing lesson taught by Jesus. Since they did not, they left at that point.
The disciples asked their question because they had been taught a person with a disease or a deformity was visibly projecting his or her inner sin. They had been taught that by Pharisees leading synagogues, who had little more than their childhood teaching to go from. The questions they asked were never answered; so the disciples did not know how to interpret a man born blind. Was he responsible for his defect at birth? surely not! So, then, did his parents’ sins cause him to be born showing sin? How many Christians have similar question that they would love to ask their priest or pastor, only to not ask because they have never been given the pleasure of having a friendly conversation about religion with a professional teacher of religion. [What? You think I know these things?]
The disciples were just like Episcopalians who listen to Scriptural readings and then a sermon (maybe or maybe not about the readings), but thirty minutes after church is over could not tell anyone anything about what they had heard – in one ear and out the other. [Although, those political sermons that have nothing to do with Scripture do get so mangled and twisted into a personal viewpoint that some listeners with either love or hate a sermon, which is remembered longer.]
On the other hand, one finds John repeatedly telling of Jesus saying, “I am the light of the world” (variations in John 1, John 2, John 3, John 8, John 9, and John 12); but nary a word from his other disciples’ Gospels. That lack says it is more typical to hear light and think of daytime, nothing more. That would confuse the disciples further, when they heard Jesus say, “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.” That might have come across like Jesus saying, “Come on guys, daylight’s burning. We got things to do and people to see.”
This departure of the disciples should be seen as due to two reasons.
First, the only reason Jesus would be in Jerusalem was because of a festival. A festival was not a time of ministry, as it was a time of commitment to the Covenant to YHWH. All Jews traveled to Jerusalem, meaning the families of all Jesus’ disciples were also there. All were staying at different places, either with extended family or in rented rooms. Thus, this event happened when Jesus and some of his disciples were walking along the path outside of the walls of Jerusalem, most probably with a large crowd of other Jews walking there. While in Jerusalem for the same reason, it makes sense that friends would gather and meet on occasion, before parting ways.
The second reason is stated by John as “Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.” That bit of information – a sabbath day – comes well into this story’s retelling, which says the time of synagogue (a main focus of the Shabbat) was over and Jesus and some disciples were heading home for lunch and family time. They were restricted by Jewish law from walking more than .59 of a mile from the city limits, but the Tekoa Gate was well within the legal distance. After Jesus gave their question an answer, the disciples probably said, “Huh. Imagine that. Okay Jesus. We’ll see you in the morning,” and off they went. That left Jesus, John and the man born blind together on a sabbath after synagogue, at the Tekoa Gate, near the Siloam Pool.
Matthew told of Jesus restoring the sight of two blind men in Jericho, when he touched their eyes. Mark told of people bringing a blind man to Jesus in Bethsaida, when Jesus spat twice in that blind man’s eyes, restoring his eyesight. Neither tell of this story of a man born blind in Jerusalem. When we then read here in John, “[Jesus] spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes,” there is the element of earth being added to both spit and touch that must be understood. Mud is a Trinity of soil (Son), spit (Holiness) and touch (Father).
Again, children’s church does not teach any of the stories in the plethora of holy texts that have been shunned by the Roman Catholic Church (the “Apocrypha“). This means few ordained Episcopal priests are going to climb into the pulpit and speak about the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. None are going to relate how young Jesus had the following story told of him (Greek text A):
“1 This little child Jesus when he was five years old was playing at the ford of a brook: and he gathered together the waters that flowed there into pools, and made them straightway clean, and commanded them by his word alone. 2 And having made soft clay, he fashioned thereof twelve sparrows. And it was the Sabbath when he did these things (or made them). And there were also many other little children playing with him.”
“3 And a certain Jew when he saw what Jesus did, playing upon the Sabbath day, departed straightway and told his father Joseph: Lo, thy child is at the brook, and he hath taken clay and fashioned twelve little birds, and hath polluted the Sabbath day. 4 And Joseph came to the place and saw: and cried out to him, saying: Wherefore doest thou these things on the Sabbath, which it is not lawful to do? But Jesus clapped his hands together and cried out to the sparrows and said to them: Go! and the sparrows took their flight and went away chirping. 5 And when the Jews saw it they were amazed, and departed and told their chief men that which they had seen Jesus do.”
Well, that story mixed with the story only told in John’s Gospel says that Jesus never stopped working with mud on the Sabbath and he never stopped sending off sparrows to do the Lord’s work.
When you realize this story and accept if wholeheartedly as “the Gospel” (which takes an act of faith), then you can see a glimpse of God the Father in his boy Jesus. Both like to make things from clay that would later serve a purpose AND they both do that on the day God deemed holy. (Always keep in mind that these days we live in now are still the Sabbath God Day, as there is nothing that says “On the eighth day ….”)
The “sparrows” Jesus made remind me of the song by Guadalcanal Diary “ Little Birds,” with a line in the lyrics saying, “And God watches us through the eyes of little birds.” In that way Jesus made sparrows that would be born from the pool’s waters made clean by Jesus (commanded by his word alone) and those sparrows would bring vision to a man born blind.
Of course, nothing states any of that in the reading from John, so it is up to each individual to figure out why Jesus needed mud for this blind man, when Matthew said Jesus just used touch to heal blindness and Mark said he just used spit. To understand, it might be good to bring in the aspect of blind from birth.
It could be possible that the other people Jesus healed were blinded by cataracts or by some disease of the eyes later in life, so they had all known sight previously. Because of previously having sight mud was not necessary for their healing. Remember how this reading not only had the disciples knowing this man had been born blind, but the neighbors had always known him as a beggar (due to blindness) and the Pharisees called in his parents to confirm he had been born blind, because they too believed that his blindness was a birth defect. The mud then has to be symbolic of rebirth, such that Jesus made new eyes for a new birth.
The Greek word “pēlon” is written five times in this story, where the multiplicity alone is a signal to see importance. The word translates as “clay” but also as “mud.” Thayer’s Greek Lexicon states that the word means “clay, which the potter uses,” but it also is “equivalent to mud (wet clay),” and they reference this reading from John as the “mud (wet clay)” usage of “pēlon.” By knowing that mud (wet clay) is placed on a potter’s wheel so that it can become molded by the hands of a potter; that is an act of creating something beautiful from something ordinary.
In the Old Testament reading, where Samuel has been sent [eslahaka – “I am sending you”] to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be the replacement for Saul (a failed king), we are told of David’s appearance: “Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome.” When that reading is matched with the reading of a man born blind, Saul was the king born blind to Israel (as chosen by his parents who demanded a king to be like other nations). God would mold a new set of eyes for Israel from the mud (wet clay) of Jesse, which would be a work of beauty in the master potter’s hands. Thus, when we read, “the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward,” so too did the spirit of the Lord come mightily upon the man born blind that could then see.
In every reading from the Gospels, week in and week out, Sunday after Sunday, we see someone testing or confronting Jesus. Christians hear these stories (including the priests that read them aloud) and see them like fans of Team Jesus.
Go, Jesus! Go!
Like fans of sports teams or fans of music stars and movie stars, fans think they are doing what the players are doing, when they are really doing nothing but watching. It is very easy to “watch” a Jesus play and believe we would be right there, rooting for Jesus, knowing that Jesus will win the day. The sad reality is do-nothings are in the play with Jesus, usually as the Pharisees or those who are trying to cause Jesus pain. That is why anyone who reads this story needs to see oneself as the man born blind, who miraculously has the ability to see just how deep in sin he (or she) has been. The readings and sermons are designed so light bulbs of dawning happen – so people suddenly see the Light of truth. “Aha!”
Unfortunately, that is not the case. Unlike Peter and the twelve standing and speaking in the tongues of God’s Holy Spirit, the best a priest can do these days is be theatrical enough to keep an aged congregation awake. If we do not actually become a player in this “sport” of Christianity, we find the reality of our lives played out by the characters that are the parents of the man born blind and the Pharisees, who argued and bickered at one another.
The failure of Saul, leading to the need for a David that was led by the light of God, is mirrored in how John wrote:
“The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
That is, in essence, the blind leading the blind. The priest asked the pewple, “What do you know about God.” The pewple replied, “You tell me. I only know what you say.” They both read from the same scroll, hearing the same words spoken aloud, but nobody knows what the words mean, because nobody can ever read between the lines!
The only reason a priest or pastor is scheduled to stand before believers and preach is to elevate faith, so that all eyes are able to see the truth that comes from that light.
Paul said, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Being a fan of Jesus is being asleep at the wheel. Being mortal means being bound to death, nothing more. If one seeks immortality, one must rise from watching a play and take part in the Acts of the Apostles. Receive the Holy Spirit and the Light of Christ will shine in you. Stop being blind. Beg for someone to help. Pray for someone to show you the way!!!
Here’s mud in your eye.
The man born blind is not nameless. His name is Sidonius, but some spell that Celidonius. He became a disciple of Jesus after being given sight (imagine that). This is confirmed by John when he wrote, “Then [the Pharisees] reviled [Sidonius], saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.” This devotion is also later stated when John wrote, “Jesus heard that [the Pharisees] had driven [Sidonius] out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” [Sidonius] answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And [Sidonius] worshiped him.”
Sidonius stayed with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany, as a servant. He was there along with Maximin (one of the unnamed 70 sent out in ministry, told of in Luke). Maximin was a close friend of Lazarus. They were not slaves. They were family, with responsibilities and duties, based on love and commitment. These names, and more, are part of a revered past in southern France, which is well worth looking deeper into (look here and also here), as all would be deemed Saints. The House of Bethany would be transplanted into Europe, beginning the seeding of Christianity there.
This means that the affect of being healed of sins by Jesus are not temporary. One does not receive the Holy Spirit, become the body of flesh in which the Christ Mind will rule a soul and guide it into eternal life, only to forget all about that life changing experience later and go about one’s merry way, returning to doing sins whenever one pleases. Sure. Jesus will save us from sins; but not time after time, like he and God work for us and not the other way around! To be saved from sins a true Christian must take the steps towards eternal salvation and not ever again return to the beggar’s mat.
In order to read between the lines of Scripture, Maximin and Sidonius were willingly devoted disciples of Jesus who served him by maintaining the chores of the homestead in Bethany. By seeing they had been touched by the Holy Spirit and became forever devoted to serve God through His Son, they were the ones who were sent out (siloam again) on borrowed mules to get Jesus when he was on the other side of the Jordan, after Lazarus had become very ill. Mules would be needed to get there and back speedily. On their way back, after Jesus had refused to return with them, saying Lazarus is only sleeping, one has to realize that it was Sidonius who saw blind beggars along the road in Jericho. Guess what he did for them. He told them there would be a man named Jesus (of Nazareth) coming through there in a couple of days or so. “He was the one who healed my blindness” was what Sidonius gave to them, rather than coins. That was how they knew to call out the name Jesus, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
How did a blind man know someone named Jesus (a rather common name then) was able to heal him? Did he have forewarning from the man born blind healed giving him a head’s up?
Sidonius became an Apostle! He was a messenger Sent (Siloam) by God to leave a light of hope to follow. Sidonius was like Paul, after he shed the darkness of Saul.
None of this is seen through the eyes of children’s church ministers. It is the same as when the Pharisees ruled the synagogues and the people went along with what little they gave them, simply because if they complained they could be run out of their place of worship. We read this Scripture (and all other Scripture) so that our eyes will open and the Light of Christ will let us see. Once you have seen the truth you cannot unsee it. It stays with you forever.
To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law– indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
—–
The above reading from Paul’s letter to the true Christians of Rome will next be read aloud in a church on March 29, 2020, the Fifth Sunday in Lent. This is a perfect match to the Old Testament reading from Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37:1-14), where God talked to the prophet in a dream about life returning to dry bones. The same theme is presented here by Paul when the reading begins with him saying, “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
Yeah buddy! I feel so alive, as long as I am protected from a deadly virus.
Simply from that contrast, from “flesh is death” and “Spirit is life,” one should be able to see how God asked Ezekiel if dry bones (“flesh is death”) could live again (“Spirit is life”). That transformation was only possible by “prophesying to dry bones.” Alas, that is where all the dry bones sitting in pews and the dry bones talking to them (certainly not prophesying) fail to grasp the meaning of “prophesying.”
Part of the problem is basic. Prophecy is “an inspired utterance of a prophet” (Webster’s #1 definition). A prophet is “one who utters divinely inspired revelations: such as (a) often capitalized : the writer of one of the prophetic books of the Bible.” (again Webster’s,#1 definition plus (a)). Ezekiel was a Prophet (often capitalized). We all get that, but we tend to miss that Paul was a Prophet, as was John (who will be read telling about the raising of Lazarus to life, from dead bones). The tendency is to read everything in the New Testament as simply being stories that confirmed the prophecies of the OT Prophets had come true. Yea! We believe those Prophets! However, the problem comes from not reading Paul and John as Prophets that are prophesying to us, today (as well as the OT Prophets have relevance today).
That failure leads to dry bones going nowhere but to another death, fulfilling only the part of Paul’s prophecy that says, “To set the mind on the flesh is death.” The answer Ezekiel would give to God today, relative to our generation (plus or minus a hundred years) is, “Well God, they no longer appear to have ears that hear any prophesying, nor do they have eyes that see it written, nor do they have tongues that speak any prophesying. All their sinews have become like dead flesh.”
If our dry bones of lifeless sinews really wanted to find eternal life, then we would see Paul as a Prophet (often capitalized) and realize a Prophet is not some man in a robe and collar who knows some things but a man like Ezekiel who professes to know nothing (“You know Lord” [meaning “I know nothing.”]) If we saw Paul in that light, knowing that Paul used to be Saul, who was a worthless human being, but he gave up his evil ways to be totally led by the Will of God, reborn as His Son, then we would know that Paul is nothing more than a man who let God speak through his words. The words are not really Paul’s but GOD’s. If we saw Paul in that light, then we would be more careful about saying Paul said things Paul (as the voice of GOD) did not say.
This has to do with translations. As hard as it is to believe, none of our heroes from the first century A.D. spoke English. While a movie about Paul could have him played by an English thespian, so we can be soothed by his accent into thinking Paul spoke our language, the stark reality is Paul wrote in Greek. In addition, Paul (as GOD’s Prophet) wrote in a divine written language that is prophecy (it contains messages from God to us and everyone before and after us) AND that divine language requires another Prophet of GOD to not only understand it BUT to then go about prophesying the truth of GOD to dry bones, so they might “set their minds on the Spirit that is life.”
One easy way to know that the New International Version of Paul’s letter to the true Christians of Rome is incorrect comes from comparing the translation to the Greek text. In the above translation (the one read aloud in church by a reader and also printed in a pewple’s bulletin) one find the word “Spirit” written seven times. Every one of those times the word is capitalized. Unfortunately, because Paul did not write a capital P each time he wrote (as GOD’s Prophet) variations of “pneuma,” the one who is supposed to be prophesying to dry bones is doing little more than speaking with a dry tongue, reading with dry eyes, and hearing with dry ears. We don’t know what the difference is between little-p “pneumati” and big-P “Pneuma“; and we do not care to look at it, pray for guidance for understanding it, nor be patient to listen to why there is difference, like a devoted Ezekiel would do.
Brother Paul is like Nostradamus in his writings, and we all know how much we hate the thought of Nostradamus being a Prophet of GOD.
Nostradamus wrote in Old French, but modern masters of English can spin that French any way they want.
I have posted 5,000 word articles here about some of Paul’s meanings in his letters, just as I used to write quite lengthy articles about what four lines of Nostradamus poetry means. Paul is so difficult to understand fully, he has his own cult of scholars that pour over his letters day in and day out. Paul, like Nostradamus, wrote “sentences” that take up half a page, even though they are broken repeatedly into small segments of words and even verse changes. To sit in a pew and listen to some man or woman read a section of Paul’s letter (usually in the most horrific monotone or nasally, whiny voice humanly possible) is to listen to fingernails scratching on a chalk board. Paul is meant to be read slowly and with meditation; otherwise, it is too much too soon, impossible for a normal brain to capture.
Here is how the above NIV (English) translation should be seen in Greek:
6
to gar phronēma tēs sarkos thanatos ; [the (one) for mind of the flesh (is) death ; ]
to de phronēma tou pneumatos, [the (one) now mind of the spirit , ]
zōē [life]
kai eirēnē , [(symbol of importance to follow) peace , ]
7
dioti to phronēma tēs sarkos echthra eis Theon ; [because the mind of the flesh is hostility towards God ; ]
tō gar nomō tou Theou ouch hypotassetai , [the (one) for law those of God not it is subject , ]
oude gar dynatai . [nor even for can it (be) . ]
8
hoi de en sarki ontes , [those now in flesh being , ]
Theō aresai ou dynantai . [God to please not are able . ]
9
Hymeis de ouk este en sarki , [You now not are in the flesh , ]
alla en pneumati, [but in spirit , ]
eiper Pneuma Theou oikei en hymin ; [if so (the) Spirit of God dwells in you ; ]
ei de tis Pneuma Christou ouk echei , [if now someone Spirit of Christ not has , ]
houtos ouk estinautou . [he not is of him . ]
10
ei de Christos en hymin , [if now Christ in you , ]
to men sōma nekron dia hamartian , [the (one) truly body dead on account of sin , ]
to de pneuma zōē dia dikaiosynēn . [the (one) now spirit life on account of righteousness . ]
11
ei de to Pneuma tou egeirantos ton Iēsoun ek [if now the (one) Spirit those having raised up the (one) Jesus nekrōn oikei en hymin , out from dead dwells in you , ]
ho egeiras ek nekrōn ⇔ Christon Iēsoun zōopoiēsei [the (one) having raised out of (the) dead ⇔ Jesus Christ will give life
kaita thnēta sōmata hymōn , [(symbol that something important follows) to the mortal bodies of you , ]
dia tou enoikountos autou Pneumatos en hymin . [on account of those dwelling his Spirit in you . ]
—–
Now, I know this about Episcopalians:
1.) Most do not want long sermons.
2.) Most do not like Bible Studies.
3.) Most are way too old to be told it is time to change how they live now.
In short, they are the epitome of dry bones with their minds set in the flesh. That means they are okay with sinning for most of seven days a week, as long as they can say, “I’m sorry and I humbly repent,” and then expect a priest to give them a holy wafer and some holy wine. “All is forgiven!!! I’ll see ya next week on Sunday morning.”
For that reason, I will not fully address what Paul said here. I will simply go over the difference between little-p “pneuma” and Big-P “Pneuma.”
To understand this lesson, one needs to re-ponder the reading from Ezekiel.
God first told Ezekiel, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
In that first instruction, God used the term “breath” (twice).
The Hebrew word translated into English as “breath” is “ruach” (“rū·aḥ“). That same word also means “spirit” or “wind.” Thus, when Ezekiel prophesied to dry bones, “the bones came together, bone to bone” and “tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.” This has to be seen as the “breath of life” being the little-p “pneuma” (or a variation of that word), such that dry bones reflect death from a lack of mortal existence, but dry bones with sinews, flesh and skin are what most people confuse with life (little-l), which is different from the true breath of Life eternal.
[Hebrew does not have capital letters, but we love to play with that language to suit our needs. The Jews do too. So, a little-r rauch might imply a Big-R Rauch; but, if God asks, just say, “You know. I know nothing.”]
With all that said, little-p pneuma means an eternal soul (which never dies), but when connecting dry bones together is only going to return to dry bones, human life after human life.
When God then told Ezekiel, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live,” this was God telling an Apostle (“son of man” or “ben adam“) to go into the pulpit and preach the truth of eternal life so that pewples have a great epiphany and stop sinning forevermore. [No more need to recite the Confession of Sin.]
This is what Paul said when he switched from little-p pneuma to Big-P Pneuma. Notice how the Pneuma is connected with other capitalized words, such as “God” (“Theou“), “Christ” (“Christou“), or “Jesus” (“Iēsoun“)? The first two state “Spirit of God” and “Spirit of Christ.” The two words are linked together as one. This is different that saying “the soul of Larry” or the “life of Sally.” The third use is then the joining of God’s Holy Spirit (which comes with the Christ Mind) and a human being (like Larry and Sally). However, that presence then makes “Jesus” be raised in one’s own dry bones, so one begins walking and talking like the Spirit of Jesus reborn. The fourth Big-P word, Pneumatos, states that as being in a “mortal body” where the “Spirit” dwells.
This is the prophesying of the “breath of Life.” It is the fulfillment of what God told Ezekiel (about the remnants of Israel), ” I will put my Spirit in you and you will live.” Paul said of this, “if now the (one) Spirit those having raised up the (one) Jesus out from dead dwells in you” (NIV = “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you”). When Jesus dwells in one, then one is reborn as Jesus and no longer sins. That says it is impossible to stop sinning in a fleshy, mortal body, in a world that loves sin, without help from the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ, which brings about the rebirth of the Jesus Spirit that guides one’s soul away from sin … eternally.
Relative to the “leftright arrow” found in verse 11 (omitted in the NIV translation), this is a symbol used that states “logical equivalence.” It means: Proposition follows from proposition and vice versa. When Paul wrote “the (one) having raised out of (the) dead ⇔ Jesus Christ will give life” the logical equivalence is: raised out of death is Jesus reborn with the Christ Mind, just as Jesus reborn with the Christ Mind is being raised out of death. When one is , then one is . When one is raised out of death (flesh is death), then one is alive in the name of Jesus Christ (the Spirit is life). And, vice versa.
When one’s eyes have been opened to see this, then one can look back on the dream of Ezekiel (chapter 37) and see that Ezekiel was not just some ancient Prophet that God was playing games with, relative to dry bones. When you read, “The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones,” then you should see that ALL of those dry bones are your past lives, when you held dearly to a “mind of the flesh” that was “hostility towards God,” when you did not feel it necessary to live up to the laws of God. Mortal life after mortal life you relished the flesh of death, leaning on the crutch of an inability to please God. Mortal life after mortal life you found death again and again. Rather than being reborn to eternal life, you re-died to eternal loss of all that seemed to be gains (the illusions sin causes … like making flesh is death seem to be living flesh).
As the season of Lent winds down, when the agony of sacrificing something menial is almost over and a return to that one sin seems permissible again, it is important to have the dream of Ezekiel. When God asks you, “Mortal, can your dry bones ever find eternal life?” what will your excuse be this time?
Or, will you say, “O Lord God, you know, because the evidence shows I know nothing of value.”
The Third Sunday of Easter, like all Sundays inside the confines of Episcopalian churches in America, finds a Psalm of David read aloud. Usually the congregation reads aloud, either by half or alternating whole verses, although some fancy churches will have a chanter sing the Psalm (which means “song”). The production made over the Psalm is unlike the production made over the other readings, where only one person reads aloud (not singing aloud) and all the rest just listen.
Think back to when you were in elementary school. Think back to your high school and college days. No teachers sang any lessons to the class. While some classes would read something from a book out loud, going from desk to desk, that was more to practice being bold enough to talk to a group, more than an exercise in learning what a book said by having people read only a portion aloud. If anyone else is like me, then you will agree that it is hard to focus on what is said by someone else out loud, when I am trying to keep track of when I will have to read aloud. Thus, no matter how powerful a Psalm of David is, it is only an exercise in “togetherness” – “See, we all read aloud together. Aren’t we special?”
The problem with this approach is no priest will then walk into the aisle, announce a reading from a Gospel, read that aloud, and then rise above the masses at a podium saying, “I want to talk to you today about that Psalm we read.” Nope. Never happens. However, it should today.
In the Gospel reading from Luke is read the story of Jesus appearing in unrecognizable form as Cleopas and wife (“two of Jesus’ disciples”) walked to their home in Emmaus. That reading comes up Wednesday of Easter Week, Easter evening in Year C, and here on the Third Sunday of the Easter season, Year A. So, regular church attendees regularly hear a sermon about that story from Luke’s Gospel. The repetition might force a priest to put a new slant on an old topic, so his or her words don’t conjure up feelings of déjà vu.
In the Easter season there is always a reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, and today we read about Peter speaking with a raised voice and how three thousand Jewish pilgrims would “save themselves from that corrupt generation” by being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ that day … instantly. That is another reading that comes up multiple times during the Easter season. Certainly, a sermon or two will have been focused on that story, so you remember that reading.
This year (A), during the Easter season, is the only time we read from 1 Peter. So, if you did not listen carefully today, there is a good chance you will have forgotten all about what Peter wrote in his first epistle. It is fairly short and says things that can easily be incorporated into any sermon, simply because the epistles tend to state the “catch phrases” that most adult Christians know. Today Peter wrote, “live in reverent fear,” “you were ransomed,” “with the precious blood of Christ,” “your faith and hope are set on God,” and “you have genuine mutual love.”
The Epistles do not get much deep attention in the Episcopal Church, simply because Episcopalians have short attention spans and a priest is limited to twelve minute sermons. Those two traits are not conducive of deep understanding of anything; so it is best to just stick with the catch phrases found in the letters and maybe give the Apostle a quote credit (or not).
Parts of Psalm 116 are read on three different Sundays over the three-year cycle, and on two other week days. It is read on Maundy Thursday – the foot washing service few people attend – so its words might ring a bell, but probably not. Because we need to realize that David was led by God to write songs of praise and lament, his words are recorded to speak to us in the same way God led the other writers of Scripture to record God’s conversations as though directed to each of us, individually.
The people who organized the lectionary were also led by God to choose readings that link everything together, so divine purpose is in play here today and every Sunday. The readings are not randomly picked, and they are not based on what a priest wants to talk about. Certainly, they are not the product of some people in a smoke-filled room saying, “Okay what snippet do we have next to add here and there?” By having that understanding – that everything read today is part of a whole with purpose – we are able to read the words of Psalm 116 and know they deeply relate with the words written by Peter and Luke.
Knowing that the divine purpose is to teach, not to attempt to twist words into some self-serving political message or current event words of encouragement, a sermon has to be a model of the Acts reading, where “Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd.”
Were his words uplifted by the Holy Spirit; or did he scream like a maniac to get everyone’s attention?
The Greek word translated as “raised” is “epēren,” a form of “epairó,” meaning “to lift up” are “to exalt.” Rather than “raised his voice” giving the impression of twelve Apostles screaming at the tops of their lungs, so three thousand Jewish pilgrims were scared into signing a petition to join the new Church of Jesus Christ, it is more sacred to read “with lifted voice.” That way, it is easier for us to understand the Apostles spoke divinely. Therefore, their words “testified with many other arguments and exhorted them.”
That means God was speaking through the mouths of the Apostles, who not long before were still nervous about public anything. Surely, before the Holy Spirit hit them, they were not longing to have some rabbi to tell them, “Today class we will read Psalm 116 out loud, with each disciple reading one verse. Andrew, why don’t you start us off.” God then spoke through the Apostles just as God had spoken through the mouth of Jesus. We must agree that it was God coming out of Peter that encouraged seekers to be filled with the love of God in their hearts.
Therefore, the first verse read from Psalm 116 sings out with the same exalted voice of God. There, David began by stating, “I love the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him.”
Three thousand pilgrims in Jerusalem “welcomed [Peter’s] message [and] were baptized” because they were Jews seeking a closer relationship with their God.
David then sang, “The cords of death entangled me; the grip of the grave took hold of me; I came to grief and sorrow. Then I called upon the Name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray you, save my life.”
Peter told those whose ears heard his words, “Repent … so that your sins may be forgiven … saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
The Greek actually written (“geneas tēs skolias tautēs”) says, “generation the perverse this,” where geneas means “race, family, and birth.” One cannot presume Peter was only talking about those who just watched the Romans crucify Jesus, but all who think they are added to the family that calls Yahweh their God – at all times between then and today. Thus, as Christians today, WE live in the perversion that has been allowed to be born around us – the generation of perverseness or a degenerate state. It exists now, just like it existed prior to Jesus, when David cried out in fear.
Every Jew in Jerusalem who heard Peter (and the other eleven Apostles) felt the cords of death – MORTALITY – strangling them, not knowing how to ensure God would not punish them because they all had unforgiven sins. They, like us and like David, called upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
You have to see yourself in that light of failure, or you do not call upon the name of the Lord for salvation. If you are okay with your life of sin and say, “Its okay. I’m good,” then you certainly are not getting God’s attention, whether you want it or not. God does not compete with lesser gods – like oneself – so you are free to be part of the definition of a “corrupt generation.” After all, we are each the center of our own universe, which goes whichever way we direct our universe to go.
Seekers, on the other hand, feel guilt and want to stop living lives that cannot cease wallowing in lusts and self-pity. Like the hated tax collector Jesus saw, seekers silently beat their chests and bemoan there is no way to stop. Sure, the money is great, but it all makes me feel dirty inside.
If only sin wasn’t so damn rewarding. Then, like the Pharisee Jesus saw, one can be led to thank God for material things. That’s when one prays, “How shall I repay the Lord for all the good things he has done for me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord.”
Everyone here today has many reasons to thank the Lord, more than for a good career, a nice house, or a fancy car. God does more for you than give you the latest gadgets of technology to play with. God has given you health, or children, or a sense of redemption. Whatever your personal rewards, God gave them to you without you having to do anything in return. Many Christians just take God for granted, like they deserve all that is good, simply because their parents let a priest drip some holy water on their little foreheads. Not to mention them not complaining too loudly after being forced to learn all those Bible stories in children’s church.
Typical Christians today are just like the typical Jews of Jesus’ days – wallowing in self-gratifying sins with the pretense of being special because they were descended of the people chosen by God. One corrupt and perverse generation after another. The world is a place where perversion is easily handed out, asking nothing in return. Christians do not even know what “the cup of salvation” is.
In the Episcopalian Church, where the Eucharist flows like welfare checks to the poor, freely given at the rail, asking nothing in return, it is easy to think the cup of salvation is the chalice that comes before one, with the altar server saying, “The blood of Christ the cup of salvation.” That is not what David had in mind when he wrote those words.
THE cup of salvation is the second cup of wine poured out at the Jewish Seder meal. That IS called “the cup of salvation,” which is poured out to commemorate the freedom from bondage in Egypt. Whether David’s Israel practiced the Passover exactly the same as do Jews today is immaterial. The “cup of salvation” was the marriage of the children of Israel to God. A cup of wine is then symbolically drank to commemorate that eternal bond. It is like a toast to the covenant, where marriage is a covenant. One MUST marry with God, meaning He is the husband and everyone else is the wife.
With that understood, David then sang, “I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.”
The “vows” are the Laws Moses brought down to the Israelites. Everyone had to announce their agreement to the covenant, in order to enter into a bond of commitment. The wife submits to the will of the husband and the husband guarantees the wife will always be protected. A marriage is therefore a public event of celebration.
Still, when David then sang, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his servants,” one needs to see how marriage means the death of the old self. Commitment demands sacrifice. In order to receive salvation, one must die of one’s old ways. God does not take delight in the physical deaths of human beings, simply because death is nothing more than a stage of life. Death is like the old 45-rpm records played on a phonograph – when the needle hits the space at the end, it rose and waited for it to be placed back down on that record again. The soul is like the etched meaning in the grooves of the record, which is why it was made.
In the Hebrew of David’s Psalm 116, the word translated above as “servants” is “lahasidaw,” which is a statement from the root word “chasid,” meaning “kind, pious.” The statement better says, “of his saints” or “of his godly ones.” That means the death of God’s “servants” is the end of their life of sins, committed to fulfill a purpose of holy priesthood. In a marriage ceremony, rather than drinking wine to celebrate a new partnership or union, a desired death is then like how the Jews symbolically break a glass wrapped in a napkin when a couple gets married. The death of the old can never cut the marriage asunder. The fragility of a sinful life is shattered, so it can no longer ruin a soul.
Marriage to God must be recognized as what that commitment truly means. David sang, “O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant and the child of your handmaid; you have freed me from my bonds.”
Here, the repetition of “servant” is accurate, from the Hebrew “abdika,” from the root “ebed,” meaning “servant, slave.” To rise from the lowest of the low, which the state of being a “child of a maidservant” indicates, means one must feel deeply indebted to God for that favor granted. The only thing one so low can ever be expected to repay is one’s complete devotion. Devotion to God means serving His every need as His priest.
David then sang, “I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the Name of the Lord.” This does not say that “thanksgiving” is a “sacrifice,” as if one begrudgingly has to suffer through repayment with lip-service, like: “Oh okay. Thank you God.” THE sacrifice is the death of your self-ego, which you do in the most sincere “thanksgiving” to God. No words are necessary, as God knows each and every heart of His wives (i.e.: saints). Still, when David sang, “call upon the name of the Lord,” that is equally not some “catch phrase” that is meaningless. That needs complete understanding.
The literal Hebrew there says, “ubesim Yahweh eqra,” which means “upon the name Yahweh will proclaim.” This is where one grasps that the wife in a marriage takes on the name of the husband. Regardless of modern perversions of the human institution of marriage, “in the name of” means, “I am now known as.” To take “upon the name of Yahweh” one has become married to God, becoming a saint in His service, so one can “call” or “proclaim” just like we read Peter spoke “with raised voice.”
This is important stuff, becuase just as David used “the name of” so too did Peter. In Acts Peter said to the pilgrims, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” That says one IS JESUS reborn. God is the one who forgives sins through the “cup of salvation,” thus when one has married God then one’s sins are forgiven and one receives the wedding gift of God’s Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is what baptizes one so one becomes Jesus resurrected in the flesh.
In Peter’s epistle he wrote, “with the precious blood of Christ,” [the sacrificial lamb] “you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory” [as THE WIFE OF GOD]. Peter then added, “You have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.” That is a statement about marriage and commitment.
From that, Peter was led to write, “You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.” To be “born anew,” one must first experience death, where David wrote, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” Marriage to God means the death of the sinner and the rebirth of the Saint in the name of Jesus Christ.
David then sang again the words, “I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people,” but this is not the same as the marriage vows first taken. Those vows are taken publicly; but the life of a Saint is not for one’s personal enjoyment.
A Saint lives to BE the resurrection of Jesus on earth, as God incarnate. This is not so one can boast, “Look at me! I am married to God!” Instead, one becomes like “the child of [God’s] handmaiden,” a servant to the Word of God. A slave whose only role is to offer the cup of salvation to seekers of the truth. The vows of marriage to God are the realities of being a priest of God, using the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the midst of the public eye.
That is then the meaning in David’s last verse, where he sang, “In the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Hallelujah!” That says the Saint, as the reborn Jesus Christ, is the house of God. God resides within one’s heart center.
Jesus is the High Priest who rules over one’s brain, as the Christ Mind. Every area of life one comes into becomes the courts where divine judgment will keep one from wandering into the worldly traps of sin. When David wrote “in the midst of you,” he was not focusing on a place on the earth, but his being one with God. It has the same meaning as Jesus saying, “I am in the Father as the Father is in me.” The word “Jerusalem” then bears the eternal meaning of “foundation of peace.” Jesus Christ is the perfect cornerstone from which the foundation of eternal peace in heaven is built.
By seeing this coming from Psalm 116, it is easy to set one’s eyes on the affect an unrecognizable Jesus had on two disciples who had known him all his life. Cleopas looked at his wife, Mary, and said, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” Those two were just like the three thousand who listened to Peter offer “arguments” as explanations of Scripture. They all received an invitation of marriage to God, carried by God’s messenger Saints, and they all happily said, “Yes!”
On this Third Sunday of the Easter season, when the counting of fifty days marks when Moses came down with the marriage proposal of God to his Israelite brides AND also when Jesus returned from heaven and wrote the marriage Covenant on the hearts of those who said “Yes,” it is time to make your choice about God’s proposal to you.
Do you say, “I love the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him”? Do you love God because he feels like your sugar daddy, giving you everything you want?
Or, do you say, “The cords of death entangled me; the grip of the grave took hold of me; I came to grief and sorrow,” so you pray to God for forgiveness of your sins?
David sang a song about your life. You just need to understand what the lyrics mean. Ignoring them will do you no good.
A serious proposal has been made. It is up to you to determine your outcome.
For anyone who cares, I feel it is most important to clarify a misunderstanding about the Gospel of Luke’s road to Emmaus account.
Here is a link to the Interlinear page for Luke 24, which lists the Greek text (in Greek and transliterated text [put in the alphabet letters Americans recognize]) along with an English translation. One can also look at the New International Version of the standard English translation that is read aloud by a priest in church, whenever Luke 24:13-35 is the chosen Gospel reading.
Again, IF ANYONE CARES, look at verses 13 to 35 and tell me EXACTLY how many times Luke wrote the word that can be translated as “disciples.” [Hint: this would be “mathētai” or “μαθηταὶ”.] CORRECT ANSWER: 0 – Zero – Nada – Not once.
The assumption [there is a joke that begins, “Do you know how to spell assume?”] is that the road to Emmaus story had two disciples as the main characters [in addition to Jesus]. There were no “disciples,” but there were TWO [“dyo“] who knew Jesus. Luke identifies this as “them” [“autōn“], “they” [“autoi“], and “one another” [“allēlous“]. In addition to those identifiers, he used the third person plural in other combined forms [for example, the word “ēngisan” means “they drew near”].
Now, in today’s Episcopalian homosexual-loving world, after church two gay men might go home together. BUT, this was back in the normal days of Jesus, when homosexuals still kept all that stuff hidden. What still happens today, which is what happened on the road to Emmaus, is a husband and wife go home together. This means the TWO were man and woman, not a couple of disciples. The male is identified by Luke as being “the one named Cleopas,” but he did not identify the wife for two reasons.
First, Cleopas spoke, which was the husband’s role in public. Second, because identifying women and children was not what they did in texts back then, if Mary had said anything, then it was not to be recorded – as inappropriate to quote a woman. The natural assumption back then was Cleopas walked with Mary of Cleopas, his wife.
[Aside: It is also important to grasp that Jews love fresh baked bread as much as us Americans do. They love it risen with yeast. God told Moses to have the Israelites clean out their houses of leavening and keep it that way for a week, in preparation for the angel of death’s pass over. The story of three walking the road to Emmaus takes place after the Passover Week was over. I can assure you that going without regular food and hot, freshly baked bread risen with yeast an extra day, after a week of nothing good to eat, is not what normal Jews want to do. While it is not written [and more is unwritten than written in Scripture], I can assure you that Cleopas and Mary would not want to impress a stranger (one who had greatly impressed them) with stale, week-old crackers. Mary stopped off at the stash of yeast away from the house on the way in and then baked some fresh bread, which was the invitation given to Jesus. When a meal had been prepared, they all then sat at the table. So, it was a fresh loaf of bread Jesus the pilgrim broke, which was appropriate for the freshy risen Jesus to do.
Also, when we read, “kai autos aphantos egeneto ap’ autōn,” those words are translated by the NIV to state: “and he disappeared from their sight.” This does not mean that a solid flesh body suddenly disappeared like a ghost. Just like when John wrote of Mary Magdalene’s encounter with Jesus, “Thinking he was the gardener,” all three saw real, flesh and blood human beings. Mary Magdalene saw the gardener of the cemetery and Cleopas and Mary saw a pilgrim Jew who was walking the same direction on a road that went well beyond Emmaus. Think about how many times you have seen a ghost and then ask yourself how many other people in the world have REALLY seen a ghost?
No one really believes in ghosts being visible, even if they exist. This means these sightings have to be of real people, which is a HUGE statement about others being one with the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. It is then examples of Christianity, of the first people who could claim they were in the name of Jesus Christ. Two people, not Jesus of Nazareth, became vehicles through which God spoke, making them become His Son reborn. That is vital to grasp.
The Greek written by Luke literally says, “and he vanished being seen away from them.” The word aphantos translates as “disappeared” and “vanished,” but that does not mean the real pilgrim, who had been divinely possessed by the Holy Spirit of Jesus, disappeared or mysteriously vanished. The eyes of Cleopas and wife Mary had been opened to see the Holy Spirit of Jesus was within a stranger; so, they knew Jesus spoke to them through another human being that looked nothing like Jesus of Nazareth. Once they were allowed to “see” that, after a stranger invited into their home broke the bread and sounded just like Jesus had at the Seder meal, the pilgrim then returned to being a pilgrim that had been touched by Jesus and God. Their vision of Jesus disappeared, not the pilgrim. Thus, before Cleopas and Mary got up and left to go back to Jerusalem, they told the pilgrim, “Stay as long as you want, but we just remembered something important we need to do in Jerusalem.”
By failing to make Scripture believable, it is easy to fake belief or outright say it is impossible to believe.
Explaining the Readings 