Thursday, September 29, 2016

LEPER HUGGING



To recap a little, so far in our study of Mark, we see how Yeshua was first introduced to those reading this Gospel. Paul’s letters had been circulating among the various congregations for some time, as they preceded the writing of the Gospels, and actually provide the first glimpses into the believer communities. Mark’s Gospel is the first written account, though, of Yeshua’s ministry.  Imagine if this was all new to you and you hear about this Man for the first time this way.  He’s not like anyone else you’ve ever heard about or known. He does things no one ever has.  Who exactly is He?

One of the first things He does is stir up a demon who has evidently been resident in a man with this unclean spirit all along but no one knew it. Though I do wonder if that didn’t explain some of this man’s personality quirks. Not only does this demon speak through this man probably for the first time, but the demon knows who Yeshua is – He’s “the holy One of God!” (1:24).  What in the world does that mean to those people witnessing this in the synagogue that day?  Holy One of God? This is a first, for sure.  

Have you ever been somewhere when a demon manifests its presence and starts talking? It’s pretty creepy. But Yeshua calmly takes charge, though nothing like this has ever happened to those folks in the synagogue that day. Having once been an angel before the demon joined Lucifer’s rebellion, he (it) would certainly know Yeshua by His Spirit. (Much to think about there.) As we know, Yeshua tells him (it) to be quiet and leave the man.  No priests or Pharisees were able to do that!    Then He heals Peter’s mother-in-law, so they learn that He also has healing power over sicknesses.  This results in many others in the village showing up at Peter’s front door who were healed as well. 

If that isn’t enough, Yeshua is then encountered by….. a dreaded leper!  This horrendous disease meant excruciating social isolation besides the pain of disfigurement for a victim of the disease. Somehow the news of Yeshua has come to this man of all that He has done and he takes the risk to come to Him with the great hope that he too can be healed.  Can we even imagine what this man must have been through, from the first evidence of the disease and then undoubtedly having to leave his home, and his livelihood, with no one, even his loved ones, wanting to come near him. Was he a poor peasant? Or perhaps he was even a Pharisee. Whatever identity he once had was no longer his. Now he was only a leper.   

The man asks Yeshua, with much trepidation I would think, not really knowing how Yeshua would respond, “If You are willing….”   My bible says, “Yeshua reached out His hand as He touched him and said to him, “I am willing, be cleansed” (1:40-41). Can you just picture the inhaled gasp of those around them when Yeshua reaches out and touches the man, as they all back up together as if it was choreographed?  

Whenever I read that story, I always hear Yeshua kind of choke up a little as He says that He is willing. This poor man would have been relegated to being an “unclean” person by everyone he knows, and certainly by the priests and religious folk.  Was he once maybe even one of them? We don’t know. He certainly couldn’t go near anything having to do with the Temple. 

But this Son of God who is devoid of “religion” in all the ways in which He reveals the true Heart of God, reaches out to the man in what in Hebrew is called Rachamim.  It’s my favorite Hebrew word. Pronounced as rakh-a-meem, it means compassion. 

Despite the fact that at least one of my English translation bibles uses the word pity right there, rachamim  is not pity but compassion.  The difference is that pity looks down on a person with a kind of sad “tsk-tsk, that’s really a shame for them” perspective, while compassion gets down in the mud with the person to help lift them out of it.  Compassion gets in there, wherever there is, to lend a hand, to be there for them, to help. Whoever he was, he was a man whom Yeshua regarded as a man like anyone else in great need, and responded to him with God-like compassion.  Isn't that what Yeshua did for us all ultimately - He got down in the muddy soil of the earth in every sense to lift us out of all that has kept us victimized by the “fall” of mankind into sin and unbelief. 
 
Yeshua wasn’t just feeling sorry for the man, He didn’t have to touch him; He healed others without touching them.  But the touch was part of the healing.  I wonder how long it had been since this man had felt any human touch.  Reaching out and putting His hand on the man was a way of saying “I accept you as the person you are.  I don’t see you as a diseased man, I just see you as a man whom God considers worthy of His love.” A tender touch, as that must have been, means I care about you. Human touch goes a long way to bring comfort and encouragement to any of us.

Needless to say, the man was entirely, completely and immediately healed. Can you picture what it would have been like for that man to be given back his life.  Or to witness all that happening – nothing you would have ever expected. I'm guessing once whole again he gave Yeshua one very big hug and I can just hear Yeshua laughing in delight with him. After all, what would Yeshua have felt in all this? Joy, I would imagine. And a great sense of godly satisfaction to have been able to restore the man to wholeness. He may have been the one who was the most blessed. We’re rarely told of His responses to much of went on. You have to get those insights from the Holy Spirit when you give them some prayerful pondering.  

I wonder, could this now healed person have been the man whose house Yeshua later went to for the famous dinner when He was anointed by a woman who poured a jar of precious oil over His head (Mark 14:3)?  That dinner was held in the home of a man who was obviously healed but, unfortunately, was still identified as “Simon the leper.”  Was that him? If so, did Yeshua remain friends with this man after He healed him? This possible relationship causes me to wonder what other kinds of relationships Yeshua maintained in His travels and experiences. He and His men had to eat somewhere, or rest somewhere. How would you like to have had them drop by for a while when in the area where you lived?  Oh yeah! I often think He was a lot more human than we imagine Him to have been. 


In a sort of related way, this all brings to mind how useless religion can be when it is devoid of the godliness of compassion.  Keeping all those religious rituals which were added to what God gave Israel in the Torah, actually distanced those from God who were seeking God’s approval for their piousness. They entirely missed what God wants for and from His people. Sometimes a simple hug is being Lord-like and pleasing to God. 


Perhaps the Holy Spirit might make you aware of someone who just might need a touch, or a hug and to be told that God knows just what they’re going through and that He’s there with them. I met the sweetest lady in her 70’s in the Dollar Store last week. She was obviously trying to make a decision about what to buy and seemed perplexed. I started to chat with her and soon she told me about her adult son who ill who lives with her and she wasn’t sure what would be a good juice for him as he is now a diabetic. I showed her how to see how much sugar is in the jars of juices and I wound up praying with her about this son she was so concerned about. She was a believer and said she felt like God had sent His love and comfort to her right there in the Dollar Store. What a joy that little encounter was – for both of us. And yes, we did share a hug.


If you’ve done things like that for someone, then you know that the person isn’t the only one to be blessed. The Lord lets us know He’s pleased by sharing a moment of His joy with us. Yeshua who must have had a great many moments like that, just quiet-like inside, just between Him and His Abba.  

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

ABOUT BEING FAITHFUL



I came upon something in my bible study this morning about faithfulness that impacted me enough to depart from our present study of the Gospel of Mark.  See what you think.  

In 1 Samuel 2 we have the picture of Eli as the high priest whose sons are clearly living unholy lives.  They are meant to be priests as well, but they are far from being priest-worthy.  Eli has rebuked them somewhat but what he didn’t do was take them completely out of any priestly authority. He allowed them to ‘minister’ in the holy place of the tabernacle in outright blatant sin. Evidently, even in those days after Joshua died when Israel spiritually fell apart, there remained a godly remnant for it says, “A man of God came to Eli and said to him….” (2:27) This man is unnamed, but God knew him and gave him a prophetic word to deliver to Eli. 

Among those many words  in 2:27-36, God tells Eli that he has honored his sons above Himself.  Even as a priest, it is possible to not bring a word of correction to one’s children for fear of rejection from them, which allows them to continue in ways that are dishonoring to God. (Selah[1].) This is what brought a catastrophic end to Eli’s family line.  The word to Eli from God went on to say:

“…But I shall honor those who honor Me and those who despise Me will be lightly
esteemed” (:30). Elsewhere God regards disobedience as rebellion and as despising Him.  To despise His rules is to despise Him.  What do you think results when someone is “lightly esteemed” by God? (Selah #2). On the other hand, David was faithful with protecting his sheep from lions and bears as unto the Lord and see how God 'esteemed' him. 


Further on God makes a prophetic statement, saying, “But I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and in My soul” (:35). Soul is also translated as mind.  So giving some thought to being faithful, I now saw that God considers faithfulness as being related to His heart, meaning His feelings, emotions, what He loves, who He cares for, who He is willing to forgive (e.g. everybody!).  And to His soul or mind which is about His intentions and the ways in which He expects things to be.  We could say, His heart is about His love and His mind is about how we are to live out His love.  We could say the same for His heart of truth and how we are to live accordingly: never lying or flattering or boasting or bearing false witness which gossip often is. None of those is truth!  You could probably come up with some examples of your own (Selah #3). 

Presumably, God meant it would be Samuel who would become His faithful prophet, but as I pondered this connection between God’s heart and His soul or mind, which is to say His thinking, I saw how this word to Eli was also a prophecy referring to Yeshua who was, as we know, His entirely Faithful One,  always and only doing what He knew was consistent with Abba’s heart-felt intentions. There can exist no contradiction between the Lord’s heart and His will which I’m calling intentions here.   As I’m writing, it also occurs to me that what we experience as double-mindedness, is likely the conflict between our own hearts and souls, which is to say, between where God dwells within our hearts and when we’re ‘willing’ something contrary in our thoughts.   Y’think?  

This brought me to another connection:  Yeshua’s last Seder prayer when He prayed to Abba, “That they may be one as you and I are one” (John 17:11). God is one within Himself as He is never conflicted or double-minded. Neither was Yeshua because His was “one” with God. His prayer is that we would be “one” with each other in the oneness They share.   It then became clear to me that the oneness He was speaking of wasn’t that all denominations believe the same doctrines, or that we all get along with one another without conflicts, but that we become one with the Father’s heart.  

Throughout history, the church, not always understanding God’s heart, often misunderstood what His will had been.  If His heart had been known, much bloodshed, excommunication and other ‘church hurt’ would not have happened at the hands or words of those who thought they were doing God’s will, as they took on the task of setting things right according to how they saw them, having missed His heart entirely. 

In being His faithful ones, as we are aware of His heart and His soul generally and specifically, we can assess His intentions and align ourselves with Him accordingly.  That’s where the peace and the grace come in big time.  Each of us must know in our own hearts where and to what He is calling us to be faithful. Have we taken time to ask God about what is on our own minds and hearts or to find out what His response is to something we’re intending?  If not, why not? Not everything that is done for God is of or from God. Remember the old adage about laboring in vain when God isn’t into what we’re doing (See Psalm 127:1) If something doesn’t line up with His Word, forget it.  If your ‘innards’ are disquieted, quit it. 

God’s promises are laced with His truth and His covenant faithfulness. He remains ever faithful, yet not so much to us as to His word that tells us how to avail ourselves of much of His faithfulness.  Sow faithfulness, reap faithfulness.  Of course He is faithful to watch over us all in some measure or the world wouldn’t continue, but those of us who know the security of being ‘one’ with Him, find being faithful to Him is our deepest desire out of our love for Him – and in response to His love for each of us.  

A final word that was actually the inspiration of this article in a response to a ministry email I received today just after my bible study time.  We must beware of being influenced by a man’s promises to be sure they are God’s heart’s desires, not man’s desires, or those meant to maintain our own projects, purposes, or plans. “Unless the Lord builds the house, he labors in vain who builds it” (Psalm 127:1). (Selah #4). 


[1] Selah means to stop and give thought to what was just said.




Monday, September 5, 2016

TO YOU, BELOVED!


King Abijar is outnumbered by Jeroboam's army but trusts God for victory. (II Chronicles 13:1-22)
Priests blowing trumpets on Rosh Hashana


Stepping away from our study on Mark this week - I discovered an interesting Hebrew ‘love gift’ from God having to do with the Hebrew month of Ilul. (Ilul rhymes with it and rule). Ilul began on September 4th and continues till October 2nd (in 2016), when Rosh Hashana begins.  The word Elul, the name of this month, is written like this in Hebrew: אלול


These particular four letters, אלול in Hebrew can stand for “Ani LeDodi, VeDodi Li” – “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” from Song of Songs 6:3.

There can often be found in the Hebrew Scriptures, hidden messages from God to His beloved people like a kind of code, or an acrostic. Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”  Since Yeshua “has made us kings and priests to His God and Father” (Revelations 1:6 and 5:10), it is our ‘glory’ as His priests and kings to search out such meanings. This is one of them.  Knowing Hebrew helps, needless to say, but here’s a little help for any non-Hebrew speakers with the deeper meaning that’s found in this one.  

Ilul precedes the month of Tishrei when Rosh Hashana begins at sundown on October 2nd.    Rosh Hashana is also called Yom HaTeruah, meaning the Day of the Trumpets. The sounding of the trumpets, the shofars, begins what is known as the Ten Days of Awe, the awe having to do with the reality that we live before a holy God and are accountable to Him.  These are ten days in which we are to examine our lives, to forgive whomever we need to forgive, and to repent wherever we have been lax in our faithfulness to the Lord, or knowingly disobedient to Him. After the ten days  is Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, a day for fasting, not for feasting.  It is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made by the High Priest for the whole nation for the coming year. If the people were repentant where need-be, the atonement would be accepted by God and each repentant person’s name would be written in the Book of Life for the next year.

Can you see the ENORMOUS significance that Yeshua’s atonement enabled all repentant persons’ names to be written in “The Lambs Book of Life” not just yearly but always!!  

For believers in Yeshua, whose sacrificial death was for all who will receive it for themselves, Yom Kippur is a day to come together with others believers to thank God for Yeshua’s atonement on our behalf. It is also a day in which many believers pray for Israel and the Jewish people world-wide, that the whole nation will come to know their Messiah and that God’s protection will be upon them – or however the Holy Spirit leads you to pray.  

If we want to say “repent” in Hebrew we say, “Lachzor b’Tshuvah.Repentance in Hebrew always means a return to God to whom all things belong. The two words indicate such a return.  Lachzor means to return as one might go away from home and return later, and the other, b’Tshuvah is from the root word to respond, or reply, to come back with an answer.
Here’s another instance where God is in the details.  How lovely of Him to reveal this reminder of His love for His in the letters for Elul – אלול.  The quote from Song of Songs which the letters can represent let us know that we are to express our love to Him in return for His love to us. What a wonder that our God desires a relationship, not only with Israel but with all who make Him their God.  The turning of repentance and thanksgiving is like the turning in response to God’s great love and forgiveness.

Should the following be of help to anyone, just as an example of a repentance which any of you reading this may feel a ‘call’ to do, I recently felt for personal reasons that I wanted to make sure the slate was entirely clean between God and me.  I spent a few hours a day for two days asking God to show me where I might need to repent of anywhere I had doubted Him in any way, or didn’t respond when I felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit to give Him my attention or obedience. I also asked Him to show me where I might need to forgive someone who had hurt me, shamed me, disappointed me, rejected me, in the past or present that I needed to forgive or repent of where I might have been rude or uncaring toward someone else.  I wasn’t doing this out of any psychological digging up the past kind of remembering. I let the Holy Spirit in His gentleness bring instances or person up to me.
I was surprised that He brought things to my mind from my childhood where I needed to forgive someone. This was not out of any sense that He was displeased with me, but that He wanted to free me from any residual angst, pain or shame that may have been tucked away somewhere inside – places only He knew about. I simply extended my entire forgiveness to them and prayed for God to bless them, to meet their needs and to show them His love as He was showing it to me.  What a freedom! This was no an ordeal but an easy time spent with Him.

May I suggest that we all may have some ‘stuff’ clogging up our receptivity to His love. This is a good way to use the Ten Days or any days. Believers, Jewish or non-Jewish, have often observed that God especially blesses those who honor Him by recognizing His holy days in some way, often by making us aware of His presence and His delight in us.  

The cornerstone of all that God has for us is accessed by repentance and forgiveness. This leads us into a life of being wrapped in His caring love and grace.  His great grace is extended to all who will receive it. I suggest there is a higher level of His grace to be realized in each of our lives when we extend the grace He’s given to us to others, including to forgive people we may not have seen for years, even if they don’t know a thing about it.

Your comments would be appreciated below.
This article may be forwarded or reproduced but must include:  Used by permission of LonnieLane.com, September 5, 2016.