#and Simon had to drag them back to their own Parables | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

dfroza · 4 years ago

Text

To be falsely accused.

even our Creator knows what this is like while standing in the face of men who accused Him of wrongdoing according to their own rules.

Today’s reading from the Scriptures begins with the 3rd chapter in the book of Mark:

On the Sabbath, Jesus had come into a synagogue where He saw a man with a withered hand.

The Pharisees held their breath: would Jesus cure this man on the Sabbath, right there in front of everyone? If so, they could charge Him with breaking the Sabbath law. Jesus knew their hearts. He called to the man with the withered hand.

Jesus: Come to Me.

Then He turned to the Pharisees with a question.

Jesus: Do our laws tell us to do good or evil on the Sabbath? To save life, or to snuff it out?

They remained silent.

Jesus was furious as He looked out over the crowd, and He was grieved by their hard hearts.

Jesus (to the man with the withered hand): So be it. Stretch out your hand.

The man stretched forth his hand; and as he did, it was completely healed. The Pharisees went directly from the synagogue to consult with the supporters of Herod, the Romans’ puppet ruler, about how they could get rid of this dangerous dreamer.

Meanwhile Jesus and His followers traveled to the shore of the Sea of Galilee; as always, a huge crowd from Galilee and Judea gathered. People had come from miles to see this man they were hearing so much about. They came from the big cities, including Jerusalem of Judea, Tyre and Sidon of Phoenicia, and from the region of Idumea, south of Judea. Since Jesus had healed so many, the sick and the infirm pushed forward constantly to touch Him, to be healed, and to ask His blessing. The crowd pressed so closely around Jesus that He asked His disciples to get a boat He could board if the crush became too great.

Most wanted to be near Him, except for those possessed by unclean spirits. Those people fell down before Him.

Unclean Spirits: You are the Son of God.

But He ordered them not to reveal His true identity.

Jesus called together a select group of His followers and led them up onto a mountain. There He commissioned them the twelve. [Later He calls them His emissaries.] He wanted them to be with Him. He sent them out to spread the good news and to cast out evil spirits [and heal diseases]. Here are the names of the original twelve: Simon (whom Jesus called Peter, meaning “the rock”), James and John (the sons of Zebedee, whom Jesus called “the Sons of Thunder”), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew (the tax collector, also called Levi), Thomas, James (the son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon of Canaan (who was also called “the Zealot”), and Judas Iscariot (who one day would betray Jesus to the authorities in Jerusalem so God’s purpose could be fulfilled).

Jesus and His disciples went into a house to eat, but so many people pressed in to see Jesus that they could not be served. When Jesus’ family heard about this craziness, they went to drag Him out of that place.

Jesus’ Family (to one another): Jesus has lost His mind.

The scribes, for their part, came down from Jerusalem and spread the slander that Jesus was in league with the devil.

Scribes: That’s how He casts out demons. He’s casting them out by the power of Beelzebul—the ancient Philistine god—the prince of demons.

When Jesus heard this, He tried to reason with them using parables.

Jesus: Listen. How can Satan drive out Satan? A kingdom that makes war against itself will collapse. A household divided against itself cannot stand. If Satan opposes himself, he cannot stand and is finished.

If you want to break into the house of a strong man and plunder it, you have to bind him first. Then you can do whatever you want with his possessions. Listen, the truth is that people can be forgiven of almost anything. God has been known to forgive many things, even blasphemy. But speaking evil of the Spirit of God is an unforgivable sin that will follow you into eternity.

He said this because the scribes were telling people that Jesus got His power from dark forces instead of from God.

When Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived, they couldn’t break through the crowd, so they sent word in to Jesus that He should come out to them. The crowd was pressed in tight around Him when He received the message, “Your mother and brothers [and sisters] are waiting outside for You.”

Jesus looked around.

Jesus (answering them): Who are My mother and brothers?

He called into the silence. No one spoke.

At last His gaze swept across those gathered close, and Jesus smiled.

Jesus: You, here, are My mother and My brothers! Whoever does the will of God is My true family.

The Book of Mark, Chapter 3 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 5th chapter of the book of Esther where Esther approaches King Ahasuerus with favor, and we read of the evil plot of Haman toward Mordecai:

When the third day arrived, Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace across from the king’s rooms. The king was sitting on his throne facing the palace entrance. He was pleased when he noticed Queen Esther waiting in the court. He extended his gold scepter with his hand, inviting her in. Esther walked toward him, and when she was close enough, she reached out and touched the king’s scepter.

King Ahasuerus: What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? I’ll give you anything—even half of my kingdom—all you need to do is ask.

Queen Esther: If it would please you, my king, I’d like for you and Haman to come today to a banquet I have made in your honor.

King Ahasuerus (looking at his servants): Go and find Haman this instant, so we can do as Esther desires.

So the king and Haman came to Esther’s banquet. As Haman, the king, and Esther were enjoying the wine at the end of her banquet, the king pressed the question.

King Ahasuerus: Now, my queen, what is your request? I promise that half of my kingdom is not too much to ask! Don’t be afraid to ask for whatever you want.

Queen Esther: I do want something. My request is: If I have found favor before you, and if you truly desire to grant my request, would you and Haman join me again tomorrow for another banquet I will prepare? Then I will answer your question.

Haman left dinner in high spirits, almost gleeful, but his joy was short lived. As he walked through the king’s gate, he passed by Mordecai. It angered Haman to see the Jew unwilling to stand and, worse still, seemingly unafraid. But he resisted showing his anger right then and there. Instead, he went home and spent time with friends and Zeresh, his wife. Haman spent the evening bragging to them about being rich and having lots of sons in his family. He even boasted about his relationship with the king, talking to his guests about his promotion above all of his fellow nobles and the officials of the king.

Haman: And that’s not all! Queen Esther invited me today to dine with her and the king. Just the three of us! And guess what? She’s invited me again tomorrow. What do you think about that? But I must be honest; seeing that Jew, Mordecai, as I pass through the gate makes it difficult to celebrate any of my good fortune.

Then his wife Zeresh and all of his friends came up with an idea.

Zeresh and His Friends: You should make a wood pole 75 feet high! Tomorrow morning, have the king sentence Mordecai to be executed on it. Then you’ll be able to have a good time at the banquet with the king.

Haman thought the idea was brilliant. So he had the pole made.

The Book of Esther, Chapter 5 (The Voice)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for friday, April 2 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible, along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

A post by John Parsons about a True search for significance:

You may feel anxious about knowing God, about how to relate to him or how to understand or interpret the Scriptures, though the heart can only know the essential meaning of God in the state of its need, as its ultimate concern, and therefore unless you cry out “from the depths” of your being, you are merely intellectualizing or playing games... After all, the inner heart asks "How can I find God?" "How can I relate to God?" "How can I find hope and life?" but the answers to such questions are found by personal encounter with the reality of the Spirit of God, not by theological rationalizations. It is one thing to say "Lord" or "Master" but quite another to say "my Lord," or "my Master..." The Torah teaches that name of God refers to that which God alone is, namely, the "I am that I am"(אהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה) which is unknowable apart from the miracle of disclosure within the heart. That is why we find so many different names and titles for God in Scripture, for these are disclosures to the heart in a time of its need. For instance, to know God's name as "Savior" (מוֹשִׁיעַ) means experiencing deliverance from your struggles, pains, and fears by the agency of God’s victory, comfort, and consolation as given in Yeshua. However, unlike the experience of worldly education wherein you might acquire skills to accomplish certain tasks, spiritual education leads to a “dark clouds of unknowing” where you must regularly confess your weakness and your need for divine connection. God's name is therefore bound up with the basic quest within your heart for meaning, healing, and the desire of unconditional love. Knowing the name of God is an ongoing process as you struggle to accept and trust your life to be a blessing, and as you are enabled by the Holy Spirit to say "yes" and "amen" to life despite your failures, pains, fears, sorrows, and even your unanswered questions... It means opening your heart to life and believing that you are beloved, that you are accepted, that you will be okay, and that God is holding you in his everlasting arms. Amen, friend, may you know the meaning of that Name! [Hebrew for Christians]

4.1.21 • Facebook

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research

April 2, 2021

When Messiah Came

“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” (Daniel 9:25)

This remarkable prophecy, given through the angel Gabriel to Daniel the prophet, actually predicted the date of the coming of Christ nearly 500 years in advance. From the announcement to the coming of “Messiah the Prince,” there would be 69 “weeks” (literally “sevens,” meaning in this context “seven-year periods”). That is, Messiah would come as the Prince 483 years after the commandment was given to rebuild Jerusalem. There is some uncertainty about the exact date of the decree, as well as the exact length of these prophetic years, but in each calculation the termination date is at least near or, in some cases, exactly the time when Christ entered Jerusalem to be acknowledged as its promised King.

However, Gabriel’s prophecy went on to say: “And after [the] threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off” (Daniel 9:26). That is, although He would come as promised, instead of being gladly crowned as King, He would be slain. Since the 483-year period terminated long ago, it is clear that Messiah must already have come and then been put to death at that time.

The terms of this remarkable prophecy have been precisely fulfilled in Jesus Christ alone, and no one coming later could have done so. It is no wonder that He wept over Jerusalem, pronouncing her coming judgment, “because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation” (Luke 19:44).

We, like He, should weep and pray for Israel. Yet, in God’s omniscient planning, “through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles” (Romans 11:11), and in this we can rejoice. HMM

0 notes

dfroza · 4 years ago

Text

A message that began with the Jews

to be shared with all the nations of earth where in Today’s reading from the book of Mark we see the 12 who were initially chosen who were with the Author

[Mark 3]

On the Sabbath, Jesus had come into a synagogue where He saw a man with a withered hand.

Jesus: Come to Me.

Then He turned to the Pharisees with a question.

Jesus: Do our laws tell us to do good or evil on the Sabbath? To save life, or to snuff it out?

They remained silent.

Jesus was furious as He looked out over the crowd, and He was grieved by their hard hearts.

Jesus (to the man with the withered hand): So be it. Stretch out your hand.

Most wanted to be near Him, except for those possessed by unclean spirits. Those people fell down before Him.

Unclean Spirits: You are the Son of God.

But He ordered them not to reveal His true identity.

Jesus’ Family (to one another): Jesus has lost His mind.

The scribes, for their part, came down from Jerusalem and spread the slander that Jesus was in league with the devil.

Scribes: That’s how He casts out demons. He’s casting them out by the power of Beelzebul—the ancient Philistine god—the prince of demons.

When Jesus heard this, He tried to reason with them using parables.

He said this because the scribes were telling people that Jesus got His power from dark forces instead of from God.

Jesus looked around.

Jesus (answering them): Who are My mother and brothers?

He called into the silence. No one spoke.

At last His gaze swept across those gathered close, and Jesus smiled.

Jesus: You, here, are My mother and My brothers! Whoever does the will of God is My true family.

The Book of Mark, Chapter 3 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments with Mark 3 is the 18th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy where God through Moses warns the people about practicing spiritual rites that are apart from God’s truth, such as predicting fortunes and sorcery and casting spells:

Moses: The Levitical priests and the whole tribe of Levi will not have any inherited property within Israel. They will be supported by the sacrifices and other offerings that are burnt and set aside for the Eternal. They won’t have any share in the land, as the other Israelites do, but the Eternal Himself will be their share as He promised.

Whenever someone sacrifices an ox or a sheep, the priests are entitled to these portions: one shank (a thigh and shoulder), the cheeks (those tender delicacies), and the fourth compartment of the stomach so they can have rennet to make cheese curds. You must also give the priests the first grain, wine, and olive oil you produce each year, and the first wool you shear from your sheep because the Eternal your God chose Levi and his descendants, out of all of your tribes, to stand in His presence and to serve in His name at all times.

If a Levite who’s living in one of your cities anywhere in Israel decides he really wants to go and live in the place the Eternal will choose, he must be allowed to serve in the name of the Eternal his God, like all of the other Levites who are already serving there in the Eternal’s presence. He must be given an equal share of the contributions to eat, apart from anything he earns for performing priestly services.

When you’ve settled in the land the Eternal your God is giving you, don’t imitate the horrible practices of the other nations. Don’t ever burn any of your sons or daughters alive as a sacrifice! And don’t ever get involved in any divining, such as predicting fortunes, interpreting omens, sorcery, casting spells, or trying to contact ghosts, spirits, or the dead. The Eternal is horrified when anyone does these things. It’s because of these horrible practices that the Eternal your God is driving those nations out ahead of you. You shall be complete in your obedience and devotion to Him.

Moses: The nations you’re going to displace seek guidance from people who practice divination and predicting. But the Eternal your God doesn’t want you to do that. He will raise up from among your own people a prophet who will be like me. Listen to him. This is just what you asked Him for on the day you gathered at Mount Horeb: “Don’t make me listen to the voice of the Eternal my God anymore! And don’t make me look at that blazing fire! I’ll die!” The Eternal told me, “They’re right. I’ll send them another prophet like you from among their own people. I’ll put My words in the mouth of this prophet who will tell them everything I command him to say. I, Myself, will punish whoever doesn’t listen to his words when the prophet speaks in My name. But a prophet who dares to say anything in My name that I haven’t commanded, or who says anything in the name of another god, will die.” Now you may be wondering, “How will we recognize something He hasn’t commanded a prophet to say?” If a prophet speaks in the Eternal One’s name, but the words turn out not to be true or the prediction doesn’t happen, then He wasn’t actually speaking. That prophet arrogantly spoke in the Lord’s name, but he didn’t really have a message from Him. And so you don’t need to be afraid of what the prophet said.

The Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 18 (The Voice)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for Thursday, july 16 of 2020 with a paired chapter from each Testament along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

A piece of Hebraic History shared by John Parsons in this post he shared yesterday:

The Scroll of Lamentations (מגילת איכה) is traditionally recited during Tishah B’Av to remember the destruction of the Holy Temple and other tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people. Lamentations is an acrostic poem that begins with the Hebrew letter Aleph in the word “eichah” (אֵיכָה): “How (eichah) lonely sits the city that once was full of people!” (Lam. 1:1). The sages note that this Hebrew word “how” (i.e., eichah) could also be read as “where are you?” (i.e., אַיֶּכָּה, ayekah), God’s first question to Adam after he broke covenant in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:9). The midrash draws a connection between the lamentation of the LORD over Adam’s banishment from Eden and Israel’s banishment from Zion (Hos. 6:7). In both cases the problem centers on the failure to ask where God is.

During the Tishah B’Av service at the synagogue, when the cantor reaches the second to last verse of the book, “Hashivenu,” he pauses and the congregation recites the verse in unison: Hashivenu Adonai, elekha vena-shuvah; chadesh yamenu ke'kedem: “Turn us back to You, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old” (Lam. 5:21). Often this verse is repeated and sung to a haunting melody as the scroll is returned to the Ark.

How many people today live in a state of self-imposed exile from the LORD? How lonely... God uses our loneliness and alienation to question our hearts, asking each of us, ayekah – “Where are you?” “Why have you turned away from me and chosen a state of exile?” Our inner pain is meant to provoke us to seek His face. He awaits our only possible response, “Hashivenu!” -- an imperative (demand) for the grace to repent: “You return us (i.e., you cause us to return) so that we may be reunited with you and healed!” We do not appeal to our own resources or strength to undergo this return, but rather trust that God’s sovereign grace is sufficient to restore us to His presence. As Yeshua said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up” (John 6:44).

The tears of the prophet Jeremiah represent God's compassionate love for the Jewish people; the Book of Lamentations is really God’s cry... God cares about the suffering of His people: b'khol tzaratam lo tzar (בְּכָל־צָרָתָם לוֹ צָר) - "In all their affliction he was afflicted" (Isa. 63:9). Even after all the horrors that befell the people of Judah due to God’s disciplinary judgment, the LORD still encouraged them to seek Him again. “The faithful love of the LORD (חַסְדֵי יהוה) never ceases, and his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23). Our response to the faithful love of the LORD is teshuvah (i.e., תְּשׁוּבָה, “turning [shuv] to God”). In Modern Hebrew teshuvah means an "answer" to a shelah (שְׁאֵלָה), or a question. God's love for us is the question, and our teshuvah – our turning of the heart toward Him – is the answer. We return to the LORD when we truly acknowledge that He is our Father and our King. Hashivenu: May we so turn today...[Hebrew for Christians]

7.15.20 • Facebook

0 notes