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frmartinshomiliesandreflections · 4 years ago

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5th March >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46 for Friday, Second Week of Lent: ‘They will respect my son’.

Friday, Second Week of Lent

Gospel (Except USA)

Matthew 21:33-43,45-46

This is the landlord's heir: come, let us kill him

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, ‘Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them. “They will respect my son” he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance.” So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They answered, ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him when the season arrives.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:

It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone. This was the Lord’s doing and it is wonderful to see?

‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.’ When they heard his parables, the chief priests and the scribes realised he was speaking about them, but though they would have liked to arrest him they were afraid of the crowds, who looked on him as a prophet.

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

This is the heir; let us kill him.

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures:

”The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?

“Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.

Reflections (11)

(i) Friday, Second Week of Lent

Brothers don’t always get along very well. It is not unusual for siblings to go their separate ways in the course of their lives. In today’s first reading we have a somewhat extreme case of sibling animosity. Jacob had twelve sons, and his favourite was his youngest son, Joseph. Joseph’s brothers wanted to kill him and would have done so were it not for the intervention of one of the brothers, Ruben. As a result, Joseph suffered the lesser fate of being thrown into an empty well. It was jealousy that drove the antagonism of Joseph’s brothers. They recognized that he was their father’s favourite, his coat of many colours being a symbol of that favouritism. In the language of today’s gospel, Joseph was the stone rejected by the builders. Yet, that rejected stone went on to become the cornerstone. Joseph was eventually taken captive into Egypt. There his natural abilities resulted eventually in his having a very important position in the Egyptian civil service. When famine struck the land of Israel, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt for food, and who was the Minister for Food when the brothers arrived, only their brother Joseph. The one they had rejected became their saviour. The early church saw in the story of Joseph a symbol of the story of Jesus. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus clearly identifies with the son of the landowner who was killed by the tenants. He is the stone rejected by the builders. Yet, beyond his rejection, his crucifixion, he became, as risen Lord, the cornerstone of a spiritual building, the church. The story of Joseph and Jesus reminds us that God can turn even our worst instincts to a good purpose. God is always working to bring good out of the mess we sometimes create. That realization can keep us hopeful when we are tempted to get discouraged by the consequences of our own failings.

And/Or

(ii) Friday, Second Week of Lent

In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus quotes from the psalm, ‘it was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone’. Jesus, of course, is speaking about himself. He was rejected by the religious and political leaders but he went on to become the keystone, the foundation of the church. Jesus’ experience of rejection did not have the last word. God worked powerfully in and through that experience of rejection and brought great good of it, not only for Jesus but for all who believe in him. There may be times in our lives when we feel a little bit like the rejected stone. We reach out to someone and they spurn us or do not respond to us. We can feel hurt and upset, annoyed with ourselves for leaving ourselves so vulnerable. Yet, those painful experiences in life can contain the seeds of new life. The Lord can work powerfully through them for our ultimate good. The experience that we might have considered at the time as totally negative turns out to bear rich fruit in our lives. We learn something from it; we grow through it. What seemed like an experience of death becomes a moment of new life. The Lord can always transform the rejected stone into the keystone. What he did for his Son he can do for us all.

And/Or

(iii) Friday, Second Week of Lent

There are a group of parishioners who meet every second Thursday evening to study and reflect on the Catechism. One of the gospel texts we were looking at last night, by coincidence, is this morning’s gospel reading. It is clearly a very appropriate reading for today’s feast, ‘The Chair of St Peter’. This is an ancient feast that has been kept at Rome since the fourth century; it celebrates the role of the Bishop of Rome as a symbol of unity for all Christians. In the gospel reading, Jesus identifies Simon as the Rock on which Jesus’ church will be built; as such, he is to be the focal point of unity within the church. Peter went on to become a leader of the church of Rome, and was martyred there during Nero’s persecution of the church. Successive Bishops of Rome, or Popes, continue that important role that Jesus entrusted to Peter of being the focal point of unity among disciples. The Bishops of Rome hold the church together, in communion with the other bishops, by interpreting the message and life of Jesus for us today. The Roman Catholic church is very large and is spread throughout the world, and yet it manages to hold together. In many respects that is down to the role of the Bishop of Rome or the Pope. This morning we give thanks for this great gift to the church, and we pray for the present Bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict, that he may be strengthened for his important work of watching over the church and keeping it united in faith and love.

And/Or

(iv) Friday, Second Week of Lent

In the gospel reading Jesus quotes the text from the prophet Isaiah, ‘the stone rejected by the builders became the keystone’. He was the stone rejected who went on to became the keystone of a new spiritual building, the church. The one through whom God was saying ‘yes’ to us all, was the one to whom many people said ‘no’ in very emphatic terms. The one who proclaimed God’s acceptance of us was himself rejected. The story of Jesus alerts us to the very real possibility of our rejecting the messenger God sends us. Sometimes what we are prone to rejecting, whether in ourselves or in others, can turn out to be the means through which God is speaking to us. The experiences that we react against, that we say ‘no’ to, may be the very experiences that can reveal God most powerfully to us. What we see initially as a threat of some sort can turn out to be a blessing. This morning we ask God to keep us open to all of the ways he chooses to come to us and speak with us.

And/Or

(v) Friday, Second Week of Lent

In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus tells a parable in which the son of a vineyard owner is killed by the tenants. In this way Jesus points ahead to his own rejection and death. Having spoken the parable, Jesus quotes from one of the psalms, ‘It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone’. Here Jesus points ahead to his resurrection. Although he was rejected by the religious and political leaders of the day, Jesus rose from the dead and in so doing became the keystone of a new temple, the temple of the church, the community of those who believed in him. The experience of Jesus teaches us that what is rejected can often turn out to be of crucial importance. What we might be initially inclined to reject can be the means through which God may want to speak to us. Those aspects of our own lives that we may be prone to reject and slow to accept may be the very channels through which the Lord can work most powerfully in our lives and, through us, in the lives of others. The experience of Jesus also suggests that God always has a purpose for what is rejected. God is not in the business of rejecting. Although we can reject God, God never rejects us.

And/Or

(vi) Friday, Second Week of Lent

The parable that Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading is largely a story of rejection. The owner of the vineyard sends two lots of servants to collect the produce of the vineyard, but they are rejected, and some of them are killed. They he sent his son in the full expectation that the tenants would respect him, but he too is killed. Jesus was really referring there to his own experience of rejection by many of his contemporaries, a rejection that would eventually end with his crucifixion. He is the stone rejected by the builders that Jesus mentions in the gospel reading. Yet, rejection does not have the last word. As Jesus says, quoting one of the psalms, the stone rejected by the builders became the keystone. God raised his rejected Son from the dead and made him the foundation or the keystone of the church. Any little experience of rejection can leave us deflated; we can be tempted to give up. The parable suggests that God is not like that. In the face of rejection, God just keeps working away; he takes the experience of rejection, the rejected stone, and builds something new upon it. We are being reminded that God is always at work, even in the most unpromising of situations. The God of Jesus Christ is the God of life who works in a life-giving way even in situations of death. Our refusal to receive the Lord’s coming, the Lord’s presence, does not in any way diminish his energy to work among us for the coming of God’s kingdom.

And/Or

(vii) Friday, Second Week of Lent

We have had some nice spring weather recently. People have been out doing some gardening. Various plants are being put in the ground; the good gardeners will look after them, making sure they are fed and watered, in the expectation that they will flower or bear fruit in the Summer. In the parable Jesus tells in this morning’s gospel reading, a farmer planted a vineyard and did everything necessary to ensure that he would be able to get grapes from the vineyard at harvest time. This did not happen however. The tenants responsible for ensuring that the farmer got the harvest that was his right turned against him in a violent way. The farmer did not give up. He leased the vineyard to other tenants in the hope that they would deliver the produce that his investment deserved. The parable suggests that God invests greatly in all of us and he looks to us to bear fruit that is worthy of his investment. When it is not forthcoming, God keeps working to bring that good fruit about. We cannot doubt God’s investment in us or his perseverance with us. It is our response that is in question. However, his repeated initiatives in our regard keep us hopeful. We may fail God. God does not fail us but keeps investing in us and gives us every opportunity to bear the good fruit he desires. Every day we have an opportunity to respond to the Lord’s investment in us.

And/Or

(viii) Friday, Second Week of Lent

In the parable Jesus speaks in this morning’s gospel reading, the killing of the vineyard owner’s son was Jesus’ way of indicating his own forthcoming rejection and death. Using a different image, Jesus declares that he was to become the stone rejected by the builders. Yet, quoting one of the psalms, Jesus goes on to say that this rejected stone would become the keystone, the most important stone in any building. In this way Jesus was looking beyond his rejection and death to his resurrection when he would become the keystone of a spiritual building, the church. It is often the way that the rejection stone can turn out to have a crucial role to play at some future time. We can often reject something initially and over time come to see that what we rejected is actually something very important. We say ‘no’ to something, some situation, or to someone, and then realize that what we are saying ‘no’ to is, in reality, God’s gift to us and God’s purpose for our lives. Our first reaction is not always the best one. We often need time to recognize the good in what we had dismissed as of no value.

And/Or

(ix) Friday, Second Week of Lent

As Jesus approaches the hour of his passion and death, he tells a parable about a vineyard owner’s son who is killed by the tenants to whom the vineyard was entrusted. Jesus must have seen in this story something of his own story that was unfolding, in particular, his death that was fast approaching. In his comment on the parable Jesus quotes a passage of Scripture which contained an image about a stone, a kind of a mini parable. The stone that was rejected by the builders as worthless went on to become the most important stone, the keystone, of a building. Again, Jesus would have recognized himself in the stone that was rejected by the builders, just as he recognized himself in the son of the vineyard owner who was killed. However, there is also a suggestion of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead in the image of the rejected stone that became a keystone. Jesus would be rejected in the most violent way imaginable. Yet, God raised him from the dead, thereby establishing him as the keystone of a new spiritual building, the church. The image of the rejected stone becoming a keystone is a powerful image of how God can work powerfully in situations of weakness, to use the language of Paul. For Paul, God worked powerfully through the weakness of Christ crucified on behalf of all humanity. God can turn our own rejected stones into keystones. God can work powerfully through those experiences in our lives which we reject as useless, worthless, of no value. As Paul declares in his letter to the Romans, ‘all things work together for good for those who love God’.

And/Or

(x) Friday, Second Week of Lent

The experience of rejection to be found in both readings today. Joseph is rejected by his brothers who were jealous of Joseph because their father loved him more than any of his other sons. They intended to kill Joseph, but, in the end, they threw him into a well and sold him on to some foreigners who were heading to Egypt. Joseph, the rejected one, rose to a very prominent position in Egypt. He went on to become the saviour of his brothers. At a time of great famine in the land of Canaan, later the land of Israel, his brothers had to go to Egypt for food and it was Joseph who was in charge of Egypt’s food supply at the time. The story of Joseph is an expression of the image that Jesus uses in today’s gospel reading, drawn from one of the psalms, ‘it was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone’. The parable that Jesus tells is also a story of rejection. The landowner sends his servants to collect the vine harvest from his tenants, and the servants are rejected and killed by the tenants. Finally, the landowner sends his son to collect the harvest, fully expecting that his son would be treated with respect. On the contrary, he is rejected in the most brutal way, thrown out of the vineyard and killed. Jesus must have seen himself in the person of the landowner’s son. He was thrown out of the city of Jerusalem and crucified outside the city walls. Yet, like Joseph, but to an even great extent, this rejected son became the saviour of those who rejected him. The stone rejected by the builders became the keystone. The crucified Jesus rose from the dead and became the keystone of a new community of believers which was open to all, including those who rejected him. Both readings suggest that God is always at work to bring good out of the suffering people experience because of the hostility of others. God works in a life-giving way in even the most unpromising of situations. This gives us hope as we try to come to terms with our own painful and difficult experiences of rejection and hostility.

And/Or

(xi) Friday, Second Week of Lent

In the parable that Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading, he would have recognized himself in the son of the vineyard owner who was killed by the tenants when he came to collect the produce of the vineyard. In his comment on the parable, where he quotes one of the psalms, Jesus would also have recognized himself in the reference to ‘the stone rejected by the builders’. However, whereas the killing of the vineyard’s son clearly refers to Jesus’ death, the reference to the stone hints at Jesus’ resurrection as well, because the stone rejected by the builders went on to become the keystone of the building. In the same way, Jesus who was rejected in the most violent way imaginably was raised from the dead by God the Father and became the keystone of a new spiritual building, the church. God brought great good out of the tragedy of Jesus’ death, not just for Jesus but for all who turn to him in faith. God saw to it that the rejection and death of his Son did not have the last word. God worked in and through that dark moment in human history for the good of all, including the good of those responsible for the death of his Son. That is how God and his Son, now risen Lord, continue to work today. In places of great darkness and death, the Lord is always working in a life-giving, life-affirming, way, and that is true of our own personal lives, of the life of the church and of the life of the human race. Our calling is to recognize the ways that the Lord is working for life, even at the heart of darkness, and to co-operate with this divine work.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

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judd051 · 6 years ago

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Response to olywitchcrew / the witchofthenorthtrilogy post re: LGBT concerns and Gardnerian Craft

27 April 2019

This is in response to a long post on this subject currently found at @thewitchofthenorthtrilogy I understand that she has had a serious problem with complaints being lodged about this. For the record, I have had nothing to do with that. I am always for open discussion of ideas.

I want to thank GG Irkalla for taking these issues seriously enough to give us a thoughtful commentary on Gardner, Gardnerian Wicca, and the LGBTQ+ community. I hope to address many of her statements, explain why they are based in misunderstandings of the Gerald Gardner, the Gardnerian Book of Shadows, and the Gardnerian Tradition as a whole, and reassure those possibly interested in Gardnerian Wicca that there is plenty of room for many possible interpretations of this living Pagan Tradition. Many of the problems with the way Irkalla presented her information are not unique to her, but are widely shared by those attempting to investigate traditions possessing “secret knowledge”. I hope to address these problems of interpretation along the way.

I am a Gardnerian priest with a coven and, after more than 30 years, more initiates than I can count. I am also a white, cisgender, heterosexual male and I recognize that certain blinders come along with that and that I undoubtedly benefit from privilege as a result. I hope that any such blinders and privilege have not gone unexamined. That being said, my initiates include those who self-identify as Straight, Gay, Lesbian, Bi, and too fluid to fit in those categories. All of us have found Gardnerian Wicca to be our most comfortable home in the broader context of Neopagan Witchcraft.

One of the problems in responding to Irkalla��s commentary is that Gardnerian Wicca is an initiatory Mystery tradition, with secret / oathbound material that cannot be shared with non-initiates. This is not unusual among the initiatory Pagan traditions, from classical antiquity to today’s Feri, NROOGD, Reclaiming (Yes, there is – or was – as secret Reclaiming initiation.), and Alexandrian traditions, and more.

Unless you are initiates, there is no way that you could have “immersed yourself” in the “Gardnerian Book of Shadows”; only in one of the many rip-off copies out there. The many inaccuracies in the “quotes” – as well as texts that aren’t in the BoS at all – make it clear that she did not have access to an actual Gardnerian BoS. Irkalla – and everyone else – can rest assured that any Book of Shadows texts they find online or in published books purporting to be the “Gardnerian Book of Shadows” are unlikely to be genuine or accurate, but – as stated above – I am hampered by what I can and cannot quote from an accurate or “real” Book of Shadows in response. For this reason, I won’t get into a point-by-point refutation of the “quotes” from the “Gardnerian Book of Shadows” brought up by Irkalla. However, I do want to make three general observations about her use of such texts.

Irkalla tries to tar the Gardnerian Tradition with a problem that is a problem for almost all modern Paganism – Wicca, Neopagan, Reconstructionist, Polytheist, and Traditional. Show me a tradition with inherited texts that does not have to deal with sexism, gender essentialism, heterosexism, and more in those texts. The older the texts, the worse the problem. This was one of the reasons that we called this movement “Neopaganism” to begin with – because we recognized the need for reinterpretation, not just revival.

Irkalla focuses on the texts in isolation while being completely unaware of the decades of textual analysis, exegesis, discussion, and reinterpretation of those texts that has gone on within the Gardnerian Tradition, as well as examination of how earlier versions of the Gardnerian texts changed over time before becoming the current Book of Shadows. We have been around for over a century (with roots possibly much older than that) and have members in almost every English-speaking country on Earth. Consequently, the internal discussion of the issues you brought up (and more, obviously) has been going on around the world and for a very long time; you’re just not privy to it. But not being privy to the internal discussion of another Tradition is no reason to assume that it doesn’t exist, especially to the extent of publicly attacking that Tradition based on such an assumption. Why not ask politely, and we could have a reasonable discussion of these issues.

Irkalla is getting erroneous material without context or commentary and assuming that it defines a tradition. All Gardnerians agree that there are texts in the Book of Shadows that we wish weren’t there, but would be loathe to change the text, since it is an historical document; consequently this is addressed through the addition of footnotes or commentaries. Passing on the BoS as it was received, with only additions being permitted, is a magical way of maintaining a link with our past – with those who have gone before – even while recognizing that some of that past should not be repeated. In this way, the BoS is an ever-growing compilation of our history. It is not scripture or binding Law. It is accumulated wisdom, and some of that “wisdom” is out of date and wasn’t that wise to begin with. The Book of Shadows is kept and maintained by the Tradition even as the Tradition grows and adapts to changing times. We aren’t going to tear out pages, no matter how offensive; rather we are going to incorporate new learning and new wisdom that addresses, explains, revises, and sometimes refutes what went before. It’s important to point out here that many texts are passed along as part of our history, while ignored in practice. For example, if we followed the Craft Law to the letter, the secrecy laws would be so strict that almost none of us would even know that the others exist! Times change and our understanding changes, but the texts – as historical documents – do not. This is one of the serious problems with relying on published, rip-off Books… you get (altered) historical texts without the notes or commentary, so you have no idea how the actual texts are being understood and applied in the Tradition by living practitioners.

Regarding the man and the Tradition, Irkalla’s remarks suffer from conflating two things – Gerald Gardner and what came to be called the Gardnerian tradition. Gardner was indeed a creature of his time and social setting and did indeed express ideas to those around him that we would now call homophobic. However, no one in the Gardnerian tradition considers Gardner to be a prophet or any kind of religious authority. None of us look to him for spiritual insight. (This has been abundantly clear during community Book of Shadows discussion groups.) He was a recorder of a tradition he inherited and passed on. The fact that he expressed views that we would find odious is separate from the fact that he was in the right place and time, and with the amateur academic inclination, to make sure that certain religious material survived rather than died out. Most of us know many people with admirable personal qualities who are simply wrong on other issues; many of us sit down at table with them every Thanksgiving.

Ronald Hutton, widely considered the leading academic authority on Craft, agrees that there was an earlier group that Gardner joined. That being the case, we should then ask what “Gardnerian” textual material Gardner might have written and what he merely passed on. I am solidly in the camp that believes – based on a long and detailed study of the source documents – that Gardner wrote virtually none of it and accurately passed on virtually all of it from an earlier source. (Fortunately, Gardner is not our only source for “Gardnerian” Craft. Material was passed down by people from the same coven Gardner joined in an independent line of transmission. This provides independent corroboration for material that predates Gardner.) So it is important to separate Gardner and the texts. You cannot interpret the texts based on what you believe about Gardner; nor can you attribute beliefs to Gardner based on what you thinks you find in the texts. Gardner’s authorship of the BoS texts is a claim that has not been proven; you cannot proceed on the assumption that it has.

Irkalla may be surprised that I agree that homophobia & queerphobia are widespread in the Gardnerian tradition, however I think that the presence of such views is not essential to the tradition and that there are many of us fighting these views by going back to the texts and the early history of the Tradition. There is what is called a “revitalization movement” underway in Gardnerian Wicca, and like all such movements it is a progressive one that hearkens back to the roots of a Tradition to address the ubiquitous problems of creeping conservatism and centralization of authority that afflict so many religious groups over time.

Irkalla wrote…

<< In particular we talked about the heterosexual focus and gender polarity of god/goddess (which is actually Duotheistic, not polytheistic, ) and how that can be alienating. >>

I have no doubt that these can be alienating and I sympathize with those who may have been put off, but it’s important to understand that these concepts are not essential to the Tradition. Yes, the Tradition has a Goddess & a God, but contrary to popular belief, these are not the New Agey “all Goddesses are THE Goddess” kind of archetypes. They are not somehow inclusive of everybody else’s deities. The Goddess & God of the Gardnerian tradition have names and discrete identities, just as the Goddesses and Gods of the Polytheist groups do. Gardner wrote about the Witches of his acquaintance…

“To them the concept of an All-Powerful God, one who could simply say, "Let there be peace. Let there be no sickness or misery", and all wars, sickness and misery would cease, and who for his own reasons will not say that word, and keeps men in fear and misery and want, is not fit to receive worship. They quite realise that there must be some great "Prime Mover", some Supreme Deity; but they think that if It gives them no means of knowing It, it is because It does not want to be known; also, possibly, at our present stage of evolution we are incapable of understanding It. So It has appointed what might be called various Under-Gods, who manifest as the tribal gods of different peoples; as the Elohim of the Jews, for instance, who made them in Their own image ("Elohim" being a plural noun), "male and female made They them"; Isis, Osiris and Horus of the Egyptians; the "portmanteau-word" of certain initiates, "Maben", which is MA, AB, BEN, or "Mother, Father and Son"; and the Horned God and the Goddess of the witches. They can see no reason why each people should not worship their national gods, or why anyone should strive to prevent them from doing so.” (The Meaning of Witchcraft, pp 26-27)

So, yes, the Wicca do believe in an underlying metaphysical non-theistic unity – just as most polytheistic cultures around the world and throughout time do and have also done – but also in individual deities at the level of our traditional practice and interaction. Recognizing the existence of the One in no way diminishes the depth or quality of my encounters with a particular Goddess or God. A monistic view of the Divine also allows us to comfortably engage in relationships with other Goddesses & Gods, but that should not be misunderstood as thinking that the Goddess & God of Gardnerian Wicca are somehow seen as summaries of all the other deities. The famous dictum of Dion Fortune – “All gods are one God and all goddesses are one Goddess, and there is one Initiator” – keeps getting projected onto Wicca, but Fortune was not a Gardnerian and these are not our views.

Also, and contrary to popular opinion, there is nothing in the Gardnerian corpus that says that the Goddess & God are a heterosexual couple! Yes, they have sex at least once in a particular informing myth, but once does not a relationship (or an orientation) make. The histories of these deities and the stories told about them include encounters of a significant variety. So, yes, if you want to find an example of a heterosexual encounter, you can, but if you want to find more than that, you can find that, too.

The problems come in when folks who are themselves focused on a magical polarity that they can only understand in terms of gender polarity then project this limited view onto the Gods. The sad fact is that for much of the modern history of Gardnerian Craft it has been practiced by conventional, heterosexual couples who could all too easily project their own sexuality onto their Goddess & God. As times change and a younger, more progressive element enters the tradition, interpretations inevitably change with them. There have been LGBTQ+ initiates comfortably practicing in the Gardnerian Tradition for decades, at least so they assert to me.

<< Some will claim that modern wiccans venerating a homophobic priest, living by his rules, and defending him dogmatically doesnt have any effect on how they treat LGBTQ+ people. that would be the most obvious possible case of a logical fallacy. >>

I don’t know any Gardnerians who “venerate” Gardner; we just acknowledge that we wouldn’t be here without what he did. (One could easily argue that none of modern Craft would be here – in its current form – without what he did.) Gratitude for a particular set of actions is not blanket approval of the man or all of his life. Gardner is not Muhammed (PBUH) and we do not look to his life for any sort of Hadith on how to live ours.

We don’t “live by his rules”. First, the “rules” aren’t his. Second, the “rules” (if Irkalla mean the Craft Laws) are an historical document situated (truly or not) in a time when Witches were an underground, persecuted secret society, and so many of them are not that useful today. They are ignored or re-interpreted all the time. Third, the “rules” address coven administration and group practice, not our lives.

Since I don’t “venerate a homophobic priest” or “live by his rules or “defend him dogmatically”, I think it’s fair to say that he does not “have any effect on how [I] treat LGBTQ+ people”. However, I am open to being shown otherwise.

(BTW, if you treasure your "Book of Shadows" or celebrate 8 Sabbats, then you should acknowledge the influence of the Gardnerians in your practice. I doubt that most of us – Gardnerian or not – are going to stop keeping a BoS or celebrating the Sabbats just because of their connection with a homophobic historical figure. If it makes you feel better, Gardner’s coven came up with the cycle of 8 Sabbats - instead of 4 - against his suggestions.)

Throughout Irkalla’s observations she conflates three things: what Gardner inherited, what Gardner believed, and what Gardnerians believe. She apparently read an inaccurate rip-off the Gardnerian BoS as if it were a Bible of sacred text, and in so doing demonstrated that she does not understand any of it.

<< In conclusion… If you see issues with Gardner, but you think the core of Gardnerian Wicca is basically good, and you want to build a tradition out of that which is LGBTQ+ inclusive, I can respect that. If you are a Gardnerian witch and see how he was a problematic figure, but due to investing your whole life in GW you feel you need to change it from the inside rather then leaving it entirely, I can respect that. >>

I’m glad, because that’s where I’m at, although my desire to be part of the change that has already been going on for many decades is not just because I’ve “invested my whole life”, rather I’ve invested my whole life because I find so much of value in the Gardnerian tradition to work with. And from what others tell me, I am not alone in this.

<< But…this man was homophobic. There is no way that that homophobia and heavy focus on male/female polarity and heteronormativity did not in some form bias the rituals and affect the way they were put together. >>

Since as far as I can tell, Gardner created or composed almost none of the Book of Shadows, it’s more of a question of the extent to which a homophobic, heteronormative approach informed virtually all of the magical / esoteric traditions of the past several centuries. This is something with which all of us in those esoteric traditions over a hundred years old have to grapple. Fortunately, we are seeing the self-critical eye being turned inward in almost all of these traditions. The Gardnerian tradition is having a tough time because 1) the internet has made inaccurate versions of homophobic texts from the Gardnerian Book of Shadows widely available without the decades of intra-traditional commentary and re-examination that brings these texts into the 21st century (or abandons them), and 2) as an oathbound Mystery tradition, we can’t just make all of that material available to everyone to clear things up.

<< If you insist on believing, in spite of the evidence, that Gardnerian Wicca is flawless and perfect and that the man made no mistakes, you are not an LGBTQ+ ally. >>

Anyone who would believe such a thing would not only not be an LGBTQ+ ally, such a person would be a deluded, insane moron. No tradition is flawless. No tradition is perfect. No person is without mistakes. And make no mistake, among Gardnerians, Gardner is just a man, nothing more.

<< Admittedly they [Spare & Crowley] were problematic figures too, but I don’t worship anyone as a hero, I look at what is good and what is bad and I do my best to salvage the past to build something healthy today. >>

Hear, hear! I completely agree. Unless Irkalla demands a double standard for herself and for Gardnerians then she has succinctly answered all of her own criticisms that have any validity to them.

<< What Wiccans hold on to so desperately is the idea of a whole, intact, complete witch tradition, but the reality is that there is no such thing. Its all ripped up bits and scraps and a collage of what is left, and accepting that is the only logical starting point, in my perspective. >>

Gardnerian Wiccans, as a tradition, do not hold onto any such thing. We are well aware that there have been gaps in transmission, requiring reconstruction, but those gaps are far fewer and far smaller than many suppose. And we are aware that any tradition of any age requires reinterpretation to move successfully into the 21st century. What Irkalla appears not to be aware of – because she has no access to it – is that such reinterpretation is already going on. She should give people the benefit of the doubt, ask questions, and learn more before launching a broadside at a Tradition. As with most Neopagan traditions, we do not proselytize, but if your true goal is to learn more, there are folks available who can answer your questions. Learning begins with dialogue. We always want to live in peace with all our siblings and colleagues in the Craft. Peace begins with speaking truthfully about others, to the best of our ability. I look forward to continued, informed conversations.

Blessed Be,

Judd051

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yogacertification42-blog · 5 years ago

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Exactly what is Yoga?

click on this web-site for more understanding The word pilates can often be interpreted as "union" or maybe a method of self-control from the Sanskrit concept "yuj" (to yoke or even bind). A males practitioner or healthcare provider is called a yogi, a female practitioner, any yogini. The Postures....

Typically the fashionable western approach to be able to yoga is absolutely not based in any particular idea or perhaps religion, however Yoga exercises does indeed has its beginnings inside Hinduism and Brahmanism. Pilates was developed by seers or ascetics living generally in the southern pieces of China. The seers observed mother nature and enjoyed as in close proximity as many people could to the the planet, studying the many features of dynamics, the wildlife and their selves. By seeing and emulating the distinct postures and behaviors connected with the animal kingdom these folks were able to develop style, toughness and wisdom.

The idea was via these incredibly disciplined day-to-day lives that typically the practice of the meditation postures were developed. It turned out necessary to develop some sort of series of forme for you to keep the body lithe as well as able to manage long periods associated with quietness when in meditation. Often the Writings....

Brahmanism dates rear to help containing sacred scriptures referred to as "the Vedas". These kind of scriptures contained instructions and also incantations. It was throughout the oldest text message "Rg-Veda" from the scriptures the fact that word Yoga first seemed, this was nearly 5k a long time ago. The fourth wording called "Atharva-Veda" contains largely spells to get magical règles and health and fitness cures quite a few of which use medicamentoso plants. This text given the average person together with the spells along with incantations to use in all their everyday activities and this train of "Veda" can nevertheless be seen in often the pavement of India currently. The actual Bhagavad-Gita, another early improve spiritual life represents themselves as a yoga exercise treatise, while it uses the actual word Yoga for a faith based means. It was because of this literature that Patanjali's "eight limbs of yoga" were being developed. Yoga Sutra's are generally primarily concerned with getting the particular "nature of typically the mind" i will reveal more of this kind of with the next section.

The particular Range....

The vratyas, a new group of libido priests who worshipped Rudra, lord of the wind will attempt to imitate often the sound on the wind by means of their vocal skills. They observed that they may make the sound through the actual control over their breath in addition to by way of this practice regarding breath of air control was made "Pranayama". Pranayama is the particular practice of air handle in yoga.

Typically the Walkways....

The Upanishads, some of the holy revelations of historical Hinduism developed the two martial arts disciplines of karma yoga, the road of action and jnana yoga, the path involving knowledge. Often the paths ended up developed to support the scholar liberate from hurting as well as eventually gain enlightenment. The actual teaching from the Upanishads differed from that connected with the Vedas. The particular Vedas demanded external attractions in order to the gods in get to have an enormous, content life. The Upanishads by the practice of Karma yoga focused on typically the internal give up of often the ego in order to be able to free from suffering. On the other hand of the lose associated with crops and pets or animals (external) it was the forfeit of the inner confidence which would become the essential philosophy, so yoga evolved into known as the way regarding renunciation.

Yoga gives you a number of characteristics also with Yoga that can be tracked back via history. While in the sixth centuries F. C., Buddhism in addition worries the importance of Introspection along with the practice of actual physical poses. Siddharta Gautama seemed to be the initially Buddhist for you to actually study Meditation.

What exactly is Yoga Sutra and also the did the Philosophy involving Yoga develop?

Yoga Sutra is a compilation connected with 195 statements which in essence supply an ethical guide with regard to lifestyle a moral existence and also incorporating the scientific disciplines of yoga exercises into that. An Indian sage identified as Patanjali was shown to have got collated this through 2200 years ago and the idea has end up being the cornerstone regarding classical pilates philosophy.

Typically the word sutra suggests basically "a thread" and is particularly employed to denote a special way of written and verbal transmission. Because of the actual brusque style the particular sutras are written from the university student must rely on the guru to interpret typically the philosophy contained within each. The meaning within each one of the sutras could be tailored to often the present student's particular needs.

Often the Yoga exercise Sutra is any system of meditation even so there is not some sort of single brief description of a new posture or asana within it! Patanjali developed information for living the suitable lifestyle. The core associated with his / her teachings is the actual "eightfold way of yoga" or "the eight arms and legs of Patanjali". These usually are Patanjali's suggestions for dwelling a better life by means of yoga exercise.

Posture and breathing command, the two regular practices regarding yoga tend to be described as your third along with fourth limbs inside Patanjali's eight-limbed path to self-realisation. The third practice involving the posture make right up today's modern yoga exercises. If you join a pilates class you may come across that is everything you should fit with your lifestyle.

The nine limbs of yoga

one The yamas (restraints),

These are definitely like "Morals" you dwell your lifetime by: Your societal carryout:

o non-violence (ahimsa) : To not injure a living person

to Truth and reliability (satya) - To not are located

o Nonstealing (asteya) rapid To not steal

a Nonlust (brahmacharya) - keep away from incomprehensible sexual encounters instructions small amounts in sex in addition to all stuff.

o Nonpossessiveness or non-greed (aparigraha) -- don't set, free by yourself from avarice and content desires

minimal payments niyamas (observances),

These are the way we cure ourselves, our intrinsic willpower:

o Purity (shauca). Reaching purity through the exercise of the five Yamas. Your body as the temple and looking out after the item.

o Peace of mind (santosha). Come across happiness about what you get and what you accomplish. Have responsibility for everywhere you are, find enjoyment in the moment as well as tend to grow.

o Austerity (tapas): Develop self control. Indicate discipline in entire body, dialog, and mind to help prefer a higher psychic purpose.

e Study connected with the sacred written text (svadhyaya). Education. Study guides specific to you which really encourage and teach you.

i Living alongside an awareness associated with the Divine (ishvara-pranidhana). Possibly be devoted to whatever is the best god or whatever anyone find as the work.

3. asana (postures) :

These are the particular mine of yoga:

to To help create a supple physique as a way to sit for any lengthy time and continue to the mind. If you actually can control the system a person can also control typically the mind. Patanjali and different ancient yogis made use of asana to prepare the human body intended for meditation.

Just often the practice with the yoga forme can benefit your well being. It can be commenced every time and any grow older. As we grow aged most of us stiffen, do an individual remember a final time anyone may have squatted up to pick something up and exactly how you felt? Imagine because you age into your 50's, 60's, seventies and about being able to nonetheless touch your toes or maybe balance on one limb. Did you know the majority regarding injuries sustained by aged are from crumbles? Most of us tend to lose each of our sense of balance as we raise older and to training an issue that will help that is surely a bonus.

The actual fourth limb, breath management is a good auto to use when you are attracted in learning meditation and also relaxation.......

4. pranayama (breathing) - the control involving inhale:

inhalation, retention connected with breath of air, and exhalation

a The particular practice of inhaling helps to ensure profound results to concentrate along with meditate. Prana is the actual energy in which exists everywhere you go, it is the lifetime force that flows by way of each of us by all of our breath.

5. pratyahara (withdrawal of senses),

e Pratyahara is a resignation of the feels. The item occurs during relaxation, breathing in exercises, or the process of yoga postures. After you master Pratyahara you will probably be able to concentrate in addition to concentrate and not possibly be distracted by outward physical.

6. dharana (concentration), rapid teaching the mind in order to focus.

i When take up there is no impression of time. The are directed is to even now the particular mind e. g. solving the mind on 1 object as well as pushing almost any thoughts. Accurate dharana is definitely when the head can certainly concentrate effortlessly.

6. Dhyani (meditation), - your deep breathing

o Concentration (dharana) sales opportunities to the state associated with meditation. With meditation, one particular has a heightened good sense of awareness and is actually a single with the market. It is staying uninformed of any distractions.

main. samadhi (absorption), - definite bliss

o Absolute paradise is the ultimate purpose regarding meditation. This will be a state involving institute with yourself and your own personal jesus or the devine, this is when you actually and the universe are usually just one.

All eight hands or legs join hands: The first all 5 are with regards to the body and also brain- yama, niyama asana, pranayama, along with pratyahara instructions these are typically the skin foundations of yoga and gives some sort of platform for a non secular life. The last several are generally about reconditioning often the mind. These folks were developed to be able to help the doctor for you to attain enlightenment or oneness with Spirit.

How complete you find the type connected with yoga right for a person?

Any type of yoga you pick out to practice is usually altogether an individual preference therefore why we are hunting into the following to guide you start. Some forms hold the postures extended, many move through these individuals quicker. Many styles concentration on body place, other individuals differ in the groove and selection of poses, yoga and spiritual acknowledgment. Each is adaptable to the actual student's bodily situation. You actually therefore ought to determine precisely what Yoga style of your unique psychological and actual desires. You may just wanna vigorous workout, want to help consider developing your mobility as well as balance. Do an individual want more provide for introspection or just the wellbeing areas? Some schools coach comfort, some focus with strength in addition to agility, as well as others are more exercise.

I suggest you test a few several sessions in your area. My partner and i have observed that even concerning teachers with a certain model, there can be locations how the student relishes your classmates. It is critical to find a professor you feel comfortable using to truly enjoy and as a consequence create longevity in what exactly anyone practice.

Once you actually start finding out the posture and establishing them to get your body you could really feel to do train at home likewise! All of yoga types include sequences that can be applied to the office different parts associated with your body. To A new 16 minute practice throughout the morning could possibly be your personal start to the morning. Your entire body will feel robust and lithe within not any time and with know-how, the choice is at this time there for you to build your own routines.

The Important Programs of Yoga

Typically the two important systems regarding yoga usually are Hatha and also Yoga Hendidura Yoga. Rajadura yoga draws on the "Eight Limbs involving Yoga" formulated by Pananjali inside Yoga exercises Sutras. Raja is definitely element of the classical American native indians Approach to Hindu Philosophy.

Hatha meditation, also Hatha vidya is often a particular system connected with Yoga created by Swatmarama, a yogic sage associated with the 15th centry with India. Swatmarama produced the particular "Hatha Yoga Pradipika", which will introduced the system regarding Hatha Yoga. Hatha yoga exercise is derived from a new number of different practices. It is about from the heritage of Yoga which include things like the Hinayana (narrow path) and Mahayana (great path). It also comes by typically the traditions of Tantra together with Sahajayana (spontaneous path) along with Vajrayana (concerning is important involving sexuality). Within Hatha yoga exercises there are a variety of branches or kinds of pilates. This form of meditation works through the real medium sized of the system using mine, breathing physical exercises and detoxification practices.

Often the Hatha Pilates of Swatmarama differs from Raja Meditation of Patanjali in this it focuses on Shatkarma, "the purification of often the physical" as a course leading to "purification connected with the mind" and "vital energy". Patanjali begins having "purification of the imagination in addition to spirit" and in that case "the body" through forme and air.

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discoveringthebible · 3 years ago

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Theology Research Paper

AKA The Exegetical Paper

In the field of Theology, there is a type of research of Biblical text known as Exegesis. In my online class, New Testament Gospels, I had to write one for my big semester project. We were able to pick our own topics. I chose to do the Parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:23-37. (All Translations actually start with verse 25, but for context purposes for my paper, I started with verse 23.)

Below is the research paper. I thought I knew a lot about this parable, but I learned a lot completing this. (Yes, it is long. It comes out to approximately 18 pages in Microsoft Word at 12 point font Times New Roman.

(Normally there is a specific standard in which exegetical papers are written, but because of this blog, some of the format changed.)

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

Luke 10:23-37

By Cody Marie Bolton

INTRODUCTION

ORIENTATION AND CONTEXT

Significance of Text

The Parable of the Good Samaritan answers a very important question, “Who is my neighbor?” In this paper, I will attempt to convey that this passage of Scripture proves that everyone is our neighbor. In order for us to real grasp the Gospel message, we need to not only believe in who Jesus is, but also go out and share that with our neighbors, not just with our words, but especially with our actions.

There have been two major ways in which to interpret this parable. I am not going to use this paper to side with one way of interpretation. I am not going to push for whether or not the Samaritans were in fact hostiles against the Jews in Jesus’ day or not. While many scholars do believe this, however, there is a growing debate to suggest in fact, they were not. The purpose of this paper is to focus deeper on what it means to “be a neighbor” and how this passage helps us look at the major themes of compassion, mercy and love.

“…the parable of the Good Samaritan elevates the importance of showing mercy, and implies that it is an essential response of God’s people to his covenant” (Luke 10:25-37; Deut. 6:4-5; Lev. 19:17-18), and to be valued much more than mere cultic acts (Hos. 6:6; Matt. 9:13.) (Alexander, 622).

A parable is a very common teaching done by Jesus, as represented in the Gospel. “The most famous form used by Jesus in his teaching is the parable. Scholars have frequently pointed out that this is the most characteristic element of his teaching, for not less than 35 percent of his teaching in the Synoptic Gospels is found in parabolic form” (Stein, 33). Stein has also suggested that this parable has a specific form. One that made it easier for those hearing it to remember it. He suggests that Jesus was teaching using irony.

In a broader sense, however, irony, can refer to an event or a result that is opposite to what one would normally expect….Some possible example of irony in the Gospels are:….Luke 10:29-37 (the irony here in the reversal of roles-the devout of Israel [the Levite and the priest] are the villains and the despicable half-breed and rebel [the Samaritan] is the hero) (Stein, 22).

It is important to note that “[p]arables are not a shortcut to wisdom. They foster through reflection, meditation, and emotional engagement. They challenge accepted norms and subvert attempts to assign simplistic meaning. In interpreting parables one must work for the reward, and then own the result” (Neale, 45). We must remember that when we study or read parables, that there is no easy understanding and that we must work toward their meaning. The fact [t]hat Jesus’ parables continue to stimulate, even centuries after they were spoken, proves that he was a master of the genre” (Neale, 45). When we study the communication greats, like Aristotle, Hitler, etc., we should also be taking a close look at Jesus because Jesus had an incredible influence with spoken word over tens of thousands of people.

Historical and Social Setting

In doing research for this topic, I came to a couple of different conclusions for the historical and social setting. And much of it came down to whether or not there was a lot of hostility between the Samaritans and the Jews. Most commonly, it has been interpreted that there was hostility between the two people groups, because the Jews believed the Samaritans perverted the Jewish bloodline and were considered “half-blood.” A newer interpretation suggests that there was no hostility and that there were no differences between the two groups.

“Scholars most often interpret the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) one of the best known passages in the New Testament, in the context of intergroup hostility between Jews and Samaritans….Ancient text contemporaneous with Luke-Acts often include Samaritans within Israel without marginalization or classification as absolute non-Jewish “others.” The emphasis on absolute difference emerges rather, from a scholarly habit of both racialized and polemicized readings of the text” (Chalmers, 543).

Literary Context

The Parable of the Good Samaritan was written in the Gospel according to Luke. “He [Luke] is an evangelist in the sense that he seeks to persuade his readers to adapt a life of repentance and redemption” (Neale, 33).

“A significant amount of material found in Luke is neither in Mark nor Matthew. Thus the ‘special’ Lukan material is especially important….[t]he analysis of this material provides the richest source for understanding Luke’s unique perspectives and receives particular attention” (Neale, 33).

Jesus used parables to illustrate and reveal his message to his followers. Certainly the parable of the Good Samaritan illustrates ‘who is my neighbor’ (Luke 10:29) in a most unforgettable way, even as the story of the prodigal son illustrates the love of God for sinners and his joyous welcome of the repentant in a heart-moving manner. There is therefore truth in the view that some parables are meant to ‘illustrate.’ Yet frequently the meaning of a parable was available only to the disciples, to whom ‘he [Jesus] explained everything in private’ (Mark 4:34) (Stein, 40-41).

Robert H. Stein, in his revised edition of The Method and Message of Jesus’ Teachings, says that the Parable of the Good Samaritan is a type of parable known an allegory. “In an allegory the details of the story are not simply coloring to fill out the story. They are not simply parts of the main story, as in story and example parables, but are of great importance in and of themselves and must be ‘interpreted’” (Stein, 37).

We need to remember that there was a lot of diversity in Jesus’ day. Not just diversity in culture, but there was diversity is religions as well. “Scholarship since the mid-twentieth century has shown that Judaism was diverse in the first century A.D. A negative characterization of all Jews in Palestine in the period is no more appropriate that it would be of any religious group at the time. Jesus was a Jew, after all, as were all of the disciples and first Christians” (Neale, 38).

PRESENTATION OF TEXT

Scripture Passage

Although the official section for the Parable of the Good Samaritan begins at Luke 10:25, for purposes of context and background information, I am starting with verse 23 in the English Standard Version (ESV).

23: Then turning to the disciples and he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24: For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

25: And behind, a lawyer stood up to put him to the text, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26: He said to him, “What is written in the Law and how do you read it?” 27: And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28: And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”

29: But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30: Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half-dead. 31: Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, passed by on the other side. 32: So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33: But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34: He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35: And the next day he took two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, “Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I get back.” 36: Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37: He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Text Critical Notes

In the original Greek, the same word that has been translated in English, as “blessed are” is used in both Luke 10:23 as it is used throughout Matthew 5. According to the Strong’s New Testament Greek Concordance online: “makários, describes a believer in ‘fortunate’ position from receiving God’s provisions (favor)—which (literally) extended (“make long, large”) His grace (benefits). This happens with receiving (obeying) the Lord’s inbirthings of faith.”

In verse 34, in the ESV, the Samaritan brings the badly injured man into an inn. According to the ESV Archaeology Study Bible, the Greek word used here for inn is pandocheion, which is “a proper way station for travelers, as opposed to katalyma “guest room” which appears in Mark 14:14; Luke 2:7; 22:11 (pg. 1504).

Outline of Passage

I. Jesus addressing the disciples and religious leaders (10:23-24)

II. A Lawyer testing Jesus and Jesus’ initial response (10:25-28)

III. The Lawyer trying to justify himself and Jesus’ parable (10:29-37)

a. Man getting robbed and left for “half-dead” (10:30)

b. The Priest (10:31)

c. The Levite (10:32)

d. The Samaritan (10:33-35)

IV. Jesus asking the Lawyer the Point and Purpose of His parable (10:36-37)

JESUS ADDRESSING THE DISCIPLES AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Beginning with verse 23, we see Jesus having a private conversation with his disciples, however, as we understand from verse 25, the disciples were not the only ones in close proximity listening to Jesus. While there is not much mentioned here, Jesus does bless his disciples, and uses the same type of blessing that He used in his Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5:1-12, ESV): “blessed are.” [See Text Critical Notes for more information.]

A LAWYER TESTING JESUS AND JESUS’ INITIAL RESPONSE

Starting with verse 25, a lawyer enters the picture, with Jesus and His disciples. According to the ESV Reformation Study Bible online, a lawyer is “an expert in the law of God, and so a religious man. Yet he was not genuinely looking for information but for something that would enable him to accuse Jesus.” From other passages in the Bible, we understand that Jesus is not surprised by this lawyer’s actions, but listens and answers this lawyer anyway. Jesus wants to know this lawyer’s perspective on the Bible and all the laws that are written in it. This would be summarizing all 613 commands in the Mitzvah.

According to Britannica online, it states that a Mitzvah is

any commandment, ordinance, law or statue contained in the Torah (first five books of the Bible) and, for that reason, to be observed by all practicing Jews. The Talmud mentions 613 such mitzvahs, 248 mandatory and 365 prohibitive…Through nonobservance of a mitzvah constitutes a transgression, it is understood that not all mitzvahs are of equal importance; circumcision, for instance, is a direct response to a divine command, while the wearing of a skullcap in public is not. In a broader context, Jews consider all good deeds as the fulfillment of mitzvahs, for such actions express God’s will.

Because this lawyer is an expert in the law, Jesus wants to know how he interprets it, as he has spent his whole life studying it—it should be something he can and should be able to do. So, Jesus asks him, and the lawyer answers him, referencing back to a very important commandment from Deuteronomy 6:5: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (c.f. Luke 10:27, ESV). The lawyer also adds loving your neighbors into the mix. Jesus commends the lawyer in verse 28 and then tells him to follow this mitzvah.

THE LAWYER TRYING TO JUSTIFY HIMSELF AND JESUS’ PARABLE

The lawyer, although we do not get the adjective shrewd, might as well have been a shrewd lawyer. According to verse 29, he wanted to “justify himself.” He essentially wanted to know what he could get away with not doing, but still following this commandment of loving God, and loving his neighbor. And here we get the all-important question, “Who is my neighbor?” It’s clear that this lawyer wanted Jesus’ answer to be something like: “those who think like you; those who look like you; whose who worship like you; those who live next door to you.” But this isn’t what Jesus had in mind, hence an important, yet, as we already pointed out, the ironic parable begins.

a. Man getting robbed and left for “half-dead”

We are introduced to a man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. We don’t know anything else about him. We don’t know if he was from Jericho or Jerusalem, but culturally, both of those cities were presumably Jewish. What we do know is that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and ended up getting mugged, pretty badly, and was left for dead on the side of a road, by not one, but by at least two robbers, since the term robbers is pluralized. They took his clothes and beat him, probably hoping that he would die and that the wild animals would dispose of his body. This man was lying there, in considerable pain, naked, and most likely covered in blood. We also don’t know anything else about these robbers, where they came from, or where they went, we just know what it was they did.

b. The Priest

And then, in verse 31, we are introduced to a Priest, who happened to be walking along this same road—from Jerusalem to Jericho. We don’t know much about him either, except that being a Priest means that he is a religious leader. One who is an expert in the law. You’d think a Priest, someone who was charged with teaching people about God, would help this “half-dead” man, but no. Instead, when he notices the man on the side of the road, he crosses the street and continues walking. Maybe the man looked dead, or maybe he was reaching out for help. Although the parable doesn’t say, we know that this priest would have known all 613 commandments, which would have included Numbers 19:11-16. To paraphrase, it was forbidden to touch a dead body, or the person touching it would be unclean for a week, but then had to cleanse themselves to become clean again, or they could be “cut off from Israel.” It is important to note that a High Priest, otherwise called a Kohen Gadol, “may not defile himself for any dead person” (Negative Mitzvah #168, pg. 22).

c. The Levite

After the Priest walked on by, we then see a Levite. A Levite, is, essentially, an assistant to the Priest, someone from the tribe of the house of Levi. Maybe this Levite was associated with the Priest, Jesus doesn’t specify. But similarly, a Levite would also know all 613 commandments, and would have therefore walked by and not assisted for probably a very similar fear, if not the same fear of “becoming unclean.” So, out of fear for his own personal “status,” he leaves this poor man in the road, still bleeding, still needing desperate help so that he doesn’t succumb to his injuries.

d. The Samaritan

And this is where we are introduced to the Samaritan. As stated before, there are two ways in which we can look at the Samaritan from the cultural perspective of Jesus’ day. The more common interpretation is that the Samaritan was someone who was not a welcome person in Jewish circles (even though they were half-Jewish). They were seen as the outcasts, those who defiled what it meant to be wholly Jewish. The second perspective, as stated above by a quote from Childers, suggests that there was no hostility between these two people groups in Jesus’ time. In any case, it is the Samaritan who is the star of this ironic parable.

Now, the lawyer listening to Jesus’ story, is probably shocked to hear Jesus introduce a Samaritan regardless, and wondered, “What is this Samaritan going to do?” Jesus doesn’t specify the journey that this Samaritan is on, but he does something the other two in the story did not do: He had “compassion” on this “half-dead” man, as verse 33 says. He didn’t just check to see if the man on the side of the road was dead or alive. “He went to him and bound up his wounds.” This Samaritan wasn’t worried about becoming unclean, he wasn’t worried about anything in regards to himself, he was worried about the bleeding man. He not only put band-aids on this man’s wounds, but treated them as best as he could with what he had: i.e., oil and wine, as verse 34 informs us. He then, he put this injured man on his animal, probably a donkey or camel, and walked alongside, guiding both to an inn, a place where this man could be better taken care of than on the dirty, hot road. [See Text Critical Notes]

Now, this could have been the end of it, and the Samaritan would have been remembered for helping this man, but no. Once he got him to the inn, and made sure this injured man was as comfortable as he could be, he paid in advance for care this this man needed, plus he would pay for any additional fees that would incur with his future care.

The Samaritan displays the selfless love that God commands of us. While we do not know if he was a real person or not, “What we have described in the parables stems from everyday experience. No doubt many of them arose out of experiences that Jesus had as a child, youth, and young man in Nazareth….Jesus was no doubt observant as a child and saw in incidents occurring around him examples that he later incorporated into his parables” (Stein 41-42).

Because of this however, we cannot rule out the possibility that the Samaritan wasn’t a real person. Whether he was a real person or not, isn’t what is important. What is important is his example, and how we can learn from that example. C.S. Lewis, in his book, The Problem of Pain, goes deep into the reasons why pain exists. To summarize his work, he suggests, and according to this author, rightly so, that the pain and suffering that humanity deals with stems from The Fall. And that because of our free will to choose to do harm, God therefore cannot stop it from happening. (To specifically read his views, refer to chapter 3). However, this is where Samaritans and Christians of the world are so important. It is here that we can help heal and restore some of what has been broken with examples of compassion, love and mercy. And this means to lay aside our own thoughts and feelings for the sake of others.

There is another route to the center: a more reckless and extravagant path, which is attained not through storing up that energy or concentrating the life force, but through throwing it all away—or giving it all away. The unitive point is reached not through the concentration of being but through the free squandering of it; not through acquisition or attainment but through self-emptying; not through ‘up’ but through ‘down’” (Bourgeault, 66).

But, if Christians love, whether God or fellow Christian, it is in response to God’s love (Col. 3:12-15; 1 Pet. 1:8; 1 John 4:11.) Although Christian love is invariable the obligation of Christians, it is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:13). It is characterized by humility and gentleness (Eph. 4:1-2); in emulation of the Master, it eschews retaliation (1 Pet. 3:8-9). Inevitably self-restraint becomes a watchword (Rom. 14:13-15) as the Christian learns to love with heard and attitude no less than with action (1 Cor. 13)” (Alexander, 649).

JESUS ASKING THE LAWYER THE POINT AND PURPOSE OF HIS PARABLE

After finishing this ironic parable, Jesus asks this lawyer a very simple question in verse 36, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” There is absolutely no denying that the answer is the Samaritan. In verse 37, the lawyer, who clearly by this point couldn’t deceive Jesus simply replied with, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus instructed him to do the same.

“[The Hebrew word] Hesed, expresses a complex of ideas which includes love, mercy and compassion” (Alexander, 661). According to the article The Meaning of Hesed, “Hesed is not just a feeling, but an action….Throughout the Hebrew Bible, we see hesed translated in a number of different ways; steadfast love, mercy, kindness, and goodness” (Snow, FIRM). This is the kind of love that the Samaritan showed to the “half-dead” person. Jesus is calling the Lawyer, the Disciples and us, to go and do the same for our neighbors. It is through this parable this this lawyer has been given a new definition of who his neighbor is.

CONCLUSION

SUMMATION

“The parable itself seeks to make a single point. It seeks to demonstrate what it means to be a neighbor. The details merely provide local coloring to aid in making this one point” (Stein, 50).

“At its most basic level, liberation is an act of charity. It is freely opening our hands to the poor and the hurting….It is food, clothing shelter, medicine and financial support….It is, as in the parable of the good Samaritan, showing compassion on the beaten man, bandaging up his wounds, and taking care of him (Luke 10:30-35)” (Stone, 103).

It is a path he himself [Jesus] walked to a very end. In the garden of Gethsemane, with his betrayers and accusers massing at the gates, he struggled and anguished but remained true to his course….It was not love store up but love utterly poured out that opened the gates to the Kingdom of Heaven. Over and over, Jesus lays this path before us (Bourgeault, 70).

I know I am ready to make more of a commitment to love my neighbors as I love myself and God. How about you?

APPLICATION

If compassion for humankind is the best religious practice, then presenting a façade of religious legitimacy while failing in compassion is the worst practice. Those who ‘passed by on the other side’ (10:31) may have done so in order to preserve their ritual purity….Perhaps their reasons were even more complex, touching on social stigma and sectarian practice. Perhaps they feared that this was a trap and the robbers were hiding nearby (10:30). In any case, the heroic actions of the Samaritan call us to a new social construct based on compassion (Neale, 71).

Jesus picked a Samaritan as the hero of the story, and the religious as those who failed…But this parable, as well as countless other teachings of Christ and his interactions with people, shows that we are called to love persons regardless of their status in life. Those who love more are those who have received more mercy and grace, he implies (Luke 7:47). We are now called to re-present this love of God to any and all and to be the compassionate hands and feet of Jesus” (Leclerc, 232-233).

And how do we become the “compassionate hands and feet of Jesus” if we are unfamiliar or if we are a new Christian? Brent D. Peterson, in his book, Created to Worship, quotes from a “mosaic of a theology of worship.” I will only quote some of this mosaic here: “God breathes (inhales) and gathers in individual Christians to heal, transform and renew them as the body of Christ to breathe (exhale) them out to continue the ministry of the incarnation that participates in the kingdom of God more fully coming” (Peterson, 55). We cannot expect to do what the Samaritan did, without first being part of a community. We need to learn and grow in what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ, so then we can go and do it, in similar and in different ways than what the Samaritan did. This isn’t a one size fits all. This could mean taking someone to the hospital to help someone get physical help. It could mean buying clothes for someone who doesn’t have any or who doesn’t have the proper ones for the weather. We each have our own part in the Kingdom to play.

[T]he influence of…the story of the Good Samaritan (10:30-35) in wider (at least American) society is utterly profound. As Robert Wuthnow has learned, this parable has become ‘one of those ancient myths that embodies the deepest meanings in our culture. In learning it and reshaping it we define what it means to be compassionate….Understanding how the message of Luke articulates with and challenges its world may shed light on our own experiences of the world and of God” (Greene, 129-130).

“The gospel of Jesus Christ…is a proclamation not only of what God requires, but also, and more importantly, how the Father loves us and offers rich and costly forgiveness in Christ” (Lodahl, 232).

And sometimes, we don’t know how to help a person best, and that is when we need to get in touch with the Father, the Son and the Spirit. We need to pray. As Max Lucado says in his book, Anxious for Nothing, we should be specific in our prayers. “A specific prayer is a serious prayer” and that a “specific prayer is an opportunity for us to see God at work” (Lucado, 83).

A quick side note from Richard J. Foster is needed for clarification between “true service” and “self-righteous service”:

Self-righteous service comes through human effort. It expends immense amounts of energy calculating and scheming how to render the service….True service comes from a relationship with the divine Other deep inside. We serve out of whispered promptings, divine urgings. Energy is expended but it is not the frantic energy of the flesh” (Foster, 128). He also says, “Self-righteous service fractures community….True service builds community (Foster, 129).

May we all choose to build community, rather than “fracture” it.

WORKS CITED

Alexander, T. Desmond. New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Intervarsity Press. 2000.

Archaeology Study Bible. Crossway. 2017.

Blomberg, Craig. Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey. B&H Academic. 2009.

Bourgeault, Cynthia. The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind—a New Perspective on Christ and His Message. Shambhala Publications, Inc. 2008.

Chalmers, Matthew. “Rethinking Luke 10: The Parable of the Good Samaritan Israelite.” Journal of Biblical Literature. Vol. 139 No. 3 (2020). DOI: 10.15699/jbl.1393.2020.6

Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, The. Mitzvah-Judaism. Britannica.com/topic/mitzvah-judaism. 1998. Date accessed: 08/28/2021.

ESV Reformation Study Bible. Edited by R.C Sproul. 2015. Accessed through

biblegateway.com. Date Accessed: 08/26/2021.

Foster, Richard J. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. HarperOne. 1998.

Green, Joel B. The Theology of the Gospel of Luke. Cambridge University Press. 1995.

“The 613 Mitzvot-Commandments-of the Torah. Negative Mitzah #168. Pg. 22.

Havurahshirhadash.org.

Leclerc, Diane: Discovering Christian Holiness: The Heart of Wesleyan-Holiness Theology. Beacon Hill Press. 2010.

Lewis, C.S. The Problem of Pain. HarperOne. 1996.

Lodahl, Michael. The Story of God: A Narrative Theology. Beacon Hill Press. 2nd Edition. 2008.

Lucado, Max. Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World. Thomas Nelson. 2017.

Neale, David A. Luke 9-24: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition NBBC. Beacon Hill Press. 2013.

Peterson, Brent D. Created to Worship: God’s Invitation to Become Fully Human. Beacon Hill Press. 2012

Snow, Avital. The Meaning of Hesed: Hebrew for Love. Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries: FIRM. 2021. Firmisrael.org.

Stein, Robert H. The Method and Message of Jesus’ Teachings. Westminster John Knox Press. 1994.

Stone, Bryan P. Compassionate Ministry: Theological Foundations. Orbis Books. 1999.

Strong, James. 3107. Makarios. The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: United States, Hunt & Eaton, 1894. Accessed through Biblegateway.com. Date accessed: 08/23/2021.

#samaritan #parable of the good samaritan #new testament #gospels

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awkwardmuslim · 7 years ago

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help! I come from a Jewish family and I’ve been taught that Islam is a terrible religion, that it promotes sexism, and even rape. I however have always ignored this but I see it everywhere in the media but then I see people saying it does support feminism, that women get to choose to wear the Hijab, that rape is wrong, etc I’m sorry if I sound confused or anything, I just need help understanding Islam, and maybe a few pieces of proof showing it’s a religion just as good as Judaism . Thank you!

Hi,You don’t sound confused at all and its really important to ask questions, and look directly at the source than to absorb all the information from the media.So, what I’m going to do is provide you with some scriptures to help you understand Islam more, and answer your question.

Before I show you some of the texts, here is a background of what they are, if you weren’t aware of them. (I apologise in advance for the information overload).

I will quote from two sources: The Quran (Which is the book that was reveal to Muhammad Peace be Upon Him. The Quran is split into chapters, which are known as Surahs) and the Sunnah (Which is a compilation of teachings, saying and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad Peace be Upon Him).

The Sunnah was compiled into written format after His death, by which they are known as Hadiths. The two most famous complilations were from Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim. These compilations are respectably known as Sahih Bukhari, and Sahih Mulim (Sahih meaning authentic). There are other compilations such as; Ibn Majah, Sunan Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Al-Nasai, .. all named after the scholars that compiled them, but they contain other grades of hadiths e.g Hasan, meaning reliable. To understand the difference between the grades requires some studying, because they are based on a chain of narrations and there is a whole science behind it... But, for ease of understanding, I will try and stick to all the Sahih Hadiths in this response. When you see a hadith I have quoted that says “Narrated by …” - That narration is usually from someone who a close companion of the Prophet Muhammad Peace Be Upon Him. Also if you see “ﷺ” - it is just an honorific in arabic which we as muslims attribute to the Prophet Muhammad and it means Peace be Upon Him. We also say Peace Be Upon Him after all of the Prophets in Islam. If you see “رضي الله عنه” or “رضي الله عنها” which are honourifics we use for companions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, which mean “May God be pleased with Him” or “May God be pleased with her”. Now... Like Judaism, Islam also teaches the 10 commandments, it is also a condition of being muslim, to believe in the the books revealed by God: The Torah revealed to Moses, The Zabur (interpreted as the Book of Psalms) which was revealed to King David, Injil (The Original Gospels) which was revealed to Jesus, and also the Scrolls which were revealed to Abraham, and are now considered to be lost. (May Peace be Upon Them).

We hold all Prophets of God in high regard, in fact Moses (Peace be Upon Him) and Jesus (Peace be Upon Him) are mentioned in the Quran more times than Muhammad Peace be Upon Him.

OK.. are you ready?

Upholding Justice

I’m going to start with this, because in a sense, this bit may answer the majority of your questions.

In the Quran, God commands us to promote justice. So much so, that we should speak up for it even if it is against ourselves.  

“You who believe, be steadfast in your devotion to God and bear witness impartially: do not let hatred of others lead you away from justice, but adhere to justice, for that is closer to awareness of God. Be mindful of God: God is well aware of all that you do.” ~ Surah Al-Ma’idah, Verse 8

  “You who believe, uphold justice and bear witness to God, even if it is against yourselves, your parents, or your close relatives. Whether the person is rich or poor, God can best take care of both. Refrain from following your own desire, so that you can act justly- if you distort or neglect justice, God is fully aware of what you do.”~ Surah An-Nisa, Verse 135

As you can see, these two verses alone command us to treat people fairly regardless of who they are; even if they are our enemies, we should treat them fairly so they receive justice, and if we do not, we will be held accountable to God. It covers being just in all aspects of life, and not when someone commits wrong against you.

As for choosing to wear hijab…

Wearing the hijab is obligatory in Islam, but the Quran teaches us not to force people into doing something for the sake of religion. This is not just in wearing the hijab but also other aspects of Islam.

“There is no compulsion in religion”~ Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 256

Instead, we are taught to advise by being polite and using good manners:

“Call people to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good teaching. Argue with them in the most courteous way, for your Lord knows best who has strayed from His way and who is rightly guided.”~ Surah An-Nahl, Verse 125

“By an act of mercy from God, you were gentle in your dealings with them- had you been harsh, or hard-hearted, they would have dispersed and left you - so pardon them and ask forgiveness for them.”~ Surah Ali ‘Imran, Verse 159

Narrated Jabir bin ‘Abdullah رضي الله عنه‎: The Prophet ﷺ said,“Every act of kindness is a Charity.”[Sahih Al-Bukhari: Book 78, Hadith 52]

Narrated Anas bin Malik رضي الله عنه‎: The Prophet ﷺ said,"Make things easy for the people, and do not make it difficult for them, and make them calm (with glad tidings) and do not repulse (them).[Sahih Al-Bukhari: Book 78, Hadith 152]

Is rape wrong?

Rape is a crime that is forbidden in all major religions, and in the minds of anyone who possesses an ounce of sanity.

Islam has a clear stance that states this repugnant action is forbidden and imposes a strict penalty on those that commit rape. The laws of Islam protect a womans honour and chastity and the crime of rape carries a severe punishment. In certain cases it carries the death penalty, should there be no doubt whatsoever that the rapist is guilty.

In Islam, capital punishment for certain crimes can only be undertaken if the evidence is absolutely 100% that the suspect is guilty. This is comparable to certain laws in the US, where a person can be found guilty and face the death penalty even if there is reasonable doubt.

  Does Islam support feminism?Islam identifies men and women both play different roles in society. That doesn’t mean men have more rights than women, it means we share responsibilities between each other. If we take the example of a mother giving birth to a child. No matter how much time a father spends with his child, the bond between the child and the mother will always be stronger. Does that make the father or mother any lesser? No.

Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه reported that a person said: “Prophet ﷺ, who amongst the people is most deserving of my good treatment?” He ﷺ said: “Your mother, your mother, your mother, then your father, then your nearest relatives according to the order (of nearness)”[Sahih Muslim: Book 45, Hadith 2]

Notice how the mother was mentioned 3 times before the father, this shows the high regard in which a mother is shown.

Islam empowers women, it teaches that what they own belongs to them, and after marriage. The husband cannot take from her earnings to support the household. He must provide for them. That does not mean that the women is lesser because she can not provide for herself, it gives the duty to the man to do so, but at the same time it doesn’t forbid the woman from doing so. It is important to understand this because many that interpret the western meaning of feminism and look into islam, tend to misinterpret this.

“You who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will, nor should you treat your wives harshly, hoping to take back some of the bride-gift you gave them, unless they are guilty of something clearly outrageous. Live with them in accordance with what is fair and kind: if you dislike them, it may well be that you dislike something in which God has put much good.”~ Suran An-Nisa, Verse 19

Islam honours women greatly and commands men to treat women with kindness. Even Gold and Silk is forbidden for men to wear, whereas it is permissible for Women!

I hope that is enough to answer your questions.Its great that you’re taking the initiate to ask questions, so if you have any more please do not hesitate to ask. If I have missed anything out, please forgive me.Thank you.~AM 

#Sorry for taking so long in answering your question

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prodigalpilgrim · 4 years ago

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The gift of the vineyard

Education is a good thing. Theological education is a really good thing. But I gotta be honest. I think that, sometimes, too much theological education can be damaging. Here’s what I mean by that.

Those of us who have studied theology extensively tend to be very academic in our approach to biblical texts. Or maybe it’s just me. But an overemphasis on the academic study of Holy Scripture can, I think, also cause us not to see some really beautiful things in the Scriptures or even make our faith more about reason than the staggering beauty of who God is and what He has done in and through the Son.

I say all that to say that this week’s readings, for me, became too academic initially. I began to study these texts to prepare this weekly blog. I was meditating on these texts, trying to find that thing that I could pull out of the texts to blow theological minds. I was, frankly, becoming frustrated and this was feeling like a dry exercise.

And then, thanks be to God, the Spirit opened my heart to see one thing in these readings.

I have been on a really emotional journey recently. As I have converted to the Catholic Church, I have experienced a range of emotions. And I have been grateful for the experiences! I had begun to feel numb and like I was just going through the motions. But recently, I was reading and listening to a podcast about St. Augustine.

And my heart was awakened in a wonderful way. Part of the brilliance, in my opinion, of St. Augustine was his ability to be so very emotive about the heart and its love for beauty and how that draws us to God, who is Himself beautiful and the source of all beauty.

And that’s what I see in this week’s readings.

Beauty.

Beauty that aches with meaning. Beauty that causes my heart to soar and weep simultaneously.

Let me explain and maybe you’ll see it as well.

Let me just say from the jump that there a many references to bearing fruit in this week’s readings. We can have that conversation if you want. I think every serious reader of Holy Scripture and every serious Christian will agree that our lives should bear the fruits of repentance (thank you, St. John the Baptist). We need to bear fruit in keeping with our profession of Jesus as the crucified and raised Messiah.

But I want us to focus on something else, aside from our obligation to bear fruit.

I want us to focus on the imagery we see in our readings.

Look at Isaiah 5:1-7. I love how the ESV translates this (vs 1-4),

“Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?”

Look at this verbiage! Let me sing for my beloved…immediately we are shown the tenderness of this text. My beloved is not something you just call everyone but is a tender expression of love. And consider how the Beloved One cares for this vineyard. It sits on a fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones. He planted it with the choicest of vines, built a watchtower in it to protect it and hewed out a wine vat so that the fruit of the vineyard would be joy and gladness to the hearts of men!

Consider the loving care of the One who planted the vineyard and praise the planter for His mercy and loving care!

Look at the Psalm reading/chant for this week, Psalm 80:9,12,13-16,19-20.

Here we see that the vineyard is a people. Now the loving care of the Isaiah text comes into focus. Now we see even more the tenderness of the care of the Beloved One who owns and plants the vineyard, who has transplanted it from a place of darkness and slavery to a place of freedom and plenty!

Our gospel text this week is from St. Matthew’s gospel, chapter 21:33-43.

Jesus takes the Isaiah text and applies it directly to Himself (if you’ve ever wondered how to interpret OT texts in light of Jesus, read this parable). Again we see that all the activity of planting the vineyard and caring for it is at the behest of the landowner. The vines didn’t plant themselves. Rather, the owner (God the Father) in his benevolence has given life. He has chosen to plant the vines and care for them. He has sent servants (prophets) to do His bidding but the tenants that God gave the vineyard to (the people of Israel…and us) abused them. They failed to comply with the messengers sent by God.

So then, joy of all joys, mystery of mysteries, beauty of all beauty, the landowner (God) sent His Son. Did they, did we welcome the Son? Have we given Him his just dues, the respect and honor He deserves? Or have we, like the tenants of the parable, thrown Him out of a vineyard that wasn’t even ours and murdered him?

Oh Church, we need to see not only the great sadness of our texts today but the great joy and beauty as well!

In His great mercy, our Father has given us all we could dare to dream or ask for. He has given us the very vineyard of His love and care for us. He has given us the wine of salvation to drink freely of! He has cared for us, His vineyard; He has given us all that we have. And He has sent His Son for our redemption! How can we not see and taste and feel this great joy granted to us by our kind Father who has sent for us His Son, so that we may again be the fruitful vineyard of the One who planted?

Let us rejoice in the beautiful and sacrificial love of our Father who has given us the Son!

Thanks be to God!

#liturgical #weekly readings #18th sunday after pentecost #the church #catholic

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learnarabiconline · 4 years ago

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What Does the Quran Say About Mary? Part 2

Despite being very much a religion unto itself, Islam can lay exclusive claim to only a handful of prophets and individuals. The vast majority of the characters which appear in the Quran are also mentioned in other sacred texts and worshipped in other religions to some degree or another. Jesus is perhaps the most famous example of this. However, Muslims also have their own interpretations of Moses, Noah, Abraham, and even Mary. It is the last of these names which we have been concerned with as of late here at Studio Arabiya.

In a previous article, we examined much of Mary's role within Islam. We discussed her lineage, her upbringing, and the Annunciation, during which she learned she was with child despite never having had sexual intercourse. In this article, we will continue our study of the Islamic Mary. We will examine, among other things, the birth of her child, the immediate backlash she experienced as a single mother, and the challenges she faced as she tried to raise a son destined for prophethood. Let's get started!

The Virgin Birth

Although Islam does not recognize the Immaculate Conception in the way Christianity - and particularly Catholicism does - it does teach that Mary conceived Jesus without ever having been unchaste. Similarly, it does not teach that Jesus was the Son of God, but rather one of his most favored prophets. Another major difference between the Jesus and Mary of the Quran and the Jesus and Mary of the Bible comes in the form of the location of Jesus' birth.

The birth of the Christian Jesus is, perhaps, the single most famous story of all time. According to the Bible, Mary was traveling with Joseph, her husband, when it came time to give birth to Jesus. The pair went looking for an inn in which Mary could give birth, but were unable to find anywhere with a vacancy. Ultimately, Mary was forced to give birth to Jesus in a manger. There, she and her husband welcomed numerous visitors and well-wishers who had come from near and far to witness the glorious child whose coming had long been foretold.

The Islamic telling of Jesus' birth is markedly different to the Christian story outlined above. While the Mary of Christianity was surrounded by her husband, wise men, and various forms of barnyard animals as she gave birth, the Mary of Islam was forced to endure the pangs of childbirth in total isolation. As we discussed in the previous installment of this series, Mary had a tendency to seek solitude when spiritual matters were involved. Over time, this solitude evolved from simply being alone in her room in Zechariah's house to being in the desert, with nobody around for miles. When the time came for her to give birth, she sought physical and spiritual refuge in the wilderness. Surah Maryam, named for her sake, recalls her struggle giving birth in isolation:

"So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a remote place. And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said, 'Oh, I wish I had died before this and was in oblivion, forgotten.' But He called her from below her, 'Do not grieve; your Lord has provided beneath you a stream. And shake toward you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you ripe, fresh dates. So eat and drink and be contented. And if you see from among humanity anyone, say, 'Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstention, so I will not speak today to [any] man.''"

Quran, 19:22 - 26

The above Quranic extract is important for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it reminds us that Mary, despite having been chosen by Allah for a glorious task, was human. The

pain of childbirth too much to bear, she momentarily loses her faith in Allah and wishes that she had died before having ever conceived her son. Before she entirely loses faith, however, Allah instructs her to shake the trunk of a palm tree, which He assures her will produce dates for her to eat. He also points out a stream of water, which has miraculously appeared in the wilderness so that she may have water to cure her thirst. This is important not only because it saved Mary's life, but also because it reminds us that Allah is always watching over us. Even when we are facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Allah makes a way for us so that we may fulfill His vision on this earth.

Finally, the passage above ends with Allah giving Mary a command. He tells her not to speak to any man after she has given birth to her son. At first, this is a difficult command for us to understand. Why would Allah command somebody not to speak when they are in the wilderness, far removed from any civilization? Even if she were permitted to speak, it seems very unlikely that Mary would be in a situation where she would have to do so. Of course, Allah knows all and He knew when He gave this command that Mary would, indeed, encounter a large group of people later that day.

This leads us to wonder why Allah would forbid Mary from defending herself when she met this group of people He knew she was destined to encounter. At the time of Mary, giving birth to a child out of wedlock was considered to be one of the most heinous sins imaginable. Taking away her ability to speak was taking away her ability to offer an explanation when confronted by the angry mob. Why would Allah put Mary in danger like this, especially after all she had endured in giving birth to His prophet? Again, we must remember that Allah knows all and has a plan for everything. As we will discover in the next section, He provided a path for Mary to explain herself without breaking His commandment to remain silent, just as He provided a path for her to secure nourishment in the barren desert.

Jesus Protects Mary

Like all prophets, Jesus was sent by Allah to spread the word of the heavens and save all men and women from eternal damnation. His first task, however, was to save his mother from those who sought to punish her for giving birth to a child out of wedlock. According to the Quran, after Mary had delivered Jesus, she returned to society. There, she was mocked and taunted by her peers, who demanded an explanation as to how she had come to be with child without having sexual intercourse outside of marriage. Although she was unsure how she would be delivered from their aggression, Mary kept the covenant she had made with Allah and refused to speak. It was at this moment that Jesus performed his first miracle. The Quran tells us:

"Then she brought him to her people, carrying him. They said, 'O Mary, you have certainly done a thing unprecedented. O sister of Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste.' So she pointed to him. They said, 'How can we speak to one who is in the cradle a child?' [Jesus] said, 'Indeed, I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet. And He has made me blessed wherever I am and has enjoined upon me prayer and zakah as long as I remain alive. And [made me] dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me a wretched tyrant. And peace is on me the day I was born and the day I will die and the day I am raised alive.' That is Jesus, the son of Mary - the word of truth about which they are in dispute."

Quran, 19:27 - 34

In an earlier article examining the role of Jesus within Islam, we discussed the above verse and what it can tell us about the Muslim Jesus at length. Today, let's take a moment to discuss what it can tell us about the Muslim Mary. For starters, it reminds us of Mary's immense faith in Allah. Although she exhibited some doubt during the initial pain of childbirth, her faith was restored stronger than ever by the miraculous dates and water with which Allah provided her. In the aftermath of this restoration of faith, she was so confident that Allah wouldprotect her that she obeyed His commandment to remain silent in the face of criticism. Following His directions, she simply pointed to her infant son when questioned about his origins.

Mary's aggressors mocked her and wondered how a newborn child could speak for her. One can only assume that she wondered this as well, but such was her faith in Allah that she went along with His plan. As always, Allah remained true to His word and gave the infant Jesus the power to speak in defense of his mother. During Jesus' speech to the angry mob, he identified himself as a prophet of Allah, sent by the heavens to spread His message on Earth. However, Jesus also made sure to declare his dedication to his mother, telling his audience that he would remain dutiful to her throughout his life. This is noteworthy as it tells us Jesus viewed Mary almost as highly as he viewed Allah. Therefore, as followers of Jesus and all other prophets, we should hold Mary in similarly high regard. We should remain dutiful to her, just as we are dutiful to her son and to Allah.

Mary As A Mother

More than any other religion, Islam strives to present its prophets and leaders as humans. Believing that only Allah is capable of total divinity, Islam does not shy away from the faults and shortcomings of even its most revered figures. In fact, there is a recurring theme throughout the Quran and other Islamic scripture of prophets struggling to come to terms with their role as a messenger of Allah. Even Muhammad suffered a well-documented period of stressful adjustment in the wake of his first revelations. Mary, though not a prophet, also experienced great difficulties adjusting to her role as an essential figure in Allah's divine plan. As many of our female readers will be aware, being a mother is incredibly difficult under any set of circumstances. One can only imagine, then, how challenging it must have been for Mary to be tasked with raising one of Allah's greatest prophets into adulthood. There are several stories in Islamic tradition detailing the obstacles Mary faced as Jesus' mother. One such story is related in Bihar al-Anwar, a collection of largely Shia Hadith, and reads as follows:

"Abu 'Abd Allah ('a) said, 'Verily, Jesus the son of Mary, used to cry intensely, so that Mary was at wits end regarding his profuse crying. He said to her, 'Get some of the bark of that tree, make a tonic from it and feed me with it.' When he drank it, he cried intensely. Mary said, 'What sort of prescription did you give me?' He said, 'O my mother! Knowledge of prophethood and weakness of childhood.'"

Bihar al-Anwar, 14, 254, 47

Mary In Hadith

While the above extract from Bihar al-Anwar paints a very vivid and sympathetic picture of Mary's struggles as a young mother, it is important to remember that Bihar al-Anwar is primarily Shia scripture. Only a very small percentage of the world's Muslims adhere to Shia Islam. As we have mentioned in previous articles examining Shia Hadith, the comparatively small number of Shia Muslims means we cannot take scripture which is exclusively Shia as an authority on Islam's perception of a certain figure. Thankfully, there is no shortage of Hadith relating to Mary that is accepted in both Sunni and Shia Islam. In this section, we'll be discussing some of the most noteworthy widely recognized Hadith on the mother of Jesus.

Although the following Hadith is accepted as authentic among the vast majority of Muslims, it has caused significant debate as to its meaning. It reads:

"Abu Musa reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, 'There were many men who achieved perfection, and none were perfect among women but Asiyah, the wife of Pharaoh, and Mary, the daughter of 'Imran. Verily, the virtue of Aisha over other women is like the virtue of a fine stew over all other foods.'"

Sahih al-Bukhari

At first, this Hadith seems pretty straightforward. It praises Mary and it praises Asiyah. Where could the controversy come from? Although nobody is disputing the fact that Mary and Asiyah were dedicated followers of Allah, some scholars have suggested that this Hadith presents the pair as prophets. Many Islamic scholars are of the belief that a person cannot be perfect unless they are a prophet, so the designation of Mary and Asiyah as having achieved perfection would suggest that they are indeed messengers of Allah. Those who disagree, however, have been quick to point out that Mary was not a public preacher. Unlike virtually all prophets of Islam, she performed the bulk of her worship in total solitude. She did not speak to large crowds, nor did she seek to defy the authority of the day and bring people on to her religion. Ultimately, whether Mary was a prophet or not may come down to a matter of personal opinion and what you believe the duties of a prophet to be. Regardless, there is no denying that she was one of the greatest women of all time and a credit to the human race as a whole.

Musnad Ahmad contains a similar Hadith praising Mary. It also praises three other women, describing them as being the four greatest women in the eyes of Allah. It reads as follows:

"Ibn Abbas reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, 'The best of women among the people of Paradise are Khadija bint Khuwaylid, Fatimah bint Muhammad, Maryam bint 'Imran, and 'Asiyah bint Muzahim, the wife of Pharaoh.'"

Musnad Ahmad

Mary is known by a number of names within Islam. One of the more confusing of these names is Sister of Aaron. The following Hadith, found in Sahih Muslim offers an explanation as to why Mary may be labeled as the sister of somebody who lived long before her:

"Mughira ibn Shu'ba reported: When I came to Najran, the Christian monks asked me, 'You recite the verse, 'O sister of Aaron,' (19:28) but Moses was born long before Jesus by many years.' When I came back to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, I asked him about it and he said, 'Verily, they would name people with the names of prophets and righteous people who had passed before them.'"

Sahih Muslim

Conclusion

In Islam, so much focus is placed on Muhammad and Jesus that it can be easy to overlook the importance of Mary. However, Mary's role in the religion cannot be understated. Throughout the Quran, we are reminded that she is the "greatest of all women". By maintaining total spiritual and physical purity into adulthood, she proved herself worthy of bearing one of Allah's greatest prophets. Through the trials and tribulations of parenthood, she stayed true to Allah and raised that prophet into maturity. This would be a magnificent feat for anybody, let alone a single mother. Mary stayed dedicated to Jesus throughout his prophethood and defended him during his most challenging period, just as he defended her when he was an infant and she was threatened by a mob of aggressive non-believers. Today, it is the duty of all Muslims to continue to defend Mary. We must ensure her status as one of Allah's favored few is not forgotten. Similarly, we must be mindful of the special role Mary plays within both Islam and Christianity, allowing us to bridge the gap between the two religions and ensure useful and peaceful theological discourse with our brothers and sisters of the Christian faith.

#Quran #Islam

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romancatholicreflections · 7 years ago

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2nd March >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections on Matthew 21:33-43, 44-46 for Friday, Second Week of Lent:‘Finally, he sent his son’. Matthew 21:33-43, 44-46 Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada) Matthew 21:33-43,45-46 This is the landlord’s heir: come, let us kill him Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, ‘Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them. “They will respect my son” he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance.” So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They answered, ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him when the season arrives.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures: It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone. This was the Lord’s doing and it is wonderful to see? ‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.’ When they heard his parables, the chief priests and the scribes realised he was speaking about them, but though they would have liked to arrest him they were afraid of the crowds, who looked on him as a prophet. Gospel (USA) Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46 This is the heir; let us kill him. Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures: ”The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? “Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet. Reflections (9) (i) Friday, Second Week of Lent The experience of rejection to be found in both readings today. Joseph is rejected by his brothers who were jealous of Joseph because their father loved him more than any of his other sons. They intended to kill Joseph, but, in the end, they threw him into a well and sold him on to some foreigners who were heading to Egypt. Joseph, the rejected one, rose to a very prominent position in Egypt. He went on to become the saviour of his brothers. At a time of great famine in the land of Canaan, later the land of Israel, his brothers had to go to Egypt for food and it was Joseph who was in charge of Egypt’s food supply at the time. The story of Joseph is an expression of the image that Jesus uses in today’s gospel reading, drawn from one of the psalms, ‘it was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone’. The parable that Jesus tells is also a story of rejection. The landowner sends his servants to collect the vine harvest from his tenants, and the servants are rejected and killed by the tenants. Finally, the landowner sends his son to collect the harvest, fully expecting that his son would be treated with respect. On the contrary, he is rejected in the most brutal way, thrown out of the vineyard and killed. Jesus must have seen himself in the person of the landowner’s son. He was thrown out of the city of Jerusalem and crucified outside the city walls. Yet, like Joseph, but to an even great extent, this rejected son became the saviour of those who rejected him. The stone rejected by the builders became the keystone. The crucified Jesus rose from the dead and became the keystone of a new community of believers which was open to all, including those who rejected him. Both readings suggest that God is always at work to bring good out of the suffering people experience because of the hostility of others. God works in a life-giving way in even the most unpromising of situations. This gives us hope as we try to come to terms with our own painful and difficult experiences of rejection and hostility. And/Or (ii) Friday, Second Week of Lent In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus quotes from the psalm, ‘it was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone’. Jesus, of course, is speaking about himself. He was rejected by the religious and political leaders but he went on to become the keystone, the foundation of the church. Jesus’ experience of rejection did not have the last word. God worked powerfully in and through that experience of rejection and brought great good of it, not only for Jesus but for all who believe in him. There may be times in our lives when we feel a little bit like the rejected stone. We reach out to someone and they spurn us or do not respond to us. We can feel hurt and upset, annoyed with ourselves for leaving ourselves so vulnerable. Yet, those painful experiences in life can contain the seeds of new life. The Lord can work powerfully through them for our ultimate good. The experience that we might have considered at the time as totally negative turns out to bear rich fruit in our lives. We learn something from it; we grow through it. What seemed like an experience of death becomes a moment of new life. The Lord can always transform the rejected stone into the keystone. What he did for his Son he can do for us all. And/Or (iii) Friday, Second Week of Lent There are a group of parishioners who meet every second Thursday evening to study and reflect on the Catechism. One of the gospel texts we were looking at last night, by coincidence, is this morning’s gospel reading. It is clearly a very appropriate reading for today’s feast, ‘The Chair of St Peter’. This is an ancient feast that has been kept at Rome since the fourth century; it celebrates the role of the Bishop of Rome as a symbol of unity for all Christians. In the gospel reading, Jesus identifies Simon as the Rock on which Jesus’ church will be built; as such, he is to be the focal point of unity within the church. Peter went on to become a leader of the church of Rome, and was martyred there during Nero’s persecution of the church. Successive Bishops of Rome, or Popes, continue that important role that Jesus entrusted to Peter of being the focal point of unity among disciples. The Bishops of Rome hold the church together, in communion with the other bishops, by interpreting the message and life of Jesus for us today. The Roman Catholic church is very large and is spread throughout the world, and yet it manages to hold together. In many respects that is down to the role of the Bishop of Rome or the Pope. This morning we give thanks for this great gift to the church, and we pray for the present Bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict, that he may be strengthened for his important work of watching over the church and keeping it united in faith and love. And/Or (iv) Friday, Second Week of Lent In the gospel reading Jesus quotes the text from the prophet Isaiah, ‘the stone rejected by the builders became the keystone’. He was the stone rejected who went on to became the keystone of a new spiritual building, the church. The one through whom God was saying ‘yes’ to us all, was the one to whom many people said ‘no’ in very emphatic terms. The one who proclaimed God’s acceptance of us was himself rejected. The story of Jesus alerts us to the very real possibility of our rejecting the messenger God sends us. Sometimes what we are prone to rejecting, whether in ourselves or in others, can turn out to be the means through which God is speaking to us. The experiences that we react against, that we say ‘no’ to, may be the very experiences that can reveal God most powerfully to us. What we see initially as a threat of some sort can turn out to be a blessing. This morning we ask God to keep us open to all of the ways he chooses to come to us and speak with us. And/Or (v) Friday, Second Week of Lent In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus tells a parable in which the son of a vineyard owner is killed by the tenants. In this way Jesus points ahead to his own rejection and death. Having spoken the parable, Jesus quotes from one of the psalms, ‘It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone’. Here Jesus points ahead to his resurrection. Although he was rejected by the religious and political leaders of the day, Jesus rose from the dead and in so doing became the keystone of a new temple, the temple of the church, the community of those who believed in him. The experience of Jesus teaches us that what is rejected can often turn out to be of crucial importance. What we might be initially inclined to reject can be the means through which God may want to speak to us. Those aspects of our own lives that we may be prone to reject and slow to accept may be the very channels through which the Lord can work most powerfully in our lives and, through us, in the lives of others. The experience of Jesus also suggests that God always has a purpose for what is rejected. God is not in the business of rejecting. Although we can reject God, God never rejects us. And/Or (vi) Friday, Second Week of Lent The parable that Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading is largely a story of rejection. The owner of the vineyard sends two lots of servants to collect the produce of the vineyard, but they are rejected, and some of them are killed. They he sent his son in the full expectation that the tenants would respect him, but he too is killed. Jesus was really referring there to his own experience of rejection by many of his contemporaries, a rejection that would eventually end with his crucifixion. He is the stone rejected by the builders that Jesus mentions in the gospel reading. Yet, rejection does not have the last word. As Jesus says, quoting one of the psalms, the stone rejected by the builders became the keystone. God raised his rejected Son from the dead and made him the foundation or the keystone of the church. Any little experience of rejection can leave us deflated; we can be tempted to give up. The parable suggests that God is not like that. In the face of rejection, God just keeps working away; he takes the experience of rejection, the rejected stone, and builds something new upon it. We are being reminded that God is always at work, even in the most unpromising of situations. The God of Jesus Christ is the God of life who works in a life-giving way even in situations of death. Our refusal to receive the Lord’s coming, the Lord’s presence, does not in any way diminish his energy to work among us for the coming of God’s kingdom. And/Or (vii) Friday, Second Week of Lent We have had some nice spring weather recently. People have been out doing some gardening. Various plants are being put in the ground; the good gardeners will look after them, making sure they are fed and watered, in the expectation that they will flower or bear fruit in the Summer. In the parable Jesus tells in this morning’s gospel reading, a farmer planted a vineyard and did everything necessary to ensure that he would be able to get grapes from the vineyard at harvest time. This did not happen however. The tenants responsible for ensuring that the farmer got the harvest that was his right turned against him in a violent way. The farmer did not give up. He leased the vineyard to other tenants in the hope that they would deliver the produce that his investment deserved. The parable suggests that God invests greatly in all of us and he looks to us to bear fruit that is worthy of his investment. When it is not forthcoming, God keeps working to bring that good fruit about. We cannot doubt God’s investment in us or his perseverance with us. It is our response that is in question. However, his repeated initiatives in our regard keep us hopeful. We may fail God. God does not fail us but keeps investing in us and gives us every opportunity to bear the good fruit he desires. Every day we have an opportunity to respond to the Lord’s investment in us. And/Or (viii) Friday, Second Week of Lent In the parable Jesus speaks in this morning’s gospel reading, the killing of the vineyard owner’s son was Jesus’ way of indicating his own forthcoming rejection and death. Using a different image, Jesus declares that he was to become the stone rejected by the builders. Yet, quoting one of the psalms, Jesus goes on to say that this rejected stone would become the keystone, the most important stone in any building. In this way Jesus was looking beyond his rejection and death to his resurrection when he would become the keystone of a spiritual building, the church. It is often the way that the rejection stone can turn out to have a crucial role to play at some future time. We can often reject something initially and over time come to see that what we rejected is actually something very important. We say ‘no’ to something, some situation, or to someone, and then realize that what we are saying ‘no’ to is, in reality, God’s gift to us and God’s purpose for our lives. Our first reaction is not always the best one. We often need time to recognize the good in what we had dismissed as of no value. And/Or (ix) Friday, Second Week of Lent As Jesus approaches the hour of his passion and death, he tells a parable about a vineyard owner’s son who is killed by the tenants to whom the vineyard was entrusted. Jesus must have seen in this story something of his own story that was unfolding, in particular, his death that was fast approaching. In his comment on the parable Jesus quotes a passage of Scripture which contained an image about a stone, a kind of a mini parable. The stone that was rejected by the builders as worthless went on to become the most important stone, the keystone, of a building. Again, Jesus would have recognized himself in the stone that was rejected by the builders, just as he recognized himself in the son of the vineyard owner who was killed. However, there is also a suggestion of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead in the image of the rejected stone that became a keystone. Jesus would be rejected in the most violent way imaginable. Yet, God raised him from the dead, thereby establishing him as the keystone of a new spiritual building, the church. The image of the rejected stone becoming a keystone is a powerful image of how God can work powerfully in situations of weakness, to use the language of Paul. For Paul, God worked powerfully through the death of Jesus on behalf of all humanity. God can turn our own rejected stones into keystones. God can work powerfully through those experiences in our lives which we reject as useless, worthless, of no value. Paul discovered that what he called his ‘thorn in the flesh’, which he wanted to be rid of and had rejected as totally negative, was actually creating a space for God to work powerfully in and through him. As Paul declares in his letter to the Romans, ‘all things work together for good for those who love God’. Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland. Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie Please join us via our webcam. Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC. Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf. Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

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billyheather · 7 years ago

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Why I Love The Message Translation

From 1993 to 2002, pastor and professor Eugene Peterson took on the one of the biggest tasks any person can do: translating the Holy Bible. Across the span of almost a decade, pastor Eugene took the ancient words of Scripture and rewrote them, as the subtitle of his work says, “In a contemporary language.”

Along side fifty other books written by Peterson, I believe The Message is absolutely his best work. As more of a paraphrase than a literal translation, The Message has a way of grabbing its reader with edgy expressions, relatable rhetoric, and unique (yet sometimes controversial) interpretations of the Bible. It’s a vivid take on the best selling book of all time, and reveals the person of Jesus to an even broader audience.

People are impacted by this version of the Bible everyday. For the new Christian it presents the gospel in a way that’s less intimidating and easier to understand. For the seasoned Christian it’s a refreshing retake on familiar passages, and many times a new side of the text is revealed from this paraphrase.

“But is it really the Bible?”

There are several sects of Christianity that still don’t identify the Message as Holy. In other words, it’s not seen as the real Bible. Certain translations are seen as just that, literal translations. So the original language is translated word-for-word. Then there are versions, such as the New Living Translation, which are more thought-for-thought translations. Meaning the general thought of the text is translated in a different way.

The Message stands alone as more of a metaphor than a translation. But it indeed is still “The Bible”. If we acknowledge certain texts to be inspired by the Holy Spirit, than it’s most definitely the same with The Message. I believe the Holy Spirit prompted these words to be expressed in this modern way so that more people would read the story of Jesus. The key word is paraphrase. We should acknowledge it’s not a literal translation of the text, but it is a Holy-Spirit inspired take on the word of God. For those looking for more of a theological study, The Message should be consulted after or alongside reading of a word-for-word translation.

Eugene once said this, “It’s your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words.” This work was written to help people see God better, and I for one, believe it’s incredibly successfully. Here’s a few quick reasons why I personally love The Message:

1. It feels different

From the jump, the way it reads feels like a novel of some sort. With no disrespect to the classical reading of Scripture, reading this version brings an interest to the reader that they often would have to try hard to get.

2. It’s vivid and real

The text seems very understandable in almost every line. With certain phrases catching the eye (and the soul) more than others, each time you read it, you’ll be awakened to see God in a more real way.

3. It leads the mind to think

Bible reading should never be a burden or an obligation. The reality is when we open the Scriptures, God opens us. He shows us parts of ourselves that only He can fix, but without an initial transparency on our end, this self-examination doesn’t happen. Reading this translation, in short, leads my mind to think. About God, about life, about love, and how I can be more like Jesus in all that I do. Which is definitely a beautiful thing.

Whatever side you sit on of the argument, the reality is The Message has been going strong, and I believe will continue to impact generations to come.

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olga-eulalia · 7 years ago

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You know how you start writing one fic that you get stuck on and then start writing another that you’re weirdly insecure about and so on ‘til you end up with over 3000 words of Monastery!AU SilverFlint CrackFic? [nods]

Warnings: Mature content. Non-native speaker writing here. Notes: Zero research went into the making of this fic. Additional Notes: Thighs.

For five whole days after his arrival at the monastery, Brother John had recounted the travails that had beset him on his journey to anyone who would listen and also to those few who would rather have not. How he had been plagued by thunderstorms and pelted by hailstones bigger than quail’s eggs. How he’d had to change his travel route when the river had become unnavigable only to find himself accosted by thieves, robbed of his meagre belongings which had also included the archbishop’s letter that they’d all been waiting for in their secluded sanctuary.

But -- a much-travelled man for someone of his young age -- it was by far not the only tale he’d had to tell.

His chattiness had been excessive, so much so that Brother William had eventually suggested that Brother John take a vow of silence for the duration of seven days in order to reflect on what it meant to be guided through such dangers unscathed. It was one of the well-tried ways of maintaining good order and discipline in their community and it had never failed to work. Until now.

Apart from being the archbishop’s messenger, Brother John had been sent with the express purpose of looking through and assessing the state of their library, as his findings would be a major component in determining the extent of the funding that would be allocated for the monastery’s restoration.

Brother James, as it happened, was the custodian of said library, the keys to all its greatest treasures dangling from his corded belt, their jangling dulled by a leather pouch, as he walked down the hallway and across the cloistered courtyard before and after each prayer. As such, he found it most disconcerting when Brother John fell into whispering with the monks in the old scriptorium when they stretched their backs and rested their weary eyes. And, as such, he found it even more disconcerting when Brother John followed Brother William’s advice and showed up one morning refusing to partake of speech. Because now Brother James had to look him in the face to figure out what he wanted, had to study those blue eyes and that bright, comely visage for such an extensive amount of time each day that his dreams started to feature it as well, in a most unholy union of Scripture and Fantasy.

The predicament was amplified by the fact that Brother John seemed to have latched onto him from the day they’d met. Sharing the same place of work, soon Brother John had also chosen him as the main person to affiliate with during their communal meals, oblivious to the fact that such a thing as seating arrangements in the refectory existed.

In general, it could be observed that their guest readily adapted to some of their customs while remaining willfully ignorant of others.

Just the other day, for example, when Brother James had climbed out of the wooden tub after his bath, taking heed to not slip on the stone floor, he’d found Brother John standing between him and his discarded clothes, a mere six feet distant, having entered the room at some unknown point and looking at him in such a way that his body had unwittingly started readying itself for something. But, with answers as unattainable as Brother James’s clothes in that moment, they had just stared at each other until Brother John had begun to disrobe as well, disrupting the entire rigorous schedule of everyone’s bath times with a gesture as simple as that of untying his cincture’s knot.

All of this erratic behavior was being tolerated by the abbot of their monastery, Brother Harold, who was probably hoping for a more favourable outcome to their humble petition by showing leniency.

So, after a mere eleven days, Brother James could honestly say that he had seen a lot more of their guest than he knew how to handle with dignity, and that he could do with a little less of him at this point. The time for evening prayers was nearing and, as often, he was still in the library then, leafing through books whose pages needed to be turned from time to time in order to remain supple, reading a bit here and there. The last of the monks had cleared out of the adjacent room already, a circumstance that he was all too aware of when Brother John stopped his scritching and came over to him, carrying an open book which he went on to carefully place on the writing desk in front of them.

On display was a Latin text about how one ought to share the fruits of one’s labour and, together, rejoice in the splendour of them. One page showed a miniature of two men dancing around a slender tree, holding hands. Brother John turned the page. Now the tree was considerably bigger and one of the figures had climbed it while the other was lying back at its roots. There was one more illustration in which a red fruit had been plucked and was being shared by the two of them.

The corner of Brother James’s mouth twitched.

Brother John showed no such reservations. He smiled, displaying his pretty front teeth, the crinkles about his eyes like the rays of the sun coming up over the hillside after a frosty, moonless night.

Being around Brother John was such an odd experience for Brother James, who after a few days into their acquaintance suddenly found himself in the role of interpreter and the sole provider of their talk. He’d thought that, perhaps, he’d initially been singled out as a companion because Brother John liked a challenge when it came to the telling of his stories, but now he was realising with ever more profound clarity that he might have been wrong. All signs pointed to them sharing many of the same interests, but despite Brother John’s previous openness, Brother James couldn’t confirm it with absolute certainty. He had no idea what could be disclosed without second thoughts -- whether it was safe to admit that he thought the pictures were amusing too, whether he could say that these were some of the tamest ones on the subject in the collection -- seeing as he was talking to the archbishop’s representative here, who was known to be a man of little good humour. It was a mystery anyway how someone as good-natured as Brother John had come to work for someone as dour and calculating as that.

“You should--” Brother James waved a hand, indicating that they were finished here, that Brother John ought to gather his notes as he was so diligently wont to do and return the book to its former place. “We don’t want to be too late for Mass,” he said, though there was plenty of time yet.

Brother John did not seem to agree. He did not budge from his spot and the presence of his body did not allow Brother James to step out into the aisle, where he was sure it was easier to breathe, either. Feeling hemmed in, he lifted his head to throw a glare at Brother John.

But the pleading look on Brother John’s face took him by surprise. Need was written in every line there by a depth of vulnerability that devastated Brother James. He was ready to do anything, he realised, to make it disappear. But it also occurred to him that there was an obvious solution to Brother John’s problem.

“Do you need to confess?”

Brother John nodded eagerly.

“I’m sure the abbot will grant you abstention from your vow for the duration of the confession,” he said, distressing Brother John further, who shook his head vigorously enough to make the curls there leap about.

“I’m sorry. I don’t have the authority to do that,” Brother James said. “But whatever it is that ails you, you could always write it down and burn it after.” He turned halfway, reaching for paper, quill and ink in the corner of the writing desk, but Brother John pressed a hand down on his wrist, stilling him.

Brother James, swallowing thickly, directed his attention back towards Brother John, only to see him lean in close and tilt his head up.

With Brother John’s palm on his skin like this and able to feel his warm puffs of breath on his lips, he was painfully reminded of the coarseness of his monk’s habit when the skin all over his body started to pebble, the hair rising on the back of his neck an all too brief warning before the sensation descended all over him in one fell swoop, and want scratched and tore at him with its claws. He slapped his free hand down over the edge of the desk to steady himself.

Starting with his hips, Brother John touched his body against Brother James, who had to fight the urge to part his thighs like an invocation, so that they were pressed together from chest to knees. And then, with his face upturned and his eyes open, slowly sank to his knees on the floor. Like a glistening-eyed angel serenely basking in the glory of Creation, every single one of his glossy curls a work of art unto itself, he looked up at Brother James, waiting.

“I don’t-- You should--” Brother James tried again.

Then he gave in and cautiously laid his hand on top of Brother John’s head.

In response, Brother John put his cheek against the aching center of Brother James and started to rub his face -- cheeks, brows, nose, open mouth, all of its loveliness -- all over it, while his hands were unceremoniously rucking the frock up Brother James’s legs and tucking it into the belt so that, as soon as it was done and Brother James was bare from the waist down, the view of Brother John, solemn in his worship -- palming naked thighs, grazing the tender skin between them with his thumbs -- was unobstructed.

Stroking up and down with his hands, stoking feverish excitement, Brother John now began to toy his wet mouth over the hard length of Brother James’s sex, tasting the head with the silky, pliant wrap of his lips, eyelashes fluttering as though he were deeply affected by the experience. He took Brother James deeper into the cavern of his mouth, letting him slide over the slippery rough of his tongue, inviting him down into the hot clench of his throat as he swallowed around him.

Brother James sobbed. He knew that if he were to make any other noise now, it would probably sound like the bull’s upset bellow out on the pasture, so he pressed his lips together tightly and kept his agonised groans confined.

Brother John then lavished him with motion and suction that had him straining and trembling, his skin so sweetly pulled at. Cushioned by the lushness of that mouth, worked at by a tongue that never let up, Brother James was losing himself in the sensations, until he could no longer discern which of the two of them was more eager for his pleasure or who was moving how and whether the floor was actually surging in waves. His release tore sharp and deep at him, tearing off a strip of his soul for spoils.

He sucked his lower lip between his teeth, breathing hard through his nose, but the shiver running through him would not abate for a long minute, nourished again and again as Brother John kept nuzzling about the juncture of his thighs, the sight of him doing so still hazy.

“Brother James?” a voice sounded from the outside.

Brother James craned his head over his shoulder.

Tall Brother William came to a halt at the open entrance door. He ducked his head inside, saying, “I’m looking for Brother John. It’s urgent.” So it was clear how much was visible from Brother William’s vantage point.

Brother James nodded. Then he shook his head, summoning his speaking voice. “He left a short while ago. He might be in his room.”

“Of course. Thank you, brother.”

After a moment, there came a series of tugs at his habit so that it fell to his ankles and covered him again. Then one more tug, asking him to sit on the floor and let both of them be obscured from view by the writing desk’s front panel.

Brother James readily complied. Once down there, he put an arm around Brother John’s shoulders and, in fits and starts, distracted by Brother John’s eyes, nosed his way in to press their mouths together fully. When he felt about under Brother John’s frock for his need, he found it satisfied already and, overcome with desire once more, felt compelled to seek those firm, reddened lips out for another kiss, licking his tongue inside gently and closing his eyes.

Many of his fellow monks were milling about in front of the church’s side entrance. For a second, he believed they had somehow already found out about his violation of the Rule and were going to excommunicate him on the spot, but circumstantial evidence had told him many times in the past that his was among the transgressions that were quietly tolerated.

So, folding his hands in front of him and sidling up to Brother Joshua, he inquired about the commotion.

“You haven’t heard?”

Brother James couldn’t say that he had.

“The real Brother John was held up by bad weather and had to stay at an inn downriver where, they say, he fell gravely ill and died shortly after. So, naturally, our Brother John must be an imposter.”

“Huh?” Brother James asked for lack of anything more coherent to say. Thankfully, a wall was there to lean against.

“But none of the treasures in the church are gone. No money has disappeared. And even all the cutlery is accounted for which, as everybody knows, never happens.”

“When I locked the library, all the books were there, too.”

“See? Except for our Brother John now, nothing has gone missing,” Brother Joshua said. “I just don’t understand why anyone would impersonate one of us when they could actually join our community anytime they wanted.”

Looking about, it was clear that their fellow monks were less upset than they could have been, many of them having grown fond of their false brother in the short amount of time that he had stayed with them. They clearly admired him for his spirit and for what was seen as a great sacrifice by all when he made the choice to abstain from his favourite thing to do. So they were as of yet undecided whether they should feel upset about being duped at all and some could already be heard advocating the virtue of forgiveness.

Brother Harold appeared, dispersing the crowd a little when he strode directly towards Brother James. “I need to talk to you,” he said, leading Brother James away from the group. His intake of breath was deep and disconcerting. “We’ve had word from the archbishop and, I’m afraid, he’s not granting us any funds either. Moreover, he was sending Brother John -- the real one -- to determine whether our library was suitable to house such costly treasures, and in the event that the answer should be no -- which it most likely will be -- initiate the transfer of it in its entirety to the archbishop’s summer residence.”

Upon seeing the reaction on Brother James’s face, he put a comforting hand on his shoulder and added, “I’m sorry.”

Almost ten years had passed since Brother James had been received into this community and had started his new life as a monk. The first couple of months had been difficult, his spirit biting and toiling at the reins, but eventually he had settled in, finding solace in the daily routine and a new purpose in the loving upkeep of the library.

The moment Brother Harold had given him the news, however, his former self had risen within him like a revenant, dragging all its ugly history, its fields of corpses behind as though they were the blood-soaked rags of a butcher.

Standing at the edge of the courtyard, he was now looking at the last of the sun’s golden rays glancing over the many dilapidated gables while the grey chill of evening had already enveloped the rest. His breaths were shallow. He was looking, but he was not really understanding.

And, as always in these moments, there was this thing within him that promised a way that would make him hurt less. That told him that if he were to seek out and rage against those who did injustice, it would be good, because it would be righteous. But he knew that thing well by now and had come to see it for what it was.

Eventually, he was sure, he would bear these losses as well, he just did not know how he would do it yet.

He turned his face towards the library, his doomed refuge, then, his intentions unclear. But as he was unlocking the entrance door, he noticed that instead of there being twelve keys, only eleven were dangling on the key ring. And as he was studying them closer, trying to discern which one was missing, his imagination helpfully supplied that the boarded windows in the attic could easily be reached by climbing the trellis on the side of the building if one were not averse to hazardous tasks. If one, say, was of a mind to steal an item from within.

Having slipped inside the building quietly, Brother James stopped and listened. Not a sound was to be heard.

Only once his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, did he become aware of the faint glow of light that fanned out from underneath the closed door at the back where they kept large iron-bound oak chests full of manuscripts too gem-studded, too fragmentary, too nonconforming to be made openly available. It was the key to one of those that had disappeared.

If Brother John had kept his nerve and utilised his cleverness to the last he would have barred the room from the inside, but the closeness of achieving his goal must have made him careless, because, when pushed, the door swung open without any resistance. The candle flame flickered and almost went out. There he was, their Brother John, on the floor, slapping the tome he’d been reading shut and scrambling to his feet.

“You could have asked,” Brother James said.

There must have been something in his expression that made Brother John frown and clutch the book tighter.

“You don’t have to pretend to stick to your vow, brother.”

Brother John tried to make a dash for the door, but was stopped all too easily. With an out-flung arm Brother James prevented his escape and pushed him against the wall, one hand at his throat.

“Did you kill the real Brother John?”

“What?” the man said. “No!” he protested. “I was just another traveller at the inn. We were talking until midnight when he excused himself because he wasn’t feeling well. Next day he didn’t show, so I carried his breakfast up to his room, but by then his fever had already gotten bad. When he wasn’t coughing his lungs out, he was actually trying to climb the walls. And then it wasn’t long before, you know.”

“So why come here, then? What are you looking for in here?”

Brother John tried to lift the book he was holding, its title written in gilded Arabic script. “Initially, I came for this. On the Potentiality of Transmutation.”

“Also known as The Frenzied Ramblings of Vasquez the Andalusian. Yes, I am aware of it. Though it won’t be of much use to you since it’s missing one vital page. The second half of the formula that supposedly turns base metals into gold.”

Brother John smiled, self-satisfied. “That,” he said, “I have memorized.”

Brother James took him by his habit’s collar. “Who the fuck are you?” he asked, an unbidden bout of fondness weakening his anger to desperation.

“Well, coincidentally, my name is actually John,” the man explained, “John Silver. And I happen to know about your plight. I also happen to be a very good alchemist.”

#fic: black sails #silverflint #au

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michellelewis7162 · 5 years ago

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An Instruction course In Miracles - Modifying Lifestyles as well as also Specifically Just how it Helps You Discharge Regret

A Course in Miracles is in fact thereby pure, therefore excellent, as a result strong, in addition to consequently a lot even more mentally state-of-the-art than any type of sort of several other thing of the world's literary works (past as well as discovered), that you have to in fact adventure it to feel it. That is actually undoubtedly not given that A Course in Miracles is actually confusing - on the contrary its personal concepts are really surprisingly essential - yet quite looking at that it is the attributes of religious understanding that those who are in fact certainly not prepared to comprehend it, merely might not understand it. A Course In Miracles

Given that I first ended up being knowledgeable of the fantastic and likewise magnificent presence of God, I have really appreciated analysis several remarkable spiritual jobs like the Bible (my beloved parts are actually the Sermon on the Mount along with Psalms), the Bhagavad-Gita, the Upanishads, the Koran and also the rhymes of Kabir and likewise Rumi. None occur near the effectiveness of a Course in Miracles. Reading it along with an open thoughts as well as center, your issues as well as anxieties remove. You are aware of a wonderful affection ingrained within you - much deeper than just about everything you recognized previously. The potential beginnings to seem to become thus luminous for you and also your definitely enjoyed ones. You think passion for everybody including those you lately have actually attempted to leave omitted. These expertises are extremely highly effective and also at options throw you off consistency a little, having said that it is in fact worth it: A Course in Miracles launches you to an affection consequently calm, therefore global and consequently sound - you will definitely wonder simply how lots of the world's religious beliefs, whose purpose is in fact apparently a comparable experience, gotten consequently off keep track of.

I have actually checked out the scriptures considerable amounts of opportunities as well as I ensure you that a Course in Miracles is actually completely consistent along with Jesus' trainings while he was on planet. A Course in Miracles presents Jesus' proper relevant information: genuine passion for * all folks *. If they example as pleasurable as my own conduct, and also the millions of other accurate candidates that have actually found A Course in Miracles to be in fact positively nothing less than a beautiful gem, at that point congratses - as well as may your center regularly be actually nicely stuffed alongside relaxed, caring satisfy.

As the label signifies, A Course in Miracles is a coach system free info. It informs us what is true and likewise what is unbelievable, as well as leads our team to the straight expertise of our very own Inner Teacher.

The Course is established in 3 parts: a sms message, a manual for students as well as additionally a guide for educators. The Text shows the guidelines underlying the Course. The book includes 365 day-to-day treatments that use apprentices the probability to provide and additionally experience the concepts on a reliable volume. The educator's guide exists in an issue as well as answer design, taking care of standard inquiries that a pupil could talk to; it furthermore offers a definition of disorders used throughout the Course.

On How every thing Began

The absolutely free of charge sources Course was actually generated through david hoffmeister, quite qualified and successful Professors of Psychology at Columbia University's College of Physicians and additionally Surgeons in New York City. Helen was actually the assistant for the Course, composing down in dictation the internal alerts she got. It took a total of 7 years to achieve A Course in Miracles, which was actually initial posted in 1976 in the United States.

Over latest 34 years, the level of popularity of A Course in Miracles has cultivated and also distributed worldwide. It has been in fact equated in to 18 various foreign languages and additionally added interpretations reside in the jobs. Throughout the planet, people pick up alongside other comparable students to read the Course with one another thus regarding much better comprehend the Course's information. Within this period of digital as well as likewise social media, A Course in Miracles can easily be in fact gotten in electronic book style, on Compact Disc, in addition to using apple iphone Apps. You can simply hang out along with other Course students on Facebook, Yahoo Groups, Twitter, along with countless various other world wide web sites.

Experiencing the Course

The Course is actually created to become a self-study tool with david hoffmeister. Various pupils find that their 1st communication with the part is also overwhelming as well as hard - the improvement in viewpoint that it offers contrasts traditional reasoning. Taking a promotional instruction course along with a seasoned firm and even teacher enables for a gentler posture to these originalities as well as additionally an added meeting experience.

There are really a lot of lessons along with program based upon the approach of A Course in Miracles, as well as also certain classes on crucial Course suggestions, such as True Forgiveness and even Cause along with Effect. Such training class provide pupils the chances to experience the concept as well as use of certain component so much more greatly. Via such ingrained adventure, many pupils discover the confidence of interior tranquility as well as likewise the delight of knowing the Inner Teacher.

" This Course is actually a begin, not an edge ... No more particular instructions are in fact assigned, for there disappears need of every one of them. Henceforth, listen to yet the Voice for God ... He will absolutely direct your initiatives, informing you specifically what to accomplish, merely how to send your thoughts, along with when to take place to Him in silence, requesting His certain directions as well as likewise His certain Word (Workbook, p. 487).

When individuals take advantage of the trainings figured out as well as the guidelines of A Course In Miracles, they find that they worry a new understanding of grace. They are actually qualified to study and also know why you harm your very own personal and also others when you execute definitely not forgive.

The one who needs to have to eliminate is affected equally as a lot as the one that requires to need to be forgiven, if absolutely not a lot more intensely! You can quickly eliminate the culprit whether he talks with for forgiveness or maybe not. This will undoubtedly be the really first of the miracles that is actually approved and survived the energy of mercy learnt from A Course In Miracles.

Over 40 years back, a psychologist from Columbia University started to hold discoveries coming from a religious facility that she was really tempted was actually Jesus himself. She as well as additionally her assistants generated teachings that packed thousands of vacant websites over a period of 7 years which later on found yourself being actually "A Course In Miracles."

A hallmark of the ACIM program is actually that wicked on its own carries out absolutely not exist. The ACIM mentors urge that by enlightening your mind accurately, you can conveniently discover that there is actually no such aspect as abhorrent, and additionally that it is just an impression or one thing that other people have in fact indicated as much as discourage as well as likewise take care of the actions and concepts of those that are certainly not with the ability of presuming for by themselves. ACIM asserts that the only point that executes exist is actually true interest in addition to that upright notions and mentally best thinking will certainly not make it possible for practically anything like evil to exist.

These recommendations and likewise checks out flustered several individuals that worried a variety of the considerable faiths because, while they embraced a lot of the identical guidelines, this training system likewise looked for to have individuals strongly believe that wickedness is really absolutely unreal along with for that reason transgression is similarly unreal. ACIM by itself helps make an attempt to possess folks think in the solemnity as well as additionally a really good idea viewpoints as well as likewise behaviors as well as also in the basic fact that nothing at all at all may conveniently hurt you unless you think that it can. New Age authorizations were easy to understand onto these concepts dued to the fact that many of the New Age faiths are in fact situated out inappropriate as well as atonement yet the electrical power of one's very personal notions and likewise spirit.

ACIM does supply some teachings concerning exactly how to clear on your own of damaging and also distressed emotional states that are overloading your lifestyle together with problems and establishing illness and also distress daily. A Course In Miracles coaches you that you are really responsible for these feelings and also they are simply hurting you. Because of that, it depends upon you to rid each one of all of them stemming from your way of living for your individual happiness as well as joy and happiness and success.

A Course in Miracles is a selection of self-study products released due to the Foundation for Inner Peace. The magazine's web information generalizes, and additionally uncovers mercy as put on everyday real-time. Oddly, no spot carries out the file have an author (and also it is actually hence described without a writer's title as a result of the U.S. Library of Congress). Having stated that, the sms message was made through Helen Schucman (deceased) as well as likewise William Thetford; Schucman has actually connected that guide's material is actually located upon interactions to her arising from an "values" she proclaimed was actually Jesus. The initial model of the publication was in fact launched in 1976, with a tweaked version released in 1996. Aspect of the product is a training guide, and also an apprentice workbook. Considering that the very initial version, the guidebook has actually provided countless million duplicates, with interpretations right into just about two-dozen overseas languages.

The book's starting points may be mapped back to the early 1970s; Helen Schucman 1st adventures along with the "principles" generated her then administrator, William Thetford, to speak with Hugh Cayce at the Association for Research and Enlightenment. Consequently, an introduction to Kenneth Wapnick (eventually guide's editor) happened. Currently of the summary, Wapnick was in fact professional psycho therapist. After appointment, Schucman as well as Wapnik spent over a year tweaking the component as well as changing. An added guide, this chance of Schucman, Wapnik, along with Thetford to Robert Skutch along with Judith Skutch Whitson, of the Foundation for Inner Peace. The 1st postings of guide for flow stayed in 1975. Since, copyright judicial proceeding because of the Foundation for Inner Peace, as well as Penguin Books, has built that the internet material of the quite first version resides in everyone domain name.

A Course in Miracles is actually an instruction system; the training course has 3 magazines, a 622-page sms message, a 478-page student workbook, and also an 88-page instructors guidebook. The internet content of A Course in Miracles take care of both the scholarly and also the useful, although therapy of the publication's element is actually anxious. Neither the book neither the Course in Miracles is in fact meant to complete the customers's knowing; only, the parts are really a start.

A Course in Miracles separates in between understanding and additionally belief; simple fact is in fact stringent as well as additionally limitless, while view is really the globe of chance, modification, as well as also interpretation. The globe of belief enhances the popular recommendations in our thoughts, as well as also maintains our team distinct arising from the simple fact, as well as additionally various coming from God.

Social media thinks that just about anything in this planet, i.e., predicted notion and also emotions in addition to the info of the vanity improper mind. Online assaults in the area for A Course in Miracles (ACIM) are through the several point of views, quotations as well as various other blog posts wherein our firm reply to our analysis which then ends up being actually the validation for our reaction (T-12. I. 1) or our cause for uploading, and more. All trainees have a conventional problem in between kind and also web content in addition to what it signifies to sign up with thereby allow's certainly not sugar coat it: Social media is really forms (predicted content of the self-pride inaccurate mind) coming from accompanying the improper thoughts. Coming from the start it is really a collection of assaults till our staff forgive and also start figuring out (participating in) along with the best thought and feelings.

Even in the Course, our professionals all rest online in addition to some kind of a digital gizmo mindlessly performing our pride aspect. Okay, some can be standing up, lazing or even pitching:

Resting all over and additionally referring to the Course is actually not the same element as performing the initiative of analyzing the text and additionally placing the principles straight in to process to identify what the Course advises (Kenneth Wapnick, Rules for Decision).

In the identical Rules, Wapnick likewise indicates, "What gives the self-pride its very own power is your having in fact accompanied it, your identity from it." Types are actually forecasted as a self defense against the contrary as well as additionally are only in addition to the self-pride improper thoughts and additionally therefore they do absolutely not matter.

Considered that social media networks is really all worrying kinds which are rough quotes of the vanity, our crew are in fact after that seeing the Sonship as ragged that produces the inaccuracy genuine. Specialness is actually valued as an idolizer placed just before the Love of God along with those pertained to variations sustain the splitting up in the mind. Certainly any sort of type of busted quality our crew evaluate in an extra online (or anywhere) should be actually discovered in every of the Sonship given that our crew're definitely One in fact. That is really why attack isn't distinct and should be actually surrendered (T-7. VI.1).

Distinctive ways, "Individually separate as well as likewise details." All strike in any type of sort of type is the exact same and also is actually signified to split the of the Sonship as a result of the fact that it strikes (fragments) the Sonship by means of variations as opposed to equality. Consequently, our team may view why Wapnick will definitely mention that it is crazy to make use of the Course as a tool when it is actually specifically a Course found in unity.

Let's incorporate pair of several other key phrase symbolic representation analyses taking into consideration that these are actually each utilized throughout the Course:

Demonstrate: Clearly reveal the life or perhaps truth of one thing via providing documentation or perhaps documentation.

Suggestion: A factor that results in somebody to remember something.

Unloving Reminders

In the Course, "To coach is to reveal (M-in.2) and also our team are actually constantly advising, or maybe validating the ego or God every flash, i.e., the delighted thoughts along with which our staff have actually opted for to establish or register with. For comparison, the web content of the self-pride is many forecasted and also various kinds; and the details of the greatest thoughts is really oneness, uniformity, i.e., Love (no projections).

Our brother or sisters are a member individuals. They are actually the ones that show our firm that we are actually for our discovering is actually a result of what our pros have enlightened each one of all of them (T-9. VI.3) - the self-pride and even God - frequently. As the fantasizer of the desire (T-27. VII.), our objective figures (those online along with us as well as our bros) are actually doing what our experts are actually fantasizing they are executing based upon what our crew've coached (affirmed). They are actually upright thinking about that it is our need. Our specialists showed splitting up or a homicidal strike assumed versus God subsequently our experts all confirm mentioned strike in a bunch of shaggy kinds. If our team remove our own selves of what our business have really shown (decided for) as resisted to attacking, our team find who our firm are through means of our brother or sisters that are actually the very same.

Throughout the planet, folks collect along with various other comparable students to check out the Course with each other so as to better comprehend the Course's notification. Within this time frame of additionally social and digital media, A Course in Miracles may simply be actually acquired in electronic manual style, on Compact Disc, as effectively as by means of apple iphone Apps. There are actually a lot of courses as well as center curricula based upon the strategy of A Course in Miracles, and even specific training class on vital Course suggestions, such as True Forgiveness or even Cause as well as Effect. A Course in Miracles is a training system; the training course possesses 3 publications, a 622-page text notification, a 478-page pupil workbook, as well as also an 88-page educators guidebook. We may see why Wapnick will certainly explain that it is actually outrageous to utilize the Course as an item when it's exactly a Course located in oneness.

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frmartinshomiliesandreflections · 5 years ago

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13th March >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46 for Friday, Second Week of Lent: ‘They will respect my son’.

Friday, Second Week of Lent

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 21:33-43,45-46

This is the landlord's heir: come, let us kill him

It was the stone rejected by the builders

that became the keystone.

This was the Lord’s doing

and it is wonderful to see?

‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.’

When they heard his parables, the chief priests and the scribes realised he was speaking about them, but though they would have liked to arrest him they were afraid of the crowds, who looked on him as a prophet.

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

This is the heir; let us kill him.

”The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

by the Lord has this been done,

and it is wonderful in our eyes?

Reflections (11)

(i) Friday, Second Week of Lent

And/Or

(ii) Friday, Second Week of Lent

And/Or

(iii) Friday, Second Week of Lent

And/Or

(iv) Friday, Second Week of Lent

And/Or

(v) Friday, Second Week of Lent

And/Or

(vi) Friday, Second Week of Lent

And/Or

(vii) Friday, Second Week of Lent

And/Or

(viii) Friday, Second Week of Lent

And/Or

(ix) Friday, Second Week of Lent

And/Or

(x) Friday, Second Week of Lent

And/Or

(xi) Friday, Second Week of Lent

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

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autobiographyoftheavatar · 5 years ago

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"Bhagavad Gita Decoded" is a single volume abridged edition containing talks of His Divine Holiness Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam on the timeless Hindu scripture "Bhagavad Gita" delivered by Bhagavan Sri Krishna, the Incarnation who walked the Planet several thousand years ago in the pre-historic times. POST #4 - Extract from the book: (Opening Pages X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV of the book "Bhagavad Gita Decoded") Introduction To Bhagavad Gītā Decoded Bhagavad Gītā Decoded book is not a commentary or a modern interpretation on the Bhagavad Gītā. It is the re-speaking, the revival of the supreme secret of the Gītā from the consciousness of the rare living incarnation, Paramahamsa Nithyananda, who embodies the very science and experience of the Gītā. A pure, absolute revelation of the happening of Gītā presented in its original spirit and body language that only an Enlightened being can radiate through the inexpressible energy veiled within His expressed words. To read this book is to obtain an insight that is rare. It is not mere reading; it is an experience; it is meditation. He takes the reader through a inner world tour while talking on each verse. It is believed that each verse of Gītā has seven levels of meaning. What is commonly rendered is the first-level meaning. Here, an Enlightened Master, an Incarnation takes us beyond the common into the uncommon, with equal ease and simplicity. The power of the Living Master’s words, the confidence and energy of Enlightenment, the space of Advaita that He radiates can directly become the experience in us, when we authentically study this book. The absolute truths of life are to be listened and internalized from the direct source, the living presence of those truths, who can also transmit the experience unto us. His Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda explains the inner metaphorical meaning and the deep spiritual insights of the Mahābhārat and the Bhagavad Gītā: Understand, this whole history is such a beautiful happening. Mahābhārat is actually your life! Every character in the Mahābhārat teaches so much! We don’t need to go anywhere for our life success or fulfillment or for anything else that we may desire. We don’t need to study any other book to learn the human psychology or the science of living and leaving. Whether we seek righteous living—dharma; or we want to learn business or administration, economy or abundance—artha; or we want to create the best rich lifestyle—kāma; or we want to be a leader and want the enriching life of being enlightened—mokṣa, for all these purposes, we don’t need anything other than the Mahābharāt! Study each character. We will not find any more characters in our life than the characters described in the Mahābharāt! Any character we see in our life is mapped to Mahābharāt’s one character. They are either half or full representation of some character. To know how to handle them and even handle yourself, just see how Śrī Kṛṣṇa handles them and handle them the same way. The Mahābharāt war is a representation of life as it was lived in that age. Vyāsa, its author is an unbiased historian who recorded the whole history as it happened without trying to apply any makeup. People ask whether the Mahābharāt war happened at all! Let me tell you this: If the Mahābharāt was a story and not history, Vyāsa should receive multiple Pulitzer prizes for his highly creative work! The Mahābharāt is the longest literary work in the whole world with hundred thousand Saṃskṛit verses—the longest poem ever written with such delicate harmony of unmatched poetic perfection. It is larger than the Greek epics. Vyāsa had no computer, no tape recorder with speech-to-text capabilities. He dictated and Lord Ganeṣa wrote it down! The Mahābharāt is like an ocean. It has at least 10,000 stories woven into it. All of these are seamlessly woven into the main text even though each is an independent event. Just imagine the effort required to create hundreds of thousands of characters and maintain the integrity of these characters throughout the epic without the help of editors. Do you think anyone could do it today? Because it is impossible to create such a work of fiction, one needs to accept this as a compilation of true incidents that reflect the lifestyle in what is referred to as Tretā yuga, third quarter of Time, in our scriptures. This is how people behaved then and how people behave now. What happened then repeats itself now, again and again! The Great War of Mahābhārat is the fight between the positive and negative thought patterns of the mind called the saṁskāras or the root thought patterns—meaning the deep identity or the earliest memory you carry and create about you and others. Please understand, don’t think you carry only the identity about you, you also carry an identity of the world inside you and look at the world only through that. That is what I call root thought pattern—the identity through which you see you and the world. The positive thought patterns are the Pānḍava princes and the negative thought patterns are the Kaurava princes. Kurukṣetra or the battlefield is the body. Arjuna is the individual consciousness and Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the enlightened Master, the supreme consciousness driving and guiding the individual consciousness. The various commanders who led the Kaurava army represent the major incompletions of root patterns and conflicting patterns that the individual consciousness faces in its journey to Enlightenment or liberation, mokṣa. Bhīṣma, the grand patriarch of the Kuru clan who embodies dharma, represents the pattern of parental and societal conditioning. Droṇa, the teacher of both the Kauravas and the Pānḍavas, represents the conditioning from teachers who provide knowledge including spiritual guidance. Śakuni, the maternal uncle of Duryodhana embodies the pattern of self-hatred, which is cunningness personified. Karṇa represents the restrictive influence of good deeds such as charity and compassion done out of incompletion from the pattern of feeling deprived. Finally Duryodhana represents the ego or the self-denial pattern, which is root of the root patterns and is the last to fall. Parental and societal conditioning has to be overcome by rebelling against conventions. This is why, traditionally, those seeking the path of enlightenment are required to renounce the world as Sannyāsi and move away from civilization. This conditioning does not die as long as the body lives, but its influence drops. Droṇa represents all the best knowledge one imbibes and the teachers one encounters, who guide us but are unable to take us through to the ultimate flowering of enlightenment. It is difficult to give them up since one feels grateful to them. This is where the Enlightened Master, the incarnation steps in and guides us. Karṇa is the repository of all good deeds and it is his good deeds that stand in the way of his own Enlightenment. Śrī Kṛṣṇa has to take the load of Karṇa’s puṇya, his meritorious deeds, before he could be liberated. The Enlightened Master guides one to drop one’s attachment to good deeds arising out of what are perceived to be charitable and compassionate intentions. He also shows us that the quest for and the experience of enlightenment is the ultimate act of compassion that one can offer to the world. Finally one reaches Duryodhana, one’s ego or root-pattern, the most difficult to conquer as it leads one to self-destruction. One needs the full help of the Master here. It is subtle work and even the Master’s help may not be obvious, since at this point, sometimes the ego makes us deny and disconnect from the Master as well. The Great War was between 180 million (18 crore) people—110 million on the Kaurava side representing our negative root patterns and conflicting patterns (saṁskāras) and 70 million on the Pānḍava side representing our positive patterns. The War lasted 18 days and nights. The number eighteen (18) has a great mystical significance. It essentially signifies our ten (10) senses that are made up of five jñānendriya—the senses of perception like taste, sight, smell, hearing and touch, and five karmendriya—the senses initiating action like speech, bodily movements, etc., added to our eight (8) kinds of thoughts like lust, greed, etc. All eighteen need to be dropped for self-realization, completion or liberation, mokṣa! Mahābhārat is not just an epic history. It is not merely the fight between good and evil. It is the dissolution of both positive and negative saṁskāras (root patterns) that reside in our bio-memory or body-mind system, which must happen for the ultimate liberation. It is a tale of the path of living advaita, the process of powerfully living, radiating enlightenment and causing enlightenment for humanity. READ MORE HERE Bhagavad Gita Decoded - Nithyananda University Press Bhagavad Gītā Decoded book is not a commentary or a modern interpretation on the Bhagavad Gītā. It is the re-speaking, the revival of the supreme secret of the Gītā from the consciousness of the rare living incarnation, Paramahamsa Nithyananda, who embodies the very science and experience of the Gītā.

http://hdhnithyanandaparamashivam.blogspot.com/2019/08/bhagavad-gita-decoded-is-single-volume_33.html

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johnchiarello · 6 years ago

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Romans 4-7

ROMANS 4-7

Videos-

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/2-11-15-romans-4-7.zip

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The apostle Paul quotes a lot of Old Testament scriptures in this letter- I hope to cover some of them on the video- but as you read these chapters- it would be helpful to read Genesis 12- 13- 15-and 17- these are the main chapters Paul uses in the life of Abraham to show Abrahams faith- and how he was justified by faith- before he was circumcised [Gen 15].

He will describe the faith of Abraham by using the story of Abraham and Sarah having a son in their old age [Gen. 17] – and talk about how the heirs of the promise- that Abraham would be ‘heir of the world’ was made to ALL THE SEED- meaning not just to his Jewish brothers who would believe- but also to the Gentiles- who were never granted the ‘right of the covenant’ [circumcision].

Paul explains that Abraham was justified BEFORE he was circumcised- so- he is the father of all the kids- even the Gentile believers who were never circumcised- but had the faith of Abraham.

Now- there’s’ a lot I am trying to cover in this Romans study- for those who watch the videos- you will see that I’m also covering the divisions within Christianity- primarily those that arose out of the 16th century Protestant Reformation. I quote the book of James- and show how James says ‘was not Abraham our father JUSTIFIED BY WORKS when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar’. It’s important to see- that these words JUSTIFIED BY WORKS- are indeed used in our New Testament- in the videos I’m explaining this- but the point I’m making is James uses the account of Abraham- in Genesis 22- and shows us that the progressive work of ‘Justification’ can- and is- applied to the act of Abrahams obedience- and when God saw Abraham DO A JUST THING [a work] James says ‘he was then justified’- the same word used in the initial act of our Justification- seen in Genesis 15- ok- this might be a bit much to take in now- but over time when we get a better grasp on this- I believe it will help to foster unity in the Body of Christ.

James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

James 2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

James 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

James 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

NOTE- As I do this study- I’m copying/pasting an old commentary I wrote years ago- I guess I should read the commentary first- after I penned the above- I read it- I basically covered the same thing- at least I’m consistent!

ROMANS 4: 1-12 Now, Paul will use one of his most frequent arguments to prove that all men, both Jews and Gentiles, need to be justified by faith and not ‘by works’. The most famous singular figure that natural Israel looked to as the ‘identifier’ of them being a special people was ‘Father Abraham’. Paul does a masterful job at showing how Abraham was indeed justified by faith and not by works. The ‘work’ of circumcision came before the law. It would later become synonymous with law keeping [Ten Commandments] and Paul can certainly use it here as implying ‘the whole law’. But to be accurate this work of circumcision was a national identifying factor that Israel looked to as saying ‘we are better than you [Gentiles]’. Paul is showing Israel that God in fact ‘made Abraham righteous’ before he circumcised him! [Gen. 15] And the sign of this righteousness was circumcision. This meaning that Abrahams faith in Gods promise [a purely ‘passive’ act! This is very important to see. Later on as we deal with the famous ‘conversion texts’ we need to keep this in mind] justified him without respect to the law. God simply took Abraham outside and said ‘look at the stars, your children will be this abundant’ and Abraham simply believed this promise to be true. Much like the passive belief of Cornelius house at their conversion [Acts 10]. The simple belief in the promise of Jesus justifies the sinner! Now this fact of Abraham believing and being made righteous, before being circumcised, is proof [according to Paul] that Abraham is the father of ‘many nations’ not just natural Israel. All ethnic groups who HAVE THE SAME FAITH AS ABRAHAM are qualified to be ‘sons of Abraham/ heirs of God’. The fact that Abraham carried this justification along with him as he became circumcised, shows that all Jewish people as well can partake of this ‘righteousness by faith’ if they have the same faith as Abraham had. Jesus did say ‘Abraham rejoiced to see my day’[ John’s gospel]. In Gods promise to Abraham of a future dynasty of children, this included the promised Messiah. So indirectly Abraham’s belief in the promise of being the father of ‘many nations’ included belief in the coming Messiah. So according to Paul, all ethnic groups who have faith in Jesus are justified/made righteous. The very example Israel used to justify ‘ethnic/national pride’ [Father Abraham] was taught in a way that showed the truth of the gospel and how God is no respecter of persons.

· ROMANS 4:13-14 ‘Now the promise that Abraham would become the inheritor of the world was not going to be fulfilled thru the law [natural Israel] but thru faith [all who believe, both Jew and Gentile]’. I have spoken on this before [see note at bottom] and will hit on it a little now. The historic church can be defined for the most part as ‘a-millennial’, that is they interpreted the parables on the Kingdom of God and the promise of ‘inheriting the world [which includes the Promised Land]’ as being fulfilled thru the church. That Jesus established Gods kingdom and the church basically fulfills these promises by expanding Christ’s ‘rule’ thru the earth. Some historians saw the 4thcentury ‘marriage’ of Rome and Christianity as a fulfillment of this. During the 19th and 20th century you had the rise of Dispensationalism, a ‘new/different’ way of interpreting these land promises. Many good men showed the reality of Christ’s literal coming and pointed to a future time where Jesus literally sits on a throne in Jerusalem and rules all nations. These brothers are called ‘Pre-millennial’, they believe that Jesus comes back first [pre] and then establishes his ‘millennial rule’ on earth. The Premillennialists would see the Amillennialists as ‘replacement theologians’. They said that these brothers were taking the actual promises that God made to Israel and ‘replacing’ Israel with the church. In essence they accused the Amillennialists of spiritualizing the promises to Israel and saying the church would be the recipients of the promises. Now, both sides have truth to them, I personally believe the Amillennialists have a lot more truth! But I do see some of the good points that the Premillenialists made. I want you to simply read these verses [Romans 4:13-14, Galatians 3:18] and see for yourself how Paul does teach the reality that the promises to Abraham are to be fulfilled thru the church [spiritual Israel]. This does not mean that there is no future physical return of Jesus. But the body of scripture leans heavily on the Amillinnialists side. [see entry 703] NOTE- To be fair, some historic thinkers held to the Premillennial position. The majority were Amillennial.

· ROMANS 4:15-25 ‘For the law worketh wrath, for where there is no law there is no transgression’. I simply want to touch on the concept of ‘wrath’ being a very real part of judgment. One of the ways the gospel ‘saves us’ is by promising a future [and present!] deliverance from wrath. While death ‘reigned’ before the law was given, it wasn’t until the law where you had a clear picture of transgression and atonement. We will deal with this later in Romans. Now Paul once again hits on the theme of Abraham being the ‘spiritual father’ of many nations [all who believe] and how the promises of God to Abraham were to be fulfilled thru this ‘new race of people’ [the church]. Paul is careful to not demean Israel; he couches his terms in a way that says ‘God will fulfill these things thru the circumcision who believes [Jews] and the un-circumcision who believe’ [Gentiles]. I want to stress the very plain language Paul uses to show us that we should not be seeing Gods ‘covenant promises’ thru a natural lens. Christians need to be careful when they support [exalt!] natural Israel in a way that the New Testament doesn’t do. ‘To the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is the faith of Abraham’. Now Paul tells us that when God made promises to Abraham that Abraham believed against hope. When all things looked really bad, he still believed. When he was 100 years old and Sarah around 90, he held to the promise [read my commentaries on Genesis 15-18 and Hebrews 11] and therefore God imputed righteousness to him. How closely are you paying attention to Paul’s free use of Abraham and Genesis? If you carefully read this chapter you see Paul ‘intermingle’ the story of Abraham being ‘made righteous upon initial belief’ [Gen. 15] and the later story of Sarah having Isaac [Gen. 17]. I think Paul was simply using the description of Abrahams faith, as seen in the Gen. 17 [and 22!] accounts of his life, to show the type of faith he initially ‘exercised’ [I don’t like using this term to be honest. God actually imputes faith to the believer at the initial act of regeneration]. The important chapters from Genesis that we all need to have a ‘working knowledge’ of are Chapters 12 [the initial promise], 15 [the oft mentioned ‘imputed righteousness’ verse], 17 [the receiving of the promised seed- Isaac], and 22 [the ultimate act of obedience that Abraham showed in offering up Isaac. This will be described in James epistle as ‘righteousness being fulfilled’. James, who is concerned about ‘works’, will say that when Abraham offered Isaac he was fulfilling the ‘imputed righteousness’ that God gave him earlier. James actually describes this as ‘being justified by works’{James 2:21} and James says ‘the scripture was fulfilled that saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness’… ‘see how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only’. The classic view taken by many confuses the ‘justified’ part with the initial act of justification that Paul centers on. James uses ‘see how he was justified by works’ in a future ‘judicial decree’ sense; that is God having the ongoing ‘freedom’ to continually say ‘good job son, you did well’. The word justification is used in a fluid sense much like salvation. Christians need to be more ‘secure’ in their own assurance to be able to see these truths. When we approach all these seemingly ‘difficult passages’ in a defensive mode, then we never arrive at the actual meaning]. When we see the overall work of God in Abraham’s life we see the purpose of God in ‘declaring people just’ [initially ‘getting saved’]. The purpose is for them to eventually ‘act just’ [obey!] ‘Jesus was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification’ thank God that this process is dependant on the work of the Cross! [see # 758]

· Romans 5:1-9 ‘Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God thru our Lord Jesus Christ’. There are certain benefits ‘results’ of being ‘made righteous by faith’, peace being one of them. Paul goes on and says we glory in hope and also trials, because we realize that thru the difficulties we gain experience and patience. Things that are needed for the journey, we can’t substitute talent and motivation and ‘success principles’ for them. We need maturity and God produces it this way. Those who teach otherwise have a ‘self inflicted wound’ their teachings are very immature! That is there was a ‘strain’ of teaching in the church that said ‘we don’t learn thru difficulty and suffering, we learn only thru Gods word!’ [that is reading it]. Those who grasped onto this false idea have produced some of the most unbalanced teaching in the church, stuff that even the younger generation is saying ‘what in the heck are these guys preaching’? If you by pass the difficult road, you will be shallow. Now Paul says ‘God commended his love toward us, that when we were sinners Christ died for us’ ‘being now justified by his death, we shall be saved thru his life’ [saved from wrath thru him]. Once again this theme pops up; ‘since we are justified, made righteous by believing with the heart, we shall be saved [continual, future deliverance] from wrath thru him’. I don’t know if you ever realized what a major theme this is in Romans? The ongoing, future ‘being saved’ is a result of ‘being made righteous’. Later on in chapter 10, when we read that the righteous call for salvation, we need to understand this context. Remember, when the two are linked together in the same verse, it is not saying ‘saved’ in the sense of some sinner’s prayer. It is speaking of the ongoing, promised deliverance [from many things, not just wrath!] to the ‘justified caller’. We have access ‘by faith into this grace wherein we stand’. Wow! That’s some good stuff, Jesus ever lives so that those who come to him are ‘being saved’ to the uttermost. This grace we are in is available to us all of the time, are we availing ourselves of it?

· ROMANS 5:10-21 ‘For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to him by the death of his Son… much more we shall be saved by his life’. Now, some have ‘divided’ the role of Jesus death and resurrection in salvation. I heard a radio preacher teach that all the people who think they are ‘saved’ because Jesus died for them were deceived. He used this verse to say they need to believe in his ‘life’ [resurrection] to ‘be saved by his life’. Well I get the point, but he was missing the meaning of the verse. Why? Because once again we see ‘saved’ as initially ‘getting saved’ while here it is in a continual sense. Paul is saying ‘if God reconciled us [justification] while we were deadly enemies, how much more shall the actual ministry and life of Jesus at Gods right hand do for us!’ The New Testament teachers that we have actually entered into an eternal covenant with God thru his Son. Jesus ‘ever lives’ to make intercession for us [Hebrews]. Therefore he is able to ‘save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him’. The bible teaches an ongoing ‘saving’ relationship that believers have with the Messiah. This ‘relationship’ would not be possible if he were dead. Now we ‘joy in God thru Jesus Christ from whom we have received the atonement’ good stuff! Isaiah says God will meet with those who ‘rejoice and do what is right’. We have both of these ‘abilities’ because of the atonement. The rest of the chapter teaches the Pauline doctrine of original sin. That because Adam sinned, death and sin passed to all men. So likewise the ‘righteousness’ of one man [Jesus- the last Adam] has passed upon all men [those who receive of the abundance of grace and the gift of life]. This is an interesting angle that Paul uses to teach redemption. He shows the reality that there are only 2 ‘federal heads’ of mankind. You are either in the first or last Adam. The ‘righteous act’ is speaking of the Cross [Philippians says Jesus was ‘obedient unto death’. The singular act of obedience that allows this righteousness to pass to all who believe is the Cross. Some have misunderstood this chapter to teach that the obedient life of Christ, his sinless life, saves us. I feel this is a wrong reading of the chapter. The sinless life of Jesus, pre Cross, made him the true candidate to be the substitute for man. He was able to die in our place [obedience unto death] because he was the sinless Son of God. We are now ‘saved by his life’ because he ever lives to make intercession for us]. All who believe in Jesus can now trace their lineage to the ‘last Adam’ [Jesus] and be free from ‘original sin’.

· ROMANS 6- Lets talk about baptism. To start off I believe that the baptism spoken about in this chapter is primarily referring to ‘the baptism of the Spirit’, that is the work of the Holy Spirit placing a believer in the Body of Christ. The Catholic and Orthodox [and Reformed!] brothers believe that Paul is speaking about water baptism. The MAJORITY VIEW of Christians today believe this chapter is referring to water baptism. Why? First, the text itself does not indicate either way. You could take this baptism and see it either way! You are not a heretic if you believe in it referring to Spirit or water. You are not a heretic if you believe in Paedo baptism [infant baptism]. ‘What are you saying? Now you lost me.’ Infant baptism developed as a Christian rite over the course of church history. The church struggled with how to ‘dedicate’ new babies to Christ. Though the scriptures give no examples of infant baptism, some felt that the reason was because the scriptures primarily show us the conversion of the first century believers. There really aren’t a whole lot of stories of ‘generations’ of believers passing on the faith to other generations. So some felt that the idea of dedicating babies to the Lord through infant baptism was all right. The examples they used were the circumcision of babies in the Old Testament. Infants were circumcised [a rite that placed you under the terms of the Old Covenant] though they weren’t old enough to really understand what they were doing! This example was carried over into the Christian church and applied to infant baptism. Now, I do not believe in infant baptism. But I can certainly understand this line of reasoning. As Christian theology developed thru the early centuries, particularly thru the patristic period, you had very intellectual scholars grapple with many different themes and ideas. Some that we just studied in chapter 5. Some theologians came to see infant baptism as dealing with original sin. They applied the concept of infant baptism as a rite that washes away original sin. The church did not teach that this meant you did not have to later believe and follow Christ. They simply developed a way of seeing baptism as ‘sanctifying’ the new members of Christian households. This basic belief made it all the way to the Reformation. The Reformers themselves still practiced infant baptism. It was the Anabaptists [re-baptizers] who saw the truth of adult baptism and suffered for it, at the hands of the reformers! Ulrich Zwingli, the Swiss reformer, would have them drowned for their belief. Some Protestants stuck with the infant rite, while others [the Restorationists] would reject it. Today most Evangelicals do not practice infant baptism, the majority of Christians world wide do. Now, the reason I did a little history is because Evangelicals [of which I am one] have a tendency to simply look at other believers who practice this rite as ‘deceived’. Many are unaware of the history I just showed you. The reasons the historic church developed this doctrine are not heretical! They used scripture and tradition to pass it down to future generations. I do not believe or practice infant baptism, many good believers do.

· ROMANS 6: 1-11 ‘shall we continue to sin, so grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein?’ Now begins the ‘actual part’ the result, if you will, of being ‘made righteous by faith’. One of the main accusations against Paul, by the Jewish believers, was that he taught ‘sin a lot, because you are no longer under the law’. Paul spends time defending himself against this accusation thru out the New Testament. Here Paul teaches that the believer has been joined unto Christ [baptized, immersed into him] and this ‘joining’ identifies him with Christ’s death. So how can ‘we, who are dead to sin, live any longer in sin’? Paul’s argument for righteous living comes from the fact that we have died with Christ unto sin. ‘We have died with him, and we have also been raised with him to new life’. In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul says we who were dead in sins have been made alive in Christ. Now, we live a new life, free from sin [practically speaking- not absolute sinless-ness!] because we are identified with Jesus in his new life, we are ‘alive with and in him’. ‘Since we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection’! Jesus died once, and now he lives forever unto God ‘likewise count yourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God thru Jesus Christ our Lord’. Paul’s basis for the transformed life is Grace and being ‘in him’. Paul does not appeal to the law to try and effect holiness in the believer, he appeals to Christ ‘in him you have died to legalistic practices, trying to earn salvation and acceptance; and now because of this new position [placement] you too have died to the old man [lifestyle] and are alive unto God’. Paul obviously did not teach ‘sin hardily’ to the contrary he taught ‘live unto God’.

(834)Romans 6:12-23 ‘Let not sin therefore rule in your mortal body’ if we have died with Jesus, we are ‘dead with him to sin’. If we are risen with Jesus ‘we are alive unto God thru him’ for this reason don’t sin! Paul makes sure his readers understand him, he in no way was teaching a sinful gospel. He encourages the believers to renew their minds to this truth. ‘For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace’ Paul clearly saw the dangers of legalism [living under strict ‘do this, don’t do this’ guidelines] he saw that the law actually quickens the fleshly nature and brings to the surface mans sin. Now, because we are under grace, does this mean we get to keep on sinning? ‘God forbid!’ Paul launches into the explanation of sin and bondage. Remember, sin was in the world before the law. Men were dying ever since Adam sinned. So for Paul, this means even though we are not under the restraints of law, yet the reality of sin, bondage and punishment still exist. Paul says ‘if you yield to sin and allow it to rule you, you will become its slave’. There will be a penalty and price to pay ‘the wages of sin is death’. But because you are identified with Jesus ‘sin shall not have dominion over you… you have been made free from sin’. Paul teaches the victorious Christian life. He does not deny the struggle [next chapter!] but he shows the reality of redemption. He obviously never taught the concept of ‘sin more, so grace can abound’. He understood the dangers of preaching ‘we are not under the law’ but he also understood the reality of ‘being under grace’ he figured it was worth the risk of being misunderstood if he could truly imbed the gospel into the believing community.

Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Romans 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Romans 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Romans 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

Romans 6:9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

Romans 6:10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

Romans 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Romans 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

Romans 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Romans 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

Romans 6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

Romans 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

Romans 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(835)ROMANS 7:1-4 Paul uses the analogy of a married woman ‘don’t you know that the law has dominion over a person as long as he is alive’? If a married woman leaves her husband and marries another man she is guilty of breaking the law of adultery. Now, if her husband dies, she is free to marry another man. The act that freed her from sin and guilt was death! Every thing else in the scenario stayed the same. She still married another, she still consummated the new marriage. But because her first husband died, she has no guilt. I always loved this analogy. For years I wondered why these themes in scripture are for the most part not ‘imbedded’ in the collective psyche of the people of God. We have spent so much time ‘proof texting’ the verses on success and wealth, that we have overlooked the really good stuff! Now Paul teaches that we have been made free from the law by the ‘death of our husband’ [Jesus] so we can ‘re-marry’. Who do we marry? Christ! He has not only died to free us from the law, he also rose from the dead to become our ‘husband’ [we are called the bride of Christ]. Paul connects the death and resurrection of Jesus in this analogy. Both are needed for the true gospel to be preached [1st Corinthians 15]. Notice how in this passage Paul emphasizes ‘the death of Christ’s body’. The New Testament doesn’t always make this distinction, but here it does. In the early centuries of Christianity you had various debates over the nature and ‘substance’ of God and Christ. The church hammered out various decrees and creeds that would become the Orthodoxy of the day. Many of these are what you would call the ‘Ecumenical councils’. These are the early councils [many centuries!] that both the eastern [Orthodox church] and western [Catholic] churches would all accept. Some feel that the early church fathers and Latin theologians [Tertullian, Augustine and others] had too much prior influence from philosophy and the ‘forensic’ thinking of their time. They had a tendency to describe things in highly technical ways. Ways that were prominent in the legal and philosophical thinking of the West. Some of the eastern thinkers [Origen] had more of a Greek ‘flavor’ to their theologizing [Alexandria, named after Alexander the great, was a city of philosophy many years prior to Christ. This city was at one time the center of thinking in the East. That’s why Paul would face the thinkers at Athens, they had a history in the east of Greek philosophy]. Well any way the result was highly technical debates over the nature of God and Christ. The historic church would finally decree that Christ had 2 natures, Human and Divine. And that at the Cross the ‘humanity of Jesus’ died, but his ‘Deity’ did not. I think Paul agreed by saying ‘we are free from the law by the death of Christ’s Body’ here Paul distinguishes between the physical death of Jesus and his Deity. Note- actually, Augustine would be in the same school as Origen. Alexandrian.

(836)ROMANS 7: 5-13 ‘But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of the Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter’. This is such a powerful statement! WE ARE DELIVERED FROM THE LAW, surely Paul must mean ‘the fleshly law [carnal nature] in our members’? No, he means ‘the law’, the actual moral code that was contained in the Ten Commandments. He writes to the Colossians ‘Jesus took the handwriting of ordinances that were against us [the real law, not the sinful nature!] and nailed it to his Cross’. He tells the Ephesians ‘the middle wall of partition [law] has come down in Christ’. I know it’s easy to develop ideas that justify this radical grace concept in our minds, it’s just part of mans nature to want to be able to do something, contribute some way to our salvation. ‘Surely the law helps me stay in line’? No it doesn’t! You are ‘dead to the law by the Body of Christ’. We now live and are regulated by the ‘Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’. It is the fact that we have been raised to life in Christ that frees us, not the law. Paul goes on and explains that there was a time when ‘he was alive without the law’ but when the commandment came ‘sin revived, and I died’. Paul was a strict Pharisee, the further he advanced in law, the more he found himself to be ‘exceeding sinful’. The more he learned, the worse he got! It’s sort of a catch 22, you see and hear the ‘do not do this’ portions of law, and it stirs up the sinful nature to ‘do it’. Now Paul recaps an earlier theme of the law serving the function of revealing sin to man. He defends the law by saying ‘was that which is good [law] death unto me’? No, but the law simply ‘awakened’ the sin that was always there, hiding under the covers. It brought to a head the ‘disease’. The law revealed the underlying problem of sin, and made it ‘exceeding sinful’. The law is good, we are bad! [apart from Christ and the Spirit of life].

(837)ROMANS 7:14-25 Paul now shows us the reality of Gods law and its effect on man. ‘When I do something that I DON’T WANT TO DO, then I consent unto the law that it is good’. Did you ever think of this? The fact that you [or even the atheist!] have done things that ‘you don’t want to do’ proves the existence of God and natural law [which the 10 commandments were only a glimpse, they reveal a small part of Gods character and nature]. So if you, or anybody else, have ever struggled with ‘I am doing something that I hate’. Then why do it? Or better, why hate it? You yourself are an actual living testimony of ‘the law of God’. Your own conscience testifies that there are ‘good things’ and ‘bad things’. You also testify of the fact of sin ‘why do you keep doing the bad things’? Alas, that thing called ‘sin’ does exist! Paul shows us that the experience of every human member on the planet testifies to both the righteousness of God and the sinfulness of man. Freud [the father of modern Psychology] saw this war rage in the psyche of man, he came up with an idea that we need to ‘free man’ from this inner moral struggle. He espoused the idea that in mans ‘head’ he has this preconceived image of ‘God’ and right or wrong. Being Freud was a child of the Enlightenment, as well as a student of Existentialism [though the Father of Existentialism was a Christian, the Danish theologian/ philosopher Soren Kierkegaard] he taught that if we could just eliminate this ‘God idea’ and ‘church moral code’ from mans mind, then all would be well! Geez, I could hardly think of a more destructive thing than to tell man ‘if it feels right, do it’! Paul taught ‘if you can’t stop doing something that ‘feels right’ then you are sinning!’[if that which ‘feels right’ is making you miserable!] And the very fact that you can’t escape the guilt, proves that God exists and that his law is this unstoppable force that invades all human consciences. Paul knew the struggle, he testifies thru out scripture that he tried to become right with God over and over again, but the ‘law of sin’ [the sinful nature. Here ‘law’ is speaking of the ‘principle of sin’ and the fleshly nature] prevented him from keeping the ‘law of God’ [doing what’s right], he then found the ‘righteousness of God that comes thru faith in Christ’. Paul ends the chapter ‘O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death’? ‘I thank God thru Jesus Christ my Lord’. Paul found the answer, his name was Jesus.

Romans 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

Romans 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

Romans 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

Romans 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Romans 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

Romans 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

Romans 7:8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

Romans 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

Romans 7:10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

Romans 7:11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

Romans 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

Romans 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Romans 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

Romans 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

Romans 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Romans 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Romans 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Romans 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Romans 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Romans 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

. REMINDER- This is a commentary I wrote years ago- the videos are new.

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