Picking Up Stones

     In John the eighth chapter we have the famous scene of the infamous woman on the ground and the righteous men standing around her. Framed in my mind, the point of view is the woman's, with JC's feet showing, and in the background, men standing holding rocks. It seems that "taking up stones in order to throw them" at someone was a very popular thing with "the Jews". From John 8 to John 11 this phrase or something like is used over a half a dozen times. You had to be righteous to live "in the city" in those days. After all, Jerusalem is a very rocky place. Stoning was a social event. It was viewed by many, like public floggings, stockades, dunkings, Youtube videos, or Facebook.
      It seemed  easy to bend down and grab a stone in those days.  They were right there at their feet. They could probably pick up two or three at a time, and give one to their friend who was with them.  "Be sure to pick a nice one. Here, this one will leave a bruise, after all we want this person to remember this, that is if he/she lives." They might have said. These were church people, remember, not the gentiles or Romans. They attended the local services, had the rabbi over for dinner and taught their kids the scriptures.
       But wrong is wrong. Mistakes were to be astoned for! I mean atoned for. These people knew the stonee,  and that probably was the rub. After all, stoning is for our neighbors. "Hold you friends close and your enemies closer", but not too close or you can't get a good throw. You need a little room to make a good throw. Just the right distance will do, there are standards of decency. We don't want to appear to be critical or blood thirsty.
      Yeah, so I have one question.  Am I a stoner? Do I live in a stone throwing society? Well I know, thank God, I don't live in Afghanistan! But when I am listening to a sermon or reading an article, or talking with friends, do I bend down and pick up, well not big stones, but ones big enough to be felt? What is my conversation like? Or better what is going on in my head? If murder starts in the heart with hatred, where does throwing a critical remark start?  A smart remark?
         In Acts the 7th chapter,  we have another example of a person being stoned. This time we know his name. It was Stephen. Stephen died that day after delivering God's word to the stoners. His last words before giving up the Ghost was "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge" (Acts 7:60). I am sure he entered heaven through gates of splendor. I wonder if those standing by were as forgiving as Stephen. Acts 7:58 tells us that Saul was holding the coats. It could be that Stephen's grace opened the door for Saul to become Paul. What the world would have missed if Stephen would have thrown stones back and threaten and cursed his attackers.
          I wonder what response Jean and Scott Adam would want us to have? They were delivering Bibles when overtaken by Somali pirates.  The pirates boarded their boat and killed them and two others. Tragic. And I am sure their families and friends are devastated.

Somali Pirate

          This brings to mind the story of the missionaries in Ecuador who where murdered by the natives (Through Gates of Splendor). The missionaries had guns on board their plane but refused to use them. One of their wives eventually gained acceptance with the murdering tribe and lived with them. Her forgiveness and love converted the tribe members to Christ, just like the murderer Paul. Forgiveness is powerful. I wonder if we should have sent in the marines instead?
          As we pray for this situation and the families involved let us remember our crowd of witnesses and how they have refused to give up the vision of a better Kingdom (Hebrews 11). And what those books said that  Scott and Jean were giving out. Let us honor their work. We believe that we belong to a kingdom where love is returned for hate and forgiveness for offense. Lest we find ourselves picking up stones with the "righteous" ones.
      
  

Lucy You Have Some Explainin' To Do

        

        In one of my classes I have a very bright student, well all my students are bright some are so bright that their fathers called them sons! :-) I'm sorry. The point here is that this extra bright student, we will call him Billy, usually gaves answers that were totally understandable to him but were completely divergent to the rest of us. At first we counted them wrong and dismiss him with a laugh.  Then one day he explained his answer and it made sense! From that time on he made us see objects, principles and natural events in a completely different light. He added a whole other dimension to our class. It has been a learning process for us, his class, to listen to his answers. We began looking forward to Billy's answers as he learned how to explain them to us. As he helped us, he became more relatable to his peers in the process. The whole class' eyes were opened where before they thought Billy was weird.  Now they realized he just thought differently about things.

        Personally, he helped me understand a verse in John the first chapter on which I have been working.  As I was translating John 1:18 the last verb in that verse was a bit puzzling to me.  The verb is exegesato. It is usually translated as "declared"(KJV) or "made known"(NIV).  It is the same word we get the English words, exegetical or exegesis. The USB Greek NT defines this word as "to explain" or  "to order". Now,  I have been wrestling with the correct meaning and nuance for what John was trying to say and Billy explained it to me, without saying a word. When I made that connection lights went on. God through Christ created all things. We know that. But creation did not understand its maker. God was talking to us but mankind mainly thought He was weird. You could say we thought he had the wrong answer, just like Billy. We were in the dark, in fact that is what the Bible says (John 1:10). But at the right time Christ came and "explained" God to man. Christ was God's explanation to us who thought God was weird, unreachable, too abstract, and/or too divergent. Christ came in our flesh down where we lived and understood things, and explained God, our heavenly Father, to us. "He alone has explained Him"(v 18 -NASB). 

         When we receive Christ, we can start understanding God. Who Jesus is to us becomes clearer. He said, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father"(14:9).  Christ was making God friendly to us, again. He explained the relationship in a way that made things right between God our Father and us His children (1:12). Jesus' job was explaining the Father's love to us in such a way that we would choose to be children of God. God was reconciling through Jesus his sons to himself. And that is our job too. To explain our Father's love in such a way that men are drawn to Him (2 Cor. 5:18-20). 

Take form a word by Gary Hargrave - "Call Him Father"

Caiaphas' Prophecy

Lazarus being raised

      In the eleventh chapter of John the evangelist tells the story of Lazarus and his resurrection from the dead. (Some argue that this was not officially a resurrection but resuscitation! Any dictionary should straighten that hair splitting.) The point here is that Lazarus' trip out of the tomb caused trouble in his day.  You would think it would be a point of rejoicing for all, especially Lazarus' religious leaders. Bethany was just over the hill from Jerusalem and many Jews came to Bethany to console Martha and Mary (John 11:18/19). (Hey, he was a popular guy.)  They all went back with an amazing story of Lazarus being raised from the dead. But the Pharisees heard of this and it upset them. "How dare he! And so close to the Holy City!" "Lazarus has his nerve." John tells us that the Sanhedrin actually counseled to kill Lazarus (John 12:10). "Let's kill him again."  

       In chapter eleven around verse 40 something even more strange happened. Caiaphas, the high priest, prophesied about the future of the temple, the priestly office and the nation Israel, as well as the absolute plan of God for the whole world! Caiaphas thought that Jesus' miracles would cause the nation to lose their temple, the priestly office and the identity of Israel as a nation.  His prophecy has affected  Israel to this day. They still do not have their temple, priestly office and are fighting for identity as a nation.
       What was this prophecy?  Well,  In verse 48 John tells us that Caiaphas uses what is called a "conditional sentence" (if such..., then such). Caiaphas said about Jesus and His miracles, "If we leave him alone," then certain things are bound to happen. This is called a 3rd class conditional sentence. It has as its apodosis, the "then" phrase, an inevitable result. "If we leave him alone then Roman will come and take away our place and our nation." Notice how the political priest put his job before the nation.  As an answer to this dilemma  Caiaphas continues his striking prophecy. He prophesied that Jesus should be sacrificed for the good of the nation. Better one man die than the whole nation (11:48-52). Wow, what a good idea! No wonder he is the high priest. That is just what God was thinking!  Of course they did sacrifice Jesus and all that those bad guys feared came upon them.

"Sitting on a foal of a donkey"

       The real irony here is that they took Jesus, crucify him and three days later the greatest resurrection the world has ever seen burst forth. The political leaders thought they could squelch this talk about the resurrection of Lazarus. Instead they promoted God's wonderful plan for the whole world through their ignorance. As Paul put it in another classic conditional sentence (2nd class), ei gar egnosan, oux an ton kurion  tes doxes estaurosan. "For if they knew, (then) they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory" (1 Cor. 2:8b). Oopsie.

Egypt the Haven for Godly People

So Pharaoh said to Joseph,

 “I hereby put you in charge 

of the whole land of Egypt.” 

    Watching what is happening in Egypt is remarkable. I can not help but feel drawn to pray for the Egyptian people and their country.  They are at the threshold of a whole new era in their history and the history of the Middle East. A form of Democracy or even the next level of religious tolerance would be a huge step forward for their country and those other Islamic nations surrounding them. We are witnessing the cry of a people to be free. And our prayers must help pave the way for their total liberation. Their cries are before us and must not be ignored.
     I believe the scriptures ask us to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem"(Ps.122:6). In the years I have been doing this I have noticed that Jerusalem encompasses many people and a host of religions. Those "who live within her walls" need to open up to each other in a new way. Moslem with Christian and Christian with Moslem and Jew with Moslem and Moslem with Jews and Jews with Samaritans and even Jews with Jews, etc., all need prayer for tolerance and love.
      Egypt has led the way in the past for toleration. It was the first of the Islamic countries to make peace with Israel and recognize them as a sovereign nation. And it is not the first time that Egypt has opened its heart to its ancient relative Israel.

Coptic Church

     Egypt as we remember received Abraham in a grievous time of famine (Genesis 12). They received Joseph and his family during another hard time for Israel(Genesis 41). Even though they ended up being slaves in Egypt it was the birth place of the nation of Israel as they left it. During the time of the exile to Babylon, Jeremiah the prophet and some of the priests, and possibly the Arc of the Covenant, were taken to Egypt (Duhm, p.235).  The Arc is said to reside to this day as part of the Jewish ancestry of Ethiopia and the Coptic church. The Coptic heritage goes back as far as early church father Origen and the ancient sea port/library/school of Alexandria.  And of course Egypt was the safe haven for another Joseph, and his wife Mary and their son, Jesus. Jesus was saved from Herod and the execution of two year old children. Their route to safety came from an angel (Matthew 2). So Egypt has played a huge part in the establishment and safe conduct of Israel from enemies both foreign and domestic in ancient times as well as modern.
    It is for this reason and others that prayer should be raised in all quarters of Christianity and from our elder brothers of Judaism for God to return to Egypt the blessing it has been for Christians and the Jewish community in times of need. Now Egypt is having a famine for freedom and the truth. Her cries are coming up before the world of Godly people. Let us pray that God will raise up a Gandhi, a Mandela
a King, or a "prophet like unto Moses" to lead its people to freedom.

Pleasing God?

      Have you ever tried to please someone? Have you tried getting the right present for someone you love and want to please? Getting that right card that says just the right thing, I think is difficult.  I am one of those that stands in front of the Halmark Cards and stands and gets in peoples' way, and stands and finally picks a card that is silly or is blank simply because I have stood there too long and I am embarrassed. The problem with the blank cards is I have to figure out just what to say.  And the silly ones may be funny but like most comedy they avoid the real thing you want to say. It is difficult to find the right words, card, present or deeds and really please someone, at least for me. Ah, to see that look of inward glee at being pleased, everything else is master card.
       Now, I hear, I am suppose to please God.  (What do you get the Guy who has everything?)  Actually the Bible in Hebrews 11:6,  says we are unable to please God, or another translation of the Greek word adunaton is "It is impossible" to please God. Well without faith, it is.  But that word can be like a Hallmark Card. What does real faith look like? Which card on the Christian shelf of "righteousness" is it? Is it helping, church attendance, reading the Bible, prayer,  the cards, er ah the list goes on.  Trying to simplify things the Scripture uses Enoch as an example of someone who "pleased" God. He found the right present, lucky guy. How did he do it?
      Sunday our pastor picked up this theme and talked to us about Enoch. As I was reading afterwards about Enoch in Hebrews and then in Genesis,  I noticed that Genesis does not say that Enoch pleased God. It says that Enoch walked with God (by the by Enoch is the Greek [Septuagint] translation of the Hebrew Chanokh). We actually get a lot from the Septuagint (LXX).  A lot of the names of the books of the Bible come from the LXX. Genesis is an example. It comes from the LXX, not the Hebrew Bible.  What else do we get from the LXX? Well Genesis 5:22 in the Hebrew Bible says Enoch walked with God. In the Septuagint, remembering this was translated by "70" rabbis from Hebrew to Greek,  Enoch was "pleasing" to God, instead of "walking" with God.  Used again in verse 24, the Hebrew says Enoch walked with God and he was not. The Greek says he was pleasing to God and was changed. The Vulgate uses translated.  I picture a transporter like on the Star Ship Enterprise. But back to the point, if the writer of the book of Hebrews was reading the Hebrew Bible why did he say Enoch "pleased" God? Actually, he probably got that from the Septuagint.
       So what does this mean? Well I dug a little deeper and found that the form of the verb used in Hebrew for "walked"(yithallekh)  is called a Hithpael. Hebrew has different forms of a word that can vary its meaning slightly. Most languages have this. English does this using contextual clues. We might say "he was fishing for an answer". Does that mean he had a net, or rod and reel and a hook, line and sinker? No, in context it means he was looking for an answer, but "fishing" is more picturesque and a better descriptive word. So researching I found that using this form (Hithpael) of the verb "to walk",  the writer meant that Enoch had a "continual walk" or figuratively was "continually living" with God. And if we think about it we might say that we knew that Enoch and God didn't exercise together every day, or get on a treadmill, like most of us do with God, but he had an existence with God that continued on a daily basis over a lifetime (yeah 300 plus years!).

'Father and Son'
by Verdianu

         So returning to Hebrews 11:5, and 6, I realized that the guy who wrote Hebrews probably used the Septuagint. This was not uncommon in a day when the common language was Greek. Jesus probably read from it. So it is interesting to interpret Genesis from Hebrews, if I may. It says it is" impossible to please God without faith". How does it define faith? It says that "one must believe He is".  Okay, and "He is a rewarded of those who diligently (or earnstly, continually) seek Him." Okay, Okay, I think I found the right card!! Enoch continually lived with God. He didn't look for Him everyday. Like being married, God was just there with Him.  If I continually and I will insert, diligently, live with God this will be pleasing to Him, and I might add I will join Him someday, just like Enoch, only it won't take me 300 years! Then Enoch's life/faith is not out of reach. Christ said that he and the Father would come and take their abode in me (John 15:1-10). I have Christ living in me. I already have what Enoch took 300 years to have and that is life everlasting with the Father. If I believe that, and live with that thought, then I can become pleasing to God. Romans 8 reminds us that if the spirit of God dwells (lives continually) in us, we are pleasing to God! Wow.  Thanks be to God for his son who made and continues to make us pleasing to our Father.
          The word in John 15 for "abide" is meinate, meaning to stay or remain. It is called a constative aorist. Like the branch that stays constantly in the vine, whatever we do will have the Father flowing through it and in it. Maybe Enoch's pleasing ability was that he did not try to be spiritual, religious or righteous, he just constantly stayed in communion with the Father. In chapter 15: 1-10 the word meinate is used 11 times. A son doesn't have to do things to be a son, he simply is one. I don't have to have the "right" card! I am pleasing if I stay in communion with my father. Finally, I know what the Big guy wants.  

        

Word taken from a sermon by Gary Hargrave; "Now We Abide In the Father"

Without an If

"The Hour Is Near"
Oil on canvas by
Anthony Falbo

     When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying for his life, when no hope was in view, He used a phrase to sum up His agony.  He prayed "Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless your will be done." Matthew records Jesus prayed this twice, Luke and Mark once. The form of this prayer is what is commonly called a "conditional clause". When the Greeks used the "If...then" sentence or clause,  to them it had special meaning. These conditional phrases fall roughly into four groups (some think five). These groups are called classes by grammarians. They are used over 600 times in the New Testament so it is important to try to understand their use. I say "try" because most translators are still debating their exact usage.

     When Jesus prayed his prayer the writer wanted the reader to feel his agony and depth of travail with the Father. God was asking Jesus to do something he was not wanting to do. Using the first class conditional phrase helped the author convey this depth of feeling. Without going too deeply into an explanation of conditional usages, let it be understood that the first class condition allows the speaker to say something in undertones. An example would be if a mother said to her child "If you put your hand in the fire, (then) it will be burned." What the mother is saying in a polite way is "don't put your hand in the fire!" 

     In order to understand the soul's agony the author uses the first conditional sentence to this affect, "Father, if it be your will (and I suspect it is) let this cup pass from me!". We see Jesus' inner turmoil as he struggles with the temptation of escaping the Father's absolute design. Without the "if" we probably would not have had the window into the depth of our Lord's struggle in his soul. But because we do have that conditional clause we see His struggle and we identify with it. It is the same thing that we go through in our own temptations not to do His will. "Nevertheless, Your will be done", means so much more.  Matthew has Jesus praying this prayer twice. I suspect there was some space between the conditional clause and the nevertheless. Time and space to struggle with letting go and relaxing into His hands. 

Born in a Barn

     In the south if someone does not shut a door all the way,  we would yell at them to "Shut the door!" and then add, "Were you born in a barn?" The idiom probably started on the farm where barn doors are often left open. But it is funny to think that someone, even from the south, might actually be born in a barn. But we know the truth, Jesus was. Not only was he born in a barn, his first cradle was a feeding trough. The Greek word for "feeding trough" is phatne. It is used two times in Luke the 2 chapter to describe Jesus' baby crib ("crib" has a similar derivation or morphology as feeding trough). But we see that today Christianity covers the globe and has millions of dedicated followers. A more humble beginning would be hard to imagine. Even being born in a taxi is a step up from where animals eat and well, live. 

     I was looking yesterday over the fence at the construction of Centers of Learning's (COL) new school building. The workers were on top of the roof putting on flashing and getting it ready to nail down the composition shingles.  COL has had a confirmed word of direction from the Lord to "finish the  High School". So it was awesome for me to stand there and gaze at our work of faith. What part are they building first?  They are building the barn! The stable! The crib! You know where they are going to keep the animals! That's right our multi-million dollar project is starting with a manger. Hmmm. 

      When you think about it, it is perfect. God's work often starts with humble beginnings. Our lives are examples of that. And our Lord when he did show up on earth, He humbled himself (Phil.2). Because of that humble obedience to the word, the world received its savior and its salvation.
      Now we are not trying to save the world by building this school, but our faith does say we can make a difference with a generation of young people. It may not be everything. Compared to what Christ did it may be small, but God warns us by asking "for who dares make light of small beginnings"(Zach. 4:10)? 
       So as I watch the nails being driven and hear the echo of the hammers, I take faith that a new day is being birth at COL, created by obedient faith to the word among us.  It may be a manger now, but someday soon it will be the point of destination for those students wanting to change the world.