I just read the article in USAToday regarding the understandable sadness and gloom many families who have loved ones lost, wounded and/or traumatized at Fort Hood, due to the massacre, during what should be the joyous Christmas season, celebrating the infant Jesus, our Savior, being born. People are hurting, for many reasons, this Christmas. Here is my advice.
While Christmas, the celebrated Nativity of Jesus Christ, is a moment of great joy, most assuredly the most blessed gift by God to humanity, on that day or, rather, later in the week, it was not an occasion of unaffected joy. I'm not referring to the bogus story line of the "poor baby" or the "homeless" family, the secular, politically correct spin that ultimately destroys the message of that time. No, what I am referring to is that a mere several days after the birth of Jesus the Holy Family had to flee to save his life from slaying by King Herod. Not only that, the Holy Family, Joseph and Mary, and of course Jesus, would have known that King Herod slaughtered many male infants during that week, hoping that one of them would be the Savior himself. Christmas for the Holy Family was never about "family," "gift giving," or peace and joy. They held the promise of all of that and more in their arms, in the form of the Infant Jesus, but at that "first Christmas" they witnessed the first little martyrs, babies being torn from their parents' arms and dashed on the ground, cut to pieces by sword.
Matthew 2:13-23
But when they [the Magi who had brought gifts to the baby Jesus and who had been questioned by Herod] had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying, "Arise, and take the child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and remain there until I tell thee. For Herod will seek the child to destroy him." So he arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and withdrew into Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod; that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son [Matthew is citing Osee 11:1].
Then Herod, seeing that he had been tricked by the Magi, was exceedingly angry; and he sent and slew all the boys in Bethlehem and all its neighborhood who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had carefully ascertained from the Magi. Then was fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremias the prophet, A voice was heard in Rama, weeping and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted for they are no more [Matthew is citing Jeremiah 31:15].
But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead." So he arose and took the child and his mother and went into the land of Israel. But hearing that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there; and being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee. And he went and settled in a town called Nazareth; and there might be fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
In Sunday school at the church I attend last week, one of the well read and long studied God and Bible loving women commented that Mary must have been so proud when Jesus was born. I gently corrected her and said, "How can that be, when mere days after he was born they had to flee for his life, knowing that innocent children were slaughtered behind them as Herod killed all who might have been Jesus with impunity?" Pride and "first Christmas joy" were the last emotions that Joseph and Mary would have felt. They had to worry about Jesus being killed only a few days after birth, and then for years after that.
Friends, those of you who are sad and suffering, burdened with grief, illness, poverty or oppression, must understand that Jesus himself, and his parents, never had "Baby's first Christmas," or even the second Christmas, or the third... Take comfort in knowing that you are struggling through an emotional hardship just as Jesus himself did, for he was born into a world not yet ready to have a "Happy" or "Merry" Christmas. His birth was celebrated by an evil King slaughtering all the boy infants of two years old or under in the neighborhood that had hosted Jesus' birth only a few days before. A Merry Christmas is the right thing to strive for, but remember that is also, like Jesus, a gift from God to a world that is not quite ready to deserve it, apparently.
So draw near spiritually to the Holy Family this Christmas, those of you who are grieving, who have experienced losses and you will be comforted by thinking of them as they actually were: on the run with a baby that a jealous King sought to kill and just to be "sure" he had, he killed all the baby sons in the neighborhood. Herod did not try to kill Jesus due to theology, or at the behest of Satan. No, he killed for the same reasons humans killed before and continue to do today: for power and control over others. Herod was afraid of being unseated in his political power.
Yet Jesus was born directly into danger, but not without protection, for God sent his angel to guide Joseph's steps. Notice the obedience of Joseph who at every time he received word from the angel of the Lord, he "arose" and immediately obeyed. Joseph also used his own leadership in recognizing that the son of Herod was an equal danger, and then received confirmation of that from the angel of the Lord.
People today often think that it was a giddy time of joy and pride for Joseph and Mary, when Jesus was born, and little could be further from the truth, as the events documented in the scripture shows.
However, there is nothing wrong with celebrating in the present the Nativity of Jesus with joy, happiness, fellowship, presents, overeating, and all the other festive events. But one would not be accurate to imagine that Jesus or his holy parents had such an experience, and not because of their presumed poverty and displacement from an inn while traveling. No, they had only a few days to marvel at the birth of Jesus until they were immediately put on the run by one of the most notorious baby killers of human history, Herod. They would have felt little pride or joy as word reached them that many grieved the slaughter of their infant sons.
So lean on them, those of you who mourn, and marvel that they persevered through such sorrow and persecution, and seek their spiritual consolation for your sadness. Those of you who do not sorrow but who seek deeper understanding of God, and of the Savior Jesus Christ, remember that a festive Nativity, a Merry Christmas, is a modern gift from God, but not a reenactment of the grim times that followed the birth of Jesus in actuality.
Osee 11:1,4,5
When Israel was child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son...I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer...he shall return to the land of Egypt...
The Bible is always read at two levels. One is the actual current reality which, in this passage from Osee, who was a prophet living seven hundred plus years before Jesus was born, who is chiding the faithlessness of the Israelites. But because scripture is the word of God, it must also be read with the understanding that much of what is current is also applicable and prophetic for the future, particularly when it comes to how humanity will be redeemed by the Messiah. Thus Matthew and the other disciples and Apostles would have learned from Jesus (and also through their own knowledge of scripture) which passages were fulfilled and completed in Jesus beyond their original reference when they were written. God is basically telling Osee that just as the patriarch Israel went to and from Egypt, treated as a son by God, someday his actual Son, the Messiah "shall return to the land of Egypt." If you read all of Osee 11 you will see this dual purpose of God's word, comforting them in the time of the exile to Babylon, but also forward looking to the Messiah with prophetic words.
Jeremiah 31:15-17
Thus says the Lord: In Rama is heard the sound of moaning, of bitter weeping! Rachel mourns her children, she refuses to be consoled because her children are no more. Thus says the Lord: Cease your cries of mourning, wipe the tears from your eyes. The sorrow you have shown shall have its reward, says the Lord, they shall return from the enemy's land. There is hope for your future, says the Lord; your sons shall return to their own borders.
Again, you see the dual purpose, the present and the future hope and promise, of what the Lord says in scripture either directly or through his prophets, in this case Jeremiah. At some point Matthew and the other disciples would have recalled this scripture and understood that it applied both to the actual time of Jeremiah, but also to the slaughter of the innocents by King Herod. "The sorrow you have shown shall have its reward" refers to not only earthly consolation but also eternal consolation.
Special "hi" and "hey" again to the young people. I hope you have found too this to be helpful in helping you to understand how Christmas "really was," and thus regain some of the appreciation of the profundity of the Nativity. At Christmas each year we remember this greatest gift from God, the birth of Jesus, but place it in its true and actual historical context, not as a mishmash of sentimentalizing secular aspects, such as their "poverty" and "homelessness." This was about Jesus as Messiah, Savior and true King, so filled with authority from God that a human king, Herod, sought to kill him at birth simply from jealousy. Each Christmas people must ponder, has humanity changed and improved in this regard at all? At this point I'd not bet on it as spiritual envy is more powerful than ever, right along King Herod's secular envy. Pray for more truth and humility to defeat the snares of pride, which leads to infant killing and even worse, the loss of soul.
Showing posts with label Jesus as Messiah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesus as Messiah. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
More about John 12:34
Another scripture source from which the Jews who questioned Jesus misunderstood-but in mostly good faith-what the Messiah would be like is the entire Psalm 110. I leave that for you to read on your own because now you can understand the difference between the description of a human ever living Messiah, as they imagined, and the actual Messiah that God promised who, "Like Melchizedek you are a priest forever." Jesus is the eternal priest and also judge, but in heaven "Who, robed in splendor, judges nations, crushes heads across the wide earth" (Psalm 110:4, 6). From this most of the Jews imagined an actual forever living human being dressed as an awesome king and dispensing justice with God's authority. They were tempted into this imagining by being too tied down by the reality of Roman invasion and rule. Thus they mixed yearning to be free from Rome with then limiting what God's Messiah would be like and would do since they of course imagined his first job would be to defeat the Romans through God's "princely power."
This is again the temptation of the Jews to believe a human forever living Messiah based on Isaiah 9:1-6. Before we discuss it let me explain again why their disbelief is a response to temptation.
Temptation can be understood as not only being urged to do something sinful, wrong and unjust, but to either disbelieve in God or to "cut him down to size." When humans have problems, BIG problems, such as wars, oppression or occupation, they become very subject to temptation to think of God's words as applying narrowly to their current circumstances. They forget that God is on a scale far vaster than they can imagine, and easily sees and prophesies down all the generations of humanity. So it is a temptation to puff up the importance of the calamity that humans are in within one or two generations and assume-or even distort or force-scripture applies to exactly that time, rather than to the ultimate reign of God's Kingdom through all time and circumstances. Thus the Jews were particularly tempted to cut down and minimize the scope of what they imagined the scriptures to be because it resonated with their own daily hopes and wishes. So now read Isaiah 9:1-6, which does indeed describe the Christ, who would be Jesus, but through temptation the Jews came to believe he would be the defeater of the Romans in their time. Notice how the scripture opens with the statement about the light that you read my commentary about, where Jesus very clearly identifies himself. The Jews of the time totally missed that connection because of their blinders due to temptation to look for the Roman defeating human king.
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light.
Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom
a light has shone.
You have brought them abundant joy
and great rejoicing.
As they rejoice before you as at the harvest,
as men make merry when dividing spoils.
For the yoke that burdened them,
the pole on their shoulder,
And the rod of their taskmaster
you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.
For every boot that tramped in battle,
every cloak rolled in blood,
will be burned as fuel for flames.
For a child is born to us, a son is given us;
upon his shoulder dominion rests.
They name him Wonder-Counselor,
God-Hero,
Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.
His dominion is vast
and forever peaceful,
From David's throne, and over his kingdom,
which he confirms and sustains
By judgment and justice,
both now and forever.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this! (Isaiah 9:1-6)
See, if someone is thinking of God's greater plan, which is to bring knowledge of him to not only the Jews but the gentiles, to bring his peace upon the world, and to prepare people for receipt of grace after remission of their sins of unbelief and idolatry, that person can read this passage and have a broader vision of what the Messiah will truly be like. When, however, people are suffering under a specific crisis or oppression, as the Jews were with the Romans, they were too easily tempted to believe that the Messiah would be an earthly king who would kick the Romans out of occupied Palestine/Israel of the day.
Because of the military imagery they also totally missed that the Messiah would be "NOT military." Read that carefully and you will see what I mean. They were tempted into thinking, erroneously, as you carefully read what it says, that "forever peaceful" comes after a great blood letting by the Messiah. That is a total misread that was in their minds during the time of Jesus for three reasons 1) the military imagery made them think that the Messiah would start with military action 2) the rest of chapter 9 discusses specific military campaigns, and so they taint what is in 9:1-6 as also being of a military campaign, kind of the aftermath of bloody battles and 3) they do not understand that the "child is born to us" is one who smashes, rather than imposes, "the yoke," "the pole" and "the rod" on humans. Notice that Jesus explains that his yoke is light, his burden sweet, and there is no mention of the rod with which he will rule (it is only observed in the Final Judgement by the Apostle John who witnesses Jesus in the Book of Revelation during the Apocalypse). In fact, read how Isaiah 11 follows the same tempo where the beginning is clearly about military imagery BUT of the Messiah's bringing of grace, not swordplay.
See, someone reading Isaiah 9 would understand the two different tempos of the prophecy. The first part, Isaiah 9:1-6, is the "someday this will happen" future looking tempo. But then with Isaiah 9:7 you have a brisk "here and now" tempo shift, which is why it opens with "The Lord has sent word against Jacob, it falls upon Israel" (Isaiah 9:7). So God comforts the people with the promise of Isaiah 9:1-6 before lowering the boom on them in the rest of Isaiah 9 that they are going to be punished for their sins (and this description of soon to come righteous wrath continues through Isaiah 10 before the Messiah is prophesied again in Isaiah 11). But remember, people didn't have copies of scripture outside of the temple or the places of scholars AND just as today, people spoke in slogans and sound bytes. So when Jesus actually arrives, the promised Messiah, the people totally missed the checklist of fulfillment of prophecy that Jesus actually delivered.
I hope you have found this helpful and some useful material for further contemplation.
Isaiah 11:9
There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord,
as water covers the sea.
This is again the temptation of the Jews to believe a human forever living Messiah based on Isaiah 9:1-6. Before we discuss it let me explain again why their disbelief is a response to temptation.
Temptation can be understood as not only being urged to do something sinful, wrong and unjust, but to either disbelieve in God or to "cut him down to size." When humans have problems, BIG problems, such as wars, oppression or occupation, they become very subject to temptation to think of God's words as applying narrowly to their current circumstances. They forget that God is on a scale far vaster than they can imagine, and easily sees and prophesies down all the generations of humanity. So it is a temptation to puff up the importance of the calamity that humans are in within one or two generations and assume-or even distort or force-scripture applies to exactly that time, rather than to the ultimate reign of God's Kingdom through all time and circumstances. Thus the Jews were particularly tempted to cut down and minimize the scope of what they imagined the scriptures to be because it resonated with their own daily hopes and wishes. So now read Isaiah 9:1-6, which does indeed describe the Christ, who would be Jesus, but through temptation the Jews came to believe he would be the defeater of the Romans in their time. Notice how the scripture opens with the statement about the light that you read my commentary about, where Jesus very clearly identifies himself. The Jews of the time totally missed that connection because of their blinders due to temptation to look for the Roman defeating human king.
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light.
Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom
a light has shone.
You have brought them abundant joy
and great rejoicing.
As they rejoice before you as at the harvest,
as men make merry when dividing spoils.
For the yoke that burdened them,
the pole on their shoulder,
And the rod of their taskmaster
you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.
For every boot that tramped in battle,
every cloak rolled in blood,
will be burned as fuel for flames.
For a child is born to us, a son is given us;
upon his shoulder dominion rests.
They name him Wonder-Counselor,
God-Hero,
Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.
His dominion is vast
and forever peaceful,
From David's throne, and over his kingdom,
which he confirms and sustains
By judgment and justice,
both now and forever.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this! (Isaiah 9:1-6)
See, if someone is thinking of God's greater plan, which is to bring knowledge of him to not only the Jews but the gentiles, to bring his peace upon the world, and to prepare people for receipt of grace after remission of their sins of unbelief and idolatry, that person can read this passage and have a broader vision of what the Messiah will truly be like. When, however, people are suffering under a specific crisis or oppression, as the Jews were with the Romans, they were too easily tempted to believe that the Messiah would be an earthly king who would kick the Romans out of occupied Palestine/Israel of the day.
Because of the military imagery they also totally missed that the Messiah would be "NOT military." Read that carefully and you will see what I mean. They were tempted into thinking, erroneously, as you carefully read what it says, that "forever peaceful" comes after a great blood letting by the Messiah. That is a total misread that was in their minds during the time of Jesus for three reasons 1) the military imagery made them think that the Messiah would start with military action 2) the rest of chapter 9 discusses specific military campaigns, and so they taint what is in 9:1-6 as also being of a military campaign, kind of the aftermath of bloody battles and 3) they do not understand that the "child is born to us" is one who smashes, rather than imposes, "the yoke," "the pole" and "the rod" on humans. Notice that Jesus explains that his yoke is light, his burden sweet, and there is no mention of the rod with which he will rule (it is only observed in the Final Judgement by the Apostle John who witnesses Jesus in the Book of Revelation during the Apocalypse). In fact, read how Isaiah 11 follows the same tempo where the beginning is clearly about military imagery BUT of the Messiah's bringing of grace, not swordplay.
See, someone reading Isaiah 9 would understand the two different tempos of the prophecy. The first part, Isaiah 9:1-6, is the "someday this will happen" future looking tempo. But then with Isaiah 9:7 you have a brisk "here and now" tempo shift, which is why it opens with "The Lord has sent word against Jacob, it falls upon Israel" (Isaiah 9:7). So God comforts the people with the promise of Isaiah 9:1-6 before lowering the boom on them in the rest of Isaiah 9 that they are going to be punished for their sins (and this description of soon to come righteous wrath continues through Isaiah 10 before the Messiah is prophesied again in Isaiah 11). But remember, people didn't have copies of scripture outside of the temple or the places of scholars AND just as today, people spoke in slogans and sound bytes. So when Jesus actually arrives, the promised Messiah, the people totally missed the checklist of fulfillment of prophecy that Jesus actually delivered.
I hope you have found this helpful and some useful material for further contemplation.
Isaiah 11:9
There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord,
as water covers the sea.
Monday, August 10, 2009
A little insight about the Second Coming
Here is something that may assuage an uneasiness or even a basis for misunderstanding in the scriptures.
It is obvious that the Apostles, both during the life of Jesus, and after the death and resurrection of Jesus, particularly Paul, spoke a great deal about the end of the world, and clearly yearned for the end of all things when Jesus would return. Why would that be, many wonder? Without understanding why, many modern people are somewhat obsessive about the Second Coming, and, as a result, are tempted into theological error in "over eager" anticipation.
Like many things I have blogged with you about before, one must remind one's self of the context of the times when the Apostles and first disciples lived. So here is the primary reason that the Apostles were so eager for and fascinated regarding the Second Coming.
In psychology there is a phenomenon called "compensation." It means that if emotionally or intellectually you cannot obtain something that you want very much, you transfer that longing to something else. Sometimes you are aware that you are doing it, and sometimes you are not.
We learn by reading the Bible that the Jewish people were desperately eager for their Messiah, the Savior, to come. But when Jesus arrived, many people were shocked and quite disappointed. They had hoped for a "warrior savior," a zealot, who would free them from the Roman Empire and fix all the problems with humanity in the world. Jesus seemed the opposite to this, and many disciples fell away from him when they thought he was not zealous or militant enough about worldly problems, such as the oppression and occupation by Rome.
Even those who understood the message that Jesus Christ brought, how he was indeed the Messiah, but one who was bringing the Kingdom of God to all humanity, rather than leading an uprising and fixing all worldly problems, still longed for that to happen. Thus they compensated and transferred that longing for all worldly problems to be fixed from happening "now," when the Messiah did indeed arrive, to "later," when the Messiah, Jesus Christ, returns. Rather than allow themselves to be disappointed in any way with Jesus Christ, the true believers, the Apostles and the disciples who stayed with Jesus, dedicated themselves to bringing the Good News, the Gospel, to all people, and eagerly anticipated the Second Coming as being the real time, instead of the hoped for time, when all the problems of the world are fixed by Jesus.
This is why the Apostles are almost giddy at times with hope that the Second Coming would occur soon. Rather than being disappointed that Jesus was not the "militant fixer Messiah" that many had imagined that he would be, they realized that Jesus was bringing the New Covenant, and they glorified in that, but they also consoled themselves that Jesus would fix all the problems of the world (such as the occupation by the Roman Empire) during the Second Coming!
This little insight is by no means a diminishing of the theology and the reality of the Second Coming, and the glory that will be brought by Christ (after the great suffering of the world at the end). I am giving you some cultural and reality based insight about why the Apostles, so recently in the presence of Jesus Christ himself, fervently hoped for the world to end and the Second Coming to occur soon, despite Jesus cautioning them that even he did not know when that would occur. There really is an element of human nature (the saints are all human, of course) and also the cultural context (as always) in understanding those times and what people, even the Apostles, yearned for, even as they had been blessed with being alive with the Messiah present. They transferred, both consciously and unconsciously, much of their hopes that the Messiah would whip the world into shape and fix all the problems "right then and now" onto what Jesus taught them would happen at the Second Coming, when not only would the world be "fixed," but it would indeed pass away into a new one that is perfected under God.
I hope that you have found this helpful!
It is obvious that the Apostles, both during the life of Jesus, and after the death and resurrection of Jesus, particularly Paul, spoke a great deal about the end of the world, and clearly yearned for the end of all things when Jesus would return. Why would that be, many wonder? Without understanding why, many modern people are somewhat obsessive about the Second Coming, and, as a result, are tempted into theological error in "over eager" anticipation.
Like many things I have blogged with you about before, one must remind one's self of the context of the times when the Apostles and first disciples lived. So here is the primary reason that the Apostles were so eager for and fascinated regarding the Second Coming.
In psychology there is a phenomenon called "compensation." It means that if emotionally or intellectually you cannot obtain something that you want very much, you transfer that longing to something else. Sometimes you are aware that you are doing it, and sometimes you are not.
We learn by reading the Bible that the Jewish people were desperately eager for their Messiah, the Savior, to come. But when Jesus arrived, many people were shocked and quite disappointed. They had hoped for a "warrior savior," a zealot, who would free them from the Roman Empire and fix all the problems with humanity in the world. Jesus seemed the opposite to this, and many disciples fell away from him when they thought he was not zealous or militant enough about worldly problems, such as the oppression and occupation by Rome.
Even those who understood the message that Jesus Christ brought, how he was indeed the Messiah, but one who was bringing the Kingdom of God to all humanity, rather than leading an uprising and fixing all worldly problems, still longed for that to happen. Thus they compensated and transferred that longing for all worldly problems to be fixed from happening "now," when the Messiah did indeed arrive, to "later," when the Messiah, Jesus Christ, returns. Rather than allow themselves to be disappointed in any way with Jesus Christ, the true believers, the Apostles and the disciples who stayed with Jesus, dedicated themselves to bringing the Good News, the Gospel, to all people, and eagerly anticipated the Second Coming as being the real time, instead of the hoped for time, when all the problems of the world are fixed by Jesus.
This is why the Apostles are almost giddy at times with hope that the Second Coming would occur soon. Rather than being disappointed that Jesus was not the "militant fixer Messiah" that many had imagined that he would be, they realized that Jesus was bringing the New Covenant, and they glorified in that, but they also consoled themselves that Jesus would fix all the problems of the world (such as the occupation by the Roman Empire) during the Second Coming!
This little insight is by no means a diminishing of the theology and the reality of the Second Coming, and the glory that will be brought by Christ (after the great suffering of the world at the end). I am giving you some cultural and reality based insight about why the Apostles, so recently in the presence of Jesus Christ himself, fervently hoped for the world to end and the Second Coming to occur soon, despite Jesus cautioning them that even he did not know when that would occur. There really is an element of human nature (the saints are all human, of course) and also the cultural context (as always) in understanding those times and what people, even the Apostles, yearned for, even as they had been blessed with being alive with the Messiah present. They transferred, both consciously and unconsciously, much of their hopes that the Messiah would whip the world into shape and fix all the problems "right then and now" onto what Jesus taught them would happen at the Second Coming, when not only would the world be "fixed," but it would indeed pass away into a new one that is perfected under God.
I hope that you have found this helpful!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
More about the so called tablet controversy
There is further discussion on the Ignatius Insight blog, so I composed and added this comment.
While the resurrection of Jesus was “a surprise” to everyone, even though he prophesied it several times to the Apostles, there is extensive evidence and detail within King David’s psalm 21 so much that this psalm, in my 1962 Confraternity-Douay version of the Bible it is labeled as “Passion and Triumph of the Messiah.” The footnotes read, “Psalm 21 is one of the most important of the Messianic psalms. Our Lord Himself on the cross repeated its first line.” [That line is, to refresh everyone’s memory “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”] The footnote continues, “…and several other verses are directly quoted, or at least alluded to, in the New Testament as pertaining to His Passion. Of no other person is this touching description of spiritual and physical suffering so eminently true as it is of Jesus Christ. Hence, the entire psalm has been traditionally interpreted in the Catholic Church as referring to Him. The psalmist, therefore, speaks in Christ’s name when in the first section (2-22) he describes the Messiah’s dereliction (2-6), opprobrium (7-9); and physical sufferings (18-19), together with his unshakable confidence I the heavenly Father (10-12; 20-22); and in the second part, the fruits of His Redemption: the grateful praise of the redeemed (23-27), the conversion of the Gentiles (28-30), and the glory of God and His beloved Son (30-32)."
Psalm 21 is understood by all Catholic scholars to be the phrase by phrase “Messianic psalm.” Jesus quotes from it as he is dying on the cross, Matthew 27:46 so, um, clearly Jesus “got the idea” to “say that” from this psalm, which was written before the exile to Babylon and hence at least five hundred years before Jesus. Psalm 21:17-18 prophesies “Indeed, many dogs surround me, a pack of evil doers closes in upon me; they have pierced my hands and my feet; I can count all my bones. They look on and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots.” That precisely happened on Cavalry. I say prophesies because clearly no one crucified King David and in fact there were no crucifying Romans in sight when this psalm was written, so he was not writing about himself. King David, and I gaze on one of my favorite pictures depicting this, was the pre-eminent prophesier of the Messiah, from the details quoted above of the crucifixion to the conversion of “all the ends of the earth” (the Gentiles), which no one could have made up as a scenario in 500 BC. Psalm 21, referenced by Jesus Christ himself on the cross, is the step by step validated description of the passion of the Messiah and his ultimate triumph. The only thing not in that psalm is to state literally that he would rise from the dead after three days and remain on earth another forty.
But if one thinks about it, the passion is described in the lines up to and including line 22, where the Messiah appeals to God to “hasten to aid” and “save” him. Line 23 then states, “I will proclaim your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” The psalm has been entirely sequential in “order,” and so after “they have pierced my hands and my feet” the prophesied Messiah appeals to God and next he will “proclaim” the name of God “in the midst of the assembly.” Any Jewish scholar would have had an expectation of a miraculous return, if not literally as soon as rising from the dead after three days. This psalm was hardly unknown to anyone and in fact, Jesus quotes its first line as he is dying on the cross. So it would be entirely consistent that Jewish scholars would interpret this psalm as having been the disbelief in and then triumphant return of the Messiah, envisioning something like Elias returning in glory. In fact, that is the first thing that those who hear Jesus appeal on the cross believe he is calling for, Elias to come. Jewish Messianic expectations would be entirely consistent with believing the Messiah would be disbelieved and mocked (certainly they would expect that from the Romans), and then a sudden glorious intervention by God. It would not have occurred to them that the Messiah would allow his own death, and then resurrect in the body within a matter of days, bearing the actual wounds, but in a glorified body that could appear through walls into the gathering’s midst.
So the dialogue about the tablet has been very strange and forces two artificial sides to quarrel with each other. One side I guess is supposed to think that early Christians just put together a Jesus fiction based on prophecy and common beliefs, and then conspiracy theory-like they would have made up the whole resurrection event. So that side would think finding some words seeming to “prophesy” or “record a belief” that a Messiah would resurrect in three days a “good thing” because they must have been bothered by where Jesus’ followers “got the resurrection idea from” if it’s not in Psalm 21 explicitly or in Isaiah. So that side is supposed to be gleeful that they found the place that Jesus’ followers “got the idea from” to fill in the “missing link” in the “fictionalized” account of Jesus’ life. Then the other artificial side is supposed to be, I guess, Christians who are supposed to be dismayed that some average Joe “heard from Gabriel” and had “expectations” of “dying and rising again in three days.” That’s kind of like saying that the “been there done that” T-shirt had already been worn, and therefore Christians are only supposed to believe in the truth of the Gospel only because “no one ever thought of those ideas before.” Both “sides” are constructs of the same agenda, which are poor faith, sensationalism and faulty logic and scholarship (if any). There is no proof of the goods authenticity and yet an artificial “debate” has already been framed. I hope this comment helps readers who might not have been taught the significance of the Davidic Messiah prophecies.
***
Some additional thoughts for my readers. As I, and many before me have explained, you have to use faith and reason. Faith is not the suspension of logic and intelligence. Faith is the belief that there is a God, who has a plan, and the plan is benevolent toward all life, including human beings. So if you believe and have faith, even as general a faith statement as that, it permits you to see all the aspects of a problem, debate or scholarly development from the confidence that God is "doing something."
Reasoning is essential because people are so used to sound bytes and responding to being baited, often just for reasons of meanness, jealousy and entertainment, that they lose their heads and don't think things through one step at a time. So on the one hand you have even the most general faith that a benevolent and all knowing, all powerful God has an interest in the welfare of humans, even if that way cannot always be understood. On the other hand you have the testimony of many people who paid the ultimate price for their beliefs, and obviously were not doing so in order to "fool" unimaginable generations after them. With faith and reason, therefore, one can sift through what is false, what is real, what is implied, and what is unknowable or unprovable. And THAT is a lot to accomplish and all for the greater good of the individual and humanity as a whole.
While the resurrection of Jesus was “a surprise” to everyone, even though he prophesied it several times to the Apostles, there is extensive evidence and detail within King David’s psalm 21 so much that this psalm, in my 1962 Confraternity-Douay version of the Bible it is labeled as “Passion and Triumph of the Messiah.” The footnotes read, “Psalm 21 is one of the most important of the Messianic psalms. Our Lord Himself on the cross repeated its first line.” [That line is, to refresh everyone’s memory “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”] The footnote continues, “…and several other verses are directly quoted, or at least alluded to, in the New Testament as pertaining to His Passion. Of no other person is this touching description of spiritual and physical suffering so eminently true as it is of Jesus Christ. Hence, the entire psalm has been traditionally interpreted in the Catholic Church as referring to Him. The psalmist, therefore, speaks in Christ’s name when in the first section (2-22) he describes the Messiah’s dereliction (2-6), opprobrium (7-9); and physical sufferings (18-19), together with his unshakable confidence I the heavenly Father (10-12; 20-22); and in the second part, the fruits of His Redemption: the grateful praise of the redeemed (23-27), the conversion of the Gentiles (28-30), and the glory of God and His beloved Son (30-32)."
Psalm 21 is understood by all Catholic scholars to be the phrase by phrase “Messianic psalm.” Jesus quotes from it as he is dying on the cross, Matthew 27:46 so, um, clearly Jesus “got the idea” to “say that” from this psalm, which was written before the exile to Babylon and hence at least five hundred years before Jesus. Psalm 21:17-18 prophesies “Indeed, many dogs surround me, a pack of evil doers closes in upon me; they have pierced my hands and my feet; I can count all my bones. They look on and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots.” That precisely happened on Cavalry. I say prophesies because clearly no one crucified King David and in fact there were no crucifying Romans in sight when this psalm was written, so he was not writing about himself. King David, and I gaze on one of my favorite pictures depicting this, was the pre-eminent prophesier of the Messiah, from the details quoted above of the crucifixion to the conversion of “all the ends of the earth” (the Gentiles), which no one could have made up as a scenario in 500 BC. Psalm 21, referenced by Jesus Christ himself on the cross, is the step by step validated description of the passion of the Messiah and his ultimate triumph. The only thing not in that psalm is to state literally that he would rise from the dead after three days and remain on earth another forty.
But if one thinks about it, the passion is described in the lines up to and including line 22, where the Messiah appeals to God to “hasten to aid” and “save” him. Line 23 then states, “I will proclaim your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” The psalm has been entirely sequential in “order,” and so after “they have pierced my hands and my feet” the prophesied Messiah appeals to God and next he will “proclaim” the name of God “in the midst of the assembly.” Any Jewish scholar would have had an expectation of a miraculous return, if not literally as soon as rising from the dead after three days. This psalm was hardly unknown to anyone and in fact, Jesus quotes its first line as he is dying on the cross. So it would be entirely consistent that Jewish scholars would interpret this psalm as having been the disbelief in and then triumphant return of the Messiah, envisioning something like Elias returning in glory. In fact, that is the first thing that those who hear Jesus appeal on the cross believe he is calling for, Elias to come. Jewish Messianic expectations would be entirely consistent with believing the Messiah would be disbelieved and mocked (certainly they would expect that from the Romans), and then a sudden glorious intervention by God. It would not have occurred to them that the Messiah would allow his own death, and then resurrect in the body within a matter of days, bearing the actual wounds, but in a glorified body that could appear through walls into the gathering’s midst.
So the dialogue about the tablet has been very strange and forces two artificial sides to quarrel with each other. One side I guess is supposed to think that early Christians just put together a Jesus fiction based on prophecy and common beliefs, and then conspiracy theory-like they would have made up the whole resurrection event. So that side would think finding some words seeming to “prophesy” or “record a belief” that a Messiah would resurrect in three days a “good thing” because they must have been bothered by where Jesus’ followers “got the resurrection idea from” if it’s not in Psalm 21 explicitly or in Isaiah. So that side is supposed to be gleeful that they found the place that Jesus’ followers “got the idea from” to fill in the “missing link” in the “fictionalized” account of Jesus’ life. Then the other artificial side is supposed to be, I guess, Christians who are supposed to be dismayed that some average Joe “heard from Gabriel” and had “expectations” of “dying and rising again in three days.” That’s kind of like saying that the “been there done that” T-shirt had already been worn, and therefore Christians are only supposed to believe in the truth of the Gospel only because “no one ever thought of those ideas before.” Both “sides” are constructs of the same agenda, which are poor faith, sensationalism and faulty logic and scholarship (if any). There is no proof of the goods authenticity and yet an artificial “debate” has already been framed. I hope this comment helps readers who might not have been taught the significance of the Davidic Messiah prophecies.
***
Some additional thoughts for my readers. As I, and many before me have explained, you have to use faith and reason. Faith is not the suspension of logic and intelligence. Faith is the belief that there is a God, who has a plan, and the plan is benevolent toward all life, including human beings. So if you believe and have faith, even as general a faith statement as that, it permits you to see all the aspects of a problem, debate or scholarly development from the confidence that God is "doing something."
Reasoning is essential because people are so used to sound bytes and responding to being baited, often just for reasons of meanness, jealousy and entertainment, that they lose their heads and don't think things through one step at a time. So on the one hand you have even the most general faith that a benevolent and all knowing, all powerful God has an interest in the welfare of humans, even if that way cannot always be understood. On the other hand you have the testimony of many people who paid the ultimate price for their beliefs, and obviously were not doing so in order to "fool" unimaginable generations after them. With faith and reason, therefore, one can sift through what is false, what is real, what is implied, and what is unknowable or unprovable. And THAT is a lot to accomplish and all for the greater good of the individual and humanity as a whole.
Monday, July 7, 2008
The resurrection "tablet" keep your shirts on
Right on cue, there's another "discovery" that is supposed to "shake" the Christian world. *Yawn*
I just read the article about this big tablet that supposedly talks about a messiah figure who will come to life again after three days. The spin that the "interpreters" want to put on this is that the buzz was "already" around before Jesus that a "messiah" figure would die and then come back to life in three days, and hence Jesus and followers "got the idea" from this other guy. I wish I was kidding but I'm not. There are missing lines of text galore and painfully obvious hoping by the supposedly objective scholars (yeah, right) that they have found something to make Christians feel that the whole Jesus resurrecting thing was just made up or contrived.
Here's the one teeny weensy little thing they forget. It's not like there wasn't already the prophecy that the Messiah would raise up from the dead. King David, and Isaiah, are the two great prophets of the Messiah in the Old Testament. Isaiah, as you know, prophesied in great detail about the suffering of the Messiah, how he will be treated with scorn, and so forth, and his humility (which I recently wrote about, where he enters Jerusalem on an ass). But King David also provided much of the prophecy about the Messiah, including that he will resurrect from the dead.
Psalm 16
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope.
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
I'm not going to get all involved in discussing, like all the "big discoveries that will rock Christians' faith" before it, this tablet thing because it's all so contrived with it's being "uncovered" and "studied" now (and folks are so handy to guess what the missing lines say). But I wanted to nip in the bud that the Messiah resurrecting from the dead was "an idea that Jesus and his followers came up with" based on an "idea that some other messiah figure guy came up with before Jesus," like no one has even prophesied the resurrection of the body and of specifically the Messiah.
They are such needy and desperate attention seekers. It's sad, really.
Keep the faith, they are just jealous and insecure. What's sad is they ruin the information that legitimate archaeological finds offer, because they can't wait to twist them into kicking the legs out of Christianity. They deliberately miss the point because they are infidels and do not believe in God. They think that everything is contrived, just as they are in their agendas. So they assume that nothing in the Bible really can be true except the geopolitical events of the Old Testament. They figure that Jesus was just another inspirational guy, and people cobbled together belief in him and created a work of inspirational fiction. So because they have that view, they keep trying to find a "smoking gun" that demonstrates that it's all a fictional story and not the miraculous events that did indeed occur.
But where they go wrong is that they think that if they can show that "other people" had "those ideas" "before Jesus" that they can go, "Nah, nah, copy cat!" It's the old pagan argument "Oh pagans believed in a virgin birth or celebrated their holidays on this day so Christians just copied those ideas" (again, ignoring the non-pagan prophecies in the Old Testament).
In a weird way it's like they are saying that the "real" Messiah would have done something that absolutely no human would ever have imagined using no events that anyone ever humanly did before.
So I guess for them to believe the following would have had to happen. Jesus would have had to been born from an animal species... oh, but wait, pagans have stories about humans being born of animals. Hmm. Well, then Jesus would have had to fall out of the sky fully formed...oh, but wait, the Greek and Roman gods did that all the time. Sooooo.... well, then I guess there is no way Jesus could have had a "totally unique origin birth" since humans already thought of all the possibilities. So I guess he'd have to have a life style no one thought of before to be believed he is really the Messiah. Maybe if he ate only one kind of fruit his entire life and never anything else, that would be unique.....hmm... but wait, I bet there is a pagan myth somewhere about a god who could only eat one special kind of food. So really, what could Jesus have done that "no one would never never never uh uh no way nope nada absolutely nothing ever thought of by any human in any society ever before?" There's only one thing I can think of and that's if he never died and just stayed alive in his buff thirty plus year old body for 2000 years, walking and talking to people about God. But see, that's not God's plan. Why would God send Jesus to just live forever in the same body on earth to prove he's real? And when people grew old and neared death, Jesus could say, "Oops, looks like it's your time to go! Say hi to God (or Satan) for me! I'm OK and I'm going to live forever! Enjoy the death!"
Does that sound like God's mercy and wisdom to you? If the only thing Jesus could do would be to stay alive miraculously in his body for 2000 years, yet watch generation after generation kick off without having the assurance that he had given them that for the believers, it really IS alright, that the soul really does live on in God's embrace, as Jesus demonstrated with his own body..... how exactly would the arrival of the Messiah have proven anything and provided salvation at all? Why would God even have bothered to make people feel worse, actually, hearing the preaching of Jesus, yet seeing him at endless dinners seeing endless people off on their own deaths in time? See, Jesus wouldn't be performing miracles for those 2000 years because after all, according to the "scholars" that's all fiction and made up anyway. And pagans and others gave him the idea. So literally the only thing Jesus could do to convince infidels through the ages is if he was born and then stayed young and alive in his body for thousands of years, but only preaching and not performing miracles.
How merciful would that have been? Not so much. Really, I do wonder why the media and others keep stoking the egos and wallets of these people. Suppose you sent a Food and Drug inspector who doesn't believe in eating food. How logical would that be? You see this gaunt person starving themselves to death, and she introduces herself as your farm's FDA inspector, and when you ask, um, why are you dying of starvation she tells you, "Oh, I don't believe in food. I don't think you need it to live. But I'm your food inspector."
I'm not saying scholars have to be believers. But don't call yourself a scholar if you are determined to disprove something, rather than objectively study it. I mean, that's just basic intelligence and intellectual morality.
I just read the article about this big tablet that supposedly talks about a messiah figure who will come to life again after three days. The spin that the "interpreters" want to put on this is that the buzz was "already" around before Jesus that a "messiah" figure would die and then come back to life in three days, and hence Jesus and followers "got the idea" from this other guy. I wish I was kidding but I'm not. There are missing lines of text galore and painfully obvious hoping by the supposedly objective scholars (yeah, right) that they have found something to make Christians feel that the whole Jesus resurrecting thing was just made up or contrived.
Here's the one teeny weensy little thing they forget. It's not like there wasn't already the prophecy that the Messiah would raise up from the dead. King David, and Isaiah, are the two great prophets of the Messiah in the Old Testament. Isaiah, as you know, prophesied in great detail about the suffering of the Messiah, how he will be treated with scorn, and so forth, and his humility (which I recently wrote about, where he enters Jerusalem on an ass). But King David also provided much of the prophecy about the Messiah, including that he will resurrect from the dead.
Psalm 16
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope.
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
I'm not going to get all involved in discussing, like all the "big discoveries that will rock Christians' faith" before it, this tablet thing because it's all so contrived with it's being "uncovered" and "studied" now (and folks are so handy to guess what the missing lines say). But I wanted to nip in the bud that the Messiah resurrecting from the dead was "an idea that Jesus and his followers came up with" based on an "idea that some other messiah figure guy came up with before Jesus," like no one has even prophesied the resurrection of the body and of specifically the Messiah.
They are such needy and desperate attention seekers. It's sad, really.
Keep the faith, they are just jealous and insecure. What's sad is they ruin the information that legitimate archaeological finds offer, because they can't wait to twist them into kicking the legs out of Christianity. They deliberately miss the point because they are infidels and do not believe in God. They think that everything is contrived, just as they are in their agendas. So they assume that nothing in the Bible really can be true except the geopolitical events of the Old Testament. They figure that Jesus was just another inspirational guy, and people cobbled together belief in him and created a work of inspirational fiction. So because they have that view, they keep trying to find a "smoking gun" that demonstrates that it's all a fictional story and not the miraculous events that did indeed occur.
But where they go wrong is that they think that if they can show that "other people" had "those ideas" "before Jesus" that they can go, "Nah, nah, copy cat!" It's the old pagan argument "Oh pagans believed in a virgin birth or celebrated their holidays on this day so Christians just copied those ideas" (again, ignoring the non-pagan prophecies in the Old Testament).
In a weird way it's like they are saying that the "real" Messiah would have done something that absolutely no human would ever have imagined using no events that anyone ever humanly did before.
So I guess for them to believe the following would have had to happen. Jesus would have had to been born from an animal species... oh, but wait, pagans have stories about humans being born of animals. Hmm. Well, then Jesus would have had to fall out of the sky fully formed...oh, but wait, the Greek and Roman gods did that all the time. Sooooo.... well, then I guess there is no way Jesus could have had a "totally unique origin birth" since humans already thought of all the possibilities. So I guess he'd have to have a life style no one thought of before to be believed he is really the Messiah. Maybe if he ate only one kind of fruit his entire life and never anything else, that would be unique.....hmm... but wait, I bet there is a pagan myth somewhere about a god who could only eat one special kind of food. So really, what could Jesus have done that "no one would never never never uh uh no way nope nada absolutely nothing ever thought of by any human in any society ever before?" There's only one thing I can think of and that's if he never died and just stayed alive in his buff thirty plus year old body for 2000 years, walking and talking to people about God. But see, that's not God's plan. Why would God send Jesus to just live forever in the same body on earth to prove he's real? And when people grew old and neared death, Jesus could say, "Oops, looks like it's your time to go! Say hi to God (or Satan) for me! I'm OK and I'm going to live forever! Enjoy the death!"
Does that sound like God's mercy and wisdom to you? If the only thing Jesus could do would be to stay alive miraculously in his body for 2000 years, yet watch generation after generation kick off without having the assurance that he had given them that for the believers, it really IS alright, that the soul really does live on in God's embrace, as Jesus demonstrated with his own body..... how exactly would the arrival of the Messiah have proven anything and provided salvation at all? Why would God even have bothered to make people feel worse, actually, hearing the preaching of Jesus, yet seeing him at endless dinners seeing endless people off on their own deaths in time? See, Jesus wouldn't be performing miracles for those 2000 years because after all, according to the "scholars" that's all fiction and made up anyway. And pagans and others gave him the idea. So literally the only thing Jesus could do to convince infidels through the ages is if he was born and then stayed young and alive in his body for thousands of years, but only preaching and not performing miracles.
How merciful would that have been? Not so much. Really, I do wonder why the media and others keep stoking the egos and wallets of these people. Suppose you sent a Food and Drug inspector who doesn't believe in eating food. How logical would that be? You see this gaunt person starving themselves to death, and she introduces herself as your farm's FDA inspector, and when you ask, um, why are you dying of starvation she tells you, "Oh, I don't believe in food. I don't think you need it to live. But I'm your food inspector."
I'm not saying scholars have to be believers. But don't call yourself a scholar if you are determined to disprove something, rather than objectively study it. I mean, that's just basic intelligence and intellectual morality.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Bible reading, commentary, with modern event link
One of the Bible readings for this Sunday, the fourteenth week of Ordinary Time, is Zechariah 9:9-10. Zenit has the Pontifical household preacher’s usual wonderful commentary:
http://www.zenit.org/article-23111?l=english
If you read it you will find that he touches on some of the very things I had so recently discussed about who is truly imaginative and able to comprehend the transcendent, and how it is often not those who consider themselves modern and full of knowledge.
But I was happy, even though it is a sad news event, to see how the reading from Zachariah could be shown to you as a very valuable example of how to honestly relate the words and prophecy of the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, to modern events. In this verse from Zachariah the arrival of the Messiah is prophesied:
From the Catholic Missal: First Reading
See, your king comes to you humbly.
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Zechariah
Thus says the Lord: Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem. See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; the warrior’s bow shall be banished, and he shall proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Now, generations of preachers obviously focus on the primary message of this passage with correctness, which is the literal prophecy that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, will arrive riding on a humble colt of an ass, and on the broader message that the greatest King and holder of power who is true is humble in his demeanor, not proud. So those are the two messages that are correctly gleaned and discussed in many sermons.
I want to give you, though, an honest and accurate way to relate today’s Sunday reading to a real life event and thus learn how the scripture does indeed live on in many dimensions of human experience as the truth. I also hope this shows how people can be weaned from looking at every Bible passage for grist as a literal “prophecy” and rather as a truth that is demonstrated to be true time after time.
This past week a construction worker took the front loader caterpillar from his site and ran amok in Jerusalem, killing three innocent people by crushing them and injuring up to forty others. Despite the fact that he yelled “Allah, Akbar” (God is great) just before officials were able to stop and kill him, the continuing examination of his past indicates a drug addicted maladjusted individual. He has a criminal record, a problem with violence, including spousal abuse, and apparently was a drug addict.
The Bible reading warns that “your king,” the true king, will come to you “meek and riding on an ass,” who will banish “the chariot” “the horse” and “the warrior’s bow.” These three items are possessions of the mighty and powerful. The true king, “a just savior” will “proclaim peace” and “His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
Dear friends, I have often explained that drug addiction is the worship of a false idol and deludes the user into thinking he or she has special power. This man, who had a violent past either caused by or worsened by drug usage, seizes a “chariot,” a front loader caterpillar, and crushes innocent people, including a baby’s mother, in his snapped moment of rage. For a few moments of rage he has “the power” but it is the false power of the arrogant and inflated, and it is cut down on the spot by police, military and brave bystanders. This is a impressive real life example of how to ponder a Biblical readings and relate it to the real world. Only the humble Christ with his power is the eternal ruler, bringing peace and not power through violence. Those who possess “the chariot,” “the horse” and “the warrior’s bow” and who use them not for peace and justice but to oppress and murder, as this man did, are false, lacking humility and doing only damage in their time. For a few moments this man rode his “chariot” through the streets, just as the arrogant ancient aristocracy and warriors did, and all that was achieved is broken bodies, ruined lives and his demise. But those who recognize the humility of authentic power, the saving power of Christ, join into a dominion blessed by God that is based on justice for all eternity.
Who knows what that man would have been like had he not been a drug addict? Only God knows, in the fullness of his wisdom. But the drugs, the mental illness, the issues, or whatever provoked this rampage with the “chariot” trashed whatever humility he had, and humility is the key to authentic power and good judgment, the sign of the worthy king blessed by God.
So you can see that there is a real day to day demonstration of what is in the sacred words of the Bible without twisting and forcing passages into being: “Oh look, what does chariots really symbolize in real life? Is it prophecy about cars, trucks, trains, planes, UFO’s?” Did the Bible “foresee” this guy rampaging through Jerusalem? Of course not. But to those who are humble, alert and open minded, it is a way to make the Sunday reading illuminate a broader lesson in a modern day event. The poor people fleeing from this maniac could not help but be “impressed” with his power, for it overwhelmed cars, buses, crushing them and extinguishing human life. But this was not everlasting and real power. Likewise, modern people must not be blinded by those who seem to have the “chariots,” the “horses” and the “warrior’s bow” and assume that this gives them true might, power and wisdom. The Bible repeatedly teaches and with total accuracy that it is the truly humble (not the fake humility) that is a hallmark of the wise, the righteous and of ultimately, the true king and savior Jesus Christ.
http://www.zenit.org/article-23111?l=english
If you read it you will find that he touches on some of the very things I had so recently discussed about who is truly imaginative and able to comprehend the transcendent, and how it is often not those who consider themselves modern and full of knowledge.
But I was happy, even though it is a sad news event, to see how the reading from Zachariah could be shown to you as a very valuable example of how to honestly relate the words and prophecy of the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, to modern events. In this verse from Zachariah the arrival of the Messiah is prophesied:
From the Catholic Missal: First Reading
See, your king comes to you humbly.
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Zechariah
Thus says the Lord: Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem. See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; the warrior’s bow shall be banished, and he shall proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Now, generations of preachers obviously focus on the primary message of this passage with correctness, which is the literal prophecy that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, will arrive riding on a humble colt of an ass, and on the broader message that the greatest King and holder of power who is true is humble in his demeanor, not proud. So those are the two messages that are correctly gleaned and discussed in many sermons.
I want to give you, though, an honest and accurate way to relate today’s Sunday reading to a real life event and thus learn how the scripture does indeed live on in many dimensions of human experience as the truth. I also hope this shows how people can be weaned from looking at every Bible passage for grist as a literal “prophecy” and rather as a truth that is demonstrated to be true time after time.
This past week a construction worker took the front loader caterpillar from his site and ran amok in Jerusalem, killing three innocent people by crushing them and injuring up to forty others. Despite the fact that he yelled “Allah, Akbar” (God is great) just before officials were able to stop and kill him, the continuing examination of his past indicates a drug addicted maladjusted individual. He has a criminal record, a problem with violence, including spousal abuse, and apparently was a drug addict.
The Bible reading warns that “your king,” the true king, will come to you “meek and riding on an ass,” who will banish “the chariot” “the horse” and “the warrior’s bow.” These three items are possessions of the mighty and powerful. The true king, “a just savior” will “proclaim peace” and “His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
Dear friends, I have often explained that drug addiction is the worship of a false idol and deludes the user into thinking he or she has special power. This man, who had a violent past either caused by or worsened by drug usage, seizes a “chariot,” a front loader caterpillar, and crushes innocent people, including a baby’s mother, in his snapped moment of rage. For a few moments of rage he has “the power” but it is the false power of the arrogant and inflated, and it is cut down on the spot by police, military and brave bystanders. This is a impressive real life example of how to ponder a Biblical readings and relate it to the real world. Only the humble Christ with his power is the eternal ruler, bringing peace and not power through violence. Those who possess “the chariot,” “the horse” and “the warrior’s bow” and who use them not for peace and justice but to oppress and murder, as this man did, are false, lacking humility and doing only damage in their time. For a few moments this man rode his “chariot” through the streets, just as the arrogant ancient aristocracy and warriors did, and all that was achieved is broken bodies, ruined lives and his demise. But those who recognize the humility of authentic power, the saving power of Christ, join into a dominion blessed by God that is based on justice for all eternity.
Who knows what that man would have been like had he not been a drug addict? Only God knows, in the fullness of his wisdom. But the drugs, the mental illness, the issues, or whatever provoked this rampage with the “chariot” trashed whatever humility he had, and humility is the key to authentic power and good judgment, the sign of the worthy king blessed by God.
So you can see that there is a real day to day demonstration of what is in the sacred words of the Bible without twisting and forcing passages into being: “Oh look, what does chariots really symbolize in real life? Is it prophecy about cars, trucks, trains, planes, UFO’s?” Did the Bible “foresee” this guy rampaging through Jerusalem? Of course not. But to those who are humble, alert and open minded, it is a way to make the Sunday reading illuminate a broader lesson in a modern day event. The poor people fleeing from this maniac could not help but be “impressed” with his power, for it overwhelmed cars, buses, crushing them and extinguishing human life. But this was not everlasting and real power. Likewise, modern people must not be blinded by those who seem to have the “chariots,” the “horses” and the “warrior’s bow” and assume that this gives them true might, power and wisdom. The Bible repeatedly teaches and with total accuracy that it is the truly humble (not the fake humility) that is a hallmark of the wise, the righteous and of ultimately, the true king and savior Jesus Christ.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
State of Israel or Biblical Israel?
For those of you Christians who, incorrectly, assume that the Israel described in Biblical prophecy equals and is the same as the governmental state of Israel, you might find this article interesting.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1214132688698&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that a Jewish theology ruling that denies right of return to Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah who are Jewish via the mother (and thus correctly) yet gives it to Jews who believe in the Messiah who are Jewish via the father (and thus not actually theologically Jewish). The state of Israel is a mess and has nothing to do with the Biblical Kingdom of Israel, whether a "temple" is rebuilt or not. The temple's not going to tell them who a Jew is if they can't tell themselves anymore.
It's always funny and rather sad when Christians ponder the "special relationship" that Jews "must have" with God (and then deduct all sorts of dubious prophecy from it) when they can't even tell who they are anymore themselves..... *rolls eyes*.....hmmm.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1214132688698&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
***
It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that a Jewish theology ruling that denies right of return to Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah who are Jewish via the mother (and thus correctly) yet gives it to Jews who believe in the Messiah who are Jewish via the father (and thus not actually theologically Jewish). The state of Israel is a mess and has nothing to do with the Biblical Kingdom of Israel, whether a "temple" is rebuilt or not. The temple's not going to tell them who a Jew is if they can't tell themselves anymore.
It's always funny and rather sad when Christians ponder the "special relationship" that Jews "must have" with God (and then deduct all sorts of dubious prophecy from it) when they can't even tell who they are anymore themselves..... *rolls eyes*.....hmmm.
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