This
Essay is based on Luke 14. What do you think, when you hear the word:
“Sabbath”. It's a day of celebration. A day of being alone with
God. Doing, what you otherwise wont do. A Holy Day! It could be said,
that the entire ministry of Jesus, was such a day. It was also the
Pharisee day – the day, then they had the most to say. The day,
then people looked up and revered, those who put their own needs
aside, to be with God and give to the people, what the scripture says
about the Law and Mercy of God. While the lawful side, was easy to
relate, the Mercy side was somehow neglected. And then came along
Jesus and started up fights with Pharisees, like He owns everything.
Preaching, like he has some kind of Divine power and authority, the
Pharisees dost not possess. At Luke 14:1-6 the hostilities are
self-evident. Jesus comes to a head Pharisees house, to eat at
Sabbath day – which was a big deal indeed, for you couldn't prepare
meals on that day, so all you ate, had to be prepared on Friday! And
there was a guy with Dropsy. Pharisees couldn't care more about it,
they just worried, what ever would Jesus do about it! Because you
shall not work on Sabbath day, and healing a sick is work!! And Jesus
healed that Dropsy, after he got no answer from the Pharisees, about
his rights to heal on Sabbath day. Pointing out, that even the
Pharisees would pull their cattle out of a well, even on Sabbath day.
The question was not only about work, or that you would loose the
donkey; ox, but it would also endanger your water supply... It
couldn't be helped. In a way, Jesus pointed out, that not helping
somebody, because it is a Sabbath day, or something else like that,
while you follow the law, you also break it, because you failed to
understand and comprehend the heart of the problem. On a prior
Sabbath day, Jesus already had a falling out with the Pharisees Luke
13:10-17 when he healed a Woman who had suffered the spirit of
Infirmity for 18 years! When he pointed out, that Donkey's; oxen
drink water even on Sabbath day, but the current parable of helping
such a beast out of the well, is much more demanding. While you can
ignore thirst, while being cruel in so doing, neglecting to mind
about the purity of a well is also insane. That was the reason, why
the Dropsy guy was regarded so well, to find something against Jesus,
although they should have been with God on that day. It makes it
kinda ironic and sad, that such Supermen of God became all too human.
At
Luke 14:7-14 Jesus talks about choosing the lowly place. After all,
he was invited to a head-Pharisees house, and all, who there invited
– the establishment and burgeoisie, who there thinking themselves
betters, than the tax-collectors or Romans occupying Israel. The
Sabbath day was one of the Places there Israelites could be their
way, then otherwise, they had to do business in the Roman way. Even
their holy currency was only valid on Temple mount and elsewhere they
had to resort to Roman currency!! Being invited there was a big deal,
being able to talk to the host, while dining – for only the three
seats closest to the host, could do that on both sides of the table.
That meant only 6 people could be privileged to talk with the host,
while the rest could only listen. That is the reason, why people
craved for those places. And that is the reason, why Jesus was
against it – you cant worship and commemorate God justly, if you're
worried about the seat you're taking or whether somebody more worthy
could appear on that festivity and cast you down. It was a practical
advice, but also a slap in the face to the Pharisees, who had to shut
up about the Dropsy guy being healed on Sabbath day...
Now
happens a thing, what is quite common in such dinners. Luke 14:15 A
young boy, who was also invited, jumps up and does a homage and
fealty roll: “Blessed
is he, who shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God!” In
a way, it was similar to a different quote in the Torah. Amos 5:18
“Woe
to you, who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of
the Lord to you? It will be darkness and not light!”
When
people hear a prophet or a preacher speak, they naturally think, that
they are among the righteous. They think, that at least them got more
things right than the rest... That's a natural human response of
self-preservation. Why not be happy about, what the young man said?
It was Sabbath day! But in a way, that F didn't go to God, or meant
something else, as Sabbath was destined to meat. It was like blessing
somebody with Godspeed in the morning, then you didn't know, what the
future brings, or not even the character of your own heart, lest to
speak about, who you're blessing. We mean well with our blessings,
because we want to get along with one another. Would we bless same
fold a Communist; a Satanist; somebody we loathe and detest? Jesus
Christ came to this world to die for all of us, and to search and
save those, who are lost. Does someone, who thinks, he is eligible to
sit in the Heavens and dine with God, feel anyway lost, as did Jacob
or Isaiah. When ever prophets meat God, they have obsoleted
themselves, confessing to deserve rather death, than exaltation. And
yet again, if we come together to dine for God or to preach on
Sunday, we expect people to say nice things and not salty vitriol
statements of gloom and doom. People wanted to be happy in that
table, there they all had been invited. And then comes the tzar
bomber shell and nukes them all: Luke 14:16-24 What is the problem
with this parable? There there no refrigerators back then, so when
you prepared meat, it had to be consumed instantly, or it would have
been rotten. So, then the servant said: “All is ready!” He meant,
that after you have issued your timely reply and the host has
inquired it from all participants, the correct schedule will be drawn
and the final invitation will be sent out – and then the feast will
be prepared by slaughtering the meat, what is to be consumed. Because
of that, all those statements, why the invitees excused themselves.
They there more than poorly chosen. You can't test your oxen
indefinitely; nor fuck your wife nor inspect new landings. The real
reason was, that those invited had no regard towards the host. In
fact, they loathed the host! They didn't wanna do anything with him.
In the Eastern world, if somebody sends you such an invitation,
especially if it's somebody of high esteem and power, you can't
simply excuse yourself from it. You go there with your entire family!
It is The Event! The Sabbath was supposed to be such kind of Event as
well. There God is the Host, and we breathe of our deeds to the Lord,
to exalt Him!! And somehow, the issue of whether a Dropsy guy or a
woman, with a spirit of Infirmity gets help on Saturday, is an issue.
Just like it became an issue to the Christian church, whether Greek
widows should be treated the same as Jewish widows, and the Deacons
there first called, lest to make St. Peter and the others stop
praying to the Lord, in order to give something, what should have
already been granted. (Acts 6) Somehow authority becomes more
important, than the nature and reason, why a certain rule or law has
been put to place. The Young man, didn't think, he was stealing
something from God. He was just being nice, but Jesus said, that non
of the chosen shall feast upon it. Because when you have the honour
and privilege to dine with God, it is not, because you did something
right – it is because, God had mercy on you, and didn't do, what
your deeds deserved! It couldn't have been more clearer, what the
parable was talking about, to foreshadow, how the Jews would be
pushed aside in this world, and a new church would be formed. Do I
say that, to congratulate us? No! I say that, to remind us, as the
Lord pushed aside the Jews, who where His Divine People and
Priesthood for the rest of the world, how much more can he do the
same to us, who we're pagans of descent! (Eze 16:3) That's, what the
true meaning of Sabbath, what Jesus came to proclaim to this world,
was. To break loose those, who there unjustly imprisoned under the
law. Who lost all their belongings because of the law. For sinfulness
is quite expensive if you honestly tithe according to the law. Just
try to exclude from your finances as much as a heavy smoker monthly
has to, and you will understand, what I mean. The tithe was meant to
be a reminded, how cruel can sin be, but it became the enrichment of
religious establishment, and not moral. While people respected the
Pharisees and also the Zadokite, they there so excluded from the
people, that they there not present at the Sabbath, because other
things became more imminent and important. The question: “Can you
carry a fallen leaf on your shoulder on Sabbath!” is notorious for
its stupidity. How does that question exalt the Lord?!
That
was the reason, why this parable was so insulting to all, who there
invited, including the host. Who was this Jesus, to say that in the
house of a head-Pharisee?? It reminds me of a different audacity,
then Edward. R. Murrow challenged senator McCarthy in America with
his brutally honest shows to protect Americans from false allegations
and fear-mongering, in the name of fight against Communism. I
recently watched “Good night and Good luck” (2005) Starring
George Clooney, and it brought me to tears. If a reporter can't
speak, because disagreeing with something is too unpatriotic, or has
to have viewpoints to prove his patriotism, when we would look like
this young boy, who shouted: “Blessed
is he, who shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God!” when
already Amos disagrees with it, lest to talk about Jesus or common
sense. When our seat or name becomes more important, than the truth,
then we have lost something precious.
But
it doesn't stop there. Jesus knows, how to crank it up a nudge
further. Luke 14:25-33!! Great multitudes there following Christ and
what does he do? He turns over and sais thus: “If
anyone, who comes to me, and doesn't hate his father or mother; wife
or children; brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he
cannot be my disciple!” Let's
stop here and think... No success theologian or other person, who
lives by Sermon or book-sales or Essay draft, would ever dare to say
that nowadays!! You don't insult your audience with controversy –
the thing Mr. Murrow was accused of, for defending probable
Communists. Controversy doesn't sell well, it makes people choose
sides and sometimes those choices leave you bleeding out in the
desert all alone... Big organisations don't like that, because they
have a lot to account for. (Mat 19:22) The more money you possess, or
power, the more it possesses you. It is funny, how I cannot even play
Diablo 3, without thinking about, how the wizards who summoned the
first demons in the lore, became their servants! How that speaks
against us, just like Jesus Christ; or when J.K Rowling wrote “Harry
Potter” how it speaks against us. Not because it speaks of
Witch-Craft, but how we neglect the mercy part of our faith all too
eloquently and readily. It is so easy to erect your own Voldemort and
follow it, to further your own goal, until it leads to Hell. It
becomes more important to say thus, that 'you shall not let a witch
live'; or 'don't to wizardry'. When all our deeds could be like
wizardry to God – for what did the prophet say to King Saul, then
that person could not await the arrival of Samuel; or how the king
spared the better cattle from destruction, to then tithe some of it
to the Lord? Isn't that born for loving ourselves and our loved-ones
too much. To the point, we would sacrifice even truth itself, lest we
could live one more day untouched. If you don't possess this kind of
self-loathing, there you're for life and the truth, you cannot find
Jesus! The problem stands, that the Torah also said: Pro 30:17 one of
my favourite quotations: “The
eye, that mocks his father; scorns obedience to his mother. The
ravens of the valley will pick it out, the young eagles will eat it!”
Israel
was built upon respect. And now Jesus demands us to disregard all
that, to follow rather Him! Must have been hard for the Jews,
especially for the Pharisees to hear thus. He even adds to parables
to further his intent. The building of a tower, which was a defensive
structure and only valuable, if finished. You had no luxury to ponder
upon it indefinitely, because your competition would just smother
you. So telling about how you should know if you could make ends
meat, was like telling how every bottle shall be filled with wine!
(Jer 13:12,13) Everybody already knew about it! Or the parable about
Two Kings warring and the other sending out emissaries to acquire for
peace, because he is unable to fight. Nobody disputed those kind of
things. And yet demanding to follow him without regard, was a lot to
ask – on a Sabbath day!
And
now for the punchline or the nail in the coffin. Luke 14:34,35!
Unflavoured salt has the same problem than gold, what lost his shine,
it is both worthless and impossible. In normal circumstances neither
gold nor salt can't stop being what they are. And yet, the Pharisees
and Israel became exactly that! We could become exactly that!
Tasteless salt and shineless gold... If something becomes
self-evident and compulsory, it will assume the place, what it's
meant to represent. In that case, priesthood will become its own deus
ex machina!
Just a mere contraption of theatrics and amusement, nothing more. The
Sabbath is indeed more, than amusement and holiday from work. It is
breathing along with God, so others could share in with that
exaltation of the High Heavens. It is about living for something far
greater than Myself! To the point we give up our lives for that
dream, others could depict as madness. Who wants to become a
Christian and follow to the Cross?
https://youtu.be/xyt2hT0rXUY
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