March12 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:17:24-27 - Jesus has taken for Himself an oath of poverty; anything He must put forward must be provided to Him by the Father. While He technically would not be required of the Father to pay the Temple Tax (because He actually is the Temple), He pays the tax just the same in order not to add fuel to the priest's fire. The faith of our Lord is shown in this oath of complete poverty. The utter reliance on the provisions of the Father, how and when to call for them, the knowledge as to where these provisions maybe found, all go into His definition of faith. He legally has the position of authority not to have to be required certain customary things, to rather demand such observances/taxes be paid Him, however, the course forward at this time is best served by putting what is due Him aside. Though late in the eyes of the human temple, He pays out of His sworn poverty for Himself and His disciple.
March25 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:21:12-17 HOUSE OF PRAYER - Though not recorded by Matthew, John depicts this event as the second time in but a few years that Jesus has done this temple cleaning. The problem continues. Currency exchanges and selling doves (the poor man's sacrifice) were not wrong per se, they were actually needed especially this time of year due to volume. We believe that either the profit margins or inconstant arbitrary rates or the location (Court of Gentiles) or all were amiss. The temple priest surely were by now aware if not complicit in the unfair trade. A house of prayer is made a den of thieves and many more than just the vendors were involved thus giving the Temple a bad public reputation. The issue more than anything is how quickly these weed like practices reseed and take root and flourish. It leaves us to wander if in the Lords eye it is not seen the same today. How much of what we know as our "Temple" experience isn't clouded by greed and profiteering and unscrupulous religious industry? The faith of our Lord is in the access for all men to a common place of worship. A place for congregation. A place of prayer and healing. A place for the perfected praise of devoted adherents young and old alike. A place undefiled for sinners and weary souls alike to return to their most holy God. He knows that without Him it just doesn't happen on it's own; in fact He is likely to displease those to whom He has given charge.
April1 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:22:23-33 YE DO ERR - The Sadducees dict:easton Sadducee were largely defined by their non belief in the resurrection. They attempt the same brain twister on Jesus that stupefied so many a Pharisee. Unless one knows scripture dict:naves Resurrection which points to life after death and considers God's power kjv@Jeremiah:32:17 kjv@Philippians:3:21 one is left to fall into this conundrum of false logic. As to there being no marriage in the resurrection, I believe this is a new revelation or a composite of a larger base of scriptural doctrines. The Sadducee's case seems to involve more human logic than any particular scriptural knowledge, apparently they had not thought through the logic enough to have foreseen the logical resurrection confirming answer Jesus could use to easily escape their supposed trap with. We must be careful ourselves when scripture suggests something and our logic is spent exclusively attempting to disprove it; even more so when we cherry pick single scriptures to say what they do not. The Sadducee's are gone as a power by the time of the destruction of the Temple AD70, suggesting a change of public sentiment regarding resurrection and proof of Messiah hewing down the fruitless trees of that time. The faith of our Lord is rooted deeply in scripture and the sovereign omnipotence of God. It is also in the purpose to which He created man initially for. He is and will forever be the God of the living.
May20 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:5:21 NO MAN SHOULD KNOW IT - Jesus is an equal opportunity healer. The woman with the blood issue has for twelve years been considered defiled. According to the law she must not go into the Temple, she must watch and wash every where she sits, she cannot lay with her husband. Once healed she ends her time of separation with more time apart and sacrifice. The ruler of the synagogue is about as high up as one Jew can get at that time. From all public observances his hands would be as clean as ceremony and ritual and stature could get. Both have needs, both people Jesus addresses. The experience for the three together does not go without complication however. Faith is the evidence of things hoped for. It is evident that the women has strong hope as her determination presses her through the crowd that is already thronging Jesus. It is evident in the ruler as he goes against the grain of what all his peers would think regarding Jesus. It is evident in Jesus as He works His way to the ruler's house though cornered by the throng, through the tumult of the professional wailers, past the jeers of the household, despite the urgent rush minding to touching details as stopping to acknowledge the woman's faith and sharing the private moment with both the father and mother. Clearly hope comes with plenty of opposition, plenty of obstical, plenty of objection. Hope often calls to Jesus as a last resort. Many things may be suffered on the way to becoming able to place all hope upon Jesus. When Jesus says "no man should know it", it doesn't mean that no one is not going to know it. Everyone that followed Him up to the house would know, everyone that saw the woman made whole would know, everyone in the house that was ordered out would know, the few that were invited in would know. And anyone who saw the young twelve year old girl walking out to play like nothing had happened would know. Jesus is wanting these people now in the know to figure this what has happened out on their own. The faith of Jesus faces resistance everywhere He goes. It is never as simple as hoping that mankind will understand, there is every evidence that He is determined to make it so. This is evidence in face of opposition.
June14 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:11:12-19 DEN OF THIEVES - Was the Temple in Jerusalem really as bad off as Jesus said or was He trying to making a bigger point? My guess is that it is far worse, that the Temple courts were just the most easily identifiable manifestation to the public of the darkness that dwelt within. He knows that like the fig tree what little fruit it does bare is not given to Him and is rotten to the core not of His liking; at this point He is just finished with it. Actions like these have targeted messages higher up. If this is the second temple event of this sort the message would be that "you've had time to think this through, we are back where we left off, now what are you going to do?". Notice that it is Jesus performing the action, He is not delegating to His disciples and not encouraging His crowd or other revolutionaries to do likewise. This is between Him and those with the power to make the decisions. Theoretically they have the choice to reform their Temple system or to try to destroy Jesus. Actually however, their choice has long been made, Jesus is just calling them to make it. The faith of our Lord knows of a time to calmly teach and instruct, convey and convince, but, also a time to curse fruitless fig trees and over turn money grubbing exchange tables forcing others to act upon the decisions that they've already made. It is not ever business as normal either way. People are astonished at His doctrine because His doctrine moves forward unafraid and unimpressed by fraudulent abusive power and principality; even in the den of thieves.
July12 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:1:57-66 FEAR CAME - It began with neighbors and cousins, it spread to all those that heard from them. It happened just as the mysteriously muted Temple priest wrote. Now you may not take notice when priest claims to have been visited by an angel. You are more likely to notice when he comes out unable to speak. You may not notice when a women passed her years has a child. You are more likely to notice when she is married to the muted priest and he claims that the angel foretold it to happen. Maybe you are not convinced until the couple name the child a non traditional name meaning "the grace and mercy of God" and suddenly the priest can again talk. So you are at least curious are you not? What else does the priest have to say? That the child comes in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the immediate way of the Lord? What manner of child will this be? Perhaps you are still not convinced but, you are likely to keep an eye on all this. Your reaction and the reaction of the others around you make you to fear. God does not just speak in words, He also speaks in motions and momentums. He produces curiosities and curiosities produce responses and responses produce environments and environments make for fear. Fear is the beginning of knowledge. Thirty years from now when the ministry of this John comes to a head and this John declares the son of the Mary (remember who spent three months with his mom Elizabeth early on) to be the "Promised One" enough people by then have been moved far enough along over the course that God can produce a larger fear nation wide. John then prepares the way of the Lord by what he says yes, but, also by what he has become and represents. The faith of our Lord is in supreme clarity objectively but, He often uses the noise of many others spreading abroad along with the focus of a few to bring that clarity about.
August23 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:10:25-37 HOW READEST THOU - Love the Lord God with all thy heart/soul/strength/mind and thy neighbor as thyself; sounds pretty easy doesn't it? So if you are an expert at the Law of Moses and you want to test this "instructor" that you know to be false you are more than willing to justify your case by expose the hole in Jesus' logic, the more liberal interpretation of "who is thy neighbor". If all that Jesus is to you is "instructor" you have already missed out on the "Love the Lord" part because your Lord is standing right before you and you are attempting to disprove Him. Some love; eh? Chances are more than likely then that you are going to miss out on the neighbor part too. It is far too easy for the notion of Lord to become all of the exteriors and institutions of the Temple and the Law and Traditions. It is too easy to devote yourself entirely (as this man) to everything holy but the person of the Lord. As for the answer Jesus directed the man to, mercy to all even the most despised among you, the trappings of this religious lifestyle are likely to hurry you down the road past the very opportunities to love that your Lord presents your way. In the preoccupation of fulfilling "these" things we miss out on the occasion to fulfill "the" thing we are most commanded to do. The man does not continue to argue his point. Jesus may have given him the answer he expected to hear; this false teacher is a lover of Samaritans and a blasphemer of priests and Levites. He can now again be quoted to others as saying such. This is the way the legalistic mind thinks; it is not a mindset of mercy it is a mindset of justifying oneself above others. The faith of the Lord is in the proper reading of this command. Mercy, love, truth, righteousness all have their root in knowing and loving the person of the Lord and what the person of the Lord has prepared Himself to do for you that you cannot in any way do for yourself... justify. kjv@Isaiah:53:11 @ "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities". HOW READEST THOU THAT?
September6 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:13:10-17 WHOM SATAN HATH BOUND - Jesus has said that He can only do what He sees the Father do. He sees the Father loosening here. #G630 The word means to send away, divorce, pardon. The woman goes one direction and the infirmity goes the other. The more classical view is that God would be causing infirmity either because she is a sinner or because there is a break down in His genetic codes. If we go back one passage to Jesus' talk regarding catastrophe and mayhem, the context may be that this is what it looks like having a fruitless tree. You will recall in the wilderness for forty years people did not get sick, their clothes did not fray, their shoes even did not wear. When they were in God's complete care infirmity did not appear. As they have removed themselves from God's complete care infirmity abounds more and more. You will recall all the many quotes through the prophets that God has always been willing to heal Israel if they would just keep things straight. Like with the collapse of the towers innocent people may be caught under societies rubble. In fallen societies (from God's view) normal sexual inhibitions lessen, diets change, fears of pain and infirmities and deformities and bad deaths rise and thus odd prescriptions and remedies worsen the situation, medicines and surgeries are mis-prescibed, the entire course of affairs have dire affects upon what was otherwise made to work by God's command. It is an environment dominated by abject fear. Worse yet the door is left wide open for Satan to operate at his will. If God's will is not being followed, whose other will is strong enough? Does this mean that this woman was a devil worshiper? Probably not. Does this mean that she was a sinner? Well we all are. Why are we not all folded over? When so much of God's creation works so well as designed, when it does not these relatively few times (and there is no apparent reason why it shouldn't have) it should be a sign that we have as a society left the door open to another's will. It is not as easy as any one person reaching up and closing that door, it is opened by the whole, it effects the whole, it is closed by the Lord when He sees fit (re-establishes a final closure) for the whole. We also have Israel receiving a double measure sworn from the Lord. God's blessings to us are magnified in them for our observation; so too His curses. Israel was given something Holy to possess: His Commandments, His Covenant, His Name, His Temple, His Seed. Moses warned them of how such blessings would turn to curse should they not fulfill their obligations to that covenant. We today possess a similar (extended) form of that covenant in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Should we not expect the same double measure or more should we as a group neglect so great a salvation as well? Jesus appears to be walking in an extraordinary time of infirmity and demonic possession. The fruitless tree as a whole is rotted from the core outward. Yet for now, His work was being done on a smaller individual level because that is what He saw the Father as doing. It is not the time yet to remove all sickness because it is not a time yet where we have all come back to HIM. The holiness of His that we hold is yet held by defiled and idle hands. That this miraculous and instantaneous healing was done on Sabbath better states the idleness that prevails week long because of defiled (dead) religious traditions. The faith of our Lord is simply beyond our capacity to understand; our perception of it is too short sighted if not blind. Signs and indications that we should be seeing as messages and proofs are seen rather as God abandoning us. The big picture healing for mankind is not as instantaneous; it has taken several thousand years already to develop. And each one of us (believer and non-believer) are swallowed up in that plan till it comes to full fruition. That it hasn't already is a sign of the size and scope of the problem.
September9 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:13:31-35 PERFECTED - At first I was having a difficult time finding much to go on in this passage. I am now wondering why certain Pharisees would want Jesus high tailing it the other way. Jesus doesn't really come down on them. There is certainly enormous pressure building up as Jesus has publicly announced His intentions to go to Jerusalem, He has sent many disciples out ahead to the towns that He will go through to get there. These Pharisees use Herod as the reason for the warning, but it could well be their fear of Herod's reaction upon them that they fear the most. Herod has recently killed several Galileans in the Temple and mixed their blood with the daily sacrifice; a vivid message meant for the Temple elite, not so much for Jesus. It is essentially the Herods' temple built for the Jews. Jesus' reply may never make it back to Herod as it would put it's messengers in an impossible even deadly position. No, the Pharisees are going to have to come up with a better plan. Jesus will not back down and is probably amused by this most transparent effort. The faith of our Lord is moving ahead toward His completed work. As much pressure as there is from all sides round Him, as much as that pressure now is intensifying to a head, He is not phased nor distracted. Fearless? In many respects, but not without a painful nervousness (the weight of doing this Himself for the world) that needs to be prayed over. He'll soon be sweating blood. It is better understood as obedience beyond any measure.
October12 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:22:47-53 YOUR HOUR - The guards are there under orders, they are going to do what they are sent out to do. One has to wonder though what they are thinking individually as Jesus heals their buddy's ear. I believe that these are Temple guards; pretty easy uneventful duty til now. They are probably as unfamiliar with wielding a sword as is fisherman Peter. They are no doubt familiar with the crowds of followers Jesus has drawn to the Temple daily and the calls of Hosanna and probably not so familiar with the arguments being tallied by their bosses the Sanhedrin. Do they also know of the false witnesses being coaxed up? Here the man that has taken them to this park is pointed out by this possible messiah as having betrayed Him with a kiss. This possible prophet has called for calmer peaceful heads to prevail at this time and has questioned the chiefs and elders as to proceeding against Him as a common thief yet oddly in such secrecy as if they knew how the masses would react. Yet of all of this talk the most eerie statement is captain Malchus' ear and the look of startled awe in his eyes. What argument is there against that? The power of darkness is that to those serving it there is no argument involved. One does what one does because there is penalty and consequence to not doing it. One is not paid for thinking through the facts and coming to a rightful judgement. Realize however what these men are forced into questioning. Recall when you were a non-believer and the anxiety you felt approaching anything Jesus related. Translate that tense inner apprehension to these men and amplify it by the obvious fact that you are now called upon to enforce the capture of this Holy Man and take Him even to Pilate (the man who recently slaughtered a host of Galileans on your temple steps just to make a political point). There are times when one ear speaks louder than several mouths. This should have been one of those times. The faith of our Lord is voluntary towards it's duty to the Father. The duty of darkness is demanded and employed and coerced. These men will carry out what they have been directed to no matter what they believe personally, but so too will our Lord Jesus in His hour.
November19 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:8:48-59 BEFORE ABRAHAM - Stones are drawn. How serious of an offence must one be convinced of if to be party to a stoning execution (and in/near the Temple). Jesus had said that men hate Him because He testifies of the evil in the world. Evil you would think would be ax murderers and rapists, thieves and the such. I don't recall Jesus testifying to this all that much.. Who would imagine evil to be the religious types seeking to kill Christ? The equality claim of Jesus to the Father seems to be the primary issue. It was brought to light by the mention of the pre-incarnate existence and work of Jesus and the use of the sacred title "I AM" of kjv@Exodus:3:14. Though Jesus physically can not be stoned nowadays the religious attitude and effort can still be just the same. It is interesting that witnesses saw both Abraham and Elijah standing with Jesus, but were sworn not to testify of this till after the resurrection. It is also interesting that Jesus doesn't go immediately to the prophecies like kjv@Micah:5:2 "whose goings forth are from old" kjv@Isaiah:9:6 "and His name shall be.. Mighty God" kjv@Proverbs:8:22-30 "possessed me in the beginning" etc.. Nor does He rebut them here with the logic of David's seed being his present tense "Lord" or the "who did Moses see if no man has ever seen the Father and lived". The question is not so much why He didn't do any of this here because He was revealing their own hearts, it is more when and whom was going to do this for Him. The faith of our Lord again comes back down to the Father's timing. This was not the time to convince, but to convict. This was not His time to die. This was not how He was going to die and nothing that they could conceive of doing to Him was going to be anything more than a insight into the evil that clings to man even to this day. Who then is to testify of the pre and post incarnate and incarnate sovereignty of Jesus? We are by the Holy Spirit When? Now To whom? The religious types that still today would stone Jesus (or us His ambassadors) for the very thought. "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death". What saying? These sayings. What death? The second (eternal spiritual) death.
December21 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:18:28-40 TO THIS END - Apparently when you are breaking your own law by having a trial at night and coming to a judgment of condemnation in the same day it is important that you not break your own traditions of not dirtying your hands by going into a Gentile's house; it makes it all better. Apparently if you yourself do not have legal power to perform capital punishment it is okay to take him to someone that does; it is all right. John doesn't go into the false evidence and witness that the Sanhedrin itself trumped up, but apparently it too is okay as long as you don't sully your hands and your image by expressing concern over not missing the closing hours of the paschal festival. Aren't you glad that they thought this all through and got it to where they could murder God's Son without breaking their ceremonial traditions? Why should Pilate entertain this motion? Because they wouldn't have brought him had He not been what they said he was; you can take their word on that. Oh so Pilate doesn't find anything wrong with the man, but it is okay to offer him in a trade for a seditious robber? Did that come out of left field or what? Is it article ?#$& that says that it is lawful to trade an innocent man for a convict tried by Roman law if the Jews insist? What business does Rome have with a man who won't tell you directly that he is a king, with no army, with no intent of removing anyone from their throne, who has gone out of his way on several occasions not to present himself to the public as someone who would? Some would say that Pilate felt for Jesus but cowarded to the pressure of the Jews. WHat? Pilate (who has been tyrannical and utterly vicious to the Jews as recently as a few months ago on the temple stairs) and the Sanhedrin suddenly being buddy buddy should alert us to something politically motivated happening here in a big way. They are both trying to present themselves to the public (and to history) as having clean hands. Don't riot against me Jerusalem for well I pretended not to want to be involved in this when most vehemently I did. Don't riot against us thousands of followers because we did not kill Jesus, Jesus killed Himself by what He said to Pilate. This is why all the detail is given to public perception. Little did they know that it was going to be written about. A few weeks and all this messiness would be done with, so they thought. It was written in a time span where if the written testimony that we have was false that the many witnesses could have fought back, we would have historical evidence that these misrepresentations had been vigorously disputed.Truth is that Rome didn't think much of this little incident until it had stirred the people so that they had to destroy the Temple, burn the records and ransack the city a few decades latter. What we do have is our Apostles talking about it quite openly to the public in a tone that everyone else knew about it and accepted it; many were convicted by it. The words here of Jesus then take on deeper meaning when He says that He came into this world to "bare witness unto the truth" and everyone that is "of the truth" heareth His voice. Truth is not the perception portrayed of washing ones hands of the matter, nor is it of making it back to the festival in time, truth is why it is you feel the need to trip all over yourself and the law on the way to portraying yourself as innocent of a most guilty matter.Truth is proving man his nature so that then you can show them God's. The faith of our Lord remember is that this is all in the Father's hands. No it is not right what they are doing, but what else could be expected. How does this ever change unless the Son of God suffers this wrong and takes it in His flesh to the grave along with every other wrong so that He might raise up a people free of it's corruption. Born into to bare wittness, to this end completed.
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