February10 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:9:27-34 SEE THAT NO MAN KNOWETH - Why wouldn't Messiah want all the press that He could get? Two blind men and a man possessed healed, never so seen in all Israel? Is it a test of these men? Are the crowds getting out ahead of Jesus and what work He really must do? Yes and yes Is it a principal He is trying to teach or a fulfillment of the Law He must follow? Yes and yes The faith of our Lord is always in view of the big picture. At His level the picture is vast, the considerations manifold yet simple. In obedience and submission to the Father He exhibits the character traits of patience and temperance and humility and spiritual alertness and knowledge and......
March23 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:20:29 WHAT WILL YE - The mechanics of a crowd are always interesting. What makes a crowd behave as it does? In this case the expressed will of the multitude was for the two to hold their peace. The two are blind, this is their opportunity to regain their sight, yet the majority see them as a disturbance. The crowd may have been made up of those sympathetic to Jesus as they were following Him out of Jericho. Their intents may have been for Jesus' good and out of respect. The requests upon Jesus may have been so frequent that they had become common and distracting and keeping them from reaching their next destination. Jesus saw the event differently; not as the crowd obviously and perhaps not even as the two petitioners, but, as the Father did. We have seen so frequently that Jesus did not do things to garner more press; He forbid receivers to publicly tell. The faith of our Lord is focused much more on the present moment and the needs of the people around. The two men need their sight, the crowd needs to look beyond themselves. The impression of the truly needy should not be "oh he was too much in a hurry" or "yea she had to get somewhere" or even "should I disturb them". It should be "He was there when I needed/called" and "the first person I ever saw was the one who ever really saw through to me".
April20 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:27:11-26 WHETHER OF THE TWAIN - One man washes his hands of the blood guilt and the others pour it on to their heads of themselves and their children. Blood by both is made lite of. One cannot be innocent of the blood simply by washing their hands of the matter. The fact is that matters were poorly and unjustly handled in the first place. Pilate proved coward to the pressures of the Sanhedrin. Others cannot take such minute opinion of any man's life so as to not guarantee a safe and judicious proceedings, so as to not be driven by impulse or shrewd coercion. After all Jesus had done to reveal the sinful hypocrisy and false teaching and spiritual callous blindness of the Pharisees/the Sadducee/the Scribes the make up the Sanhedrin, for the general public to be so easily intimidated and manipulated is a sin equal to that of Judas even if this had not been Christ. What then of the evidences in favor, the many and daily healings, the exorcisms, the wondrous and picturesque sermons, the miracles, the possible ties to long held prophecy, the hope of Israel? Were these possibilities no factor to them at all? The blood stains of guilt cannot be washed away. The price of guilt cannot be negotiated by the guilty parties involved. Jesus' blood is meant to redeem but, if it is not accepted as such it becomes a terrible pronouncement of guilt; guilt then, guilt today. There is a notorious thief that is given amnesty by us even at this hour. He is the embodiment of our being so easily turned and manipulated and used as a driving wedge between justice and those that must judge. Perhaps the greatest revelation of our hearts by Jesus was taught without a word. The faith of our Lord is not in the present but, in the future. It is a future ripped free from the clutches of man's continuous evil imagination and heart that is deceptive above all else. It may be a good time to review kjv@Proverbs:1:20-33 in consideration of this particular multitude and then ours.
April22 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Matthew:27:32-44 HE TRUSTED IN GOD - King David seemed to have the clearest vision of what the Lord would have to suffer. Many of the articles he would pen into his songs at first reading would seem to point to David or else no one. But, when did David suffer these things he wrote of? Without what we see here happening unto Jesus we would have to conclude that David was near paranoid, highly over exaggerated, consumed with the pressures mounted against him, obsessed with the persecution of the wicked and the silence of a slumbering God. With Jesus we wonder what then is David somewhere in this audience that he can see these things sentenced onto Jesus by the Lord of His Lord? His descriptions are uncanny to the smallest of details; the parting of clothes, the offer of gall, the wagging of heads. Where is David? How did he see this? Who has believed his report? To whom had the arm of his Lord been revealed? While the sign above speaks the official accusation, the words on the ground heard spoken declare the actual accusation, that He trusted in God. This is apparently what one gets for trusting in such a far fetched notion as God, says even the Jews. What would it take for them to believe? For Him to save Himself and come down, but, wait... that would break the commandment of God and of the prophets. In other words, for them to believe in Jesus He would have to break every commandment and become like them. Why would God even want their belief if that is the case? David was deeply troubled by what he foresaw as were the other messianic prophets. Yet in every messianic psalm he come to the conclusion the seed - Jesus would hold true to the end and that the Father would avenge Him with all certainty. David took comfort and inspiration in that. The faith of our Lord is in His Lord the Father and in seeing the plan through to it's end. It is in the words He had had recorded long before hand to remind Himself and to tow us through the dark cloudy mist of perception and truth that we not loose sight of Him. How the Jews lost that sight, it is almost as if they were blinded for the sake of germinating this seed into the far reaches of the Gentile nations by their rejection. The more even that the report/arm of the Lord is being revealed.
May28 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:7:31-37 ASTONISHED BEYOND MEASURE - It is most astonishing that the deaf and impeded/mute can be healed. I guess that you'd actually have to be there to know absolutely that it was so. This case is probably of a person who spoke and heard at one time previous as they know how to speak once released. Jesus pulls the man aside though so that not many actually saw what He was going to do. Those that did see were told not to say anything about it. To me the proof these many years after is the fact that it could not be contained. Surely there are enough people that saw the before and after who even though they did not see it happening first hand had no other explanation left for it and thus were astonish and vocal about it. After all, how do you keep something like this silent, one minute he is verifiable deaf/mute judging by the reaction and the next healed and the only thing that happened in between is that Jesus pulled Him aside? So that without any words spoken anybody that knew the sequence of event was going to add it all up. Beyond measure is the other indicator to examine as there is very little that can compare to this; the blind seeing, a withered hand immediately made whole, raising of the dead. He must have charged them more than once because the more He did it the more they published it. So is this reverse psychology on His part? Or, is this something about human nature and His judgments that He is revealing to the discerning pupil? The faith of our Lord is aware of the ears and the eyes in the future that will believe or not believe based upon these written testimonies. Words are spread, interpretations corrupt, fables develop. It is important to the Gospel that Jesus makes mention of this even though the people there are going to do whatever they want with this. It is stated for the record, if not for their sake then for our sake. Anyone else speaking to another about this off record would be disobeying the Lord Almighty.
June1 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Mark:8:31-9:1 GET THEE BEHIND ME - It is one thing for Messiah to be despised and rejected amongst His own chosen Hebrew people, is it any different for His own followers to be ashamed of where He is heading and what He must do? Isn't the effect the same? Jesus sees His life as given completely to bear our cross; He savors that because that role is from God. Our role is to savor that as well. When Peter rebukes Jesus he is not thinking of what God has for Jesus to do. Is that not rather being ashamed of Him and deny His God given course for mankind? If we do not fully see the necessity of Christ baring our sins and dieing for them on the cross are we not rather ashamed also? In our varied discourses through out the day if we are rewriting the Jesus story into something other than it truly is meant to be are we not denying Him then before men? Are we not otherwise ashamed of Him? Though baring our daily cross certainly suggests much more than this, this essential core at minimum must be picked up and followed. Jesus lived that He might die for all sin. Through Him we in our daily lives must die to sin, live towards others that His death may be for their sins as well. To not do that is to deny Him before men, to be ashamed of His mission, to not savor the things of God, to stand firmly behind Satan. Is this not worse than being blind to Him and outright rejecting Him? The faith of our Lord is in something more than intellectual consent, it is what He gave His life to/for. Our faith and life and discourse must be something very similar. What else has a man in exchange for his soul?
July9 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:1:26-38 NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE - We have a pattern shown to us already in this book of our (man's) common reaction to things when revealed by God; we limit things to our own field of understanding. Time after time old testament and new a man/women is dropped in on by a messenger and uniformly we behave like a doubt filled and defensive timid bird. Who will this be? How shall I know? I am but a stuttering man? My lips are unclean? These are common reactions. By just reading spirituality from a book I doubt that we realize how large and grand and unfathomable these spiritual things are. But when confronted face to face, when it is our own life and our own safety and our own well being we attempt to hide ourselves as it were in the wide open, reduce things down to the improbable or impossible. Gabriel and his crew have a difficult job dealing with the sons of men. We are always spooked. We are truly disbelieving and suspicious types. We have to be talked to in short picture like packets with constant reassurance and explanation. We are both short and blind sighted, highly imaginative and think we know much more about the larger scope than we actually know. It is natural however given our unfamiliarity with the spiritual. Mary responds better than most coming to a trust without much further struggle. God is still dealing one on one with the individual players which should be expected. The faith of our Lord knows what He is dealing with with humans. We are made in the image of God so that there is much that is recognizable, but in his present state there is something exceedingly damaged even in the best of us or introverted spiritually. By the God becoming the flesh of man He will be more recognizable and less threatening to man (perhaps too much so). It is however the way He chose so it must be the way that is best.
July22 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:4:31-37 AUTHORITY - Devils don't just relocate because they are told to no matter how stern and demanding. Exorcism requires an authority above and beyond the authority of the demonic. Authority requires either the threat of or exercise of greater power. When the townsfolk in Capernaum are are amazed and curious as to the authority exerted they are rightly familiar with these basics of this form of spiritual warfare. The question left for the ages however is where did the demons get their authority to posses in the first place? The most likely answer is from the possessed soul themselves or from someone in authority (such as a parent in the case of possessed from birth) either by permission or by blindly opening the door for them. Once authority is surrendered it seems that the authority cannot be resumed on ones own unless an authority above the authority of the demon(s) wins/brings authority back. The demons in this man believe Jesus to have the power to destroy them. Jesus does not destroy them at this time however. We must give this action/allowance the presumption of righteousness as we do not fully understand why why it is in fact righteous. Such a presumption opens up possibilities as to how all things can work for the good of those who love our Lord. The faith of our Lord exercises authority always within the framework/dictates of righteousness, not always by our understanding/self determination of such. By these actions He is by implication suggesting our need to offer Him the presumption of righteousness. It is an additional part of His faith in us.
July27 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:5:27-32 FOLLOW ME - Only people that know that they are sinners would know that they have need to repent, turn, follow. Those that don't consider themselves as such have absolutely no use for what Jesus would have to offer. I am not sure in today's terms that we understand how despised and hated tax collectors of that day were. This is yet another "in your face" move by Jesus. This reception would be difficult for even the loyal yet timid disciples, it would be revolting to the common citizen, it would be outright excruciating for a Pharisee or their scribe. But because of the undeniable command of matters Jesus is having this act must be fully considered (and for some countered). Matthew (Levi) is a truly inspiring story. Matthew not only leaves his lucrative position behind, he throws a huge reception and invites numerous friends over to meet Jesus. He puts on a huge feast. How many of us would be willing to do that for our Lord? Maybe for some this would be name dropping. Maybe for others this would be pomp ahead of his own career sacrifice. Jesus surely does not see it this way however else He would not be there. There is something important to notice here (many things); the importance of the balance of healing and teaching and public associations and staying on the offensive. The Pharisees have now made their decision about Jesus, but because they cannot explain away the mass healings for instance they cannot completely put down the teachings nor the associations. Because they must turn public perception they must somehow turn public associations that they themselves do not have. They are having to take hit and run sniper shots to remind the crowds of their disapproving presence. Really, how would you go about telling a blind man that can now see that he was healed by a devil or a leper that Jesus didn't actually have the power to forgive? That this was all a trick? Trick or not, they stand healed and sensing that they are forgiven. Likewise, how do you tell a reception of people that you have physical disdain for yourself anyway that they cannot congregate in this manner around this man? That He should not congregate with them? This is bold in deed. And it all is possible because of the balance of the many separate things that Jesus is doing right working together as a whole to multiply the effect of His ministry. Maddening it would be to to be on the other side of this tremendous unstoppable momentum. The faith of our Lord has no problem being with the people who need Him and desire to be with Him most. He doesn't mind even the occasional party to meet and greet a new disciples friends. There is a sincerity and a purity in this even when others might think that He is getting Himself dirty.
September1 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:12:22-34 THERE YOUR HEART WILL BE - We surely know by now how important the heart is in the overall plan of scripture. Looking back on all the many examples of the Old Testament we've seen how the heart of a people waxes cold without much effort. It is almost the natural course to harden and takes special protracted effort to keep (on ours/God's part) to sustain any level of softening for any length of time. On both an individual level and as a nation we see how important the heart is in God's way of thinking and how He looks upon it to get to the truth of any matter. Where is the heart? Here Jesus says that it is with whatever you treasure. One could say "but I don't treasure one particular things, I have various interests, mostly people and family". Perhaps though we should re-examine how central to our core elements such as food and clothing and shelter fit into our relationship with God. Mostly He is something completely separate from these other elements, the control of these constant pursuits are difficult to blindly hand over. It is not that we don't have to make an effort towards these things, toil as Adam because of the curse, it is that we cannot allow them to be the things that harden us. Because they will. They always will. The moment after God performs something great in our lives we are likely to miss the onions back in our captivity in Egypt. The battle after the battle won by God will be the one that we try to win on our own. We will presume to be living by faith, but in these elemental areas proceed with confidence but one in God's provision. All these things the nations of the world seek. It is our Father's pleasure to give us the Kingdom. However, it takes a good measure of trust, a good measure of discipline, a good measure of obedience, a good measure of prudence and stewardship, planting/watering/harvesting. Most of all it take focus on God. To treasure God and His provision more than all and to work as for Him and His glory with thankfulness and a solid sense of His sufficiency. Much of what we worry about is out beyond that which we truly need. God will often lead us through a wilderness surviving on manna before leading us to land of milk and honey. It is likely that we will want to skip over the discipline of trust and obedience to get to the point of immediate plenty. These are the provisions that we inescapably tend to squander knowing not how to make best use of them. Israel squandered the promise land several times over. The faith of our Lord is in the heart. The heart has it's problems, but the heart can be true, it can be sincere, it can be focused. Our time here is a time to be spent becoming this type of heart.
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.
September10 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:14:1-14 WHEN THOU ART BIDDEN - Jesus is bidden to a Sabbath feast by a local Pharisee. There is an interesting relationship between some Pharisees and temple leaders with Jesus. They (some) do on the surface appear to be hospitable to Him. Why? The answer may appear in His teachings that day. First comes the healing before He even enters. He likely does not plan for such events, but is prepared to take hold of the opportunities when presented. His mission even on Sabbath is to rescue lost souls from the pit contrasted by the Pharisee seeking to leisure with His guests. Next, Jesus speaks of a guest that abases himself so as not to be shamed. What an odd thing to point out if there were not those in the room habitually doing exactly the opposite. Then, He addresses the host that invites only top level guests with the hope of return invitations. Was it that Jesus was invited to be the hosts' spot light presentation (the draw) to his well connected guests? No doubt that the afternoon's conversation was a bit uncomfortable Jesus having set the tone. Just imagine how the conversation went after He departed. Self exaltation verses self abasement is really the issue. Most everything the host and other guests are doing is to exalt themselves. Self exaltation may be the biggest problem we have today with our younger generations and why they feel so imposed upon regardless; because they view themselves as so much above it (the real world that is). One that lifts him/herself to any higher measure than reality will bare will naturally be put upon by anything lesser, things that they feel they're above. Those that abase themselves are truly lifted because real world matters are not bringing them down, matters are seen as opportunities especially concerning our help to others. Job once said "I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame". What a wonderful viewpoint. He was able to be that because he was focused on the needs of others around him, not focused on how to take another step up the social ladder. The faith of our Lord is in accepting when bidden, even when bidden by those who will very soon sentence Him. It is going into places that He knows if all be said that He is not welcome, a room filled with ulterior motives and dishonest gamesmanship. He is the bird and they are the fowler setting the trap' yet He holds to what is true and right.
September27 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:18:35-43 FAITH HATH SAVED THEE - Does Jesus mean saved in the general sense delivered from blindness or in the eternal sense salvation? The man is observably saved from blindness. He persisted in asking for a mercy and despite the rebuke of others he received it. That alone is a good story. Can one be saved in the one sense and not the other? He also identified Jesus as Son of David which ties Jesus back to prophecy. Everyone in the group would also declare the same, however we know that the more that they know about the plan ahead the more difficulty they are having with it. Some have turned and walked away, others will swear to defend that it would not be so. The truth is that the death of sin/death lays at the foot of the cross and eternal salvation rises at the tombstone rolled away. This man has received mercy by being delivered from blindness like so many others. Many have been delivered in this way without knowing and believing in the full salvation simply by faith in the Lord's mercy. This man if he means what he says is well on his way to the greater salvation believing Jesus as Son of David. If he is just repeating what everyone else is telling him then he still has a ways left to go. The faith of our Lord is using the smaller case mercy healing to point this man to His upper case mercy salvation. If the man approached salvation with the same persistent faith that he has healing he will be sure to be with his Lord in his Lord's glory. This illustration happens at a time that all smaller case believers could use most given the days to come.
September30 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:19:28-44 TIME OF THY SALVATION - Mark the importance of this passage; there is an important shift to take note of. We have known for sometime Jesus's intention, He has been working his way over the past several chapters towards this entrance into the city. For all of the rejoicing and excitement and build up, we must also consider the solemn separation Jesus must feel. When you think of the entry of others they are typically riding the wave of momentum of support and allegiance. To the contrary Jesus is going into this all alone while being surrounded by people that think that they know what needs to happen. Though they've been told what must happen, even His most loyal disciples are far from the true allegiance required supposing that Jesus will opt for other options. He is essentially being carried on the shoulders of the blind and confused into the hidden broad of vipers. Nobody present clearly sees this entry as Jesus does. The faith of Lord is not in the snowplow effect where you are so convincing that everyone else gets swept up and comes along with you, it is in taking the lead when no one else is ready to come along and won't be ready until much later when they realize what has been done. Think of it as that lone shepherd walking into the smoky distance from the fold to give his life for his fold. Eventually their eyes will be opened, but that time is not now. They rejoice now because of what all they have seen, however, what they are about to see will challenge them to their very core!
October20 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@Luke:24:13-35 DID NOT OUR HEARTS BURN - What is effecting the disciples at this point is the same thing that effects us in our faith. 2Peter:1 would call it a faith that is being shortsighted to the point of being blind. These men have the hope that He would redeem Israel, but do not see that to redeem Israel something much bigger and broader had to be accomplished. They sense the need for redemption, but it is a smaller redemption from Rome. By means of these smaller fields of vision these hopes perceive an entirely different course of action, say the raising of an army, the winning over of several political foes, the standing against and defending Israel from the authority of Rome. But, here exactly the opposite is apparent, Rome has come out the victor. There is no wonder that they are sad and much confused. Everyone in Jerusalem is having similar conversations, each and every one based upon shortsighted hope now dying or dead. We tend to see things reduced down to our immediate needs whether it is Rome or potential divorce or recovering from addiction. We have faith indeed, but that faith has an entirely different set of expectations (shortsighted) as to how the Lord is going to perform it. It is these expectations that blind us to the person of Christ standing before us. He can be a mighty man of deed and words, however, until we see Him as the Lord that He really is and His actions as He rather intends our faith lays dormant and unfruitful; dead. The scriptures are opened up to them, the big picture becomes visible, the broad vision burns within the heart as they begin to see the revealing of the true "Arm of The Lord". Even then until He is recognized as alive and risen, the bread broken as before, that burning is incomplete. After knowing Him as risen, how could they not get up this evening and not walk the seven miles back to the others? How could they not proclaim it to all those along the road between here and there? The faith of our Lord is that we will see Him as dead but now living. And if living, then truly the Son of God. And if truly the risen Son of God, then the "Righteous Servant" spoken of throughout the prophets. And if the Promised One, then much broader in vision and scope then just this brief occupation by Rome or this occupation by the hypocritical and murderous Sanhedrin or occupation of the problems of this single day or time or lifetime. Engaged and concerned in these items? Most certainly! Lively faith however, knows His answer and performance for that are begun in and paid for by the broader course and objective of this. Many today are still talking, how many though have the big vision living faith?
November20 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:9:1-12 WORKS OF GOD MANIFEST - We must be very careful not to make this say what it does not. The issue is disease and impairment, specifically prenatal. Does it come from the sin either of the parent or the affected? We know that in the case of a heroine or crack addict mom, her sins can cause deformity and severe often fatal consequence. A father also with his sexually transmitted diseases etc... So it is possible. If we are talking about all sin in general then why are not all kids born of sinners diseased and sickly? And if not all born to sinning parents then why any at all? We could also see the possibility of an adult of consenting age doing something dietary or promiscuous or risky etc.. that would result in their calamity. Again if sin is the cause why not all sinners and if not all then why any? In this particular case we are talking about a man blind from birth. Like so many similar cases it defies explanation unless we are to take into account the original curse and the removal of the tree of life. This explanation would make such disease and deformity and impairments much more indiscriminate on God's part. Man falls, death is sentenced and enforced, tree of life removed, toil and pain added, genetic disturbance and entropy, sub mutation and viral/bacterial balances altered, sickness and disease obvious and increasing. Add to this the theory that Israel itself is under double measure of God's blessing/curse given their possession of the sacred articles and covenants with God. We see more blindness and deafness and leprosy and demonic possession particularly at this biblical time of reprobacy than perhaps ever before/since. That Jesus would say that this particular man's blindness is not because of any one person's sin does not mean to say that sin, especially original sin and the sin of Israel mishandling of the sacred are not involved. Neither does it mean that the man's condition was forced upon him just so that God could show that Jesus can heal him. The works of God being manifested could rather go to show the indiscriminate nature of the curse, the compounding of the curse by Israel's indolence and irresponsibility, God's undeserved mercy pointing from all directions to His Anointed One, this same Jesus Christ. Now, we must ask in the other cases when Jesus concluded a healing with the words "thy sins are forgiven" how many of these times was it said in addition/conclusion to the healing and how many times was it necessary in order to provide the healing? The faith of our Lord is that the works of God will be made manifest and that He is the one that must work these works. What kind of works would these be if He was the one that necessitated them just to show Himself capable? Sin undoubtedly made for the necessity. His manifestation is the mercy presented to atone for it.
November21 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:9:13-34 A MARVELOUS THING - Since the world began, that is a long time. A man born blind is made to see. What difference would it make where the healer was from? He would still require serious consideration. How could just any person perform such a thing? Let alone a sinner? It is often asked why Jesus used the mud and the wash. It is commonly held that it was used to help build the man's faith. The man did not see what Jesus was about to do. The man at least would have known by touch that something had been done and feel it all the way down to the bath. Others point to the possible medicinal purposes of the mud (but to heal prenatal blindness?). What if the mud was to mark the man that a miracle had been performed again by Jesus on the Sabbath? What if it was a message to the Pharisees and had little to do with the event itself? The inquisition asked more than once "how was this again? Mud?". It was perplexing to them. Mud sticks to things. In mud things get stuck. If one is trying to get a perplexing puzzle stuck into a group of antagonist's brains why not stick it there with mud? The theory is interesting. As much as these men wanted to control the proceedings and rule out the miracle all together, their perplexity kept the inquiry in play, broadcasting to others that they were not all together sure what had taken place. It aggravated a division already occurring within their group and made to surface a policy they wanted to enforce that commoners insisting Jesus to be Christ would be excommunicated from the assembly. The mud is now on their face. How Jesus had healed has as little to do with the consideration of sin as when He did it or where He was from. The fact is that it hadn't been done to anyone's recollection ever before, that was the most urgent point. Some there came close to the matter, but apparently they lack the political strength and determination of the others. The faith of our Lord is in bringing the darkness to light, to make men to see the spiritual struggle happening daily all around them and the various intentions/motives being played out. Sometimes something as simple as mud can be used to remind one man who cannot see that his eyes are soon to open and at the same time reveal to a great many that certain so called seers are actually driven to blindness. That makes it an even more marvelous thing!
November22 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:9:35-41 FOR JUDGMENT I AM COME - Think back to kjv@Matthew:11:25 and Jesus saying that God has hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. If something is hidden then there is no seeing it. What one does see is something other than what God has hidden. So why would God hide it to begin with? The answer is in to whom He does not hide it, where it is revealed. The earthly wise and prudent seek their own answers and therefore are never in position for revelation. The babe is in a constant receiving state filled with curiosity and immersed absorption. Imagine the man now blind from birth and the many visually deprived conclusions and perceptions made over these many years. Imagine what it is like for him now being able to see. Imagine his wonder and awe and the newness of all the things he thought till now that he knew. On the other hand let's imagine him trying to explain what he visually sees to his blind friends of the color red or of sky or of mother. What the Pharisees are missing is that what should be evident to them instead is hidden because they believe not in God's Holy Son Jesus Christ, they have their own answers, blind as those answers are to the reality of all spiritual matters surrounding them. God does not have to make them to be blind because they are blind by their own self limiting definition. Worse yet, blindness itself does not have to mean sin, it could simply mean not having been presented occasion with Jesus as of yet, but sin can be added to one's blindness once having occasion with Jesus to reject and despise Jesus outright. Judgment in this respect is automatic and immediate. The judgment is like stepping out of the flying plane without a parachute after being told the absolute consequences; if you are wise and prudent enough not to need Jesus then you are wise and prudent enough not to see impact with the ground. The faith of our Lord is that if we become willing to see Him in His true light as if we were mere babes that He will be able to show us the things that are otherwise hidden, as if our eyes are opened for the very first time. Note that Jesus is asking this man of this in a spiritual sense after He has opened his eyes in a physical sense and he has seen for himself the darker side of those who he thought were his spiritual guides.
November26 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus *John:11:17-37 BELIEVETH THOU THIS - We have illustrated for us the different levels of belief. There is the belief of if He had been there, the brother would not have died. Is this true and how many other levels of belief does this branch off into? There is the belief whatsoever He ask, God will giveth it to thee. This is true, but how many other directions could this branch off into? There is the belief thou art the Christ which is come into this world. This is true, but how many other directions could this branch off into? There is the belief I know that he will rise again in the latter resurrection. This is true, but how many other directions does this lead? There is the belief could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind cause that this man have not of died. Again, all true, but how many other ways could these belief branch off? The question is how does this event have the Father best glorify the Son? Jesus says "he that believe in me shall never die. Believeth thou this"? He is speaking this about a dead believer. "Though he were dead yet shall he live" it is stated. Obviously, physical death is not death, eternal separation from God is. "I am the resurrection and the life". Think of how many different directions our faith can be taken with all the other human approaches, even scriptural approaches. Yet there is only one direction our faith can be drawn by this particular approach wherein the Father is glorifying the Son in this passage. Jesus is "The Life". Not even physical death can deny it. If it is too hard to believe it by what He says, believe Him because of His works; works such as this raising the dead to life. Four days dead and the body putrefies. Four days dead and the professional mourners come to wail at your doorsteps. Four days dead and you start coming up with all these beliefs and rationalizations that take you every which way, but toward the truth. Four days dead and the impossibility of it all becomes overwhelming. The faith of our Lord, He believes in a sweet spot, a spot where if hit full on that men's faith only have one direction to go. Choose you this day between life or death. The life that surpasses death's decay and corruption or else the death eternal that separates one's soul from God's. This is the glory of the Father upon the Son. Believeth Thou This?
December1 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:12:20-36 IF I BE LIFTED UP - There at least three objectives I see stated; that the Son of Man be lifted up, that the prince of this world be cast out, that men while they have light be drawn to follow Christ. Think of man's state as being compressed and flatted as if by a mechanical press where everything is at the same level. Look around and it all seems about the same including the person and works of Jesus. Slight variations, He (maybe another) might have been a better man, may have done some miracles and such, but near to our human level. Now think of Him as being lifted up off our compressed level by His resurrection and witnessed ascension. Our understanding is no longer as flat and perceptually relative, there is space between us and Him and we are drawn towards Him from out of our tight quarters. With that space we look back on His miracles, His healings, His parables, His teachings, confirming voices and testaments and we now see that God the Father was trying to show us something much bigger at the time than we could comprehend. There becomes an expanded middle ground so to say so that even the prince of this world cannot perceptually hide in the previous flatness. Satan is exposed and forced out into the open having not the same death hold on us as before; he then, when purpose unfolds, can be extracted. It all comes as a result of one man's death and resurrection; His uncommon lifting up. There have been those like Lazarus that have slept and been raise from sleep back into this earthly dimension. There is no one other than Jesus that has raised fully into His previous glorious state having conquered both sin and death, shown Himself tangibly to us glorified and ascended up through a parting of heaven and earth to the right hand throne of God His Father. Okay, so see how different that is, see how uncommon and not flattened that is, allow for what is expansive and drawing about that. "If any man serve me, let Him follow me" He says "where I am, there also my servant will be". Is Jesus in our flattened/compressed sphere or is He lifted far above it? There may be additional significance that there are Greeks in this audience with the Jews as well as they would more closely resemble us Gentiles today. For the moment they see the signs and hear the voices, but they as of yet do not know who the Son of Man is or what it means for the Son to be "lifted". The "Light" is amongst them also for this short preliminary time. Take notice of this time He tells them, remember what is said and done while I am here, it will help you to see how dark things are at my passion and death, how glorious and expansive things have become once I have raised and lifted up. The faith of our Lord is in the way things actually are that we cannot yet see and in the way they better need to be if we can just be made to see it. The first spiritual sight from our blindness we will ever see is Jesus Christ the Son of the Living Father God high and lifted up. These men are yet to see that, but then the act has not yet been physically performed. Today the act has been performed, are we willing now to see that? Are we willing to follow in the sense that He means for it?
December12 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:16:17-33 DO YE NOW BELIEVE? - The disciples are caught at two things, they have questions they are not asking and they say that they now understand when they really don't. Could these traits be universal among believers? Just how much do we really understand of what Jesus just said two thousand years after the fact? What about the second reprise of going to the Father is different/plainer than the first? Jesus declares that hereto we have asked of Him nothing and He will be gone away (days of sorrow?) and in the same breath exhorts them in another day (day of joy when I see you again, shew you plainly of the Father?) to ask anything of the Father in His name. This comes moments after discussing the importance of having the Holy Spirit indwelling and the Spirit's role in bringing the new life in Jesus into our daily life. What day today is this? For these men it is hours ahead of being scattered and left to their own. For us it is a time of their tribulation when we believe in His ascension and the indwelling of His Spirit, but the world is set against us/Him. It is a time that the Spirit uses for gestation. A day ahead of seeing Him again. Then there is a day when we see Him again, a day when the promise and gestation is completed. There are many questions that in that joyous day we will want to ask and will finally be able to. How was this? Why did that? Is this going to be? And the Father who is plainly shown will answer. These things He has presented to us ahead of time that in the midst of these things we might have cheer knowing that He has overcome the world. So what are we assuming to hear from this passage that is not there or we barely yet understand? The faith of our Lord is in our voluntary submission (even blind) to the times and processes He has laid before us, depending solely upon the Holy Spirit for guidance and teaching/revelation and comfort. It is a new life similar for us to the wind where we do not always know where we have come out of or to where it is leading us, but we know that no matter where it blows us it is by God's breath. This even if scattering for a moment or travailing for days and months. DO YE NOW BELIEVE?
December14 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:17:6-19 THEM WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN - I am overwhelmed this morning with the sense that I have long misinterpreted this prayer of Jesus. The consequences to my theology will have to be sorted out, but I have the feeling that this prayer is meant for the eleven men there directly (us only indirectly). There are more than eleven disciples within miles of Him tonight, they are not mentioned. There are many that have followed and even hosted Him these three+ years, they are not mentioned. There are many that will believe on Jesus because of these men, they are mentioned later on but not yet. The fact is that these eleven are the humans that He has invested everything into. They are certainly spiritually weak and frail at this point despite their blessed experiences and discipleship so far, but their meekness is exactly what He is looking for. He refers to them as the "given". He refers to us as "those that will believe because of them". I have a feeling the He refers to His other many devoted followers in the region as the nucleolus of "those" or us. What about Martha then? What about Mary and Lazarus and the blind man? What about Nicodemus and the others this night being shunned by the Sanhedrin? Evidence now suggests that there is a mission much bigger than our personal beliefs and sacrifices that our Lord needs these eleven hand selected men to proceed with. A mission or calling that the remainder of us are barely spectators/receivers of. Jesus begins by praying not for the world, but for these eleven men for they are "THINE"; He is glorified in "them". He prays that they be one, that they have His joy fulfilled in themselves, that they be sanctified through HIS truth/word, that they be kept from evil. He prays this because they are not of this world, they are hated, they are sent by Him into this world. Now these words could certainly be applied to us as we are often in similar (lesser) situations. The spiritual warfare that would surround these eleven men would be perhaps beyond compare. It is because of them however, their being given, their meekness and their being used of the Spirit to the extent that they were that we even have opportunity to follow their steps. We call these men today Apostles; the pillars of our faith. This is who this prayer is for directly. Men like this Apostle John. If not for them we would not know that this prayer was even made. The faith of our Lord barely needs to be said here. It is a tremendous thing to consider that all of this is bestowed upon them for our benefit and for those that will follow after us. The mission spreads out and takes us in and we pass it on to the next each in our smaller ways. Our thanks to "those which THOU hast given". Our praise to HIM who meant this to the continuation of our Lord's ministry after His heavenly glorification.
December26 @ @ rRandyP comments: mFaithOfJesus kjv@John:20:1-9 AS YET THEY KNEW NOT - It is interesting to see the state of things as Jesus has left them. Remember, these are the very people Jesus has left the future ministry with. They seem totally unprepared; do they not? First of all, Mary doesn't seem willing to trust what she saw and had been told along the way to Peter and John; she appears to withhold information that we know from the other gospels leaving it all to their own inquiries instead. Second John, one of the two speed racers, willing admits that as much as Jesus talked about it neither man yet knew the Old Testament scriptures relating to the necessary resurrection. We can interpret this a couple different ways, either the men were just coming up short (a blinding of human pride say) or the information was being externally withheld (a purposeful blinding of sorts by the Spirit or such). The first option seems most likely, the second most intriguing. It may be that the initial apostolic contemplation of resurrection to His glory must come at the time after the crushing reality of the loss and finality of His death as a human is most deeply absorbed, when the guilt and shame of our own roles in this have been fully tasted. It is like tasting the bitters before the sweet. Think of the many believers today who grab on to the resurrection gospel without first grasping the ripping pain of His sacrifice. Do they really know the one without knowing first the other? Think of the many believers today that grab on to the pain and sacrifice without then grasping the glorification through resurrection gospel. Both halves are equally important, but there seems a proper order intended especially for these particular disciples who have been called to be the Apostles. Certainly there is a blinding of pride or doubt or such that each of us inflict upon ourselves. Certainly there is a blindness of newness and unfamiliarity with things spiritual, the thoughts of God not being ours and such. Why wouldn't it also be certain that there is an order and process (time released revelation) God is employing to reveal these things to those chosen to testify to and continue the earthly work of Jesus. Add now that Jesus knew and left the keys to His kingdom to this; meaning that the things that we are witnessing from these men and women are crucial first steps, a sign of the gradual unveiling, the crack of dawn growing brighter. What they have learned before this is set aside for an awakening. What they have learned before will by the Spirit be reintroduced into their remembrance. Now however is the rustling ahead of a new birth. The faith of our Lord is that we will know not by our own understanding, but we will know by His revelation. These men and women will be the first to know. They will begin to know when the Spirit is soon received. Already though they are sensing the motions of the heavenly fluttering near and surrounding them.
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