Our paragraph topic is:
(The third prediction of the passion) Part 2.
Christ has taken his disciples aside and told them of his future. He is going up to Jerusalem where he will face death. He is going on a suicide mission because he knows that he is going to die as a result of his trip to Jerusalem. He clearly understands his mission. He knows what is at stake. He has given himself up to the outcome of his journey. He follows the will of his Father. And it is that will which he has accepted that will lead to his death.
Christ tells his disciples the details of how his death will happen. He knows and his disciples know that the powers that be are out to end his teachings and his popularity with the people. The rulers do not like what he is doing, they do not like his teachings, they do not like his criticism of how they control the people of Israel. And yet he proceeds to Jerusalem knowing that his life is in danger. He tells his disciples: "And the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the Scribes; and they will condemn him to death."
And they will condemn him to death. How many of us today would do the same? How many of us today would do something that we knew would lead to our death? Quite the contrary most of us would run from death. Most of us would do anything that would take us out of harms way and preserve the life that we have. This is only human nature. This is our natural instinct to protect ourselves, to keep us from harm, to preserve the life that we have. We are not the Messiah. We are not the chosen one. We are not the Christ. But we are Christ like.
Our father created us in his image and likeness. He gave us the same life spirit that he himself has. He took of himself and gave to us. We are spiritual and physical. We are flesh, body and spirit. Yet we do not recognize that part of ourselves that is spiritual, that part of us that is eternal, that part of ourselves that is real and everlasting. The spirit does not die. The body is dying everyday, decaying before our eyes. We all must face death. It is inevitable. It is necessary. It is a part of who we are, part physical, part spiritual. Why is it then that we treasure the physical more than we do the spiritual? Why is it that we do not embrace the spirit within us, acknowledging that there is more than just the physical?
Christ came that we would know the truth of who we are. He came that we would have an example. He came to teach us the truth of our Father, our creator. And he gave us a path to follow, a knowledge to believe, a light to help us in our walk in darkness. We should have no fear of death. We should embrace the transition of death for it is but a gateway that leads to our true home in heaven with our Father. Many await our coming. Those who have gone before us will rejoice at our coming. Happy is that day that we go home to the Father. Happy is that day that we meet our maker. Happy is that day that we see ourselves as we are seen in heaven. Happy is the day that we are embraced by the all fulfilling love of our Father. Christ went up to Jerusalem to face his death but he went up to Jerusalem to go beyond death and to go home to his Father. Come! Let us understand that Christ awaits our coming home that he may rejoice with us in heaven.
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
Our paragraph topic is:
(Parable of the laborers in the vineyard)
Part 19.
We have been talking about the laborers in the vineyard and how their minds and their hearts were changed when it came time for payment for the services rendered. Christ told this parable to his disciples in comparing this tale to the kingdom of heaven. He said that the kingdom of heaven is like a house-holder who went out to the market place seeking workers for his vineyard.
Christ was seeking workers here on earth to do the work for his father, the house-holder. The labor was needed here on earth to carry the message to the people. Christ would not be here and he needed someone to carryon his work to lead the people and to speak with them about the Father. He needed followers. But he wanted those followers to know what he was asking them to do. And he needed them to understand the reward that was being offered them. For once the agreement was made then outside influences would enter and seek to change the minds of the laborers just as it did in the parable. In the parable the question becomes: "Didst thou not agree with me for a denarius?"
Agree with me. Let us have an understanding. Let us come to know each other and then we will have an agreement. The laborers agreed to the compensation but later wanted to change the contract. They became angered, and bitter and disgruntled about what they had agreed to and this was the central issue. They saw that others got more for less work. They saw that others who came after them received the same amount as they for less work. They agreed to the amount from the beginning but later wanted more than what they had agreed.
Christ wants his disciples to understand that they needed to have an understanding. They needed to agree with him on what was needed, what had to be done. For the work was plentiful but the laborers were few. And then came the outside influences that would seek to change them, seek to turn them around, seek to change the agreement, change the understanding that they have. And by influencing the change in the understanding then the door is open to bring forth another mind different from the mind that made the agreement.
The agreement is a symbol of who we are in Christ. Know thyself. We are in him and not apart from him. He is with us and we are not alone. His love transforms and brings us to the knowledge of who we are. For we were created in the image and likeness of God our Father. And Christ is his only begotten son. And through the passion and the sacrifice of Christ our Lord and Savior we have been restored to life. Yet the life that we have is not known. The life we have is not seen. The life we have is not believed by many and that allows the influence of the outside to come in and seek to change that which is given to us.
Seek to know thyself. In that knowledge you will find the truth of who you are in Christ. We are more than the physical and yet it is the physical that binds us, that holds us, that limits us to not comprehend who we are. Death has been conquered. It does not hold us. It only frees us from the physical and transforms us to our true selves in Christ. Close the door to the outside. Open the door to the inside. And within what is within you will see the truth of who you are in Christ. For Christ came as a light to the world. And he left that you may become his light. Open your heart and see the light that is within you and Christ will send the Advocate to be with you forever.
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
Our paragraph topic is: (The rich young man speaks to Jesus) Part 10.
And now Christ tells the young man to do something that he has not heard before. He gives him a commandment that is the foundation of all the commandments. And Jesus said, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Love thy neighbor! Who was the neighbor of the young man? Who was he to love, as he loved himself? He had sought Christ because he knew that he was a man of truth. He believed him. He believed in the words he spoke. He had come a long way to find the truth, to find what he needed to do to obtain the kingdom. He wanted to make sure that he had the right information that he could follow. He did not steal. He did not kill anyone. He did not commit adultery. He sought not to bear false witness against anyone, least of all to be false to himself. And he honored his mother and father, for he was a dutiful son. And here he was seeking knowledge from Christ as to what else he should do to complete his journey into the kingdom.
Love thy neighbor as thyself. This was the last commandment that Christ gave the rich young man who sought to know what he must do. The rich young man loved himself but how was he to love others as himself? How was he to treat others as he treated himself? How was he to love those who hated him, those who sought to do harm to him? How would he love the poor, the less fortunate, the laborers, the sick, those imprisoned, those that were Gentile and not Jews? How was he to do this? This was a hard thing to think of doing since it meant seeing others in a different light.
Christ calls upon all who read or hear these words to love. He calls upon us to see others as though we were seeing ourselves. Despite the race, despite the creed, the religion, despite the crime, the wealth or the poverty, we are to see everyone as we see ourselves. This is the message that Christ spoke of so that we would all hear. These are the words that he left for every human being. But how can we know, how can we overcome, how can we practice love with all the evil, all the hatred, the envy, the jealousy, all the other barriers that prevents us from doing so?
The barriers in the world are there to stop us from being who we are. The barriers in the world are there to blind us from seeing who we are. The barriers in the world are there to prevent us from loving one another as we should. For we are all children of the Father. We are created in his image and likeness. We are spiritual and not physical. And it is that spiritual being that we are, inside, that we should see. It is that likeness within that we should know. It is that love from above that we should feel within, that will allow us to be who we are in ourselves and in others.
Christ came that we would know ourselves. He demonstrated his passion for mankind that we would see the love that the Father has for us. He gave his life that we would have new life, in him, for eternity. And he loves with the love of the Father for each and every one of us, no matter what the barriers. For we are not black, or white, or Hispanic, or Jews, or criminals, or the poor, or democrat or republican or any other barrier that is placed upon us. But we are spiritual beings created in the likeness of God our Father. And in this likeness we are the light of the world.
Within the physical, through the darkness, inside the spiritual eye, lies the truth of who we are. The world seeks to deny our nature. The evil wants to blind our sight. And the darkness wants to cover the light of Christ that is within us. Yet each and everyone of us has that same light, that same nature, that same likeness; if we could only see it. For within, lies the joy, the happiness, and the peace that comes with the knowledge and the wisdom of life in Christ. And the knowledge and wisdom of Christ opens our minds, our eyes, and our hearts to the true vision to see our neighbors as we truly see ourselves. And the vision of ourselves and others will overwhelm us with the love that is from Christ.
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
Our paragraph topic is:
(Continence preferred to marriage) Part 1.
Christ raised the question of adultery and immorality to his disciples and they were puzzled. They did not understand this teaching. According to their backgrounds and their teachings from the community, a man was given to a woman and a woman given to a man. They were bound together by law. And the law had allowed for separation, the law had allowed for putting away of a wife or husband. But Christ told them that this is not the case from the Father.
For the Father created them male and female that they would cleave to one another. The Father created them that they would leave their fathers and mothers and bind with one another, male and female. He did not intend that they would separate. He did not intend that they would divorce. Christ told his disciples that divorce for any cause and marriage to another is adultery. He told them that the only way that a divorce could take place is through the
immorality of one of the partners. And also to marry one who has been put away is committing adultery. They found this unbelievable. They questioned that if this is the case then why should one even marry. His disciples said to him, "If the case of a man with his wife is so, it is not expedient
to marry."
They saw this teaching as extreme. They saw this as harsh. They did not understand what they were to do if this is the teaching, the commandment, the rule by which they were to live. Only through immorality is one able to put away his wife or husband. Otherwise they are bound together as one, not to separate or not to divorce. One has to ask why then should one marry? One has to ask why then: "Why then should one fall in love?" One has to ask why then: "Why should one consider bonding for life, if there is no opening for separation, no relief for mistakes, no escape from the commitment of marriage?"
Why is it that we are compelled to bond, compelled to desire the company of that other person, compelled to want to spend our every waking hour with the person that makes us complete in some way? We come together with a desire to love. We are drawn to one another out of a physical and emotional passion. We have a need to belong, a need to not be alone in the world. And marriage gives us that bonding opportunity which says that I am committing myself to this one person and no other. Yet we are different people. We are different personalities, with different desires, different beliefs, different habits, mannerisms, quirks, patterns, and every sort of unique behavior that distinguishes us from everyone else.
We have been given that what is unique about ourselves is withheld and not revealed. For one does not truly know another until one has lived with another. It is only through the intimate living experience that one comes to know another person. And it is through that same living experience that the eyes are open to all that is the other person we have chosen to spend our lives with. So in that transition from the point where we have a complete desire to spend every waking hour with our partners, to that point where we have a complete understanding of our partners, we obtain a conscientious awareness of the truth of our relationship. And one day we wake up and see the person next to us as they truly are. It is in that day that we come to understand the true meaning of the commitment we have made.
But is it the commitment we have made to ourselves or the commitment we have made to our Father. For he made us this way. He made us to come together. He made us that we would cleave to one another, becoming one flesh. And he made us that we would not be the perfect relationship. Can we find perfection in that imperfect relationship? Can we find commitment in that imperfect relationship? Can we find the true meaning of love in that imperfect relationship? The world does not want us to understand commitment, to understand perfection, to understand love. The world tells us that all is lost and we should abandon that relationship. The world tells us that we are hurt and we should strike back. The world tells us that we cannot stay together, that we should seek another partner, that we should separate. The world gives us all manner of external relationships that will solve our commitment problems. And it is the world outside that will tell us what we are on the inside. It is the world that seeks to define us as physical and not spiritual beings.
If we are committed to the cause, we can succeed. If we are bound by His love, we can know love. If we are understanding of His truths, we can know the truth of who we are. If we seek to know him in His goodness and His mercy then we can come to know true commitment. If we open our hearts and understand the truth of who we are, both male and female, our commitment can become a blessing and not a burden. For through Him and with Him and in Him we become one with Him. And He, who is one with the Father, becomes one with us. It is through that oneness that we come to know the cause, the purpose and the mission of our physical lives here on earth. Christ came that we: past, present, and future, would have life. And it is our cause, in the present, that brings forth the life of the future that is to come. Let us then, come to know our purpose, our true spiritual passion, and our cause that we may continue to be one with Him who created us.
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
Our paragraph topic is: (The question of divorce) Part 9.
Christ told his disciples that they should not commit adultery. He told them that anyone who puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery. Moses allowed the Jews to give a written notice in order to divorce their wives or husbands. Accordingly, anyone could give any reason, in written notice, and divorce their spouses. Anyone could give any excuse to separate from their spouses so that they could marry another.
Christ told his disciples that this is not the case. God created them male and female for a purpose. He created them that they should be together and not to separate. This how he created them. And Christ told them that the only reason for separation, the only reason for a divorce is, for immorality. So if one decides to remarry to one who has been put away by written notice except for immorality, then one commits adultery. And he told them: "And he who marries a woman who has been put away commits adultery."
God created them male and female that they would bond together for a purpose. He created them in his image and likeness. What is it about this commandment that marks us? What is it about this rule that prohibits us, that binds us, that creates a boundary that we must not cross and why? Two people, male and female, come together for a reason, for a purpose, for love, for happiness. For it is in the moment of commitment that we are most happy to be joined together. So this commitment to stay together, has meaning, has purpose, has happiness? Why is it that we find reasons to separate when there was such a cause to come together?
We live in a society that brings male and female together. We grow up, become adults, set out into the world to secure a place for ourselves, and then we have strong physical drives to mate, to bond, to become one. We are driven physically, both male and female. We are compelled, both male and female. Our physical makeup, both male and female, drives us to come together. And it is that internal drive, that physical compulsion, that hides, that overshadows, the spiritual being that we are. For when we are fully engulfed in the physical, when we are fully experiencing the physical nature of bonding, we are consumed in the physical pleasure of our physical beings, like a drug that takes us to a height of pleasure that we have never known. And it is that full experience of the physical that compels us to want more physical, to want more pleasure, to want more passion. And it is that physical passion that turns us away from the spiritual beings that we are.
We are spiritual beings experiencing the physical realm through our physical bodies. We live in the physical and we die in the physical and transition to the spiritual. We leave the physical behind and become the spiritual beings that we are, transforming into butterflies from our cocoons. Yet the physical holds us. The physical binds us. The physical wants to keep us, even though we are spiritual. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not transgress this rule least you commit to the physical and surrender the spirit. For through this transgression one becomes engulfed in the physical. Through this transgression one crosses the line into passion, to live in the physical experience of bonding. Through this transgression one opens the door to the physical experience of the world and closes the door to the spirit, putting it in the closet away from the truth of the knowledge of who you are.
We are created in his image and likeness. But evil wants us to deny our spirit and accept our physical as reality. We are created by God our Father who wants to love us and protect us. But evil wants us to deny him. He is a loving God. He is a merciful God. He is a forgiving God and Father. Our hearts must be open to his love, to his mercy, to his forgiveness. Come! Find the truth of who you are in Christ. He forgives those who have transgressed. He is merciful to those who seek repentance. He is loving to those who seek his love. He is joyous to those who rejoice in his words. And he is bountiful to those who know him and seek to do his will here on earth. Seek the truth of who you are and you will know the light of the Holy Spirit that will be your guide. Open the door to your heart and he will come and reside with you all the days of your life.
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
