The question surrounding the divinity of Yeshua (Jesus) has been with us for some time. Something like 2000 years. Theological disciplines have researched and categorized verses throughout the Gospel accounts and the rest of the New Testament. The Old Testament has been dissected as well, sometimes giving us valuable insight and other times giving us fanciful interpretations that would never have been seen by the author or the original readers. Theologians already know what they believe so there must be abundant evidence there to support their view. In the process we find creative twisting of passages to support preconceived ideas. Many also ignore the cultural and historic context as well as the intent of the original author and how their original audience would have understood the text. We do so at our peril, for there are times we distort the message and other times we miss valuable truth.
I attended a Christian Liberal Arts College to study Psychology and Counseling. I was also required to take basic Bible classes which grew into a minor in theology. In the process I took a class called Intro to New Testament and then one called Christology. Being a fairly new follower of Messiah the classes were both challenging and somewhat intriguing. They were also pretty narrow in their traditions. I learned all the standard verses about the deity of Christ, (John 1:1, John 10:30, and John 20:28, Matt. 17, and Matt. 16:16). I was also told that there were four Gospel accounts to give four pictures of Jesus. Mathew as king, Mark as servant, Luke as man, and John as divine. It is a nice Western way to categorize and compartmentalize truth while somewhat ignoring the context and message contained therein.
I believe that Yeshua, our Messiah was divine. I believe that the scriptures cited above help support that truth. But in my study of the Sabbath I discovered that we may have turned the messages of the Gospels a bit upside down. To begin, it seems that it would be good to see how Yeshua responded when asked the question if He was the Son of God, if He was divine. Matthew 26:64, Mark 14:62 and Luke 22:69 record that Messiah answered, as He often did, by quoting Scripture. The passage He quotes is a bit surprising. We miss the impact if we do not know the discussion among the rabbis of the time. Yeshua goes to Daniel 7.
Daniel Boyarin documents the ongoing discussion among the rabbis that surrounds the time when Yeshua was engaged in His ministry. According to Boyarin many rabbis raised provocative questions concerning Daniel 7:13-14. The text reads, "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him
dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and
languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom which shall not be destroyed." These rabbis concluded that the passage was in reference to Messiah, and most would agree. Yet there were many who saw that this everlasting authority must mean that Messiah was somehow divine. No mere man would be so anointed by Yahweh to to hold this eternal power and position. The Priests and the religious rulers questioning Yeshua saw His reference as the "Son of Man" to be a claim to divinity not just as Messiah. That is why there is the follow-up question "Are you the Son of God?" Yeshua's confirmation leads to the tearing of their garments and cry of "blasphemy!" Yeshua claims that Daniel 7:13-14 refers to Him. He is the One who will come in the clouds and be given an eternal kingdom and authority by God Himself. He will rule over the kingdom of God forever. Thus He is divine.
There are rabbinic records confirming Boyarin's research. Through this historic lens we learn a number of things. First, Yeshua was proclaiming and affirming His deity throughout His ministry, not just in John. It also explains the strong reaction of the Pharisees to Yeshua recorded in Mark 2. The first comes with the healing of the paralytic. Yeshua tells the man his sins are forgiven, the Pharisees claim Yeshua is guilty of blasphemy for only God can forgive sins. Yeshua responds, "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10). Yeshua claims that, as the Son of Man, He has authority to forgive sin. He is claiming to be God, claiming to be divine.
Mark's next event concerns the Sabbath as Yeshua's followers, in compliance with Deut. 23:25 ("When you come into your
neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but
you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain"), are plucking heads of grain and eating them. The Pharisees claim that they are violating Sabbath regulations concerning work. Yeshua responds that "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath”(Mark 2:27-28). The Son of Man has authority to declare what the Sabbath is, for He is Lord, master, ruler over the Sabbath. Only God has this authority. Yeshua is claiming divine authority concerning the Sabbath. A commandment given to Moses by Yahweh, Himself. Yeshua is claiming the same authority as God. So it seems that Yeshua, Messiah claims that He is divine throughout Matthew, Mark and Luke. There is much more evidence that Yeshua, Jesus, claimed that He was divine than we might have imagined. Each time He declares or describes Himself as the Son of Man He was proclaiming His divinity. And the religious leaders understood His claim.
The "Son of Man" title that Yeshua uses throughout His ministry would have been in agreement with the arguments of the rabbis, drawn from Daniel 7. It would have been a constant jab at the Pharisees, Priests, Sadducees, and other rabbis who disagreed with this understanding of Daniel 7. If we are not aware of the theological controversy percolating among the Jewish scholars in the time of Yeshua's earthly ministry we miss both His claim and the reason for the growing irritation of the Jewish religious leaders. Yeshua, this nobody rabbi from Nazareth, was doing miracles, teaching to the poor and the masses. He was claiming divine power and authority. He was claiming to be Daniel's divine Messiah who will rule over the kingdom of God forever and ever. Maybe we need to take a closer look at the Gospel records and see the "Son of Man" in a different light? Divinity on display on almost every page.
Monday, October 19, 2015
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Do We Really Want Our Daily Bread?
"Give us this day our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11).
A part of a prayer that Messiah taught when His disciples asked Him how to pray. Most of us do not want daily bread. We much prefer weekly bread or twelve baskets of left overs. Daily bread is an uneasy, even scary existence. We want to know that we have enough to last for a while. Many tell us it is best to have a year's worth of income and even food set aside so that we can live between jobs or through some earthly catastrophe. I am old enough to remember my dad's plans for a bomb shelter in case the Russians dropped "the big one". We never actually built one, but our neighbor did. A hole to crawl into and survive for a year until the radiation subsided. It is true that the Word of God tells us to be prepared. Luke 14:28-32 reminds us to count the cost, to not begin building if we cannot finish the project or for a king to negotiate peace when he is vastly outnumbered. We are told to be good stewards and to plan. Yet, that is not to be the motivation for our lives. Looking forward to having enough money to stop working and live a life of ease and a bit of self indulgence is hard to find in Scripture. You will not find a positive example of anyone who banks his resources so he can live a life of ease. Actually the man with the big barns tells us otherwise (see Luke 12: 15-21).
It is indeed a good thing to plan, to "count the cost". However, God seems to be more concerned with us living in the world of "daily bread". Messiah reminds us , "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:34). We are to live for each day. It is not that we do not plan, but that our plans for the future should not cloud the reality of living for today. Jeremiah says, God's mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). God does not give us mercies to store or hoard for times when they are needed; we get a fresh supply every morning, because we need His mercy all the time. We can count upon God's mercies for they will never fail, they will never be in short supply for those who love Him. Our culture drives us to look toward the future rather than living for today. So we sacrifice today to take the promotion, to earn more money, to have more security in the future, at the cost of today. Then we live in the big house all alone. The time we sacrificed with those who needed us has reaped its reward. They have grown up, grown apart and moved away. We give up our daily bread for bigger barns only to find the cost was more than we intended.
The children of God had not listened. They had given into fear and not trusted God to take them into the promised land. A generation would die because they could not trust God in the moment of decision. The giants won without a battle. Now a new generation must learn to trust so when their moment came they would not fail, they would be able to trust the Lord their God for great things. So God devised a plan to teach them. He called it "manna". It was God's mercy, new every morning. It was their "daily bread". It was a lesson to teach them of their dependence upon the Lord day by day. They had to learn to live in the moment as they prepared for the future. Each day in the wilderness was a reminder that life was more than collecting possessions. No, life was to be lived day by day.
Our lives are not really lost in big pieces but moment by moment. I have yet to meet anyone at the end of their years who wished he had spent more time away from his children and his wife to pursue his career rather than the little league game or ballet recital. Or anyone who regretted having not vacuumed or dusted or chased after job titles and community events rather than reading "One Fish Two Fish" one more time. And now, as the nest grows empty, we realize that, in our quest for tomorrow we offered up today on the altar of our own desires. We try to somehow hoard our daily bread, to save today's supply for another day. We find, as the Israelites did, that what we thought we saved has turned rotten and reeks of the decay of lost opportunities and lost relationships. We need to learn the lesson of daily bread.
In evangelical circles we look forward to "heaven", even though that is not our eternal destination. We plan for retirement and wait for God to make things better and new. We cannot wait for our new bodies, free from the aches and pains from passing years. We look forward to the time when God will set things right and justice will prevail. We endure today with a hope for tomorrow. We long for the bread of the future and miss our daily bread. Yeshua said He was the Bread of heaven. He is my daily supply for life on this planet here and now. He provides my daily need for mercy and for life. He provides for my future as well, but not at the expense of the moment. He wants me to learn the lesson He taught His people in the wilderness. "You have to depend on Me every day." "I will provide what you need for the moment." "You must walk in dependence." "You may need to sacrifice what you thought was your future to live for today." " Relationship with Me and the ones I have called you to love is your daily bread." "Your daily responsibility must begin with being nourished with the Bread from heaven to get you through just one more day." However, to be honest, I often focus on tomorrow's needed bread. I need to learn to plan for a future but live in the moment, for that is where my Messiah is.
I write this while enjoying some time with my family on the outer beaches of North Carolina. It has been a yearly place of retreat and refreshment. It holds twenty-three years of memories from tiny footprints in the sand to quiet morning walks on the beach with my children as they moved toward adulthood. They are treasured times that are harder to come by. I have the joy of my eldest and my youngest joining me here. I had hoped my "middlest" child could come as well. She could not get time off from work. I suggested that she could tell them that she had received a call from her parents saying that they did not know how much longer her father would live and they would likely give her the time off. It is true. Even though I am active, healthy, riding my bike about ten miles a day and exercising. Oh, and all those numbers my doctor watches are fine so I am told I am in great health "for my age". Even so, life is uncertain. I do not know how much longer I will live. And neither do you. (I should note that my daughter is in NY at work. We did not carry out the ruse. Nor am I suggesting this as a means for you to get time away from your responsibilities.) All I need is my "daily bread". That is what I am told to pray for. That comes with promised daily mercy and the privilege of not only enjoying the "Bread from Heaven" in the morning but moment by moment throughout my day.
Daily bread is really a moment by moment life in dependence upon the Giver of life. Yes, it is wise to plan for the future, but never at the expense of the present. Never at the expense of the moment. "Give us this day our daily bread". Are we really satisfied with our Daily Bread? Is a life of dependence really our desire? Is the Bread from Heaven enough for today or are you trying to store up manna for the future while you sacrifice today? Ask the Israelites how well that worked and get back to me.
A part of a prayer that Messiah taught when His disciples asked Him how to pray. Most of us do not want daily bread. We much prefer weekly bread or twelve baskets of left overs. Daily bread is an uneasy, even scary existence. We want to know that we have enough to last for a while. Many tell us it is best to have a year's worth of income and even food set aside so that we can live between jobs or through some earthly catastrophe. I am old enough to remember my dad's plans for a bomb shelter in case the Russians dropped "the big one". We never actually built one, but our neighbor did. A hole to crawl into and survive for a year until the radiation subsided. It is true that the Word of God tells us to be prepared. Luke 14:28-32 reminds us to count the cost, to not begin building if we cannot finish the project or for a king to negotiate peace when he is vastly outnumbered. We are told to be good stewards and to plan. Yet, that is not to be the motivation for our lives. Looking forward to having enough money to stop working and live a life of ease and a bit of self indulgence is hard to find in Scripture. You will not find a positive example of anyone who banks his resources so he can live a life of ease. Actually the man with the big barns tells us otherwise (see Luke 12: 15-21).
It is indeed a good thing to plan, to "count the cost". However, God seems to be more concerned with us living in the world of "daily bread". Messiah reminds us , "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:34). We are to live for each day. It is not that we do not plan, but that our plans for the future should not cloud the reality of living for today. Jeremiah says, God's mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). God does not give us mercies to store or hoard for times when they are needed; we get a fresh supply every morning, because we need His mercy all the time. We can count upon God's mercies for they will never fail, they will never be in short supply for those who love Him. Our culture drives us to look toward the future rather than living for today. So we sacrifice today to take the promotion, to earn more money, to have more security in the future, at the cost of today. Then we live in the big house all alone. The time we sacrificed with those who needed us has reaped its reward. They have grown up, grown apart and moved away. We give up our daily bread for bigger barns only to find the cost was more than we intended.
The children of God had not listened. They had given into fear and not trusted God to take them into the promised land. A generation would die because they could not trust God in the moment of decision. The giants won without a battle. Now a new generation must learn to trust so when their moment came they would not fail, they would be able to trust the Lord their God for great things. So God devised a plan to teach them. He called it "manna". It was God's mercy, new every morning. It was their "daily bread". It was a lesson to teach them of their dependence upon the Lord day by day. They had to learn to live in the moment as they prepared for the future. Each day in the wilderness was a reminder that life was more than collecting possessions. No, life was to be lived day by day.
Our lives are not really lost in big pieces but moment by moment. I have yet to meet anyone at the end of their years who wished he had spent more time away from his children and his wife to pursue his career rather than the little league game or ballet recital. Or anyone who regretted having not vacuumed or dusted or chased after job titles and community events rather than reading "One Fish Two Fish" one more time. And now, as the nest grows empty, we realize that, in our quest for tomorrow we offered up today on the altar of our own desires. We try to somehow hoard our daily bread, to save today's supply for another day. We find, as the Israelites did, that what we thought we saved has turned rotten and reeks of the decay of lost opportunities and lost relationships. We need to learn the lesson of daily bread.
In evangelical circles we look forward to "heaven", even though that is not our eternal destination. We plan for retirement and wait for God to make things better and new. We cannot wait for our new bodies, free from the aches and pains from passing years. We look forward to the time when God will set things right and justice will prevail. We endure today with a hope for tomorrow. We long for the bread of the future and miss our daily bread. Yeshua said He was the Bread of heaven. He is my daily supply for life on this planet here and now. He provides my daily need for mercy and for life. He provides for my future as well, but not at the expense of the moment. He wants me to learn the lesson He taught His people in the wilderness. "You have to depend on Me every day." "I will provide what you need for the moment." "You must walk in dependence." "You may need to sacrifice what you thought was your future to live for today." " Relationship with Me and the ones I have called you to love is your daily bread." "Your daily responsibility must begin with being nourished with the Bread from heaven to get you through just one more day." However, to be honest, I often focus on tomorrow's needed bread. I need to learn to plan for a future but live in the moment, for that is where my Messiah is.
I write this while enjoying some time with my family on the outer beaches of North Carolina. It has been a yearly place of retreat and refreshment. It holds twenty-three years of memories from tiny footprints in the sand to quiet morning walks on the beach with my children as they moved toward adulthood. They are treasured times that are harder to come by. I have the joy of my eldest and my youngest joining me here. I had hoped my "middlest" child could come as well. She could not get time off from work. I suggested that she could tell them that she had received a call from her parents saying that they did not know how much longer her father would live and they would likely give her the time off. It is true. Even though I am active, healthy, riding my bike about ten miles a day and exercising. Oh, and all those numbers my doctor watches are fine so I am told I am in great health "for my age". Even so, life is uncertain. I do not know how much longer I will live. And neither do you. (I should note that my daughter is in NY at work. We did not carry out the ruse. Nor am I suggesting this as a means for you to get time away from your responsibilities.) All I need is my "daily bread". That is what I am told to pray for. That comes with promised daily mercy and the privilege of not only enjoying the "Bread from Heaven" in the morning but moment by moment throughout my day.
Daily bread is really a moment by moment life in dependence upon the Giver of life. Yes, it is wise to plan for the future, but never at the expense of the present. Never at the expense of the moment. "Give us this day our daily bread". Are we really satisfied with our Daily Bread? Is a life of dependence really our desire? Is the Bread from Heaven enough for today or are you trying to store up manna for the future while you sacrifice today? Ask the Israelites how well that worked and get back to me.
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