Holy Week; Park VIII: Many are called, Few are chosen

Yeshua again used parables in speaking to them: " The Kingdom of Heaven  is like a king who prepared a wedding feats for his son, but when he sent his slaves to summon the invited guests fo the wedding, the refused to come. So he sent some more slaves, instructing them to tell the guests, 'Look, I've prepared my banquet, I've slaughtered my bulls and my fattened cattle, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding!' But they weren't interested and went off, one to his farm, another to his business; and the rest grabbed his slave,s mistreated them and killed them. The king was furious and sent his solders, who killed those murderers and burned down their city.

"Then he said to his slaves, 'Well, the wedding feats is ready, but the ones who were invited didn't deserve it. So go out to the street corners and invite to the banquet as many as you can find.' The slaves went out into the streets, gathered all the people the could find, the bad along with the good; and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Now when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who wasn't dressed for a wedding; so he asked him, 'Fried, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him ahnd and foot, and throw him outside in the dark!' In that place people will wail and grind their teeth, for many are invited, but few are chosen. 

 

Yeshua has been making strong points about the hypocrisy of the cohanim, but now he gradually begins to turn it a different direction. He is beginning to show that these were the people who were given the message and understood the "invitation" but missed it. The servants were sent (again referring to Yochanan) but they rejected the servants. They even killed the servants! Once again, royal wrath is inevitable.

Here again we see the people for who the message was originally intended lose their place. The invitation goes out to everyone, anyone who can see, hear and know about the celebration. The feast is filled with all kinds of people, the bad and the good. 

This could end the parable, and fit with the theme of all the previous parables, but Yeshua makes a new and very interesting point by continuing. It is more than just showing up that makes the attendees worthy of the celebration. The man, found among the new attendees, is underdressed, he is still clothed in what he wore outside. The king, who offered him entrance, expected him to forsake the appearance he had in the outside world, and so not hinder the glory of the feast.

This is another kind of rejection of the king. Where the initial invited guests reject him outright, the man who came with the crowd expected to get in as he was, with no change. This is another look at repentance, though from a different angle. perviously we have seen the cohanim portrayed as the unrepentant ones in the stories, and they are here as well, but not directly. Their unrepentant is one of simply not wanting to repent at all. The Second man comes in, wants to join in the east but is unwilling to forsake everything that made him an outsider.

This is a good picture of heaven. More specifically this is a picture of who will be in heaven, and on what terms. Heaven is the King's celebration. It's his party. He invited the people of Israel, and they rejected him. For their rejection, he scattered them, and we are seeing their return now, but the picture is still pretty clear. Those invited after are the peoples of the world, the church. They hear the message and show up, and in order to get in, the King offers them a new look, one worthy of the glory of the party.

It may seem unfair to us when G-d send's people to hell. Bear in mind that after death, its either heaven or hell, there are no alternatives. THis parable shows us that Heaven is G-ds party. Perhaps exclusions on our terms are unfair, but heaven is not for us to define. If we want to get in, we can't take our dirty selves with is, it would only make the party dirty. G-d ask that we be clean and spotless before we enter, and he has every right to, because the party is His. But praise his name, for he has provided for us a way to be clean. Let's get ready for the party, and never be dirty again.

Holy Week; Part VII: "The very rock the builders rejected will become the cornerstone!"

Tehillim 118:22 (Psalms 118:22) The very rock the builders rejected has become the cornerstone! This has come from Adonai and in our eyes it is amazing.
"Now listen to another parable. There was a farmer who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winpress, and built a tower; then he rentes it to tenants ants left. When harvest time came, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the crop. But the tenants siezed  his servants -this one they beat up, that one they killed, another they stoned. So he sent some other servants, more than the first group, and they did the same to them. Finally he sent them his son, saying, 'My son they will respect.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance!' So they grapped him, threw him our of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
They answered him, "He will viciously destory those vicious men and rent out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop when its due."
Yeshua said to them, "Haven't you ever read in the Tanakh
'The very rock which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone! This has come from Adonai, and in our eyes it is amazing'?
Therefore i tell you that the Kingdom of G-d will be taken away from you and given tot eh kind of people that will produce fruit!"
As the head cohanim and the P'rushim listened tot eh stories, they saw that he was speaking about them. But when they sent about to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds; because the crowds considered him a prophet.
Yeshua continues his assault on the hypocrisy of the cohanim and religious leaders. He delivered two harsh blows in the previous two parts. He called them out on their focus, and then let them know that they are worse off spiritually that tax collectors and prostitutes. A terrible sinner, who for years said every other thing ont he planed except G-ds way, and then reached a point at which they said "I'm done living my life this way, may i suffer the consequences of changing everything", that person is better off than someone raised in a church.
In this second story, we see another reference back to the original question Yeshua posed. Yochanan. Remember the counter-question Yeshua posed about Yochanan's baptism authority. In that question he borough out that the cohanim refused to believe Yochanan. We see that subtly mirrored here in the plight of the servants the landowner sends. Sent as a commector, then as a warning, and in the end, killed. This whole parable is ripe with subtle and not so subtle analogies of Yeshua and Yochanan.
But there is a deepr point to it all. Think of the vineyard as the ream of religion and spirituality itself. These tenants, not merely idiots brought off of the streets, are those who would learn how to used and produce from a winepress. The fact that the landowner expects a crop backs up the idea that these tenants were more than simply living on the land. They worked and developed and struggled over it. With this in mind, look again at their reaction to the servants coming. They had worked the land, they knew it, and they were the ones responsible for it.
Following the analogy to the realm of religion and spirituality, these "tenants" are people who become part of the christian religion. They live it, they breath it, it becomes their identity. In the case of the cohanim this is particularly true. It also makes their response almost reasonable. These "servants", like Yochanan, and eventually Yeshua, came to challenge their place and collect on the righteousness due. The cohanim live for religion, and so to them newcomers pressing them this way was intolerable. It's little wonder why they kill the son, who is trying to take control of the vineyard away from them.
What is ironic as Yeshua finishes the story is how the cohanim actually respond. When asked what the landowner will do, they reply with a noticeable passion. It's almost as though they are trying to display their righteousness by condemning the wrongdoers of the story as harshly as possible, without realizing that they condemn themselves.
The curse of this story is doubled by this response of the cohanim. Yeshua, displaying a brilliant knowledge of old testament hermeneutics, brings out Psalm 118:22 to drive home the point of their rejection of the servants, and in the end the Son. The cohanim, masters of religion, called by G-d to serve as leaders and to build up the chosen people rejected the truth sent to them and for their rejection, for their lack of fruit, will be destroyed and replaced. Remember that even they agreed that the "vicious men" should be punished violently. The irony of that is sad, as though they understood their own downfall but were unable to comprehend it.
Where are we, church. How is our fruit? Notice that the fruit, combined with the message of the last parable, must come from repentance. See, the stagnancy of the fruit of the cohanim comes from their self righteousness. They think they are doing it right, that they are righteous, and thus they are unwilling to accept the challenges of Yeshua. Good fruit, as H'Meshiah is making clear, comes from a heart that sees nothing but evil inside of itself and strives to be cleansed. A person who thinks they are good and likes that good, can do no good; but a person who sees they are evil and loathes that evil can do nothing but turn away from evil. The only thing in the world to turn to when running from the evil inside is the Savior, Yeshua, son of David.

Holy Week; Part VI: "Which of the two did what his father wanted?"

"But give me your opinion: a man had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.' He answered, 'I dont want to'; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to his other son and said the same thing. This one answered "i will, sir'; but he didn't go. Which of the two did what his father wanted?" 
"The first," they replied.
"Thats right!" Yeshua said to them. "I tell you that the tax-collectors and prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of G-d ahead of you! For Yochanan came to you showing the path of righteousness, and you wouldn't trust him. The tax collectors and prostitutes trusted him; but you, even after you saw this, didn't change your minds later and trust him.

We remember that Yeshua has just finished challenging the Cohanim about their hypocrisy. He just pointed out to them and to everyone that they were focusing on the wrong things, on their own image, rather than transforming others and being transformed by the word. Instead of going into an issue of authority, Yeshua looks deeper into a real problem the cohanim are facing.
The parable was a common way for Yeshua to teach, particularly when he was facing a tough crowd. He draws listeners into a story, and they become interested in how things play out. The out of new where comes a hard hitting point, and the point is usually uncomfortable for the listeners because if convicts. Yeshua does this here, either to make a point to the cohanim that they missed, or to reinforce the message he just gave them
The basic theme Yehsua has been using up till now continues through this parable, and the two that follow. That theme is that G-d rejects the hypocrites who worship religion, and asks for true transforming repentance. This is one of the first images we have of the full gospel story.
Obviously the two sons in the parable represent the sinner and the hypocrite. The first son, as Yeshua explains, represents the sinner. This person is the christian. They are asked to do something by the Father, and don't want to. What makes them important, is that, like the believer, they see that they should be doing something different, i.e. they should be doing the will of the father. They are the ones who repent and turn away from their past desicions.
The second son is the religious church goer. They responded to the call of the father, but they never follow thru on it. Ironically, this is the person who is unrepentant. They say, "Yes, I am following G-d, but make no effort to change their life, to walk away from the way they had been living.
The two sons start in the same place. Though the first son rejects his father at the start (as we all have) he turns around. The second son accepts the fathers instructions, but never turns around. The first son is saved; second son is a damned hypocrite, litterally.
It is not enough to claim salvation and to claim the blood of Yeshua. If that blood is really claimed, if that message is really heard, there must be repentance. To believe yourself to be saved, and never repent from ALL sin, makes you the damned first son.

Holy Week; Part V: From Heave or from a human source?

He went into the Temple area; and as he was teaching, the head cohanim and the elders of the people approached him and demanded, "What s'mikhah do you have that authorizes you to do these things? And who have you this s'mikhah?" Yeshua answered, "I too will ask you a question. If you answer it, then I will tell you by what s'mikhah I do these things. The immersion of Yochanan -where did it come from? From Heaven or from a human source?"  They discussed it among themselves: "If we say 'From Heaven', he will say, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' But if we say, 'From a human source,' we are afraid of the people, for they all regard Yochanan as a prophet." So they answered Yeshua, "We don't know." And he replied, "Then I won't tell you by what s'mikhah I do these things."
It is Yeshuas second day in Yerushalayim. So far he has made a practice of challenging hypocrisy. Each instance we have seen, he challenges an established structure, striking for the heart to reveal that the religious practices are dead inside. Here we see the Cohanim challenging Yeshua, and he turns it around on them.
The Cohanim were the ultimate authority on religion, worship and practice in that day. The lived for the scriptures. Yet it is these men who Yeshua makes a point of challenging; he shows their hypocrisy to all. He makes them angry. These people use religious expirience as a way to define themselves and prop themselves up. When Yeshua challenges their sense of religious superiority, he challenges their very identity. They worshiped worship, and turned the old testament studies into a death trap. No one wants to be a hypocrite, its just what they were set up for by the way the focused, and what they loved.
The teachers and priests challenge Yeshua on his authority to teach the people. They were teachers themselves, and wanted to make sure Yeshua followed "party lines". It Yeshua was going to be doing the same job they were, they wanted to make sure his credentials were up to par. Even more so, they wanted to make everyone who would have been watching and listening aware that Yeshua was not as formally educated as they were.
Yeshua poses his challengers a question. It was not a trick question. It was a pointed question that was designed to bring about a result. The content of the questions is almost irrelevant, but the results of the question are immensely poignant. The question is designed to make a display of hypocrisy.
Yeshua had been challenging people his entire life. Pushing them, and saying things that went against the grain of what they knew. He taught things that reversed the logic of man's teaching. And he taught it regardless of how me might be received. As the cohanim struggle with this question, they reveal that they are unwilling to challenge people the way Yeshua was. The cower to the common belief to maintain their own popularity, and show that, in effect, their regard for their own religion, which was so important to them, was second to popular opinion. They sacrificed their very identity as religious people by not standing up for what they preached just to remain popular.
The roots of hypocrisy: unbelief and fear of man. Unblelief in that the leaders were not willing to stand by what they believed G-d had told them, and trust that he was the ultimate source of their right and wrong. This is a modern problem, as well as an ancient one. Only now we have a new term for it. Political correctness. And it is rampant in the church. Don't say anything that might offend (or rather CONVICT) people. No one ever intends to be a hypocrite, but the fear of man and the insecurity of belief slowly take over until they control belief and faith. These two factors tie people to hypocrisy.
Another brilliant part of this interaction is that Yeshua avoids a pointless discussion. He knows that his challengers are hypocrites who just don't like him, so no matter what he would say in answer them, they would likely try to refute him because they are blinded by unbelief and the fear of man. It would have been a worthless discussion.

April 17- Someone from your childhood

Kevin,

Wonder where you are now. You graduated HS last year. Its wierd, i hardly remember you now, but you were like a best friend before I really knew what that was.

-Nate

Holy Week; Part III "Don't you hear what they're saying?"

Tehillim 8:3 (Psalms 8:2) From the mouths of Babes and infants at the breast you established strength because of your foes, in order that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.

Blind and lame people came up to him in the Temple, and he healed them. But when the cohanim and Torah-teachers saw the wonderful things he was doing, and the children crying out in the temple, "Please deliver us!" to the Son of David, they were furious. They said to him "Do you hear what they're saying?" 

Yeshua Replined, "Of course! haven't you ever read,

'From the Mouths of children and infants you have prepared praise for yourself'?

With that, he left them and went outside the city to Beit-Anyah, where he spent the night.

Right after Yeshua acts as the purifier of the temple, cleaning it out of anything but the worship, before the stir dies down, people come to him to be healed. Children are around him, still shouting and crying out for deliverance. Yeshua is healing people in the inner court, and the religious leaders are upset.

It seems the most religious people in the area are the most annoyed. The temple was pure, and people were being helped, yet those who "knew G-d best" were frustrated. They were not frustrated by the business chaos that was happening moments before, on the contrary, they seem to approve of it. It's an interesting irony that shows up, when the priests, who were in charge of worship, start mistaking the structure and business of worship for worship itself. 

Here specifically, Yeshua is challenging sins of neglect. They were so busy in the business of worship that they neglect the need to seek justice, correct wrongs and oppression. Faith without works is dead.

Yesha'yahu 1: 11-12 "Why are all those sacrifices offered to me?" asks Adonai. "I'm fed up with the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened animals! I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls, lambs and goats. Yes you come to appear in my presence; but who asked you to do this, to trample through my courtyards?"

16-18 "Wash yourselves clean! get your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing evil, learn to do good! Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, defend orphans, plead for the widow.

"Come now," says Adonai, "lets talk this over together. Even if your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow; even if they are red as crimson, they will be like wool"

Holy Week; Part II: A house of prayer for all peoples

Yesha'yahu 56:7 "I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
Yirmeyahu 7:11 "Do you regard this house, which bears my name, as a cave for bandits? I can see for myself what's going on," says Adonai
Yeshua entered the Temple grounds and drove out those who were doing business there, both merchants and their customers. He upset the desks of the money changers and kicked over the benches of those who were selling pigeons. He said to them, "It has been written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer.' But you are making it into a den of robbers!"
Yeshua here, not long after his "triumphant entry", changes the game. As he rode into the city, people where shouting for him to "Save them". It is interesting that this is the first recorded action that Yeshua takes after the people's cry for salvation. Put yourself in the shoes of those following H'Meshiah. Perhaps they equated what Yeshua was doing directly with what they were pleading for. In any case it makes for an interesting message.
Yeshua is often seen as a mercy giver or humble king to those exhorter-gifted saints, yet to the rulers and prophets, the opposite sides of his character stand out. The honest truth is that Yeshua personified the positive side of all seven gifts. Yet in the passage of Mattityahu 21:12-17 focus on Yeshua as a prophet purifier, as he cleanses his temple. The temple area was the scene for this telling event in Yeshua’s life. Herod the Great had expanded the temple mount to a space the equivalent of thirty football fields. There were four courts that were restricted to particular people: the inner court or the temple proper was only accessible by the priests, the Court of the Israelites where the sacrifices were offered, the Court of Women where all Jews could enter, and finally the Court of the Gentiles. It is likely that it was in the Court of Gentiles where this incident took place.
People would come from all across the Roman Empire, traveling perhaps great distances to worship at the temple. Worshipers coming from such great distances would likely not have been able to bring with them the necessary animals for sacrifice. They would also not likely have the ability to exchange their foreign currency. This being the case, the exchange of money and goods on the temple mount was a helpful, on some level, to worshipers. Yeshua, in spite of the theoretically positive nature of the exchange, reacts harshly to the practice. He forms a whip, takes out the tables and chairs of the moneychangers in a very classic scene of righteous anger. But the question of why still stands. This practice is helpful even necessary to some, so why does H’Meshiah oppose it so violently?

There had obviously been a change in the practice at the temple. This was the third time Yeshua was recorded being there, and it is only now that he reacts this way. Yeshua is upset that the environment of the temple was no longer about worship, but about the business around worship. Perhaps, amid this noisy, busy, hectic market place, there are genuine worshipers getting lost in the chaos. Perhaps Yeshua had become aware of some thievery or dishonest business practices going on, as he was able to see into the heart of each man. Whatever reason, this was the first example of commercial spiritualism, a place where the process and necessities of worship took away from the heart of worship itself.

H’Meshiah used the temple as a metaphor for his body and for ours. As followers, our body is our temple. At times it becomes important, even necessary to concern our lives with the work required to build and keep our temples functioning. This like food, shelter, clothing, and so on are not wrong to seek after because they are necessary for proper stewardship of the temple we are given, and aide in its use in glorifying Adonai. But in the end it is essential that we not forget the purpose for which we are given our bodies, and why they metaphor of the temple is so applicable. While the process and necessities of living are relevant, the heart of the believer, their reason for life is to serve and glorify God. Not even daily needs should get in the way of that.