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Good morning bus riders!
I hope everyone had a good week just past; and, I hope you reflected on what I said last Sunday. There will be no checking of homework, so feel free to breathe easy.
I sent out the email with a link to the lectionary site; and, I hope everyone read the selections set aside for today. Again, I talk about all of them, no opting out on any, because they all share a central theme that needs to be discussed.
What I want to do now is act like a Baptist minister, somewhat. I want to call on everyone to ‘open their cell phones’ (not Bibles) and click on the lectionary link. I want you all to bring up the Proverbs reading for today. Raise your hands when you have that on your phone screens.
<Wait for all hands to raise.>
Good.
What I want everyone to do now is notice how none of the verses are numbered. Only at the top does it state the text below comes from verses 1-2, 8-9, 22-23. Do you see that?
<Look for nodding heads.>
Good.
You will notice there is quite a spread in the verses, with gaps between them. In all, Proverbs 22 has 29 verses, but only six are read today.
In divine texts, such paring and rejoining can be done and still provide a divine message, without the need to read everything in between. In divine texts, everything is meaningful; but that depth of meaning can be cut and pasted together, in order to still reveal truth.
This is what has been done with this narrowing of Proverb 22 into six verses.
Now, when one looks up the definition of “proverb,” one finds: “a short pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or piece of advice.” (An Oxford Languages definition, provided by a Google search.)
In Proverbs 1, first thing, Solomon’s writings were said to be “proverbs.” The Hebrew word for that is “mashal” (in the singular).
A “mashal” is defined as “a short expression of Hebrew wisdom.” In this case, it can be refined to a “short expression of Solomon’s wisdom.” The Wikipedia article calls it “allegory,” as parables, like fables and adages.
In my mind, Solomon’s wish for a big brain makes him what they call “part of the problem,” not “part of the solution.” Therefore, his “short pithy sayings” come more from an egotistical brain, than from his soul being a servant of Yahweh.
I made mention of that when we read the Songs of Solomon. His mind was in the lovey-dovey gutter when he wrote sensually. However, Yahweh was still able to use Solomon’s words to depict the love relationship that is necessary between a soul and Yahweh.
That same view of Solomon needs to be seen in his “mashal,” or “misluh” (in the plural).
Only seven of Solomon’s thirty-one chapters of pithy sayings – which are said to contain 3000 bits of wisdom – are addressed by the Episcopal lectionary. Today is one of the seven. That speaks of Solomon not playing a huge role in teaching Christians to marry their souls to Yahweh.
I want you to realize this. It takes work to understand all divine Scripture. It demands divine insight to understand the allegory and parables of the Holy Bible. It requires a lot of patience to comb through the self-absorbed words of Solomon to find the nuggets of truth that Yahweh produced through a soul not in love with his God.
In this reading of six verses from Solomon, the first two verses set up a theme that the other four verses add to.
Verses one and two say: “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. The rich and the poor have this in common: Yahweh is the maker of them all.”
In an egotistical fashion, Solomon takes delight in his name being that of all-powerful King of Israel, where he has more than just gold and silver to his credit. He can do anything he wants, never having to work a day in his life.
He then equates his opulence as opposite that of the impoverished – all of whom were made that way by Yahweh [the truth of what is written].
I will let you read the other four verses at your leisure, but Solomon’s great worldly brain echoes all the philosophies that exist today, which love to play Robin Hood, because the poor people of the world need the rich to look after them.
In the same way that Solomon’s mind was below his waist-line in the Songs of Solomon, so are his pithy sayings about the rich and the poor … only more directed to the rear.
Yahweh can be seen emanating from these words when one wrestles against the egotism of Solomon to find the nuggets of truth that affirm what Jesus said about the rich and the poor.
The difference is a value system that is spiritual, not material. Solomon was like some Socialist politicians around today, one that wants to buy votes by giving free money to the poor, knowing they will still be poor, but more likely to vote Socialist in the next election.
Spiritual wealth being shared, as the responsibility of the spiritually rich to help the spiritually poor, is the truth. In that regard, the spiritually poor are those like Solomon.
That is the message that needs to be gleaned from this parable about the rich and poor.
Now, in the accompanying Psalm 125, David sang, “Show your goodness, Yahweh, to those who are good and to those who are true of heart. As for those who turn aside to crooked ways, Yahweh will lead them away with the evildoers; but peace be upon Israel.”
That was a better way to express the difference between the rich and the poor, as it sings the truth of the differences being between good and evil.
In Psalm 125, David sang again of marriage, that between a soul and Yahweh, as stated in “those who are true of heart.” The aspect of “true of heart” says Yahweh’s Spirit is one with one’s soul. It is only from this marriage that “goodness” can be “shown.”
The metaphor of “like Mount Zion,” where David sang about the “the hill” of “Yahweh [that] stands around his people,” that says one’s soul has been elevated by the presence of Yahweh within, so His all-encompassing presence has come through divine marriage.
That speaks the truth of one who is spiritually rich.
In the optional Old Testament reading from Isaiah, his thirty-fifth chapter is after the fall of Jerusalem and Judah and the captivity of the people. That collapse and ruin was due to the people and their rulers being spiritually impoverished. At that time, the ‘rich and famous’ were the Babylonians, who were just as spiritually poor as the Judaeans they defeated.
Isaiah, however, sang from his soul’s divine marriage to Yahweh, telling those who lost all their material possession that they still have the potential for redemption.
When Isaiah sang, “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear!” one again finds “heart” the focus. The “heart” is the soul. A soul that fears is one void of Yahweh. That is why Yahweh commanded, “Thou shall only fear Yahweh,” by being one of His “elohim.” A wife of Yahweh can only fear losing her Husband, with “wife” meaning souls in the flesh.
Being spiritually rich means to be an elohim of Yahweh. Being materially rich, but spiritually poor, means to be an elohim of some demonic spirit.
Thus, Isaiah sang out, “Here is your elohim. it will come with vengeance.” That was their new slavers, their new masters they had to bow down before.
Still, materially poor did not prevent one from becoming spiritually rich. So, Isaiah sang, “will come the benefit of elohim” that will be a soul’s “salvation.”
In that, the translations provided on the lectionary website are incorrect; so, I urge all to go home this week and look at the truth of the Hebrew text, using the BibleHub link I provided earlier.
We are called to become spiritually rich as Yahweh’s elohim, rescued from being elohim to the sins a harsh world forces upon one.
Isiah then painted a picture of the “benefits,” also called “recompense.” The blind can see, the deaf can hear, the lame shall leap, the mute shall speak, and the dry will be watered.
All of that is metaphor for the talents of the Spirit that comes from marriage of a soul to Yahweh.
Saints see the truth. They hear the truth. The live the truth. They speak the truth; and, they teach the truth.
None of that is possible without being married to Yahweh … without being one of His elohim.
Now, that lesson from Isaiah is accompanied by Psalm 146, which the translation shows “Lord” written eight times. We like to assume “Lord” means God; and, the truth of that says one’s soul is indeed married to the only God that matters, so submission to that God makes that God be one’s “Lord.”
Each time, however, David wrote “Yahweh,” which is the proper name of the God his soul was married to. To be like David, one must also come to marry divinely and call your personal God by His proper name.
Psalm 146 is ALL about the “benefits” or “recompense” of making that commitment that makes one spiritually rich.
When David wrote his songs, Israel was spiritually rich. When David sinned and left behind a boy who would be a king, married to self-idolatry, all the wealth of spiritual benefit was exchanged as material rewards. In the end, Isaiah would sing there is still hope.
In Psalm 146, David began and ended by singing, “Hallelujah!”
Raise your hand if you know what “Hallelujah” means.
<Look for raised hands or shaking heads.>
Well, some would have you think it means “Praise the Lord,” but those are the ones who substitute “Lord” for “Yahweh.”
Ever since Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker made the “Praise the Lord” network be all about getting rich on religion as a business, the acronym “P.T.L.” became “Pass the Loot.”
The word “Hallelujah” is actually two Hebrew words put together: “hallu” and “Yah,” where “Yah” is short for what?
<Listen for bus riders reciting “Yahweh.”>
Right!
The word “hallu” or “halal” means “shine,” which becomes a way of stating “praise.”
What came to me this week, when I contemplated Psalm 146 and “Hallelujah,” was David not telling people to stand up and cheer for Yahweh. Instead, he was telling the readers and singers of his song, “I stand married to Yahweh and his light shines through my body of flesh, through the acts He leads me to do.”
To “Praise Yahweh” means to be married to Yahweh.
In the same way that Jesus said, “Peace to you,” that was never meant to be some catch-phrase greeting, but a statement that says, “Let the Peace of Yahweh enter into your soul.” Therefore, “Hallelujah” is not a command to say anything.
It is a statement of being that says, “I Shine Yahweh” in my being.
Now, all of this leads us to the words of James, who must be seen as a soul married to Yahweh, just like David. That means the truth of Yahweh flowed through James onto paper, so we can read it today [translated into English, often poorly].
James brings out that theme of the rich and the poor.
James presented the reader with this scenario and question:
“For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a
poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the
fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say,
“Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves,
and become judges with evil thoughts?”
In essence, James was saying that judging other human beings by whether he or she is rich or poor is evil thinking.
That says Solomon – as great as his big brain was – was led to evil thinking, simply by sitting in his opulence of power and judging that Yahweh made the rich and the poor for a reason. Solomon knew he was more than materially rich, because he had been born with a name – “King.”
People who judge by material status are spiritually poor.
In the “optional” verses, James gave the example of people pretending to be righteous dudes as those running around saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” We certainly hear that today as a popular slogan for Socialists to force laws to suit their agendas. Right?
<Look for nodding heads.>
James then went on to point out that there are a myriad of laws that equally have to be followed, with all of them bearing the same weight; in the sense that if one law is broken a whole holy house of cards collapses.
James spoke as a devout Jew that married Yahweh and became Jesus resurrected within his soul; so, James knew all about the failures of collapsed holy houses of cards, those built on sayings about the law, not the doings of the law.
That led James to ask us today, and this question is always relevant: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?”
The Greek word for “faith” is “pistis.” The same word means “belief.” Do you know the difference between “faith” and “belief”?
<Look for raised hands, nodding head or shaking heads.>
I’ll tell you. “Belief” is putting trust in something someone told you, without ever testing that you have been told for validity. “Faith” is knowing something is true, from having ‘been there, done that.’
The key word there is “done.”
You can “believe” Yahweh is your “Lord” all day long, until the cows come home; but, if your soul is not married to Yahweh, there is no way in hell you are ever going to be able to do all the things you say you believe in.
That is why James ended this reading by writing, “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”
Do you understand what that means?
<Look for nodding heads and or shaking heads.>
I’ll tell you. “Dead” means only being a soul in a body of flesh that is going to die sometime. Without a soul being married to Yahweh – being one of His elohim – death will come and Judgment will be the truth:
You did some things good. You did some things bad. Therefore, you do not gain access
into the eternal realm of heaven, because the bad you did keeps your soul out.
Therefore, back your soul goes … into a new baby body of flesh.
The whole point of Christianity is being taught to marry one’s soul to Yahweh; and then, teaching others souls to do the same.
Like David sang – Hallelujah! – you teach as you are taught, by shining Yahweh so others can have His presence shone upon them.
Loving your neighbors as yourself becomes a statement about Shining Yahweh, not about pointing out the faults of others. If others are full of faults, they should not be your neighbors.
Lie down with dogs and wake up with fleas, as the saying goes.
Speaking of dogs …
That brings us to the Gospel reading from Mark.
When I read this reading this past week, I saw it in a new light. I saw why Jesus went from Jerusalem, following the Passover-to-Shavuot season of pilgrimage, to the region of Tyre and Sidon [modern Lebanon].
I saw in my mind’s eye the imagery of Cleopas and his wife Mary walking the road to Emmaus when that time of festival had ended. Jesus walked with them, appearing as a stranger. I saw Jesus (and his disciples) walking north with a family from that region, who (like Cleopas and Mary) became so enamored with the spirit of Jesus that they asked him to walk further with them.
I saw how Jesus had passed on his soul-spirit to each of his disciples, sending them out in internship; and, then they assisted Jesus in the feeding of the five thousand, as apostles who had the soul-spirit of Jesus within them.
When Mark wrote [literally from the Greek], “From there (Jerusalem) now having risen up (in divine ministry), he departed into the region of Tyre and Sidon,” I saw that as Jesus spreading his soul-spirit to a distant place where Jews lived among Gentiles.
When I read, “He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice,” I saw that for the first time as the soul-spirit of Jesus entering a household in a way that no one could tell was there, beyond those who Jesus spiritually possessed. I saw that “household” as the first interns of Christianity. When Jesus would physically leave them, his soul-spirit would remain with them forever. Their souls would become married to Yahweh because of having been touched by his presence.
While Jesus was there and his new family of Jews went out into their village, they shone Yahweh. People inquired how they became that way; and, they said, “Jesus.”
That led to a Gentile woman (a Syrophoenician) to seek Jesus out, because her daughter was filled with an unclean spirit. Mark wrote, “she came and bowed down at [Jesus’] feet” and “She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.”
That caused Jesus to seemingly become cold and aloof, saying, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
Then, when the woman replied, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs,” this conversation is one of those that few explain. It becomes one of those ‘holy mysteries’ that are best not discussed. That becomes the proverb: Let sleeping dogs lie.
For the first time I clearly saw the truth of this exchange. The clarity made it possible to see why Jesus would then say, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.”
For the first time I saw Jesus and the Gentile woman speaking from the same page of a script. They were mentally linked, psychically, speaking the same divine language; and, the conversation we read was that way from the beginning. When Jesus spoke of dogs, he was not referring to her or her daughter. Likewise, the woman did not hear Jesus calling her and her daughter dogs, because she knew exactly who the dogs were. Both spoke of dogs while meaning the Jews.
When you realize that, Jesus told the woman that she was a seeker who searched for him. She did not seek Jesus for herself but for her child. She did not restrict who she should seek help from, because of rules and customs. She was, therefore, a child of Yahweh in a world that saw her as nothing but poor.
Jesus spoke to her as deserving to be fed spiritual food, as a seeker. The children who seek Yahweh deserve to be fed the bread of life sent by Yahweh.
As such, Jesus had just left Jerusalem not long before, when he had confrontations with Pharisees and scribes, who were the dogs of judgment. Jesus had made his presence known before them, but they had rejected all intake of him, as spiritual food.
That means the Gentile woman knew full well how all Jews were dogs, because her statement said that whatever morsels of truth about divine Scripture the rulers of the Temple of Jerusalem let accidentally slip from their overstuffed mouths [the table of the rich], those crumbs were ravenously gobbled up by the little dog Jews who waited under them. The poor Jews ate up spiritual food so fast that there was nothing left over to be shared to anyone else.
“For saying that,” said Jesus, who knew the two of them were on the same page of thought, the woman was filled with the spiritual food that was the soul-spirit of Jesus – the bread of life. So, that divine presence was immediately passed on to her daughter; and, “the demon has left your daughter,” Jesus said.
That exchange painted a clear picture of the rich and the poor, such that the Solomon-esque Temple elite saw Yahweh as the great one who created the materially rich and the materially poor, for the purpose of letting the rich give alms for the poor, from time to time, to justify having much more than they needed.
Jesus taught the truth of the spiritually rich giving to the spiritually poor. Both became equals, not still separated by class status. The spiritually rich lost nothing in giving; and, the spiritually poor received everything their souls ever wanted. That is the truth of Christianity.
When we then read Mark telling of Jesus leaving Sidon and going to Decapolis, a region east of the Sea of Galilee and north of Perea, that was most likely to the port just south of where Jesus had his ‘synagogue by the sea’ – in the city of Hippos.
The place called Kursi is just a few kilometers north of Hippos, and that was where Jesus cast out the demons of Legion, which begged to be sent into swine. Once possessing pigs, the porkers all then ran and jumped off a cliff into the sea and drown. That event took place in the region of Decapolis.
It should be realized that Decapolis was not a region heavily populated by Jews, although they did live there. When Jesus cast out the demons in the man in Kursi, he was asked to leave and not come back, which was a sign that the possessed man was a Gentile, not a Jew. The man wanted to follow Jesus after being freed of demons; but Jesus told him to stay and preach to his people.
That event occurred before the feeding of the five thousand; and, Mark wrote of that event, saying, “The man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.” (Mark 5:20)
Seeing how that event had spread the news about Jesus and the fact that Jesus had held regular teachings from the mount by the sea, just a little to the north of there, says Jesus was already known by the time he reached Hippos (probably sailing there by boat, from Capernaum).
The part of Mark’s Gospel that tells of a deaf man with difficulty speaking brought to him says two things. First it says that Jesus went to stay with someone he knew in Hippos, who most likely had become soul-spirit touched by Jesus before, just like the man in Sidon [a Jew]. Second, it also says that this Jewish family then went out into their village and began telling others that Jesus – a name they knew – was there visiting them.
Here is where the rich and poor element comes up again.
The Jews were taught that birth defects or illnesses, especially that which deformed the flesh, had been judged by God as sinners, as physical evidence of sins committed. This means the subclass of Jews – those not the Temple’s elite – were further divided into clean and unclean, which was the physical wealth of health and the physical poverty of disease. Thus, the whole family who brought a ‘sinner’ to Jesus to be healed was just like the Syrophoenician Gentile woman who came to Jesus, as all were poor. All were rejected by those they lived among as in the 'unclean' class - the poorest of the poor.
Jesus [thus Yahweh] saw them as being severely malnourished from a lack of spiritual food.
When I contemplated the Greek words of Mark, I saw Jesus doing nothing after this family brought the deaf man to him. In the same way that Jesus never even saw the Gentile woman’s daughter – but she was healed by the woman receiving the soul-spirit of faith in Yahweh – Jesus was not the one we assume took the man aside and made noises and spoke one word.
In the translation that says, “[Jesus] took [the deaf man] aside in private, away from the crowd,” I saw this in the same light as before, when Mark wrote, “[Jesus] entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there.”
More than Jesus being discrete and secretive, those are statements that the soul-spirit of Jesus entered others. Thus, taking the man “aside in private” is God-speak that says Jesus became one with the deaf man. Being “away from the crowd” [in Greek] actually says Jesus was “received” by the man, in a way that was not possible for “the crowd” to perceive.
When I saw this in this light, the fingers, ears, spit, and tongue were all those body parts of the deaf man, with the soul-spirit of Jesus within his body of flesh, controlling his actions. Jesus was not touching him physically, only spiritually … from within, not without.
That means it was the deaf man who looked up, sighed, and then it was Yahweh who spoke through his mouth, saying, “Be opened.”
When I saw that, I immediately recalled Jesus spiritually entering the upper room and breathing upon his followers in hiding, saying “Receive the Spirit.” To “Receive,” one must be “Opened.”
Yahweh then healed the deaf man and corrected his speech, as a way of divine marriage, which could only come from the man having faith, despite his being rejected (along with his family) as a sinner. His faith and the faith of his family led them all to Jesus, having believed because of the preaching of the man whose demons had been cast out of him by Jesus.
When the story of Mark then says, “Jesus ordered them to tell no one,” this is not about trying to keep Jesus a secret. The family had come to see Jesus because the man healed of demonic possession (who every knew was crazy) had spoken out. Telling people was ministry!
Jesus told them not to tell others to wait for Jesus. He was telling them to become the hand of Yahweh, as Jesus reborn, just as Jesus had sent his apostles out in ministry. To tell no one means Jesus taught them as he would James. His command was to do unto others as you had wanted Jesus to do unto you.
Faith without works is dead. Faith with divine works is eternal life!
A Saint does not talk about how spiritually wealthy he or she is. A Saint just does what Yahweh says do; and, that means freely share the spiritual wealth.
Thus, when Mark wrote, “the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it,” that speaks of the birth of Christianity.
In terms David would use: Hallelujah!
Praise Yahweh.
Well, I see the top of the bus down at the stop light, so I’ll end now. I hope you ponder these things I have said today.
I hope everyone has a good week ahead.
Amen
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