The Golden Rule, Matthew 7:12. Easy to say in part, but difficult to do in practice. We take a look at the meaning and purpose of the Golden Rule, and its historic setting.
The Golden Rule: New Podcast Available
Month: April 2023
Scattered Feathers
Imagine standing on a hill on a windy day with a fluffy feather pillow in your hands. As the wind continues to blow, you tear open the pillow and empty its feathery contents into the wind. As you stand and watch the feathers being scattered by the wind, imagine attempting to retrieving each of those feathers. As you focus to pick up just one or two, the wind continues to blow feathers a greater and wider distance from you. It would seem a hopeless task.
When teaching on gossip and it effects, we find in rabbinic writing the imagery of scattering the feather pillow is sometimes used. While it seemed only a small thing, it very quickly grew beyond control or repair.
Matthew 8:1-3, “After Yeshua/Jesus had come down from the hill, large crowds followed him. Then a man afflicted with leprosy came, kneeled down in front of him and said, ‘Sir, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand, touched him and said, ‘I am willing! Be cleansed!’”
After Messiah Yeshua/Jesus speaks the Sermon on the Mount, He is approached by a man afflicted by leprosy. According to Jewish law a leper was not to touch, speak, or otherwise interact with a ritually clean individual (Lev. 13:45-46). On this occasion, as we note in several instances in the Gospels, a leper approached Yeshua to be healed. Why was this man so moved that he risked social scorn, ridicule, or even threats of violence to ask Messiah to heal him? And why did Jesus touch this man, rather than simply speak healing to him?
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits” (Prov. 18:21).
The rabbinic sages have concluded that leprosy, detailed in Leviticus 13 and 14, was the result of the sin of gossip or slander: לשון הרע/lashon harah, evil speech or the bad tongue. The Torah directs the people of God to “love your neighbor as yourselves” (Lev. 19:18), and to treat others, including an enemy, favorably (Ex. 23:4-5). Gossip, while seeming but a small matter, can destroy lives and reputations.
Even after forgiveness is sought and received, the reputation of the individual affected will never be completely recovered. Biblically, the gossip, should he remain unrepentant, was physically afflicted and then separated from the community. As he was not careful to guard his words, he would sit, reflect and seek healing from the Lord. His words to the general public would be limited to two: טָמֵא טָמֵא, “Unclean! Unclean!” By such a declaration, people would know his sin: he had to stay away from them, and they would stay away from him. He ate the fruit of his evil speech (Prov. 18:21).
The apostle James writes, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.” (Jas. 1:26). Additionally, Messiah Jesus said, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Lk. 6:45).
In the Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua details how following Him will change the lives of His disciples. There is an inner transformation by faith that effects the outer reality of the disciple. The inner transformation by faith impacts the wider community by obedient-action to His command (Jn. 14:15).
The leper, by speaking to Messiah, was confessing his condition with faith that Jesus could make him whole again: “if you are willing,” not “if you can.” Messiah responds, “I am willing,” touching him and healing him.
As followers of Messiah we are called to humble servanthood. We are called to give people good news, not scandalize and ruin them. Messiah touched this leper to remind all of us that no matter how defiled we, or someone else may be, His touch cleanses and restores.
We may not be able to gather the scattered feathers of our sinful mistakes, but He will take the most painful of mistakes, with their far reaching implications, and make something beautiful of them.
Be well. Shalom.
The Unexpected Entry
Palm Sunday reminds us that we don’t always recognize the prophetic plan of God when our own plans are in view.
The people celebrated a king. Taking palm branches, they rejoiced before the One Who had entered Jerusalem many times before. He taught in the Temple. He healed in the streets. He confounded the wise. He raised up the sinner and the humble.
Taking a symbol of Tabernacles, the people rejoiced before a king, riding upon a donkey. They celebrated a coming conqueror. They expected deliverance in the season of Passover from the Roman occupiers. Yet, that did not happen.
Within a few short hours the cheers of joy turned to jeering and scorn. The king did not do as expected. He did not deliver. He was not enthroned. Rome was not vanquished. “Away with this one!” (Lk. 23:18), the crowds would shout. They would choose the murderous Barabbas. They did not want the humble Son of God, but the rebellious Barabbas, from the Aramaic meaning “son of a father.” The choice was offered, and the choice was for the expected: a violent son of a father.
See friends, Messiah knew as He entered, the triumph was not of the crowds choosing. His entry into Jerusalem as her rightful King was not that of a military conqueror. He did not enter with military might. His choice followers would betray, deny and abandon Him. His ride was not even a mighty war horse. He rode humbled:
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zach. 9:9).
He entered to rule. He entered to save. Yet, it would not be as a murderous “son of a father,” but the obedient Son of the Father: Abba! Obedient even unto humiliation, heartbreak, and death. His entry was a means of Him losing power and dying in humiliated agony for our sins (Ro. 5:8).
His triumph was not through strength of number, as He died utterly alone. No, His triumph was through weakness, and in His weakness the power of God was displayed for all who would behold Him.
See, Messiah is King. Yeshua/Jesus did conquer. Christ did deliver from the occupying power. But He did so in this way:
He lost His following. He was wrongfully judged. He was tortured beyond imagination. He was nailed to a cross. Cut off from heaven, He breathed His last at the place of the skull. Prominent men, Joseph and Nicodemus, openly revealed their devotion to Him, and laid Him, wrapped simply, in an empty tomb. Story over.
Yet, three days and three nights later, Jesus emerged from the tomb. Here is the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as He leaves death behind, and walks out into the holy city. From the tomb were He was laid, to the hill where He was executed, to an upper room where His small, broken-hearted army hid in fear.
Yeshua triumphed through weakness, and His weakness is our greatest strength. His strength is perfected in weakness, as we admit our need, our falling short, our sin, our imperfection. We receive Him as King in repentance:
“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).
Friends, greet Him today. Receive Him, not as you expect, but as He has ordained. Don’t overlook the foal He provides because you anticipate a stallion.
Palm Sunday reminds us that we don’t always recognize the prophetic plan of God when we set our hopes, plans, and expectations above His. If you are hiding in your upper room, fearful of all the unknowns, remember: “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Ro. 8:37).
הוֹשַׁעְנָא רַבָּא/hoshana rabbah! “Hosanna in the highest!”
Be well. Shalom.
the mountain mensch 