Category: Applied Theology

“What’s up with you?” Why the Left Turn?

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

In Psalm 147:3, the psalmist writes, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” As one of the psalms of praise, Psalm 147 has been sung in the Temple, the synagogue, and the church for centuries. In v.1 it opens by saying “Hallelujah, for it is good to sing praises unto our God.” The psalmist then emphasizes how the Lord builds up, restores, and supports. It seems a rather interesting choice by the psalmist to have us sing: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

We have such a blessed assurance from the Word of God that in our times of distress, heartache, and pain that the Holy Spirit comforts us. Yet, why do we sing Psalm 147:3? We are reminded that the Lord not only heals and binds wounds supernaturally, but also naturally through us, the Body of Messiah.

There is an interesting teaching in the Mishnah regarding how people entered the gates of the Holy Temple. In Middot 2:2 we read, “All who enter the Temple mount would enter by the right, circle, and exit to the left, except for one who had suffered an incident, who would circle from the left and exit to the right. People would ask this person, “Why did you go around to the left?” He would reply: “Because I am bereaved.” They would say: “May the One Who dwells in this house comfort you.”

As the throngs of visitors entered the Holy Temple, they would continue past the gate to the right. Yet, as they moved deeper into the Temple they would meet others coming from the other direction. In the Mishnah, those who had entered by the right ask those they now met: מה לך מקיף לשמאל, translated, “Why did you go around to the left?” Or another way: “What’s up with you?”

They entered the same door, but they did not walk the same way. Why? So that they would meet face to face, and in that meeting one would inquire of the other, “Why did you go that way?” They knew there was something wrong, but they dignified the other by asking, and in the asking they became present for them. Then, an avenue for healing would be open.

The apostle Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1:3-4).

Here is why we sing Psalm 147:3: “so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.” The Lord healed us, bandaged our wounds, and prepared us to be present and available for the healing of others. Sometimes, however, those who are in need to comfort, help or aid do not know how to ask.

The leaders of the Temple made a way for others to do the asking: “Why did you go that way.” “I am bereaved … I am hurting … I am depressed … I am in pain … I need someone.” According to a report from the Surgeon General of the United States titled Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation, “lacking social connection can increase the risk for premature death as much as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.”

In our technologically advanced and “connected” society, isolation, loneliness, depression, and heartache can make us feel overwhelmed and disconnected. The Temple said “enter by the left.” What do we say today? Well, we cannot always notice how people enter, but we can notice when people are not there.

As a pastor I notice when people are not in attendance in services, or when they are missing from my regular stops in life. What do I do? As best I can, I reach out. Not so much to say, “What’s up with you entering on the left … you who were not there,” but just to say hello. Personally, I know how easy to feel bereaved, overwhelmed and disconnected.

Dear reader, the Lord has comforted you, as Paul tells us, “so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.” We can do this because when we turned to the left, the Lord met us from the right and graciously took the time to ask us, “What’s wrong?”

Perhaps this is not for you right now, but remember as you are praising the Lord this weekend, that you are able to lift your voice in praise because He healed you; and now He has prepared you to be an avenue of healing for others who are praying that someone will take notice of how they are walking.

Maranatha. Shabbat Shalom.

Fruitful Reminders

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

What do the spies sent into the Promised Land have to do with the fringes applied to the garments of Israelites? In Numbers 15:27-39 we read:

“The Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel. Say to them that they are to make for themselves fringes (tzitzit) on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and they are to put a blue cord on each fringe. It will be your own fringe – so that whenever you look at them, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them and not go spying out after your own hearts and your own eyes, prostituting yourselves”

The command of the fringes (צִיצִת/tzitzit) is given after the tragic report of the spies (Num. 13 – 14). Twelve spies were sent into the Promised Land to spy it out, to see if it is as the Lord has promised. Ten of those spies bear witness to the goodness of the Land, that it in fact flows with “milk and honey,” but the emphasis of their witness is that the inhabitants of the Land are too great for them to overcome.

Upon hearing this tragic report, the children of Israel weep and mourn all night, wishing that they had never left Egypt. They desired to return to slavery because they feared freedom. Of this, Rabbi Dr. Joseph Hertz writes, “The incident of the Spies is the turning-point in the lives of all those that had been born in slavery. By the cowardice and murmurings with which they receive the report of the Spies, they show themselves unfit for the tasks of a free nation. They must die in the wilderness. During thirty-eight years of wandering, a new generation that knew not Egypt was to be reared, in hardship and freedom, for the conquest and possession of the Promised Land.”

The spies, as part of testimony to the goodness of the Land, bring back with them a single “branch with a cluster of grapes. It was carried on a pole between two of them” (Num. 13:23). The fruit was a witness to the promise that lay in the Land; that it was a good and spacious land. The fruit of the Land, however, could not overcome the fear in their heart. The fruit overcoming fear would have to come from another place, from inside them.

The command of the fringe, צִיצִת/tzitzit, is rather unusual. The children of Israel were commanded to affix strings to the corners of their garments, but for what purpose? As with many ancient Near-Eastern cultures, identity markers on garments were not unusual. The color, placement, and length allowed a person to be identified at some distance. Yet, why does the Lord command this identifier? Although tribal identity would certainly be a factor, as they were to be a unique, priestly people, the fringes were a remembrance, so that they will “remember all the commands of the Lord and shall do them, and not search after your own heart and your own eyes after which you went whoring, so that you remember, and shall do all My commands, and be set-apart unto your God.”

Tzitzit/צִיצִת, comes from the root צִיץ, meaning “blossom.” Tzitzit could understood as a type of “blossom.” Tzitzit are a remembrance of his commands, his commands are the blossoms, or potential fruit in our lives. Fruit, like the Tzitzit, is an identifier. Recall the words of Messiah Yeshua, “A tree is known by its fruit,” and, “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are savage wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? So every good tree yields good fruit, but a rotten tree yields wicked fruit. A good tree is unable to yield wicked fruit, and a rotten tree to yield good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, by their fruits you shall know them” (Matt. 7:15-20). By the fruit, we will know the false prophet; yet, we will also know God’s people by their fruit.

For the children of Israel, the words of the twelve spies were their first interaction with the Promised Land. Rather than walking in the victory that the Lord had promised, ten of the spies caused an entire generation to be lost, save two. For many people today, as we live and work in our daily lives, we are often the first contact that people have with the Kingdom of God. What do they see or experience with us? Do they taste and see that the Lord is good, by sampling the fruit of the Spirit in our lives (Gal. 5:22-23)? Or have we replaced the fruit of the Spirit with fear from the flesh?

The fruit of the land of Israel was symbolic of the promise of God, of what he could do and would continue to do. The wearing of Tzitzit was, for the people of God, the visual reminder of that promise. Today, however, the blossoms of the Tzitzit, and the fullness of their meaning, has settled inside of the follower of Messiah – not a replacement of, but rather, a maturing of concept. The fruit of the Spirit is the evidence of the Lord’s faithfulness to renew, restore, forgive, lift up, and cleanse; really, anything to do with the renewal experience in Messiah.

Still, what is the fruit for? In one sense it is for the tree – bringing forth new life; but in another sense, it is not for the tree at all. It is for others who will benefit from it. What do people taste of God’s Kingdom when they are with you? The fruit of promise and victory, or the fruit of fear and despair?

How do we change this, or increase our fruit? Psalm 1:3, “For he shall be as a tree planted by the rivers of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither, and whatever he does prospers.” This is the fruit, the result of mediating on God’s Word day and night.

Old Testament scholar Derek Kidner beautifully explains, “The tree is no mere channel, piping water unchanged from one place to another, but a living organism which absorbs it, to produce in due course something new and delightful, proper to its kind and to is time.”

Let the blossoms of the Lord’s commands mature into blessed fruit for the Kingdom of God as you walk by faith and not by sight.

Maranatha. Shalom.

The Wait

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

This morning I taught a Zoom class for a conference in India. Today’s lesson was part of a longer series on how Messiah Yeshua/Jesus modeled the life of faith for us. I focused on the “lost” eighteen years of His life, the silent years in the gospels. There is so much speculation about those “quiet” years. It is suggested by some that he even traveled to India and studied with the gurus there, however this was not the case.

The “quiet” years were His waiting years; but waiting does not mean He was inactive. During those years, Yeshua/Jesus lived a normative Jewish life for His time, filled with family, community, and covenant. He learned, He prayed, and He traveled to work as a laborer (carpenter) where He was needed. Remember, He is identified as “the carpenter” (Mk. 6:3), and as the son of the carpenter (Matt. 13:55; Mk. 6:3). This was hard work. Yet, it allowed Him to see and experience the sights and sounds of His people, their lives, their struggles, their joys, and their faith. He learned to speak with them, relate to them, and wait with them.

Still, Yeshua was aware of His own wait, we do not know how specifically, but He was, as we read in John 2:4, 7:6 and 7:30 statements expressing: “His time had not yet come.” He had to wait for the time appointed by the Father to begin His ministry.

Many of us are waiting, have been waiting, or know what it is to wait upon the Lord’s timing. One lesson that we often overlook from Jesus is His wait. His faithful wait teaches us how to wait faithfully. As Jesus waited: He lived, He learned, He labored, He worshiped. He didn’t sit and brood. He remained faithful to the Father during years of waiting.

It can be a frustrating experience, especially when we believe we are ready to advance in the race. I submit, if we find ourselves frustrated, self-isolating, questioning Him and His love, and jealousy takes root in our hearts for how He is using others, then He is still preparing (conforming) us as we wait.

However, the wait is NOT inactive. We are still about our Father’s business, as we are called to be faithful in all things: “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much” (Lk. 16:10).

We should remember these three things while we wait: 1) we are not separated from Him in the wait; 2) the wait is always active; 3) we must celebrate His control even in the wait (Thy will be done…).

I acknowledge the struggle of waiting, but I rejoice in His wisdom. To be transparent, I am grateful that what I believed I was prepared for years ago He did not permit me to enter, as He knew the depth of difficulty to come that I was not prepare for. His timing, not ours, is perfect. As the psalmist encourages: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…” (Ps. 37:7).

Jesus gave us the example during those eighteen “quiet” years living as a laborer, doing those menial tasks that few consider, even while “increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” He did not rush His calling, or the broadening of His calling, and neither can we. We trust and serve the Lord as He has sets us in each season of our lives.

I pray this encourages you in your wait.

Maranatha. Shalom.