Unexpected Guests

The news was getting out. Sometime earlier, God had used angels to announce Jesus’ birth to shepherds. Now He chose another interesting and unusual way of announcing it to someone unexpected. This time no angels appeared. But a group of guys in the east, professional stargazers, were looking into the sky when they saw an unusual star. Where were they from? We don’t know, but it could have been Arabia or Persia. They studied the stars, and they believed that the stars showed signs and announced events. They had also studied many ancient scrolls, and they had read that a King of the Jews would come someday. Somehow they realized that this star had something to do with that King, and they wanted to know more. They were known as magi. We get the words magus, magi and magic from the same word. There was a lot of mystery about them, and some people believed they could do magic. They were also known as wise men because they often gave advice and interpreted dreams and other things for kings. How many of them went on the trip? We don’t know. But we do know that they chose three interesting and expensive gifts to take with them on the journey they were about to take.

Gold was a gift for a King. Frankincense was a gift for the Son of God. Some people burn it when they worship. Myrrh was a gift for the Messiah. It’s a spice that people used when they were burying people. Prophecies told that the King of the Jews would be the Son of God and the promised Messiah, and that one day He would give his life to save us. The gifts that the magi chose showed that they had read the prophecies, and they knew who they were about to meet. They were pretty excited about this, because it isn’t every day you meet someone like that! So as soon as they saw the star, they gathered their gifts, packed up, and left.

It was a long journey. If you’re looking for a King, where do you look first? You go to the capital of the country and find the King’s palace! So they found themselves in Jerusalem at the palace of King Herod. They started to ask around, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose, and we’ve been following it so we can worship Him.”

When Herod got word that these guys were asking around about a new King of the Jews, he was pretty upset. What new King of the Jews? Herod was King of the Jews! Did this mean someone was about to take his place? He liked his job and his life, and he didn’t want to see it end because some kid was gonna come and take his throne!

So Herod called the experts: the priests. They had also studied the prophecies, and so they told him that the prophet Micah had said that the Messiah would be born in the tiny village of Bethlehem.

Then Herod came up with a crafty plan. He talked to the magi and found out exactly when the star had appeared. He told them about the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. “Go there,” he told them, “and when you’re done, come back here and let me know where he is… because I wanna worship him too!”

So the magi left Jerusalem and followed the star to Bethlehem. It kept going ahead of them until it stopped over a house. They couldn’t contain their excitement! They knocked on the door, and when they went in, they saw him. The boy was probably somewhere around 2 at this point. Mary and Joseph couldn’t believe their eyes as a bunch of richly-dressed foreigners came into the house and knelt down to visit their son! They laid their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh at his feet.

That night, one of the magi had a dream that included a warning: Herod wasn’t planning to worship the new King of the Jews. So the next morning, instead of returning to Jerusalem, they left, and went home another way.

Joseph also had a dream. An angel appeared to him and said, “Quick! Get up! Take Mary and Jesus and get out of here! Herod is about to come looking for Jesus to kill him! Go to Egypt and stay there until I tell you it’s safe to come back.” Later someone remembered that the prophet Hosea had once foretold, “Out of Egypt I will call My Son.”

Sure enough, Herod’s men came looking for Jesus, but He wasn’t there. Sometime later, the angel appeared to Joseph again and told him, “It’s OK to go back now. Herod has died.” So the young family returned to their hometown of Nazareth, where Jesus grew up.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Said the night wind to the little lamb, "Do you see what I see?"

Wait a minute. The night wind can see? It has eyes? This is interesting. Further, I find it interesting that the inanimate night wind can not only see, but can communicate with a lamb. Maybe the lamb has some kind of connection with the wind, or perhaps that's the lamb's interpretation of the whistling of the wind. Maybe it blew in a certain direction, and the lamb looked in that direction, thus noticing what the wind was trying to point out.

"Way up in the sky, little lamb. Do you see what I see? A star, a star, dancing in the night with a tail as big as a kite! With a tail as big as a kite!"

So now the night wind is pointing out a star. Probably by blowing the lamb's wool and causing it to look up. That makes sense. As stars are also inanimate, I assume "dancing" refers to how they twinkle. (If I understand it right, as big balls of gas, stars tend to burn with fires which move around, causing it to seem somewhat alive, and from our distance, they often seem to appear and disappear, or at least vibrate somewhat.) Some have interpreted the star in question to be an angel which guided the wise men to the young infant Jesus. I don't know if it was a literal star or an angel, but the next line is interesting. "With a tail as big as a kite" raises two issues in my mind:

1. If the star has a tail at all, it must be either unusually large or unusually close to the earth. Perhaps this is inspired by the paintings of the star with a spotlight shining on the stable?

2. How is a First Century BC lamb supposed to know what a kite is? Were kites even invented yet? Well, apparently so! According to Wikipedia, kites were invented in the 5th Century BC in China! I had no idea they had been around that long. I don't know if the phenomenon had reached Israel by the First Century BC, but that's interesting. I suppose it's possible. I suppose it could also refer to the bird known as a kite. They also have tails.

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy, "Do you hear what I hear? Ringing in the sky, shepherd boy, do you hear what I hear? A song, a song high above the tree with a voice as big as the sea! With a voice as big as the sea!"

Now the lamb is passing on the message to the shepherd. I'm sure the lamb is trying his best to get the message across, but I imagine the shepherd just hears, "Baa! Baaa!!" Although shepherds and sheep could get pretty attached, I suppose. Dogs and cats can get pretty good about communicating with their humans. Why should it be different with lambs? If the lamb was bleating loud enough, I imagine the shepherd would have said, "Shush! I'm listening to this choir of angels!" Or maybe he didn't need to. According to Luke, it sounds like the army of angels was hard to miss and likely very loud. I wonder if the shepherd would even be able to hear the lamb bleating over the angels' voices "as big as the sea"? Now that's a big voice!

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king, "Do you know what I know? In your palace wall, mighty king, do you know what I know? A child, a child shivers in the cold. Let us bring him silver and gold. Let us bring him silver and gold."

Now we're getting to messengers who can actually talk to humans in such a way that said humans can easily understand them (assuming they speak the same language). This must be after the shepherds visited Jesus in Bethlehem. Now they are spreading the word. But who is the king? It can't be Herod, because as we will see in the next verse, this king seems to have been happy about it. Herod was anything but. Was it the wise men, who are often misinterpreted to be kings? (See my commentary on We Three Kings.) The shepherds would have had to travel an awful long way to reach the wise men, unless said wise men were nearby at this point. In which case they probably would have known about the child. If it's the wise men, they also didn't bring silver (that we know of). They just brought gold. (Well, they also brought frankincense and myrrh, but that wasn't included in the shepherd's request.)

Also, was it cold? It's very unlikely that Jesus was born on December 25, so it probably wasn't winter. From what I've heard, it may have been springtime, right around Passover (thus the need for shepherds and sheep in the vicinity). I'm not sure how the temperature is in Israel at that time of the year. Also, as metals, silver and gold wouldn't help anyone to stay warm. If it's already cold, metals would probably have the opposite effect. They could probably buy lots and lots of blankets with the silver and gold, but it seems like blankets would be a more practical gift if they are trying to solve the problem of the child shivering in the cold. Otherwise, Mary and Joseph would need to take time to find the nearest blanket vendor to buy what they need. I suppose they would be able to get a blanket in a color they like that way...sort of like the First Century BC version of a gift certificate. Furthermore, I would think a poor shepherd might not think to suggest giving precious metals.

Said the king to the people everywhere, "Listen to what I say! Pray for peace, people everywhere! Listen to what I say: The child, the child sleeping in the night, He will bring us goodness and light. He will bring us goodness and light."

Now the unidentified king is spreading the word. Surely Herod wouldn't have been promoting the child that he was afraid would supplant him. This king clearly knows that Christ brings hope, "goodness and light." Several centuries earlier, King David had written that we should "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (Psalm 122:6).

Wait a minute. What if the mighty King is David? He was a shepherd boy when he was young. Maybe he looked at the stars while he was tending his sheep, holding a little lamb, and dreamed about his descendant who would one day be born in his own hometown of Bethlehem, to beginnings even humbler than his. Maybe when he grew up and became King, he remembered his childhood as a shepherd boy and had more compassion on the shivering children of the world. Perhaps he looked forward to his descendant Jesus bringing us goodness and light, as he took care of his own children.

***

"Do You Hear What I Hear?" was written in October 1962, with lyrics by French songwriter Noël Regney and music by his wife Gloria Shayne (which was a switch, as it was usually the other way around. They released the song after Thanksgiving of that year. It was at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which the USSR was threatening to place nuclear missiles in Cuba to fire on the US. My mom tells me that it was a terrifying time, and she recalls people crying, as for all they knew, this could be the end of life as they knew it. So the song was not only a memory of the birth of Christ, but a plea to pray for peace, people everywhere! They pointed out with this song that God could bring peace, goodness and light, and our only hope was to pray for peace. Thankfully, President Kennedy and Russian Premier Khrushchev were able to work it out diplomatically, and it didn't come to a nuclear attack. People's prayers for peace worked.

According to Regney's obituary (he died in 2002), he stated in an interview in 1985, "I am amazed that people can think they know the song, and not know it is a prayer for peace. But we are so bombarded by sound and our attention spans are so short that we now only listen to catchy beginnings." In World War 2, he was drafted into the Nazi army, but deserted. He eventually made it to Manhattan, where he arranged, composed and conducted, as well as writing radio jingles.

After Regney and Shayne wrote this song, they had trouble singing it. It evoked such emotion, especially the plea for peace, that they just couldn't get through it. As Shayne once said, "It broke us up."

I think the plea for peace is just as relevant today as it was at the time of World War 2 and the Cold War.

Many singers have recorded the song over the years, but Regney's favorite rendition was that of Robert Goulet because "when Mr. Goulet came to the words 'Pray for peace, people everywhere,' he almost shouted the words."

Thus, I leave you with two versions of Robert Goulet singing the song. The first video is better quality, and the second one has him "almost shout[ing] the words" that Regney referred to (but I find the random pictures somewhat distracting, so you may want to close your eyes while listening to the second video).

A Savior in a Feed Box

The rocks crunched under their feet. A young couple was on the road from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The man was leading the donkey carrying his pregnant wife, and it was slow going at times. The heat got to them, and they were sweaty. Riding a donkey isn’t comfortable in the best of times, and it’s especially tough when you’re pregnant. But it was better than having to walk all that way! Joseph the carpenter lived in Nazareth, but Emperor Caesar had ordered a census, and everyone had to go to the place their ancestors were from so they could be counted. Joseph and his wife Mary were descendants of King David, and David had once been a shepherd in Bethlehem. So here they were making a trip they had hoped they wouldn’t have to make right now, while Mary was in the hardest part of her pregnancy.

It was probably spring time, right near the Passover celebration. So maybe it was appropriate for Joseph and Mary to celebrate the Passover in the town of their ancestors. But when they finally got there, they discovered a new problem. Not only had the journey been difficult, but they couldn’t find anywhere to stay! A lot of others had come for the census too. Here they were in a town that was pretty far from home, with Mary going into labor any time now. Where could they go? They had to make do with the best they could find. A really nice person who lived there didn’t have room in his guest room, but it was very important in that culture to give visitors the best they could give. In this case, the best they could give was in a room with their animals. There was a box in the floor where they kept hay to feed the animals, and that was the softest place they could find. So that was where the baby was born. As with any birth, the pain Mary had just gone through was nothing compared to her pain as the baby was coming out. But pretty soon, they heard a cry. It was a beautiful sound. Mary and Joseph felt a new kind of love they had never felt before, as their child came into the world. After they cleaned him off, they wrapped him in cloths and laid him in the best place they could find: the feed box.

Meanwhile, sheep grazed in a nearby field. The shepherds in the area may have been there so they could sell some of them for sacrifices to be used in the Passover. It was getting dark, and the shepherds were standing around taking care of their sheep. Suddenly, it was bright as day! Confused and shocked, the shepherds looked up into the sky and saw the last thing they had expected to see. Someone was up there, and the light seemed to be coming from him! The shepherds’ first thought was, “RUN!” But they had to take care of their sheep, so they couldn’t just bolt.

I wonder if Gabriel got used to having to tell people not to be scared. He had had to tell Zechariah and Mary that, and now he had to tell the same thing to the shepherds. “Whoa, it’s OK! Don’t worry!” Gabriel said in a loud voice. “I have some awesome news for everyone in the world! You know how you’ve waited for centuries for the Savior the prophets told about? Guess what! He was just born in King David’s hometown! You’ll know him when you see a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a feed box.”

Just when they thought the sky couldn’t get any brighter, a huge army of angels appeared around Gabriel, and they sang something more beautiful than anything the shepherds had ever heard before: “God is more magnificent than anyone else in heaven or earth! He gives peace to everyone on earth that He chooses!”

The shepherds were speechless. They had never seen anything like this before. When they finally recovered enough from their shock to be able to talk, they all agreed that they needed to hurry to Bethlehem to find out what the angels had told them about. They found Mary and Joseph and their newborn baby in a feed box, just as they had been told. Mary and Joseph were surprised to see a group of shepherds, probably bringing their sheep along, come in the room to see their baby. When the shepherds told what they had just seen, the couple was amazed! The shepherds left, and they told everyone they met about the wonderful news. Meanwhile, Mary thought about what they had told her and about everything that had just happened. All that pain had been worth it. Here was a baby who by all accounts wasn’t even possible. Now she found out angels had appeared to shepherds to announce that her baby had arrived. It gave her a lot to think about.

Eight days passed, and the time came to give the baby a name. But Gabriel had already told Mary the name: “The Lord Saves.” Yeshua. Jesus.

יהושע‎

Ἰησοῦς

Mary had a lot to think about right now. But she would have even more to think about a couple years later when they would have more unexpected guests. More about that next week.

Waiting for an Announcer and a Savior

All through the Old Testament, prophets kept repeating how something big was coming. A man would someday be born who would change everything, and another man would prepare everyone for Him.

It all started in a garden. Satan used a snake to tempt Adam and Eve to do the one thing God had told them not to do. When God confronted them about it, He gave them punishments. One thing He said to the snake is important to what we are going to learn today.

Genesis 3:15

And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.

Hundreds of years later, Jacob lay on a bed in Egypt with his sons gathered around him. He was about to die, and as was custom before dying, he gave a blessing to each of his sons. He had something interesting to say to his son Judah.

Genesis 49:10

The scepter will not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he to whom it belongs shall come
    and the obedience of the nations shall be his.

More centuries passed. King Saul reigned over Israel, and when he died, David took his place. David ruled for many years, and Solomon became King after he died. After Solomon’s death, the tribe of Judah and a couple other tribes couldn’t agree with the rest of Israel who should be the next King, and the nation of Israel split into two. David’s dynasty continued in the nation of Judah. During the reigns of four Kings of Judah (Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah), God sent a prophet named Isaiah. He prophesied so much that it filled up a whole book! He had some interesting things to say about what was to come!

Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel.

 Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. 

Isaiah 40:3

A voice of one calling:

“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God.

At the same time as Isaiah, God sent another prophet named Micah. He had this to say:

Micah 5:2

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
    one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
    from ancient times.”

More years passed. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led an attack on Jerusalem, defeating King Jehoiakim and taking many people from the kingdom of Judah away to Babylon. Among those was a prophet named Daniel, and he served several Kings of Babylon. The angel Gabriel appeared to Daniel in dreams, and gave him some messages to tell Israel a lot of stuff about the promised Savior, such as when He would come. A few kings after Nebuchadnezzar, Darius was King of Babylon, Daniel was still alive, and God sent the prophet Zechariah with some more things to say, such as this:

Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, Daughter of Zion!
    Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
    righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I expect we’ll learn about when that prophecy came true in a couple months.

Sometime after that, a guy named Malachi came along and prophesied this:

Malachi 3:1

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

The prophets talked about two men who would come. One would tell about the guy who was coming, and the other one would be the one he was talking about.

Israel and their ancestors went through a lot. Adam and Eve got thrown out of a garden paradise. Noah built a boat to save mankind and animals. Abraham went on an epic journey from Ur to Canaan. God saved Jacob (Israel) and his sons from a horrible famine by making Joseph a ruler in Egypt. They then endured 400 years of slavery, and 40 years of wandering before they finally got to return to their homeland. They had judges and kings. The Assyrians took the nation of Israel captive, and the Babylonians took the nation of Judah captive. Judah got to go home after 70 years of captivity, but it was never the same. After the time of the prophets, there were 400 years that aren’t mentioned in the Bible. Other books tell about how during that time they were ruled by an empire that didn’t let them worship God, and they did bad things to the temple. A family named the Maccabees led the charge against their oppressors and defeated them. Then they had to purify the temple. The Jews still celebrate the purification of the temple. In fact, they just celebrated it last week! It’s called Hanukkah.

So it was that about a century and a half after the first Hanukkah, a priest named Zechariah and his wife really wanted a child. They were getting on in age, and he and Elizabeth kept praying and praying for a kid. Zechariah was alone in the temple one day, burning incense like he often did to worship God. Suddenly, he was surprised to notice someone next to the altar right near him! It was an angel, and he could tell that Zechariah was a bit scared. So the angel said, “It’s OK, Zechariah. Don’t be scared. God has heard your prayers, and Elizabeth will have a son. Name him John. He will bring lots of joy, and the Holy Spirit will fill him even before he’s born! But be careful. He must never drink alcohol. He will lead many people to God, and he will prepare the way for the Lord.”

Zechariah was a bit skeptical. “How can I be sure?” he said. “We’re too old to have kids.”

The angel replied, “I’m Gabriel. God sent me, and since you didn’t believe me, guess what! You won’t be able to talk until what I said happens.”

So Elizabeth got pregnant, and Zechariah couldn’t say a word. Literally. He couldn’t talk.

Six months later, Gabriel showed up again, this time to a girl in Nazareth. Her name was Mary, and she was engaged to a guy named Joseph. Imagine her surprise when she looked up and saw an angel! He said, “Hey, favored one! God is with you!”

Mary had never seen anything like this, and she didn’t know what to make of it. But she was pretty scared too. So once again, Gabriel had to tell her not to be scared. He explained, “You’ll have a child, and you need to name him Jesus. He’ll be great, and he’ll be the son of the Most High God. He will sit on the throne of his ancestor David, and he will rule over Jacob’s descendants forever.”

“Wait, hold on,” Mary said. “How is that possible? I’m a virgin! It’s impossible for me to get pregnant yet!”

So Gabriel said, “The Holy Spirit will come on you. The boy who is born will be holy, and he will be the Son of God. Even your relative Elizabeth is pregnant, and she’s an old lady! In fact, she’s been pregnant for six months now. Nothing that God says will ever fail.”

“OK,” said Mary. “Let it happen.” So Gabriel left.

Elizabeth’s pregnancy was probably news to Mary, and she decided to go visit her relatives in Judea. Mary was still a ways off when she saw Elizabeth and called to her. Just as God had promised Zechariah, the Holy Spirit came on the baby in Elizabeth’s tummy. Little baby John couldn’t contain his joy, and he jumped in excitement! Elizabeth called to her young relative, “Hey, Mary! You are blessed among women, and the child you’re gonna have is blessed! What an honor to have the mother of my Lord come visit! As soon as I heard you call, the baby in my tummy jumped for joy! You are blessed for believing that God will fulfill His promises to you!”

So Mary said, “My soul glorifies God my Savior. He’s seen little ol’ me, His servant, and from now on, people will call me blessed. He’s done amazing things and brought down strong rulers, but He’s lifted up the humble. He fed the hungry but sent the rich away emptyhanded. Just as He promised Abraham and all our ancestors, He has helped Israel.” Mary stayed with Elizabeth and Zechariah for three months and then went home.

Pretty soon, the day came, and Elizabeth gave birth. Eight days later, it was time to name the baby. The priests almost named the boy after his dad Zechariah, but Elizabeth said, “Wait a minute! His name will be John!”

Now everyone was confused. It was normal to name a child after a relative. They didn’t have any relatives named John. So they decided to get a second opinion. They asked Zechariah, who still couldn’t talk. He asked for a writing tablet, and then he wrote on it: “His name is John.” As soon as he finished writing, he discovered he could talk again! So they named him John, and the news began to spread.

Then Zechariah prophesied: “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel! He has come and redeemed them! Just as He promised through the prophets, he has raised up salvation in the house of His servant David, to save us from our enemies and show mercy to our ancestors. He promised Abraham that He would rescue us from our enemies and would make sure we could serve Him without fear and in holiness for all our lives. You, my son, will be a prophet, and you will prepare the way for the Lord. You’ll tell people about how God will save them and forgive their sins because of His mercy. The light of God’s mercy will be like the sun shining on people who were in darkness, and it will help us to walk in peace.”

Mary, meanwhile, was still pregnant. But that’s another story for another Sunday. John grew up and lived in the wilderness until he started to appear publicly.

Just as God promised the snake in the Garden of Eden, Jesus came along and crushed Satan’s head, but not before Satan struck Jesus’ heel. More about that at Easter time. Just as God promised Isaiah, a child was born of a virgin, and He was a wonderful counselor, everlasting Father, Mighty God, Prince of Peace. As God promised Isaiah and Malachi, John called from the wilderness, preparing the world for his relative Jesus. Just as God promised Micah, Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. As God promised the prophet Zechariah (not John’s father), Jesus would one day ride into Jerusalem on a colt. As God promised through Gabriel, Jesus was born just when Daniel said He would be born, the priest Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth gave birth to a child in her old age, and a young virgin gave birth to a healthy baby boy who would save the world.

Peter and John Heal a Lame Man and Jesus’ Message Starts to Go Viral

Jesus had taught His disciples for 3 years. They went through a lot together. They watched Jesus do miracles, tell stories called parables, and do all kinds of cool stuff that changed their lives. He taught them to live lives that pleased God. After three years, they were with Him as He was praying in the garden. They were shocked when Judas, one of their own, led the authorities to where He was and let them arrest Him. They ran away. Peter denied he even knew Jesus. Judas was so sad when he realized the terrible thing he had done that he killed himself. Some of Jesus’ disciples watched Jesus die in one of the worst, most painful ways possible. John took Jesus’ mom in and took care of her from then on. Imagine watching your best friend, or your son, die on a cross! Then three days later, Jesus’ disciples got the surprise of their lives when some women discovered that His tomb was empty, and Jesus showed up, alive! Most of the disciples didn’t believe the reports of Him being alive at first, but they believed when they saw Him. Jesus continued to teach and do miracles (including appearing out of thin air to prove to Thomas that He was alive) for 40 days. Then He had them gather on a hillside and told them, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” He also said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Then He began to rise into the sky. They watched in amazement as He went higher and higher and disappeared behind a cloud. As they were standing there gaping into the sky, two angels showed up and asked them, “What are you doing looking at the sky? Jesus will be coming back someday in the same way you saw Him go!”

After Jesus went into the sky, the disciples’ first order of business was to find a replacement for Judas. There were only eleven disciples left, and they needed twelve because of a prophecy that said one follower would leave and he would need to be replaced. They had some very specific requirements. They needed a man who had been with them the whole time, from John’s baptism to Jesus’ ascension into heaven. They came up with two men: Joseph (also called Barsabbas or Justus) and Matthias. After they prayed about it, Matthias joined their group.

Ten days later, the Jewish celebration of Pentecost arrived, which celebrated the time Moses gave the Law on Mt. Sinai. Just as Jesus had promised His disciples before He left, the Holy Spirit came on them in the form of tongues of fire. Pentecost was a big deal, and there were people from all over the known world in Jerusalem. They didn’t all speak Aramaic like the local Jews, so they were quite surprised to see Jesus’ disciples with flames over their heads and hear them speaking their own languages! God’s power helped them to speak in languages they didn’t even know! God gave Peter the words to speak, and many people listened to his witness of Jesus and believed that day. So the new Church was born. They loved each other and shared everything with each other. They lived in love and awe of God’s goodness, and with God’s help, the Church continued to grow, more every day.

One day, Peter and John went to the temple to pray. It was about 3 in the afternoon. As they got to the Beautiful Gate (that was its name), which led into the temple courts, a beggar sitting on the ground saw them and asked for money. He had been born unable to walk, and his friends had been carrying him there every day for many years so he could beg for money to stay alive. (Remember how they didn’t have wheelchairs at the time?) He was a pitiful sight, and he was most likely used to people ignoring his pleas for money. So it was a bit of a surprise to him when Peter and John stopped and looked straight at him, and Peter said to him, “Look at us!”

Ah, finally someone who will give me some money! Cool!

Then Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold to give you, but I’ve got something even better. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up! Walk!” Keep in mind this guy had never walked before. Ever.

He stood up!

Then he began to jump! He walked around. The people in the area recognized him as he walked and jumped around the temple courts, and they were shocked! Hadn’t they just seen him sitting there, as he had been for years? What in the world had happened?? He was praising God for healing him!

So Peter spoke up. He said, “Fellow Israelites, why are you so shocked? You look like you think we did this! The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has raised Jesus up. You betrayed Him to Pilate, and you murdered Him on the cross. You killed the one who created life, but God raised Him from the dead! We saw that with our own eyes. It is faith in Him that has healed this man.

“Now I know that you and your leaders didn’t know what you were doing when you treated Jesus like a common criminal. The prophets told us ahead of time that Jesus would suffer and die. Great news! You can repent of your sins, and they will be wiped clean! God used Samuel and all the prophets to tell us about these days. He even promised Abraham that He would use his descendants to bless the world. You just need to turn away from your sinful ways and follow Christ!

Needless to say, the Pharisees weren’t too happy about this. They arrested Peter and John and threw them in jail overnight! But that didn’t stop Jesus’ message from continuing to go viral. More and more people were continuing to believe.

The next day, the same Pharisees who had so recently put Jesus to death dragged Peter and John before the Sanhedrin, their court, and asked them, “By what power or name did you do this?”

Just as Jesus had promised, Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. He said, “So let me get this straight. We’re in trouble for an act of kindness to a man in need. Right? OK, so here’s the rub. It was done in the name and power of Jesus. You executed Him, and God raised Him from the dead. You can see with your own eyes that Jesus’ power has healed this man! He’s standing! Jesus is the only one who can save us. God hasn’t given any other name in heaven or earth to save the world.”

The Pharisees were surprised that Peter and John talked that way when they hadn’t gone to school and learned public speaking, and they had clearly been with Jesus. They were upset, but they could see that the guy had been healed, and everyone was happy about it. It wouldn’t make them look very good if they punished the guys for an act of kindness! They were confused and weren’t quite sure what to do.

So after talking amongst themselves, they came up with a plan. They told Peter and John, “OK, we’ll let you go this time. But you better stop talking about Jesus.”

To which Peter said, “So what do you think? Should we listen to God or to you? You tell us. We’ve got to keep spreading what we’ve seen and heard. You want us to stop? Not gonna happen.”

The Sanhedrin threatened them some more, but they couldn’t punish them without looking bad, and the man had clearly been healed. People all over the place were praising God for what had happened! This man, who was over 40, had just started walking for the first time in his life!

So they let Peter and John go.

Jesus Clears the Temple

Sunday school lesson for July 7, 2013, from Matthew 21. This was the final lesson in a series on love. This one was illustrating how we need to love God's family. Jesus showed love for the Gentiles by clearing the area where they were allowed to worship, and then He showed love for everyone by healing their diseases and defending the children who were praising Him.



Passover was always a very busy and exciting time in Jerusalem. You might remember that every year the Jews celebrated the day that God sent Moses to save them from bondage in Egypt. God had sent ten plagues on Egypt, and the last one involved the angel of death passing over the Israelites and not killing their firstborn, while every Egyptian family lost at least their firstborn child and the firstborn of their animals. Then Pharaoh let them go, and ever since then, they have celebrated how God saved them.

Many years passed. Israel had kings, and then when the kings and the people got too evil, God sent the people of Israel and Judah into captivity. Eventually He allowed the people of Judah to return to their homeland. However, it wasn’t the same, and before they knew it, another kingdom took over their area. Rome conquered many countries and expanded their kingdom, and they oppressed the Israelites with taxes and in other ways. The Jews didn’t like the Romans or their tax collectors. The prophets had said that a deliverer, descended from King David, would come one day to save them, and a guy named Jesus was fulfilling these prophecies left and right. They thought that it was only a matter of time before He would deliver them from the Romans in the same way that God had delivered them from the Egyptians.

So that day when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, they could hardly contain themselves! Here was their deliverer! “HELP! SAVE US, Son of David!” they cried as they threw down palm branches for the donkey to walk on. “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Save us!”

("Save us" in Hebrew and Greek are as follows. They are pronounced in variants of "Hosanna!")

הושיעה נא

ὡσαννά

After Jesus got through the crowd, He reached the temple, where He found a horrible sight.

The Pharisees knew that people came from all over Israel to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, and part of the Passover was sacrificing animals. It could be so annoying to have to bring all your animals with you to Jerusalem, so the Pharisees had an idea. Why not sell animals right next to the temple so that people could buy them there and not have to carry them a long way? Great idea, right? In addition, they charged a temple tax so that they could keep the temple in good condition, but they only took a certain kind of coin. So they had to have people nearby who could exchange the people’s money so they could pay their tax. Another great idea, right? There were some problems with this, though, and they really got Jesus steamed. First of all, the money changers charged a bunch of extra money to exchange money. They were just as bad as the tax collectors! Secondly, the animals for sale could get super expensive. But worst of all, they were doing it in the Court of the Gentiles! This was a part of the temple where people who weren’t Jews but wanted to worship God were allowed to come and worship. Some of the people in the crowd couldn’t go into the main part of the temple because they weren’t Jews. So if the only place they were allowed to worship was full of the Jerusalem version of a shopping mall, where could they worship? They had nowhere!

The Bible only tells of two occasions where Jesus turned violent, and both were for the same reason. The Pharisees were using a place that was supposed to be used for worship to sell their wares, and greed had no place in the temple! So Jesus rushed into the Court of the Gentiles and began to throw the tables and benches where the sellers and money changers were doing their thing. He shouted, “My house is supposed to be used for prayer! How dare you steal from the people here?!” Not only were they stealing the people’s money, but they were stealing the only place where the Gentiles were allowed to worship!

When He was done chasing the greedy people out, He turned to the people nearby who couldn’t see or walk, and He healed them. A lot of kids had followed Him, and they were still shouting, “Save us, Son of David!”

The priests and teachers in the temple heard the commotion and came out to see what was going on. When they heard what the children were yelling, they were upset. Remember how they didn’t think Jesus could be God? They realized that the kids were saying that Jesus was the promised deliverer, a messenger (Messiah) from God, and He could save them…and the kids were very happy about it!

The Pharisees were upset with what the kids said, and they said, “Um, Jesus, don’t you hear what they’re yelling?”

Jesus replied, “Um, Pharisees, have you read Psalm 8 lately? It says that God wants children and infants to praise Him!”

Love Your Enemies

We had a guest speaker in Sunday school on Sunday, June 30, 2013. I sent e-mails to the parents of the students in the week before, building up suspense of who the mystery guest might be. In those e-mails, I included pictures of him, but mentioned that he's changed a bit since then.

When the students arrived, they found out it was my grandpa. He is now 97, and he is one of my heroes. He had a lesson prepared about his experiences in life (mainly in the Army during World War 2), and how that related to Jesus' teaching about how we need to love our enemies. The Bible lesson was from Matthew 5, from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

As a point of reference, the students were M.E. (girl), E.D. (girl), A.L. (girl) and A.M. (boy). As you may be able to tell from the transcript, A.M. is the youngest and is still learning to read, but that doesn't stop him from being impressively bright and enthusiastic. M.E.'s mom Donna and E.D.'s mom Lori were also there. (Lori normally helps out when I teach Sunday school, and I told parents in the e-mail that they were welcome to come too if they liked, so Donna came.)

~~~

Grandpa:

You know, it’s been a long time since I’ve been a special speaker on any occasion, and when Steven asked me if I would come and be a special speaker, and told me what his assignment was, I was delighted! I was happy that he asked me to be a special speaker. Shall I tell about Steven when he was little? You knew that Steven grew up in the Philippines? My wife and I went to the Philippines to visit the Saukes when they lived there, and Steven—that was in 1981—so I figured Steven was four years old. At first I thought it was five, but it was four years old! I liked to go for a walk. I’ve been a walker, oh, many years, and that’s why I have gotten old. Anyway, I wanted to go for a walk in the Philippines. The Saukes lived one mile from the school where Ron was teaching, and they were down here; the school was up on a hill, and I thought that’s a good walk, to walk up to that school. So I was gonna walk up to that school, and who wanted to walk with me, but this four-year-old! And you know, he made it easier up that hill than I did! He was my friend way back then. As he said, I’ve had a long—I’m 97 years now—old. Another 2½ years and I’m gonna be 100. I’ve had a long life. I’ve had a very interesting life. God has been so good to me, to give me such an interesting life! 

It started out, I was born and raised on a farm in North Dakota, and I had a Christian mother that taught her boys the Bible. Before we went to bed at night, she’d gather us around her, and she’d tell us a Bible story. I was the oldest one, so she’d ask the boys, “What should I tell you about?” Well, the little kids, they wanted the story repeated, but they knew the best! [A student arrived at this point, so there was a little bit of introduction]

Grandpa:

OK! Anyway, we had a Bible camp that developed right close by our place, and at that Bible camp, I made two very important decisions. The first one was that I decided to receive the Lord Jesus into my heart and to receive eternal life like He promised in His Word. When I was ten years old—Anybody here ten? When I was ten years old, I made that most important decision, to accept the Lord as my Savior. I think about five years later, I’m not sure just how long that was, then I made another very important decision. It was very difficult for me to make that decision, because I was very shy. I didn’t like to be around strangers. I only wanted to be around people that I knew real well. But I promised the Lord that second time, that if He wanted me to be something or go someplace, I would say yes. If He wanted me to be a missionary, I would be a missionary, or whatever. Because of those two promises, God has given me a long and a very interesting life. Do you know I’ve had about four or five different careers during that time? I taught school for a while. I’m gonna tell you about the army. I was in the army, American Army during World War 2. I’m gonna get back to that. After the war, I went door to door asking for a job, and a newspaper hired me. For five years, I worked for a newspaper. And after those five years, I had had some experience that led me into – I became a pastor. I went to Canada and served some churches in Canada. Then I came to Montana and served some churches in Montana, and I had the most wonderful time during those years when I was a pastor. Lots of people found the Lord as their Savior in those churches while I was there, and there’s nothing that’s so heartening, makes you feel so good as to help somebody find Jesus as their Savior. After I had been the pastor for these five churches, the church got a nursing home in Port Townsend. (You know where Port Townsend is?) They needed someone to operate that. They were in a crux, and I was challenged to go up there and try to save that situation, and I had ten years as the administrator of that nursing home. I worked with older people, mostly older people, who were in a nursing home, and I had another wonderful time. Then I worked for missions after that. Anyways, I’ve had a very interesting life.

I’ll get back to the army. Steven says our lesson is about loving your enemies. I understand that your lessons this month have been about love this month. Is that correct? We are to love everybody. It’s easy to love somebody that is your friend. How about your enemy? Easy to love your enemy? When I was a soldier in World War 2, who were my enemies?

E.D.:

The Japanese?

Grandpa:

Who?

Me:

The Japanese, she said.

E.D.:

The Japanese.

Grandpa:

Japanese. Japanese, and…the Germans.

A.M.:

I know that. Yeah.

Grandpa:

And you knew that.

A.M.:

I know that stuff.

Grandpa:

Did I love my enemies?

A.M.:

Hmm… No.

Grandpa:

Well, let’s first see what Jesus said about loving your enemies. And I have some verses or parts of verses on little pieces of paper, and they’ve got a number on them, and I’m gonna have you read as I call on you. Read your part, and you pass those around.

Me:

Sure

Grandpa:

You know, I can’t see very well. My eyes have worn out. My hearing is bad, so you have to speak out loud because I’m old.

Me (having finished passing out the slips of paper):

Just the right number!

Grandpa:

Just the right number. OK, who’s got number one?

Me:

Be sure to speak up, everybody!

M.E.:

OK. “I say love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.”

Grandpa:

OK, a word in there: Persecute. What’s it mean to persecute? “Pray for those who persecute you.” Any ideas?

E.D.:

Are not kind

Grandpa:

Unkind?

E.D.:

Uh huh. Are unkind.

Grandpa:

Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t…

Donna:

Are unkind to you. You were right.

Grandpa (to me):

You be my ears for me, will you?

Me:

OK

Grandpa:

What did she say?

Me:

People are unkind to you.

Grandpa:

Unkind, yeah, that’s making it kinda mild. When they persecute you, they do more than being unkind to you.

A.L.:

Bully

Me (repeating so Grandpa could hear it):

Bully

Grandpa:

Yes! And what did they say about… Pray for those…

Me:

And [A.L.] also said they can execute you. [she said it too quietly for the recording to pick it up]

Grandpa:

Can execute, yes, that’s right!

Donna:

Extreme persecution!

Grandpa:

Extreme! OK. Now Jesus said, He had His disciples there. He was giving some teaching, and He says, “I say to you, Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.” Number two.

Donna:

“In that way, you will be acting as true children of our Father in heaven.”

Grandpa:

Thank you for speaking out loud! I heard it. That way, you will be like… Heavenly Father. You know, He loves everybody. John 3:16, the most famous, I think, Bible verse. Who can quote it?

E.D.:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Grandpa:

Good! Good for you! “God so loved the world.” The bad people as well as the good people. How much did He love them?

E.D.:

“That He gave His one and only Son”

Grandpa:

He gave His one and only Son. Right. So if you love your enemies and you pray for those who persecute you, like your Heavenly Father. Number three.

Me:

“For He gives His sunlight to both the evil and the good.”

Grandpa:

OK. He gives sunlight to the evil and to the good. And number four? What else does He do?

Lori:

“And He sends rain on the just and on the unjust too.”

Grandpa:

OK. When He sends rain, He doesn’t send it just to the good people. He sends rain to the bad people too, and that’s the example that He has given for us. Um, number five.

E.D.:

“If you only love those who love you, what good is that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that.”

Grandpa:

Yes. If you love only those who are your friends, that’s common. Anybody can love those. Even tax collectors—oh, we’ve gotta talk about tax collectors. What does He mean by these tax collectors?

A.L.:

 Often in biblical times, many people couldn’t afford taxes, and they would come and take most of what they had. I remember there was a story in the Bible of this tax collector, um…

E.D.:

Zacchaeus?

A.L.:

Yeah, Zacchaeus.

Grandpa:

OK. Tax collectors were thought of as very bad people because they would collect money from the people, which they were to pass on to the government, and they’d keep part of it, and maybe they kept more than they should. And so, what was it He said, what did this verse say about the tax collectors?

A.L.:

It said of how many people can love those who can love them back, even the tax collectors who, um, you know, are kinda mean.

Grandpa:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes. Let’s go on to the next one. Number six.

A.M.:

Me. “If you are kind only to your friends, how you are…”

Me:

“…how are you…”

A.M.:

“…how are you different from anyone else? Even the pag-ans?”

Me:

“…pagans…”

A.M.:

“…pagans do that.”

Grandpa:

OK. I couldn’t hear what you said, so I wonder if you’d repeat it.

A.M.:

Yes, I’ll do it again.

Me:

Say it louder.

A.M.:

OK, a little louder. “If you are kind only to your friends, you are different from anyone else? Even…”

Me:

“…pagans…”

A.M.:

“…pagans do that.”

Me (to Grandpa):

Did you hear that time?

Grandpa:

Even…

Donna:

He said, “pagans do that.”

Grandpa:

Pagans! What are pagans?

A.M.:

Mmm… I have no idea.

Grandpa:

You have no idea.

A.M.:

I’ve heard the word before, but I forget what it means.

Grandpa:

Even the pagans do that. Pagans people who, um, how do you say, Steven? What’s a pagan? (laugh)

Donna:

They worship another god

Grandpa:

Yes

Me:

They don’t believe in Jesus

Grandpa:

OK, “Even the pagans do that,” Jesus said. And then number seven:

A.L.:

“But you are perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

Grandpa:

OK, be perfect. There it means if you are Christians and follow through… At this point, now I’m not perfect, but I expect that there’s going to be a day when I’m in heaven, and all my sins are forgiven, all my bad things that I may have thought are going to be forgotten, and I’m going to be perfect. Is there any questions about any of our scripture that we’ve had? [pause, nobody had any] 

Then let me get back to the army. Was I right or wrong when I was drafted into the army to become a soldier?

A.L.:

Um, it kind of goes both ways. You were right to be protecting your country and loving those in it, but it’s also wrong to, well, fight the Japanese and Germans because even though they’re your enemies, you should love them also.

Grandpa:

I didn’t hear all of it, but what I heard, I liked.

A.L.:

Sorry.

Grandpa:

You know, when God called me into the army, I feel it was God who called me to a special mission field. Do you know the American Army is a mission field? I’ll tell you it’s a mission field. It was a tremendous culture shock for me when I went in there. When I had grown up in North Dakota on that farm, I can’t remember that I ever saw a person that was drunk! They didn’t do that over there. I went in the army, wow! It was terrible. And I feel that God wanted me to be in the army as a witness for Him. I can’t say that I was a good witness during those years, but I did make an impression on some people, I’m sure. So that’s how I feel about being called in. Now how does it work? How can you love your enemies? [pause, no answer] You know, during those years, God spared me from, I never had to shoot anybody. I never was actually involved in any warfare. We did a lot of practicing and all that kind of thing in training, but God spared me from participating in any actual combat. So that’s one thing. And I should tell you how I got spared. When I went to the South Pacific, I was in the 164th Infantry. I was one of the infantrymen, which are the ones who carry guns and who go out on patrols and try to find the enemy and put them out of the way. That’s what the infantry does. When we got to the South Pacific, we had been there only a month or so, and, well, maybe I should tell you, actually twice I was spared, because we were assigned to defend the island of New Caledonia, and the American Navy base was on New Caledonia, and we were supposed to protect that island from the Japanese who would come and try to attack our navy base. And we heard one morning that the Japanese Navy was coming down the Coral Sea, and they were coming directly towards that army base, toward that navy base. And we were assigned to get in our foxholes and watch for any enemy, watch for airplanes and whatnot, and we went in our foxholes, and it was dark when we got there, and it got light. We didn’t see anything, and about nine to ten o’clock, we got the word. Admiral Halsey had sneaked out around behind, and they defeated the Japanese Army in the Battle of the Coral Sea. The Battle of the Coral Sea was really the first victory that the Americans had over the Japanese in the South Pacific. If they had attacked our island, we wouldn’t have had a chance because we were just a few. I had a foxhole here, and a hundred yards down was the next one. And we were – yes?

E.D.:

What’s a foxhole?

Me:

“What’s a foxhole?”

Grandpa:

A foxhole. Oh! You dig a hole in the ground, and then you get down in there, and that’s where you hide where the enemy can’t see you. They call it a foxhole.

A.M.:

I figured that that was what you were gonna say. That’s what I figured.

Grandpa:

So I was spared when we were in New Caledonia. And then, biggest thing of all, a little while later, they brought in some Air Force officers who were establishing a headquarters there in the area, right next to the navy base, because the Navy and the Air Force had to work together against the Japanese, and they brought these high-ranking officers in there who found a place in which to operate. They had a staff that was gonna come. Oh, whenever they could, they would come by water. Of course, the Air Force officers, they came in by air, but the staff was coming in by water, and it would be a while before they’d get there. So these officers, when they went to work, they started writing these telegrams and letters and things that they needed to do, they needed someone who could type who could do the secretarial work for them. And we had three army regiments on the island – 164th, 182nd, 132nd, and they asked for one person from each one of those units to come and do secretarial work. And of all things, I was chosen from the 164th Infantry. Out of a thousand people, out of a thousand men, I got chosen. That’s a miracle. I think God must have had a hand in that, because as I worked with General Harmon and his staff, I didn’t even carry a gun. I was doing secretarial work for him. I think it was about two or three weeks after I got transferred into this unit with General Harmon that an order came down for the Army to send a unit up into Guadalcanal to relieve the Marines, who had been fighting desperately, and the 164th Infantry was chosen to do so. I would have been a part of that. And then I saw a little bit later a list of those, the people who had been killed and wounded on a certain day. I saw the list, the names of people who had been killed. It was my unit, of which I had been a part. They were the ones who I had lived with, and even back in training in, we trained in Louisiana. I guess you’d call them my friends. They weren’t godly people, but it hurt to see that, and I learned that they had been on a patrol and ran into a trap that the Japanese had set, and that’s why they were killed and wounded in that battle. God spared me. During that time, I never saw a Japanese, one of the enemy Japanese. They weren’t brought up to the headquarters. They had some in, ah, (what do you call it?) not concentration camp, but jail anyway. They were in jail, but they didn’t bring them up. I never saw one, and did I hate them? I hated what they were doing. I didn’t hate them. In due time – Am I taking too much time?

Me:

No, you’re good.

Grandpa:

In due time, I went back to the States, and I was reassigned, and the war was still going on over in Europe, and I was assigned to a unit that was training to go to Europe to fight against the Germans. When they were trained, then I went with them over to Europe. We got right close to what was going on, but I say that Hitler heard that we were coming, so he gave up. That’s not true, but anyway, we had been there a very short time, and then we got the news that they gave up over in Germany, and I was in the Army of Occupation for a little while before we got home. I want to tell you about that time I was in the Army of Occupation. We were waiting to come back home, and while we were in a certain place in Karlsruhe, Germany, we were billeted in a building that had been spared. Germany was in terrible condition at that time. You know, it had been bombed, and you could drive through a town, and you wouldn’t be able to go through at all because it was all rubble. But the Army had brought their bulldozers in and cleared the way to make a road through town. There were a few towns that had been spared, but many of them were really bad. In this town where we were, in Karlsruhe, by far, most of the buildings had been damaged. But this particular one had been, oh, it was pretty good yet, and we had pretty good condition there, and we had some German girls that came in to do the cleaning. They would do our laundry for us. We didn’t have to give them any money. All they wanted was some soap so that they could wash some of their own clothes, with their clothes, because they couldn’t buy soap. So if we sent some soap with them, then they would do it for nothing. Well, one girl took my laundry home, and she brought it back, and she had it ironed, and, oh, she’d done such a beautiful job. I was delighted, and I thought she should be rewarded for it. I looked around my room, and I found a candy bar, and I think it was a package of…it was something else too, which I gave to her. She took that home to her mother. Her mother was so impressed with this kind American who had rewarded her, that she gave a special invitation for me to come and visit them in their home, which I did. I went there, and we had to climb steps, and we finally got way up in an attic where they were living, and we tried to understand each other. She, German, me, English, and so it was a little difficult to understand each other. But you know, with motions and what… I had in my billfold some pictures of my wife, particularly my wife. I had some for others too, and so I was showing them that this was my wife. So they got their albums out, pictures, and they showed me the house where they had lived in, and now it was smashed. There wasn’t any house there at all, and now they had moved up into somebody’s attic, where they were making an existence. They couldn’t buy food. There was nothing in the stores. They just had, it seemed to me that, how in the world can they make it? I was trying to find out about the family. There was no man around there, and I found out that the father in the home was a prisoner of war in England. They had a little baby there. I don’t know how that had happened. One of the girls had evidently become pregnant and had a baby. I felt so sorry for those people. I loved them! They had been our enemy. God gives you the ability to love your enemies. 

Now I’ve kinda relayed something of my background and what had happened to me. I’ve had a wonderful life, and I say it’s because of those two decisions that I made. Now, young people, nobody’s told me anything about any of you. I don’t know if you have made those decisions yet, but I would urge you to do so. Accept the Lord as your Savior if you have not done so, and give your life to Him. Romans 12, if I turn in the Bible. Two verses that have been very special to me is Romans 12:1, to “present your bodies” to the Lord. That means to give your bodies to the Lord. The next verse says, “And let God transform you into what He wants you to be.” I needed that transformation. I was so shy, but God did something for me, and I think I’m done.

[A few minutes later…]

Can I tell you about some of Steven’s, what he sometimes does? I had a dream. He had told me about this class. In my dream, I had prepared a lesson for third graders, and I was all prepared, and we came to the classroom, and the kids started coming, and I thought they looked pretty big for third grade. Turned out they were seventh graders! The lesson that I had prepared in no way fit seventh graders! Steven, I wouldn’t have asked him to do something like, but for Sunday school, ohhh… (laughter)

[and later…]

Heavenly Father, I thank You that I’ve had the privilege here to be in this room with these young people. O Lord, I pray Your blessing upon each one of them. Here are young lives. Life lays before them. I pray, Father, that they will yield to Your will and follow as You would lead them, and make them a blessing during their lives. I just commend them to You. Bless their future lessons as Steve presents them for the class. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

If you want a special speaker again, I’d consider it!

Do Not Condemn

This morning's Sunday school lesson:

The Pharisees, or religious leaders, couldn’t stand Jesus. He kept proving them wrong, and they didn’t like it. But the people loved Him. They saw Him heal a paralyzed man, a woman who had had health problems all her life, blind men, and more. He had even raised a girl and a boy from the dead! He turned water into wine. He told interesting stories to teach lessons, so people would remember what they learned. What was not to love about this guy? Well, when He constantly proves you wrong, it gets annoying. It gets even more annoying when He keeps mentioning how you’re just as sinful as the “sinners” you condemn! The Pharisees wanted to find a way to turn the crowds against Him, because they couldn’t just do away with Him without making the crowds mad at them. So they thought of a clever trap. Nobody could get out of this. Bwahahahahahaha!!!

The Pharisees knew that Jesus was a teacher. If they could trap Him into saying something that was everyone knew was bad, maybe they could get people to stop believing Him. So they found a sinful woman and brought her along. They said to Him, “Hey, teacher! This woman has been caught in the act of breaking the promises she made to her husband when they got married. In the Law, Moses said that we’re supposed to stone people who do that. What do you think?”

They thought they were so smart. What could Jesus say? If He said they should stone her, He would be contradicting everything He had taught on forgiveness and love. If He said they should let her live, He would be breaking the Law.

But Jesus knew why they were asking the question, and He was smarter than them. It’s one of the perks of being God. He decided to let them wait a bit while He bent down and wrote something on the ground. Then He stood up and turned the question around to them. “OK,” He said, “I want a volunteer. Whichever one of you has never sinned in your life, come forward, and you get to throw the first stone! Give it your best shot!” Then He bent down and wrote some more stuff on the ground.

Now the Pharisees were trapped. Everyone has sinned at some point in their life, and if anyone came forward to throw a stone, they would obviously be lying about having never sinned, and the people would turn against the Pharisees instead! One by one, the embarrassed Pharisees started to leave. The older ones left first. Pretty soon, the younger ones were gone too.

Once everyone was gone, Jesus stood up and said to the woman, “So, ma’am, where’d they go? Nobody has condemned you?”

“No, sir,” she said. “Nobody.”

Jesus, the only person in the crowd who had never sinned, said to her, “Then I don’t condemn you either. Go, and don’t sin any more.”

Jesus Heals the Paralytic

Today's Sunday school lesson...

We started out with a modern example of an amazing quadriplegic who is truly one of my heroes. As I was preparing the lesson, I watched this video, and it occurred to me that the man in the Bible story from Mark 2 may have had similar thoughts and struggles to what Joni went through. (She also explains what a quadriplegic is in this video, for those who don't know.) In addition to showing the video, I showed some of my paintings (which I did with my hands), and compared them to Joni's paintings (which she did with her teeth!) I think hers are much better than mine, even if you don't take into account the hands/teeth thing.


You may remember how we learned a couple months ago about how Jesus healed the servant of a Roman general, called a centurion, in the city of Capernaum. The centurion asked Jesus to help his dying servant, and before the guy even got home, he found out his servant was well!

Another time, Jesus came to Capernaum to teach. Word got around that Jesus had come home, and everyone wanted to hear what He was gonna tell them. Houses were small at that time, and they usually only had one room. Pretty soon, the house where He was teaching was standing room only, and then there wasn’t even room for that! People kept gathering outside the house straining to hear what Jesus was saying.

Nearby, there lived a quadriplegic. They didn’t have wheelchairs at the time, and the only way disabled people could get around was if their friends helped them. Most people didn’t have beds, so they slept on mats instead. Mats could easily be rolled up and put away so people had room in their small houses to do other things during the day. This paralyzed man and his friends had heard that Jesus could heal things that the doctors couldn’t. They knew they had to get to Him, but what could they do? The house where Jesus was teaching was bursting with a huge crowd of people! They couldn’t exactly walk up to Him and ask Him to heal their friend. So they came up with a creative plan.

Houses were small and only had one room. They also had flat roofs and outdoor stairways leading up to the roofs. That way they had more space to do stuff on top of the house. Roofs were made of mud brick, thatch and other materials. The paralyzed man’s friends saw that even if they couldn’t walk through the door, they had access to the stairs leading up to the roof. So they carried their friend on his mat up the stairs to the roof.

Pretty soon the people down below started hearing footsteps above. Weird. Who was on the roof? Wait a minute! What’s this? Suddenly a shaft of sunlight came through the roof where there shouldn’t be sunlight! Someone was moving away the mud and other stuff that made up the roof, making a hole in the roof right above Jesus! The hole kept growing! Pretty soon, the sunlight was blocked by something being placed in the hole! They watched as slowly, carefully, a paralyzed man was lowered on his mat to the floor at Jesus’ feet. The house was pretty crowded, but somehow they managed to make room for the guy being lowered from above.

Jesus was impressed with their faith. They trusted Him so much that they went to great lengths to get their friend to Him, because they knew He could heal him. So Jesus said to the guy, “Your sins are forgiven.”

There were some religious leaders in the crowd, and they weren’t too happy to hear Jesus say that. They didn’t say anything, but they were thinking about how only God had the right to forgive sins, and if Jesus was saying this, that meant He was claiming to be God. They didn’t think Jesus could be God, because He was just a man!

But they didn’t know that Jesus could read their minds. They were sure surprised when Jesus turned to them and said, “Why are you thinking that? I could say ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Get up, take your mat and walk.’ Which is easier?”

Imagine how speechless they must have been that Jesus read their minds! Then in case they didn’t get that, He went on, “But you need to know that the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sins.” He turned back to the guy on the mat and said to him, “Dude, get up! Take your mat and go home!”

The paralyzed man stood up! For the first time in a long time (maybe ever), he rolled up his own mat. The amazed crowd cleared a path for him and watched in stunned silence as he carried his mat and walked out of the house! In awe, people in the crowd said, “We’ve never seen anything like this in our lives!” Many people believed in Jesus’ message that day.

The Lord's Prayer

Today's Sunday school lesson from Luke 11 and Matthew 6...


Jesus had an interesting way of teaching. Sometimes He didn’t teach people what they expected Him to teach. He would do it by example. Sometimes He told stories to help people to understand a point. Sometimes He used miracles. One of his stories had some surprising news about who we were supposed to love. The Samaritans, who the Jews hated, were supposed to be loved and treated with respect. To teach that, He told a story about how respected Jews didn’t help a wounded man, but a Samaritan did. When Jesus visited His friends Mary and Martha, Martha was surprised when Jesus told her it was better for Mary to be listening and learning than to help Martha prepare the meal.

Jesus made a point of praying all the time. His disciples saw Him doing this, and one day, one of them had a request. “Jesus, can You teach us how to pray? John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray, and it would be really cool if you could teach us that too.”

Jesus thought that was a great idea. So He told them to pray something like this:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be Your name.
Your Kingdom come,
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.

Then Jesus told them a parable. Imagine with me that an old friend suddenly showed up at your door one night and needed to spend the night. They’ve been traveling a long way, and they’re really hungry. They didn’t call ahead and tell you they were coming, but they’re such a good friend that you just can’t turn them down! But…oh no! You don’t have any food to feed them, because you didn’t know they were coming! So what do you do? You go to your friendly neighbor’s house and knock on the door to ask if they could share some food. All the stores are closed in the middle of the night, so you can’t exactly go shopping. But it’s midnight, and your neighbor, who is so nice during the daytime, is in bed. People don’t like it when someone knocks on their door asking for food in the middle of the night! So your neighbor says, “Are you kidding? Go ‘way! The door is locked, we’re all in bed, and it’s too late! Who eats a big meal at midnight anyway?” The neighbor might not give you anything because you’re friends, but because you dared to come knocking and ask, and maybe to make sure you still think well of them, the neighbor will get up and give you something to serve your guest. So ask. It will be given to you. Search and you’ll find. Knock, and they’ll open the door.

Now imagine you’re all grown up and you have kids. One day your son asks you, “Can I have a fish?” Would you say, “Naah, I think I’ll give you a snake instead!”? What if he asks for an egg? Would you give him a scorpion? Of course not! Just think…if you know what’s good to give others, how much more does God know what’s good to give you?

The "Steven Paraphrase":

Dad in heaven,
You are holy and so much more awesome
than anything or anyone else.
Rule as King over our lives,
Whatever you want to happen, make it happen,
here on earth just like in heaven.
Give us food to eat today,
and forgive us for our sins,
in the same way that we’ve forgiven
people who have been mean to us.
Don’t let us be tempted,
but save us from evil.
You are our King forever.
Nobody is stronger than You.
You are glorious forever and ever.
I agree.

~~~

I found some pictures to illustrate Luke 11:11-12: "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?"

The Centurion's Faith

This morning's Sunday school lesson, from Luke 7...


A lot had happened in Israel since the days of the Kings in the Old Testament. Israel and Judah were both taken into captivity, and Judah was eventually allowed to return to their land. But it was never the same. By the time Jesus was born, Judea was a province of the Empire of Rome. The emperor Caesar ruled Rome, and he appointed governors to the provinces. The Roman army had generals called centurions. They were called that because they each commanded centuries of 100 soldiers. (In this case, a century is a group of soldiers, not a group of years.)

Le Centurion (The Centurion),

By French painter Jacques Tissot

Painted between 1886 and 1894

Brooklyn Museum

After Jesus was rejected in Nazareth, He traveled around the area, teaching and healing. During this time, He picked twelve men to teach and become His disciples: Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot.

Peter lived in Capernaum, and Jesus liked to hang out there a lot. Most of the people in Capernaum were Jews, but there were also people from other cultures who lived there, such as an important Roman centurion. Roman soldiers weren’t very nice to the Jews, and they made them pay taxes. In fact, John the Baptist had to tell the soldiers not to take more in taxes than they were required to take. The Jews hated most centurions, but this one was different. He actually cared for the people in the town, and he even built a synagogue for them! That’s pretty amazing since he probably worshipped Jupiter and the rest of the Roman gods at first. He was also unusual because he cared for his servants. He had a very important servant who was very sick, so sick in fact that he was getting close to dying. The centurion heard that Jesus had come to town, and he sent some Jewish elders to Jesus to ask Him to come quickly to help his servant.  When they found Jesus, they didn’t just ask Him to come…they begged Him! They told Him about how this guy had done so much for them, and he really cared. This was not just any Roman centurion.

Jesus followed them, but before He got to the house, the centurion sent some messengers to say, “Don’t bother coming. I sent others because I wasn’t worthy to come to You myself, and I’m not worthy for You to come to my house. But I know that You are very powerful. You can just say the word, and poof! My servant will be well. I am under authority myself, and I have authority over my soldiers and servants. I tell them ‘Come!’ or ‘Go!’ or ‘Do this!’, and they obey me.” The centurion understood that Jesus had authority that he didn’t have. No matter how much he ordered his servant to get better, it would be impossible. But Jesus had authority over the sickness, and He could command it to leave.

When the messengers passed on the word, Jesus stopped. He was amazed. This guy wasn’t even a Jew! He said, “Wow! I haven’t seen this much faith in all of Israel!”

When the messengers got back to the centurion’s house, they discovered that the servant, who had almost died, was well!

Jesus Rejected in Nazareth

This morning's Sunday school lesson:


Jesus was very young when He moved from Egypt back to Israel with His parents. In the years that followed, Mary and Joseph had other children, and the growing family lived in Nazareth. Joseph was a carpenter, and he taught his trade to Jesus.

When Jesus grew up, He was baptized, and then He wandered for 40 days without eating, just praying and wandering. Near the end of this time, Satan noticed that Jesus was really super hungry and decided it was time for some mischief. He told Jesus, “If you’re really God’s Son, turn this rock into bread!” But Jesus quoted scripture: “Man does not live by bread alone.” Then Satan took Jesus to a high place and showed Him all the riches and kingdoms of the world. He said, “If you worship me, I’ll give you all this.” But Jesus quoted scripture again: “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only!” This time, Satan decided two could play at this quoting-scripture thing. He took Jesus to the roof of the temple and said, “OK, then. If You’re really God’s Son, jump off! Scripture says that ‘He will command His angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” But once again, Jesus quoted scripture: “Scram! It also says, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test!’” So Satan left.

The Holy Spirit had come on Jesus when He was baptized, and He was still there after Jesus was done being tempted. He traveled throughout Galilee teaching in the synagogues (Jewish churches), and people started talking. Word was getting around that there was a great teacher who was helping people to understand what the scripture said. Word got back to Nazareth, and one day, Jesus decided to go home. That Saturday, He got up in church and read the words of Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Then He rolled up the scroll and sat down. Everyone was watching Him, so He kept talking. “Today, that scripture has been fulfilled!” The townspeople were surprised by what He said, and they wondered, “Wait a minute… Isn’t this Joseph’s boy?” They were impressed!

Jesus went on, “You’re probably going to say, ‘Doctor, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we’ve been hearing about you doing in Capernaum! But no. Prophets aren’t accepted in their hometowns. Remember what you learned about Elijah? There was a famine for three and a half years, and Israel had lots of widows. But God didn’t send Elijah to any of them. He sent him to a widow in the town of Zerephath, which wasn’t even in Israel. Then later, lots of people in Israel had leprosy, but God didn’t send the prophet Elisha to any of them. He sent the Syrian general Naaman to Elisha to be healed.”

This really got the Nazarenes steamed. “What do you mean? You won’t save us? You’ll save foreigners instead?!” But they missed the point. Jesus wanted to do miracles in Nazareth, but the people didn’t understand what the widow in Zerephath and Naaman understood. You have to believe. Those two foreigners from so many years earlier believed in God. Their lives were changed because they believed God could heal them. The Israelites in Jesus’ time thought the Messiah would only be for the Jews. But Jesus was saying that the Messiah was for everyone! They didn’t want to share their Messiah with anyone else.

Nazareth was built at the top of a hill. The Nazarenes were so furious with Jesus that they got up and chased Him out of the synagogue, out of town, and to the edge of a cliff so they could throw Him off! But when they got there, Jesus walked through the crowd and left. If the Nazarenes weren’t gonna listen, maybe people from other towns would.

Jesus' Baptism

Today's Sunday school lesson, from Luke 1-3 (with bits of Matthew thrown in)...


The big day came! Mary and Joseph had gone on a difficult journey with a donkey and their supplies to Bethlehem for a census, only to find no place available to stay. So they found a stable, and their bouncing baby was born. It was a big deal. On a tip from some angels, a group of shepherds visited them. Pretty soon, people started leaving after the census, and Mary and Joseph were able to find a house to raise their new son Jesus. A couple years later, some rich wise men came and brought expensive gifts. But on their way, they stopped by the palace in Jerusalem and talked to King Herod. Herod wasn’t too happy about this new King of the Jews, and he secretly plotted to kill Jesus. But an angel warned Joseph about it in a dream, and the family got up and fled to Africa. Maybe you know the country in Africa where they went? It’s called Egypt. They lived in Egypt until Herod died and it was safe to go back home. So after returning from Egypt, Jesus grew up in Joseph’s hometown of Nazareth. Many years passed, and Jesus turned 30.

Back up a little more than 30 years.

Mary was pregnant and scared. She went to her cousin Elizabeth’s house for a while because she heard that Elizabeth, who was too old to have children, was also pregnant. An angel had appeared to her husband Zechariah and told him they would have a son, and they should name him John. Zechariah didn’t believe the angel at first, so God made him unable to speak, until one day when his neighbors were having a discussion about John’s name, and he wrote on a tablet, “His name is John.” Zechariah prophesied that John would be a prophet, and that he would prepare the way for the promised Messiah that Israel had been awaiting for centuries.

The big day came! Elizabeth gave birth to a son, and they named him John. He was born a few months before Jesus, and when John grew up, he lived in the desert. There wasn’t much to eat there, except maybe some delicious locusts and honey. Yum!!

John became a preacher and prophet, just like his dad had prophesied. He often preached and baptized by the Jordan River, and he had an interesting message. He called the people snakes! He told them they needed to change how they acted. They needed to ask God to forgive their sins. They should share their food and their clothes. Tax collectors should only collect as much in taxes as they were required to collect. Soldiers shouldn’t ask for bribes or accuse people falsely. “Oh, and there’s this guy coming. I’m baptizing you with water, but He’ll baptize you with fire and the Holy Spirit.* I’m not even worthy to untie his sandals,” something that slaves normally did. Pretty soon, 30-year-old Jesus came to His cousin John to be baptized. John was a little reluctant at first since he thought Jesus should be the one baptizing him, but Jesus convinced him to do it.

When Jesus came out of the water, something amazing happened. Heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove! A loud voice from heaven boomed, “You are My Son. I love You, and I’m so proud of You!”

Jordan River, near a location where people are often baptized. 

I did not show this picture in class, but it shows a place 

where it's likely this happened.

So that was how Jesus began His ministry. He got baptized by His cousin John, and He showed publicly that He was different from anyone else.

I showed this picture of a shamrock before the lesson, as 

St. Patrick's explanation of the Trinity is the best I've heard.

We serve one God, who has three parts. That's confusing,

even for adults. As St. Patrick explained it, a shamrock

has three leaves, but it is still one shamrock. That's similar

to how the Trinity is three parts: the Father, the Son and the 

Holy Spirit, but only one God. All three parts showed up at 

Jesus' baptism.

* The prophecy about Jesus baptizing them with the Holy Spirit and fire came true 3 years later in the book of Acts.

All pictures are in the public domain, and I got them from Wikimedia Commons.