YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)
Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
The message from the Parable of the Rich Fool that we discussed yesterday should not be seen as against riches but as against one’s reliance on riches and one’s devotion to attaining riches. We should remember also that the idea of riches is an individual one and that million$ or billion$ need not be required for a man to feel ‘well off’ which may be a better way of viewing the idea of rich. This can help us to not look beyond ourselves and to deem only those with ‘extreme’ riches as being rich. We can also look at this whole idea of riches with the view of worship and see the idea of riches as being one of the idols of a man’s worship. Jesus, in reply to Satan in the wilderness quotes scripture in saying “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Luke 4:8) and in this regard we should see those, including ourselves, who tend to serve their idea of riches as a god. Webster’s defines the verb worship as to adore; to pay divine honors to; to reverence with supreme respect and veneration. To respect; to honor; to treat with civil reverence. To honor with extravagant love and extreme submission; as a lover*. From this we should see that in any honor that we bestow on riches, be it money, possessions or the wherewithal to gain these, we are seeing these things as gods and as idols.
The Master never tell us that we should not be rich and He never defines it. He does tell us by parable of the types of ground we can be as part of His teaching on the Kingdom; that we should not be the thorny ground where “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in , choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). In commenting on the ‘rich’ man who sought to follow the Master and to have eternal life but who could not give up his riches, Jesus says: “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:23-24). We should note here the apparent correction of the implication of Jesus thought when seeing the astonishment in His disciples regarding His words “they that have riches“; how He changes the idea to “them that trust in riches“. We can place some importance on this in regard to our statement above that the Master never tells us that we should not be rich because here He does say that but then softens it to the idea of trust in. Could it be that the Master realizes how difficult it is for a person with riches, however we may define them, to not trust in them and that He changes what He said to reflect this point?
The Master, in His list of woes which follow His beatitudes in Luke’s Gospel, tells the people “woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation” (Luke 6:24) which is a like point to to the one that He makes in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus where the rich man is told that: “remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented” (Luke 16:25). We should see here, as the Master tells us in speaking to the rich man above and from our discussion of the Parable of the Rich Fool, that there is no eternal profit in riches and we should also see through the whole of His teaching that there is no specific definition of the term. It should be understood on an individual basis, relative to our position in life. Our understanding should tell us all that to trust in anything except the Lord and our own Souls as our way of interacting with the Lord, can only lead us away from His Kingdom and His Presence. Of all the lessons for Souls working out their Earthly life, this idea of riches is one of the most difficult.
Today’s parable is another that is not really classified as a parable at all but is a teaching given by the Master in response to a question by the Pharisees and the Sadducees regarding the resurrection. In that day, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, being different sects of Judaism, had different beliefs concerning the resurrection with the latter denying that there is such a thing. It is interesting to note that the word resurrection does not occur in the Old Testament at all and the thought of it is found only in some references to the dead rising in Isaiah and Daniel. We have little basis then from which to understand the meaning of this thing that the Sadducees denied. Nor can we tell the actual context in which it is intended in our verses below as they were framed by the questions of those who did not believe. Aside from the resurrection of Jesus we only have the ideas that men have attached to this word in all of its uses and these are as varied as anything else in Christian belief. This dialogue between the Master and the people occurs in all three of the synoptic gospels as follows:
From Matthew: “The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but areas the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine” Matthew 22:23-33).
From Mark: After the same questioning by the Sadducees the Master replies: “Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but areas the angels which are in heaven. And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err” (Mark 12:24:27).
From Luke: Again, after the questioning: “And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Now that the dead are raised , even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. Then certain of the scribes answering said , Master, thou hast well said. And after that they durst not ask him any question at all. And he said unto them, How say they that Christ is David’s son? And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Till I make thine enemies thy foot stool. David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?” (Luke 20:34-44).
Before we begin our interpretation of these verses, I would remind you of the Master’s words to us regarding His teaching lest we believe that what we see on the surface of His sayings is the whole of the Truth. Matthew tells us that: “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them” (Matthew 13:34) and in this we should see that although the common wisdom does not call a particular teaching a parable, this statement does tell us that most all of His teachings are such. We are told also that there is depth and that the mysteries of the Kingdom are hidden in His teaching from Jesus answer in this: “And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (Matthew 13:10-11). Quoting the fulfillment of one of the sayings of the prophets the Master also tells us that: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 13:35). We should realize that most all of what the Master says is in some way a parable, that in His word is hidden the “mysteries of the Kingdom” of God and that such mysteries and perhaps more are things “kept secret from the foundation of the world“. It is for these things that we seek in these posts.
Looking at our subject verses today we should see three slightly different versions of the same teaching. In both Matthew and Mark the idea is presented in a rather straightforward way with Jesus telling His questioners that “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God” thus saying that they do not understand the intent of the scriptures to which they referred. He goes on later to tell them that they do not understand the nature of life, of death nor of resurrection by pointing out that their ‘fathers‘ Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are not dead as they were thought to be but are living. It is with this line of thought that we go forward through with our presentation on this teaching of the Master on the resurrection of the dead. We will focus on two keywords, resurrection and angels, both of which are sorely misunderstood in today’s Christianity. We may not come away with a True understanding but we will be able to defray some of the erroneous information that prevails today. Let us start, as we frequently do, with some understanding of the definitions involved. First of resurrection. The word translated as Resurrection comes from the Greek word anastasis which is defined by the lexicon as a raising up, rising (e.g. from a seat); a rising from the dead, that of Christ, that of all men at the end of this present age, the resurrection of certain ones history who were restored to life (Heb. 11)**. Strong’s says that anastasis means rising to life; from the base meaning of the act of rising from a prone or sitting position. In the NT it means returning to life after death, usually referring to the raising to life of Jesus Christ***. Aside from the idea of rising from a seated position and the relation to the raising to life of the Master, all else is the invention of interpreters and commentators of scripture. Websters tells us of the English word resurrection: a rising again; chiefly, the revival of the dead of the human race, or their return from the grave, particularly at the general judgment(1828); a rising again; the resumption of vigor. Especially, the rising again from the dead; the resumption of life by the dead; as, the resurrection of Jesus Christ; the general resurrection of all the dead at the Day of Judgment. State of being risen from the dead; future state. The cause or exemplar of a rising from the dead(1913)*. In these definitions from 1828 and 1913 we should see that the Christian ideas have been used to provide the actual definition of this word as though it were created for this use. Modern dictionary use is similar to the above but includes the idea of a rising again, as from decay, disuse, etc.; revival*!*. which is of the current non-Christian uses for the word. Vincent is of little help to us here as he does not address the idea of resurrection at all and Christian commentaries reflect the ideas from the definitions above.
So here we are with a word that has limited meaning outside of the Christian teachings and the Christian teachings are derived from man’s understanding of the parabolic teaching of the Master. We then are left to our own devices in explaining the idea of resurrection as it appears in this teaching by the master and we will see how this all works together with our understanding of the Constitution of Man. We know that we are Spirit and that this body and personality that we express ourselves through is temporary and the body dies. We, as Spirit, do not die however and in this reality we will find the beginning of our understanding of our concept of resurrection. We will continue with this in our next post.
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it (Luke 9:23-24).
Recycling a previous Quote of the Day I present this one again for your consideration. Here we have the idea of life and Life and into this we should read our thoughts regarding the topic of our verses today; resurrection.
- * Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
- ** New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- *** Strongest Strongs Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
- *!* Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc.
