Click here to print PDF version
Application GEMs to MORE CLEARLY SEE YOURSELF IN GOD’S EVERPRESENT KINGDOM!
Let God Expressed Meekly/Mightily in you sparkle brightly with new insights from Cobbey Crisler & others as inspired by The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“Christ Jesus”
for August 22 – August 28, 2022
(Cobbey’s insights are shared with the blessing of Janet Crisler janetcrisler7@gmail.com)
by Warren Huff, CedarS Executive Director Emeritus, warren@cedarscamps.org
LEARN OF ACOUSTICAL TESTS AT A NATURAL AMPHITHEATER WHERE JESUS LIKELY SHARED MANY PARABLES.
Cobbey Crisler on Matthew 13:, 2, 31-35, 44-46 (Golden Text, Responsive Reading citations B3, B14, B17)
“Chapter 13 begins eight parables.
Verse 1) starts out where Jesus is preaching on the side of the Sea of Galilee…
Verse 2 [Res. Reading] “He went into a ship and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.”
First of all, when you’re standing in a ship without a public address system, can you be heard? This is one of the things that I questioned, and received grants from two foundations to explore… We took an acoustical expert to Israel from… an acoustical firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts… We had a hundred pounds of equipment. We tested every area where it said in both Old and New Testaments a single individual addressed hundreds, if not thousands of people without the aid of public address systems. We came back with very definite evidence that there seemed to be acoustical phenomena at these places which permitted such sound to carry. Of course, none of the gospels tell you where it is exactly.
But outside of Capernaum there is this little cove, and in the middle, I stood holding seven red balloons. I had to pop one balloon at a time while my acoustical-colleague was on the slope of this natural amphitheater measuring it with his electronic instrument…
Interestingly enough, we measured how many people could have been in that area. Five to seven thousand people could have stood or sat there and seen and heard anyone in the vicinity of the rock where I was standing. My suggestion is that these four parables, where Matthew records as having been said here, have an unusual emphasis on the acoustical element. Listening and being receptive…
THE TINY SEED OF CHRIST’S TEACHINGS BRINGS THE BIG BLESSINGS WORLDWIDE
[Cobbey:] “… Parable number three about the mustard seed begins in Verse 31. It likens heaven to “a grain of mustard seed.” You can find the mustard growing wild all over the Holy Land.
(Verse 32). “A very small seed, but later, it becomes the greatest of herbs and birds of the air lodge in the branches.”
We have here parables that apparently have a prophecy attached to them. So as to not miss that, study the parallels given by Jesus in these parables. You have first the kingdom of heaven (KH) is likened to a grain of mustard seed (1 GMS) which a man took and sowed and it grew (Gr).
Therefore, l GMS x Gr = KH. But that’s not all.
A WOMAN ELEVATES KEY MODES OF THOUGHT WITH PRESERVED LEAVEN [AT WORK!]
Cobbey Crisler on Matthew 13: 33-35 (Responsive Reading):
“Look at (the) parable (…of the woman hiding) the leaven in three loaves (Verse 33). [It follows the parable of the man sowing the mustard seed, verses 31-32]…”Kingdom of heaven” [in the mustard seed parable] is now defined as “leaven which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal,” …
(Verse 35). We know it’s prophecy because Matthew says, “It might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”
“When you say “foundation of the world” to a Jewish listener or reader, you are really referring to Genesis 1, where they get their information about foundation of the world. What do we find? What has been kept secret from the foundation of the world that we find in Genesis 1?… “Male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1:27) Each possessing dominion… Leaven and mustard seed… both must do their work unobserved… It’s a hidden thing. Both male and female are responsible for sowing and hiding until it grows and becomes leavened.
The concept of woman’s contribution coming in as the last, also agrees with the order in Genesis 1. It also fits with the symbolism here, because leaven is something left over from a previous batch. It links into something which previously existed. Matthew states that “these things have been kept secret from the beginning of the world.”
GO ALL-OUT TO PRIORITIZE WHAT YOU SEE IS OF TRUE VALUE! [a pearl of great price]
Parable number 5 is the treasure in the field (Verse 44). Parable number 6 is the hunt for pearls (Verse 45, cit. B17).
There are two different points in these parables. First, “the kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field.” The man doesn’t know it’s there, but he discovers it, stumbles on it, knows its value, and “sells everything for it.” That shows that the kingdom of heaven can be discovered even when one isn’t looking for it.
Those who discover it in that way, nevertheless, can appreciate its value. This man in the parable gives it total priority.
(Verse 46, cit. B17). There was also the merchant looking for goodly pearls. And when he found it, while searching, he did what the other man did. He “sold all he had” because again, prioritizing, he recognizes the value.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
P.S. USE GRIT to GROW PRICELESS “*PEARLS*”! — TURN TRASH into VALUABLE TREASURES of TRUTH & LOVE!
CedarS 2020 Theme from citation S5 in Science & Health, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 265:3-15:
“Man understands spiritual existence in proportion as his treasures of Truth and Love are enlarged. Mortals must gravitate Godward, their affections and aims grow spiritual, – they must near the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper sense of the infinite, – in order that sin and mortality may be put off. This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for Spirit, by no means suggest man’s absorption into Deity and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent peace.”
*Pearls* (especially those of great price, as referred to above and in citation B17) are wonderful examples of the “treasures of Truth” and how they grow. A pearl grows in an oyster only because an irritant has entered its shell and the oyster responds by oozing onto it of an irritant-soother (the way that spiritual sense and love soothe and heal whatever irritates us and others). Let’s take that as a challenge to be like the oyster and turn everything that looks negative and ugly into a string of beautiful pearls by applying layer upon layer of love and spiritual sense to grow our treasures of Truth and Love!
LIKE JESUS USE THE COMFORTER’S LAWS TO DEFEND YOUR DIVINE IDENTITY & “HEAL ALL MANNER OF SICKNESS” (Responsive Reading (RR), Matthew 4:23 plus what led to this healing result) Pass your wilderness, divine–identity tests like Jesus did by memorizing and employing God’s Bible-based promises like he did!
Cobbey Crisler on Jesus’ temptations, Matthew 4:23/Responsive Reading, plus its prelude of verses 1-11
“There is what we might call an identity-crisis test in Chapter 4 of Matthew. The Anglo-Saxon word “tempt” has almost picked up a theological meaning. It really means “test.” That’s what the word means. It’s a test. (Verse 1) So, “Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness” to be tested on the fact that had recently been revealed (directly from God in Matt. 3:17 (and Mark 1:11) that Jesus was God’s “Beloved Son”).
Verse 2. “After forty days and nights he’s hungry.”
This reminds me of Moses. He, too, had that testing period (Exodus 24:18) just prior to receiving the Ten Commandments. For forty days and forty nights. This Chapter in Matthew is just prior to the Sermon on the Mount or the Beatitudes. This preparation is the same. And there is a test.
Verse 3. “When the tester comes,” here it is, question Number 1: “If you are the Son of God.” Why would that even have emerged if we had not had Verse 17 in the preceding chapter? “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” The test question is, “If you are,” then what? “Command that these stones be made bread.”
How does Jesus respond to this test question? He quotes Scripture. Notice how Jesus responds to temptation. If this is the way Jesus elects to respond to it, what about you and me? How eloquent might you or I try to get when we respond to temptation? Make up original sermons, choose our words carefully, perhaps?
Jesus decided the best defense was Scripture. This verse is taken from Deuteronomy 8, Verse 3. Deuteronomy is a law book. In fact, the word in Greek deuteros nomos is the second law or the repetition of the law. How did he regard this test by Satan? What was going on in Jesus’ thinking here? Had he isolated it completely?
“First of all, what does Satan mean in Hebrew? Accuser. It is also the term for prosecuting attorney. If he has the prosecuting attorney accusing in thought, Jesus in his defense cites what? The law. He quotes the law book. He doesn’t need to do anything original. The law is the law and it never varies. Therefore, what is being suggested her by Satan, or the prosecuting attorney is illegal. It is illegitimate. He proves it by citing the law. That’s a marvelous technique for us in the middle of temptation.
“Our consciousness is like a law court. And the plusses and minuses that occur there have to be dealt with, as in a law court. Where are the accusations coming from? The prosecuting attorney or Satan. Where do we get the information? The law book or the defense attorney.
“You know that Jesus promised that something would come after he had left. It’s been translated “the comforter” in the gospel of John. The Greek word is parakletos, sometimes transliterated as paraclete. In Greek it can be the technical term for defense attorney.
“Verse 4 (cit. B6) So, where did Jesus turn for his protection and defense, the defense of his manhood, the defense of his sonship with God, which is a spiritual fact revealed directly to him by God? How does he defend it? By citing the law book, utilizing the Comforter or defense attorney against the arguments of Satan. If Jesus had to do that, can we do anything less? “Man shall not live by bread alone,” Jesus said, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Deut. 8:3) That is a great statement for survival in an emergency….
“All those temptations that hit human nature… We are in the wilderness at some point along with Jesus having the exact same tests applied to us. How are our responses to those exam questions? Do we pass with flying colors?…
Verse 10. We find that Jesus answers and that the only thing he says that’s original, “Get thee behind me Satan.” He dismisses the prosecution in thought, “for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shall thou serve.” That’s kind of a combination of Deuteronomy 6, verse 13 and Deuteronomy 10, verse 20.
Verse 11. Look at what happens. “The devil leaveth him.” No longer is there dualism in thought. “Angels came and ministered unto him.” True communication completely governed his thought, no longer a divided kingdom. The false communication is dismissed.”
[The result is in Matt. 4:23/RR:] “healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” Here are human problems that had defied solution, and Jesus solved them all based on his concept of theology, namely the kingdom. Remember a kingdom is not chaos. It’s an ordered government of heaven and harmony at hand.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master, A Tax Collector’s Report,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
IN HIS HOMETOWN JESUS CLAIMED TO BE FULFILLING ISAIAH MESSIAH PROPHESY (Isaiah 61:1, citation B1)
See a video by “Free Bible Images” at the link below about Jesus in his hometown synagogue at Nazareth reading the words of Isaiah 61:1 and almost being thrown over the brow of a cliff before walking through those who intended to kill him. https://vimeo.com/160923878
[Cobbey on Luke 4, verses 16-32:] “Jesus appears in his hometown of Nazareth. Here is a hometown boy that has made good, locally, mostly in Capernaum, not far away. He comes back. “His fame has spread.” They invited him to do some of the reading publicly (Verse 16). They hand him Isaiah (Verse 17). If they handed him a scroll, he would have had to spend some time unrolling it to find exactly what he was looking for. This particular verse is very close to the end.
Isaiah 61, Verse 1, (citation B1) is what Jesus is reading. Notice, it’s very specifically a prophecy of the Messiah. The word related to Messiah appears in the word “Anointed. ” In Hebrew that’s the word relating it to the Messiah. “The Spirit of the Lord (is) upon me.” Notice, Luke has just said in Verse 1 of this Chapter that “Jesus was filled with the Spirit.” Here the prophecy says (in Luke 4, Verse 18), “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.”
“Jesus is saying this in the congregation of the synagogue of his hometown. He’s simply reading the Old Testament. If he read Scripture like he cited it spontaneously, like he healed with it, you can imagine you probably would have heard a pin drop in that synagogue. Add to that the fact that Jesus knew he was fulfilling every word of that prophecy in himself and in his own career. Think of the impact in that environment.
Here, then, is God’s definition of the Messiah through prophecy:
Number one, the Messiah would do what? “Preach the gospel to the poor.”
Gospel doesn’t just mean “good news,” It means, in particular, news of victory.
What’s the second one? “Heal the brokenhearted.”
The third, “Preach deliverance to the captives. ”
The fourth, “Recovering of sight to the blind. ”
The fifth, “To set at liberty them that are bruised.”
And finally, Verse 19, “To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Having said all those things, having defined the Messiah in the Bible, he closes the Book and he sits down (Verse 20). There is a long silence. Everyone is looking at him. He adds (in Verse 21), “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
“Unfortunately, his hometown reacts violently (Verse 28), especially to Verses 25 through 27, where he goes back into the Bible for two very significant events in the history of the Jews, and certainly in the history of healing. One was the widow that Elijah visited (Verse 26). In the midst of the famine, she had an endless supply of oil (1 Kings 17:16, 26). The next one in Verse 27 is Elisha’s healing of Naaman’s leprosy (2 Kings 5:8-14).
Why would the audience at Nazareth be so incensed by what Jesus is bringing out in these stories? He was talking about foreigners, wasn’t he? When you read it, think of this emphasis. He said, “I tell you quite factually, there were many widows in Israel. There were many Jewish widows. But Elijah didn’t go to any of them. (Verse 26) Instead he went to a Lebanese widow.”
Is it really nationality that makes the difference? Is it really gender that makes the difference? Or age, or economic status?
No, it’s receptivity (that makes a difference), isn’t it? You couldn’t find it in Israel, but you could find that in Lebanon. In fact, that’s the only place Elijah found it.
It’s quite a commentary on the lack of faith among the monotheists of Israel. There were many lepers in Israel during Elisha’s time, but he didn’t go to any of them. He went to the commander in chief of the enemy forces, the Syrian general. There was more receptivity in Naaman’s thought than he found in Israel.
Remember how often Jesus says to some of those he cures, like the centurion and some of those who were not Jewish, he says in Matthew 8:10, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”
The receptivity message is that God is universally accessible. They didn’t like that message. Verse 29, They “thrust him out of the city.” They nearly killed him. That was the attempt. (Verse 30,) “But Jesus passing through the midst of them went his way.”
I suggest to you, as my father suggested to me once in discussing this incident, that it is easier to accept prophecy than it is to accept fulfillment. With prophecy, one may have been trained to respect and revere it over the years. But when fulfillment occurs, who’s ready for that, especially in one’s own home town? That’s the point Jesus said (in Verse 24), “No prophet is accepted in his own country.”
Later we find Jesus telling his followers to search the Scriptures (John 5:39).
They will find him there which more or less implies that if we can’t find Jesus in
Prophecy, we can’t find Jesus.”
“Luke, the Researcher,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
JESUS CHOOSES HIS DISCIPLES—IT’S NOT BY CHANCE
In Matthew 4, verse 18, 19, citation B2 [and as Cobbey comments on the Mark 1 version, Verse 16:] “Peter and Andrew are introduced to us. The Anchor Bible suggests they probably already knew Jesus. That would also conform more readily to John’s account. Remember, they met or saw Jesus at the baptism. That would have been down in Jordan. In Verse 14 we’re back to Galilee.
There is a recognition factor. “He saw Simon, Andrew his brother.” It is not by chance that Jesus appoints his disciples, “He sees them casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.” Apparently, they were not very good ones. I say that because the Anchor Bible with tongue in cheek tells us that there’s no record anywhere in the gospels that the disciples ever caught a fish without the help of Jesus. They were ready for a new profession anyway.
[Cobbey on Mark 1,] Verse 17, “Jesus said, Come after me; I will make you to become fishers of men.” Notice the intriguing aspect of that call. Because if you weren’t intrigued, you’d stay in your fishing boat. “Fishers of men,” if you weren’t up to the level of seeing the wryness of that appeal, you wouldn’t move. But if you were there, “Fishers of men,” let us go find out what that’s all about. Then you would have left. They left a living here. Many of us may have, without being aware of it, been summoned by that same Christ-command to follow and be “fishers of men.” But we are too busy with our professions or our professions are our priority.”
[Warren: At https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWGCkovAUWM I think you would enjoy seeing on YouTube, a moving impression in Season 1 of “The Chosen” of the miracle that led up to Jesus’ invitation to Peter and Andrew to become “fishers of men” and what followed…]
[Cobbey on Mark 1, Verse 18.] “So, we do not make the same apostolic response as Simon and Andrew did, “Straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.”
BONUS shown on “The Chosen” clip:
“Verse 19. “And, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John.” They had a small business going. They were real entrepreneurs.
“Verse 20. Because they left their dad Zebedee with the hired servants. They were filling out Social Security forms and everything on these people. They left and went after him.” (Jesus)
“What Mark Recorded,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
ACCEPT THE GEM OF CHRIST’S ACHIEVABLE MANDATE TO “HEAL ALL MANNER OF SICKNESS…”
Cobbey Crisler on Matthew 10:1 (cit. B4) plus verses 8, 16
{Cobbey:] “We now come to Chapter 10. We’ve had so much evidence that Jesus was an effective healer, but we haven’t yet had evidence that there could be healing via the instruction-route: that one could be taught to heal sent out like apprentices in some human trade or profession, and come back practicing the rules learned with results, namely, healed cases.
We find right after the prayer (Matthew 9:38) that God “would send forth more laborers into his harvest,” and what do we find? A mandate to heal.
(Verse 1). “He called his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, to heal” What? Only certain diseases? “All manner of disease and all manner of sickness.”…
The assignments given to the disciples would not be assignments they were incapable of doing, or Jesus would have been unwise.
(Verse 8). He said, “Heal the sick.” What do you expect them to do? He said, “Cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils.” Notice the sequence. The things he did. Even putting casting-out-devils at a higher level of what was required of prayer than raising the dead. Then stating, “Freely ye have received, freely give.”
Did the disciples do that? Even after Jesus was no longer with them personally? They certainly did.
… (Verse 16). Remember, we are privy here to his personal instructions to his disciples in the first assignment to go out and heal the sick. These warnings would be just as timely and relevant to those who wish to follow his instructions in our century.
“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be wise as serpents.” The wisdom of the serpent is to hide itself. “Harmless as doves.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master, A Tax-Collector’s Report”, by B. Cobbey Crisler**
FIND ONENESS WITH GOD “AS A HUMBLE RAY OF SUNLIGHT AT ONE WITH THE SUN” from cit. S4, 26:10 (& John 10:30 & 361:16) as sung in “I and My Father” Music Video on YouTube
Below is a YouTube link to an inspiring song by a CedarS mom and Zoom Hymn Sing Guest Artist, Cherie Brennan, ho also is an award-winning Country Music artist. It emphasizes the “I and my Father are one” mindset of Christ Jesus as mentioned in this week’s Bible Lesson citation S4, 26:10. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZMNlpZavkA
You can learn more about Cherie and buy her CD “You are Loved” (“I and My Father” is the 4th song) on her website through Spotify at: https://open.spotify.com/album/3Ii5CBrdNs6f8Y3t4l5XHl
Or, on Watchfire Music by CedarS friend, Peter Link, — LISTEN TO A SAMPLE of “I and my Father are one” SUNG by Mindy Jostyn and BUY IT and the SHEET MUSIC for SOLOISTS at: https://watchfiremusic.com/shop/recordings/songs/i-and-my-father-are-one-2/
START WITH RECEPTIVITY AND SUPPORT PROGRESS DAILY TO HARVEST FRUITS!
Cobbey Crisler on the “The Sower & the Seed” parable in Luke 8:4-15 (cit. B9)
[Cobbey on Luke 8:] “Parables are now given starting with Verse 4. There is one that deals with receptivity more than any other parable he gives. The words “hear” and “ears” are repeated more often in this parable than any other. In Verse 5, it’s about “the sower that went forth to sow.” It’s one of the few parables that Jesus ever gives an interpretation of. You notice in Verse 8 one of his favorite phrases is there, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
Let’s look at the interpretation. It says in Verse 11 that “The seed is the word of God.” Notice that Jesus’ teaching is not always meant to be taken literally. He is dealing in symbols. He’s teaching spiritually through symbols. That must mean it’s the ideal and most effective way to do it.
Where is this seed, the word of God landing? Where is the field?
In Verse 12, the word “heart” is mentioned. In ancient times, that was considered to be the seat of intelligence. If, then, we’re talking about thought, the seed that is growing in thought must mean our mental condition determines whether the word is going to be fruitful. Aristotle said this, using a similar metaphor: “The soul of the hearer must be wrought· first into a state of preparedness by the training of habit like land that is to foster seed.” We have a clear symbol then of the word. We’ve got mental conditions that are similar to rock; with very little room to grow.
In the beginning, receptivity is a joyous, “Gee, it’s what I always wanted to hear,” or something like that. But it has no root (Verse 13). There we go back to the lack of foundation… It’s temporary. It lasts only briefly and there’s no radical commitment, no depth.
I skipped the wayside to Verse 12, where the fowls are peeking away at the surface of thought, “taking it right out of our heart.” The wayside is a mental condition that has failed to prepare itself for the seed and failed to welcome it, nurture it, cultivate it, and then receive fruit.
Verse 14. Thorns is a mental condition that is already “choked with care, riches, and pleasures.” In Greek, the word “pleasures” is “hedona,” the root of hedonism. With all that choking going on, the ability for those tender little seeds to work their way up through the obstruction is compromised. We have given greater priority in our mental garden to the cares, the riches, and the pleasures.
Verse 15. Now “the good ground, honest and good heart” is the soil. Do you see some ingredients there we saw in many points he’s made up to now? The good soil is what kind of receptivity? Not only hearing, but doing, and bringing forth, “keeping it, and bringing forth fruit,” and notice, “with patience.”
Even if it doesn’t happen overnight, which very few plants will promise us from our garden, the patient wait for fruit. Properly preparing and nourishing it, in the right conditions, will look today like it did yesterday. It is supporting progress daily, leading to the eventual fruits.”
“Luke, the Researcher,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
CHRIST BREAKS CONVENTIONS NOT UPHELD by God & REWARDS LOVE with FORGIVENESS, HEALING, ONENESS… Cobbey on Luke 7:36-48 (cit. B12) and Jesus sensing repentant humility in the woman who washed his feet
[To open her Science & Health chapter on “Christian Science Practice,” Mary Baker Eddy chose to highlight this woman’s meek mindset of “genuine repentance … and affection” as a worthy role model. (cits. S12-S14, 363-365)]
[Cobbey Crisler:] “In Verse 36 of (Luke’s Chapter 7, we have the incident of a woman coming into the Pharisee’s house where Jesus had been invited for a meal. We’re told in Verse 37), “the woman was a sinner.” In no case is this woman Biblically identified with Mary Magdalene. Very early tradition began to call her Mary Magdalene because of thinking that’s what it might have meant when it described Mary Magdalene as one out of whom Jesus had cast seven devils. Who could get worse than seven devils?
“It was just simply moved over into this context. There is nothing Biblical that ever identifies Mary Magdalene’s name with it, however. It’s an early tradition but there is no Biblical authority for it.
Again, if Jesus is interested in a state of mind, let’s study it from that angle. In fact, if we studied all the gospels from the state of mind that is presented, and that Jesus said we should change to, then, it would be like an entirely different Bible to us.
“Here this woman comes right in. In that day and age, one would eat at a table on a reclining couch supporting your head with one hand resting on your elbow. Your feet would be away from the table so that your attention would not be there. The woman could very easily have slipped in unnoticed and begun “to wash Jesus’ feet with the tears” that were pouring from her eyes, and “wiping his feet with the hair of her head” (Verse 38). If you remember what a dusty land that is, and that shoes were open sandals, one might get a little bit more of an idea what this woman had undertaken without regard for the effect on her hair among other things.
There was a deep feeling motivating this, there’s no question about it. The Pharisee had forgotten some of the elementary hospitalities that have been passed right down to our century.
“He hadn’t provided water for his guest. Jesus pointed that out later. While the Pharisee was blaming this woman for intruding on his dinner party, this woman had introduced some things that Simon himself had failed to do. We know his name is Simon.
If he happens to be the same Simon who is at a home in Bethany, according to one of the other gospels, he
had been a leper, or perhaps one that Jesus had cured.
And if that’s true, imagine someone who should have been filled with gratitude. That’s a state of breathing
in a Holy-Ghost-form of thinking, yet having an attitude against this particular woman and her needs.
“Simon isn’t very good at reading thoughts. In fact, he says, “This man, if he were a prophet, should have known who this woman is” (Verse 29). Indeed, Jesus did know. Simon hadn’t really read Jesus’ thought at all but Jesus certainly had read his. Simon “spoke within himself,” it says. He didn’t say a thing out loud.
And in Verse 40, “Jesus said, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, “Master, say on.” There’s sort of poetry to it.
“The interesting result of this parable is that the parable doesn’t really speak to where the woman is mentally. The woman is beyond the minimal requirements of the parable. In this parable Jesus told Simon that the one who had owed the most, and was forgiven the most, would then love the most. Love after the fact of forgiveness.
“This woman is well beyond that and Jesus knows it. This woman has loved even before the concept of forgiveness has come up, this woman has shown a deep confrontation with herself and where she has been mentally. She is simply expressing it in the presence of someone whom she feels could comfort and meet her needs. Just sensing that the environment in which Jesus moved would help her.
“This woman was part of a despised profession. The ceremonial purity and public professions of piety of the Pharisees would necessitate a great show of contrast between those states of mind. The surprising thing is, Jesus is going to find that the state of mind of the woman is more receptive and filled with love, hospitality
and repentance than the Pharisee who seems to fill the category of one of those that we’d heard was already full, with no more room in Simon’s thought.
“In Verse 48, Jesus speaks to the woman for the first time. Imagine addressing a woman, especially in a Pharisee’s house, where this woman clearly didn’t belong. (At that time, the most devout rabbis and strict constructionists wouldn’t dare to speak, even to their women relatives, if they met them in the street.)
“Jesus is breaking all convention.
Apparently, he doesn’t think that God is behind that convention. He says, “Your sins are forgiven,” addressing the woman directly. Up to now, she’s just regarded as an object, an object of scorn, derision, repulsion and a sex object. A mere “thing”.
“Jesus addressed her through his lenses that magnified for him the sense of God’s manhood and womanhood, “Your sins are forgiven,” he said. Immediately that set a mental buzz around the table. They said in Verse 49, “within themselves,
“Who is this that forgiveth sins also? “Jesus unperturbed, still addressed the woman,
“Your faith hath saved thee.”
Why does Jesus make such a great effort for the woman to comprehend that a change in her mental state has even overcome sin? It can be done because it is implicit in the word “dominion.” If we’re stuck with our mistakes, there’s no way out. If we can solve our problems, then Jesus would have to indicate such as a matter of encouragement to humanity. “Your faith hath saved you.” Your mental state filled with something that has come directly from the Holy Ghost. Faith is a state of mind. “Go in peace.”
Imagine how she came, with very little peace in thought. She left with her mental state changed, and one is left also with the thought that her entire life must have changed as a result.”
“Luke the Researcher,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
PROVE NOTHING’S IMPOSSIBLE WHEN YOU SAY “NO!” to EVERY LIE and with even a GRAIN of absolute faith, say “YES!” to AFFIRM EVERY TRUTH OF THE CASE.
Cobbey Crisler on Jesus healing epilepsy (Matt. 17:14-21/cit. B15) –also in Mark 9:17-29 & Luke 9:38-43 where Jesus also addresses the parent’s thought first):
[Cobbey:] “We have healings throughout Mark which require your study. We have an epileptic child healed in the next few verses, 17 through 29.
Verse 21. Jesus recognizes that the first patient is the father and his thinking. [“and he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.”… ]
Verse 23. He turns and deals with the father, his parental thought. [“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. 24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe: help thou mine unbelief.”]
Verse 25-27. Jesus then deals with the young man.
Verse 29 says, “This kind of healing.” Because the disciples had failed, this healing required two things, “prayer and fasting.” You can say this in another way using two other words: “No” and “Yes” [as Mary Baker Eddy titled one of her works on scientific, mental healing.] Fasting is what we say “no” to and prayer is what we’re affirming. Once again, we see that we are given the rules of healing.”
“What Mark Recorded” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
Relevant BONUS:
17th Chapter of Jeremiah, Verse 14, “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed.” There’s Jeremiah’s prayer. “Save me and I shall be saved.” The Anchor Bible points out that the word “salvation” as used in the Old Testament is often used in terms of a not-guilty verdict in court. Salvation is often used in the Old Testament in terms that we would understand today as a not-guilty verdict in court.
The salvation of man would eventually include a verdict of not-guilty, or innocent. This is, of course, the entire theme of Job, his guilt or innocence.”
“Heal the Sick”: A Scriptural Record,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
An EXAMPLE to “TAKE to the BANK” of “an absolute faith that all things are possible to God,” (Science & Health, p. 1:1-4, citation S17)
An Answered Prayer (A.P.) History example of divine abundance quickly demonstrated!
shared by Warren Huff, CedarS Executive Director Emeritus
HERE WAS THE PROBLEM OR UNIQUE SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES PRESENTED:
(Warren: Here’s a memorable example of fasting, saying no to lies— and prayer, saying yes to what’s true!
While the particulars of every fable vary, it’s the same lie of lack that’s always negated by the law of divine abundance which remains unchangeable & provable by all!)
“The situation at CedarS Camps in early May of 1993, just weeks before camp, we made a critical and costly discovery just as a major project was looking to be on time and on budget. This wonderful “home improvement” to our Dawn Lodge was adding-on a new Basketball Pavilion beyond a first-floor dining room addition along with several new bedrooms in a shed-roof dormer loft above it. Just as it was being created by literally “raising the roof” – or a 20-ft by 200-ft section of roof over the east beamline of CedarS main Dawn Lodge Dining Room, the workmen made the costly discovery that the 24-year-old, original, cedar-shake roof over the rest of building was starting to deteriorate. In order to make the roof leak-proof in the immediate short term before camp as well as problem-free in the long term, it all would need to be replaced with a new, insulated metal roof. We were told that would cost an additional $100,000—and that these unbudgeted funds were needed right away in order to be able to finish the job before the Opening Day of camp that was just weeks away.
THE PRAYER OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TREATMENT FOR THIS LIE OF LACK:
Instead of panicking, I again felt the radiant joy, inspired by many demonstrations of God’s abundant love as well as by my mom, Ruth E. Huff’s wonderful, automatically instantaneous response at such times. I can always hear and see (in my thought) Mom’s classic, smiling reply to almost any issue—”It will be fun to see how God works this one out!”
With this joyous confidence and love, I was led to turn to the opening chapter of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures called “Prayer.” I needed go no farther than its first sentence to re-open in the depths of my being its awesome, healing power: “The prayer that reforms the sinner (like me as the project manager who had majorly “missed the mark”) and heals the sick (like a leaky roof and the sick feeling of every lie of limitation) is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God, — a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love.” (SH 1:1-4 with bolding and parenthesizes added) I’ll NEVER forget that simple, radiantly confident feeling of effective prayer and divine care as I simply cherished each of those three elements – along with some of Jesus’ awesome examples of it.
As I recall, in that week’s Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson, there were two of Jesus’ demonstrations of divine, ever-present abundance—the feeding the multitudes with five loaves and two fish AND the sending of Peter to get the money to pay taxes for the two of them from the mouth of the first fish that Peter caught (Matt. 17:27). It’s not a mere coincidence—but a “human and divine coincidence” that God brought those examples to thought then – and brings these examples to our attention now to face down the aggressive fear and evidences of lack during what claims to be the economic turmoil of armed conflicts and an ongoing global pandemic.
Right now, we too can “love into view” a growing, glowing faith in divine Love
and its abundance that never fail.
TAKE NOW, AND TO YOUR FUTURE, THIS ANSWERED PRAYER (A.P.) HISTORY:
A West Coast phone call came just minutes after I’d received the $100,000 bad news with the calm confidence that God had it covered. A voice I’d never heard before—from an “as-in-heaven, so-on-earth” angel of a friend who I’d never met before— said: “As I was praying this morning, I sensed that CedarS Camps had an urgent need. Would $100,000 help?”
Before I could take any human footsteps, other than prayer, God sent that speedy answer—and in the exact amount needed! This is a literal example of what we should spiritually understand 365/24/7 from Isaiah (3)65:24 (/7): “Before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear.”
P.S. A FUN, MORE RECENT, BONUS:
I had the inspiring joy of going on a January 2020 Principia Lifelong Learning “Journey through the Holy Land” led by professor, Dr. Barry Ray Huff—the dear son God sent to bless us all. On the trip, I purposely invested in items to share and help inspire the outreach and work of CedarS Bible Lands Park. At a gift shop I bought a spoon holder to serve at home as a daily Biblical reminder of how God meets every human need. You can see in the picture in the bottom “Download” part of the webpage, where I placed the spoon holder on top of a T-shirt with this classic message:
LOVE IS LIKE 5 LOAVES AND 2 FISH.
ALWAYS TOO LITTLE UNTIL YOU START GIVING IT AWAY.
As we give, give, give with a sense of divine Love and Her abundant supply, we find that we can never “out-give” God who constantly gives, Gives, GIVES back to us from an infinitely renewable resource! Jesus illustrated this law of divine abundance—even super-abundance –by quickly feeding the hungry multitudes with only five loaves and two fish and then by symbolically taking up twelve baskets of left-overs (one basketful for each disciple in the three Gospel accounts of Mark 6:38, Luke 9:13, John 6:8)
(A rough draft of what I hope to send soon as a testimony to the CSPS periodicals.)
MIND-HEAL LIKE JESUS BY KNOWING the NOTHINGNESS of MATERIAL LIFE & the ALLNESS OF GOD! Be “armed with Love… (both) “cardinal points… of Christian Science” (SH 52:21) – “the prayer & fasting” Jesus told his disciples would heal a tough case of seizures (Matt. 17:14-21, cit. B15)
[Warren:] Isaiah prophesied in chapter 53 (verse 3) John’s account of many of Jesus’ followers rejecting and unfollowing him after he denounced the profitability of the flesh (see GEM above on John 6:66, cit. B18). Chapter 53 of Isaiah also accurately foretold many details of a suffering Messiah — of “my righteous servant (shall) justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11). As prophesied in this chapter of Isaiah, Jesus was whipped (“with his stripes we are healed” v. 5); was silent as a lamb before Pilate (v. 7); crucified (“numbered with the transgressors” (v. 12); buried in a never-used rich man tomb (v. 9); and “despised and rejected … a man of sorrows” (as in Verse 3). Mary Baker Eddy picks up Isaiah’s prophesy and expands upon it when she writes: “of The ‘man of sorrows’ best understood the nothingness of material life and intelligence and the mighty actuality of all-inclusive God, good. These were the two cardinal points of Mind-healing, or Christian Science, which armed him with Love.” (SH 52:19-21)
This model of “prayer and fasting”—allness and nothingness – contains the sole two parts featured in the “Scientific Statement of Being” (SH 468). Every good Christian Science treatment includes BOTH of “the two cardinal points of . . . Christian Science . . . the nothingness of material life and intelligence and the mighty actuality of all-inclusive God, good.” (S&H 52:19)
Here’s a YouTube version of “All ‘er Nothing” from the Musical “Oklahoma” https://youtu.be/jVz5K63iYDs
For make this Bible Lesson concept more memorable, I took the liberty of using the tune, but modifying the lyrics to the chorus of “All ‘Er Nothing” from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Oklahoma.”
“To Mind-heal it’s ALL and Nothin’
Is it All and Nothin’ with you!
It can’t be in-between
It can’t be now and then,
No half-and-half God-love will do!”
