Apply Genuine GEMs to End all “April Fool’s” Allurements of UNREALITY!
God Expressed Meekly/Mightily in you sparkle brightly with insights from Cobbey & others
as inspired by The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“Unreality”
for Sunday, April 2, 2023
(Cobbey Crisler’s insights are shared with the blessing of Janet Crisler janetcrisler7@gmail.com)
by Warren Huff, CedarS Executive Director Emeritus, warren@cedarscamps
WHOLEHEARTEDLY SEEK, & SIFT to FIND YOUR GOD-GIVEN, “EXPECTED END”!
Sift plus & minus thoughts for “an expected end” of 100% precious peace, 0% vile division!
Cobbey on Jeremiah 15:18 thru 31.3 (leading up to & past Jer. 29:8-14/Resp. Reading):
Cobbey Crisler bonus Prelude: “Verse 18 in Jeremiah Chapter 15, “Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable?” Look at the prescription in Verse 19 “If you return, then will I bring thee again, [and] you will stand before me.” Look at this for a mental sifting of plus and minus. “If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth.” How much do you and I reflect or image forth God’s mouth or words? Remember what James [3.10] says, “Out of the same mouth proceedeth both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” That’s what James wrote in his epistle. Notice the control of thought and therefore, our communication here. If we take forth the precious from the vile, we will be more like God now. If we want the word to become flesh, we must conform to what that word is. It’s indivisible. It does not have part precious and part vile in it, nor should man.
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.
Here is God being quoted, in Verse 12 Chapter 30 [of Jeremiah]. “Thus saith the LORD, thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous. [Verse 13] “There is none to plead thy cause [of innocence], that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.”
In Verse 15, “Why do you cry for your affliction? Your sorrow is incurable.” Why? [Voice: “The multitude of your iniquity.”] That’s all. Just because of “the multitude of your iniquity.” There is the Bible definition of an incurable disease. It’s just up to us whether it’s incurable or not. Our outlook, our comprehension, and what we are going to do about the iniquity aspect of it. Moses was shown that man has just as much dominion over the serpent, symbolizing iniquity, as over the leprosy on his hand [symbolizing disease].
Verse 17 is God’s view of whether there is any incurability or not. “I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds.”
Religion has got to be practical, especially in our century. There’s no room for anything that’s not practical anymore. There are too many problems requiring solutions. Humanity in its history has run [from problems] long enough. Like Jacob ran for twenty years until he began to wrestle [Genesis 32. 24, 25]. Collectively mankind is wrestling now. As John Bunyan said about religion. “The soul of religion is the practical part.”
In Chapter 31, which is Jeremiah’s greatest chapter, he predicts the new covenant will come. He defines it. In Verse 3 he shows that the new covenant is definitely based on the comprehension of God as love. It’s that very “lovingkindness” that will draw all mankind to God for the solution of the world problems.”
“Heal the Sick”: A Scriptural Record, by B. Cobbey Crisler**
Cherish as “stars in (your) crown of rejoicing”** all dear ones who understand & share the reality of God’s allness.
The Responsive Reading this week closes with “Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.” (Philippians 4:1, NKJV)
Paul also wrote “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.” (I Thessalonians 2:19, 20)
When reading these Pauline passage I was inspired to think of them as likely Bible-based sources of inspiration for Mary Baker Eddy’s use of the regally-happy phrase “stars in my crown of rejoicing” that she uses in her writings:
She writes:
* “The students in my last class in 1898 are stars in my crown of rejoicing.” (Miscellany, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 125:21)
* “The spiritual idea is crowned with twelve stars. The twelve tribes of Israel with all mortals, — separated by belief from man’s divine origin and the true idea, — will through much tribulation yield to the activities of the divine Principle of man in the harmony of Science. These are the stars in the crown of rejoicing. They are the lamps in the spiritual heavens of the age, which show the workings of the spiritual idea by healing the sick and the sinning, and by manifesting the light which shines “unto the perfect day” as the night of materialism wanes.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 562:11)
REMEMBER THE HEALING FEELING OF ALWAYS BEING AT-ONE WITH YOUR “GREAT I AM” GOD!
Not an “I was” God or “I will be” God!
My quick “sketch”/ reenactment on YouTube of Moses’ encounter with God, the great “I Am,” was inspired by Cobbey Crisler’s insights on Exodus chapters 3 and 4 from his talk, “Heal the Sick: A Scriptural Record.” If you want this background and his application ideas for Exodus 3:14,15 (citations B8 and B9 in this week’s Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson), you can click the link to my March 2020 CedarS Bible Blog.
[As Cobbey writes on on Exodus 3 (citation B8)
“Notice that when God appears to Moses at the burning bush and the bush was not consumed notice that, otherwise the bush would be I-was.
“The bush was not consumed despite the passage of time, material elements, whatever.
“That I Am is continuous and preserved.
“Jesus brings out the point that God could not have used the statement “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” He could not have said that using the present tense in Moses time, if what were not true? (Voice: “Eternality”). Eternality of whom? Not just God. His point was not that. His point was the Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not dead, or God could not have said, “I Am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
They are I AM as well. If God is I Am, then his creation must always be I Am. That’s Jesus’ own point. We’ll get to that more as we get into the Gospels.”
“Heal the Sick: A Scriptural Record,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
WHEN WHAT YOU’VE LEANED UPON FAILS, LEARN FROM OUR “I AM” HOW TO FACE IT WITH AUTHORITY & HANDLE IT WITH DOMINION AS NOTHING BUT ILLUSION! Cobbey Crisler on Exodus 4 (citation B9)
[Cobbey continued:] “In Chapter 4 Moses, after he has been tested on this I-Am subject, says he is afraid that others will not be receptive. They will say, when he gets back to Egypt in that symbolic condition of bondage, “Let’s ask ourselves whether we have emerged from Egypt.” Even the geographics of the Bible can be symbolized and made quite relevant to your own experience: The bondage represented by Egypt, the extent to which we are dominated rather than exercise dominion under God, which Genesis 1, (verse 26,) indicates is man’s heritage.
“Then Moses (in Exodus 4:1) despairs of being able to go back and say, “God has appeared unto me, God is I AM, forget this antiquated theology that God is I Was. Let’s begin to do something about God now.”
“Moses needs some examples. God says (in Verse 2), “What do you have right there, right in your hand?” A rod. I’m sure you know what that would mean to a shepherd, and all the uses of a rod in a shepherd’s hand: the symbol of authority, the counting of the sheep so as not to lose one, the encouragement, sometimes a little bit roughly, to get into the fold, the warding off of wild beasts, the general symbolic authority which it would convey.
“What is that in thine hand?” “You have a symbol of authority you’re already exercising.” But do know really what it is? How are you regarding it?” He is told to throw it on the ground (in Verse 3) and the minute it’s thrown on the ground, it becomes a serpent. If we wish to throw down our symbol of authority and release our grasp on it and let it fall into the dust-man theory of Genesis 2 and 3, according to Genesis 3 (Verse 14), dust is the serpent’s meat.
“It becomes a serpent and Moses runs from a problem of his own making. Is this relevant to us? Does this teach us a lesson for ourselves? When things that we have learned to lean upon— whatever, hope, faith, perhaps health, substance or wealth, youth. If what we’ve relied upon falls from our grasp and hits the dirt, turning into what looks like the opposite, as our health disappears, our youth disappears, our wealth disappears, our hope, our faith, our religion, whatever, and in their places we find what the serpent represents, dread and danger. Then where are we religiously? Where are we? Is there any way out? Probably the biggest question that humanity asks itself: Is there a way out?
“God tells Moses, as our spiritual progenitor, our pioneer in this laboratory testing, is God telling Moses what? (Voice: “Face it.”) Face it. Don’t run from it. Take it. Is the tail of the serpent the safest part or the most dangerous? In order to grab a serpent by the tail, you will have had to overcome what? (Voices: “Fear.”) Fear. You just simply cannot pick up a serpent that way if you have not already exercised a mental dominion and security over it. The lesson, too, perhaps is implicit that we should not let go of our rod or misunderstood its meaning, turn it into a false reliance, because it really isn’t youth, health, or hope or faith. It’s something even stronger.
“We see the minute he picks that illusion… it was a magical illusion. The rod was always there. The problem was the illusion. He had fled before it. Now the rod become even higher than hope or faith, it becomes what for Moses? He now understands how to overcome human problems. Is this what he has to bring down into Egypt for the rest of humanity?
“What does serpent represent in the Bible? What does it symbolize, right from the beginning? It’s a symbol of the devil, the symbol of the power given to any opposition to God. So we find that a serpent here can be overcome. The serpent, in just whispering or suggesting things to Adam and Eve, introduces what according to the legend? (Voice: “Death.”) Before death, sin. The serpent and sin are parallels in Biblical symbolism.
“That isn’t the only news that Moses through his own experience in the wilderness is to bear to waiting humanity. That’s only half the news: That man has the power in his grasp to overcome sin. The other half of the news is in Verse 6 (of Exodus 4) when God says, “put now thy hand into thy bosom.” He does. When he takes it out, before him is the evidence, and perhaps an incurable form of this disease, leprosy. You have to realize the dreaded nature of this disease at that time. It was sufficient to virtually ostracize you from the rest of the world. He takes this out. He has the same reaction he had when he first saw the serpent. What is it? The fear, the dread, to flee before, just even in repulsion. But look at the calm instruction (Verse 7), “Don’t get excited. Put it right back. Take it out.” Poof.
“The whole to-and-fro nature of disease exposed here. Is this a message that God has given the only receptive individual in that known world—certainly the only one who has reported such an event—that man also has a God-ordained, God-given dominion over sickness and disease? But he must exercise that dominion just as he has the same dominion over sin.
“In (Exodus 4,) Verse 8 (is) almost as historical, even though it is a prophetic note here, it seems historical for us, especially in our twentieth century when we have seen so many denominations are now beginning to focus on the role of healing within their ranks. In Verse 8 the prophecy is “if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign,” the victory over sin, “they will believe the voice of the latter sign,” the victory over disease, which is most easy to accept when one witnesses it. To see leprosy healed in front of you would cause many people at least to wonder seriously about what brought it about.”
“Heal the Sick: A Scriptural Record,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
FOR DOMINION, TREAT THE RIGHT PATIENT OF FEAR, NOT THE FLESH! Cobbey Crisler on Ps. 56:4/cit. B10
[Cobbey:] “Speaking of fear, look at Psalm 56, Verse 4, “I will not fear what?” “What flesh can do unto me.” So, flesh isn’t the problem. But guess what is? Fear. It’s fearing what flesh can do unto me. Flesh is not the patient, then. One of the most radical discoveries in Biblical therapy: we’ve been treating the wrong patient. That’s not the problem in Biblical thought. [It] wants to be absent from the flesh, not even weigh it in, factor it in to Biblical healing. The flesh has naught to say, but completely submits to what the mental state dictates. That’s dominion.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
DELETE JUNK MAIL “things of the flesh” (Rom. 8:5, Gal. 5:19)
[W.] Cherish Real angel messages – not junk mail & its “un-Reels” of the flesh & April Fool’s allurements. (new)
[Christie Hanzlik, CS, in Section 3 of her “Unreality” Met this week writes:]
“This past Wednesday, a friend shared a testimony about the importance of being alert to stray thoughts that try to undermine our joy and health. She compared this alertness to using a junk-mail filter with our email. When an inharmonious idea tries to take away our joy or health, we can quickly delete the junk. She added that we don’t need to take the junk mail personally, nor do we have to read it, analyze it, try to figure out why we got it, or get upset about it. Just delete it. It has no honest origins. Just delete it.
“The author of Galatians makes a list of things of the “flesh”—that which is limited and distorted—that could be considered junk mail: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like (cit. B11, Galatians 5:17-23) Even though this list might seem overwhelmingly long, as soon as we identify it as just junk mail, it’s easy to know what to do. Delete it.
“The author of Galatians also makes a list of good messages: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” These come from a good and reliable source: Divine Spirit. These messages we keep. These messages are undeletable because they come from an everlasting and validated source.
“Consider this verse from Romans using the junk mail analogy: “They that [spend their time reading junk mail] do mind the things of [wasted time and junk]; but they that [take in only the messages from Spirit enjoy the blessings] of the Spirit. For to [waste our time on junk thoughts] is [a dead end]; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. You are not [made out of junk], but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” (cit. B12, Romans 8:5, 6, 9) …
“Sometimes we may feel like there are just too many metaphorical email messages coming at us at once, but we are steadily making progress in deleting junk. As we are clearer and clearer as to what is true and real, it becomes easier to recognize and delete the junk. As Mary Baker Eddy writes, “If divine Love is becoming nearer, dearer, and more real to us, [junk] is then submitting to Spirit.” (cit. S15, 239:18-20)”
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
(Galatians 5:16, prelude to citation B11)
Stop HANDCUFFING yourself with the crystalized limitation & “lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16/a cit. B11 prelude)
Mary Baker Eddy quotes Paul in cit. S14/SH 223:3 below (new).
“Paul said, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Sooner or later we shall learn that the fetters (hand-cuffs) of man’s finite capacity are forged by the illusion that he lives in body instead of in Soul, in matter instead of in Spirit.” (citation S14, Science and Health with KEY to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 223:2)
[Warren:] “We would never want to play in any sport (or work in any meaningful endeavor) with ourselves handcuffed! (in fetters) And yet, when we view ourselves and others as merely material mortals, as beings in physical bodies, that’s exactly what we’re doing! We are unwittingly, yet eagerly, volunteering to handcuff ourselves and to thereby greatly limit our freedom of movement and our level of accomplishment.
“But thanks to the KEY to the Scriptures and its “Scientific Statement of Being,” we can unlock our finite capacities and the hourly pressures of “TIME. Mortal measurements” (SH 595). We can rejoice in precious, whole feeling the “gentle presence, peace and joy and power … (of) Life divine, that owns each waiting hour” (Hymn 208). We naturally and humbly express the infinite abilities and stress-free, unrestricted accomplishment of living as God’s “very good” (Genesis 1:31) “image and likeness!” (SH 468:14, Genesis 1:26)”
LIKE JESUS, HEAL BLINDNESS BY SHOWING CONTEMPT FOR A BELIEF IN A DNA-DUST MAN ORIGIN! WASH OFF EVERY TRACE OF FAITH IN A MATTER-BASED IDENTITY & HEREDITY!
[W.] Cobbey’s insight on how Jesus healed the man born blind by transcending with spiritual understanding the disciple’s limited, belief-based multiple-choice question:
[Cobbey Crisler on John 9:2/cit. B14:]
“ The disciples ask Jesus “who did sin?
(A) This fellow over here? or
(B) his parents?”
“John 9:3. Jesus had that paper before him as in the examination room on that point many times before. “He says,
(C), none of the above… [Or, as Warren proposes as another right multiple-choice test answer (D) DNA (Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid (DNA) (the molecule that supposedly carries encoded genetic instructions) Does Not Apply!)]
[Cobbey continues on his (C) answer:] “None of the above. Neither hath this man sinned or his parents.”
What’s that saying about origin? Where is that man? His roots are not in parents or in some reincarnated experience…”
Notice what he does in John 9:6 and what it may remind you of. “He spat on the ground, made clay of the spittle.” That reminds you of man being made of the dust in the Second Chapter of Genesis Verse 6 and 7, doesn’t it? Would Jesus ever [by spitting show disgust or contempt for or] mock God if he considered that was the real way that creation occurred? Yet, it almost looks like a mockery of that. He’s taking on that concept of the man of dust. He’s spitting on that ground, into the dust, making clay of it, and slapping it on the eyes of the blind man.
John 9:7. The man goes to the pool of Siloam. He can’t see his way there. He’s got mud all over his face. He doesn’t go seeing. He comes seeing.” He comes only after he has washed off that symbolic making or formation of man out of the dust.
In a way, it might even give us a greater hint on what the true meaning of baptism is, the immersion in Spirit, nativity, and washing off every trace of the dust man.”
“Book of John, A Walk with the Beloved Disciple,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
Check out a great reenactment of this healing to the end of the story (verse 41) at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHBo7ka3YZQ
[Warren: First read correlated Science & Health citation S18/228:7 by Mary Baker Eddy: “Heredity is a prolific subject for mortal belief to pin theories upon; but if we learn that nothing is real but the right, we shall have no dangerous inheritances, and fleshly ills will disappear.”
Then, ask yourself what “dangerous inheritances, and fleshly ills” are just lies about you, or those you love. Know then that all such “false evidence” is contemptible to Christ, because it’s based on false theories of origin in matter and beliefs of heredity with its limiting, multiple-choice, blame-game explanations.]
TAKE ALL MIXED-UP MESSES TO GOD AND LET HIS WIND (HOLY GHOST) and FAN SEPARATE THE CHAFF FROM THE WHEAT (THE BEST VERSION OF YOURSELF) LET JESUS’ BAPTISM OF “THE HOLY GHOST & FIRE” THAT BURNS THEM UP SO THEY NEVER RETURN!
[Christ’s separating chaff & wheat as in cit. S16/269:5 & Matt. 3:11+ Cobbey on Jesus’ fan-in-hand baptism (new)]
[Warren:] Here are some application ideas that will hopefully be helpful to you as they were to me that were sparkled by insights from Cobbey Crisler on the baptism of Jesus. May they help you lift up to the Spirit of God any and all humanly-unsolvable situations to separate out the mess and to permanently eliminate it!
[Cobbey Crisler insights on the separating of the chaff & wheat from Matt. 3:11-17 as in SH 269:5:]
“In Matthew 3:11 and 12, John the Baptist said “I am just baptizing you with water: but the one who is following me (Jesus)… He is going to baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”… Let me just suggest something… I think it does help to clarify how we can learn from these illustrations by going beneath the surface as much as possible. For instance, in the separation of the chaff from the wheat there are innumerable things that are required for the thresher to do before the results can be successful… We want to get rid of the chaff and get to the useful wheat. Why must we separate them? They’re all mixed. Take that symbolically. If this is all to be happening within us, this kind of baptism, Holy Ghost and fire, is there anything mixed up in us?
Of course not, we’re not mixed up. We’re never confused. We never have arrived at a point where we can’t tell the difference between right and wrong. If some of us, a few of us, have that problem of being mixed up on occasion, then the chaff and wheat are together. Is there a way you and I can get out of that mixed-up state? Is this the baptism then that is required as far as our thinking is concerned? In order to begin to sort this process of separation, the thresher must first locate a threshing floor. The threshing floor has certain requirements to it for maximum results. What are they? It has to be high, and certainly as level as possible. Why high? Because it needs to be unobstructed. You can’t have structures around it. It would have to be open with minimum obstruction. Hopefully none at all. Open to the wind. “Here we are on our threshing floor with all the mixture at our feet. Our first responsibility was to get it up to the highest point [God] where there are no obstructions. That’s very interesting because for anyone who is at some mixed-up point in his life, the first requirement is to get up to that point.
“Second, what must be done? What’s the next thing the thresher does? Now he’s up there. It’s a beautiful wind. Is he going to put up a hammock and swing in it? He’s got to do something about the mess at his feet. It’s very exact this illustration. What does he do? He uses a fan. What is termed a fan in the King James Version is not the Madame Butterfly variety, but is like a fork, a pitchfork. He goes right into the mixture of the chaff and wheat and throws it into the air. But the actual separation occurs by the wind. Not ours. Do you see the difference in the responsibility? The Divine takes care of the separation after the human had gotten to the level where it is willing to work for the Divine and yield to it. The wind, or pneuma, or Holy Ghost, has that defined responsibility of separating the chaff from the wheat in our own thinking. “Where does the fire come in? If you want to get rid of the chaff, it will be very important to destroy it completely. Because the chaff could, with a change of wind, be mixed back into the wheat. To eliminate that possibility, a thresher will build a fire downwind, the chaff will blow right into the fire and be consumed simultaneously… “It is through this process of baptism, the meeting of the Holy Ghost and fire, that this deep spiritual cleansing goes on within us. This baptism of thought which requires the fan…**(See PS.)
(Verse 13) “At this point, John the Baptist having announced this, Jesus appears and come to be baptized.”
(Verse 14) ‘But John says, No, it should be the other way around. I’ve just been talking about this new baptism.’
(Verse 15) ‘Jesus said, permit it for the moment.’ Implying that the human mind has to swallow things piecemeal… the progress of man’s spirituality is a step at a time. Jesus, therefore, receives the water baptism.
(Verse 16) But almost immediately we are told that water-baptism is to be superseded, we find that “the Spirit of God descends like a dove upon Jesus…[In an attached Download online, you can see Warren’s January 2020 picture of a ceramic representation of the dove above Jesus and John at the place on the Jordan River where tradition has it that he was baptizing.] “Perhaps that dove was indicating… that the water-baptism is past. Spirit’s baptism must take over in this radical change of thought being required by this new era.
(Verse 17) “In the middle of this great event, ‘A voice is heard that says, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master, A Tax Collector’s Report,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
[Warren: Here’s a way to adapt this to be meaningful for you!]
Consider doing as hundreds of visitors to CedarS Bible Lands Park have done in order to go home with longstanding burdens lifted off them forever! (You can see a short video illustration of this in a YouTube video of my 2022 inspirational talk for Arden Wood’s Inspirational Meeting. You can click here to see the whole meeting or fast forward through the first part of the meeting to see this short clip at 1 hour 3 minutes into it. That’s where I appear (dressed as Moses) at the top of Mt. Nebo in CedarS Bible Lands Park to illustrate the process of separating the chaff from the wheat. Our Mt. Nebo is an unobstructed high point where we take all mixed-up messes of chaff and wheat. With a fan in hand (like the Christ in Matthew 3:12) we lifting them up together for the wind (Holy Spirit) to do the separating – not only of the wheat and chaff —but also the facts from the fables (written inside a folded-up scrap of paper). They are blown or thrown into the fire as never-true fables to be left behind forever.
P.S. Mary Baker Eddy’s defines “FAN (as) Separator of fable from fact; that which gives action to thought.” (Science & Health 586)
JESUS KNEW HIS PROPHESIED, EXPECTED END (TO BLESS US!) & TOLD HIS DISCIPLES ABOUT IT. (Matt. 20:17-19/cit. B15) And, as a post-citation BONUS, Jesus also told them NOT to expect HIERARCHY IN HEAVEN, no “political plums” where BLESSINGS ARE EARNED!
Cobbey Crisler notes Jesus foretelling his crucifixion & ending any fights over chairs in heaven (Matt. 20:18-28/cit. B15+):
[Cobbey:] “In Verses 18, 19 doesn’t Jesus forewarn his disciples according to this gospel’s account that the crucifixion was going to happen? Look at the details, “mock, scourge, crucify: and the third day he shall rise again.” What happens right after he tells all that?
(Verse 21) Here’s a stereotype of motherhood, saying, “I’ve got two sons, Jesus, and I’d appreciate it if you’d give them special consideration when you arrive in this location called heaven. There’s probably a chair on your right side and on your left side. I’d be very happy as a mother if my boys could be in those chairs.”
“The word got around very swiftly among the other disciples that Mom was operating on behalf of two of them.
“In very polite Elizabethan English, “they were moved with indignation.”
“(Verse 21). Jesus answer was, “Are you really able to drink of the cup that I am going to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am going to be baptized with?” James and John, all scrubbed and clean, said, “We are able.”
“They did prove to be able later on. John becomes the last surviving disciple of the intimate group.
“(Verse 23). Jesus does say, “You will indeed drink of my cup, and be baptized with what I am baptized with, but I don’t hand out political plums. That isn’t the way heaven is arranged. It will be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.” That ends any thought of hierarchy in heaven. The preparation and earning factors go into it.
“Right in the middle of telling them what he was going to go through, they are fighting over chairs in heaven.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master: A Tax Collector’s Report,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
Beware Triumphal Entries like on Palm Sunday (April 2, 2023) Cobbey’s insights on John 12:1+/cit. B16: (new)
[Cobbey Crisler stated on John 12:1+/cit. B16;]
“This chapter begins where Jesus revisits Bethany.
John. 12:2, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha there, Lazarus eating supper with them.
John. 12:9 shows that a crowd begins to assemble. They hear that not only Jesus is there but Lazarus is a co-celeb. Bethany is only abou.t a mile and a quarter from Jerusalem, so all of Jerusalem has been aware of this raising of the dead in their vicinity. “So people are corning to see Lazarus.”
“In John 12:10, look at ..i.vhac the chief priests are consulting about. Lazarus has just gotten out of the tomb and they want to stuff him back in! Because he was really walking evidence of God’s word.
Here comes what’s been called Palm Sunday and we find the general populace greeting him. even the children in other gospel accounts (Matthew 21 :9, 15).
“John12:13, calling him the King of Israel, Hosanna, all Messianic terms in recognition of Jesus’ Messianic roles.
“John 12: 14, Then Jesus chooses a young ass to ride into Jerusalem.” Dr. Bull makes an interesting point here, he says, “Nowhere else are we told in the gospel that Jesus rides anywhere. The presumption is that he walks. Bu. there, very close to Jerusalem, where the walk isn’t that long, he makes a point of having a special form of transportation. It so happens that, although I’ve not seen. this in any book, we are faced with another Messianic symbol. When Solomon was anointed king, that’s the way he came into Jerusalem, on the back of David’s mule. It also has to do with prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 where it talks about. “the king corning to Zion sitting on an ass’s colt:. The disciples don’t understand that until much later.
“What was the whole motive for people showing up for Palm Sunday? It isn’t because Jesus was making a triumphal entry into the city. It’s because of John l:18. They’d heard about the miracle. It is a popular recognition. of the raising of the dead. Just as a week later, Easter will become the same thing, commemorating the raising of the dead. This was Jesus’ first popular reception into Jerusalem. Crowds were lining the roads, cheering him in Messianic terms. Only a week later he will be led out of the same gate to be crucified. Maybe the lesson is “”Beware triumphal entries”? There is human nature in its extremes again, within a week the crowd tums.
“Notice what happens in John 12:20, “Certain Greeks are there.
John 12:21. Only speaking Greek, ”they come to Philip, and said, “We would like to see Jesus.”
John 12:22, Philip goes and Tells Andrew and says, Andrew, there are a couple of fellows here who want to see Jesus.”
“John 12:23. Andrew and Philip together go to Jesus. There is a lot of red tape, but it does have some interesting connotations. Philip and Andrew are the only disciples that have Greek names. “Why would the Greeks go to them? To give some indications that they were adept at conversing in that language.
Jesus does not give a direct answer to this. But notice what he says, the hour is come,” the prophetic hour, “that: the Son of man should be glorified. . Why? With Gentiles suddenly reaching out towards Christianity, would Jesus see this as a sign of the approaching end of his mission?”
“The Book of John, the Beloved Disciple,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
Warren’s reminder of this coming Easter week’s offer to see for free the outstanding BibleRoads Easter talk that Christie Hanzlik recommends in her Met this week! If you already saw it and paid $20 for it as a one-time fee, the BibleRoads team is happy to help set you up with the many other benefits in the Gift offer below. You can reach them at team@bibleroads.com at any time.
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BACKGROUND of BONUS GIFT OFFER:
Here are some of the excellent questions posed in this talk with a link whereby non-members can watch it and, if they wish, share their gratitude.
Christie Hanzlik recommended in her CedarS Met this week:
“Consider watching Bible Scholar Madelon Maupin’s talk “The Week that Changed the World,” that she gave on March 25, 2023. In the talk, Madelon poses poignant and life-transforming questions raised by the Easter story such as,
• “How do I show devotion to Christ, including whatever needs to be sacrificed, and put that affection into practice?”
• “How can I be more receptive to Christ and remove whatever would downgrade or contaminate my sense of worship and church?”
• “How can I stay spiritually alert to detect how the antichrist would try and have me deny Christ—the Truth of myself and others—today?”
“Madelon poses several other meaningful questions, and the talk is well worth a deep dive. I bookmarked this talk and plan to ponder it often.” (Click on https://seeker.bibleroads.com/twtctw-rbr23 )
Or, on Watchfire Music by CedarS friend, Peter Link, — LISTEN TO A SAMPLE of a different version also called “I and my Father are one” SUNG by Mindy Jostyn. You can BUY IT and the SHEET MUSIC for SOLOISTS at: https://watchfiremusic.com/shop/recordings/songs/i-and-my-father-are-one-2/
CHERISH EASTER AS A SPECIAL SIGN OF GOD’S LOVE for YOU & YOUR ONENESS with God — “as a humble ray of sunlight that is one with the sun”
cit. S21/26:10, John 10:30 & 18:3, 315, 361:16 as sung in “I and My Father” YouTube Video
“Man’s oneness with the Father” is a central point in Jesus’ healing theology and is featured in citation S2, “Jesus of Nazareth taught and demonstrated man’s oneness with the Father, and for this we owe him endless homage.” (18:3-5) Below is a YouTube link to an inspiring song by a CedarS mom and award-winning Country Music artist, Cherie Brennan. It emphasizes the “I and my Father are one” mindset of Christ Jesus and mentioned in this week’s Bible Lesson citation S2/18:3 (& even more direct analogies derived from John 10:30 in SH 361:16, 26:10, 315:3. 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
