Enjoy CC and other insights on Sacrament citations for January 14, 2018
Monday, January 8th, 2018
Here are Cobbey Crisler and other insights on some citations for “Sacrament"
(the Christian Science Bible Lesson for January 14, 2018)
[CedarS' Lesson Met this week from Rick Stewart in Germany will come later today.]
Warren's (W's) PS#1—Cobbey Crisler insights on Mark 1: 8-11 (B7) and the baptism of Jesus and its applications today and on how to start the New Year with a new you—baptized into newness in Christ’s way—from the inside out.
Christ’s ultimate “DRY-cleaning” method of baptism in Mark 1: 8 “I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost”… We find John the Baptist removing the focus from physical cleanliness as being the means by which we would enter a heavenly state…You know water can’t reach what’s within, what is in consciousness, what is mental and really needs cleaning…
Mark 1, verse 10… “the Spirit like a dove descends upon him” in this baptism. It shows he is coming out of the watery baptism into the higher sense of baptism of the Spirit. The spiritual sense of man is what emerges after the carnal sense is washed from consciousness…
Mark 1:11 “Thou art my beloved son in whom I am well pleased,” shows that sonship and relationship to God is not in a fleshly context… It is a very emphatic point of our relationship to God.” [Consider the lifelong, spiritual confidence our children get from our saying this blessing each night to our beloved children, in whom we and God are well pleased.]
“Remember the consistency of the Scripture. This is what turns us into students. The consistency of the Scripture would force us to study in depth how we please God. Here is ‘My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’ How do we please God? Do you remember any particular Scriptural statements on that?… One of the things that Paul says about it in Romans 8:8 is, ‘They that are in the flesh (they that are earthly minded, who obey the lower nature) cannot please God.’*
What Mark Recorded, by B. Cobbey Crisler
*[The preceding verses, Romans 8:5-7, with other translations shed more light on the challenge of earthly-minded body worship that seems prevalent today in obsession with fitness, diet, revealing “selfies”… (Verse 5) “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh: but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” (“People who are controlled by the physical think of what is physical: and people who are controlled by the spiritual think of—give their attention to—what is spiritual.” Goodspeed (Verse 6) “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (“But to set the mind on the flesh brings death, whereas to set the mind on the Spirit brings life and peace.” The New Testament: A New Translation (Olaf M. Norlie)]
W's PS#2—Cobbey Crisler on Matt. 8:5-13 (B10): healing Centurion servant’s paralysis
“Test two a case of a paralyzed Centurion's servant:
(Verse 5). The second healing is the centurion's servant. This is a healing of palsy. Palsy is paralysis. This healing occurs over a distance.
It's almost as if Jesus were saying to the physical scientists of the nineteenth and twentieth century, "Alright, gentlemen, you say in your list of things that represent action-at-a-distance, there can be light, magnetism, sound, and electricity. Recognize that prayer is also action-at-a-distance and can out-distance all on your list. You do not have to be present physically to heal the sick. God is present with the one in need of healing as he is present with the one who is the channel for the healing or transparency.
You don't have to move physically to heal spiritually. This is a tremendous breakthrough in a concept for healing which can occur even today, when it is considered that one must be at the bedside of a patient in order to accomplish anything. Jesus did not do that in every case. It required the receptivity of thought in those with whom he was dealing.
Here we have a centurion, who was not even a Jew. He is a Roman, a non-com officer in a sense over a hundred men. That's why he's called a centurion. He has enough concept of authority to say, "All you have to do, Jesus, if you're good at what you're doing, and a professional, just say, 'Give the order,' and those orders will be obeyed. That's what happens in my profession," he said.
(Verse 10). Jesus makes the comment that he has not "found so great faith, no, not in Israel." One wonders if he would find that kind of faith even today?
(Verse 13). He says "to the centurion, as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour." We get a better view of it in the gospel of John, if it's the same incident which it undoubtedly is, where the nobleman's son is healed. The nobleman goes back down to check.
It's a day's travel. He's half way there and his servants have come to meet him. His servants say; "Everything's fine." The nobleman said, "What time?" And the servant said, "The seventh hour." So the nobleman asked about the time and it was the same hour that Jesus had said, "Go thy way. Thy son liveth."
The healing got to the centurion's home before the centurion got there. Which shows what is possible and how primitive we are in exercising the spiritual forces available to us. It may turn out that Jesus is the most important scientist in the history of the world in the sense of demonstrating his theory and proving it.”
Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master: A Tax-Collectors Report, B. Cobbey Crisler]
W's PS#3—Cobbey Crisler insights on Matt. 26:18-30 (B14) and nearby verses,
Matthew 26: (Verse 18). "Passover comes. Jesus knows what that's going to mean."
(Verse 24). He, again using Scripture says, "As it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! " It did not have to be Judas. But Judas elected because greed in his thought completely overpowered any other right element. He betrayed his Master for gold.
(Verse 26). "We find the Last Supper."
(Verse 30). ''The last thing Jesus does before he goes out into the Mount of Olives is to sing a hymn."
I suggest that you very quietly at home take Psalm 113 all the way through 118. Those are the hymns still sung today by Jews at Passover. These were undoubtedly the Psalms from which that hymn would have been taken. I think that every hair on your head will stand on end and you will be moved very deeply to read those psalms and determine what probably was being sung by Jesus, among which is a modern hymn, "This is the day the Lord hath made." Just think when he sang this.
Look at the verses that face the subject of death. It's very moving indeed. Psalm 118 and 116 specifically. Connect it with that event. Do it privately and within yourselves. Because it's a very precious moment of studying the Scriptures."
Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master: A Tax-Collectors Report, B. Cobbey Crisler
W's PS#4—Cobbey Crisler insights on Acts 2:22-27 `(B16), Peter’s 1st public lecture
"Now, in Acts 2, verse 22, Peter begins his lecture in earnest, and his sermon includes a definite documentation that “Jesus is the Messiah of scripture” and not just the Messiah who is the king and political leader but “the one who would be forced to meet every obstacle the world put in his path and overcome every one of them, certainly a way-shower to whom all humanity could relate.” (Acts 2:22, Paraphrased)
Here he says in Acts 2, Verse 23 that “Jesus was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.” Now, that’s just another way of saying what? Where do you find the “determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God”? In the scriptures, specifically – prophecy.
(See below)
And, if Jesus then went through all these things according to prophesy, look at Acts 2, Verse 25. Here are some of the specifics.
Acts 2:25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
Now, I ask you to study the next 10 verses [order a transcript from Janet Crisler for ALL of Cobbey's wonderful insights on Acts not in this lesson] and see how beautiful the logic of Peter is in this first lecture sponsored by the first Christian church.
Acts 2:26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Now, look what kind of students they become, these fishermen. They say, “David speaketh concerning him….” That means…where will we find it? In the Psalms. (See below, Repeated here for convenience)
Acts 2:25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
And the next quote is from Psalms 16, Verses 8-11. You might want to just write that in the margin of your book; it’s taken from the Sixteenth Psalm, verse 8, saying, “I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved.”
Ps 16:9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
Ps 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Ps 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Now, read verse 27 (in Acts 2) “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” (See below, as well as Ps 16:10 below)
Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Ps 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
What does that suggest to you? (Murmured answer) It suggests the resurrection. As a matter of fact, this is the prime verse used by New Testament authors, as a prediction of the resurrection.
Let me read to you what Dr. John Trevor told me in our discussion of this verse, that he prefers as meaning for some of those Hebrew words behind the Psalms passage.
The word “soul” – “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.” (See below, Partial, Repeated here for convenience)
Ps 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
He said to me that this is really a Hebrew word that means “all of your being.”
And I suggested to him, “How about the word “identity”? And he said that in 20th century terms, that would be quite close.
Reading the meaning there. “Thou wilt not leave my identity in hell.” (See above, Paraphrased)
All right? “Hell,” he says, is really not that concept that’s more medieval, but it’s the pit and corruption, and more the grave — pit, or corruption, or more the grave, he says.
So, let’s read that again, conceptually. “Thy wilt not leave my identity in the grave.” (See above, Paraphrased)
Now, let’s ask ourselves, “Does that speak to resurrection, or not?” It’s a very vivid indication of it.
And, finally, “Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” (See below, last half of same verse)
He said, “Holy One” in the Hebrew there, means more dedicated, or totally committed one. (See below)
Ps 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Now, that becomes quite a beautiful sense of resurrection coming from the Psalms, which if David wrote it, as Peter seems to feel here, it would have been a thousand years before Jesus.
“Thou wilt not leave my identity in the grave, and you will not suffer thy dedicated, or totally committed one to see corruption.” (See below, repeated, and paraphrased)
Ps 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
There’s the combined statement of the individuality of man free from the bondage of death. And the concept of death as a termination is virtually eliminated."
After the Master What? – The Book of Acts, by B. Cobbey Crisler**
W's PS#5—5th Tenet (S21) and its evolution AS RESEARCHED AND SHARED BY THE MARY BAKER EDDY LIBRARY.
A "blast from the past, from a classic 2005 Corde Hanzlik Met on Sacrament:
"5. We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eternal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the nothingness of matter. (S21)
"We can't have the resurrection and final ascension without the crucifixion. What is most important in Christian Science as compared to most religions is the resurrection. Jesus was not left on the cross and the Christ was never crucified. The women went to the sepulcher to mourn and give homage, but instead experienced an earthquake and an angel indicating the rising up of Jesus. In John 21 (B14) Jesus appears to his disciples by celebrating life, preparing food for them, comforting them.
We, like the disciples, see the completeness of Jesus' demonstration by his final feeding of the Truth. Jesus knew through the crucifixion experience that he was untouchable and untouched by the death-belief."
W’s PS#6—Cobbey Crisler on John 21:1-15 (B17) “Cast your net on the right”, morning meal
“John 21, the last chapter of John, is considered by some scholars to be a later addition, but still, very possibly, by the same author.
John 21:1. We're told that Jesus appears at the Sea of Tiberias, which is Galilee.
John 21:2, "Already assembled there were seven disciples, all had left the profession of fishing, we thought: Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, the sons of Zebedee, unnamed here, James and John, and two other of his disciples."
John. 21:3. They apparently had nothing to do. Discipleship returns to the fishing boat. "Peter," with his fingers almost audibly drumming against the side of his boat, "says I have an idea. I’m going fishing." Nobody else had any better suggestion. "So they all go fishing. They spent that entire night fruitlessly. The very fishes avoided them.” Isn't it interesting that the Anchor Bible makes this comment on the disciples' profession, "It is notable that never in the gospels do the disciples catch a fish without Jesus’ help."
But notice the contrast between Verse 3 and Verse 4.
John 21:3, "That night they caught nothing."
John 21:4, "But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore."
What patience Jesus had with discipleship! Waiting for them to realize the importance of carrying on his work. But, once again, without that realization, "they did not even recognize Jesus humanly".
John 21:5. Jesus asked them an important question. You’ve spent the entire night out there. "Children, do you have any results? Do you have any meat? No is their answer. "
Now it is obvious when one is fishing using a net that there's very little difference between the right side and the left side. The factor then brought out in John 21:6 must be the obedience to Jesus' word, the concept that he has exhibited throughout in his approach to economics and supply. "Cast the net, "he says, "on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find." They are obedient. They do exactly what Jesus requests of them. Now, instantly, they find their net is filled with fishes. They could have saved themselves that entire night.
Then John 21:7 refers once again to "the disciple whom Jesus loved. He recognizes Jesus. It is the Lord, he says." He must have recognized that sign of dominion over all, that mastery that he introduced even into the profession of fishing but was attempting to elevate them from profession to practice of Christianity. What had happened to his invitation to them, and expectation of them, to become fishers of men?
Edgar Lee Masters (1869-1950), U.S. poet and novelist, says this about the impetuous Peter, "O, Peter, gnarled branch of the vine." Peter throws his fisher's coat around him and plunges into the sea. We must remember that the Sea of Galilee has a shoreline that drops off quickly. So, he probably had to swim part of the way. Traditionally, sailors and fishermen aren’t the best swimmers. But, ignoring that, just as Peter had burst into the tomb to be there first, he casts himself into the sea
John 21:8, "While the other disciples bring the ship ashore. It says they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits, that’s about a hundred yards, dragging the net with fishes."
John 21:9. Here's all that time they could have spared by giving priority to the lessons Jesus had already taught them. Jesus hadn't toiled all night He didn't even have to use the fish that they brought in. "For when they arrived there was a charcoal fire there." In fact, the Greek word is anthrakian which is the root of our word anthracite. "And .fish, already there, laid thereon, and bread " Toast and fish all ready.
John 21:10. But Jesus wanted them to participate in this, "and said, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. ''
John 21:11, "So, Simon Peter, who was already on shore, goes to the net personally, and pulls it to shore." Who but a fisherman would remember this detail? "There were one hundred fifty three fishes in that net. " Someone counted. It might be just the sign of the authenticity of authorship here by an eye witness. "And still, the net was not broken." Remember, back in Luke 5:6, at another incident, the net broke.
John 21:12, ''Jesus' invitation is to Come and dine. Now they know who he is.
John 21:13. "Jesus," in his characteristic gesture, "took bread, and gave them, and fish likewise.” This was indeed a breakfast, but how different from that last supper! This breakfast was celebrating his victory over death. Not looking forward to tragedy, death, and lack of comprehension by the disciples, the dawn was in the disciples thought as well as over the Sea of Galilee on that special morning.
Now we engage in a dialogue between Jesus and Peter. The dialogue as printed in the King James Version seems rather dull and repetitive indeed. In the original Greek, however, there is a depth of meaning.
John 21:15, "Jesus says to Peter, Do you love me more them these” It's obvious that Peter is being tested. We may ask, tested for what? That becomes clearer… “
Book of John, A Walk with the Beloved Disciple, B. Cobbey Crisler**
**You can buy your own transcripts [IN FULL!!] to most of Cobbey’s 28 inspiring Bible talks at a new website: www.crislerlibrary.co.uk Please email your order or inquiry to office@crislerlibrary.co.uk, or directly to Janet Crisler, at janetcrisler7@gmail.com
