Jesus – adonainissi

Song of Hallel

Passover has already passed this year (is that redundant?). That being said, I can’t wait another year to share what I’ve recently learned!

Matthew 26:30 (HCSB)
26As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat it; this is My body.”
27Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks, He gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you.
28For this is My blood that establishes the covenant; it is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.
29But I tell you, from this moment I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it in a new way in My Father’s kingdom with you.”
30After singing psalms, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

In the scriptures, you will find a song for Moses, Miriam, and Mary, but you won’t find one for Yeshua or Jesus. Yet it’s right here in front of our noses.

Jesus being fully a Jew would have taken Passover with his disciples as prescribed in the Mishnah (oral traditions) unless He, being the Word incarnate, was doing something new.

The bread:

Three Matzot were used, symbolizing the trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), made from unleavened bread (not puffed up). In Jewish tradition, the middle piece was broken which we now know represented the Son. Half of it is hidden for little children to find it.

Do you think Jesus was giving them Himself, the middle matzah, broken for them? I do.

I wonder if the tradition of sending children to seek the broken matzah relates to this verse?

Matthew 18:3 (HCSB)
3″I assure you,” He said, “unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

The wine:

Part of the Jewish Passover tradition was four cups of wine.

The first cup was the cup of sanctification (I will bring you out). The second cup was the cup of plagues, drunk before the meal and not mentioned here (I will free you from slavery). The third cup was the cup of redemption which is the one mentioned here (I will redeem you). The fourth cup was the cup of completion which is not shared, but referred to. Here, Jesus redefines the tradition to show that the completion is when we drink wine with Jesus after he comes again and the wedding feast takes place – Revelation 19:9 (I will take you as my own).

Jesus is also redefining the cup of redemption to show that redemption comes through accepting and taking in His blood shed for the forgiveness of sins along with his sacrifice (matzah, body) being broken for us that we might become whole and holy.

The song:

The reference is small, yet profound. Which Psalms did they sing together? I didn’t even know Jesus sang, did you? Of course he would, being a Rabbi. As part of the Passover tradition, Jesus would have been singing the Psalms of Hallel which traditionally cover Psalms 113-118.

Hallel is one of many Hebrew words to praise. I was taught that this word is accompanied by an action of extending both hands high in the air (faith without deeds is dead from a Jewish perspective).

While I won’t be looking at all the references, I want to focus on the pinnacle of Hallel, Psalm 118.

If you study the text carefully, you may discover like me that this Psalm is really pointing to Jesus. I wonder if Jesus’ disciples got that the song they were singing was right in their midst? I wonder if they understood the references that described what Jesus was about to do, or did that understanding come when they were walking with Jesus after His resurrection (Emmaus walk – Luke 24:32)?

I want to highlight some verses from the Psalm:

Psalm 118 begins and ends with the same text as bookends. A common literary device in scripture is a chaism that has the meat in the middle.

1 “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever.”

The Hebrew word for love used here (checed), sometimes translated as mercy, can be described as a the intersection of faithfulness, loyalty, and steadfast love.

Psalm 118:14-29 (NKJV)
14 The LORD is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.
15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation
Is in the tents of the righteous;
The right hand of the LORD does valiantly.
16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted;
The right hand of the LORD does valiantly.
17 I shall not die, but live,
And declare the works of the LORD.
18 The LORD has chastened me severely,
But He has not given me over to death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I will go through them,
And I will praise the LORD.
20 This is the gate of the LORD,
Through which the righteous shall enter.
21 I will praise You,
For You have answered me,
And have become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This was the LORD’s doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day the LORD has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save now, I pray, O LORD;
O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity.
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.
27 God is the LORD,
And He has given us light;
Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise You;
You are my God, I will exalt You.
29 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.

In verse 14, Jesus has just become their song and their salvation (Jesus is LORD). Wow!

In verse 19, I don’t find the word ‘the’ in the Hebrew, instead I see first person references. I believe it would read more like ‘open my gates of righteousness, I will enter them, thank you God.’ Jesus is returning to the Father.

פִּתְחוּ־לִי שַׁעֲרֵי־צֶדֶק אָבֹא־בָם אוֹדֶה יָהּ

In verse 20, it has been translated ‘this is the gate of the LORD, but the lamed prefix is usually translated ‘to’. This could be paraphrased as ‘This is the gate to the Father (I am), the righteous will enter through me.’ I wonder if His disciples picked up on Jesus calling himself the ‘gate’ to salvation and that righteousness had to come through Him?

זֶה־הַשַּׁעַר לַיהוָה צַדִּיקִים יָבֹאוּ בוֹ

In verse 24, this verse is often taken out of context. Which day were they to rejoice? The day of Passover which begins at sundown. Why? It’s proscribed in Exodus 12:14, because it marked their day of deliverance, but what else might it be saying in a new covenant? I believe that this new Passover is to celebrate the love that is the culmination of this song of praise. The love is demonstrated in verse 27.

In verse 27 in the language of symbols, light is a metaphor for truth, illumination, or understanding.

I believe another way that the Hebrew could read is as follows: The LORD God has become light to us (I am the light of the world). Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

אֵל יְהוָה וַיָּאֶר לָנוּ אִסְרוּ־חַג בַּעֲבֹתִים עַד־קַרְנוֹת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ

This song was about Jesus becoming the sacrificial lamb of God to be sacrificed as a Passover lamb, once and only once for the sins of the world. It is the greatest expression of love the world will ever know. The altar was in the shape of a cross.

Wow, imagine singing this song with Jesus after sharing the Passover meal, rich with symbolism! The symbolism that they had previously learned had just been turned upside down.

This is the song of Hallel or we might call it the Jeshua or Jesus song. He has become our song and our salvation (Yeshua in Hebrew).

1 John 3:16a
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.

For God so loved the world…

Hypocrites versus Eternal Life

Jesus sometimes used the term “hypocrite“, but most often in regard to the self-righteous. What did he mean by that and how does that apply to us?

When I first started going to church, before my point of conversion, being one of those hypocrites was the last thing I wanted to be. I didn’t want to be one of “them.” I didn’t want to be brainwashed, nor chuck my brain at the door. Yet, the funny thing is that is probably the biggest part of my testimony. A “brainwashing” is probably what I needed the most!

Matthew 1:21

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins”

In Matthew 1:21, we’re taught the meaning of the word Jesus. It means God saves (not me). That’s the whole point of the term “repent” in the gospels. It is not to turn away from something, but to turn towards someone, but that’s a topic for another post.

For a number of years, I have wrestled with what my testimony is. Did I become a “good” person? Not really. Is it because my behavior is so much better? Not really. Is it because of a personal healing or personal encounter I’ve had with His love? Not especially, though I have had glimpses along my journey. What’s ironic is probably more than anything else, God has changed the way I think. That’s the meaning of the word ‘repent’, i.e. to change one’s mind – metanoeo in the Greek. God has changed the way I think about many things, the environment, children, sexuality, marriage, and even birth control. Some of my ways of thinking were deeply entrenched, and it is something of a miracle that I could even begin to think about things differently. My ways of thinking were not something I could change on my own and in many cases weren’t even looking to change. Yet, God.

If we look carefully at the scriptures, we will see two expressions used as opposites.

Hypocrite versus Eternal Life

Hypocrite: a person who pretends to have virtues, beliefs, morals, or principles whose actions don’t match what they say. In other words, a pretender.

Jesus defines the term as well. Mark 7:6 – “these people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”

I have come to realize that I have become a card-carrying member of the “Hypocrites-R-US club.” Sad but true. The words in scripture tend to make hypocrites of us all. I think that is the point. In the Mark 7:6 text, we find both the problem and the antidote. The answer can only be found through a personal relationship with the one who is able to save our souls.

Eternal Life: an intimate knowing of God the Father and the Son whom He sent (I would encourage you to pursue a a concordance study on “eternal life,” especially through the book of John).

John 17:3 (HCSB)
“This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent — Jesus Christ.”

Eternal life comes through relational knowledge of both God as Father (Abba meaning daddy), and Jesus through the means of the Holy Sprit. I believe that this intimate relational knowing of God will continue, beyond our earthly dimension, to that of heaven.

One of the questions I have been seeking is what that knowledge looks like. The answer that I have received so far is that it should look like love because God is love. In 1 John, we learn that the one who says he loves God but does not love his brother is a liar (1 John 4:20). In other words, our inability to love others takes us back to being a hypocrite and needing a savior to save us from our selves.

The late prophet Bob Jones who “coincidentally” died on February 14th of this year, had visions of heaven. He said for those of us who have accepted the gift of Jesus’ life, Jesus is only going to ask us one thing, determining our reward. “Did you learn to love?”

That is the path to eternal life. The one who knows God, is intimately familiar with how to love, because God is love. The rest of us are probably hypocrites in need of a savior.

In a scene from the movie “Ragamuffin,” Brennan Manning presents the idea that Jesus will ask us one question, “Did you believe in my love for you?” That is the question we all must wrestle with.

We are able to love because God first loved us. That’s where it all begins and originates from. It’s there that we find grace to take us from being hypocrites to a life lived out of love, and find confidence in a life that is eternal.

A Generous Tree of Life King

I recently was struck by this passage in the Message version of John 1:14 where Eugene Peterson describes Jesus as “generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”

Generous is not a word we often associate with Jesus, though he obviously was. How was Jesus generous?

In John 1:16, Eugene Peterson translates the Greek text as “We all live off his generous bounty, gift after gift after gift.” The Greek word for what was translated to ‘gift’ is ‘charis’, often translated as ‘grace’; however in this text, I like the translation of ‘charis’ as ‘gift’. A gift is not something we earn, but simply something to receive and enjoy. The Greek word for what was translated ‘generous’ is ‘pleroma’, translated in other texts as ‘fullness’, but also renders as ‘abundance’, and ‘that which has been filled’.

In John 12:15, Jesus is recognized as the King of Israel, though not as they supposed, but coming in humility, riding on a donkey’s colt.

While we are given a kingdom, this king is not Santa Clause, nor a king as the world usually thinks of.

John 18:36 (The Message)

“My Kingdom,” said Jesus, “doesn’t consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But I’m not that kind of king, nor the world’s kind of king.”

While the list below is obviously a subset, what does this generous king offer?

1. Has taken on the sins of the world (John 1)
2. Gives us confidence in knowing that our sins are forgiven (Matt 9:2)
3. Continually washes us clean from sin and self consciousness, uncleanness, guilt, and unworthiness (1 John 1)
4. Demonstrates his love for us (1 John 4)
5. Provides everlasting life to us (John 6)
6. Opportunities to hang out with the saints of old (Matt 8)
7. Casts out evil spirits (Matt 8)
8. Has taken our infirmities and carried away our diseases bringing healing, (Matt 8) and in fact heals every kind of disease and sickness (Matt 9:35)
9. Gives us the Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out (John 3, John 14)
10. Assures us that as we receive, we can give it away to others. As we taste of the goodness of God, we’ll want to share it with others. (Matt 10:8)
11. Has given us the gift of no condemnation (Romans 8, John 8)
12. Became the curse of the law for us (Gal 3)
13. Gives us power and authority over forces of darkness and for healing (Luke 9)
14. Gives us joy, righteousness, and peace when we look to the right tree (1 Cor 1:30, Rom 14)
15. Gladly gives us the things of the kingdom of heaven (Luke 12:32)
16. Gives us spiritual gifts to steward (Luke 19)
17. Has forgiven us a debt of our sins which we can never repay and in turn, asks us to forgive others (Matt 18)
18. Lets us know that when we care for the least of these, we honor the king (Matt 25)
19. Has given us authority in prayer for what we forbid, and what we allow (Matt 16:19 NLT)
20. Has taken us from having no purpose (being lost) into discovering our identity and purpose (Luke 15)

As long as I keep my focus on the king of the spirit tree of life, I can receive joy, as he is my source. He can put a smile in my heart and on my face. We have an extravagant king who is more generous than we know. Sometimes, we have not, because we haven’t asked. Won’t you begin exploring asking for the kingdom of heaven? He’ll gladly give it you, especially when it’s from the spirit and with the right motives.