When Jesus called his talmidim (Matthew 4:18-22; 9:9-13), they were all working; making a living in the family trade. Jesus went to their places of work and said, “Come, follow me.” The Bible tells us that they immediately quit what they were doing and began to follow Jesus. Why would they quit their jobs to follow him? It wasn’t because he was the Messiah; they didn’t even know he was the Messiah until after his resurrection.

The 1st-Century Galilean educational system was such that most boys and girls began school at age five. This first level of education was called Beth Sefer, and the children finished by age 12. The focus of Beth Sefer was the first five books of the Bible. After finishing Beth Sefer, many of the boys and all girls would go home to help with the home and learn the family trade. The boys who were exceptionally gifted in Torah learning would have the opportunity and be encouraged to attend Beth Midrash. These boys would be taught the writings and prophets of the Bible, as well as begin learning the Oral Torah and how to interpret and make personal applications of the text.

By age 16, those who finished Beth Midrash went home to learn the family trade, all except for those truly gifted students who would then begin to seek out a Shmikahed rabbi, whom they would live with and learn from until they were able to accept the role of sage at age 30.

Once the student decided upon a particular rabbi, he would approach that rabbi and ask him, “Can I be like you?” The interpretation of this very Jewish question for us would be, “Can I follow you and learn to teach and live just as you teach and live?”

Of course, a rabbi would be very humbled by such a request, and the rabbi would then thank the boy for his compliment of believing that this rabbi is worth learning to be like. Then the rabbi would test the boy for a while, listening and watching for the boy’s ability to learn the deeper meanings of God’s Word and his ability to apply them practically and through teaching.

After a time of testing, the rabbi would give the boy one of two answers:
1. Yes. I believe that you can be like me. Come and follow me. The boy would then move out of the house of his parents and literally begin to live with the rabbi. He would study the rabbi, learning to imitate everything from the way the rabbi speaks to the way he walks, eats, and prays. The talmid does not simply want to know what the rabbi knows; he wants to be what the rabbi is.
2. The rabbi could also give the young person another answer. No. You cannot be like me. You are truly a godly young man who loves God and is skilled in God’s Word, but you do not have what it takes to imitate me. Go home and learn the trade of your family, and live your life as a godly fisherman, tentmaker, brick mason, carpenter, farmer, etc.

Jesus’ talmidim immediately quit their jobs to follow him, because that is what any young Jewish male would have done, if he were blessed to have a rabbi call him. To be a talmid and ultimately a rabbi was the most sought after role that any Jewish boy could hope for. The dream of being a rabbi was comparable to the modern day desire to be a rock star or a fighter pilot. Most Galilean teenage boys could only dream of this happening to them. Because the disciples that Jesus called were working, it is safe to assume that they were not good enough to follow a rabbi. They had obviously either not made it far enough beyond Beth Sefer (1st Century, Jewish Elementary school) or they had been told, “You don’t have what it takes to be like me.”

Jesus went to the not-good-enough’s, and said, “I believe you can be like me.” Even James and John’s father, Zebedee, would have been kicking them out of the boat. He would even have jumped out of that boat himself, yelling all the way, “My boys are going to be rabbis!” My boys are going to be rabbis!”

It is truly amazing that God would call people like you and me to lead His Kingdom.

In His dust,
Johnny

© 2008 Jonathan P. Gainey and Flock’s Diner.
All Rights Reserved

Some of you may be like me in that you can be very emotionally affected by your imagination. I have a son who easily comes to tears simply by hearing of someone else’s pain. Recently I discovered, the hard way, that my daughter carries the same imaginative trait.

My little girl LOVES stories, books, movies, and anything else that has to do with princes and princesses. She’s one of those little girls who only wants to wear dresses, and she is constantly asking me to dance with her, pretending that I am the king and she is a princess. She often talks about getting married and how she’ll marry a prince. You know, the girly-girl type. On our recent trip to Disney World, my eyes welled up with tears on at least three occasions, because of how amazed she was when she saw the princes and princesses from the Disney movies.

Thinking my four-year-old would find it sweet, I told her of how one day she would grow up and get married in a beautiful princess dress to a wonderful man who loves God, loves her, loves children, enjoys learning, respects women, will have a great career…you know, all the virtues that men who marry our daughters usually have.

I then wanted to plant a seed of commitment into her small memory bank, so I went on to tell her that she will marry a great guy and stay married to him until she dies.

Have you ever said something to someone with the best of intentions that had just made you look like the biggest donkey on the farm?

I suddenly found myself in a dilemma.

My daughter’s eyes began to look into space, moving back and forth, and then, out of nowhere, she began to cry and said, “I don’t want to die.”

Then she kept asking questions about dying, such as, “What’s it like when I die?” “What does die mean?”

I was in trouble! I tried to backpedal, but it was too late.

For the next two days, she would say to me, “I don’t want to die, Daddy.” and every time she said it, my heart would drop.  

I would tell her, “You’re not going to die.” And then she would respond, “I’m never getting married, because I don’t want to die.”

Sometimes parents can really mess up, no matter how good the intentions.

Many blessings,
Johnny

© 2008 Jonathan P. Gainey and Flock’s Diner.
All Rights Reserved

Not everyone has the right to teach me. There are many people who, because of their experience, title, or influence over others, assume that they have the privilege to mentor me. However, I am not an instant student for just anyone. I am choosy when it comes to educators.

A wise person once said, “The books you read and the people you hang out with will define who you are in five years.”

Knowing that teachers have such an impact on who we are, we should not just allow anyone the privilege of teaching us, no matter how good a teacher that person may be. A teacher should not only contain the opportunity to teach, but be blessed with the gift, the skills, the education, and the authority to teach.

God came into the world in the form of a Jewish, Galilean rabbi.

God did not “just” come into the world in the form of a man. That would be much too random and simplistic when we consider the very detailed, strategic God that is YHWH.

The Messiah entered the world in first-century Israel; he was born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth, and lived his adult life in Capernaum, near the Sea of Galilee.

The largest religious school ever built in ancient times has been discovered in Capernaum. Those who grew up and lived in Capernaum were exposed to the Harvard of their day. Torah teachers, sages, and disciples would have been and had at their disposal many of the best and most skilled teachers in Israel. The Messiah was one of those teachers. Galilee was also the home of the most religious people in all of Israel. Galilee was given a stigma of peasantry by some people of Jesus’ day, not because it was true, but out of envy, just as you and I may make fun of people from another state in the U.S.

In ancient Israel, there were two kinds of teachers; Torah teachers also referred to as teachers of the Law, and there were Shmikahed rabbis also called teachers with authority. Shmikahed Rabbis had the permission and gift to give “new interpretations” on the Biblical texts, whereas Torah teachers were local teachers who were confined to teach the Torah as it is written and known.

To be a Torah teacher, meant that this person had excelled in his learning and understanding of the Torah, aka the Books of Moses. They were master teachers who knew the Books of Moses by heart, and could recite them from memory. They were recognized by the people in their community as God-loving, God-knowing, Torah scholars who were highly capable of teaching the Torah.

To be a shmikahed rabbi meant that the rabbi had the authority to make new interpretations. “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment’” (Matthew 5:21-22).

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart’” (5:27-28).

Over and over in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells those listening that he is giving them a “new interpretation.”

“When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority (shmikah), and not as their teachers of the law (Torah teachers)” (Matthew 7:28-29).

At the end of Matthew (see 28:18-20), Jesus said that “all” authority had been given to him, and Jesus imparted his authority upon his disciples that they may make disciples and teach what Jesus had taught them.

We have the authority of our rabbi, the Messiah Jesus, and it is our responsibility to share Jesus’ interpretations with the world.

In His dust,
Johnny

© 2008 Jonathan P. Gainey and Flock’s Diner.
All Rights Reserved

The Bible is a very precious and valuable piece of property for many people. Some are even quite superstitious about the book itself, claiming that it should not be placed on the ground or have any item laid on top of it.

Even more passionate are the opinions about which version of the English language is most appropriate for filling the text. The King James Version is thought of by many Christians as the most beautiful of all the English versions of the Bible. Some even use the English of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (as in the KJV) when praying, as if it is more suitable for speaking with God.

The history of the Greek language reveals that the Greek of the New Testament was the simplified form of the language. Of the four types of “common” or *Koine Greek used in the first-century A.D., the biblical version was called vernacular or vulgar Greek. As Dr. Daniel B. Wallace says, vernacular Greek was the language of the streets.

Vulgar Greek was such a wide-spread language that almost everyone in Israel was able to understand it. This means that the Bible was not written in a formal, colorful, romanticized version of Greek; it was written in the tongue of the farmer, the fisherman, the housewife, and the shepherd.

The Gospel was written to be read by all people, not with fancy and frilly verbiage, but with simplicity that all may hear and understand the Word of God.

In His dust,

Johnny

*Koine, pronounced kee-nay in the spoken language, and koy-nay in the Erasmean pronunciation.

© 2008 Jonathan P. Gainey and Flock’s Diner.
All Rights Reserved