According to the studies of Ray Vander Laan in his article, “Be Salt”, from his website, Follow the Rabbi, in Jesus’ day, salt had many uses. It was used as a preservative and it added taste to foods, which otherwise would have tasted quite bland. It also had another use that would be considered very strange to you and me, but in the first century salt was also used to raise the temperature of ovens.

Salt was added to animal droppings to burn as fuel for the ovens, and the salt mixture helped to raise the temperatures of the oven, and even helped the fuel to burn longer. When the salt lost its ability to be effective as a fuel, it was thrown out and no longer useful for anything.

Luke 14:34a says, “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.”

Jesus makes a clear statement to his Jewish audience that they are the salt of the earth. They are to share the effectiveness of the gospel with others, and share the promise with others. They are that which brings the promise of salvation to the world.

For many of those Jewish listeners, the message of being salt to the world would have been a strange statement, because, to them, most of the world was off limits. They would go around Samaria in order to prevent themselves from being near what they considered to be unclean people. They would not go anywhere near a pagan temple or the land of non-Jews whom they considered ungodly. Most of them would not even speak with a tax collector, a prostitute or someone with a disease.

But the message of being salt to the world meant that they would mix with the unclean.

Jesus is telling his followers that they are going to have to mingle with the dirty and sinful of their world. And they are going to have to do this without losing their saltiness–their effectiveness. But in an unclean world, it is easy to become lost in the dirt, and rather than add to others, we can become dirty and useless ourselves.

I remember hearing an illustration from someone who said, when we work in a garden, we wear gloves to keep our hands from getting dirty. And when we wear gloves, the gloves get dirty. The dirt does not get “glovey.”

Even when we spend time with the most filthy of sinners, we must remain effective and faithful followers of Jesus. We have to be able to be effective in sharing the compassion and love of Christ without becoming one with sinners, and becoming useless disciples.

In His dust,
Johnny

© 2009 Jonathan P. Gainey and Flock’s Diner.
All Rights Reserved

The first century followers of Jesus understood that to be a disciple meant that they had to devote their lives to becoming like Jesus.

In the Jewish world, there were two kinds of rabbis. One was called a Torah teacher. Torah teachers were very learned in the Torah and were able to teach whatever the people understood and accepted as sound teaching from the Word of God. The second kind of rabbi was called a Shmikahed Rabbi.

Shmikahed rabbis could recite 365 pages of Scripture from memory and they were able to give new teachings or new interpretations of the Scriptures. For example, the Bible says that God’s people are not to work on the Sabbath, but it does not clearly define what “work” is. Defining these meanings was the job of shmikahed rabbis.

Jesus was one of these rabbis who were able to give new interpretations. We know this because we read often in the gospels where Jesus says, “You have heard it said, but I say…” This is an example of giving new interpretations.

What gave a rabbi the right to give new interpretations? Rabbis who were able to teach new interpretations were those who had shmikah. The word that the English translators often use to translate the word shmikah is “authority.”

In Mark’s gospel we read that Jesus went to Capernaum and began to teach in the synagogue. And the Bible says Jesus taught, not like the Torah-teachers, but like one who had authority (shmikah). Jesus was a rabbi with shmikah.

How did a rabbi get shmikah? The practice of blessing a rabbi with shmikah began when Moses and Aaron blessed the 70 judges in the book of Exodus. They brought all of the 70 together, placed their hands on the heads of each of them and declared that they had the authority to speak on God’s behalf when leading God’s people. After that, only a rabbi who was anointed by two other shmikahed rabbis and declared in the presence of witnesses to have schmikah, was considered to be a shmikahed rabbi.

Rabbis would often be asked, “Where did you get your shmikah” just as Jesus was asked by the chief priest, Torah-teachers, and elders in Luke 20:1-3. “One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priest and the teachers of the law together with the elders, came up to him. ‘Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,’ they said. ‘Who gave you this authority?”

So, who were the two people who had the authority to speak on God’s behalf and declared that Jesus had that same authority?

Jesus says after the teachers, priest, and elders asked him where he received his shmikah, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me, John’s baptism – was it from heaven, or from men,” which was half the answer. When Jesus came to the Jordon River for John’s baptism, John said, “Look everyone! The Messiah!” John is the first shmikahed rabbi to claim that Jesus has the authority of God when he speaks. The second authoritative person who declared the authority or shmikah of Jesus spoke when the heavens opened after Jesus’ baptism and said, “This is my son! Obey him! For I love him!”

Jesus is the only shmikahed rabbi in history who received his authority to speak on the behalf of God from God himself. This means that when Jesus says something to his followers, God is speaking to His followers. All authority (shmikah) in heaven and in earth has been given to Jesus. To follow Jesus is to follow God. To obey Jesus is to obey God. To imitate Jesus is to imitate God.

In His dust,
Johnny

© 2009 Jonathan P. Gainey and Flock’s Diner.
All Rights Reserved

I watched as forty vulnerable, trusting teens took in the words of their teacher, “The Jewish law could not save us.”

I wonder what God was thinking when He gave His commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai. What a waste of writing and thought! Those Israelites were a bunch of suckers to accept something so useless.

Or maybe the storm covered YHWH gave them something very meaningful, helpful, and eternaly valuable.

Paul’s teachings provide those of us, without the privilege of living in the Jewish world, some insight into the depths of God’s Word. In his letters, Paul speaks often of the Torah, which is poorly translated “law.” Unfortunately, the word “law” reeks of the Greek word nomos, which means rules and restrictions, rather than the true meaning of God’s loving instructions called Torah.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he speaks of a woman being married, and as long as her husband is alive, she is to remain married to him. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law…(See chapter 7:1-3).

“So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:4-6) NIV.

Until we arrive at the end of this passage, we can only assume that the references to “the law” are speaking of the “written Scriptures.” And here is where the difficulty begins.

The immediate response is to assume that all references to “the law” are meant to be read as “the Old Testament.” This interpretation is what brings about the assumption that the Hebrew Scriptures are no longer useful.

Let’s eat this in two large bites. 

First bite:
“The law” was often a phrase used to denote any law, including the “law of the flesh,” also called the “sinful nature.” In other words, Romans 7:4 would be better translated, “So, my brothers, you also died to the sinful nature through the body of Christ that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.”

Second bite:
Verse 6 is a crucial passage of Scripture, which can cause us to stray far from Paul’s intended meaning, and leave us to believe that God’s written Word is useless and has been “completed” by Jesus. Jesus’ completing the written Word is a misunderstanding of Matthew 5:17, ‘”Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.’” The rabbinic figure of speech that Jesus uses in this passage was a common idiom spoken by 1st Century rabbis. Destroy or fulfill meant to “misinterpret or clearly interpret.” Jesus did not “complete” the written Word, but clearly interpreted it after many centuries of misinterpretation and religious abuse.

Before Jesus, the living interpretation of God’s Word, many religious leaders force fed a literal interpretation of Torah down the throats of God’s people. This brought about frustration and poorly lived examples of God’s initial plan. By Jesus’ death, we are no longer held to the literal interpretations, but are free to live according to the Spirit of the Torah. The spirit of God’s Word is meant to give life in abundance, rather than a literal interpretation, which lays heavy burdens of ritualistic rules and regulations upon God’s people.

The Jewish law is the Word of God as handed down to Moses at Mt. Sinai. In no way, did God intend for His loving instructions to be a burden. And the Spirit of God now guides us in the ways of God’s Word rather than burdensome rituals of religious dictators. The Jewish law was the written form of the Son of God. Jesus is the personification of the Jewish law. The Word has been Jesus from the beginning (see John 1:1-2). Therefore, the Jewish law (in the flesh) does indeed save us.

In His dust,
Johnny

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© 2009 Jonathan P. Gainey and Flock’s Diner.
All Rights Reserved

Sunday—the Lord’s Day? We are told in the Scriptures that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. In that case, we would have to call it “The People’s Day.”

Besides, Sunday isn’t really the Sabbath, as Jesus would have recognized it.

I have always wondered why we have collective worship on Sunday, and when I ask those I think will know, I always get the same indoctrination: “It’s the day that Jesus rose from the grave.”

Based on study and research, I have reason to challenge that answer.

A familiarity with the Jewish calendar will enlighten us to the fact that Jesus rose on what we would refer to as Saturday night. Therefore, the reason we worship on Sunday has very little to do with Jesus being raised on Sunday. Secondly, the reason we worship on Sunday is due to an ancient spat between the surviving Pharisaic Jews and the surviving Nazarenes after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D.

When the Temple was destroyed, the Pharisees escaped to Yavneh and the Jewish followers of Jesus ran to the mountains of Pella as they were told to do in Matthew 24:16. Since that time the Jews and the Church have created obstacles to keep one another from being unified. “The Church forbade believers from keeping the Jewish feasts and began to meet on Sundays, while, in reaction to the Christians kneeling for prayer, the Jews adopted the standing position while praying the Amidah” (Dr. Ron Moseley, Yeshua: A Guide to the Real Jesus and the Original Church).

How will the Jewish calendar inform us that Jesus rose on Saturday night? The answer comes from research done by David Bivin and the Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research.

To the Jews, the day always begins with night. That is because of Genesis 1:5, which reads, “And there was evening , and there was morning-the first day.” First century Jews, using Nehemiah 4:21 as their guide, defined Nightfall as the moment when the stars were visible, which was around 7:00 p.m. during the season of the Passover.

In Matthew 28:1 we read, “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.” in Greek the Scripture reads, “Opse de sabbaton te epiphoskouse eis mian sabbaton…” (Late [of] sabbath, in the lightening to one of Sabbath). This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in Greek, but in Hebrew it makes perfect sense.

“Late of Sabbath” is a Greek form of the Hebrew phrase, “be-motsa’e shabat” (at the exiting of Sabbath), which means the hours that follow immediately after the Sabbath. “In the lightening to one of sabbath” comes from the Hebrew idiom, “‘or le-’ehad ba-shabat” (light to [day] one of the week). Used in this way, “light” is a synonym for “night,” referring to the night before the next day. In Hebrew, “light” can be used as an antonym for its literal meaning to speak of the dark hours that exist before a new day.

An example of this usage is found in ancient Jewish writings that give instructions for carrying out the search for leaven as directed in Exodus 12:15. The ancient writing says, “Light to the fourteenth [of Nisan] one must carry out a search for leaven by the light of a lamp.” The use of the lamp gives us a clue that the search was done in the dark hours.

“With this understanding, the Galilean women returned to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body shortly after dark on Saturday evening. It was then that they found the tomb already empty. Jesus, therefore, may have remained entombed only slightly more than twenty-four hours, being raised from the dead on Saturday evening rather than on Sunday morning. By the method of reckoning time in Jesus society, such a short period, scarcely more than a day-a part of Friday, all of Saturday, and a part of Sunday-would have fulfilled his prophecy that he would be raised from the dead on the third day after his death” (David Bivin, Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research).

Based on this historical information, it seems that the reason we worship on Sunday has more to do with a 2000 year-old grudge than a God-honoring recognition of the Messiah’s defeat over death and the grave.

In His dust,
Johnny

© 2009 Jonathan P. Gainey and Flock’s Diner.
All Rights Reserved