The Clarion, Nov. 2024
Welcome
You hear people say that Christmas should be all year long. Well, that is true of Thanksgiving. Unfortunately Thanksgiving has lost its meaning. Yes, we may still have our family and friends and turkey and gravy, but today so little has to do with being thankful. The early pilgrims had suffered a bad winter were many people died. Sounds like when we had the pandemic. But these people had a good harvest and they wanted to gather everyone around them, even many Indians and share a meal with them, because they were so thankful. Well there is easily over 100 times in the Bible that speaks of giving thanks. There are three things that we should never stop doing in any circumstance as 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us , “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Messiah Yeshua for you.” Paul also adds another time as in 2 Thessalonians 1:3, 2:13 and that is for the brethren and Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through Him (Yeshua) then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”
One time a year just is not enough to give thanks or to even recognize God for all that He has done for us. Romans 1:21 tells us what happens to us when we do not give thanks to God. “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened.” Hezekiah was not a thankful man as 2 Chronicles 32:25-26 tells us, “But Hezekiah’s heart was proud, so he did not give God thanks for his kindness. This is why God was angry with Hezekiah and with the people of Judah and Jerusalem. But Hezekiah and the people living in Jerusalem changed their hearts and lives. They became humble and stopped being proud. So the Lord’s anger didn’t come on them while Hezekiah was alive.” If God loves a cheerful giver, then He loves a thankful receiver. God loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us so we could have eternal salvation. Do we love God as much, that we feel compelled to thank Him every day for that salvation. Thanksgiving is for every day, every moment, always.
The Hidden Meanings Behind the Miracles of Yeshua : Part 5
Last month we looked at Yeshua healing on the Sabbath.
Let’s look at Matthew 8:23-27. We find Yeshua and His disciples one evening crossing over to the other side of the lake to Gerasenes. Before they knew it a storm came upon them. The wind was blowing and the boat was rocking and then the waves began to come into the boat and they feared for their lives that the boat would sink. I suppose a storm like this would be bad enough during the daytime, but at night, I’m sure it made it not only hard to see, but made them a little disorientated. Being that it was night, Yeshua was asleep. Finally, His disciples woke Him up. They said “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” I find this so amusing because how would He know that they were drowning if He was sleeping? But it shows how the storm made them so fearful. Yeshua got up and rebuked the wind and the waves by simply telling them to “Be quiet!” Now isn’t that what you would say if you were sleeping and you were woken up? Instantly the wind and the waves were still. Yeshua asks them why they were so afraid? I guess they hadn’t learned that they had nothing to fear because God was with them. But all of this made them even more fearful because they thought, “Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey Him?”
This is a great lesson to learn that if God is with you, who can be against you? When God calls you, then He walks with you, and if nothing is going to stop God, then nothing is going to stop you, because He is with you. Matthew 9:18 continues, Yeshua stayed a short time in Gerasenes and then He crossed back over to Capernaum . When He did, He found a large crowd of people waiting for Him. One of the synagogue rulers asked Yeshua to come and heal his daughter. He immediately left to go to her and the crowd followed all around Him. Now there was a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years and suffered under the care of many physicians, leaving her poor and distressed. She made her way until she was behind Yeshua. She thought, “if only I could touch the hem of His garment I would be healed.” Now why would she have thought this? Let first get some back story here. This woman would have been considered unclean for the last twelve years. This would have excluded her from many things in life. She would not have been able to enter the Temple, even the mother of Yeshua had to wait for the time of her purification to be over which was about thirty- three days, to enter the Temple and at that, she had to bring a sacrifice. If she was married, she would have been isolated from her husband all those years and she would have been forbidden to eat the Passover lamb. This woman suffered great hardships and I’m sure that when Yeshua quickly left to go heal the man’s daughter her heart must have sank, for she would have thought that she had lost her chance of being healed. But her trials made her even more determined that she pushed her way through the crowd. But why did she want to touch the hem of His garment? I could see touching His arm or His back, but to stoop down in the midst of such a crowd could have caused her to be trampled upon. She had a very good reason. Yeshua, being Jewish would have had on the customary garb for a Jewish man, mainly tzitzit or tallit on the four corners of His garment.
Numbers 15: 37-40 says, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to go after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.”’
So when the woman touched the corner of His garment, what she had grabbed hold of was His tallit. So what was so special about taking hold of this blue strand of cord? Let’s look at it this way. Today Jewish men wear their Tallit on their prayer shawls or they wear an undershirt that has them sown on the four corners that they wear under their outer shirt. Let’s go back to Numbers 15. God said when you see the tallit it will remind you of My commandments and you will be holy unto the Lord. It was a matter of holiness and godliness and a closeness to God. She knew this, and she knew that if this man was a holy man, that taking hold of His tallit, the very thing that made Him holy would be sufficient for healing her. Luke 8:45- 48 continues the story this way. “And Yeshua said, ‘Who is the one who touched Me?’ And while they were all denying it, Peter said, ‘Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.’ But Yeshua said, ‘Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had left Me.’ Now when the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him, and admitted in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. And He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.””
Yeshua recognizes this woman’s faith in taking hold of His tallit and He tells her that that was the very reason she was healed, just as she believed.
In Matthew 8:13 “Yeshua said to the centurion, ‘Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.’ And the servant was healed at that very moment.”
In the meanwhile there is the little girl who was twelve years old who was at home waiting for her miracle to come. The story continues in Luke 8:49-56 telling us the rest of this story. “While He was still speaking, someone came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, ‘Your daughter has died; do not trouble the Teacher anymore.’ But when Yeshua heard this, He responded to him, ‘Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.’ When He came to the house, He did not allow anyone to enter with Him except Peter, John, and James, and the girl’s father and mother. Now they were all weeping and mourning for her; but He said, ‘Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep.’ And they began laughing at Him, knowing that she had died. He, however, took her by the hand and spoke forcefully, saying, ‘Child, arise!’ And her spirit returned, and she got up immediately; and He ordered that something be given her to eat. Her parents were amazed; but He instructed them to tell no one what had happened.”
Now, back then, they quickly would have had this little girl laid out for all to see, much like we have a wake today. Once again we find Yeshua telling the man to only believe. Well, he just saw what happened when the woman believed, and she was healed, so why wouldn’t he do the same for his daughter? But hearing that his daughter had died made it a little harder to believe. It was like the man in
Mark 9:17-24, “And one person from the crowd answered Him, ‘Teacher, I brought You my son, because he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes stiff. And I told Your disciples so that they would cast it out, but they could not do it.’ And He answered them and said, ‘O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!’ And they brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, the spirit immediately threw him into convulsions, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. And He asked his father, ‘How long has this been happening to him? And he said, ‘From childhood. It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to kill him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us! But Yeshua said to him, ‘If You can? All things are possible for the one who believes.’ Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, ‘I do believe; help my unbelief!”’
Isn’t that where most people are, they want to believe but they need help? Not everyone has great faith. Yeshua knew this and He did help the man in his unbelief. But all we need is only a little faith to move the mountain that’s in our lives. Matthew 17:14-20 records it like this, “And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.’ And Yeshua answered, ‘O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to Me.’ And Yeshua rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Yeshua privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.’
How about you? Do you believe that God is able or do you need a little help?
Hebrew Corner: Martyrs Simon the Zealot
We find in Luke 6: 12-16 a list of Yeshua’s disciples, “And it was during these days that Yeshua went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent all night in prayer to God. When day came, He called His disciples, choosing from among them twelve whom He also named emissaries— Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and Jacob and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; and Matthew and Thomas; Jacob the son of Alphaeus; Simon who was called the Zealot; Judah the son of Jacob; and Judah from Kriot, who became a traitor.”
Simon was called Zealot, because of his political party that was called Zealot or The Zealous. They were Jewish loyalists who were strongly opposed to the Romans. They were willing to kill or be killed for their cause. But Simon found a better cause and that was the message of the Messiah. Yes, Simon was truly a new creation after Pentecost. Now he was ready to die for the Master and for truth. Now, he was ready to love his enemies instead of killing them. Yeshua sure had a diverse group of disciples from fishermen to tax collectors to Zealots.
In the gospels Simon the Zealot is not identified with Simon the brother of Yeshua mentioned in Mark 6:3: “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.” Though The Catholic Encyclopedia suggests that Simon the Zealot may be the same person as Simeon of Jerusalem or Simon the brother of Yeshua or both. He would then be the cousin of Yeshua or a son of Joseph from a previous marriage. Another tradition holds that this is the Simeon of Jerusalem who became the second bishop of Jerusalem. There is not too much known about Simon the Zealot. He supposedly preached the Gospel in Egypt and then joined the apostle St. Judas (Thaddaeus) in Persia.
Simon is believed to have preached the gospel in Egypt, North Africa and even Britain.
There are so many traditions that claim one thing or another about Simon and Judas’ death that it is hard to know what really took place and where. According to the apocryphal Acts of Simon and Judas, they were martyred by being cut in half with a saw, but Christian Etheopians believe they were crucified. Maybe that is why he is pictured with a cross and a saw.
The life of Simon the Zealot may not have many facts to go by, but one thing it tells us that if Simon who could have easily been a thief and a murderer, who hung around with revolutionaries, could come to know the saving truth of the Messiah, and become a new person living by God’s ways, than anyone can be changed by God’s Word. Nothing is impossible for God.
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