Catacomb Resident has contributed a rewrite of the Code of Noah HOWTO series in the form of a PDF booklet now posted in our Radix Fidem library: Code of Noah HOWTO.

Here are pics of Ed's latest book compiled and published by Jay...

   

   

   

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

There's a lot of confusion arising from poor translations into English at this point. First, we note that the Jews had drifted into traditions that were contrary to the specific commands of Moses regarding Passover and Unleavened Bread. These were two different observances that occurred together. Passover was the 14th of Nissan (Abib). Unleavened Bread began the next day, but preparations were connected to the Passover celebration. The lamb would be slaughtered sometime between sunset on the 13th and sunset on the 14th, and eaten during the meal after sunset. During the day they also removed all leaven and burned everything containing it by 11AM local time (the tradition in Jesus' day), in preparation for Unleavened Bread. Lunch that day started the switch to unleavened bread leading up to the Passover meal that night.

In most English translations, verse 17 reads some variation of "on the first day of Unleavened Bread" and it's wrong. The Greek words are not that precise; it should read more like "before the days of Unleavened Bread". It refers to the season of the year when folks began gearing up for the two events. The parallel passage in Mark 14:12 has the same problem, while in Luke 22:7 the Greek indicates the season ("day" is not necessarily meant literally) of Unleavened Bread.

On top of this, everyone should remember that the Passover was a family celebration; quite literally you were required to share it with your immediate household family members. Yet, in Jesus' day, a tradition had arisen of celebrating some portion of the Seder rituals on the night before Passover (the evening of Nissan 13th) with your friends and professional associates. This is what the disciples refer to in their question. It would have been a major highlight to their discipleship program because, with Jesus being so very popular, He must have turned down an awful lot of offers from supporters in order to have private time in a solemn ritual setting with the Twelve. They hadn't gotten much time alone with Him lately.

So, when they broached the question of where to hold their private gathering, Jesus told them how to find the place. Mark's and Luke's accounts are so specific as to mention something that would have been quite unusual among the Hebrew people: a man carrying a pitcher of water, something only women would be seen doing in public. Thus, it was very easy for them to identify and follow this servant doing something so out of step with Hebrew customs. Whoever was the householder there had already agreed with Jesus to provide a private second story room.

They spent the afternoon gathering the customary food and getting it cooked and ready. Keep in mind that part of this whole scene includes the very real threat that Jesus could be arrested at any time. The idea was to avoid Him being seen in the city during daylight, so the disciples would have divided up the tasks among them. As soon as the sun was set, those not already there entered the room through an outer staircase anchored in the street that such rooms always had. They were built like that so no one need disturb the household below.

They were trying to get into the right mood when Jesus dropped a verbal bomb on them: One of those present would betray Him to the authorities. Jesus emphatically stated that someone sharing this very meal with Him would do this awful thing. Furthermore, it was far better that this traitor had never been born. To say they were shocked would be an understatement. By this time they were just humble enough that, instead of looking about at the others in suspicious anger, each worried that something he might do would give Him away.

When Judas echoed their questions, pretending the same innocent angst, Jesus turned to him with a vernacular statement meaning, "yes". Judas now understood that Jesus knew.

Without bogging ourselves down with what parts of the Seder they included in this Day of Preparation celebration, we know that Jesus picked out two elements to give them a new meaning. He took the bread that symbolized the hope of someday eating bread in the Messianic Kingdom. He spoke a blessing over it, then passed it around, as each man was supposed to take a piece. Then He announced that this symbolized His human body. Luke notes He added the comment that it was to be broken for on their behalf, and that they were to repeat this ritual in future days as a remembrance of His looming sacrifice.

For the particular cup of wine poured to celebrate the blessings of the Covenant, Jesus said it symbolized His blood inaugurating a New Covenant. This sacrifice would cover the sins of a great many people. He also said it was the last cup of wine that He would drink until His Father poured out new wine in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Thus, the Seder became the Lord's Supper.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

For this passage, it would frankly be impossible to write it better than I did in my commentary on the Gospels. Aside from a little editing, it will read almost the same.

We've already noted that, during Passover season, the city of Jerusalem and surrounding areas were packed with travelers. It would be somewhat crowded no matter where a man might walk. The actual residents of the city viewed the outsiders with some small measure of contempt as country bumpkins, even as they relished the chance to milk them with higher than normal prices. In the middle of all this bustle, the Twelve are still trying to understand just what exactly their Master was about to do.

In the massive bookshelves of material written about these last couple of chapters in Matthew's Gospel, we note that so few scholars pay attention to the importance of this burning question -- what Jesus was about to do -- and it says something instructive. We are inundated in extensive studies of the Passover Seder, and the richness of detail in many ways distracts from the more important story Matthew has to tell. The men who will be tasked to take this earth shattering message to the entire world still haven't a clue just what that message is. Jesus relies much on the Holy Spirit to keep track of all this in their hearts, so He can breathe life into it at some later date. For now, we have a dozen very confused men, grappling mightily with the fundamental nature of something still foreign to them, yet just in front of them.

They are still gathered on the crest of the Mount of Olives overlooking Zion. Having delivered an extended lesson to the disciples about the nature of His Kingdom, the destruction of Jerusalem and His final return to earth in glory, Jesus catches them off-guard with something He has said repeatedly over the past year or so: He would be executed very soon. Specifically, He warns it would be only a couple of days away, on the Day of Passover itself. Since the Jewish leadership could not legally kill Him, they would have to bring Him before the Roman authorities, and this move would succeed, ending in His death at the hands of Roman soldiers in the gruesome practice of crucifixion. If anything served to point out that the fundamental nature of His Kingdom was spiritual, saying that He would found it upon His death should have been enough.

Even as He said this, folks elsewhere were planning it. The full body of the Sanhedrin were in session, including all the members who might normally be busy with their own families and guests. Having gathered at the palatial home of the High Priest, this was not a judicial gathering, but something less formal. This was their annual conference, and at some point they discussed the matter of Jesus of Nazareth. Because it was not a formal meeting, they could consider at length how to remove this particularly thorny prophet and rabbi, and not be bothered with the precise requirements of justice. Essentially they concluded they would have to trick Him in some way and arrest Him. Since He was so popular with the bumpkins crowded into the city during Passover, they would have to wait. However, the matter was decided -- Jesus had to die soon.

We have a hard time identifying Simon the Leper. Taking into account the context of Matthew's narrative so far, we might safely guess Jesus healed him at some point. Were he still a leper, no Jew would enter the same house with him, most especially during Passover. Further, it appears this man was quite wealthy, and well known in the community. Perhaps in simple gratitude, he invited Jesus and the Twelve to a formal meal, since they were in town. We might expect the meal was conducted in typical Eastern fashion, where the guests lounged on large cushions around a low table, resting on their left sides, with their bodies at an angle to the table, feet outward. Women would not normally be welcome, but one nevertheless came in and dumped a small flask of expensive perfumed oil on Jesus' head. Mark's parallel account says it was worth a hundred days' wages. She, too, wanted to express gratitude to Jesus, and was not worried in the least by social convention. None of the Gospels identify the woman.

What mattered was what she did, and what it symbolized. Probably it was Judas who led the group in fussing about the apparent waste in this act. If she had simply donated the gift intact, it could be exchanged for something more useful to their ministry. Think of how many poor people could be helped by that money! Jesus shut them up. What she had done was quite according to Kingdom principles, which they still did not understand. He was about to die, and they seemed oblivious to the obvious sorrow Jesus felt about it.

First, we note the obvious intent of the woman was deep devotion and a powerful desire to do something -- anything -- she could to honor such a beloved teacher. Further, it's implied she, at least, understood His warning that He was about to be executed. Seizing the moment before it was too late, she offered the best she had. This contrasts with the petty posturing of the Twelve as they had their eyes on worldly fame and position. It requires a materialistic view of life to fuss over the price of something like this. The proper mystical view is that nothing is too good for the Messiah. Ancient nomadic Hebrews would have grasped it immediately, and so did the woman. Second, eradicating poverty is simply not possible in a fallen world. Talking about the abstract notion of "the poor" is an excuse to dehumanize them further. If you want to do something to lift the fallen, you have to do it one by one, individually. Redemption is personal. Meanwhile, is not the Christ someone who deserves a little attention, too? Jesus rightly prophesies that His servants in the future would mention this minor event. Sadly, the vast majority seem to have no idea why.

Also, we note once again that this fragrance was likely myrrh, something that would mingle with the scent of the spikenard Mary had already poured on Him a few days earlier.

We are told elsewhere Judas embezzled as the treasurer of the group. We can surmise further he came alongside only because he was sure Jesus was the right ticket to political power and wealth. He was in it for himself. We would miss a great deal if we did not see his swelling worldly ambition. After being rebuked this way, it was surely more than petty greed that drove his next act. The message of caring for the poor and taking no luxuries for the self was strong propaganda for the average Jewish peasant, and could form a crucial plank in the reform platform Judas imagined Jesus held. Instead, Jesus was "wasting" something valuable on Himself -- again.

Still, Jesus had been warning that He would die soon, and perhaps it finally registered on Judas' mind with the anointing incident, or perhaps he simply realized this comment about the poor just went against the best part of a good political campaign. Either way, he switched parties. He became a mole for the Sanhedrin, and accepted an insulting and pitiful small sum for it: roughly the price of a slave one might win in a lawsuit when the slave was killed somehow. Obviously it wasn't the money that moved him.

My stepfather, Doug Porrell, is very near death. This is not a surprise; we've been watching him fade for some months. He's very sick right now and it looks terminal to my Mom, who is an RN. Pray as you feel led, but I'm asking the Lord to let him pass peacefully.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions

Finally there on the Mount of Olives, Jesus addresses His disciples' third question regarding the end of this fallen age of human existence. What comes next? As usual, something of this nature cannot be answered directly, as the event itself stands outside of human experience. Rather, Jesus uses parables to give the flavor of the Day of Judgment. Even then, His emphasis is on getting ready.

Unique to Matthew's Gospel is the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids. First, we need a little historical background. For a man to marry, he must first go to the young lady's home and propose marriage to her father. He pays whatever dowry the father might ask. Once everything is set, the man goes away to prepare a home for his new family. The bride is left to wait and is not supposed to see him again until the day of the wedding itself.

This would typically take as much as a year. She has time to prepare a wedding dress and do all the social stuff with her friends. She'll choose some of them to be her bridesmaids. On the day he's ready, he will arrive at her parents' home to take her away. Given the necessity of all the arrangements, the day itself usually comes with some private notice, but the hour is supposed to be a surprise. Whatever ceremony there is takes place there at her parents' home and some token brief celebration. Then, he takes her in tow and leads a procession that merges both his and her entourage.

This is typically at night, so people have to carry lamps or torches to mark themselves as chosen members of the wedding celebration. They would go into the new home with the couple, and then the groom hosts them for up to seven days of feasting and entertainment. Anyone without a light is assumed to be crashing the party uninvited. The parable is shortened a bit, but the bridesmaids would be waiting outside the bride's home until the groom comes for the short ceremony. If they have oil lamps already lit, they welcome him and then join the procession when the couple leaves.

The symbolism is ancient. However, you miss the point by trying to identify elements in the parable aside from the one that matters most: being ready for Christ's return. This is a parable with one main point, not an allegory with a hundred detailed references. If your life shines with the light of revelation, and you have been consistent enough to have your lamp full, then you won't be disappointed at the Day of Judgment. The emphasis is on doing what it takes to be ready for something with a timing wholly unpredictable.

The Parable of Talents is repeated in verses 13-30. Jesus probably used this parable on a regular basis, and we have covered it in Luke 13, when Jesus and His entourage make His final approach to Jerusalem. The details are different here, but the meaning is the same. The whole point of Covenant blessings is that they become a testimony that bears fruit.

But the rest of the chapter is about as critical as anything else Jesus has to say at this time. He talks about the practice of running a few goats in the sheep herd, then separating them at shearing time. Sheep are preoccupied with eating and making more sheep. They seldom notice when danger is at hand. Goats are more attentive to the surroundings. They might fight an attacker, but at the least will run from something really threatening. When they do, the sheep will tend to follow, sometimes without a clue to any threat.

The reason we are left in this world under the government of non-believers is that, when we are truly occupied with the Covenant duties, we aren't likely to pay much attention to certain kinds of problems. The goats don't love us; they are in it for themselves. But the Lord allows them to become ruling authorities in this fallen world so we can have a clue about things that don't register on our radar. They see and react to things we aren't supposed to notice, because our commitment to Christ makes us less worldly.

On the Day of Judgment, we will be separated from the goats. We may not have been in a position to grasp some parts of the bigger picture, but our conduct in reaching out to the morally blind to feed them the Word, bear with them in sorrow and help to cover their sins, we have done the work of the Kingdom. Those who were in it for themselves will never understand how they failed. Their self-interest serves as a clue to the ways of this world, but it's not how we are called to act.

We need the goats of self-interest to get through this mortal life, but we dare not emulate their choices. Ours is the mission of sacrificing this life and what belongs to it, so that we can win some to faith in the Covenant.

I just wanted to let you know that after quite a hiatus for me, I am back to publishing new posts on my blog.  Just wanted you all to be able to "be with me" in my yard.  I will be sharing LOTS of photographs I have taken this year.   If you go to my profile, you can find the URL to my blog.

Just want to share since I can't be with you in person!