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John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Here is John’s prelude to his accounts of the life of Yeshua. He starts the chronicle not with ‘Once upon a time … ‘, but rather in the same manner and wording as the chronicles of creation with the words: ‘In the beginning … ‘. The Genesis account tells us of creation in the following terms: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (Genesis 1:1-2). The consistency of the imagery is perfect. In the beginning, when the earth was without form, the spirit of God hovered over the face of the earth. About fifteen hundred years later, at the time of another beginning, we see a repetition of this imagery when Noah’s dove hovers upon the face of the water. At first she could find nothing where to rest her feet. The Spirit of God always looks for someone, a host to rest upon. Unlike the raven who did not come back, the dove couldn’t just rest and feed on dead corpses. It did not agree with death and corruption. At the opportune time though, she found the olive tree and brought back a torn branch to Noah. At the time of another beginning when the world was in the confusion of the ‘Pax Romana’ enforced peace, there was another primeval beginning. In John’s latter days, Yeshua introduced Himself to him as the beginning of the creation of God (Revelation 3:14), so at the beginning of the ministry of our Master, the spirit of God also came over Him like a dove as He emerged out of the water (Matthew 3:16); a beautiful fulfillment of Isaiah’s Messianic prophetic words, And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him (Isaiah 11:2). The Holy Spirit’s dove rested upon He who is called the Branch (Zechariah 6:12), the ‘Torn Branch’ of the olive tree of Israel. Through Him the nations learn to praise the God of Israel as the rest of Isaiah’s oracle says, In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples--of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. In that day Adonai will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal for the nations … (Isaiah 11:10-12).
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1Corinthians 7:21-22
Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Messiah. Here is an interesting story from the first century C.E. Onesimus, an escapee slave from Philemon a prominent slave owner from the community of believers of Colossi, finds refuge in Rome where per inadvertence he meets with the apostle Paul, who is at that time in house arrest. While in the company of Paul, Philemon is introduced to Yeshua, the ‘Slave-redeemer’, and becomes a member of the Roman community of believers, as well as a substantial helper to Paul. Here is the problem now: the Torah commands that asylum be granted to runaway slaves (Deuteronomy 23:15-16). This is practice as old as Abraham who took Eliezer, a Damascus runaway slave under his wings (Genesis 15:2). Roman law on the contrary required that Paul, who is already in trouble with the authorities, immediately returns the slave to its owner. This is a dilemma. I do not believe in the picture of a maverick Paul who went out of His way to deliberately create problems by breaking man’s laws just to prove a point. Some people even to portray the Master as some sort of radical revolutionary. I believe that picture to be false and the result of one’s own worldview and problem with authority. In the book of Philemon Paul shows us his wisdom. He obeys Roman law sending Onesimus back to Colossi with a letter to Philemon, asking the slave-owner to show mercy on both him and Paul, and to free the slave of his own volition. Thus we have the Epistle to Philemon. It’s like the story of Miriam who also obeyed the Pharaoh’s command to put her baby in the Nile; she did it, but she put the baby in a basket! In books detailing the history of early believers, we read of an Onesimus was a great leader in Ephesus, Paul’s personal secretary and the one who preserved the Pauline epistles. Was it the same person? Whether this is the same Onesimus or not, what will be said of us that WE did with the freedom the Master obtained for us? |
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