A few words about nail scarred hands

Some Reflections On Nail Scarred Hands

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

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I spent an unplanned 27- hour visit to the emergency room this past week after slipping on a tarp that was laying across the ground and landing on my shoulder blades just before the rest of me came crashing down with it. I don't own a car right now, so I use public transit and the occasional “Lyft” ride to get around. But, I was on my way to rent a car that morning when all this occurred. After I got off the morning train and discovering that my bus wasn't at the station yet (when it should have been), I found myself suddenly needing to take a quick personal break. It's a side effect of some of the medicine I take for my medical issues. So, I ducked behind a large electrical transformer and finished my little 'break', and I'm about to cross the bus lane to go back into the station. I'm walking across an old tarp that covered the ground near where I had been when, without warning, it suddenly gave way, partially rolling up while my feet went up in the air, and I landed on my shoulder blades before the rest of me caught up them. I hit my head hard enough to get a mild concussion. If mine was mild, I sure would hate to ever get a really bad one!

But that wasn't the part that really hurt. When I rolled over on my stomach to pick myself up, I put my left hand part-way through a rusty nail that was embedded in the tarp. I never even saw the darn thing, but I sure did feel it! Even though my entire left arm recoiled from the sharp pain sensation, that nail still went about halfway through my left hand. Now here's where things get a little dicey. I'm a stroke survivor, by the grace and mercy of Almighty God. I have a history of embolisms, or blood clots, in my legs, one lung, and once in my head which caused my stroke to occur back in 2006. As before, I thank God wholeheartedly for allowing me to survive all these things. To counteract this tendency, I take a blood thinner call Coumadin. So the puncture wound in my left hand was bleeding like crazy from the effects of this drug. Fortunately, I carry a washcloth in my pocket to wipe the sweat off my brow during the hot summer months here in Atlanta. So I used it to apply pressure to the wound, but it still bled for a very long time.

Just before getting back on the train, I called the gentleman who I was going to rent the car from, explained everything including my being headed to the hospital, and canceled the rental before boarding. I vividly recall the throbbing pain in my hand as I rode the public transit train back towards midtown Atlanta where my doctors are located. There was a dull kind of pain in my head that was half there and half not, an sensation that turned out to be the concussion I mentioned above. Since I was already in that particular hospital's computer system, it made no sense to go anywhere else since I knew in advance that my insurance would be accepted. So I spent roughly 27 hours in Emory Hospital's midtown Atlanta location, and emerged none the worse for the experience. Many thanks and blessings to all the doctors and nurses who took care of me, you are all appreciated so much!

While in the hospital, I found myself unable to grasp things or pick them up with my left hand. Although I'm normally ambidextrous, having spent 2 decades as a computer and Windows network service tech, I have had to temporarily go back to being strictly right-handed like I was as a much younger man. But none of this has given me pause as has this one thing – knowing first hand what it's like to have a nail pierce the palm of your hand like it did mine. You know, just like what Jesus Christ experienced when those Roman soldiers were nailing him to that rugged old cross. For just a split second of excruciating pain, I was privileged enough to experience what Jesus must have felt as he was hanging on that cross for three agonizing hours of searing pain throughout his entire body, since his feet were nailed too. In a very small way, I know what it's like to have a nail-scarred hand, and I just like to say I am humbled by this experience.

Having the privilege to experience the same kind of pain Christ did, even if only for a brief moment, it's now been 3 days since I experienced this. My hand is slowly healing, but it has caused me to reflect on this occurrence in my life a great deal. We never know when things will go wrong in our lives, but the way it knocks us down doesn't count for much. It's how we pick ourselves up afterward – that is, I believe, the true measure of every man and woman. Our ability to bounce back from adversity says a lot more about us than how or where we fell. Our ability to extract the lessons learned from those kinds of experiences, while leaving the negative results behind us as we move forward – it is precisely this that is closest to how God sees us. Above all, never forget that Jesus died for you by allowing himself to be nailed to a rough old wooden cross, and that he offered no resistance. In the same way, let's all not resist when God is trying to teach us something, but let's all let in sink in – literally!

This week's ongoing Bible study will be part 2 of Luke chapter 23

An Innocent Man is Condemned

[Luke chapter 23, verses 13-31]

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Last week when we left off at verse 12 of chapter 23, King Herod II of Judea had just presided over Jesus being brought before him to be accused by those who sought to have him killed. After making a mockery of our Lord and Savior – after Jesus did the same to Herod by refusing to respond to Herod's line of questioning – King Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate with a big flowing robe that was not becoming of our Lord and Savior at all! Although the exact details are lost to history and antiquity, we can assume this robe made Christ look like a clown and not a King. There is, of course, a price to be paid for treating people so shamefully, especially when it's the Son of God. Today as we take up where we left off, Pontius Pilate has just convened another hearing upon Jesus' return. So let's all get started at verse 13.

“Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, and said to them, 'You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I examined him in your presence and have found no basis for the charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore I will punish him and then release him.' With one voice they cried out, 'Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!' (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for insurrection in the city, and for murder.) Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, 'Crucify him! Crucify him!' For the third time he spoke to them. 'Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will punish him and then release him.' But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and the shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.” (Luke 23, verses 13-25)

We already know that Pilate didn't want to be bothered with Jesus, and that he regarded him as being more of a nuisance than anything else. Back in the days of the Roman Empire the emperors were worshiped as gods, and there were numerous Roman gods as well. So to Pilate, the very idea of someone being called 'the Son of God' must have seemed like a novelty to him at best, or maybe more like a curiosity. At any rate, Pilate plainly told the crowd he was finding Jesus not guilty as charged when he told them, “....as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore I will punish him and then release him.” At this point it's business as usual for Pilate, just another day at the office. And Pilate is telling the crowd, led by the Jewish Temple authorities, exactly who was in charge. He also was telling them he thought their charges against Jesus were completely over-the-top, which they most certainly were. But this was no ordinary day in Pilate's courts.

Abruptly and in unison, the people again demanded the release of Barabbas, but Pilate was unwilling. Evidently he thought Barabbas was a much bigger threat than Jesus Christ. Once again, on this count Pontius Pilate was absolutely right. “Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, 'Crucify him! Crucify him!' For the third time he spoke to them. 'Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty.'” Pilate was now worried that he might have to condemn a man who should not receive capital punishment under Roman law. He worried that he might have a riot on his hands, something that would not have gone well with his superiors. In fact, Pilate had at this point tried twice to acquit Jesus and let him go, but was unsuccessful because the crowd had surrounded Jesus by now. This crowd of Jesus' accusers had become so agitated that they posed a direct threat to Jesus' safety, and by extension to Pilate himself. You can be sure one of the guards in Pilate's court had slipped out before this time to send for reinforcements. Jesus' accusers now outnumbered the authorities by a substantial margin, posing a significant threat to the court.

“....with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and the shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand.” Pilate caved in to the demands of the crowd, sacrificing Jesus' life in order to save his reputation and preserve his authority. Otherwise, he likely reasoned, he would be viewed by Rome as being expendable, and as being weak by those he governed. It was probably right about this time that the reinforcements I mentioned in the paragraph above arrived on the scene. And now let's move on to the second part of our study, beginning at verse 26.

“As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who had mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, 'Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' Then 'they will say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!'. For if men will do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?'” (Luke 23, verses 26-31)

Verse 26 differs from other Biblical accounts of the details of Jesus' crucifixion, mainly the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. They teach that Jesus had to carry his own cross, and that he fell three times while carrying it. According to the Vatican's account, it was only after Christ fell for the third time that Simon was compelled to carry Jesus' cross for him. This was symbolic of the number 3 being associated with the crucifixion of Christ, which is an occult symbol as well as in Christian Biblical numerology, which is why the Protestant denominations use the Biblical narrative that I'm using in place of the other. The problem with this is that it's just not true. What is true is that Jesus could not physically carry the cross because he had been beaten, whipped and otherwise physically abused to the point of exhaustion. Jesus literally had insufficient strength, because he had lost too much blood, to be strong enough to carry it. So, the Roman soldiers made Simon from Cyrene carry it instead. Let's not forget that this was a roughly made wooden cross big enough to hang a 175 pound man's body on to it. So you can be sure that this cross was very heavy, certainly well over 100 pounds, possibly weighing as much as 200.

In the same way that the (temporarily) condemned Jesus could not carry his cross, needing the assistance of a stranger, all of humankind cannot carry their crosses of guilt and shame, needing the risen Christ to carry all that for us. This is one of the profound truths of the Gospel that can never be diluted nor diminished. Jesus the risen Lord and Redeemer has borne the weight of all our sins on the cross of Golgotha. “A large number of people followed him, including women who had mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, 'Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.'” Jesus told them plainly they needed to weep and wail for their kids and grand-kids because of the condemnation that was now upon that current generation. They had all better hope, he was telling them, that their children would escape God's wrath that was to come.

“Then 'they will say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!'. For if men will do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?'” Jesus was quoting from Hosea chapter 10 verse 8, which is a prophecy yet to be fulfilled. It refers to the End Times or the Last Days, when people will beg God to cover them from the oncoming wrath of God, the exact nature of which is still not entirely clear. But the Bible gives us a lot of hints and clues, some of which came from the Lord himself. “The Son of Man”, he said, “will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” There will be another world war that will kill at least 2.1 billion people. There will be an economic collapse, and the capitalist economic system will fall. Something like a meteor or a comet will hit the central Atlantic ocean, killing all the fish in the sea by contaminating the water, followed by a global earthquake of previously unheard-of proportions. All these things are coming, but not just yet. So in the meantime let's continue to get ourselves ready during this holiday season for His return for his Bride. And let's not forget that his supreme Sacrifice for us all is the real 'reason for the season'.

Clearing up the mystery surrounding the real resurrection of Christ

Misunderstanding Jesus’ Crucifixion: a Kernel of Truth

by Rev. Paul J. Bern

Over the centuries as Christianity has gradually been bent towards the interests of organized religion (or Religion Inc. as I call it), the story of Jesus’ final fateful week in Jerusalem was reshaped to minimize his overturning of the money tables at the Temple at Jerusalem, which was actually a challenge to the merging of religious and political power. It was this very event that took place the day after He arrived that set the stage for his arrest and crucifixion. Palm Sunday, which 'Religion Incorporated' celebrates as the entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem, is described in slightly different ways in various Biblical translations. In the King James as well as the Catholic versions of the Bible, it states in the Gospel of Luke chapter 19 (verses 28-40) that people broke branches off the palm trees that lined the road, laying them across the road as Jesus passed by on a donkey. But in the New International and New Living translations, the Bible says people removed their coats and laid them across the road before the Lord. (If the Catholic or KJV Bibles are to be taken literally, they sure must have killed a lot of palm trees that day!) Moreover, our modern calendar gets the date for Jesus' resurrection all wrong. Remember that Jesus walked the earth as a Jewish man, and since the Jewish Sabbath extends from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, by the western calendar he would have had to enter Jerusalem on a Friday. The real Good Friday, which in historical context actually took place on a Wednesday by our modern calendar, takes us through His mock trial and his death of horror on a Roman Cross. “Easter” is the Christians’ triumphant celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Except, of course, that Jesus didn't rise from the dead on Easter Sunday. The only translations of the Bible that use the word 'Easter' are the King James and Catholic Bibles. Jesus rose on the morning of the traditional Jewish Sabbath, which would be a Saturday morning by today's Western calendar. Since he was in the grave for three days and nights, and he rose on a Saturday, that's how we know that Jesus was actually crucified on a Wednesday. So-called “Good Friday” is merely a man-made institution, nothing more!

That incident which is the missing piece to the week’s climactic events is Jesus’ overturning of the money tables at the temple in Jerusalem. Tradition says that the incident was a ceremonial cleansing of the Temple of its commercial enterprises because those in charge of it had turned a house of worship into a commercial enterprise, just like the modern-day “prosperity gospel” and those “ministers” who demand 10% of everyone's income because the Old Testament says so. Jesus disrupted the commercial operation by upsetting the tables where the temple lackeys sold the required animals for sacrifice. Actually it was far more intense than that. The tables and chairs that he overturned weren't from Wal Mart. These were hand made objects of solid wood and so they weighed a good bit. Those solid wooden tables likely weighed in excess of a hundred pounds, maybe even more. Even the chairs would have weighed as much as 40-50 pounds, so Jesus was nowhere near being some wimpy little guy who talked a lot and said nice things like 'Religion Inc.' portrays him. He was picking up those tables and chairs and throwing them around like match sticks, and I have no doubt whatsoever that he personally removed the money changers as well, not just the furniture. However, let's put an emphasis on understanding this historical incident in context. First, let's examine the Temple itself.

For nearly half a century, including the time of Jesus’ birth, Herod the Great had ruled Palestine as an ambitious king appointed by Rome’s Caesar. Herod was of mixed racial background and claimed some Jewish blood. He wanted to be known as King of the Jews, but acceptance by the Jews was difficult to attain. Herod the Great also was a builder. Under his reign, he built civic buildings and ports, but his greatest building project was the rebuilding, expansion and refurbishing of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. It was known as Herod’s temple, or is sometimes referenced as the Third Temple. Because of that history, the reign of Herod and the operation of the temple were linked and locked. It was the near inseparable joining of government and religion. To offend one was to offend both. Herod the Great died in 4 CE, when Jesus was still a child. During the years of Jesus’ teaching ministry, Herod’s son, Herod Antipas, was the ruler. The joining of kingdom and temple continued.

Jesus grew up and taught in a rural area 70 miles north of Jerusalem. His faith was shaped, not by Jerusalem and the temple, but by weekly gatherings of the community elders as they read the Torah (Jewish law of Moses) and discussed its meaning and interpretation. Jesus and his followers had limited contact with Jerusalem’s social, political and religious leaders, mostly through the enforcers of Herod’s Roman rule who also represented the Jerusalem Temple. These enforcers made regular trips into the rural north to collect tithes and taxes. To understand Jesus, one must realize the depth of his contempt for both the rule of Herod and the Sanhedrin, the religious rulers of the Temple. To further understand Jesus and the last week of his life, the student needs to realize that the Old Testament contains not one religious tradition, but two. One is called the “great tradition”, the other is called the “small (or lesser) tradition”. The “great tradition” is the definition of society laid down by those who rule, and enforced by their collaborators. The “great tradition” is centered in cities in which the controlling institutions are located. For Jesus, that place was Jerusalem. On the other hand, the “small tradition” is a critiquing and competing interpretation of Christianity. It almost always arises with devout believers who have escaped the burden of the “great tradition” and its demands for conformity.

Northern Palestine, 70 miles removed from Jerusalem, was a hotbed for the “small tradition”. The leaders of the “small tradition” found heroes in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Micah, Daniel, Joel and other Old Testament prophets. Almost every one of the Old Testament prophets was a critic of those who controlled the Temple in Jerusalem. John the Baptist was the first and only “small tradition” prophet in the New Testament. His harsh criticism of his rulers led to his death. Jesus took up the mantle. As modern New Testament scholars have reconstructed the context in which Jesus lived and taught, they have realized that Jesus was far, far more than simply a religious figure. He was a severe critic of those who controlled the Temple, those who controlled the Roman Empire, and those who controlled the economic systems that starved and robbed the poor and that left orphans and widows to fend for themselves. To Jesus, these issues were all tied together. Jesus was a largely unknown and harmless critic as long as he remained in his northern rural setting. He was clearly an apocalyptic preacher. He advocated the overthrow and replacement of a corrupt system. He bluntly told the people's oppressors their days were numbered. But He achieved the overthrow by sacrificing himself on the cross, hung between two thieves. One solitary life changed the history and direction of humankind forever.

Jesus took his apocalyptic message throughout what is modern Israel today, and ultimately to its capital, Jerusalem. However, to call His arrival a “triumphal entry” (as the Bible is translated) is, I think, a rather superficial explanation. Jesus chose to enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey as mockery of the ruler’s horse. It was an ancient form of street theater that Jesus and his followers used to make their point, and with great effect. The “great tradition” that was accepted by Jerusalem’s ruling elite was being publicly debunked by the main Figure of the “small tradition”. But the real starting point of Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem came when he visited the Temple, not so much his triumphal entry into the city. In no sense had he come to worship and make sacrifice. On the contrary, He came to disrupt and to make pronouncements about the judgment of God on all the religious leaders of that day. Jesus did not go to the Temple to bless it. He came to the Temple to announce the destruction of an entire paradigm. Those who operated the Temple had no power to silence Jesus and put him to death. Those powers were held by the Roman rulers. The charges that were leveled against him can be summed up as insurrection or even outright sedition. There were three specific charges: encouraging non-payment of taxes, threatening to destroy property (the Temple), and claiming to be a king. It was the Temple incident in Luke chapter 19 that took Jesus from being an irritating but harmless country rebel from the rural north to a nuisance in the very city that controlled the “great tradition”. Rome’s rulers killed Him on a cross, only to see him risen from the grave on the morning of the third day after his crucifixion, conquering death itself.

The theological meaning of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ remains forever indisputable. God came to earth in the form of a man because it was the only way our status as God's creations could continue. Jesus Christ was none other than the Son of God. This is the very starting point for all Christian beliefs and values. As the Bible tells us in the Old Testament (mainly in Exodus, plus other places too numerous to mention), the only way that sin against God can be forgiven is by the shedding of blood. From the time of Abraham up until the time of Christ, this was the “great tradition”. But, Jesus changed all that when he sacrificed himself, which only had to be done once for everyone. Moreover, after resting in his grave for three days and nights, Jesus rose again and was seen by hundreds, maybe even thousands of people in the forty days after his resurrection that the Bible documents in all four gospels. In so doing, he gained everlasting life without end, as do all who place their unrestrained, unconditional faith in Him. Thanks to the supreme sacrifice of Christ, we all possess immortality!But there is still more. Jesus was, at the end of the day, not just a Savior, as if that weren't enough (don't worry, it is!). Jesus was also a revolutionary, a nonconformist who thought well outside the box nearly 2,000 years before the term was ever coined, as well as being a social and political critic who stood against oppression and inequality in all its forms. So, if anyone finds themselves going through the same old, tired ritual of Sunday morning church – regardless of faith or denomination – just because it's the “right” thing to do, Jesus has the remedy for that – complete faith and trust in himself as the Son of God, both trumping and transcending traditional religious teaching.

How do we correctly apply this today in the 21^st century? Jesus most definitely does stand up for the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, the prisoner, the sick and infirm, the widow and the orphan. He stands for the most vulnerable and defenseless people at the bottom of the pecking order of so-called 'society'. He stands against those who wage war and who casually murder millions for profit in the process, he stands against those who incarcerate people for profit, and he stands especially against those in the top 1% who hoard the retirement savings of the masses while out-sourcing the jobs and careers of their children. Jesus opposes those who labor to chip away at people's retirement pensions and liquidate our savings, and against the legalized looters who have established fortresses for themselves on Wall Street and in the halls of power in Washington, DC. He stands with “the 99%”, and his Spirit is with those who dare to “occupy” as I do. But most of all, Jesus stands with those who endure persecution for the sake of their faith. Sure, he's the Son of God who is seated at his Father's right hand, never forget that and never stop believing no matter what. But he was and is the advocate of the working class, the poor, the hungry, the homeless and the lost. Like an attorney who shows up in court on our behalf at the last minute, winning what would have been a losing legal fight, Jesus is our advocate, and the world can't touch him or any of his followers (like ourselves). Jesus 'occupies' the hearts and minds of everyone, so let's all take this to heart and endeavor to follow His example. Have compassion and empathy. Practice being a good listener, being gentle and Christlike. Don't judge people who you may view as too different, or as being unwanted, untrustworthy or undesirable. Embrace other people, cultures, races and nations, knowing that the same God who made you in His image and likeness made them too. Practice tolerance, kindness, and being merciful even if you don't think the other person deserves it. That's how I endeavor to celebrate Resurrection Day and the other 364 days of the year. Because, when we embrace God we embrace all that he has made.