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Bible Readings for Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

– The Week of The Fourth Sunday of Advent *Click on each bible passage to expand the text. Luke 1:46b-55 Mary’s Song 46. And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47. and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48. for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49. for the Mighty One has done great things for me — holy is his name.

50. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

51. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

52. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

53. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

54. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55. to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.” 1 Samuel 1:19-28 19. Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 20. So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.” Hannah Dedicates Samuel 21. When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, 22. Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.” 23. “Do what seems best to you,” Elkanah her husband told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him. 24. After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25. When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, 26. and she said to him, “As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there. Hebrews 8:1-13 The High Priest of a New Covenant 1. The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2. and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man. 3. Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. 4. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5. They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” 6. But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. 7. For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8. But God found fault with the people and said: “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 9. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. 10. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” 13. By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. – Luke 1:50

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” - 1 Samuel 1:27-28

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear. – Hebrews 8:12-13

I will remember their sins no more…

Hebrews 8 13. By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

God made the original covenant with Israel “obsolete” and it would soon “disappear”???

Fascinating.

Has anyone thought to tell modern Christians (especially those on The Religious-Right) this little biblical sentiment? This seems to be the major “oversight” that I see in today’s modern worship: the Old Covenant is obsolete. There is no point in still following the prescriptions of behavior and axioms of morality found within it.

America’s Right-Wing Evangelicals (a.k.a, The Religious-Right) are the worst at this: overall they do NOT follow The Law of Moses any longer themselves, yet The Law is the first thing they “whip out” of their little bag-of-judgement when dealing with others outside of their circle of influence. They cherry-pick the Old Testament for prohibitions that only apply to those they disagree with, all the while conveniently ignoring the prohibitions that apply to their own ways of living.

This makes a huge percentage of today’s Christians nothing less than hypocrites. And the rest of the world is starting to smell our stink. Church attendance is plummeting, congregations are closing their doors, and atheism is growing at its fastest pace in decades… all because of one sad fact: many Christians are regressing away from Grace and the promise of the New Testament back to the legalism and “us vs. them” mentality of the Old Testament.

One of the most egregious examples of hypocrisy that I see prominently displayed in the local churches here in Colorado Springs is the fact that homosexuals are still ostracized and exiled from church communities under the excuse of it being an “abomination before God” and “punishable by death in the Law of Moses”. And yet, those same congregations are filled with many individuals who are technically guilty of the same level of “transgressions” under the Law of Moses, all “abominations”, and all punishable by “death”.

The Hypocrisy of The Religious-Right A Law Still followed in Modern Conservative Communities: Death for Homosexuality

“‘If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads. – Leviticus 20:13 Other Laws Ignored by Modern Conservative Communities Death for Dishonoring/Disobeying Your Parents

“‘If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and his blood will be on his own head. – Leviticus 20:9 Death for Adultery “‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. – Leviticus 20:10 Death for Losing Your Virginity Before Marriage If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you. – Deuteronomy 22:20-21 Death for Breaking the Sabbath (Saturday)

While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.” So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses. – Numbers 15:32-26

Yes, you read it right: all of the above prohibitions are punished by sentence of death in the Old Testament. And yet, only one is still regularly viewed as “deserving” of exile in many modern Right-Wing Evangelical communities. In the most disgusting examples, there is still violence and murder towards those who are gay in some communities.

Whaaaaaat???

The fact that some of same people perpetrating this hate, this biblical hypocrisy towards gay people are themselves guilty of some of the same “mortal sins” listed above (adultery, sabbath-breaking, losing virginity)… this is unconscionable!

Then, what is the solution? Observe all of the Laws of Moses? Observe none?

Thank God for Yeshua, Lord and Savior of All, because he gave us the exact plan right there in the Gospels.

“I Have Come to Fulfill the Law”

Here we turn to a passage often cited by the Religious-Right when confronted with this apparent disregard for Hebrews 8:13 (the obsolescence of the Old Law):

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. 18. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”

The argument of the Religious-Right is a simple one: until “everything is accomplished”, we should live under BOTH laws of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. We are under both Law and Grace, and “all” must be observed. (Even though they clearly waver on the “all” part of that statement).

That’s all well and good, except for the fact that “everything” is clearly “accomplished”, and has been so for almost 2000 years! Because what the Religious-Right refuse to admit, much less teach to their congregations is that Yeshua announced this at the moment of his death on the cross:

John 19 28. Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29. A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit

Did you get that?

Let’s review:

Yeshua promised that “not one letter would disappear from the Law” until “everything is accomplished”.

At his death, because he knew that “all was now completed” and “scripture would be fulfilled”, Yeshua cried out, “It is finished!”

“It is finished”? Some would be tempted to get legalistic on me here and claim that “finished”, and “fulfilled” does not equal the exact term of “accomplished”.

I can just imagine the protestations, “Jesus said ‘…until everything is accomplished’, and he didn’t say ‘accomplished’!”

Didn’t he? Are we sure about that? Because the correct translation of the original Greek word Τετέλεσται which is translated as “finished” (Τετέλεσται) in John 19:30 is:

Tetelestai / Τετέλεσται – (5055) Short Definition: I end, accomplish, pay Definition: (a) I end, finish, (b) I fulfill, accomplish, (c) I pay.

“Accomplished”.

No amount of legalism, no desperate mental gymnastics can avoid this simple point: at his death upon the cross, Yeshua himself announced the end of the Law of Moses. Any attempt today to enforce even a small portion of the Old Law is not only foolish, but is in direct disobedience to the Word of God, the Lord, and Son.

No more Law? What now?

One of my favorite arguments I hear from The Religious-Right regarding the obsolescence of the Law of Moses and the Triumph of Grace is, “Now what? What is gonna stop me from whoring around, doing drugs, and killing people now that the Law is gone?”

The answer to their question is a resounding, “NO!”

NO – we should not “whore it up.”

NO – we should not descend into debauchery and drugs.

NO – this is not a license to kill.

Yeshua may have abolished the Law of Moses, but he replaced it with something much better, much more refined and whole, and much more perfect. The Law of Moses was only a shadow, albeit a very “wordy” one, but a shadow nonetheless of the perfect promise of the New Commandments of Christ.

Matthew 7 12. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 22 37. Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38. This is the first and greatest commandment. 39. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” John 13 34. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

The Law had grown cumbersome and unwieldy. Too much confusion about its execution inevitably sprouted and it created a harvest of violence and fear.

God, therefore, has given unto us The Law 2.0.

If it cannot be done in love, then it cannot be from the Law.

If it cannot be done in love, then it should not be done at all.

Simple.

Loving.

And it doesn’t make hypocrites out of anybody.

Amen.