MkITN XI, Verses 1 - 11

1. As they neared Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples ahead.

2. And He gave them very specific instructions, saying, "I want you to go into the village ahead of you, and as soon as you enter it you will find a young colt tied which has never been ridden by anyone. When you find it, I want you to unfasten it and bring it here to Me.

3. If anyone should ask you, 'Why are you taking this animal which doesn't belong to you?', just say to them, 'The Lord needs it, but He will send it right back here when He's through with it.'"

4. So they went on their way, and, sure enough, they found a colt tied at the door of a house as soon as they entered the village, and they went right up to it and loosed it.

5. And some who were standing there said to them, "What do you think you're doing? Why are you untying this man's colt?"

6. And they said to the people exactly what Jesus had told them to say...and it worked! The people allowed them to go without saying another word.

7. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and started throwing their outer garments on it, creating a sort of festive, makeshift saddle...and He sat on it.

8. And many of the people who were around took their cues from the disciples and began to spontaneously spread their garments on the road. Still others joined in with the impromptu decorating, and scattered a layer of leafy branches which they had cut from the fields along the route on which He would be travelling.

9. And still others formed a parade of praise, preceding Him on the road and crying out, joyfully and triumphantly, "Hosanna! Save, Lord! Praised and infinitely blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!

10. Praised and blessed in the name of the Lord is the coming Kingdom of our father David! Hosanna! Save, Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"

11. And this is the way Jesus entered into Jerusalem. Once He was inside the city, He went into the temple enclosure. Walking in, He looked around, surveying everything...taking it all in...and He made some serious observations about what He saw there. But it was getting late in the day, so He went out to Bethany together with the Twelve.

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one."

- Elbert Hubbard

HOLY SPIRIT NOW

Hey Bloggers...I'll back to writing ASAP...I'm really looking forward to doing Mark (Mark In The Now/MkITN), Chapter 11...there's some really good stuff in that chapter. The next couple of days are going to be really busy, so I don't know how much I can get done until after Debye's grandmother's funeral. I'm still thinking a lot about the things we've been discussing concerning (the) Holy Spirit over the last several days at CITN...so much is being said about God, the Spirit..."Parakletos" (The Paraclete)...the Helper...the Comforter...The Spirit of Truth...thinking about why Jesus said, "It is necessary that I go away, because if I don't go, He can't come"...thinking about what could possibly be the full implication of that very startling statement. The picture above was taken last summer in the Upper Room in Jerusalem...

I just finished two articles for Streaming Faith which will be posted in a few weeks...one is on the Power of the Spirit, and the other one is on the Gifts of the Spirit...both subjects are very strong in my own spirit right now...I can't predict, exactly, what is going to happen this coming Sunday at CITN, but I can definitely say that I am open to a "Now Pentecost"...in the meantime, stay attentive and receptive to what God is saying (and feel free to post it in a blog comment), and remember...regardless of what may be happening in your life, currently...It's NOT BY MIGHT, NOR BY POWER, BUT BY(MY)SPIRIT, says the Lord!

MkITN X, Verses 46 - 52

46. Then they came to Jericho, and spent some time there. But as Jesus and His disciples were leaving the city, they passed a blind man by the name of Bartimaeus, which means "son of Timaeus", sitting by the roadside, begging.

47. When Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out as loud as he could, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

48. And many who were in the crowd following Jesus immediately rebuked him, and told him to shut up. But he ignored them and shouted even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

49. Jesus stopped and said, "Don't shut him up...call him over here!" So they called to the blind man, "Hey, beggar man, things are looking up for you! Get up on your feet...Jesus is calling for you!"

50. Instantly the man tore off his coat, jumped to his feet and found his way over to Jesus.

51. "OK...what do you want Me to do for you, friend?" Jesus asked him. The blind man said, "Teacher, I want to see!"

52. "All right, then...go!" said Jesus, "Your own faith has healed you!" And immediately Bartimaeus received his sight, and began following Jesus along the road with everyone else.

MkITN X, Verses 17 - 45

17. As Jesus went out into the street, a young man came running up to Him, greeted Him reverently, and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to experience the fullness of eternal life?"

18. Jesus answered him, "First of all...why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

19. And secondly, you already know the commandments...'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother, etc.'"

20. "Yes, Teacher," he responded, "I do know the commandments, and I have devoutly kept all of them to the letter since I was a boy."

21. Jesus looked at him...looked beyond his religious pretentiousness and misguided concepts of discipleship...and just very simply loved him. "All right...if you're really that serious about inheriting the Kingdom...about walking in the fullness of eternal life...then do this one thing...go, sell everything you have and give all the profits and proceeds to the poor, and you will have treasure in the heavenly realm. Then come, and follow Me!"

22. At this specific word the young man's face fell. Unable to recognize the possibility that Jesus was uniquely offering him, he went away very sad because he had great wealth, and his great wealth had him.

23. Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "You know, for some reason it is really difficult for the very rich to enter into the Kingdom-life."

24. The disciples were amazed at his words, because of the illusions that they themselves held concerning the supposed invincibility of the rich. But Jesus said again, "Children, what great discipline is required to enter the lifestyle of the Kingdom of God!

25. It is easier for a camel to go through the gate in Jerusalem called the eye of the needle, through which it cannot pass unless it stoops first, and has all its baggage removed. After dark, when the main gates are shut, travellers or merchants have to use this smaller gate, through which the camel can only enter, unencumbered, and crawling on its knees."

26. The disciples were even more amazed at these words. This scenario had unearthed some very wrong ideas that they obviously had held...it revealed that they considered the very rich to be in another class, altogether, and not necessarily in need of the same saving grace as the poor to whom they regularly ministered. They said to each other, "Well, if the rich have this much trouble connecting with the Kingdom, who then can be saved?"

27. Jesus looked at them and said, "With man...or, rather, from a merely human perspective, this is, indeed, impossible...but not with God...when the rich bow their knees to Kingdom authority, they are equally blessed with the poor...and the bottom line is that, regardless of how much wealth someone has or doesn't have, when it comes to entering the Kingdom, all things are possible with God!"

28. Peter said to him, "Well, none of this really even applies to us, anyway, because we have left everything to follow you!"

29."Look, here's the truth about that," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the Gospel,

30. will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age...homes... brothers...sisters...mothers...children...fields...
and, yes, with them, persecutions. The Kingdom-life requires that you rethink your current definitions of wealth and poverty...all these things you will abundantly receive now...as the young man who left would have received, had he received the word I gave him...and, in the age to come...in the era of manifestation...a full revelation of all that the realization of eternal life has to offer!

31. But many who in this culture and world-system seem to be first will be last, and many who now appear to be last will be first."

32. After this they were on the way going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them with a distinct sense of purpose and direction in His stride. At this point they were all beginning to second-guess their commitment to follow Him at any cost. Some of the things that He had been saying had left them bewildered and perplexed, and those who were still following were becoming more and more unsettled and afraid over what was potentially on the horizon for them all. So He took the Twelve aside again, and began to tell them exactly what was about to happen to Him.

33. He said, "Look...I don't want anything that is about to happen to take you by surprise, so here is the full plan...we are going up to Jerusalem, and there the Son of Man will be turned over to the religious leaders and the Scribes...and they will condemn and sentence Him to death, and turn Him over to the Roman government.

34. And they will mock Him, spit on Him, whip Him and put Him to death. But after three days He will rise again from the grave."

35. The disciples had no response to these startling and very specific words, but James and John, the sons of Zebedee, later approached Him and said to Him, "Teacher, we desire You to do for us whatever we ask of You."

36. And He replied to them, "Well...what is it that you desire Me to do for you?

37. And they said to Him, "We want you to promise us that we may sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left hand, in Your glory...when Your majesty and splendor are finally revealed."

38. But Jesus said to them, "You boys don't even know what you are asking. Do you honestly think that you are able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism of affliction with which I am about to be baptized?"

39. And they immediately replied to Him, "Without a doubt we are able!" And Jesus told them, "All right...the cup that I drink you will drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized...

40. But to sit at My right hand or at My left hand is not Mine to decide...as the Son of Man, I am completely submitted to a Higher authority...but that honor will be given to those for whom it is divinely ordained and prepared."

41. When the other ten disciples got wind of this exchange, they began to be resentful and even furious with James and John.

42. But Jesus called them all together to Himself to settle things down, saying to them, "You've all seen how ego-centric rulers throw their weight around...you experienced, firsthand, how when people get a little authority they easily become power-drunk.

43. Well, it can't be that way with any of you...not if you're going to live the Kingdom-life...in this new world order, whoever desires to be great among you must become your servant,

44. And whoever desires to be most important...whoever wants to be first in rank among you...must be willing to act like the slave of all when it comes to fulfilling the law of love.

45. For even the Son of Man did not come to have service rendered to Him...on the contrary, He came for no other purpose than to serve...to ultimately give His life as a ransom for, or rather instead of, many.

This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there's not a trace of darkness in him. If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we're obviously lying through our teeth—we're not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God's Son, purges all our sin.

(I John 1:5-7, The Message)

The Gospels In the Now (Status Report)

Matthew In The Now is finished and about to go to the publisher...just posted the foreword below...

Most of Mark In The Now is published here on the blog (up through Chapter 10)...six more chapters to go...

Work on Luke In The Now will begin in a few weeks...

John In The Now is published and available (www.churchinthenow.org)...


















FOREWORD TO MITN: Why write a new paraphrase of the book of Matthew?

1. Because I love Jesus.

I love the real, living Jesus…the outspoken, passionate, confrontational, provocative, liberating, counter-culture, strong and brave and totally secure-within-Himself, fully integrated Jesus…the Word made flesh who became Jesus, the Christ…Jesus in the now…the One who embodies the “I Am,” the God who defies definition and description…the manna or the “what is it?” that came down from heaven…the One whose humanity is every bit as beautiful and intriguing and wonderful as is His divinity…the God-man who cannot be bound or limited in any way by religion or philosophy or doctrines or dogma…the firstborn among many siblings in the family of God who live in the 21st century. I love that real Jesus now more than ever and am in no way offended that He says that I must eat His flesh and drink His blood to have a revelation of Him!






















2. Because I love the Scriptures.

They are a part of me, as absorbed into the fiber of my being as they could possibly be. The words of God vibrate in every cell of my body... they occupy the largest part of my mind…they completely saturate my spirit. The Bible is a miracle – not a book, but a collection of 66 books written by 40 authors over a period of 1,500 years in different languages to different people groups in different generations for different purposes. Therefore, the Scriptures must be rightly divided instead of wrongly connected. In other words, each book must be judged in its own context and on its own terms, whether it confirms any other book or not. In this way, biblical contradictions are not only acknowledged and accepted...they are expected. I celebrate the tension caused by the conflicting viewpoints of the writers who had different paradigms of God; their contradictions make the Bible literally pulsate with life! And amazingly, in spite of the given contention, the confirmation of Jesus, the Christ, is still the glue that holds the whole collection together!


3. Because I love the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew's Gospel...the Gospel of the Kingdom...the Gospel of THE KING...is uniquely important. Matthew writes it for the Jews, from a firsthand, up-close-and-personal viewpoint, portraying Jesus as the Messiah so long awaited after Abraham... the King after David. There is a particular and sometimes palpable tension in Matthew, probably due to the fact that it was written by a Jew whom the Jews hated, because he was a collector of taxes for the Romans. And yet he wrote it with much love, even for those who hated him. Matthew was apprehended by Jesus, and was not at all like the other disciples, so his writing brings a certain richness to the Jesus narrative that is very important. What the other Synoptic Gospel writers call the "Kingdom of God", Matthew calls the "Kingdom of Heaven" (or, better translated: Kingdom of the Heavens". "Kingdom of God" says what and Whose it is..."Kingdom of Heaven" says Who authorized it and where it's from. Perhaps the most significant contribution of Matthew is his attention to detail in the Sermon on the Mount...the radical, out-of-the-box blueprint for the "Kingdom of/from the Heavens", which is at hand for all of us!

4. Because I love the diversity among all the translations and paraphrases of the Bible.

Although I wholeheartedly reject the notion of an official “authorized version,” I do honor the grandeur and loftiness of the Bible that James, the King of England, authorized for his subjects to read in the 17th century (King James Version). That’s why I have memorized vast sections of it. And I love the way James Moffatt could turn a phrase in his translation. I could virtually live in The Amplified Bible with all of its shades of meanings and wordy explanations and parentheses and brackets. It’s like heaven to someone who loves exploring words and their meanings as I do. When I was young, Kenneth Taylor’s beautifully accessible Living Bible changed my life and set the course for my whole ministry. Many years later, Eugene Peterson’s daring paraphrase called The Message affected me nearly as dramatically. In recent years I have grown to respect the Today’s New International Version for its modernity and clarity and lack of religious sexism. In my opinion, it is probably the most accurate mainstream translation of them all*. But I also love the New English Bible and The Jerusalem Bible for other reasons. I am constantly referring to all of these translations for my teaching and writing, along with some other great ones not mentioned here. You may ask then, “If you love all these translations so much, why write a new one?” My only answer is that this writing is my way to pay homage to those who have already blazed this trail of translation before me. I could not do this if they hadn’t done what they did. But this translation is what I hear when I read and teach these chapters and verses. These are the things I have seen...what I have read between the lines...for the last 36 years of ministry, and I simply want to submit them to you, the reader, for your consideration.


5. Because I love communication.

Nothing is more important to the life of relationships than communication, and nothing is more gratifying than knowing that you have effectively communicated your message to someone else. I certainly don’t claim to know everything about Jesus; in fact, the more that I increase in my knowledge of Him throughout the course of my life, the more mysterious He actually becomes to me. For me that’s not a problem. I’m rather glad that, even though I know Him more intimately than I know anyone else, there is always a part of Him that is past my finding out. I know that I will never reach the limits of the breadth and length and depth and height of Him, ever. But, what I do know about Him is the most wonderful knowledge that I possess, and I have a need to share that knowledge with others.


6. Because I love people.

One of the greatest songs ever written contains the words, “If I can help somebody as I pass along…then my living shall not be in vain.” I try to live by the philosophy of that song, so if this book can help someone to rediscover and rethink the Bible – someone who has previously been intimidated or confused or bored by it, regardless of its available translations and paraphrases – then I will have fulfilled at least a part of my destiny. I want to help people know and love Jesus better, but I also want to make them more comfortable with the Bible and with their own interpretations and opinions about it. The Bible is hearty, robust – it is not delicate or fragile – it can withstand a lot of handling by human beings, because it was meant to be people-friendly, and I want to open a door to the house of understanding and let the people in!






















7. Because I love living in the now.

More than anything else, I believe that I was specifically put here on this planet to be a good steward of the concept of living in the now. God is in the now because He is always revealed as the I Am. His word is in the now because people cannot live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds (present tense) out of His mouth. His kingdom is in the now because it can only be discerned one day at a time by those who take no thought for tomorrow. I will proclaim and defend the doctrine of the “now-ness” of God for as long as I live and will aggressively wage war on every religious idea that tries to relegate God to the past or attempts to project Him into the future. God is always now and my prayer is that, as you read Matthew In The Now, you will walk in a fuller revelation of that. Now is all that matters!



*In general, I bestow that honor on The Concordant Literal New Testament

For We Know In Part...

Hey bloggers, comments are coming in concerning the message I delivered a little while ago ("For We Know In Part"), and since the comments page from yesterday was getting so long I decided to open up a new entry, and move the comments that were just posted here...

MkITN X, Verses 1 - 16

1. Then Jesus left that place and went into the region of Judea, and across the Jordan. And again crowds of people came to Him, and, as was His custom, He went right into teaching mode.

2. And some Pharisees who were in the crowd came to Him again and put Him to the test by asking, “Is it legal and right for a man to dismiss his wife…to divorce her for any reason that he may have?

3. He answered their question with another question, asking, "What did Moses command you?"

4. They replied, "Moses permitted a man to simply write a certificate of divorce and just send her away, no strings attached."

5. “Moses set up this system basically because of the hardness of your hearts…specifically, your insensitivity to women. He permitted you to easily dismiss your wives with no regard for required responsibility to them, because you have had no concept of covenant", He said to them.

6. But in this Moses did not have the heart and mind of God, considering that this self-serving male convenience was not in God’s original plan...at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.'

7. This is why a man has to leave his father and mother at some point, and be united and bonded to his wife.

8. And when that happens, the two of them become, in a sense, one single entity, so that they are no longer two separate physical bodies, but actually become one new one.

9. And if a particular union between a man and a woman is, indeed, God-ordained, then no human being should do anything to create a disconnect between what God has intentionally put together.”

10. When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus to explain this further.

11. He answered them, "Whoever just casually dismisses his wife for no legitimate reason, and marries the next available woman who comes along, really is only committing adultery with her. His shallow flippancy in such a case shows that he has no understanding of the seriousness of covenant.

12. The situation is somewhat different if the wife has been unfaithful to her husband, but the real issue is still about the apparent disregard of covenant. So if she divorces her husband and marries another man for no good reason, she commits adultery, as well, because there is no genuine commitment to the covenant of marriage.”

13. Around this time people were beginning to bring their little children to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them and bless them when He was ministering; but when they did, the disciples would insult them by preventing them to do this.

14. One day it happened, and when Jesus saw what the disciples were doing, He was furious with them. He said, "You let these little children come right to Me, and don't you dare tell them that they aren't allowed or welcome! Childlikeness is the standard for the Kingdom of God, so, in essence, the Kingdom belongs to such as these.

15 The truth is that anyone who will not perceive and receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it in the first place."
















16 Then He stopped what He was doing and saying, and started taking the children who were there in His arms, placing His hands on them, affectionately, and taking the time to bless each one of them.