Entering his home church on God’s Day, he was handed Isaiah’s book to read.
After turning and finding the place, he read out loud,
He closed and handed it back, and sat down.
After a palpably pregnant pause, he said, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” A murmur of confused disbelief boiled the early spring air, until it began to foam into the rage of an offended mob.
Addressing the question they had all brought to church, he asserted, “No doubt you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ What we heard that you did in Capernaum, do it here (in your hometown).”
In what would become a familiar transition with some listening who are drawn to the truth he spoke, and others only hearing offense… he continued, “I tell you Truth’s truth. A prophet is not acceptable in his hometown.
…but …I tell you the truth.
- There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah. The sky was shut up three years and six months when a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them except to Zarephath… in the land of Sidon… to a woman who was a widow!
- There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. None of them were cleansed except Naaman – the Syrian.”
They were done listening to this person they’d known as a snot-nosed kid whose mom got knocked up at 15… and who is now claiming… the impossible!!! They rose up, and threw him out of the city. On their way to force him over the city’s cliff – somehow he walked right through them.
Leaving his hometown, he then lived by the sea in Capernaum.
From that time on; Jesus began to speak out, saying,
“Turn from knowingly doing wrong, because the kingdom of eternity is here & now.”
(aka. “Repent of sin, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”)
NEXT UP:
BEFORE:
AFTER:
SOURCE
TEXTS:
This post includes all Jesus’ words from:
CLARIFIED
WORDING:
- “at the point of death” is replaced with “about to die”
- “in no way” replaced with “not”
- “Repent” is replaced with “turn from wrong”
- God’s “kingdom” is God’s “perspective“. My people live with the concept of Kingdom meaning only a type of government or power expressed by the one in charge. The ruling Kingdom in this day consisted of one person’s perspective (and everyone under the king’s rule lived by his perspective, or could be killed). It was the King’s land that everyone was using, and all his citizen’s were his servants to command. That type of all encompassing authority over everyone’s experience is best culturally termed as a combination of “Power”, “Authority”, “Government”, “Standard” and/or “Perspective”. All that said, Kingdom is understood, and is the most accurate description of the realm of God’s Authority we all live within.
- “heaven” is what we call the biological sky, but it also refers to the construct of eternity. All three are expected to be used as clarity allows.
- “Christ” is Greek for “Chosen One“. It is true that the actual term is “Anointed One”, but to anoint means to smear or wipe… which anymore is a bio-hazard. This individual was anointed because that way the method with which designation was communicated – washed with oil. This action signified what King Arthur’s sword pulled out of the stone signified; a choosing of that individual.
- for the same reason, “chosen me” replaced “anointed me”
- “Sabbath” is replaced with “God’s Day”.
- “Lord” is fittingly replaced with “Authority”, but the central statement of, “Jesus is Lord” running through Christianity leads Lord to be left for continuity and clarity sake. Our society doesn’t have aristocracy, so Lord is unable to be given context required for definition.
- “release” is replaced with “freedom”
- “captives” is replaced with “prisoners”
- “Doubtless” is replaced with “no doubt”
- “Whatever we have heard done” is replaced with “what we heard that you did”
- “Most Certainly“ is the phrase used in this translation, but other versions use, “Verily, verily”, “Very Truly”, “Most assuredly”, etc.. The use of a repeated word used here would probably best be translated as “Amen, amen”, but since this word marks our modern Pharisaical trumpet (at the end of our prayers), it also is not an culturally understandable term. Amen is a confirmation of truth, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. This Spirit was in Joshua after his baptism, and was planted here (through Joshua’s death), and now lives inside each of his followers. “Truth’s truth” is the cultural paraphrase used in this story. Feel free to look up Strongs #g281 (link to Blue Letter Bible)
- “Proclaim” is an action described most commonly in my culture at “announce”. No one proclaims that they are running for office… they may an announcement. Word: Strong’s #G2784 – kēryssō
- Many uses of the word “when” are replaced with punctuation during Joshua’s announcement history lesson.
Bible Dictionary: a list of Bible words and phrases (typically Jesus’ words) which don’t have clear meaning when used in daily talk, and are simplified / culturally paraphrased in this story – in pursuit of understanding.
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