Ensign: Joshua of Nazareth, Part 3
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3
AN ENSIGN ON THE
MOUNTAINS 25 July 2014
Hendrik Willem van
Loon's first book The Story of Mankind
was first published in 1921, though at the time I read it I didn't
know that. If I remember right, the book's been updated every
generation and currently runs to the turn of the century. Doesn't
really help as a history text – or does it? I find it unlikely that
a history book first published more than ninety years ago and that
won the first Newbery Medal for an outstanding contribution to
children's literature would have the staying power it did then (and
still does to someone like me) if it wasn't also a good story.
For
Æsculapius Cultellus and Gladius Ensa, the Roman physician and his
soldier nephew whose letters we've been perusing the last two
Ensigns, never existed. Van Loon uses the same literary device later
in R.v.R. which was
written as a journal kept by his ancestor, an Amsterdam physician who
interacted regularly with the painter Rembrandt and in Van
Loon's Lives where the author
himself and those close to him (who DID exist, unlike the Amsterdam
physician) got to invite various deceased persons all over history to
Saturday night dinner parties. True, Jesus didn't get an invitation, but He's not dead either.
The letters we've reviewed, as opposed to the Gospel accounts you were probably expecting me to cite ... eh, chapter and verse, aren't any less important because their authors didn't exist. The best stories (and even Jesus knew this/knows this) come by presenting what people can relate to. And to your run-of-the-mill Roman citizen (or person in a Roman-occupied country, as Jesus' Jewish audience members were), if they had heard of what was going on at all regarding another Jewish prophet, it wasn't high on the list on the list of encounters they must have in order to live the fullest like. For Peter, Andrew, Mary, Martha, James, John, Thomas, Judas and the rest, life went on.
For we who believe (and if we're honest, even we who don't believe) Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes unto His Father, God our Father, which art in heaven -- paraphrasing John 14:6 and Matthew 6:9, but we can take it -- except through Him can all acknowledge a time when we didn't know who this Jesus was and why we ought to believe him. I wonder if our witness gets hindered because we tend to not acknowledge that, not want to acknowledge that we were lost (the Christian-ese term for not having Jesus as Savior and Lord, and that word gets used only THIRTY-TWO TIMES in the entire Bible, fourteen of those times by Jesus Himself)!
YES, we're called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-14) but even with that empowerment we're still part of the world. At least I think we all get up in the morning, I presume you who read this did! Jesus did and does not absolve His disciples of any responsibility to our families, workplaces, or nations when we accept Him as the way (important distinction: not pointing out the way, not showing us the way, but BEING THE WAY) to His Father. Our Father. Sure you have a past (who doesn't?) but it never needs to get in the way of your future, starting
Right now, David
P. S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with you, and I hope to encourage you and me to action too! If you find I don't or you just want me to get lost, just let me know – thanks!
The letters we've reviewed, as opposed to the Gospel accounts you were probably expecting me to cite ... eh, chapter and verse, aren't any less important because their authors didn't exist. The best stories (and even Jesus knew this/knows this) come by presenting what people can relate to. And to your run-of-the-mill Roman citizen (or person in a Roman-occupied country, as Jesus' Jewish audience members were), if they had heard of what was going on at all regarding another Jewish prophet, it wasn't high on the list on the list of encounters they must have in order to live the fullest like. For Peter, Andrew, Mary, Martha, James, John, Thomas, Judas and the rest, life went on.
For we who believe (and if we're honest, even we who don't believe) Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes unto His Father, God our Father, which art in heaven -- paraphrasing John 14:6 and Matthew 6:9, but we can take it -- except through Him can all acknowledge a time when we didn't know who this Jesus was and why we ought to believe him. I wonder if our witness gets hindered because we tend to not acknowledge that, not want to acknowledge that we were lost (the Christian-ese term for not having Jesus as Savior and Lord, and that word gets used only THIRTY-TWO TIMES in the entire Bible, fourteen of those times by Jesus Himself)!
YES, we're called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-14) but even with that empowerment we're still part of the world. At least I think we all get up in the morning, I presume you who read this did! Jesus did and does not absolve His disciples of any responsibility to our families, workplaces, or nations when we accept Him as the way (important distinction: not pointing out the way, not showing us the way, but BEING THE WAY) to His Father. Our Father. Sure you have a past (who doesn't?) but it never needs to get in the way of your future, starting
Right now, David
P. S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with you, and I hope to encourage you and me to action too! If you find I don't or you just want me to get lost, just let me know – thanks!
We praise and thank You, Lord, that we are always able to come to You in prayer even when we don't know know what to pray for, because You always listen! We pray for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides, in that place and all around the world.
We praise and thank You, Lord, for all those in service both here and abroad, for the opportunities we have and for the promise of new life You bring. I pray that we all seek and have a blessed week, blessed by You! Amen.
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