Rabbi’s Reflections – Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Shalom,
Wow! That was amazing. This morning I was able to be in the operating room during open heart surgery (not my own). My son-in-law, Bryon Boulton, (is a cardio-thoracic surgeon in charge of reconstructive heart surgery at WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh, NC) invited me to attend while he operated. A woman had two heart valves replaced and one repaired (that’s 3 out of 4) today. This is common malady in Africa due to the scarcity of antibiotics. It is likely a complication of strep-throat suffered in her youth. This could easily have been avoided with medicines that are both common and cheap in other parts of the world. After a 4 hour major heart surgery, the patient is now in recovery.
I said all that, so I could say this… God made our bodies to function in a most miraculous way. To do this surgery, the patient’s heart had to be stopped for about 2 hours. It took a scientifically advanced heart-lung bypass machine, plus several technicians with years of training, to keep her alive during and after surgery. At their best, they can sustain life for about 4 hours. God makes us to function at a much high level for a lifetime (no pun intended) without the aid of eternal machines or technicians.
Anyone who sees this (or even a baby’s birth for that matter – which is what my wife, Jan, is observing today) and still questions if there really is a God, is infused with arrogance. I have a new friend (since yesterday) who is one of the hospital chaplains here. His name is Gordon. As I was sharing this with him, he observed, “Such arrogance is a slap in the face of God.” I agree.
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The Upper Room Discourse (part 55 of ???)
John 16:25 “These things I have spoken to you in metaphors. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in metaphors, but will tell you plainly about the Father.”
You decide! Do you want to be spoken to in metaphors or in plain speech? Matthew 13:10 Then the disciples came to Him and said, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11 And He replied to them, “To you has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
There is no waste in the kingdom of God. Telling plainly about the kingdom of God to people who don’t believe in the kingdom of God would be wasteful. And (while we’re on the subject) what is the plain speech about the Father, of which Yeshua is speaking? There is a difference that goes back to Moses.
Numbers 12:6 “Hear now My words!” He said. “When there is a prophet of Adonai, I reveal Myself in a vision, I speak to him in a dream. 7 Not so with My servant Moses. In all My house, he is faithful. 8 I speak with him face to face, plainly and not in riddles.”
And this difference of “face to face” plain talk was prophesied to apply to Yeshua as well. The Lord spoke to Moses… Deuteronomy 18:18 “I will raise up a prophet (Yeshua) like you (Moses) for them from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I command him. 19 Now whoever does not listen to My words that this prophet speaks in My Name, I Myself will call him to account.”
And this is our inheritance as followers of Yeshua. Earlier in this same chapter of John, (we already studies this) Yeshua said, John 16:13 But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; but whatever He hears, He will tell you. And He will declare to you the things that are to come.
The prophesy is that the Holy Spirit will speak the plain truth, following the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Yeshua. This the promise of our subject verse, John 16:25. We make Him our King and He treats us like family, and families have a depth of relationship that allows for plain talk.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Wed 19-Oct-2022 24th of Tishrei, 5783
Ge 2:4-19 Jos 3-4 Ps 3-4 Mat 2 (Jas 2)
Week 43
Memory Verse: Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the Good News, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who trusts—to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 In it the righteousness of God is revealed, from trust to trust. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by emunah.”
211 10/17 Monday: 1 Corinthians 15-16
212 10/18 Tuesday: 2 Corinthians 1-2
213 10/19 Wednesday: 2 Corinthians 3-4
214 10/20 Thursday: 2 Corinthians 5-6
215 10/21 Friday: 2 Corinthians 7-8