Seascape at Bicheno, Australia by JJ Harrison (jjharrison89@facebook.com)
Good morning, beloved,
We are home. It is so good to be home. Home. We have got back into some kind of normal, enjoying a bit of rain and resting. I find that strange. Daniel and I rested for four straight days. He couldn’t leave his bed and I couldn’t leave his side. We both could take short breaks but our home base was a hospital bed. We have a list of more doctors to visit, more calls to make, more things to do. And last night and this morning as we prayed over our boy, we began to wonder about more radical ideas with his food. I got an email yesterday that sent me on a voyage of discovery…raw food and green smoothies…well, before I trail on and on, I don’t know much about it. I just know that medical science is wanting to put him on more meds with many scary side effects. They don’t know why he is having the problems. So, Joshua and I began to think through more changing our diet and Daniel’s for a month…
Cape Petrel (Daption capense) in flight, East of the Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania, Australia
Well, I need to dive into His Word. God has more answers and more hope and greater love. So want to join me? We are starting a new week! 🙂
Our context is Matthew 5:
21 You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill, and whoever kills shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court.
22 But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court; and whoever speaks contemptuously and insultingly to his brother shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, You cursed fool! [You empty-headed idiot!] shall be liable to and unable to escape the hell (Gehenna) of fire.
23 So if when you are offering your gift at the altar you there remember that your brother has any [grievance] against you,
24 Leave your gift at the altar and go. First make peace with your brother, and then come back and present your gift.
25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way traveling with him, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.
Now let’s get the context, because Jesus’ audience heard it said but let’s read it from Exodus 20:13You shall not commit murder. Clearly, law was and is murder was against Law. Now there was a cost for breaking this law. So let’s read the following and find out!
Pied Oystercatchers, Austin’s Ferry, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. by JJ Harrison
5 And surely for your lifeblood I will require an accounting; from every beast I will require it; and from man, from every man [who spills another’s lifeblood] I will require a reckoning.
6 Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God He made man.
God considers life to be precious. We are, well, the image comes from a rarely used root word to shade. We are a shade of God. We resemble Him. So to take the blood of another, to hold the life of another image of God…it is not at all meant to be.
12 Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.
13 But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God allowed him to fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee [for protection until duly tried].
14 But if a man comes willfully upon another to slay him craftily, you shall take him from My altar [to which he may have fled for protection], that he may die.
Our God is full of mercy and grace. I heard in my Pastor’s sermon today..it was beautiful…Grace and peace to you…it is enough. You need no more than that! I’ll add His mercy. Look at this passage in Chapter 21…God is providing His people with boundaries. He sees all and knows all. It is a beautiful thing. Our God didn’t leave them with just those few sentences tho, He fleshed it out in these verses. It is so fascinating. He knows man’s heart and friends, He loves us still.
When the Lord your God has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God gives you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,
2 You shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess.
3 You shall prepare the road and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God gives you to possess, so that any manslayer can flee to them.
4 And this is the case of the slayer who shall flee there in order that he may live. Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, for whom he had no enmity in time past—
5 As when a man goes into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand strikes with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips off the handle and lights on his neighbor and kills him—he may flee to one of those cities and live;
Gordon Da m, Southwest National Park, Tasmania, Australia. by JJ Harrison
6 Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer while his [mind and] heart are hot with anger and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him even though the slayer was not worthy of death, since he had not been at enmity with him previously.
7 Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three [refuge] cities.
8 And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as He has sworn to your fathers to do, and gives you all the land which He promised to your fathers to give,
9 If you keep all these commandments to do them, which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, then you shall add three other cities to these three,
10 Lest innocent blood be shed in your land, which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and so blood guilt be upon you.
11 But if any man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, and attacks him and wounds him mortally so that he dies, and the assailant flees into one of these cities,
12 Then the elders of his own city shall send for him and fetch him from there and give him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die.
13 Your eyes shall not pity him, but you shall clear Israel of the guilt of innocent blood, that it may go well with you.
Are you still with me? Are you getting with the blood? Are you understanding how God understands man? People may read this and think, God is so cruel! NO WAY! Rather read this and think, God is saving families. Keeping blood feuds from beginning. Keeping the anger at bay. Unforgiveness from unleashing its ugly head in the families of Israel.
Let’s bring it back to Jesus, Matthew 5:22 But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court; and whoever speaks contemptuously and insultingly to his brother shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, You cursed fool! [You empty-headed idiot!] shall be liable to and unable to escape the hell (Gehenna) of fire.
Do you see the beauty of forgiveness? The alternative is frightening! Startling and not something we want to even allow our brains to settle on even for a moment. Harboring malice, speaking insultingly makes us liable. Swearing at people, calling names brings this next sentence to our awareness. Hell of fire. These are not phrases that reflect any, any, anything to do with God’s heart.
6 While we were yet in weakness [powerless to help ourselves], at the fitting time Christ died for (in behalf of) the ungodly.
Abutilon ×hybridum cultivar ‘Patrick Synge’ by JJ Harrison
7 Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a noble and lovable and generous benefactor someone might even dare to die.
8 But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.
9 Therefore, since we are now justified (acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God) by Christ’s blood, how much more [certain is it that] we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God.
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more [certain], now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved (daily delivered from sin’s dominion) through His [resurrection] life.
We shall be saved, daily delivered from sin’s dominion through His resurrection life…
So, when Jesus said…(Matt.5)
23 So if when you are offering your gift at the altar you there remember that your brother has any [grievance] against you,
24 Leave your gift at the altar and go. First make peace with your brother, and then come back and present your gift.
Peace, peace with your brother, sister. Is there anyone in your life needing to hear I’m sorry from you? Please forgive me. Have you gone before the altar with grievances held against you? Don’t let another day go by. Or maybe you need to forgive. I could write a sermon on forgiveness, but I’ve written much on this, and I’ll just say, spend some time with the Lord on this. Let Him speak to you on this. He is your Shepherd. He’ll guide ya.
God bless you. Peace. Pray on.
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