Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar;

Luke 8:10: “And He said: ‘To you it has be given to know the secrets of (the kingdom of) God; but for others they are in parables so that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand.”

I put “the kingdom of” in brackets because the words “tes basileias”  are not found in some of the key manuscripts such as W, 579, 716, l253 and l1761.  It is also left out of PET-C and Eusebius. In 1984 the American and British Committees of the International Greek New Testament Project concluded that these words were not found in the original writings and thus it should be rendered  “To you it has been given to know the secrets of God.”  The committee goes on to give some convincing arguments as to why the scribes incorporated this words “the kingdom” which I will not go into because, like you, I get very uneasy when scholars start to nit pick at the Word of God.  For the most part, I pretty much turn a deaf ear to all their talk of manuscripts.  However, my spirit was quickened as I read the article because this could shed a different light on this matter of seeing but not seeing and hearing but not hearing.

Now, if you do not agree with this presupposition, then hit the delete button because the following will be meaningless. My presupposition is that the parables are all about God and first and foremost , they teach the way of the Lord as a path of obedient surrender to the divine will.  The kingdom of God is but one aspect of the Divine character of God.  The parables move beyond this, they portray God in dynamic, full of life pictures that show the natural affinity between the supernatural realm and the physical world of daily experience.  The parables are full of God and God’s mysterious ways.  The one who obeys will understand the mysteries of God.

Someone once called me a man of God.  I chafe at that because I have to honestly admit I do not understand all the parables of Jesus and thus I do not understand the mysteries of God and to me a man or woman of God is one who understands the mysteries of God.

So what are the mysteries of God?  There is a very dynamic equivalent for this Hebrew Idiom from the Dead Sea Scrolls ie., “razi elohim.”   The language of the  Dead Sea Scrolls has cast light on the study of the words of Jesus.  For instance the phrase. “poor in spirit” has a parallel in the language of the scrolls and has been found to be a technical term for the members of the Dead Sea sect, who were devoted disciples of the Torah and the religious teachings of their community.  Discipleship was strictly practiced in the Dead Sea community.  The members of the community gave up everything to live the life of discipleship.  They spoke about dedication to God and used words similar to the teachings of Jesus.  Jesus told his disciples, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of God.”  The Dead Sea sect taught, “And now my children, hearken unto me and I will reveal for your eyes to see and to understand the works of God.”  The controlling idea of the scroll views the followers of the Dead Sea sect’s teaching as having experienced an inward revealing.  Their eyes have been opened, which enables them to see and to understand.

Ok, here’s the crux of all this gibberish.  This text from the Dead Sea scroll both affirms the Hebrew language background for the teachings of Jesus and also illustrates the concept of discipleship to Torah learning.  In the Gospel of Mark 4, we have the parable of the sower.  It would appear that Jesus is comparing the disciples to the good soil because, based upon the above, they receive Torah and act upon it in obedience.

I am only midrashing here so I would ask the question: “Can it be that the mysteries of God are not revealed to all believers but only  to those who are obedient to Torah.  There are many believers who have eyes but do not see and ears but do not hear because they have not studied and obeyed Torah.  For instance, keeping the Sabbath day holy. Our salvation does not depend upon keeping the Sabbath day holy. Our salvation is in Jesus Christ alone and not in keeping the law.  But once we are saved, we desire to enter the mysteries of God, could it be that this is where the obedience to the law would play an important role? Is obedience to the law an expression of our love to the Father.  Just as a husband bringing flowers to his wife.  This outward express of showing love for his wife actually deepens his love for her.  The more you give and express your love the deeper that love grows in you.  So too the more ways you can find to express your love to God, the deeper your love for God will grow.  We tend to limit ourselves to praise and worship as an expression to God. Honestly, ask yourself.  Do you find that your praise and worship is just not enough.  Do you long to do more to express your love for God?  Maybe in studying the Torah, the law of God and seeking to following it’s teachings as a way to say to God: “I love you” like  a husband giving flowers to his wife to say “I love you.”  The flowers may be meaningless to the husband, he may not like flowers, but because he knows his wife loves flowers, he presents this gift to her.  This act only increases his love for her.   So too, a simple thing like keeping the Sabbath day holy as an expression of Love to God may help deepen our love for Him and of course if you “love Him enough, He will reveal His secrets.”

If you made it this far without falling asleep, I would welcome you comments.

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