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FIRST, THE NEWS: |
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KYIV COURT PUTS RENAMING OF UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE ON HOLD
from: Kyiv Post
(22 Apr.) The Kyiv District Administrative Court has granted the motion of the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) of security for the claim in the case involving the reversal of the order issued by the Ukrainian Culture Ministry ordering the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to change its name, the court’s press service said on April 22.
"The court has granted the motion of the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for security for the claim because failure to take such measures may considerably complicate or make it impossible to restore the breached or contested rights or interests of the plaintiff."
"Moreover, the court believes the enforcement at this time (before a decision is given on the merits of the case) of the contested regulation and its observance may lead to unjustified interference by the state in the work of a religious organization as a legal entity," a report posted on the court's official website said.
At the same time, the court says the decision does not suggest the actual resolution of the dispute, since it is aimed "solely at preserving the existing situation until the completion of the proceedings on the merits." [read more...]
WHY RUSSIAN JEWS DREADED EASTER WEEKEND
from: The Stream
(19 Apr.) As Christians around the world celebrate the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, many traditional Jews will have a different set of emotions, especially those who hail from Russia.
Of course, if Passover and Easter fall at the same time of the year, the Jewish focus will be almost entirely on Passover. Cleansing the house from leaven. Preparing for the Passover meal (called the Seder). Attending special synagogue services. But the Easter celebration can stir up some ugly memories. During the days of the pogroms, Easter was the perfect time to go out and kill those miserable Christ-killers. Death to the Jews!
Wikipedia gives the following (quite accurate) description of one such event: "The Kishinev pogrom was an anti-Jewish riot that took place in Kishinev, then the capital of the Bessarabia Governorate in the Russian Empire, on 6-9 April 1903. Further rioting erupted in October 1905. In the first wave of violence, beginning on Easter Day, 49 Jews were killed, a number of Jewish women were raped and 1,500 homes were damaged."
Giving further background: "The most popular newspaper in Kishinev … regularly published articles with headlines such as 'Death to the Jews!' and 'Crusade against the Hated Race!' (referring to the Jews). When a gentile Ukrainian boy, Mikhail Rybachenko, was found murdered in the town of Dubossary, about 25 miles north of Kishinev, and a girl who committed suicide by poisoning herself was declared dead in a Jewish hospital, the Bessarabetz paper insinuated that both children had been murdered by the Jewish community for the purpose of using their blood in the preparation of matzo for Passover. … These allegations, and the prompting of the town’s Russian Orthodox bishop, sparked the pogrom." [read more...]
(5 Apr.) The Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church offers its principled support to Ukrainian autocephaly. This is stated in the official communique of the Office of the Council of Bishops, reports the Church. "On behalf of the Cathedral of the Bishops of the PAOC, in response to the letters to the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, we are clearly informing that the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church was and is for the recognition of complete autonomy - the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine," the statement reads.
This was also said by the head of the Church at the All-Orthodox Cathedral in Crete. The allocation of this part of the text in bold in the communique indicates that this position of the PAOC is fundamental. The chancery also adds that the provision of autocephaly should be effected in accordance with dogmatic and canonical standards in relation applied rather to the entire Church than a group of schismatics. Those who secede from the Church and who were defrocked cannot represent a healthy church organism. This canonical action violates the Eucharistic and inter-Orthodox unity.
It should be noted that the Polish Orthodox Church cooperates with other Local Churches in order to settle the church issue in Ukraine. The Council of Bishops also responded to alleged recognition of the schismatic ordination of those who had been received to the fold of the Polish Church.
In 1990, the Polish Church received the schismatics of the ROCOR and the Greek Old-Style schism in their actual ranks. Today, the Bishops' Council of the POAC states that they have re-consecrated schismatics and only after that they have accepted them in communion. However, no documents or other material evidence (photographs) are known either to us or to profile historians, whose advice our editorial team has requested. [read more...]
PATRIARCH KIRILL SENDS CONDOLENCES OVER THE FIRE AT NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL
from: Interfax-Religion
(18 Apr.) Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia sent a message of condolences to Archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, over the fire that broke out at the Notre Dame Cathedral on the 15th of April 2019.
"It grieved me deeply to learn about the devastating fire that inflicted enormous damage on the Notre-Dame Cathedral – a venerated shrine of the Roman Catholic Church in France. I empathise with you, your flock and all those holding dear this masterpiece of Christian architecture which occupies a special place among the architectural world heritage sites," the message reads.
The patriarch lifts up his prayers unto the Lord that He may help overcome aftermaths of the fire and restore the cathedral to its former splendour in the near future.
"It is my hope that the joint efforts of the Church, the state and all the concerned people will be crowned with success," he said. [read more...]
HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT PLEDGES 9 MILLION FORINTS TO SRI LANKAN SURVIVORS
from: Church Militant
(25 Apr.) The Hungarian government has pledged an initial 9 million forints (roughly $31,000 U.S.) in emergency aid to the survivors of the recent attacks on Christians and Christian churches in Sri Lanka. "We're considering a larger donation to the Christian churches targeted by these horrific acts of terror," tweeted Tristan Azbej, deputy secretary of state for the assistance to persecuted Christians.
Tuned into the alarming numbers that, on average, 345 Christians are killed every month throughout the world, Hungary has taken a leadership role in establishing the State Secretariat for the Aid of Persecuted Christians and Hungary Helps, "unique in the Western World." During a press conference in Budapest on April 16, Azbej announced the establishment of "The Hungary Helps Agency."
"The task of the new agency, which will be operating within the framework of the State Secretariat for the Aid of Persecuted Christians and the Realization of the Hungary Helps Program, will be to coordinate programs to help persecuted Christians," Azbej said.
The Hungary Helps initiative is providing nearly $1.7 million to a project aimed at supporting hospitals in Syria. Working alongside the AVSI Foundation in partnership with the Gemelli Foundation and the pontifical charity branch "Cor Unum," Hungary Helps supports the three Catholic hospitals in Syria (St. Louis Hospital in Aleppo, a French hospital and an Italian hospital, both in Damascus) which offer free medical care to the poor regardless of religious affiliation. [read more...]
POPE'S SWING TO MACEDONIA AND BULGARIA COULD PACK A SURPRISING PUNCH
from: Crux
(24 Apr.) When Pope Francis visits Macedonia and Bulgaria early next month, the trip might seem a throwaway since it won’t generate the international waves that his visits to Muslim-majority nations such as Morocco or the United Arab Emirates, or key Asian nations such as Japan, always promise to deliver.
Yet while the outing to Macedonia and Bulgaria, and his visit to Romania later this summer, might be overshadowed, Francis’s agenda in Eastern Europe not only has been a cornerstone of his papacy, but it also sheds light on the Vatican’s strategy with Orthodoxy since the years of St. John Paul II. For the Vatican, that strategy is as much political as it is ecumenical.
During communist rule in Eastern Europe, Christianity was suppressed. Though both Eastern Catholics and Orthodox Christians suffered, once the Iron Curtain fell the sharp resurgence of Eastern Catholic Churches led to clashes with the Orthodox over property rights, as many ecclesial properties in Russia and Eastern Europe had been confiscated by the government and reapportioned either to the state, or in some cases, to the Orthodox. Naturally, the Eastern Catholics wanted those properties back.
Amid those tensions, John Paul II penned his 1995 encyclical Ut Unum Sint - "that they may be one," reaffirming the importance of pursuing unity. Later that year, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople visited Rome for a meeting in which both he and John Paul stressed the need for unity.
Since then, the Vatican's strategy in Eastern Europe has featured dialogue with Orthodox leaders in those countries. For years, the 800-pound gorilla of the Vatican's relationship with Orthodoxy has been the Russian Orthodox Church, the largest and most influential player in the Orthodox world that has a reputation for not always playing well with others. [read more...]
OTHER NEWS HEADLINES:
TANGLE OF CHURCH AND STATE ROILS UKRAINE'S ORTHODOX PARISHES
from Yahoo News
OCU: NO COURT CAN MAKE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE CHURCH A NON-MOSCOW ONE
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine
SCRIPTURE BOOKLET PRINTING TO BEGIN SOON IN RUSSIA
from Mission Network News
UOC(MP) ON POROSHENKO ELECTION FAILURE: GOD TREATS AUTHORITIES THE WAY AUTHORITIES TREAT THE CHURCH
from Interfax-Religion
LOCAL OFFICIAL REGRETS ARREST OF PROTESTANT PREACHER FOR CHURCH SERVICE IN NOVOROSSIISK
from Svobodnaia Media
STATEMENT BY SYNOD OF ORTHODOX CHURCH OF MOLDOVA ON PERSECUTION OF UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH (MP)
from Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate
CHURCH WITHOUT FREEDOM AND RIGHTS: WHAT AWAITS EVANGELICAL CHURCHES IN OCCUPIED UKRAINE?
from Christian Today
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO POROSHENKO: POLITICS, RELIGION, AND THE NEW CHURCH OF UKRAINE
from Orthodox Christianity
VIETNAM: HMONG AND MONTAGNARD CHRISTIANS DENIED BASIC CIVIL RIGHTS BECAUSE OF THEIR FAITH
from ChristianPersecution.com
NEW UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT HAS AMBIGUOUS RELATIONSHIP WITH BOTH ORTHODOX CHURCHES IN UKRAINE
from Religiia v Ukraine
NOW, OUR VIEWS:
Seek the Welfare of the City, Part 2
In case you're thinking about Jeremiah 29:7 - "That was then, but this is now!" - well, you're in for a surprise. It explains in Part 1 that there were beggars who refused to work, so Christian philanthropists were warned not to give them money: "Here we clearly see the goal of the social ministry of the Church: 'The role of social work is to make the recipient aware of the need to change' - unless the poor or disabled person makes a commitment to change, our efforts to help may be in vain." Human nature hasn't changed much in the past 2,000 years!
On our "Homes and Jobs" page, go to the link: "Get Your Life on Track." You'll see several Scriptures illustrating the lifestyle that Christians should have. At the bottom of that section is another link: "Do you want to be restored to wholeness?" which takes you to our Problem Assessment: Physical and Spiritual Rehabilitation Plan that we can fill out with our disabled or unemployed clients. Midway through the form, after gathering the client's work and health history, are the following words:
I want to be restored to wholeness, and therefore I am ready to change my lifestyle.
Signature: I, _________________, agree to follow the plan.
The client must be willing to change his/her mindset and lifestyle. Here is what the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 3 about this:
"6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother living in idleness, and not after the tradition which they received from us. 7 For you know how you ought to imitate us. For we were not idle among you, 8 neither did we eat bread from anyone's hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you; 9 not because we don't have the right, but to make ourselves an example to you, that you should imitate us. 10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: 'If anyone is not willing to work, neither let him eat.' 11 For we hear of some who among you walk in idleness, who don't work at all, but are busybodies. 12 Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and earn their own living. 13 But you, brothers, don't be weary in doing good. 14 If any man doesn't obey our word in this letter, note that man, that you have no fellowship with him, to the end that he may be ashamed. 15 Don't count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother."
What did the Early Church Fathers have to say about the above Scripture passage? -
"Paul strongly emphasizes, in strict words of command, the importance of labor, especially manual labor, as an accompaniment to prayer and fasting. These religious acts must never substitute for hard work (Chrysostom, Augustine). Prayer without work is a pious pretext (Cyril of Alexandria). There is no inconsistency between trusting God to provide and engaging in hard work in order to support ourselves and not be a burden on others (Augustine, Caesarius of Arles). Faithful and hardworking members of the congregation must be careful to make a sharp separation between themselves and those brothers and sisters who are living in a disorderly way (John Cassian, Theodore). Paul holds himself up as "the form of a believer," expecting the Thessalonians to see in him how one ought to live (Chrysostom, Pelagius). In our pursuit of faithful discipleship we are to avoid the controversy that arises from idle questioning and curiosity (Basil). Christian brothers and sisters who depart from the discipline and charity required by faith are to be directly confronted (John Cassian). There is the very real danger that if we consort with erring brothers and sisters, we will be infected with their wrongdoing (Cyprian)." (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture [digital version], IVPress)
In the ancient Greco-Roman Empire it was common for the poor to attach themselves to a wealthy patron who would feed them, sometimes in exchange for being mistreated and made the butt of jokes, at other times in exchange for serving their patron. But there were some poor who would simply flatter their patrons, going from one patron's luxuriously spread table to another patron's table. This latter case was so embedded in the culture that it became the subject of ancient comedies and training in rhetoric: such people were called "parasites." In the above Scripture passage, St Paul warns against such behavior that would bring the Christian community into ridicule. St. John Chrysostom was trained by a rhetorician who used such stories, and Chrysostom adopted it in some of his writings.
CONTINUE READING in our Hosken-News Blog, and write your COMMENTS there!
The article 
Physician-Assisted Suicide Comes to New Jersey: Here’s Why It's Badly Misguided explains that New Jersey - the ninth jurisdiction in the U.S. to legalize "assisted suicide" (accomplice in the murder of incapacitated people) has unleashed a Pandora's box on its residents - and the poor, weak, and disabled will suffer the most.
The Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act was signed into law by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, after it narrowly cleared both chambers of the state Legislature. As of Aug. 1, 2019, terminally ill patients with a prognosis of six months or fewer will now be able to self-administer lethal concoctions of drugs in order to take their own lives.
Murphy claimed in a statement that this bill would "[provide] terminally ill patients and their families with the humanity, dignity, and respect that they so richly deserve at the most difficult times any of us will face." This could not be further from the truth. Physician-assisted suicide directly attacks human dignity; it is anything but compassionate. Death is neither a solution nor a treatment for human suffering. Once we accept suicide as therapeutic, who qualifies for treatment becomes a moving target.
When a country legalizes physician-assisted suicide, it is only a matter of time before the government expands who will receive suicide assistance instead of suicide prevention. In Canada, a hospital for sick children has unveiled a plan for how to terminate the lives of terminally ill kids, with or without parental consent. In Europe, many countries have even begun to practice euthanasia, i.e. the non-voluntary killing of patients.
That is why disability groups like Not Dead Yet are at the forefront of the movement pushing back against physician-assisted suicide. In fact, the organization describes physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia as "deadly forms of discrimination against old, ill, and disabled people." See also the video WESLEY J. SMITH TESTIFIES BEFORE TEXAS SENATE COMMITTEE ON MEDICAL COERCION LAW: "WORST IN THE U.S." Proponents of assisted suicide, euthanasia, and abortion are supreme hypocrites: if they would just practice on themselves what they preach, we wouldn't be having these foolish discussions. Of course, they don't intend it for themselves, only for those they consider deplorable.
KYIV COURT PUTS RENAMING OF UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE ON HOLD, our first news article, explains that the Kyiv court ruling against a law requiring the UOC(MP) to change its name from "Ukrainian" to "Russian" is not a permanent ruling, but instead just a temporary hold on the possible name change until the courts can decide on the merits of the case. If it decides in favor of the law, the name change will likely go through.
This is Pascha (Easter) weekend for Eastern Orthodox Christians, and Jewish Passover finishes this weekend. Our second article WHY RUSSIAN JEWS DREADED EASTER WEEKEND may be "old news" but it is ungortunately not "fake news." Kishinev is the capital city of Moldova today, but in 1903 it was a provincial capital in the Russian Empire. Antisemitism by people who call themselves Christians is still evident in Russia: a Moscow Baptist pastor once told me - "I'm not antisemitic, I just hate Jews!" He thought it strange that I rebuked him for what he considered to be a funny joke. And in Moscow this year - RUSSIA'S LARGEST YESHIVA ATTACKED WITH ARSON AND SWASTIKAS AHEAD OF PASSOVER.
The new president-elect of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish; also, Ukraine's prime minister is Jewish, which may make Ukraine the only country in the world outside of Israel to have Jews for both its head of state and head of government, per the New York Times article UKRAINE’S NEWLY ELECTED PRESIDENT IS JEWISH. SO IS ITS PRIME MINISTER. NOT ALL JEWS THERE ARE PLEASED. Many Jews in Ukraine fear a backlash against Jews there if the new president doesn't end the war, turn around the country's endemic corruption and its struggling economy.
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It appears that the Orthodox Christians in Poland support the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU): our third news article POLISH ORTHODOX CHURCH SUPPORTS UKRAINIAN AUTOCEPHALY indicates that the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church (PAOC) is backing autocephaly (autonomy) for the Ukrainian Orthodox. The PAOC is recognized as canonical and comes under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Prior to WWI these Orthodox Christians came under the Moscow Patriarchate but gained autocephaly after that war. During WWII they were again brought under the Moscow Patriarchate but are now again autocephalous - see THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF POLAND.
We join in mourning the terrible fire of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris during Holy Week: PATRIARCH KIRILL SENDS CONDOLENCES OVER THE FIRE AT NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL - our fourth news article. We must also be aware that EVERY DAY, TWO CHURCHES IN FRANCE ARE VANDALIZED - some by Muslims, some by native French secularists. France is the most secularized, de-Christianized country in western Europe.
PERSONAL NEWS UPDATE: Our son Rob had extensive surgery on his right shoulder on Saturday, 20 April. The operation took twice as long as expected due to the many small bone fragments that had to be put together, and he must keep his arm in a sling-brace for at least 12 days. ANOTHER PRAYER REQUEST: my wife Cheryl is scheduled to have her left knee replaced on 14 May. Please pray!
Our fifth news article HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT PLEDGES 9 MILLION FORINTS TO SRI LANKAN SURVIVORS tells of a relatively small but significant donation to the survivors of the recent mass-murders of Christians by Muslim extremists in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. As it states, "on average, 345 Christians are killed every month throughout the world." May this stimulate all of us to pray for and donate to these hurting Christians!
And POPE'S SWING TO MACEDONIA AND BULGARIA COULD PACK A SURPRISING PUNCH - our last news article - explains how these visits fit in with the Vatican's strategy of recovering the Roman Church's real estate that was either confiscated by communist governments or taken over by the Orthodox Churches in those countries. If churches would only be concerned about people's spiritual and material needs, rather than building up vast real estate holdings, the Body of Christ would be growing and flourishing instead of floundering and shrinking!
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The Scandalous Women Around Jesus
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
The genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew ch. 1 mentions five women, all unlikely heroines: Tamar (v. 3), Rahab (v. 5), Ruth (v. 5), Bathsheba (v. 6), and Mary (v. 16): what's their claim to fame? In Genesis 38:6-26 we read the sordid story of Tamar playing the prostitute and entrapping her father-in-law Judah. In Joshua ch. 2 we read how Rahab the harlot protected the two Israelites who were spying out Jericho. In the book of Ruth, ch. 3, it tells how Ruth dressed up fancy, put on perfume and crawled under the blanket with Boaz to induce him to marry her.
Did these women have some sort of premonition or revelation that the Lord's promise to Abraham to bless all mankind would be fulfilled through the line of Judah? This was a belief of ancient Syrian Christians - see Treasure-house of Mysteries, pp. 90-104. In 2 Samuel ch. 11 we read how King David got Bathsheba pregnant, then conspired to murder her husband Uriah the Hittite. And of course, the Virgin Mary's predicament is described in Matthew 1:18-21 and Luke 1:26-38. The Scribes and Pharisees didn't buy the story of the virgin birth: referring snidely to His parentage, "They said to Him, 'We were not born of fornication. We have one Father, God'" (John 8:41), thus impugning Mary's chastity and accusing Him of being an illegitimate child.
Just think of it! How scandalous this must have seemed to people of the first century! A new religious leader appears on the scene and His followers brag about His ancestry that includes several quite violent men and some rather risque women! What's going on here, anyway? What do we notice about all these ancestresses of Jesus? Judah's son Er "was wicked in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord killed him" and Judah's daughter-in-law Tamar was a pagan. After Moses formed the Israelite nation through the Exodus from Egypt, one of Judah's descendants married the pagan Rahab, a former prostitute. Ruth, who became King David's grandmother, was a pagan from Moab. Uriah the Hittite, a pagan, was the former husband of Bathsheba who thus was almost certainly a pagan. So the Virgin Mary had four foreign, pagan women of questionable repute as her ancestresses, and thus also did Jesus Christ! Why does the Gospel writer Matthew make a point of mentioning precisely these women in Christ's genealogy? Let's listen to King David's final words to his son Solomon -
"I am going the way of all the earth: therefore be strong, and show yourself a man; and keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself. That the Lord may establish His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, If your children take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you, He said, a man on the throne of Israel" (1 Kings 2:2-4).
So God's covenant promise to David and his son was conditional: "If" Solomon and his descendants would keep Yahweh's statutes and commandments, including not taking pagan wives and worshipping pagan gods, they would continue to reign over the Twelve Tribes of Israel forever. But what happened almost immediately?
"Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. However the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was not yet a house built for the name of the Lord. Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father: except that he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places" (1 Kings 3:1-3).
This is exactly what Yahweh through David had told Solomon not to do! Diplomatic alliances by marrying daughters of foreign rulers was forbidden, as also was worshipping on the "high places" - pagan sex-cult worship in sacred groves on hilltops. Even though Solomon pulled off some fantastic construction projects - the Temple, his own house, a house for his Egyptian wife, as well as many other cities and fortifications - he wasn't faithful to the spirit of the Lord's commands concerning worship. Here is Solomon's prayer dedicating the Temple -
"Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for Your name's sake (for they shall hear of Your great name, and of Your mighty hand, and of Your outstretched arm); when he shall come and pray toward this house; hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to You for; that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, to fear You, as does Your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name" (1 Kings 8:41-43).
So the Temple was to be a place that welcomed foreigners to adopt the worship of Yahweh, the one true God. But what actually happened was just the opposite: Solomon welcomed foreigners but he adopted their pagan worship -
"Now king Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites; of the nations concerning which the Lord said to the people of Israel, You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you; for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon joined to these in love. He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and didn't go fully after the Lord, as did David his father. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. So he did for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods" (1 Kings 11:1-8).
Notice his marrying women from the Moabites and the Hittites: remember Ruth and Bathsheba? Notice also the pagan gods and goddesses Ashtoreth, Milcom, and Molech: these involved sex-cult practices and infant sacrifices of the "unintended consequences" of temple prostitution. Today young people often ask - "What's so wrong with polygamy or serial divorces and remarriages?" Don't you see what happens in the above Scriptures? Pagan polytheism is closely linked with polygamy, abortion and infanticide; just as monotheism is closely linked with monogamy, lifelong faithfulness and the sanctity of human life. What we worship or set up as our ideals is how we will behave.
Then Solomon's son Rehoboam followed in his father's footsteps and even worse, causing the ten northern tribes to rebel against him - "Judah did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they also built themselves high places, and pillars [phallic symbols], and Asherim [idols of a fertility goddess], on every high hill, and under every green tree; and there were also sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord drove out before the people of Israel" (1 Kings 14:22-24).
The prophet Ezekiel wrote - "Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations; and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite" (Ezekiel 16:1-3). Then he goes on to describe how Yahweh had adopted Israel from among the pagan nations and made His covenant with them as a groom with his bride. But they were unfaithful to Him - "You are the daughter of your mother, who loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters" (verses 45-46).
How does this relate to our title, "The Scandalous Women Around Jesus"? Remember the woman who annointed His feet - "Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table" (Matthew 26:6-7). Mark 14:3-4 also places this event at the end of Christ's ministry, at the start of Holy Week. But Luke 7:36-40 places it toward the beginning of Christ's ministry and identifies Simon as a Pharisee, not a leper (although this Simon could be both!) -
"One of the Pharisees invited Him [Jesus] to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee's house, and sat at the table. Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that He was reclining in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of ointment. Standing behind at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw it, he said to himself, 'This man, if He were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.' Jesus answered him, 'Simon, I have something to tell you.' He said, 'Teacher, say on.'"
Now here's a special twist to this tale: the Evangelist John places this event at the start of Holy Week and identifies this woman as Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus! - "It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick" (John 11:2). The story continues - "Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom He raised from the dead. So they made Him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. Mary, therefore, took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment" (John 12:1-3).
Bible scholars can't quite figure this out: many refuse to think these Gospel stories are all one and the same event, but Matthew and Luke both identify the man as "Simon" at whose house it took place. Was he a leper, or a Pharisee, or both? Did it take place at the beginning of Christ's ministry, or at the end? Was Simon the father of Lazarus, Mary and Martha? Was this "sinful woman" Mary Magdalene, as some Bible scholars think? "Magdalene" probably means "from Magdala" - a region of Israel rather distant from Bethany. We simply don't know, and it's not worth arguing and fighting over. These things are not the point. So what's the point?
The point is that Jesus is Yahweh in the flesh, God incarnate, Who became one of us: "For we have a high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus identifies as one of us. He is our Intercessor between us sinners and the Father. He hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors, collaborators with the enemy Roman occupiers - "Jesus said to them [the Pharisees], 'Most assuredly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into the Kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn't believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn't even repent afterward, that you might believe him" (Matthew 21:31b-32).
Jesus welcomed the serial-divorcee Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:4-30) into the Kingdom of Heaven, even though He knew everything she ever did (v. 29). The Pharisees brought to Him another woman caught in adultery, in the very act (John 8:3-11). To her accusers He said - "He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone" and they all went away silently: we all have closets in our past that we'd rather not open up. Then He did not condemn the woman; instead, He told her - "Go your way, and sin no more!" (v. 11).
Instead of assimilating the pagan foreigners into the Temple worship of Yahweh, Solomon let himself and Israel be assimilated into the perverse idolatry and immorality of the surrounding pagan nations. But Christ reversed the curse! He welcomes all nations into His Kingdom - the Church, He took upon Himself the sins of us all, He conquered sin and death, and He tells us - "Go, and sin no more!" It's Resurrection Sunday: Come As You Are! (But don't remain as you were.)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!
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Bob & Cheryl
p.s. Status: Spending money you don't have, to buy things you don't need, to impress people you don't like.
- 27 Apr. 2019