Character in Context

Episode 14: The Seven Woes Part 3: Sons of Hell

Why weren't the Pharisees entering into the Kingdom of Heaven, and how were they shutting out others? Of all the woes, this charge was the most surprising. And how were they making their converts into "sons of hell"? We're going to look at a few possibilities for what Yeshua/Jesus was talking about with that accusation and explore some more of the world of the first century Jews and particularly the Pharisees.

Episode 13: Pharisees and Sadducees and Scribes, OH MY!

I apologize in advance because I stuffed this broadcast with so much historical data from Josephus, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Bible and the Talmud that you might end up feeling like you get hit by a Mack truck by the end. And the amount of stuff I left out is staggering, but we will cover a lot of the rest of it as we continue on next week with our journey through the "woes" of Matthew 23.

My shorter kid-friendly version in video form is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqe8VBEqLts

Episode 12: The Seven Woes Part 2--Moses's Seat, Long Tassels, and Social Status

Hopefully you caught last week's episode on polemic in the ancient world and if you didn't go back and listen because it will be important to understanding this teaching. I will only barely review that material here. This week I am going to tip some popular sacred cows within the Hebrew Roots movement as to the identification of Moses's seat, whether or not Yeshua/Jesus was wearing a tallit, and if Rabbis existed then as we know them today. And most importantly, was Yeshua really outlawing titles or was there something else going on in the first century? You have to listen in order to find out.

My shorter kid-friendly video version is here https://youtu.be/k_-vrLYQiT4

Episode 11: The Seven Woes Part 1: Polemic in the Ancient World

You won't want to miss this episode! This is the beginning of a teaching series on one of the most uncomfortable sections of the Gospels--the seven woes of Matthew 23. Uncomfortable because we either like to box in Yeshua/Jesus as entirely meek and gentle or, conversely, because some people use this one section of Scripture--which served a unique cultural function that is no longer appreciated--as an excuse to behave boorishly toward anyone who disagrees. But polemic was well understood in the Hellenistic world and was widely used in verbal battles not only between Jews and Gentiles, but between Jews and Jews! We're going to look at examples from Gentile philosophers, as well as Jewish writers like Josephus, Philo, and the authors of the Qumran scrolls (commonly known as the Dead Sea Scrolls). How did Yeshua's polemic measure up to the standards of the day? Let's take a look.

Episode 10: Unplanned and Precious: Our Adoption Story

I oftentimes wish we didn't have such an amazing testimony, but this is the story closest to my heart. What would eighteen-year-old Stephanie, pregnant with twins from a forced sexual encounter with a former boyfriend, decide to do when she encountered God on the ultrasound table? Would she give her life to Him? Would she keep her abortion appointment? 

But it's also my story. What did I decide to do when our dream match of twins went horribly wrong with a devastating special needs diagnosis and when we found out that the jailed birthfather would be legally contesting the adoption? Would we back out, or stay the course?

And most importantly, what did God do?

Episode 9: Image-bearing--How are we made in God's image and why? And what does it have to do with Messiah's mission?

People often ask me--"Why did Yeshua/Jesus have to die?" It's a really good question and the pat answers don't do a lot to answer it for us. It's one thing to know He died to set the whole world free from the powers of sin and death and quite another thing to understand why it had to happen that way. How did idolatry, the subversion of worship through a focus on the images of false gods, lead to the need for the One whom Paul referred to as "the image of the unseen God" (Col 1:15)

Episode 8: The Parable of the Four Soils?

The Parable of the Four Soils? What the heck? Didn't Yeshua/Jesus Himself call it the Parable of the Sower? Why are you renaming the parable? Are you some kind of heretic? 

Nope, just wanting to teach it from the perspective of the soil, namely the soil of our own minds and hearts. I will also be doing a teaching on the "rules of the parable" in ancient Judaism based on a very good book that I have been reading.

Episode 7: Eunuchs in the Kingdom--What Messiah had to say about divorce and being single

Why did Yeshua, for all intents and purposes, call divorced and remarried Pharisees serial adulterers? Why on earth did Yeshua/Jesus teach about eunuchs after denouncing the Hillelite ruling on divorce? Maybe a better question is--would He approve of our tendencies to treat single believers like they are second class citizens, or diseased and in need of a cure? Hold on to your hats, this one will get a bit controversial as we look into the marriage controversies during the first-century.

Here's the link to that article I talked about: https://foreverymom.com/marriage/enough-enough-church-stop-enabling-abusive-men-gary-thomas/

Episode 6: The Ancient Community Mindset: Why Bible People Confuse Us

Ever wonder why, when Joseph came up with the idea of storing extra grain, Pharaoh didn't just say, "Yeah, no duh, you idiot. Go back to your cell."?

Understanding the ancient dyadic mindset was a game changer for me when it all kinda clicked about four years ago. So many crazy, awful things that people did in the Bible--things that make zero sense to modern scientifically influenced individualists--suddenly became clear, even when I totally disagreed with them. This is a fun sort of thing to explore, and very challenging--especially for those who think that women are/were oppressed by the Bible. Our perspective is 180 degrees off and we tend to make some invalid judgments. 

Episode 5: The Slave's Death--The Cost of our Freedom

Have we forgotten His tangible and costly act of love in all our focus on the Torah?

The Passover week is upon us, and in all of our celebrations of the Exodus from Egypt, sometimes we forget the greater Exodus enacted on behalf of the world at the Cross of Messiah/Christ. In the Bible, Yeshua/Jesus tells His disciples over and over again about being a slave to all, being a servant, about the servant of all being the greatest. That kind of language can sneak by us when we are not aware of how crucifixion was regarded in the Roman Empire. What does servitutis extremum summumque supplicium mean, and how does it relate to I Cor 1:21-25?