Put your tassels on.

We asked the students last this question: what do tassels have to do with Jesus. I'll say this-we got some creative answers. One group of girls even came pretty close to the "right" answer. So what do tassels have to do with Jesus?

Check out this series of connections in the Bible:

• Numbers 15: 37-41 God tells Moses to have the Israelites attach tassels to edge of their garments to remember to live by His commands.
• Malachi 4:2 A prophecy is made about the healing power of Jesus, specifically the healing in His wings.
• Luke 8:43-48 A woman touches the edge of Jesus' cloak and is healed.

Now if you are reading out of an English translation (which I'm sure everyone is) you probably won't see the connections. However, if you looked at the Hebrew and Greek you definitely would!

You see, the Hebrew word used for tassels was Kanaaf. This was also the Hebrew word used for wings. Check out Numbers and Malachi again. In Numbers, God tells Moses to put Kanaaf on the edge of his cloak; in Malachi it is prophesied that Jesus will have healing power in His Kanaaf. Then in Luke Jesus does have healing power in His Kanaaf. How do we know? Check out where the woman touched Jesus-the edge of His cloak. Where did God tell Moses the Kanaaf were to be placed? Oh, that's right-the edge of the cloak. Crazy connections indeed.

Check out the next thing though:

• Luke 8:48 Jesus tells the woman to go in peace.

This is crazy significant! That is, if we are defining peace the way it was intended to be defined. Every dictionary out there defines peace as the absense of conflict or a state of relaxation (this isn't verbatem, but whatever).

Rob Bell defines peace a bit differently though in his book Velvet Elvis. Now, this doesn't make it the right definition necessarily, but it does put Jesus' statement of "Go in peace." in a whole new light.

After reading his book this is how I'm going to sum up peace from now on:
Rather than the absense of something or a state or relaxation I'm going to define peace as the presense and goodness of God, living the way God made me to live, and the relentless pursuit of Christ. It puts "Go in peace." a whole new way for me.

Rather than Jesus saying to this woman, "Go and do not be in conflict with others." I feel like He was saying "Go, and live the way that God commands of you."

Remember what those tassels were to remind people of? They were meant to remind you to live the way that God commands. (Numbers 15) How's that? Knowing the presense of God, living the way He made you to be, and relentlessly pursuing Him.

Maybe Jesus was looking at that woman and telling her, "Put your tassels on."

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Truth

John 14:6-I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life...

This Sunday we took a look at what it means for Christ to be the truth. With that, you have to ask yourself what truth really is. I shared with the students that when I get a sense of awe, I see truth.
For instance, when I see a huge purple harvest moon, the love of a couple reciting their vows, a new life coming into the world-yea,
those things put me in a sense of awe. Those things show me truth. Those things show me Jesus.
These feelings really help me know that there is something bigger out there, something that holds this whole world together. I know that God is there when I'm in awe.
Kavod is Hebrew for the 'weight or significance of God'. Rob Bell puts it this way: God is heavy; so heavy, in fact, that we cannot take Him anywhere. Bell argues that God is already there. I agree. As Christians, we often feel that it is our job to take God to people who don't know Him yet. This Sunday I challenged the students to change their way of thinking on that. Rather than trying to take God (remember-He's heavy), we need to be showing people that God is already there. How do we do it? Show them truth! Help them to get that sense of awe that shows you without a shadow of a doubt that there is something bigger out there holding it all together!
As Christians we need to be looking for God everywhere. It's our job to recognize God where others cannot seem to see Him. Genesis 28:10-17 and Exodus 3 are great example of this. Check it out.
In order to do this, I told the students they have got to get uncomfortable and go places where it is hard to see God. Once they are there, they have to point out truth. They have to point out Jesus. If you check out the pictures along the side of this post you'll see some ways that the students can get involved in our community. They can literally go to these places and point out truth to people who are there. They can go and show people Jesus!
We've already had 10 students sign up to go to these missions to give people a taste of John 14:6. We're challenging all of them to do it though. Will you go to these places? Will you go to other places and help people to see truth, to see Jesus? I hope you will.

I cannot take God anywhere. He's already there. It's time to show people that.
Where do you see truth? Where do you see Jesus. Tell someone.
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Which came first-the chicken, or the yoke?

The chicken came first. Without the chicken, there is no yoke. Oh, and the chicken is a Rabbi. Are you following?

Here are a couple things to know:

• The Bible is difficult-read Joshua 6, Ephesians 5, and loads of other passages. After you've read them, actually think about them. Innocent people dying? God telling people to kill? The roles of a husband and a wife in a marriage? Yea, the Bible is difficult. Not to mention that many people take the Bible out of context to prove their point. Did I mention that it is rather easy to take the Bible out of context? Think about the cults, crazy extremist religious groups, and racially motivated criminals that have used the Bible to "prove" their point. Yup, the Bible is difficult.
• A Rabbi's job was to study the Torah, meditate over it's words, and pray to God that He would give him the guidance and meaning of what he was reading. He was then to take this to his people and teach them. Remember, there was no printing press when Jesus was around. Not a lot of people had printed copies of scripture. (Shame-I have probably 20 Bibles in my office right now. Want one? Let me know). What a Rabbi interpreted from God's word was called his yoke. If you felt what a Rabbi had to say was right on, you'd follow him. If not, you'd follow another guy. I guess you could follow no-one though. Think they were called agnostics back then?
  
• If you failed at following the yoke of your Rabbi, he would tell you that you had abolished the Torah. If you succeeded he would tell you that you had fulfilled the Torah. Now remember, it isn't the Rabbi's words you are following. It is God's words that you are following. They just happen to be coming to you through the Rabbi who has interpreted them in a certain way. (Is it the right way though?)
  
• Jesus was a Rabbi. He was one of those new guys with a new yoke. New yokes were taken with a bit of skepticism at that time. Much like new churches can be today. Jesus had some pretty persuasive words about his yoke though. Check out Matthew 11:30. I'd be tempted to listen if someone told me it was easy! Anyhow, to be a Rabbi that was taken seriously, two other Rabbi's had to lay their hands on you. Jesus had hands laid on him by John the Baptist and who was that other guy? Oh yea, it was God's voice booming from heaven. Sweet. (Matthew 3: 13-17). Jesus was "accredited" if you will.
  
• Here is where it gets really interesting. Remember how I said that Rabbi's would tell their followers the abolished the Torah and fulfilled the Torah thing? Well, Jesus wanted to make sure that people didn't think He was on earth just to mess things up. So, he used their cultural language at the time and said something pretty comforting. Check it out: Matthew 5:17. It gets better though. Rabbi's also would tell their followers (the ones that had a really good grasp on living the way God desired) that they were allowed to bind and loose. (Look those words up for their Biblical context). In other words, they were allowed to try to decipher what scripture meant; specifically, what it meant to them. When a Rabbi thought that one of his followers was ready for this, he would tell them that they had the keys to the kingdom. Now, check out what Rabbi Jesus says in Matthew 16:19 or 18:18. He is giving His followers the authority to interpret scripture. He was giving them the authority to figure out what scripture meant to them! I'm one of those followers. I get to read God's words and try to figure them out.
  
• Here is where it gets hard. Never did Jesus tell us that what we interpret is right. When we read God's word we have to be willing to know that we can be wrong with what we think about it. It's called humility. We also have to constantly be seeking truth. What does it mean for me to love my wife the way Christ loves the church? (Ephesians 5) What was God's purpose in destroying the city of Jericho? (Joshua 6) Was Esther forced to sleep with the king in order save God's followers? Because that seems backwards. (Esther) Remember, the Bible is difficult. If we are going to seek the truth from it though, we must be reading it. We must be meditating over it. We must be asking God for it's meaning to us right here and right now.
  

People have gotten the Bible wrong. I've gotten the Bible wrong. I wish it wasn't that way, but it is. But I take hope in the fact that Jesus has given us the keys to the kingdom of Heaven. I'm following Christ's Yoke. The Bible is difficult. But if I'm going to follow God, I have to read it. If I'm going to follow God, I have to try and figure it out. If I'm going to follow God, I have to be willing to admit that I'm wrong. If I'm going to follow God, I have to earnestly pray that He'll help me interpret it in the way it was meant.

Are you really following the yoke of Christ? Are you really desiring the God show you truth in His word? Can you really say that Jesus has given you the keys to the kingdom of Heaven?

If you like what's in here-check out Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. It'll make you think even more than this did.