Shepherd's Cross Christian Helps Ministry
(1 Corinthians 12:28)

Following in the footsteps of the Acts of the Apostles, written by St. Luke, Shepherd's Cross Christian Helps Ministry exists by the grace of God to further the first century Apostolic tradition serving in the Great Commission.

Who Was Responsible For The Death Of Christ

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"Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him,

"'I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.'

"Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

"'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.'

Let all the house of Israel therefore knows for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."

Let us return to the beginning.

Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell. And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession and to his descendants after him. But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years. ‘And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will judge,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’ Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.

“And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and his entire house. Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers. And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

“But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt till another king arose who did not know Joseph. This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live. At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months. But when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.

“Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.

“And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look. ‘Then the LORD said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.” This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

“This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel,’ The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’ “This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets:

‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch,
And the star of your god Remphan,
Images which you made to worship;
And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

“Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built Him a house.

“However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:

‘ Heaven is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the LORD,
Or what is the place of My rest?
Has My hand not made all these things?’

“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”

When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

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Matthew 26:36 - 28:15
Mark 14:32 – 15:47
Luke 22:40 – 23:56
John 18:1 – 19:42

Betrayal and Arrest in Gethsemane

Now His betrayer had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him and lead Him away safely.”

Then Judas, one of the twelve, having received detachment of troops, and officers, a great multitude from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons with swords and clubs

When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for
Jesus often met there with His disciples. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?”
They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

Jesus said to them, “I am He.” And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. Now when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

Then He asked them again, “Whom are you seeking?”

And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way,” that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, “Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none.”

And he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him.

Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, “Rabbi, Rabbi!”!” and kissed Him.

But Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?” But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?”

And suddenly Simon Peter, who stood by Jesus having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

But Jesus answered and said, “Permit even this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.

So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. for all who take the sword will perish by the sword Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”

Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?”

In that hour Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple and the elders to the multitudes who had come to Him “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”

Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him.

Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked. Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.

Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest’s house. Now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him. And having blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face and asked Him, saying, and “Prophesy! Who is the one who struck You?” And many other things they blasphemously spoke against Him.

Jesus Faces the Sanhedrin

Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews who had laid hold of Jesus arrested Jesus and bound Him. They led Jesus away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was high priest that year.

The high priest then asked Jesus about His disciples and His doctrine.

Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said.”

And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, “Do You answer the high priest like that?”

Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?”

Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. and with him were assembled all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes.

As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together and led Him into their council, saying, “If You are the Christ, tell us.”

Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimonies did not agree.

Then some rose up at last two false witnesses came forward and bore false witness against Him saying,

1) “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’”

2) We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.’”

But not even then did their testimony agree.

And the high priest arose standing the midst and asked Jesus, saying “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?”

But Jesus kept silent and answered nothing.

And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!” “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”

Jesus said to him, “If I tell you, you will by no means believe. And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go.

Jesus said, “I am. It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Then they all said, “Are You then the Son of God?”

So He said to them, “You rightly say that I am.”

Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses testimony? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! We have heard it ourselves from His own mouth. What do you think?”

They answered and said, “He is deserving of death.” And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.

Then some began to spit on Him in His face and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, and to say to Him, “Prophesy!” to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?” And the officers struck Him with the palms of their hands.

Jesus Handed Over to Pontius Pilate

Immediately, early in the morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death.

The chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council; and when they had bound Jesus, then the whole multitude of them arose they led Jesus from away Caiaphas and delivered Him to the Praetorium, to Pontius Pilate the governor.

But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out to them and said,

“What accusation do you bring against this Man?”

They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.”

Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.”

Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die.

Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus. Now Jesus stood before the governor. And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding paying taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”

And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.

Pilate asked Him again, saying, “Do You answer nothing?

Then Pilate said to Him, “See how many things they testify against You!” Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?”
But Jesus still answered nothing, not one word, so that Pilate the governor marveled greatly.

And Then Pilate the governor asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?”

Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”

Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?”

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”

Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.

But they were the fiercer, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, and beginning from Galilee to this place.” When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the Man were a Galilean. And as soon as he knew that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

Jesus Faces Herod

Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad; for he had desired for a long time to see Him, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. Then he questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing. And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him. Then Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate. That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other.

Taking the Place of Barabbas

You have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover.

Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished.) Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them.

While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.”

Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, said to them, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him. I will therefore chastise Him and release Him”

Pilate said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ, the King of the Jews?” For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes stirring them up that they should rather ask for the release of Barabbas to them and destroy Jesus.

And they all cried out at once, saying, “Not this Man, Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas”— who was chained with his fellow rebels, a notorious prisoner who had been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in the city, for murder and was a robber.

Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called out to them.
“What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?”

They all shouted, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”

Then the governor said, the third time, “Why, what evil has He done? I have found no reason for death in Him. I will therefore chastise Him and let Him go.”

But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!”

So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.

Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.”

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus leading Him away into the hall called Praetorium. Then the soldiers, they called together the whole garrison and gathered the whole garrison around Jesus.

And they stripped Him and they clothed Him putting on Him a scarlet purple robe on Him.

When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand.

And they bowed the knee before Him, mocked Him, and began to salute Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him. And they struck Him with their hands. And when they had mocked Him; they took the purple robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him

Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour.

Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.
Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!” And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying,
“Crucify Him, crucify Him!”

Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”

The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.”

Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.

Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that have power to crucify You, and power to release You?”

Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.”

When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.

But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.”

And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”

And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, he released to them the one they requested Barabbas; who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison; and when he had scourged Jesus, he gave sentence that it should be as they requested.

Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.” Then he delivered to them Jesus to their will to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away.

The King on a Cross

And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!’ Then they will begin ‘to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” ‘For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?”
Now as they came out, they found a man Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by and compelled him to bear His cross and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.

And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.

Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him

Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was:
JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

And the inscription of His accusation was written above was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.

Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’”

Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, and when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left so the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with the transgressors.”

And the people stood looking on and those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, even the rulers with them sneered, saying,” He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross that we may see and believe.” He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.

Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among themselves,

“Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture which was spoken by the prophet: might be fulfilled which says:

“They divided My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.”

Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there.

The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.”

Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”

But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

Now when the sixth hour had come, Then the sun was darkened, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!”

Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, “Look, He is calling for Elijah!”

The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him;” “let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down.”

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!”

Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on hyssop, put it on a reed, offered it to Him to drink and put it to His mouth.

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit..
And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” Having said this and yielded up His spirit and breathed His last.

Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, and saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, they feared greatly, the centurion glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!” “Truly this Man was the Son of God!”

And the whole crowd who came together to that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned

But all His acquaintances and there were also many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, stood at a distance, watching these things. Among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons, Salome and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.

Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”

Jesus Buried in Joseph’s Tomb

Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath

Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, a good and just man, being a disciple of Jesus, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God. He had not consented to their decision and deed. He was a rich man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews.

Coming and taking courage, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, went in to Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. So when he found out from the centurion, then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him giving him permission.

Then he bought fine linen, took Him down. When Joseph had taken the body of Jesus,, he wrapped it and bound it in a clean linen cloth, in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.

Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one
had yet been laid. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.

That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. So there they laid Jesus, for the tomb was nearby and departed.

And the women, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses, who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.
And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.

Pilate Sets a Guard

On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”

Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

III

At the Beginning

When one gazes upon past events through the prism of time gone by; when one pauses upon the historical subject Holocaust as it pertains to the Jewish people, the English word Holocaust, conjures up the images of Adolph Hitler, extermination camps like Belzec, Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka, and Auschwitz-Birkenau. And Concentration Camps (in German Konzentrationslager, or KZ) like Buchenwald, Dachau, as well as World War II European Theater of Operations.

Yet, when I think of the English word holocaust, as it pertains to the Jewish people, my timetable reverts back to the prophetic book of Micah, chapter five and verse two. “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrata, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

I think of an event that took placed there in Bethlehem Ephrata, around the time of the first two Christmas morns. I think of an experience of how Herod the Great (73 B.C. - 4 B.C.), King of Judea, knowingly sent out orders to find exclusively in Bethlehem, Jewish families that had male children born within the family composition which were his subjects mind you and have soldiers by regal command order to ferret out with precision and accuracy any Jewish male child, two years old with vengeance only matched by Satan himself.

And once locating the male child like a powerful merciless tsunami crushing anything and everything in its wake leaving naught except death and destructive devastation with swift driving force the innocent one’s life blood drained from their motionless corpse. And with the death of there citizens of the land of milk and honey, a messianic prophecy is thus fulfilled; “Thus says the LORD:"A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more." (Jeremiah 31:15)

… knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1:18-21) These Jewish innocent’s blood, as Abel’s blood, cries out from the soil of the Promised Land. (Matthew 23:25)

As the New Testament text is studied it will fall into place that Pharisees, Sadducees, Priests, and Scribes, like Herod, where purposely aware of the position Jesus of Nazareth maintained about Himself and maintained about the Kingdom of God and with willful and deliberate malice forethought chose to reject the truth and accept in the place of truth Satan’s lie.

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." (Romans 1:16)

Matthew 2

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
‘ But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”

Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”

When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.”

Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.” Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.

But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

IV

Thirty Years Later

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness (Luke 3:1-3) and thus John the Baptist, a relative of Jesus of Nazareth, wearing his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat being locusts and wild honey, appeared preaching and baptizing the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins in the wilderness ofJudea, in Bethabara, upon the muddy banks of the river Jordan.

Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and the entire region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

Right from the launch of the appearance of John the Baptist ministry’s, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, in Bethabara as he was baptizing upon the muddy banks of the river Jordan, the Pharisees sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to scrutinize his announcement: “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

There cometh one after me whose mightier than I, it is He who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But he that cometh, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:”

And think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to rise up children unto Abraham.

And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

These sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem asked him; “Who you are, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” Are you Elijah?” “Are you the Prophet?” “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

Now this is the testimony of John, “I am not the Christ, Elijah, the Prophet”. “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness Make straight the way of the LORD, as the prophet Isaiah said.” I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But he that cometh, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:”

The key prophetic Messianic passages written within the Hebrew Scriptures that personally pertain to the Baptist, John are as follows:.

“Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:1)

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
And he will turn

The hearts of the fathers to the children,
And the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5-6)

And the LORD said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. (Deuteronomy 18:17-19)

The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

“ Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;
The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3-5)

V

The First Cleanings Of The Temple

The first composed testimony recorded within the New Testament Scriptures to document the earliest disputed altercation between the Son of David and the Jewish religious leaders transpired around the following circumstance.

Another Passover of the Jews was at hand and Jesus, beginning his earthly ministry, being around thirty years of age, went up to Jerusalem. (Deuteronomy 16:1-6)

This Passover took place ensuing the beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee.

Jesus, along with his mother and his disciples were invited to a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. In response to the request from Mary, the mother of our Lord, Jesus performed his first miracle manifesting His glory; with His disciples believing in Him.

“Now there were set there six water pots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” (John 2:6-10)

Now at present, Jesus was in Jerusalem and He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”

So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”

Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”

But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. (John 2:13-21)

Three years later, this statement “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” spoken here, before all present, on the temple grounds at the beginning of His earthly preaching ministry, by Jesus the Messiah, would be later used by false witnesses provided for by unbelieving Jewish religious leaders, with the intent to provide falsified testimony, in order to convict Jesus of Nazareth as He would later stand before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council, accused. When the time came to present these false witnesses, they proved unreliable, for their stories would not be able to be agreed upon, however.

Following the Son of David’s triumphant entrance into Jerusalem fulfilling a messianic prophecy; “Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey ,”(Zechariah 9:9); a second temple cleansing would take place by Jesus of Nazareth. (Matthew 21:12-16; Mark 11:15-18; Luke 19:45-48)

The conditions of the temple area, as Jesus found them, at the time of the beginning of his ministry, three years prior, when he first drove out those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business had not changed. Having heard the words of Jesus three years earlier and continuing the status quo as before, would provide evidence for the fact that the Jewish Leadership, being corrupt, (making the temple a house of merchandise); did not believe, by taking seriously, the earlier exhortation of Jesus; “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” Nor did the Jewish Leadership believe that Jesus was God’s Son, making Him equal with God, that He was the promised Messiah and that being thus, He had a right to cleanse the temple motivated by what the messianic scriptures stated, “For zeal for your house has consumed me”… (Psalm 69:9)

Now when He was in Jerusalem for the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. (John 2:23-25)

VI

Pharisees Acknowledge Jesus As Coming From God

Nicodemus, a ruler and teacher of the Jews substantiate to Jesus at night that the Pharisees acknowledged that Jesus was from God by stating. “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2)

After the Pharisees recognized that Jesus was truly sent from God, because they realized that He would not be able to do the works that He did, except God be with Him, the miraculous works continued throughout Capernaum in Galilee.

Now the reputation of Jesus of Nazareth continued regarding Him in Nazareth more than ever by His returned presence back where as a child He had been raised by his family.

And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:16-19)

The section of Holy Scriptures Jesus opened up with was found at the passage of the Prophet Isaiah 61:1-2a. Having the eyes of all in the synagogue fixed on him, Jesus made known, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

And then from within the assembly resistance to the truth emergences with the statement … and they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

How did Jesus respond to this doubting …?

And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away. (Luke 4:14-30)

It comes into view as one pays close attention to the content found within the New Testament three Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke and the Gospel according to John that the first two initial conflicts between Jesus of Nazareth and the Jewish population took place first at the temple area during a Passover feast and secondly within the Nazareth synagogue where the Hebrew Scriptures, God’s divinely breathed word was to be taught to the ecclesia rightly divided. Both are major places of significance for the Jewish faithful. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:11)

Now, ever since Jesus, being twelve years old and being accompanied with His parents went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the Feast of the Passover was discovered missing from within their company. Three days later, the child Jesus was found in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. His mother when finding Him she said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, your father and I have sought You anxiously.”

And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”

Jesus was fully aware of whom His true Father is and that He is truly God the Son. Thus, with Jesus first two appearances presenting Himself in the role of Messiah, He let it be known to the Jewish populace “And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts (Malachi 3:1); .has now in fact arrived on the public scène. “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5)

VII

Matthew 9:1-8
Mark 2:1-12
Luke 5:17-26

So Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." (John 4:48)

When John the Baptist first became visible on the landscape of Israel’s wilderness and region along the bank of the River Jordan, the Pharisees sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to speak to him. (John 1:19-24).

Now Pharisees and teachers of the law had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem, to hear Jesus.

By reading the contents written within a harmony of the New Testament Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Pharisees and teachers of the law supposed no dispute with Jesus’s teaching content as He preached to those present within the house in Capernaum. The dispute approached just after Jesus witnesses the faith of four men letting down through the tiling of the roof of the house, where He was in, a bed on which a paralyzed man was lying and placing him down into the midst before Jesus.

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” (Matthew 9:2)

And at once some of the scribes were sitting there and the Pharisees began to reasoning in their hearts saying within them

“Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?

“Who is this who speaks blasphemies?

“This Man blasphemes!”

“Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

The scribes, Pharisees and the teachers of the law’s dispute with Jesus of Nazareth was that in their respect, Jesus of Nazareth, was simply a human being, and son of Joseph and Mary of Nazareth, positioned Himself in the status of God, placing Himself on equal footing of God by doing tasks what God alone reserved to Him alone to execute.

First Commandment: And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods before Me.(Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:6-7)

Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:” I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. (Isaiah 44:6-7)

Jesus answered and said to them “Why do you reason thinking evil about these things in your hearts? (Luke 5:22)

The evil, being thought by the Pharisees and teachers of the law, was seeded within the soil of hearts of unbelief. This dispute amongst the Pharisees and teachers of the law with Jesus of Nazareth would incorporate John the Baptist as well.

"Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:1)

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Isaiah 61:1-2)

Had they understood that John the Baptist was in fact God’s sent messenger, the one that will prepare the way of the messenger of the covenant, who was in fact the Lord whom the children of Israel sought. Had they understood that Jesus was in fact God’s sent Messiah, and then there would be no blasphemy!

“Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

For which is easier, to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’?

But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

Immediately he rose up before them, took up the bed, he had been lying on, and went out in the presence of them all and departed to his own house glorifying God.

Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and all were amazed. They glorified God who had given such power to men and were filled with fear, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” “We have seen strange things today!”

What could the scribes, Pharisees and teachers of the law do? Either they could choose to believe and glorify God or what in fact they did eventual chose to do seek how they may destroy Jesus of Nazareth.

Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26

He entered Capernaum and it was heard that He was in the house.

Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.

He was teaching preaching the word to them and the power of the Lord was present to heal them

There were Pharisees and teachers of the law and scribes sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.

Healing the paralytic

Then behold, four men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. And when they could not come near Him nor find how they might bring him in because of the crowd. They went up on the housetop they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

And at once some of the scribes were sitting there and the Pharisees began to reasoning in their hearts saying within them

“Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?
“Who is this who speaks blasphemies?
“This Man blasphemes!”
“Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit knowing their thoughts that they reasoned thus within themselves,

Jesus answered and said to them “Why do you reason thinking evil about these things in your hearts?

For which is easier, to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’?

But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

Immediately he rose up before them, took up the bed, he had been lying on, and went out in the presence of them all and departed to his own house glorifying God.

Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and all were amazed. They glorified God who had given such power to men and were filled with fear, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” “We have seen strange things today!”

VIII

Matthew 9:9-13
Mark 2:13-17
Luke 5:27-29

This exhortation by Jesus of Nazareth, to the Jewish religious leaders, in the midst of a great feast, being held in his honor, hosted by a tax collector named Matthew Levi the son of Alphaeus, “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance,” aimed the scribes and Pharisees forward to take up and read the Hebrew Prophet Hosea, Chapter Six and to the Hebrew Prophet Samuel who declared the equivalent message to then King of Israel, Saul.

“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
He also has rejected you from being king.” (1 Samuel 15:22-23)

Following this prophetic word by Samuel, the Kingdom of Israel was removed from the House of Saul and placed within the eternal keeping to the House of David, the man after God’s own heart and the human descendant of Jesus of Nazareth through the lineage of Joseph and Mary of Nazareth.

Had the scribes and Pharisees taken to heart the Lord’s exhortation and pursued the Holy Scripture texts of the Prophet Hosea, that Jesus quoted and then did a thorough comprehensive reference study of the Bible, then they may have found their hearts moved to repent and follow the Messiah along with the great number of tax collectors and other sinners that already chosen to do so, who also sat together with Jesus and His disciples of whom they judged.

Hear the word of the LORD,
You children of Israel,
For the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land:” There is no truth or mercy
Or knowledge of God in the land. (Hosea 4:1)

“What shall I do to thee,
Ephraim? what shall I do to thee, Judah? for your love is like the morning
cloud, and like the dew which quickly passes away. (Hosea 6:4)

Ephraim / Judah’s love source which is like the morning cloud is not deep-seated within God. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations. (Psalm 100:5)

For I desire mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. “But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt treacherously with Me. (Hosea 6:6-7)

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?”
Says the LORD.
“ I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fed cattle.
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs or goats.
“ When you come to appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?
Bring no more futile sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.
The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
Your New Moons and your appointed feasts
My soul hates;
They are a trouble to Me,
I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands,
I will hide My eyes from you;
Even though you make many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
“ Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil,
Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:11-17)

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart.”

I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
In the great assembly;
Indeed, I do not restrain my lips,
O LORD, You Yourself know. (Psalm. 40:7-9)

Matthew 9:9-13
Mark 2:13-17
Luke 5:27-29

After these things as Jesus passed on from there, he went out and saw a tax collector named Matthew Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.”

So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.

Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house

And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.

Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house was dining in Levi’s house, that there were a great number of tax collectors and other sinners who also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.

And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

When Jesus heard, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

IX

John 5:1-47

Commencing with the harmony of the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and joined with the Gospel according to John, together, these Holy Scriptures, put together a picture of the chronological account of Jesus of Nazareth’s ministry that by this time, Jesus of Nazareth had cleansed the temple in Jerusalem, declaring that God was his Father and submitted Himself to three further controversial encounters with the scribes, Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

One episode took place at the local synagogue in Jesus’ hometown, Nazareth. Here, He declared Himself to be the anointed one of God, fulfilling the Prophet Isaiah’s messianic prophetic words.

Another incident, happened within the city on the sea of Galilee, Capernaum, within a house while teaching and preaching the Word of God where He healed a paralyzed man telling the man that his sins were forgiven, positioning Himself in the status of God, placing Himself on equal footing of God by doing tasks what God alone reserved to Himself alone to execute.

Lastly, at a great feast, hosted by a tax collector named Matthew Levi the son of Alphaeus, at Matthew’s residence, that now was a disciple of His where He exhorted the religious leaders to go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Now, He was exhort the teachers.

In this segment of the life of Jesus of Nazareth he heals another man and tells him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. (John 5:9)

The showing of disapproval of the healed man “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed. (John 5:9-10) and persecuting of Jesus by the Jews, is that the healing took place on the day of the Sabbath.

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:18)

Now, within the pages of the Gospel, according to John, Jesus draws back the drapes of eternity, to make public, by bearing witness to the position within the eternal Godhead He has held along with declaring the relationship He has held with the eternal Father.

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”

The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” They asked him,

“Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:1-47)

X

Matthew 12:1-8
Mark 2:23-28
Luke 6:1-5

These pious traditionalists having had several face-offs with the Lord again sense a violation of their Pharisaic set of regulations for Sabbath observance.

As they went His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to and ate them, rubbing them in their hands.

By plucking the heads of grain the Pharisees interpreted this action by the disciples as reaping and rubbing them in their hands, (Luke 6:1), this act by the disciples was threshing.

Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that Jesus went through the grain fields.

As they went His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to and ate them, rubbing them in their hands.

And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Jesus, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

But Jesus answering them said, “, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those who were with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is
One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice, ‘you would not have condemned the guiltless.” And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord even of the Sabbath.”

XI

A Crippled Hand

Matthew 12:9-21
Mark 3:1-12
Luke 3:1-18


They were called Pharisees, meaning those who separated themselves from the heathen, and from the heathenizing forces and tendencies which constantly invaded the precincts of Judaism.(1 Maccabees 1:11; 2 Maccabees 4:14 sq.; cf. Josephus Antiq., XII, 5:1)

Historical Note:

Flavius Josephus wrote: ''Now, for the Pharisees, they live meanly, and despise delicacies in diet; and they follow the conduct of reason; and what that prescribes to them as good for them they do; and they think they ought earnestly to strive to observe reason's dictates for practice. They also pay a respect to such as are in years; nor are they so bold as to contradict them in any thing which they have introduced; and when they determine that all things are done by fate, they do not take away the freedom from men of acting as they think fit; since their notion is, that it hath pleased God to make a temperament, whereby what he wills is done, but so that the will of man can act virtuously or viciously. They also believe that souls have an immortal rigor in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life; and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again; on account of which doctrines they are able greatly to persuade the body of the people; and whatsoever they do about Divine worship, prayers, and sacrifices, they perform them according to their direction; insomuch that the cities give great attestations to them on account of their entire virtuous conduct, both in the actions of their lives and their discourses also.'' (Flavius Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews. Book XVIII, chapter 1.3)

''But then as to the two other orders at first mentioned, the Pharisees are those who are esteemed most skillful in the exact explication of their laws, and introduce the first sect. These ascribe all to fate [or providence], and to God, and yet allow, that to act what is right, or the contrary, is principally in the power of men, although fate does co-operate in every action.''
(Flavius Josephus. The Wars Of The Jews. Book II, chapter 8.14)

From the very foundation of the formation of the fraternity or guild of the Pharisees, around 3 B.C., these devout men took upon themselves the responsibility to believe that they had God’s authority to become the most rigid defenders of the Jewish religion and traditions. By the time that John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth arrived on the prophetic scene of Israel’s history, fulfilling together the following prophetic scriptures the Pharisees were soundly and deep-rooted inside the social and political world that made up the Jewish society in Israel at this time and they were not about to surrender their position.

“Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:1)

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
And he will turn
The hearts of the fathers to the children,
And the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5-6)

The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

“ Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;
The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3-5)

And the LORD said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. (Deuteronomy 18:17-19)

Recall the fashion by which the Pharisees had been received by John when they advanced to share in the baptism of repentance.

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:4-12)

Certainly Pharisees may have been nearby when, in the attendance of the multitude that were, by John, at the banks of the Jordan, seeing Jesus of Nazareth by means of preaching, John bore witness of Jesus of Nazareth and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’” And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (John 1:15-18)

Here John slurs the Pharisees, by calling them vipers, a reference to a unique species of serpents. Today in Israel there is a species of serpents called a Palestine Viper, (Vipera xanthina palestinae). The Palestine Viper bite is seldom lethal. Sufferers will usually complain of pain at the bite site and local swelling may manifest. Local tissue destruction can follow.

It was a serpent who talked with Eve in the Garden of Eden where upon she was initially tempted and then the woman was drawn away by her own desires and enticed. When she saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. Then, when her desire had conceived, it gave birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Thus by the actions of Adam and Eve we all became in need of grace and truth. (Genesis 3:6; James 1:14).

Then, John directly identifies, Jesus of Nazareth, to be God’s own Son, making Him equal with being God Himself, and being the one sent from God’s own bosom where He abode from all prior eternity.(Micah 5:2; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7)

One may only draw their own conclusions as to whether the Pharisees interpreted, John’s labeling of them as vipers, with being identified with the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

Presently, the Pharisees now have had plenty of time to mull over and digest the words of John the Baptist and now after John was put in prison, Jesus of Nazareth. With news of Jesus going out through the entire surrounding region being glorified by all at hand and having Jesus teaching in their synagogues, returning in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:14-15; Luke 4:14-15), the unbelieving religious leaders were on vigilance alert.

Now those, that consider themselves to have taken up the God of Israel’s mantle, being the descendants of the founding Pharisees, having been commissioned to the continuing of the tradition and of being revered to be the most rigid defenders of the Jewish religion and traditions which includes the expositors of the Holy Scriptures, while they now found themselves under Roman occupation at present, are being showed to be imposters.

The members of the Pharisees’ perception of self-importance were founded upon the precipice of being not only the descendants of a 300 year old religious guild or fraternity and being the physical descendants of Abraham.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:8-10)

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:7-11)

In essence, instead of being the authentic guardians of the Jewish religion and traditions, the Pharisees in point of fact had evolved instead into becoming an elitist fraternity or guild of men handing down a rule of life methodology for following the Torah, the Law of Moses with the absence of a key ingredient, faith. Instead of faith in the Tanakh, the canon of the Hebrew Bible, the Pharisees developed, in a manner of speaking, a hedge around God’s word. This hedge would be a behavioral man made patterned modeled program for the interpretation of Torah that may be followed being acted upon with the absence of faith. See for example the Rich Young Ruler. (Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30)

The Animals Within The Creation

In the Book of Genesis, Moses’ written account of the creation story attests to the chronological order of animals coming into being on the fifth day of creation with man coming into being on the sixth. The scripture narrative continues, telling of how God gave the responsibility to Adam for naming the animals. (Genesis 1-3).

Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the land, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And the LORD was sorry that He had made man in the land, and He was grieved in His heart.

And the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:5-8)

And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:

All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.

And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. (Genesis 7:21-23)

Through God’s sovereign decree to annihilate all living inhabitants living upon the face of the earth via raining on the planet forty day and forty nights ,(Genesis 7:4; 12; 17), besides sparing the human race through the act of saving Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives, still God by means of grace, maintained the continued existence of animals.

"For six days, you shall do all of your work, but the seventh day is God's Sabbath; you shall not do any work, neither you nor your son or daughter or your servant or your animal, or the stranger who is in your midst (Exodus 20:8)." As with the ecclesia, those that are called out by God to follow Torah, animals too are to be set apart according to the Torah, are to partake in the Sabbath rest.

Now envision your lamb or live stocks or donkey, become stuck in an opening of some kind in the land would you allow the creature to wait patiently suffering passing the time until the sun set resulting in the Sabbath to pass before you rescued the animal?.

This was simply the message that Jesus was attempting to illustrate to those in attendance, especially the Pharisees. The time to listen with a welcoming heart to the message of the Messiah was over for the unbelieving Pharisees. It was their wish now that Jesus would be brought before the Sanhedrin, accused of a capital offence, namely breaking the Sabbath and blasphemy making Himself equal to God calling God His father, be found guilty and then destroyed. In order to accomplish this, a trap was to be set to gather enough evidence in order to make the accusation stick.

Matthew 12:9-21
Mark 3:1-12
Luke 3:1-18

Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue and He entered the synagogue again, and behold, there was a man there who had a withered hand.

So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.

Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”

Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

But they kept silent.

And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.”

And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other

Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

XII

Luke 7:36-50

Here, we learn that a Pharisee is agreeable to invite Jesus over to his home for dinner as his guest.

The setting takes place within Simon, a Pharisee’s, own house after Jesus has arrived and is seated engage in the meal.

The participants within this episode are three; Simon the Pharisee, Jesus of Nazareth and the woman with an alabaster flask of fragrant oil.

The two action segments to be observed are first; how Simon the Pharisee welcomes his guest, Jesus of Nazareth, to his home and second; Simon’s reaction to how Jesus receives and responds to the woman with an alabaster flask of fragrant oil a fellow member of the Jewish citizenry in Judea.

From Dr. Luke’s written account the text informs the reader that Simon a Pharisee recognizes Jesus to be a teacher and secondly questions the validity of Jesus on being a Prophet (Luke 7:39-40)

Challenging Jesus authenticity of being a prophet is based on the fact that Jesus receives “sinners” which to the Pharisee’s perception is not in accord with proper Jewish tradition.

Remember the title Pharisee refers to one that is set apart and that they consider themselves to be the pious ones and most rigid defenders of the Jewish religion and traditions.

The reply by Jesus to Simon, for his judgmental thoughts was to expose the truth to Simon about himself as he failed to convey proper Jewish traditional hospitality to Jesus being his dinner guest.

Jesus exposed Simon as acting in accord with a lack of faith in the Jewish tradition in which a Pharisee was devoted to embrace.

“I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, You gave Me no kiss. You did not anoint My head with oil.”

By means of his lapse in etiquette towards his invited guess Simon, showed evidence of being one that is a respecter of persons who show preferential treatment towards those whom he felt worthy and from those he esteemed lower in class stature.

In contrast, the city woman, who was identified as being a sinner, wash Jesus’ feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. This action was generated from a heart of faith and for so doing resulted in gaining the attention of Jesus and by so doing received forgiveness.

Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

Luke 7:36-50

Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant

XIII

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, (Isaiah 61:1-2a)

And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all. (Luke 6: 17-19)

Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.

Is this not a description of the fulfillment of Isaiah the Prophet’s prophetic passage from which Jesus of Nazareth, taking the scrolls handed to Him, while He was visiting at His home town Synagogue, bear witness to and thus fulfilled by reading the passage aloud before the persons present causing it to be understood to them that in hearing His words, this messianic prophecy text of Holy Scripture was fulfilled in their hearing?

Now with time having passed by, Jesus has been going about doing the works His Father had sent Him into the world to perform. Was He not preaching the good tidings to the poor? Hasn’t He been healing the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; as He continued to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord?

Now, once again, the Scribes and Pharisees have made it appear that their charge is to catch Jesus in some trespass of the Torah in order to have Him brought before the Sanhedrin and once having Jesus found guilty of the breach have Him put to death.

Jesus’ preaching and teaching His words, in the hearing of the scribes and Pharisees, have now evolved into becoming an evil doing. Now, accompanying with His words, the miraculous signs and wonders being performed through God, the Holy Spirit, have reached the scribes and Pharisees threshold.

Call to mind the event, when a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him.” (John 3:1-2)

The Pharisees, being aware of what they had agreed privately among their own peers about Jesus of Nazareth, that Jesus, was truly sent from God, because He would not be able to do the works that He did perform, except God be with Him, now had only two options.

The first option being to receive Jesus as being God’s only begotten Son and the awaited Messiah the proclaimed message of the Baptist, John or secondly not receiving Him at all.

After a period of deliberation, one may imagine, the religious leaders concluded among themselves, with other believing dissenters, that Jesus of Nazareth is a false Messiah and his claim to be God’s Son, making Himself equal with God being divine Himself, is blasphemy. Since, under their estimation, Jesus of Nazareth is a human offspring of the carpenter Joseph and Mary of Nazareth. And since Jesus performs miracles on the Sabbath and by doing so He appears to commit a breach against the Jewish traditions that have been put into place by Jewish men of renown, the logical conclusion to be drawn therefore by the religious leaders of Jesus day, is that Jesus of Nazareth is demon possessed and that the miracles that He is fact performing is not attributed to God the Holy Spirit, but it is Satan himself.

Matthew 12:22-37
Mark 3:20-35
Luke 11:14-23

Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, casting out a demon that was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw

And all the multitudes marveled and were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the prince and the ruler of the demons.”

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”

But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.”

While others, testing Him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.

And all the multitudes marveled and were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

But Jesus knowing their thoughts called them to Himself and said to them in parables:

“Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste being brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand but falls.”

“How can Satan cast out Satan? And if Satan has risen up against himself, in order to cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand, but has an end?

Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe in peace. But when one stronger than he comes upon him attacks him and overcomes him, he first binds the strong man And then he will plunder his house taking away from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. Whoever he is who is not with Me is against Me, and whoever he is who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven men, either in this age or in the age to come but is subject to eternal condemnation”— because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.”

But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said,

“Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”

Conclusion

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.” (Micah 5:2)

“Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:1)

The Pharisees had usurped the authority to become watchmen, as it were, over the Jewish religion and the Jewish traditions. What Mecca means to the faith of Islam today, the Temple in Jerusalem meant to the Pharisees living at the time of Jesus of Nazareth, in Judea, under Roman occupation. And now, one of their own countrymen, who has been heralded by name, Jesus of Nazareth, declared to be the Messiah, by John the Baptist and is declared to be the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, who has declared God to us all having come from eternity claiming to be God in the flesh, Himself. (John 1:15-18)

And besides this, having been observed by the religious leaders, as He made a whip of cords, and moving through the temple driving them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and pouring out the changers’ money and overturning the tables. And, saying to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” By calling God, His Father in the presence of all on the holy temple grounds He again made Himself equal to being God Himself.

One may only see in one’s mind's eye, the intensity of heated fury that was unleashed within the depths of the Pharisees unrepentant hearts, first towards John the Baptist until he was placed in prison and then executed and following towards Jesus of Nazareth.

Had the Pharisees, priests and Levites, from Jerusalem, would have opened their hearts and minds in the direction of the awaiting promised Messiah, they would have found themselves under the shadow of God’s wings (Palm 91); but instead, in the words of the Lord Jesus, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” (John 5:39)

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! (Matthew 23:37)

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. For David says concerning Him:

‘I foresaw the LORD always before my face,
For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad;
Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
For You will not leave my soul in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’

“Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

“For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:

‘ The LORD said to my Lord,
“ Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts of the Apostles 2: 22-36)

The question that this treatise has examined, using the harmony of the New Testament Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and the Gospel of John is; “Who was responsible for the death of Christ?” Was it in fact only the Jewish authority or not?

The response to this question is that the Jewish authority brought Jesus before the Roman occupational governor, Pontius Pilate and through strong will tactics and political shenanigans placed Pilate in a position that he feared the mob’s terrorization regarding being a friend of Caesar and abdicated his authority and the rule of Roman law and Justice having first ruled that Jesus of Nazareth be found not guilty and was personally willing to allow Him freedom; instead Pilate gave Jesus of Nazareth over to the will of the people’s approval and ordered the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth.

Is this then the end of the story?

A Word From A Pharisee A Believer Of Israel’s Messiah Jesus

The Epistle To The Romans 10 Israel Needs The Gospel

Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (That is, to bring Christ down from above) or, “‘who will descend into the abyss?’” (That is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
“ How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed:

“ Their sound has gone out to all the earth,
And their words to the ends of the world.”

“But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says:

“ I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation,
I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.”

But Isaiah is very bold and says:

“ I was found by those who did not seek Me;
I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”
But to Israel he says:

“ All day long I have stretched out My hands
To a disobedient and contrary people.”

Romans 11

I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.

Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, “LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? But what does the divine response say to him?

“I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written:

“God has given them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes that they should not see
And ears that they should not hear,
To this very day.”

And David says:

“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
A stumbling block and a recompense to them.
Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see,
And bow down their back always.”

I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.

Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion;
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”

Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

“For who has known the mind of the LORD?
Or who has become His counselor?”
“Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

A Word From A Pharisee To Believers Of Israel’s Messiah Jesus
The Epistle to the Ephesians Chapter 2

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

The Epistle to the Ephesians Chapter 3

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

The Epistle to the Colossians 2:6-19

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

Please contact the ministry for prayer or salvation guidance and directions,

city_of_david_outreach@yahoo.com

In Jesus name,

Bishop Alcuin
Bishop Alcuin

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