Something Greater

Guest Post: Crumbs of Joy Jeremy lives in Israel and has a unique opportunity to explore the roots of Christianity while living in the reality of modern Jewish society. I appreciated a recent devotional he wrote. Jeremy has given me permission to reprint it here. The issue of relating to the local Arab population reminds me of a sermon which I had the privilege of hearing a couple of weeks ago. The subject was the approach Jesus took towards the non-Jewish population present in Israel at his time – a period which was also wracked by ethnic and religious violence . The story at the center of the sermon was that of the Canaanite woman who approached Jesus when he ventured into the non-Jewish region on the Mediterranean Coast near Tyre (Matthew 15:21-28). Her daughter suffered from demon-possession and she did not cease to plead with Jesus for her healing. He initially turned her down, explaining: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." She persisted, and k...

The Cross of Christ: Humiliation of Sin Matthew 27:31 Listen: The Cross of Christ (mp3) Watch: The Cross of Christ - Slide Presentation(wmv) Every mention, every reminder, of the cross of Christ should bring a vivid image of the suffering of Jesus on our behalf. In our safe, modern world...living in a country at the heights of affluence, luxury and technology, the dirty, messy, gory death of crucifixion is easy to minimize . The cross of Christ for us is often a lovely pendant on expensive jewelry, a silk-screened logo at the side of a business sign, a brand for buildings in which worshipers gather. It was not so for Peter and Andrew, Jewish fishermen in Galilee. They and James and John and all the disciples that first followed Jesus all lived under direct control of a harsh government that daily crucified criminals and political rebels . "When they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him....

Where Thieves Break In Today I received a letter from friends who work as translators and teachers in another country. They are helping to translate the Bible into a language that has lacked anything written, not even an alphabet! Their letter described something I always find intriguing, and important . My friends were translating a verse from Matthew: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal." Matthew 6:19 (ESV) "Break in" is the English translation of the Greek word, diorysso, meaning to penetrate burglariously, from a word meaning to burrow in the ground or dig . One of my greatest passions is words, and how words develop , and the literal objects at the root of words for abstract concepts. My friends live among a people-group who understand clearly what this verse describes: "In the hot season, people sleep outside and lock the door of their house. Thieves go aroun...