Torah
Parashah - Vayishlach ~ He Sent
B’re’shiyt
32:4- 36:43 RSTNE p 28
“Expectation”
- Y’shua and women - (basis from Moen’s “Jesus Said to Her”)
November 28, 2015 16 Kislev 5776
November 28, 2015 16 Kislev 5776
Torah
Parashah
B’re’shiyt
32:4 - 36:43 p 28
1.
Yaakov on his way to reunite with Esav...
32:24 “wrestled a ‘Man’ ” until the break of day. The man touched hip and it dislocated. There his name is changed from Yaakov to -
Yisra’el.... and Yaakov/Yisra’el is blessed there... 32:30 “And Yaakov called the name of the
place Peni-El; for I have seen Elohiym panayim-el panayim, and still - my
chayim has been preserved.”
2.
Yaakov’s reuniting with Esav.
3.
Yaakov in Shechem
a.
bought a field
b.
erected an altar “El-Elohei-Yisra’el”
c.
Dinah (daughter of Leah) is ‘taken’ by
Chamor the Hivite
d.
Dinah’s brothers are very angry -
e.
Chamor and his family want Yaakov’s
family to intermarry so they say that all the men of Shechem must be brit
milah (circumcised)
f.
On the 3rd day - Dinah’s brothers came
and killed all the men in Shechem and took Dinah back. And plundered the city.
3.
Elohim told Yaakov to go up to Beth-El and
dwell there... and “make an altar to El that appeared to you when you fled from
the face of Esav your brother. 35:1
4.
Yaakov called for getting rid of the
“strange gods”
5.
35:6 And they go to Luz - the place
where Yaakov had the dream of the ladder - that he named Beth-El..... the place where he had made the declaration
that - B’re’shiyt 28:20 “If the
Word of Elohiym will be with me and will keep me in this derech that I go, and
will give me lechem to eat and clothing to put on 21 So that I come again to my
abba’s bayit in shalom; then shall the Word of YHWH be my Elohiym.”
6.
35:9-12 “And Elohiym appeared to Yaakov again, when he came out of Padan-Aram, and blessed
him. 10
And Elohiym said to him, Your name is Yaakov; your name shall not be
called any more Yaakov, but Yisra’el. 11
And Elohiym said to him, I am El-Shaddai:
be fruitful and multiply; a
nation-goy; and a congregation of nations - kahal-goyim; shall come from you and melechim shall come
out of your loins; 12 And the land that I gave Avraham and Yitzchak, to you I
will give it, and to your zera after you will I give the land.”
7.
They left Beth-El and went to Ephrath -
and Rachel travailed and gave birth to Benyamin... and Rachel died
8.
They moved to a place beyond Edar... and there
Reuven had sexual relations with Bilhah - his abba’s concubine.
9.
Yaakov / Yisra’el went home to Yitzchak and
Yitzchak died. Yaakov and Esav buried Yitzchak.
10. B’re’shiyt 36 - genealogy of Esav.
end
of Torah Parashah
**********************************
Expectation... based on the Moshiach’s interactions with a
couple of women....
I
want you to consider a few things:
1.
Your routine...how you go through your
days...
2.
But not just how you put one foot in
front of another and go through your days and your weeks... but your routine
for how you think about your life...
3.
Hopelessness
= the firm conviction that nothing can change, that the life of despair is bound
to continue unrelentingly. - Do we think
like this - ever??? In any part/s of our
life????
4.
Do you belong?
5. How desperate are you for YHWH in your life??
**
Before
we go further, I want to invite us to think about fitting in - or not.
Have
you ever been in a place where you did not fit in?
Where
you were not accepted?
-
Maybe it is/was about being:
-
a red bird, not a blue bird in
elementary reading class - everyone knew the blue birds read well and the red
birds... well they didn’t.
-
too fat or too thin
-
an athlete or not
-
having money or not having money...
-
“pretty” or not “pretty”
Skip Moen said...
“Our
hypocritical world practices exclusion while it preaches tolerance.”
I
want to read two short stories and then we can talk about them:
Mattityahu
9:18-25
p 684
Luka
13:10-17
p 740
“Y’shua
once encountered a woman who had been excluded for more than a decade.
She
was a victim of social intolerance, carefully concealed under the banner of
religious law.
It
did not matter what she believed.
She
was not wanted.
She
was defiled.
She
was contagious.
but....
Her
struggle and her faith to reach beyond the ‘rules of society’ -
-
shows us something about the heart of YHWH - and the value of YHWH’s
interruptions.”
Mattityahu
9:18-25
p 684
is
told again in:
Luke
8:41-56
p 735
Let’s
back up and consider what was going on here....
Y’shua
was a healer - everyone knew it.
Their’s
was a hard world of captivity under Roman law.... heavy labor and hard injustices.... They longed for healing and salvation.
Crowds
followed Y’shua.... - looking to see a
miracle - wondrously amazing things that brought joy into a hard, dark world...
and
maybe looking for their own healing...
One
day an “official from the synagogue” shows up ... and notice, his daughter is already
DEAD! And still he comes to the
Healer!
He
makes a crazy-amazing statement... “My daughter is even now dead; but
come and lay Your hand upon her and she shall live.”
Y’shua
doesn’t hesitate - according to the Greek - He “immediately took action.”
He
gets up - and so do the talmidim - and follow this guy home....
But
on the way .... SOMETHING HAPPENED...
There,
secretly in that crowd around Y’shua - is a woman...
-a
woman with a problem
The
Greek word is haimorroousa = flow of blood (hemorrhage)
Okay
so what is the big deal?...
Well
this is important because it is about ritual purity and ritual impurity.
Women
were considered religiously unclean during menstruation.
Moreover,
anyone who touched them, or any article of clothing, or any object that came in
to contact with them - was also
considered unclean.
This
is usually a temporary thing for most women.... but for this woman it had
lasted for 12 YEARS. (12 tribes pic)
Often
we read this short story and don’t see the big deal here... but there are
many...
If
a woman is unclean from bleeding... then anything she touches becomes
unclean... and anyone she touches becomes unclean.
She
would not have been allowed in the “good” circle... the religiously pious
community.
“Her
hidden problem created a very public humiliation and excluded her from
fellowship. She was outside the circle”
“Imagine
: 12 YEARS of excommunication” for
something that was not your fault.
“Imagine
the emotional trauma of those years, knowing that you could not share human
touch without passing this religious stigma on to the ones you loved.”
No
tenderness with your children.
No
intimacy with your spouse.
No
fellowship with your friends.
No
admittance to worship.
How
do you find YHWH in the midst of unceasing rejection?
But
apparently she had a plan....
My
understanding was that if one was unclean... they had to yell out “unclean” -
as they went so everyone knew this and could stay away....
But
she wasn’t doing that in the crowd that day...
Because
the crowd would have parted around her...
“She literally had the plague - the plague of being unclean”
But
she saw an opportunity.
Everyone
was focused on Y’shua and the official - going to see what happened to the dead
girl....
Nobody
was paying her any attention!
She
must have known/thought -
“If
Y’shua can raise the dead - he will have no problem taking away her impurity.”
Because
- really -
“As
far as she was concerned, she had been dead for 12 years.
Alive
in body but separated from everyone she cared for.”
“She
was the walking dead.” Now she had a
chance to come alive again.”
She
approached Y’shua from behind.
Does
that seem a bit odd to you?
in
9:22 “But Y’shua turned around...”
Isn’t
it odd that Y’shua says “Your emunah has made you whole.” - when she snuck up
on him from behind! ????
B’midbar
(Numbers) 19:22 says that if a person touches something unclean - they are
unclean until evening....
So I knew this... but look at the big picture here!....
This
woman - who is unclean - is about to touch the Talit - rather - the tzit-zit /
tassels of the Talit ....
So
that means she will make Y’shua haMoshiach - UNCLEAN.
This
is a huge deal...
Y’shua
is on His way to raise a child from the dead...
but she will make him UNCLEAN.
Will
her need mean this child will stay dead??
“She
must have thought “If i touch him, will YHWH withdraw from him? Will he be unable to raise the child? Will they know it is because of me? Will my need mean this child will stay
dead?” !!!!
-What
would every Rabbi say?? - “Yes!”
They’d
say “yes - we know that YHWH can’t work
through defiled people!!
This
is a huge dilemma.
Should
she do this - and hopefully get healing - at the risk of a child’s life?... or
“Should I continue to live as though I were dead, never knowing if I will be
able to hold my own children again?”
So
by touching his Talit - “she risks defiling the very ONE she needs to heal
her.”
Plus
she risks defiling the one needed to heal the officials daughter!
This
is a case where....
“Desperate
people do desperate things. This is a
story of desperation. But it is not a
story of rejection.”
“The
first step of reaching for Y’shua must come from MY PERSONAL SENSE OF
DESPERATION.”
*
She
could have just stayed back in the crowd - because someone else needed Him more
than she did. - “After all, this was
about a child.”
This
standing back in the crowd - because others need Him more... this assumes I
know what YHWH can handle and what He will do.
This
means i end up telling YHWH how his grace and love should manifest
BUT
in reality - I must come to the end of myself -
...
So DESPERATE - because in that moment I touch Him - and defile him - I need Him more than I’ve ever needed Him!
It’s
total surrender - the end of myself...
There
is nothing else... I am dead .... I have nothing to lose....
And
when HE heals her... she can see for the first time...
“That
YHWH is for me!! My need does not blot
out his mercy for others. My sin and
rejection does not prevent this grace.
He can take my guilt away.”
*
We
know that she grabs hold of the tzitzit of Y’shua’s talit (prayer shawl) .
Interesting
that she grabbed the thing that is worn to remind the wearer of YHWH’s
instructions!
See
this?... she grabbed the thing that was worn to bring to remembrance - the very
instructions that said she was unclean.
Think
about this...
Moen
says
“YHWH
struck down a man who only tried to prevent the Ark of the Covenant from
falling. Wouldn’t YHWH take vengeance on
a woman who defiled His holy Law?”
She
must have decided - “Better to be dead than to be the living dead.”
*
There
are two Greek words for touch...
1.
means to gently contact it - like
playing a musical instrument
the
other:
2.
hapto - the one used in this case.... means “to handle something with the intention
of influencing it.”
She
grabbed hold - hoping that when she grabbed it - her outcome/ her life
situation would be very very changed.
there
was nothing else for her
for
12 years she had been rejected - an outcast - unclean... she didn’t fit in
ANYWHERE.
She
was very courages - because she was totally desperate...
BUT
THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE ABOUT HER COURAGE...
She
needed the courage to overcome GUILT.
One
thing we have to know about this is -
Under
Rabbinic law - this woman’s condition was NO accident!
“Bad
things happen to people who deserved them.
The presence of physical illness or deformity was interpreted as a clear
sign of YHWH’s imminent judgment for sin.
We
have to realize that the people of that day (maybe this one too) - “thought
that this woman was not simply unclean because she was bleeding....they
knew she was unclean because according to her religion she was outside of
YHWH’s favor.”
“She
needed incredible courage in order to act against this belief!!”
BUT
desperation often overcomes guilt and hesitation.”
Remember
we talked about the beatitudes?
Well,
“this woman fulfilled the first condition ....
She was willing to do anything.
She was a BEGGAR for YHWH.”
*
Like
this woman, we have gone through our lives looking for sin - that might be the
reason for a mess in our lives”....
We
are plagued with guilt. Surely - we did
something wrong.
“And
just like the woman’s flow of blood - guilt separates us from the grace of
YHWH.”
For
12 years this woman lived under the law of punishment. Punishment for something beyond her
control. Punishment for being alive.
How
many of us live like her??.... wondering
every day why YHWH”s grace doesn’t seem to deliver us. Wondering if the God of mercy isn’t really
the Elohiym of revenge.”
*
Y’shua
said “who touched me?”
He
knew that power went out from Him.
Luka
8:47-48
p 735
She
couldn’t hide.... it was clear ... she had to “confess”.
Have
you ever found yourself “revealed”?
There
is something more than just guilt in this - but SHAME.
“Guilt
is about my standing before the law.
Guilt
is about my legal condition.
Guilty
says that no matter what my motivation, I have violated a legal
requirement.
But
shame is something else. Shame is about
my very identity as a person.
Guilt
says my action was wrong.
Shame
is about my very existence.
I
can still have personal self-worth and admit guilt. But shame robs me of my dignity. It tells me I am nothing.”
When
Y’shua turned around and that woman fell at his feet -
she
was dealing with both guilt and shame.
“She
acknowledged her “sin” of defilement, but now shame burst upon her.
The
unclean, the cast out, the one whom YHWH was punishing had dared to say “I
believe.” The text says that she declared
before everyone what she had done. She
made her guilt and her shame known.”
Who
can do this?
Are
you desperate enough to do this?
Most
people are NOT.
Luka
8:48 p
735
“Y’shua’s
final words to this woman are the words everyone who has known guilt and shame
longs to hear: “Go in peace.” There are the words of eternal harmony
between YHWH and man.”
“Guilt
destroys us. It segregates us from each
other.
It
isolates us from YHWH. It saps the life
out of us until we are just walking dead.”
We
find ourselves going through the motions of living - without living.... We are without the hope of redemption.
“If
we live with the guilt long enough - we inherit SHAME.”
We
start to believe we can’t be worthy.
BUT
....
“One
day - hopefully - we reach a point of being totally desperate.”
** **
** ** **
** **
Many
of us have the attitude ....
~“Who
really cares about me?!!”~
Many
of us know what it means to face an ‘uphill climb’ every day.
we
know what it means to face insurmountable obstacles day after day, year after
year.
Y’shua
finds a woman “bent over with life’s burdens”
Luka
13:1-17
p 741
How
many repeats of a situation does it take to reduce hope to hopeless?
How
many years of struggle does it take to push hope out of our little brains and
hearts?? !!
We
don’t know much about this woman... she wasn’t looking for help... many had
tried to help her... For 18 YEARS.
She
is resigned to this life... looking at her feet and just putting one foot in
front of the other...yet
she was in the temple... but not seeking healing from the Healer.
~Is
that us - in the temple so to speak - but not really seeking the Healer?
How
many times had she come with hope?
How
many times did she think - maybe today is the day?...
But
this day - she doesn’t seek out Y’shua...
He
sought her out.... He called to her.
Let’s
back up... Moen says “The story really starts with the interruption of disaster
in human life.”
In
13:1-9 - Y’shua is talking about “the butchering of some Galileans by the Romans
and the death of 18 others through the collapse of a tower.
Implied
is the theology of equal punishment.
Y’shua
is saying that just because AWFUL happened...
doesn’t mean these people were more sinful and therefore DESERVED this
“punishment”!!!
What
Y’shua says - to correct this concept - was
“Unless
a man repents, he stands in no better state than any other man and he is
equally punishable under YHWH’s rule.
THEN
Y’shua adds an illustration of YHWH’s grace and mercy.
The
fig tree didn’t produce fruit - and was going to get cut down -
-
but the gardener asked the owner to
wait... and the tree was revived.
BUT
what is happening as Y’shua calls this woman to him and heals her - everyone is
thinking that she DESERVES this miserableness!
Y’shua
calls her over to Him.
He
asks her to step out of what is normal for her.
To
get out of her routine!! - in order to change her perspective.
This
is the first step in removing hopelessness.
Hopelessness
is the firm conviction that nothing can change
-that
the life of despair is bound to continue unrelentingly.
-And
the first step in removing hopelessness is a change in perspective!
What
if Y’shua didn’t go over to her - because she needed to come to him... to get out
of her routine!
She
had to change her direction!
YHWH
calls us to Him - in the middle of miserableness... when we are in that dark
place where we can’t find hope!
“If
you don’t change directions, the road ahead will be just like the road behind.”
“Moving
from hopelessness to expectation often involves just the simplest change in
direction.”
So
besides the fact that he touches this sinner....He
does it on Shabbat!
In
13:13 - “made straight” or “healed” in some bibles...
we
expect - healed from a sickness...
but
the word is “apolutrosis”... This is a Greek verb about paying a ransom in
order to free a slave or prisoner. It
is the word for redemption. It is a word
from the slave market.
-"Y’shua
is not HEALING this woman. He is
REDEEMING her from the bondage of satan."
The
key thing here is that by
restoring this woman by proclaiming she be loosed from bondage, Y’shua implied
that her illness was not the result of YHWH’s judgment but rather the work of
hasatan.
Moen
says
“On
this day, Y’shua reversed all the beliefs that YHWH helps those who help
themselves.
*** He overturned all the cherished
theology that health and wealth are the result of blessings and poverty and
disease the result of punishment.”
“On
this day , Y’shua smashed the ritual that confined YHWH to Man’s religious
box. On this day, Y’shua redeemed one of
YHWH’s own.”
Earlier, I asked you to consider...
1.
Your routine...how you go through your
days...
2.
But not just how you put one foot in
front of another and go through your days and your weeks... but your routine
for how you think about your life...
3.
Hopelessness
= the firm conviction that nothing can change, that the life of despair is
bound to continue unrelentingly. - Do we
think like this - ever??? In any part/s
of our life????
4.
Do you belong?
5.
How desperate are you for YHWH in your life??
Difference
between these two women... one desperately pursuing healing and the other -
willing to move, but not looking for it - not pursuing it.
I
want to be the desperate one...
AMEIN.
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