By Brian Kelly
In the noonday heat and the dust of the road, the two men walked;
There had been a turning round in their thinking. And a turning round in their heart. Toward sin, what it did to one and made one. And toward righteousness.
Now there was much they wanted to know. Much they had no answers for, and troubled over yet. Much they so wanted to ask the Teacher…
`Uncertain how to approach Him, and rather afraid, the two men followed at some distance behind Jesus…
Then Jesus opened the Way: He turned To them, and said, “What are you seeking?”
O Teacher, To be right with God, To be right with others, To be right with ourselves—O, to be made whole…To find that something good of ourselves that—somewhere, somehow—had been lost… O, To know that love for God, To have that passion of heart and soul for Him…And to know His love for us…To see what we do not See, hear what we do not Hear…O, to have with you more than a few words here in the road…
“Teacher, where are you staying?”
It was their hearts—confessing poverty, crying out in need—that spoke for them.
“Come,” said Jesus, “and you will see.”
Come—and you shall wash and cool your feet, and we will sit and be easy, and together we will think on these things troubling you—and you will See
Jesus had invited them to fellowship with Him. To spend the day with Him. To eat with Him of the Same bread.
Now when the values of one man and another are contrary, their attitudes opposed, their creeds clash—like buckler against buckler, there can be no fellowship between them; They do not eat of the Same bread.
And when a man turns his back to Love and makes Pride his value, self-glory his attitude, and privilege his creed, there can be No fellowship with God. No open sharing of Like hearts and minds. No talk that is close and Familiar. No thinking with Him on things so as to Understand…
What is there for the Proud man to understand, when he “Knows it already”?
The loss of fellowship with God Was the consequence of The Fall: The turning Away from God and all that He is, and turning To all that is contrary to Him, To eat of A different bread.
Yet God would have us Come, to eat of the same bread, and See, to think with Him on things. To understand. How could we keep His torah, Teaching (not Law), otherwise? That is, how can we Hold dear what we do not understand? We Are to shama, hear Intelligently, not Obey, His words.
Would God give us Volition only to Smash us into submission if we do not Obey Him?
And would God Command what can Not be commanded: to love Him? to love others?
God does not Command us. Or Force us. The Hebrew word tsavah means To point out the way. God points out the Way. The Choice Is ours. And Must be freely made, if anything True is to result…
And God Is a God of truth.
The problem with man is his Unwillingness to think on things and to think them through.
When a man says No to God, he says Yes to what is false. He turns not only from God’s Nature, but also from his own. From a nature that Gives—hands and heart—fully and beautifully, to a Self that Takes—takes in every proud, self-glorifying and close-handed sense…
Is there Any question what this does to a man and makes him?
The Choice Is ours. To eat with Him of the Same bread. Or to eat of A different bread…
To have Life. Or to know it…Not.
