Good morning bus riders!
Welcome to the ninth Sunday after Pentecost; or, as they say in the Episcopal Church: Proper fourteen.
Again, the Ordinary after Pentecost season reflects when oneself – You and me – should be filled with the Spirit of Yahweh, allowing each of our souls to be where the soul of Jesus resurrects – Spiritually – who then leads our bodies of flesh out into the world as ministers – in the Name of Jesus.
The problem is the common failure to teach the masses calling themselves Christians that each are expected to hear this call for ordination – by Yahweh – and serve Him as His Son reborn into flesh.
Instead of that being a common message taught by Church leaders – all denominations – we bow down before false shepherds who went to some educational institution, where a diploma was given and that allows a human being to be employed – become a Hired Hand – by a Church.
Those false shepherds do not know Yahweh personally. They do not know Jesus personally. All they know is the dogma taught to them by an educational institution.
That grows the number of lost souls in need of salvation, rather than decrease it.
Certainly, none of the false shepherds know they are that, or they would quit. So, they continue on; and, their flocks keep showing up at the manger for some hay and water.
Hay and water do not equate to Spiritual food.
Now, in the lessons for today, there is the theme of what a true priest of Yahweh – Jesus reborn – will face, when sent out in ministry into the world.
The reading selection from Isaiah 1 can be seen as a picture of Yahweh’s disgust with the Southern Kingdom’s direction, which took place near the time that the Northern Kingdom would be overrun by the Assyrians.
Just like going into a church today – of any denomination – and trying to stand up and speak, saying “You are doing this all wrong!” any such person would be shouted out of the building, with spit flying from the corners of those so-called Christians’ mouths.
One can expect this is the reaction Isaiah got (at times), because the kings of Judah were not always totally committed to serving Yahweh.
In verse one, which appears to state the period of time that Isaiah would be a prophet – a prophecy in itself – I found the meaning behind the names made that verse have far greater meaning.
I says: “the vision of Salvation Of Yahweh son of Strong , which he beheld , concerning Let Him Be Praised and Teaching Peace ; in the days of Yah[weh] Is My Strength Yah[weh] Is Complete He Has Grasped (as His possession) Yah[weh] Strengthens kings Praised.”
When read as intending to state that (rather than the names of people and places), it applies to everyone, at all times. We are those who should have visions of salvation of Yahweh. We are each called to be a son, born of the strength that is Jesus.
I welcome everyone to read what I wrote about this on my website, where I posted a commentary of Isaiah 1.
But, the point of verse one being added to a reading that is centered on verses ten through twenty, is while all are called to be like Isaiah, the vast majority of souls in the world do not respond to that call.
This includes all those souls who think they are doing the right thing, by offering animal sacrifices instead.
Yahweh clearly said through Isaiah, “I do not want animal sacrifices.”
There are so-called Christians today that think not burning animal carcasses on an altar is responding favorably to this said by Yahweh here in Isaiah. But that misses the point.
Animal sacrifices were part of a misled ritual … a practice based on reading holy tests incorrectly. The literal was what they were doing; but the literal was wrong.
Yahweh wants a soul figuratively slaughtered and burnt to nothing. That allows Yahweh’s Spirit to marry that self-sacrificed soul and have the soul of His Son – Jesus, a name meaning Yahweh Saves – come into one’s sacrificed soul, to be the Lord over that soul and its body of flesh.
It is a simple thing to see, when the literal is seen metaphorically, with divine assistance from Yahweh.
However, that would destroy all the systems of dogma that have made church organizations become powerful political lobbyists. They are in need of funds from flocks – shearing the wool regularly for profit – not telling individuals, “Go! Marry your souls to Yahweh and become His Son reborn. Then enter ministry in the name of Jesus!”
There is no money to be made in that message. The Temple of Jerusalem rulers knew that when Yahweh sent Isaiah; and, it held the same philosophy when Yahweh sent Jesus.
Today’s churches are no different.
Yahweh said through Isaiah, “Your hands are bloody,” where having blood on your hands is a saying that means one is responsible for someone's death.
The death of animals, instead of the death of self-ego makes anyone who acts as a slaughtered and anyone who acts as a priest of feasts of slaughter and anyone who partakes of the feast of slaughter has blood on their hands.
Yahweh then said, “Wash your souls clean.” This can only be done Spiritually, through divine marriage. It is the divine Baptism of Yahweh’s Spirit that washes all sins one is responsible for away.
Yahweh then said, “Cease to do evil,” which means be filled with the soul of Jesus – who is one with one’s soul and one’s Lord – because nobody can cease doing evil without being sent the goodness of Yahweh, which is His Son’s soul designed to save souls.
This means Isaiah – and all the prophets of Yahweh – are ministers whose souls have been washed clean by divine Baptism and they are all the soul of Yahweh’s Son resurrected, Lording over their souls and flesh.
This is what a Saint is. We are called to be Saints; but to become a Saint, someone has to teach us how to go about becoming one.
David was a Saint. He was Baptized by the Spirit when a boy. His leadership, as a model of what being a Saint means, led the people calling themselves Israelites to live up to the meaning behind the name Israel.
In Psalm 50, although not read aloud in Episcopal Churches, verse one says it is a psalm of Asaph. The word “Asaph” means “Gatherer.”
David was a gatherer of souls, as a Saint, who could teach those gathered how to likewise become Saints.
This is a companion song of praise to the Isaiah reading, because those lost sheep that do not know how to read between the lines need a good shepherd to teach them the truth. The people need a gatherer.
In verses one through eight, David sang the words sent to him by Yahweh’s Spirit, through his inner Lord, the Son of Yahweh. He wrote the word “elohim” (in one way or another) five times.
He sang, “elohim Yahweh has spoken and called the flesh to the rising of the light of truth until entering.” That says David was like Isaiah, whose vision of words is now a song of words for those gathered. They have been called to the “elevation” of souls to see the light of truth that comes from entering into a divine union.
This light of truth is then sang as the words, “elohim will shone forth.” The “elohim” is the Son of Yahweh within one’s soul, leading one to sainthood. One becomes a torch of truth to lead others to the truth.
This then leads to others also becoming Saints. Yahweh sang through David, “shall come our elohim.” This states all are possessed by a common soul, so all share the same Son of Yahweh within.
This led David to sing, “gather together to me my saints.” The true gathering of Saints is today called Christianity, but a Saint is a Christ; and, today’s churches have few saints, so few Christs … including those leading the people.
In verse seven, David sang, “: elohim your elohim I am.” When we read the last word ‘ “I am” – we fail to see the truth that “your elohim” is the Yahweh elohim created by Yahweh for the purpose of saving souls. That means “your elohim I am” says YHWH – “I Am that I Am.”
A Saint is an extension of Yahweh, as the hand of the Son reborn into flesh.
As a companion song to the disgust Yahweh saw in Isaiah, David sang, “not upon you I will rebuke your burnt offerings.” That says, “If I Am not upon you, as your elohim, do not try to act as if killing animals and burning their flesh saves your souls.”
This then leads to the Track 2 Old Testament selection from Genesis 15. This is commonly called the covenant between Yahweh and Abraham.
When this is read, it seems like Yahweh and Abram met at a Starbucks and sat in the corner discussing Abram being afraid some guy named Eliezer of Damascus was his only heir … a name not heard of before.
Like in Isaiah 1, where we are told of “a vision” leading him to the word of Yahweh, Genesis 15 says, “the word of Yahweh to Abram in a vision.” A “vision” that is the word of Yahweh is not a social chat in a marketplace.
This reading from Genesis must be seen as a prayer by Abram to Yahweh. Abram had been a soul married to Yahweh for minimally thirty years. He was in communication with Yahweh in Ur, at age seventy. This “vision” took place when Abram was ninety-nine years old. One can assume Abram married his soul to Yahweh much earlier in his life.
In this “vision,” Yahweh promised Abram his “reward will be great.” At age ninety-nine, Abram already had plenty of land and livestock to call his own; so, this promise was not for any form of material ‘reward.” It was the promise of eternal life beyond death.
The covenant with Abram was salvation.
When we hear Abram mention he has only Eliezer of Damascus as the benefactor of all his possessions, we get the wrong impression that Abram was complaining about not having a son.
The point Abram was making – knowing this is a prayer conversation, not a coffee house chat – was Abram’s promise of eternal salvation would be better if he could leave behind someone he had raised to also marry his soul to Yahweh and teach others to do the same.
That says Abram felt selfish, having sacrificed his own soul to Yahweh, while not being able to leave a legacy that led others to do the same.
When Yahweh is said to take Abram outside, we get the wrong impression that the two guys walked out of the Starbucks and looked up at the night sky. Yahweh’s “vision” that Abram saw in prayer became His word that spoke in metaphor.
When Yahweh showed Abram the “stars of heaven,” the word for “heaven” must be understood as the spiritual realm. This means the “stars” are the points of light that represent Abram’s soul, as he was married to Yahweh and one such point of light of Yahweh’s truth.
When Yahweh proposed Abram attempt to count all the points of light in the darkness, we get lost in the innumerability of such a feat. What we do not realize is each “star” is placed amid a sea of souls that are not points of light shining the truth of Yahweh’s salvation.
The lost souls are even more numerous. It is the “stars” that shine the light to the way of salvation. Yahweh then explained what he meant when he promised Abram “a great reward,” as it was not only his soul being saved but countless others would come as his descendants spiritually, who would become his legacy.
To begin that legacy, Yahweh promised Abram a physical son from his flesh to raise to be like him. That meant Abram would be the first of a lineage of Saints born onto the earth.
David was of that lineage. He was a descendant of Abram as a point of light of Yahweh’s truth. His Psalms sing praise to that truth.
The companion Psalm 33 then begins at verse twelve, because there David sang, “Blessed people whose Yahweh – elohaw people – the people he has chosen as an inheritance.” This sings of all other points of the light of truth as being possessions of Yahweh, just as Abram’s soul was.
All “stars” in the darkness are possessed by “elohim,” as the “people chosen by Yahweh as an inheritance.” That “inheritance” is the promise made to Abram – “the great reward” of salvation.
David then sang, “from heaven he looks Yahweh – he sees in all sons of Adam,” where “heaven” is the spirituality of one’s soul. When a soul has married Yahweh, it then projects His light of truth as a “son of Adam” – the Son of Yahweh resurrected.
David then sang, “behold! the eye of Yahweh is on those who fear him.” This says the commandment to fear only Yahweh is obeyed. All souls that “fear” self-sacrifice become blinded by the darkness that is absent of His light of truth.
David then sang that a divine commitment to Yahweh would “deliver” a soul “from death.” Death is the state of the flesh, which leads a soul to damnation. When the flesh dies, the soul is left to pay the price of its sins. Deliverance is salvation or condemnation.
When David sang, “because in name his sacredness we have faith,” that states a divine marriage that makes a wife-soul take on the “name” of Yahweh. The sacrifice of the old for the eternal new that is a saintly life in the “name” of Jesus.
The “trust” that overcomes a soul is from the personal experience of the Spirit and the Son, which elevates a soul far beyond beliefs from hearsay.
It must be seen that all the prophets were Saints and all the Saints have true faith, which is far greater than simple beliefs. Faith comes from personal experience. Isaiah knew the word, as did Abram, from “visions.” David had dreams in which the voice of Yahweh would come to him, inspiring him to get up an apply music to the word.
It is the faith that Paul then wrote of in his letter penned in Hebrew (versus Greek). He said “faith” was the possession “of expectations” that were “support” or “assurances.” This means “faith” is a personal experience that knows the future comes with “expectations” of one’s soul and one’s Spirit, with the “assurance” of an additional soul that is one’s known Lord.
Paul then said he and all other true Christians were those “stars” that shone just like the “ancient ones,” from whom they descended. Paul then said the lineage that connected them all was “the word of God,” consistent through the “ages.”
Paul then began to recite the story of Noah, which is not read, before telling the story of Yahweh’s covenant with Abram and also Sarai.
The two of them brought forth one son – Isaac – but when Paul mentioned Jacob, saying the two were “join heirs” or “co-inheritors,” this leaves out mention of Esau. Esau was a physical son of Isaac – the elder of two twins – but Esau’s birthright was stolen by Jacob, with Esau not blessed by Isaac. Instead, he cursed him.
This says the “co-inheritors” of Abram’s covenant were only those souls who married Yahweh and became His Son resurrected in the flesh. Jacob would become Israel spiritually. Thus, bloodline has nothing to do with a spiritual inheritance – the promise of eternal salvation of a soul.
When Paul wrote of the “stars” that were so impossible to count, he then added a comparison to the grains of sand on the shore by the sea.
When you think about this similarity, each grain of sand has been worn down to an individual, which cannot me merged with another grain of sand. Each is separate. As such, so are each soul born into human flesh. When our flesh has been worn down to the death that is dust and clay, the baptism of Yahweh’s Spirit leaves just the souls. These are like the countless grains of sand by the seashore.
All of us will eventually return to a grain of sand. To be a star amid the darkness and a soul judged saved, one has to have married Yahweh, received His Spirit of cleansing, along with the resurrected soul of His Son Jesus.
A grain of sand holds the lasting value of truth that is the word of Yahweh.
This then leads to the Gospel reading from Luke, where Jesus seems to be telling a different version of the parable he told in Matthew, referred to as that of the Ten Virgins.
The story here begins with Jesus calling his disciples “a small flock,” which is reference to them being Yahweh’s souls, who had been lost but were found and under the care of their Good Shepherd.
Jesus did not tell them “not to fear.” Instead, he made a statement that they did “Not” possess “fear.” This is because, as “a little flock” of Yahweh’s souls, Yahweh found ‘delight” in their being found and returned to the fold.
The presence of Jesus as their Good Shepherd then made them all be able to refer to Yahweh as their Father, which meant they were all “brothers” of Jesus – the Son of Yahweh. As possessions of Yahweh, they were assured a place in the kingdom.
When we read of Jesus telling them (somewhat strangely) to sell their possessions and give alms, one should question, “If they sell their possession and give alms, then what happens when they run out of cash and have no more possessions to sell?”
The answer is Jesus did not give that command. Instead, he pointed out how their souls had been divinely “Exchanged” (not “Sold”), so their souls were then the “possessions” of Yahweh. That divine union – a marriage made in heaven – meant Jesus was their Lord. The “alms” (or “mercy”) “given” to them should then be “given” to others, in ministry as Jesus reborn.
Each of their souls should become “purses” that forever retain that divine value within, which was a “value” that never failed them. It was spiritual, as one with their souls, so nothing could take that away from them or destroy it.
This was a covenant made by Jesus (up to each individual soul to maintain, to ensure it) that promised all his disciples would become Saints in his name. However, as disciples they were like the bridesmaids who each had a lamp to keep filled with oil, for when the time came to be Jesus reborn.
This allusion to the Ten Virgins and a need to keep their “lamps burning,” then morphs into a variation of the parable of the wedding feast, where each was invited to go and be prepared – awake and vigilant – to open the door to the wedding feast when their master returned.
This makes keeping one’s lamp always full of oil, so it burns brightly at all hours of the day and night, which symbolizes the readiness when the bridegroom arrives. Only those who are awake will be taken in divine marriage.
Jesus then said that the vigilant will be allowed to recline – a sign of the Passover Seder meal feast – and Jesus will then serve them, just as he would serve his disciples during his final Seder meal.
When Jesus then told them that if the time a thief would come to break in one’s dwelling – one’s soul-flesh – then the thief would be stopped. That level of vigilance is an impossibility for flesh, which cannot stay awake forever. The flesh is made of death, so it is constantly in need of returning to that like state that is sleep.
The thief – known by Judas Iscariot – was Satan, who waited for bridesmaids whose lamps would run out of oil and leave them in darkness – a state of sleep on-setting. That would open the door of opportunity for Satan to steal a sheep from the fold.
In verse thirty-eight, which the NRSV translates as saying, “If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so [guarded-vigilant], blessed are those slaves,” the parts that says “ middle of the night, or near dawn” are incorrectly translated.
The reality of the Greek written says, “kai with to this to second kai if this third guarding he comes,” where “the second” is not a time of night, but a statement about the resurrection of the soul of Jesus “within to this” soul of a sacrificial sheep.
This is the meaning of the name Ephraim, which is “Doubly Fruitful.” One becomes “Doubly Fruitful” when one’s soul sacrifices to Yahweh in marriage and is reborn as His Son in the flesh.
The meaning of the “third guarding” – an important “if” scenario – speaks of the Trinity that is Father, Son, and Spirit together “guarding” over the sheepfold.
This becomes the truth of being “blessed,” as it means another descendant of Abram will walk the face of the earth, telling those who offer animal sacrifices, instead of their own souls, “You are going the wrong way!”
Speaking of going somewhere, I see the bus pulling up now, so I will end.
Please take care of your souls by marrying them to Yahweh and letting Jesus enter your souls as your personal Good Shepherd.
I look forward to seeing you all again next Sunday.
Amen