Sunday Mornings

"Yom Kippur! Yom Kippur!! Yom Kippur!!!" shouted the children with glee as they raced towards me. I was under my fig tree after just reciting the Shema Yisrael for the evening sacrifice. "Rabbi, we have come to learn about Yom Kippur. We love hearing your stories." cried the children. "Okay children. Gather round. But first, I must get some water and a towel to wash your feet and some bread to eat while you listen to me." The children were dazzled as it was not customary for Rabbis to wash the feet of their disciples; nevertheless, if that was a condition to listen to my esteemed stories, they were ready to act along. I began my story, "The 10th day of the Jewish month of Tishri (September or October in the Gregorian calendar) is the Day of Atonement. You know, the day everyone gets to transfer their sins onto something else (usually animals though) and they are taken away from them and they become purified. But why Atonement? As we all know the G...

...Well, quite some years have passed and honestly, no ram gets to live as long as I have. My mates are all gone. Even the younger generation. I am LAMB of the previous story witnessing our Savior's birth. Only I am no longer a lamb. I should be what you'd call a grandfather, except Sheep, don't keep family rites, especially the males. We just live. Neither ending nor beginning. But call me LAMB. The dust of the Negev has given my shaggy coat a nearly exotic red tint. Our Trek is punctuated by short stops to rest and water the livestock. We travel more at night when it's cooler. The days are treacherous. Ima is long dead (Hashem bless her heart). I smile faintly in recollection. I shall face a similar fate at the end of this journey. I mean, what ram lives to be 30 and 3 years... A low chuckle escapes my throat. There's a little dust devil to the west of us. Our caravan leader doesn't think it will delay us at all. A man with some metal instruments carelessly d...

But they all cried out together, "Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas" Luke 23:18 Many years ago, a Jewish crowd was presented with 2 choices: Barabbas and Jesus. Surprisingly, they both had a lot in common than we realise on the surface. Barabbas, when translated from Hebrew means Son of the Father . Coincidentally, throughout Jesus’ short ministry, He proclaimed Himself to be the Son of the Father (Son of God) . So, it was, therefore, a choice of “ which Son of the Father would the crowd choose ?” And they rejected Jesus and condemned Him to be crucified ( Matthew 27:15-23 ). The Jews, even those close to Jesus had a form of Messiah they would have loved Jesus to come in or operate in ( Luke 24:19-24 ). This is not just typical of the first century Jews. When we are presented with the same choice that faced the Jewish crowd, how often do we choose the true Son of the Father; how often do we choose rather, a Son of the Father of our own making? How true are the sa...

Held bound by sin, fear and unbelief, it was evident that we couldn't make our way out. We, the captives couldn't set ourselves free. We were obviously incapacitated captives, imprisoned in the grip of a treacherous captor, who would not grant release just because we wished to be free. We saw our mess, recognised it but couldn't get out of it. Freedom seemed so out of reach, the more we reached for it, the more we reclined into our mess. We were truly angry at our state, but that didn't help, the captor just had the pleasure of letting us sink deeper into the mess we had become.  The long nights of struggling with masturbation, pornography and all forms of secret sins, the clear days of struggling to get through without being dishonest or just " falling short" of God's standards, of making direct promises but falling back into the pit. The jailer stood by and watched with an evil smirk, watching us try and fail again and again. The chains had completely ...

Audio Transcript   The death of Moses was significantly tragic for the Children of Israelites. A seemingly unreplaceable vacuum had been created, for he was someone whom the Lord knew face to face (Deut 34: 10). They grieved for Moses on the plains of Moab for 30 days (Deut 34:8). The Israelites now wondered who they would look up to guide them to the Promised Land. However, God does not leave His people without guidance. Shortly before Moses died, He laid hands on Joshua who was then filled with the Spirit of Wisdom to lead the people. Joshua was a man who stood out among his peers. This was seen when He and Caleb brought a good report and believed that God would help them succeed; contrary to the remaining 10 spies sent for exploration (Num 14:30). Joshua, now the elder leading the newbies of Israel because the previous generation had phased out. This new generation did not see the great works that the hand of God executed in Egypt and the Red sea. Because all those men which...

  And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. Gen 22:13 Let us take a step back and read the 3 verses before this: Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now, I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me." Gen 22:10-12 Sounds straight out of a Disney movie right? Just at the nick of time; salvation at the 11th hour. This is a story that is very well known. But every time I have heard this story being told, it is said from Abraham's standpoint. What if, perhaps, there is something to learn from Isaac? This month we will be taking many studies to i...