Jesus said the Shema

 

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. 

Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, 

“Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: 

‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

(Mark 12:28-31, New Testament)

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

(Deuteronomy 6:4-8)

Why Are You Afraid?

 

And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Matthew 8:26-27

The Savior of Israel

 

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is 

no other name 

under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. 

Acts 4:12 

Vampire

 

I am dead thirsty. I lap up the life of others, never quenching nor satisfying that longing within me for more. I am a vampire, always in quest of. I am enslaved by desperate pursuit. Ravenous and manic, I seek you. I come for you because I need the life in your veins. I need.

I can’t count my victims. Too many are they.

I see my next meal, a strange man on a vacant road. I approach slowly to stalk him. He is a lighted figure in a fold of darkness, as if he holds the sun within himself. His silhouette stands out against the evening. His mere existence is an annoyance to me. He neither cowers nor defies as I approach. He meets me eye-to-eye. It is infuriating.

His face is weathered, beaten and bruised, but serene. His hands scarred, horrific torment have they endured or given. Perhaps I have met a monster like me. I size him up. I can take him. The blood on his hands looks like it has been there for an eternity, though it has the stench of freshness.

He appears to know me. At the very least, he knows what I am about to do. And he doesn’t seem to mind. I attack with precision, injecting my fangs and drawing the blood. Slowly, deliberately, deliciously I drink in the depth of life from his neck. Almost instantly I realize this lifeblood is different. A surge, more like a punch, hits me head-on somehow. I reel, a bit, but return to the drink, drawing in its warm fulfillment. But again, it strikes me. It reaches me, deep within and takes me.

My limbs, my muscles, my entire being staggers and halts like a rushing freight train suddenly stopped by unseen hands. The cells of my body rebel, turning against me, and begin to transform. They are becoming something else.

As if I have no control over my being, they twist and coil without my direction or input. I am being remade. I find myself eagerly accepting this new thing, hungering and thirsting for it with all the desperation of my previous pursuit. Everything within me cries out. Astonished, I feel a presence seeping into me, filling my hunger. I am bloated with it, round and plump with this life. My thirst, palpable and parched, is satiated as if with a flood. I am overwhelmed.

I look into the eyes of my victim, a suddenly strong and invincible presence. His eyes are the color of me. His hands and arms around me, as though I were the prey, he does not look away. And in that moment I realize the blood on his hands is his own. This cannot be. A mythical creature, this; I do not believe in Jesus.

When he spoke he said my name as if he'd known it forever. I can’t tell you what that did to me. But I can tell you I will never thirst again, not ever.

I wrote this in 2008. It appeared then on a now closed site, Gather.com.

I posted it here in 2019, 2021, and now in 2024. It's one of my favorites.

The Light of the World

 

Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. 

It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 

John 10:22-23

Do you know who He is?

 

Matthew 2:6

And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

  are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

  for from you shall come a ruler

  who will shepherd my people Israel.

Micah 5:2

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

  who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

  from you shall come forth for me

  one who is to be ruler in Israel,

  whose coming forth is from of old,

  from ancient days.

Jesus

 

Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ?

He is real.

He longs to give you peace.

What have you heard about Him?

If you have heard something that makes you turn away 

in fear or disgust, it is not true.

He is the Savior.

He is the Jewish Messiah.

He is real and He longs to comfort you.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, 

that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:1-15

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

No Other Words to Say

 

And Now

 

A new Asbury Revival? And now spreading:

We need this. I mean the whole world, right?

Do you need this?

Light of the World

 

I am the light of the world. 

Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness 

but will have the light of life. 

John 8:12

Jesus Celebrated Hanukkah

Then came Hanukkah; it was winter in Jerusalem. Yeshua was walking in the Temple around Solomon’s Colonnade. Then the Judean leaders surrounded Him, saying, “How long will You hold us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us outright!” Yeshua answered them, “I told you, but you don’t believe! The works I do in My Father’s name testify concerning Me. 

John 10:22-25 TLV

Yeshua is the Hebrew form of the name of Jesus.

The TLV is the Tree of Life Version popular with Jewish believers in Jesus.

Here it is in the King James Version:

And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.

Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, 

How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.

Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: 

the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. 

John 10:22-25 KJV

Do you know who He is,

and why He came to you?

He is the Messiah, the Savior of the world.

Happy Hanukkah if you celebrate it too.

And if you don't, Happy Hanukkah anyway!

Who can fix this?

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

What do you know?

 

You worship what you do not know; 

we worship what we know, 

for salvation is from the Jews. 

John 4:22

Vampire (an oldie and a re-post)

I am dead thirsty. I lap up the life of others, never quenching nor satisfying that longing within me for more. I am a vampire, always in quest of. I am enslaved by desperate pursuit. Ravenous and manic, I seek you. I come for you because I need the life in your veins. I need.

I can’t count my victims. Too many are they.

I see my next meal, a strange man on a vacant road. I approach slowly to stalk him. He is a lighted figure in a fold of darkness, as if he holds the sun within himself. His silhouette stands out against the evening. His mere existence is an annoyance to me. He neither cowers nor defies as I approach. He meets me eye-to-eye. It is infuriating.

His face is weathered, beaten and bruised, but serene. His hands scarred, horrific torment have they endured or given. Perhaps I have met a monster like me. I size him up. I can take him. The blood on his hands looks like it has been there for an eternity, though it has the stench of freshness.

He appears to know me. At the very least, he knows what I am about to do. And he doesn’t seem to mind. I attack with precision, injecting my fangs and drawing the blood. Slowly, deliberately, deliciously I drink in the depth of life from his neck. Almost instantly I realize this lifeblood is different. A surge, more like a punch, hits me head-on somehow. I reel, a bit, but return to the drink, drawing in its warm fulfillment. But again, it strikes me. It reaches me, deep within and takes me.

My limbs, my muscles, my entire being staggers and halts like a rushing freight train suddenly stopped by unseen hands. The cells of my body rebel, turning against me, and begin to transform. They are becoming something else.

As if I have no control over my being, they twist and coil without my direction or input. I am being remade. I find myself eagerly accepting this new thing, hungering and thirsting for it with all the desperation of my previous pursuit. Everything within me cries out. Astonished, I feel a presence seeping into me, filling my hunger. I am bloated with it, round and plump with this life. My thirst, palpable and parched, is satiated as if with a flood. I am overwhelmed.

I look into the eyes of my victim, a suddenly strong and invincible presence. His eyes are the color of me. His hands and arms around me, as though I were the prey, he does not look away. And in that moment I realize the blood on his hands is his own. This cannot be. A mythical creature, this; I do not believe in Jesus.

When he spoke he said my name as if he'd known it forever. I can’t tell you what that did to me. But I can tell you I will never thirst again, not ever.

I wrote this in 2008. It appeared then on a now closed site, Gather.com.

Life

 

You have made known to me the paths of life.... 

Acts 2:28a

Jesus in Japan

 

Words of Jesus

 

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

John 14:18-19

This Passover

Behold! The Lamb of God 

who takes away the sin of the world!

John 1:29

The Flower Child and Jesus

This is a video by the documentary filmmaker David Hoffman. 

If you get a chance to watch his channel on You Tube, it is full of these gems. He somehow inspired a diverse group of people to talk about their deepest feelings and life-shaping experiences. 

This is the story of a young woman talking about her life in the 1960's and 1970's. It was recorded in 1990. She says something interesting that struck me. She says she did not adopt the culture of born-again Christianity because she still enjoyed nature and health foods. I am not quite sure what she meant by that. I know believers who eat healthy and love nature. Maybe things were different when she was talking about this. I really don't remember. Enjoy!