When you are standing above the Mount of Olives on an overlook above Jerusalem and the city spreads out before you the words of the Psalmist come alive: Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together,” (Ps. 122:3).  The description could not be more appropriate for as one author noted “Even today, if you look at the Old City from a distance, it becomes a 2-dimensional patchwork of shapes as one building intertwines and is stacked upon another”.  It truly is a beautiful view.  The ancient limestone building appears to have soaked up an extra dose of sunbeams, the modern buildings reflect the sun like mirrors and the golden dome of Jerusalem’s most recognizable structure, The Dome of the Rock, appears to be the sun itself as sunlight bounces off its gold-leafed roof and all of this is topped by a cerulean blue sky that makes you wish the day could go on forever.
            The times that I have had the extraordinary blessing of taking in this view I have often imagined who may have stood there and felt the same way.  Of course Jesus did (Lk. 19:30-44), but who else?  Prophets, kings, disciples, dignitaries and tourists all have looked upon this city from this vantage point.  The prophet Zechariah ministered in this great city sometime between 520-489 B. C. and I’m sure that at some point in his ministry he stood here and looked upon a city that lay in ruins and wondered how the Lord was going to put it all back together.  While the first 8 chapters of his book focus on historical and contemporary events of the day, a call to repentance, an emphasis on holy living and 8 visions, chapters 9-14 are concerned with two “burdens” or messages for the people that look into the future and the coming of the Messiah in all His glory.  For Zechariah those words produced a vast amount of hope.
            In the final chapter of his book, Zechariah speaks of the Messiah’s powerful return to Jerusalem.  That return is so cataclysmic it completely alters the physical layout of the land.  At present a 3-D map of Jerusalem would reveal three parallel hills divided by two valleys and a third valley which runs along the base of the hills.  This topography runs vertically, east to west (somewhat like a W with a squared-off bottom).  But when the Messiah sets foot on the Mount of Olives upon His return (Zech. 14:4), the force of it splits open the Mount of Olives and produces a new valley which runs horizontally through it.  The earthquake will also open up a vast water supply buried deep below Jerusalem and a river will flow out of it in both a north and south direction.  While it appears to be an event counter to the natural world, it is all possible as Jerusalem lies within the great Jordanian Rift, a fault-line that is known to have produced sizeable quakes in the past.  Some have even been mentioned in Scripture (1 Kin. 19:11; Am. 1:1; Mt. 28:2; Ac. 16:26).
            In the midst of this amazing prophesy recorded mostly in the first person from the Lord’s perspective (Zech.14:1-21), Zechariah adds a very personal proclamation in 14:5.  We all know how natural catastrophes send people fleeing for shelter.  We have seen the aftermath of tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes plastered across the pages of our newspapers and our TV or computer screens, so we can easily picture the inhabitants of Jerusalem fleeing from what seems to be the earth opening up and swallowing the city whole.  Zechariah says, in essence, “Pay attention!  This is the time The Lord My God is going to come!” and He won’t be alone, a fact also noted by Jesus Himself (Mt. 25:31-46; Mk. 8:38; Lk. 9:26).  Natural events of this nature are always associated with God’s judgment and a tool by which He cleanses and restores both His people and the world He created (Gen. 6-8; Num. 16:1-36).  But why in the midst of such alarming events would Zechariah use such a personal and possessive title for the Lord?
            In the past 100 years there have been many wars and aggressive attacks between nations and people groups, political upheavals and natural disasters.  Jerusalem has been at the center of its fair share of turmoil.  Zechariah saw a similar situation in his lifetime.  And even parts of this prophecy were probably a cause for concern (see 13:7-9; 14:1-2) but Zechariah and those who heard his message were to take comfort in the fact that this was the way the Lord was working out His plan (14:3, 8-11, 16-17).  Have recent world events caused you to wonder what is going on?   Do the circumstances of this day and age make you think the world as we know it is rapidly drawing to a close?  While we will never know the exact day and hour (Zech. 14:6-7; Mk. 13:32) Zechariah’s affirmation, “The Lord my God” will come, should be a confirmation to you that whether we understand it or not, this is all a part of His plan and it ultimately leads to His return (14:5).  The question is, will you be ready (Mt. 24:36-43)?
Ann H. LeFevre, M. Div.
Week of 11/27/2016

            Seth could smell the bread cooling by the fire.  His stomach growled.  Grandmother seemed to be pre-occupied with another part of the meal.  It wouldn’t hurt to take a little nibble before anyone noticed.  Slowly he stretched out his fingers towards the delicious loaf.  “Seth!” his grandmother said sharply, “That is for dinner.  Leave it be.”  “But Grandmother, I’m starving!” he groaned.  “You’ll get your bread in due time just like our forefathers got the bread from heaven just when they needed it.”  Seth inwardly rolled his eyes.  How many times did he have to hear about the manna?  His grandmother must have read his thoughts because the look she gave him made Seth realize it was time to make a hasty retreat and find something else to do while he waited for dinner.
            I don’t know about you but I love freshly baked bread.  In fact baking bread was one of the things that Jeff and I liked to do when we were dating.  Recent health issues have forced me to curtail the amount of bread I eat, but I still love looking at the artisan breads on display at the Farmer’s Market.
A good bread “sticks to your ribs” as my grandmother used to say, but bread, like all food, eventually passes through your digestive system and you need more. 
            Spiritual bread is of a different nature.  It does not come from a field of grain that has been milled into flour which is then mixed with water into dough and baked in an oven.  In John 6:26-69 Jesus has a lengthy conversation with His followers about bread, specifically the manna of Ex 16:1-31.  Jesus says that while physical bread is valuable to the physical body (in that it nourishes and sustains a person), it only has temporal results (v.27).  He also notes that those who have come to see Him have given Moses the credit for providing their ancestors bread in the wilderness.  In reality Moses was as dependent on God to provide this bread as the people he was leading (v.32).  Like any other bread, the manna was a temporary fix.  Jesus tells them that there is a “Bread” which is far more satisfying than bread that falls from the sky; the Living Bread (v.51) and that those who eat this bread will live forever.
            The people’s response is predictable.  After all, we’ve all heard some product claim it is the answer to all our problems and have thought, “I need to get that!”  And that is exactly what the people say (v.34).  However, the supernatural bread that Jesus spoke about referred to His own body.  Although Jesus would be crucified and die He would also rise to live again.  As the Bread from Heaven, Jesus gives life to the world (v. 51).  His bread eternally nourishes those who receive it (v. 57).  One’s spiritual hunger is satisfied by its sustenance.  The Psalmist wrote, “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!  His mercy endures forever!” (Ps. 34:8)  Jesus admonishes us to make sure that we are not only fueling our physical body with bread, but that we are also feeding our spiritual needs with the Living Bread.
            If a Hollywood producer was turning this story into a screenplay at this point everyone would realize the error of their ways, repent and turn to the Living Bread.  But Hollywood is not real life and in this scenario, the opposite occurs.  Verse 60 tells us that many of Jesus’ disciples (not the inner circle of the 12, but those who gathered to hear His teaching) claimed that this teaching was “a difficult statement”.  They failed to see the metaphor and focused on the literal idea of “eating flesh and drinking blood” (v. 54-56).  Sadly many of those who’d seen His miracles and heard Jesus speak turned away from Him at this point (v.66).  Jesus turned to the 12 and asked them if they wanted to go as well.  Peter’s response is beautiful but bittersweet.  “Where could we go Lord?” he asks not knowing that he eventually would desert Jesus as well.  But for now Peter proclaims the truth, “You alone have words of eternal life” (v. 67).
            You and I are no different than the crowd.  We have no trouble with most of Jesus’ teaching.   We love that He is always with us (Mt. 28:20), that He wants us to come to Him with our troubles (Mt. 11:28-30), and He cares for us like a tender Shepherd (Jn. 10:11-15).  But what about the “hard sayings”; the ones that speak of sacrifice and dying to self (Mt. 16:24-27; 18: 7-9; 19:16-26; Mk. 8:34-38; 10:17-27; Lk. 9: 23-27, 57-62; 10: 25-28; 18:18-27)?  Most of us would prefer those to remain on the panty shelf like a box of crackers untouched and unopened!  Most people recognize that if they stop eating food, they will eventually starve to death.  Likewise, the problem with ignoring the harder sayings of Jesus is that we are then denying ourselves of the benefits of the Living Bread.  How is your spiritual diet?  Is it giving you the spiritual nutrition you need?
Ann H. LeFevre, M. Div.
Week of 11/20/2016

            My husband Jeff has the quirky habit of grabbing whatever utensil is handy in the dish drainer and stirring the cream into his coffee with it.  It doesn’t matter what the utensil is usually used for; if it’s handy at the moment he’s ready to stir, it gets used.  Sometimes this is true of the dishes too.  He particularly likes to eat ice cream out of the coffee mugs.  For someone like me, who uses a spoon for stirring and a bowl for ice cream, this odd little habit used to be rather annoying.  “After all,” my over-categorized brain reasoned, “that’s not what those things are made for!”  But through the years I’ve come to smile, shake my head and chalk it up as part of what makes Jeff “Jeff”.  I know I’ve got my own idiosyncrasies that make him shake his head as well!
            That humorous little difference between Jeff and myself is a great illustration of the way things are distinguished in the Bible.  Across the pages of Scripture there are three distinct categories of “being”: unclean, clean and holy.  In the world of ordinary and every-day life, the first two are predominant and can be applied to both people and objects.  The third category, holy, more often pertains to the nature of God so it is significant when something or someone is consecrated or changed from its common designated use to a holy one.  One scholar wrote, “The nature of consecration was to prepare the common for contact with that which was holy, the sacred realm, and the world of the Divine”.  This was important not only for objects and people, but the nation of Israel too and that was one of the Lord’s goals in establishing His covenant with them (Ex. 19:1-8).  The Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) not only contains the history of Israel’s story as a nation, it also contains a vast amount of rules, regulations and commands pertaining to how they will live out their relationship with the Lord (Lev. 19:1-2).
            The Book of Leviticus is perhaps the most pivotal book in the Bible for understanding the contrast between the common (sometimes referred to as the profane) and the sacred.  Chapter after chapter describes a specific routine or behavior that the Israelites MUST do in order to receive the blessings promised in the Mosaic Covenant and avoid the consequences of disobedience (Dt. 28).  And while it may seem that the ritual brought about holiness, nothing could be further from the truth.  In Leviticus 20:7-8 the Lord commands the people to “consecrate yourselves…and be holy for I am the Lord your God”.  He commands them to “keep” and “practice” His “statutes” (a word that means decrees, instructions or any synonym thereof as the word always reflects its context) because He is the One who sanctifies them.  The ritual was not meant to make them holy, but rather, cause them to realize their inability to be holy without the Lord’s help. 
            Some of the Lord’s prescriptions for holy living seem unusual to us now yet the object of obedience is not lost on us.  We understand the principle that God desires a certain kind of living from us.  He commanded the Israelites to “keep” His statutes.  This word means to carefully guard or watch over something and maintain it with a specific purpose and in the Hebrew this verb is always followed by another verb which indicates the manner in which it is to be done (see Gen. 17:9; 18:19; Dt. 4:6; 5:1 as examples).  In Leviticus 20:8, the people are to carefully watch over the Lord’s commandments in order to “practice” them, literally to do them.  This Hebrew verb (asah) is used frequently in the Old Testament and conveys a notion of performing an activity with a distinct purpose, a moral obligation or a goal in view (Dt. 16:12).  In this passage the reason for practicing the Lord’s commands is because He is the One who sanctifies them. 
            Peter when writing to the persecuted believers in Asia Minor used similar imagery.  He reminded them that they were a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a people for God’s possession”.  While Israel had been brought out of Egypt by God’s mighty hand, the believers of Peter’s day had been “called out of darkness into His marvelous light”.  Peter wrote that the purpose of this consecration was so that they could “proclaim the praises of the One” who made it all happen (1 Pet. 2:9).  I don’t know about you, but knowing that my faith in Christ has placed me in the company of these believers is great news.  I don’t have to figure out what my purpose in life is now.  I no longer have to worry if I’ve missed my calling.  My purpose is to sing the praises of the One who sanctified me.    It is often easy to forget that when I professed my faith in Christ, my life moved from the common or profane realm into a holy one.  But that is exactly what the Lord has done (2 Cor. 4:6)!
Ann H. LeFevre, M. Div.
Week of 11/13/2016

            Vines are really quite beautiful in my opinion.  The graceful way they curl and twist about their host has such an artistic appeal.  Cultivated vines, like the ones you see in a vineyard, are elegant and picturesque.  But some vines, although visually appealing, rob both nutrients and oxygen from their host until they completely kill it.  Covered with a massive and invasive vine the host appears to be full of life, but in reality, life is long gone.  Good or bad, there is one common element in all vines.  Unless the smaller branches are connected to the main branch, they will not produce fruit.
            Vineyards and vine cultivation was practiced in very specific regions in the ancient world.  In the Bible it appears that Noah is the first to plant a vine (Gen. 9:20).  As time went by the Sorek Valley in the foothills of southwest Jerusalem became Israel’s wine-making center (Is. 5:2; Jer. 2:21) and the area even had its own unique dark red grape.  Not only did vine growing take several years to establish, preparing the terrace gardens for the vineyards required labor-intensive construction and maintenance.  But the financial reward could be great since countries like Egypt did not have any regions good for grape-growing and therefore imported all their wine.
            The fact that vines are generally not cultivated from seeds but from plant cuttings and shoots is perhaps the most interesting aspect of vine growing.  Once established the vine could be manipulated in several ways.  Besides working the vine into a vineyard it could also be draped over a trellis, trained to climb a tree, or allowed to trail on the ground.  If a family or person was able to plant a vineyard it was a sign of a permanent settlement.  So the promise of houses, fields and vineyards returning to Israel after the exile in Jer. 32:15 probably gave a strong sense of hope to those who heard it.  And while most of us think of rows and rows of plush grape-laden vines when we think of a vineyard, Isaiah painted a different view of one in Is. 5:1-7.  The grapes of this vineyard are “beh-oo-seem” (phonetical spelling), which is usually translated as wild but actually means rotten.  The prophet explains that the useless vineyard in his parable represents the faithless house of Israel and its lack of response to the tender care of Yahweh.  Vineyards appear throughout the Scriptures in a number of scenarios (Ex. 22:5, 11; Lev. 19:10; Num. 22:24; Dt. 24:21; Jud. 15: 1-8; 21:13-25; 1 Sam. 8:14-15; Prov. 24:30; 31:16; Song. 2:10-13; Is. 16:10; Jer. 48:33; Mt. 20:1-16; Lk. 13:6-8; 1 Cor. 9:7; and more!) so it is no surprise that Jesus used a vine as one of His greatest illustrations.
            In John 15:1 Jesus uses imagery from the vineyard and proclaims, “I am the True Vine and My Father is the Vine-dresser” and again in verse 5 by saying, “I am the Vine and you are the branches”.   As the “true” vine, Jesus is opposite of that which is false.  Some vines may produce beautiful berries, but if they’re not edible, you’d better not eat them!  As the Vine-dresser, God the Father cultivates the vine by pruning away dead branches when they cease to bear fruit.  As the branches of Jesus’ vine, His disciples are to remain connected to Him.  For some this passage may evoke concern over the permanence of salvation, but it’s very important to keep the principles you draw out of a passage within the context.  The point here is not which branches will stay and which branches will be burned; the point is that fruitless branches are, well…fruitless!  As any vintner knows, branches which don’t produce fruit deplete nutrients and water from the branches that do.  So the branches which are healthy are therefore the ones the farmer wants to invest his time and energy on.  Simply put, Jesus is conveying the idea that we should stay connected to Him because that is the way our lives will be fruitful.  And not only will we be fruitful, we will also bring glory (doe-kah-zo) that is, recognition, honor and praise, to the One who tends our branch.
            Italy and France had long been powerhouses when it came to producing “the fruit of the vine” but in 1973 that changed.  At a competition held in New York State 14 experts blind tasted and ranked 23 Chardonnays from France, California and New York.  The results were shocking!  The top four spots went to California wines.  Three years later a similar event took place in France and once again, American wines landed in the winning spots.  It is a prestigious moment to win a wine competition, but Jesus says it is a far greater accomplishment to bring God glory by producing fruit He is pleased with (Gal. 5:22-23).  Are you connected to the True Vine?  If yes, then you will be producing the kind of fruit which makes others recognize Who did the tending (Mt. 5:14-16 with a slightly different metaphor).  But if you are not, perhaps it is time to reconnect with Jesus, for by remaining separated from Him, you will not be able to produce the fruit He is looking for (Jn. 15:5).  Far be it from me to produce a vine with rotten grapes!  I pray the same for you also.
Ann H. LeFevre, M. Div.
Week of 11/6/2016