Spirituality and Tech

Now we come to “Good” Friday, which, if you have followed my argument so far, was actually the midpoint of the 3 days in the grave. Traditionally, this is when we remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross. If we were thinking historically and contextually, we would see that the crucifixion likely happened on Wednesday afternoon, not Friday afternoon. This does not negate or detract what He did for us, but it does help the story to make more sense, because I cannot think of a culture where Friday afternoon- early Sunday morning equals 3 days. That is not how the Jews reckon time. For Jewish reckoning, days start at sundown, and end at the next sundown. By that reckoning, He died at the end of Friday, was in the grave all day on the Sabbath, and was raised around sunrise on Sunday. That makes it just a hair over 1 day, not 3. The writers of the Gospel accounts were Jews, except for Luke. Think about it. If Jesus died around 3 PM on Friday (about 3 hours before the Sabbath was to begin), they would not have that as a day. You make up your mind. Let me know what makes sense to you in the comments.

In reality, this likely happened on Tuesday or Wednesday, not Thursday. I honor the tradition, as it makes sense to split things up a bit, but even with the way that these events are presented in the Gospels, it seems more bang, bang, bang than there being a couple of days where nothing remarkable happened. So, if the Last Supper happened on Tuesday night, then the arrest was that night, the trial was that night and into Wednesday, and the crucifixion was on Wednesday, He was dead and buried by the beginning of the High Sabbath of Passover (which lasted 3 days, from sundown on Wednesday to sundown on Saturday. Normal Sabbath is sundown Friday – sundown Saturday. This, being the highest of the Feasts, has an extra long time of rest for the people. This gives us 3 days in the grave, Thursday-Saturday. He was probably raised in the middle of the night on Saturday (as we understand it).

Here we are on the Day of Preparation, which would be after the Fig Tree on Tuesday, and Jesus sends the Peter and John to find accommodations for them to each the Passover Meal. This story opens with Jesus speaking prophetically about what they will find in the city. As I wrote this, it hit me that perhaps the term should be that He manifested what he desired, then they found it just as He had said. Remember, he had just taught them about faith earlier in the day, and who knows what he taught on in the Temple that day. So I’m going to say that Jesus manifested the Upper Room to that it would be exactly as He desired for them. Prove me wrong.

The cleansing of the temple. In most accounts, this happened just after the fig tree incident, a day or two after Palm Sunday. That is why I chose to put this on the Monday of Holy Week. Over the course of the week, I will show that the traditional accounts are incorrect in terms of when what happened. Why did Jesus clear the money changers and merchants out of the Temple courts? Why was he so upset by this situation? He knew that these individuals and systems, while originally intended to make life easier for the faithful, ultimately created a very oppressive situation. These bankers and merchants extorted the poor who came to worship and sacrifice. How is a church bookstore or coffee shop any different from these men who interfered with the people’s desire to be with God as best they could. The Temple was meant to point to the reality that after Jesus died, was raised, and ascended into heaven, we would each be our own place to meet with God, our own place where God can commune with us. It became a horrible situation, run by money-grubbing, power-hungry men (not all of the ones on the Sanhedrin matched this description, but most did). Jesus could not brook that continuing, so at the Spirit’s urging, he fashioned a whip out of cords and kicked all of that marketplace nonsense to the curb. What elements in your temple might need cleansing today? God is not against us providing for ourselves, as long as that provision does not preclude us from being with Him. If it becomes the center of who we are, and starts to control our lives, then God will probably desire to cleanse our respective temples.

As Jesus and the 12 were returning to Jerusalem after Palm Sunday, Jesus saw a fig tree in leaf, but it was barren, so he cursed it because he was hungry. The next day, when they came back to the City, the tree was withered from the root. The disciples, particularly Peter, were stunned at that development, so Jesus used it as a teaching moment for them, on the nature of faith. What faith did it take for Jesus to end the life of that tree? This translation says that it was instant, most say that it happened by the next day. Either way, though, the tree withered in very short order after Jesus cursed it, and he taught them about the nature of faith and what it can do when wielded properly. Much ink has been spilled on this topic, and I will not add much more to it. Where is your faith? What is faith, as you understand it? Let me know in the comments.

Father, As we enter Holy Week this year and stop to look at your Son’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, be with us. Help us to join in the joy of the day. Help us to hear Him clearly in the text. Help us to feel and smell the dust from the road, the wind and the sweat from the throngs of people who greeted Him in defiance of Empire. Jesus, help us to feel your heart for Jerusalem, for Your people. Holy Spirit, help us to join in with what you desire for us in this moment. In Jesus’ name, Amen. It is a warm, breezy day as Jesus prepares to ride to Jerusalem from Bethany. He dispatches two of the twelve to borrow a young, unbroken donkey’s foal from a local person. He knows much of what will transpire in the next week, and the human side of Him relishes in the approbation that He knows He will receive that day, but then balances that against the reality of what will be coming later in the week, whether sooner, or later. I don’t think that He knew that He would be raised from the dead, but I think the Father let Him know that the cross was coming, that these who cheered so loudly for Him would so easily be turned against Him. Against that internal backdrop, the two who He sent out to find the donkey come back with the animal, with jubilation because all was as the Master had said it would be. They catch a glimpse of Jesus’ face as a cloud passes over it. Jesus shakes off the thoughts and feelings He was having, then tells them to get the others, because it is time to go to Jerusalem. Two of them lay their cloaks on the animal’s back, then mounts the young donkey, and they set out on the 2 mile trip from Mary & Martha’s place to the gates of Jerusalem. Just a little way into the trip, a crowd begins to throng around the road, cutting and placing palm branches, waving cloaks, and crying out: “Hosanna! Hosanna to the Son of David!!!!” “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!” Then, almost on cue, the pharisees get Jesus’ attention: “Shut them down! Don’t you realize what this could look like to the Romans?” I see Jesus laughing at them, but not at THEM, but the spirits behind them, then He grins from ear to ear, and shouts, over the crowd: “If I silence them, the very ROCKS themselves will begin to cry out, and you will hear it.” That shut the pharisees down, though I sense that they simply added it to their “list”, and got even more angry with Him because He didn’t bow the knee to their demands, so they went to plot about how they could take Him down. They hated that they could not control Him, their pressure meant nothing... It was almost as though He was challenging them to do something about Him and His message. It was a clash of Kingdoms. A war of the worlds, so to speak. Jesus knew that He had come to die, not that He wanted to suffer, but was committed to the Father’s rescue plan, as we have talked about in our recent memesplanations on theosis. I love that other interpretation of why Jesus came. It wasn’t because we were basically evil, though we have become bent in that direction over time. It was to restore relationship and communion with us, and to open the way to experience communion with God even here, if we will empty ourselves of ourselves, and learn to love one another in the way that we were originally designed to. It is that simple. Heaven is union with God. That is why Jesus came. This is Holy Week, and this week, I will post short reflections on the events of that week, with an eye towards convincing you that perhaps the traditional account doesn’t make sense in terms of time. The meaning of the events is the same, but perhaps most of the action happened in the first 4 days of the week, from Sunday-Wednesday, rather than skipping about 2 days, and truncating the 3 days Jesus was supposed to be in the grave to 1-1.5 days. Never sat right with me... At any rate, tune in for those, here on the Spirituality & Tech channel on Rumble.

John 17, Jesus’ prayer for us. How can we be One as God is One? How can we have God’s glory? That sort of unity, that sort of love has not been seen in the Church as a whole since the end of the First Century, at least. Since then, we have tended to grow more and more concerned with doctrinal minutiae, and justifying our own factions’ existence. Holy Spirit, I ask that you would bring unity in the Body of Christ. Help us to love one another as You, Jesus, and the Father love one another. Help us to focus on what really matters, and depend on you for the rest, that we would stop sniping at each other across the lines of tradition and stream.

Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, praying to the Father in a loud voice. Earlier in the passage, Jesus assures Martha that they will see glorification here on earth. That certainly sounds like theosis. If we are in Christ, then we have access to that promise, as I understand it. We have talked about how we get to that place over the last 4 weeks, do you think that this passage suggests this reality? if we are in Christ, then His Father is our Father. Our Father is able to do far more than we could ever ask, through and for us. When we are one with Him, our desires will be in line with His, and He will grant whatever we ask.

Here we see Jesus call Peter and Andrew to “Follow Me”, this process would utterly transform these fishermen into two of the best known figures in Christianity, and by extension, the world. They were both martyred in different ways in different places, but they never would have had the cojones to speak the Name of Jesus if they had chosen to stay on the boat, with what they knew. Little did they know that their lives would change so radically based on the choice to follow Jesus. Little did they know that they would learn to Love so completely...

Back to Paul today, here, he tells us that Jesus has started the work in us to become like Him, and He will complete it. He tells us that the Holy Spirit is working to make us COMPLETELY HOLY and flawless. This sounds like Wesleyan perfection, but also lends itself to the current discussion, doesn’t it? Does this sound like “a sinner, saved by grace”? Orthodoxy does not deny the struggle of Flesh versus Spirit, but the focus is on what is to come, should we choose to take the path of self-denial that is kenosis, which is the heart of the Christian walk. That is how we can be completely holy and flawless before God. Learning to love one another as He loves us.

Here, we see Jesus taking on the meanest of tasks, washing the foul, filthy feet of his disciples, who had been walking around in sandals through the dusty streets of Jerusalem and the Judean countryside. Peter tries to deny Jesus the task, but then Jesus told him that if he did not allow Jesus to wash his feet, then Peter would have no part in Him. This is a symbol of the kenosis we spent so much time on last week. If the Lord wants to wash your feet today, let Him. This is has been a public service announcement from Spirituality & Tech.

God’s perfect love removes fear. Fear of punishment, fear of man, fear of lack, fear of failure, fear of rejection. It also paved the way for us to join in with the existence of the trinity, that of perfect love and community. Jesus has raised us up to have that which He stepped out of when he became incarnate, through His love for us. God wanted all of His image-bearers to be able to be united in Him, so He sent Jesus to show us how and to make it possible for us. That is the nature of the Love of God, it gives godself without thought of godself. Let that blow your mind today.

Father, Send Your Holy Spirit to guide us and knit us together in love, that we would learn to love. That we would truly prefer one another and have that as a testimony in the world, rather than legalism and fractious competition. Let that shift in each of us unlock the way forward to greater unity with You. Help us to take the meat, so to speak, and throw out the bones. Help us to grasp the depth of this topic and cause that to birth a greater desire for you. In Jesus’ name, Amen In the last month, we have looked at definitions and scriptural references for the concept of theosis. I have a suspicion that if we grow closer to God on an individual level, then the larger divisions in the Church will start to fall away. I really love John 17, and you’ll see a glimpse of that in Saturday’s memesplanation. So, what is theosis? Theosis is the doctrine, from the Eastern Orthodox side of the family tree, that teaches that the purpose of salvation is that we would be able to be united with God in some way. This takes not only identity work, but a complete 180 in how we relate with the world. I say that it takes identity work because until we realize who and whose we are, in Christ, this whole process is unlikely to ever take place in us. We need to know that we do not need to defend ourselves because our Father will always protect us. We need to know that we are so loved by Him, that even were it only for one of us, He would have still sacrificed Himself to be reconnected with that one human being. Yes, even you. Yes, even me. Then, as we become rooted and grounded in that love, the next step is to allow it to flow out from us. Love on people. Bless them. Do not be concerned with reciprocation, let God deal with those who don’t handle it well. Love without boundaries or limits, as the Lord guides you. Yes, as you grow closer to to Him, you will begin to hear His voice more and more clearly. His voice will become life to you. His heart will begin to unite with yours. That is the essence of theosis, divinization, glorification, Christian Perfection, or deification, and I would even hazard that sanctification is not really that far off from this, either. Then we opened the Bible, first looking at the Old Testament (very quickly) for hints that that is something we should expect or not. I was not anywhere near exhaustive, but there were a few passages which I pulled at which seem to suggest these sorts of things. The most famous passages are in the Psalms (8 & 82, to be precise), and could be understood in multiple ways, given context. Maybe not the strongest argument for it, however, the notion of being “created in the image of God” from Genesis seems to be the strongest foundation for this line of thinking, at least in my opinion. Then, last week, we looked at a handful of passages in the New Testament. This is where we find the bulk of support for this idea. Jesus Himself, in John 17, and other places, not only taught that His Father is ours as well (which makes us Sons of God [son, here, is a neutral term. Women are not excluded or minimized in any way]) but prayed that we would live in a love-based communion, just as God does, and that that would draw the nations unto the Kingdom, and through that, change the world. Philippians 2 also speaks to the nature of Jesus’ love for us, a kind of love that we are exhorted to grow into in the Johanine and Petrine epistles (those from Peter and John), as well as elsewhere in Paul’s letters. As children of God, see Romans 8, we must share in our Father’s nature in some way, and we also stand to inherit all He is, but we must accept Jesus’ suffering as our own in order to fully activate that promise and become One with God. Without the suffering, we would simply revert to pride, and take the power and authority for granted, using it in precisely the opposite spirit to that of Jesus. What do you guys and gals think? Is Theosis a line of thought and belief that is worthy of more thoughtful and prayerful engagement? Let me know what you think in the comments.

This passage seems to clear up yesterday’s question marks, quite nicely, doesn’t it? Here, Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6 indirectly, and it is another “Elohim” situation, to almost throw it in the Pharisees’ faces. Looking at Western commentaries seems to refute that Jesus was literally calling humans “gods” here as a defense for the Jews calling him a blasphemer for stating that he is the Son of God, and thus equal to Him, in short order after healing and forgiving the paralytic who was lowered through the roof of the home where he was teaching that day. I leave this up to you and your discernment. Should we take this literally, or more metaphorically? How do we make that decision and cherry pick which verses to take literally and which ones are metaphorical? How do we do this without the active help of the Holy Spirit working alongside and inside us? You tell me.

To echo Psalm 8, here is the writer to the Hebrews. This establishes more of the traditional understanding of Psalm 8:5, which places us lower than the angels, which also throws a wrench of sorts into this series, doesn’t it? This is a direct quote from the Septuagint version of Psalm 8, and whenever we translate something, we have to interpret it, don’t we? Indeed, whenever we hear or see something in our own language, we must interpret it in order to understand it. Context must help in this, as text without context is a pretext for a misunderstanding. I’d love to come up with some pithy remark, but I think that ambiguity and mystery are important, so why don’t you wrestle with this condundrum and let me know what you come up with.

If we are God’s children, then we are heirs. If the Cross and the empty tomb enable us to be joined with Christ, then all that is His is ours. However, as I mentioned over the last couple of days, there is a catch: the catch is that we must daily pick up our cross and follow Him. If we do that, then His glory, his divinity will be ours. Does this mean that we should seek suffering? No, Jesus didn’t do that. He pled with the Father to “Take this cup from me” in the Garden. Face suffering when it comes, but do not seek it out, as it will come on its own, most likely. Face persecution which is steadily growing, even in the West (which was never really as safe as we thought it was, as it was merely culturally “Christian”... Again, I could talk about that for a good while, but not today). When suffering comes, accept it, empty yourself as Jesus did, seek to serve more than to be served (I echo St. Francis of Assisi here, who echoed the Bible), and you will find yourself on the path toward Communion with God.

Jesus poured Himself out like a drink offering. He emptied Himself of the glory and power He had to become, as we discussed yesterday, a servant to all, even to the point of washing feet and becoming sin for us. All the way to dying, separate from the eternal common-unity that is God. Godself was broken on the cross in some mysterious way, and as I said in my song “Worthy”, Jesus showed us how to truly be human. He raised us up through His self-negating sacrifice. He did the unthinkable, the unfathomable, that we might have the option to join in the communion that is God.

Through Jesus’ power, we have full access to all that we need in order to become like God, to attain communion with Him. We simply have to choose to walk that path, through trusting Him. It is yours. Appropriate it through faith, which looks like humbly submitting yourself to His Way, rather than trying to do your own thing for God. Baptizing your ambition and drive without being transformed by the Holy Spirit working in your life through community and the Word leads to horrible things in the end. I could say much about this, but now is not the time.

Lord, As we open your Word, help us to get what we need from it today. Holy Spirit, come and open our minds and hearts to hear what You are saying. If we need a recalibration, then recalibrate us today. Help us to grasp who we are in Jesus so that we can embrace the suffering that will shape us to be ready to join with You. Sanctify us in Your Truth, cleanse and rest our divine imaginations that we would be able to see that which You put in Your Word accurately today. In Jesus’ name, Amen. There are many passages which could lend themselves to this project, but we will work from ones that we will talk about this week in the memesplanations: Philippians 2:5-7, John 10:34, Hebrews 2:7, and Romans 8:17. In John, we see Jesus defend himself against charges of blasphemy by quoting Psalm 82:6, which we just talked about yesterday. In that verse, God chastises the children of Israel (who were given the law), by saying that they are gods and children of God, and it was given to them to be judges in the earth, but they were failing in that task. So rather than ascending to the heavens, they would die, and die like men, then be buried. In Romans, Paul riffs on the theme of being “children of God”, and how can we be children and heirs if we cannot partake in His nature? But wait, if God is wholly other than us, then how can we participate in his nature and in his treasures? That is why Jesus came, was made incarnate, and died on the cross, only to be raised again on the 3rd day. He became human that we would be able to be made one with God. That is what At-One-Ment is about, not simply erasing our sin. There is, however, a condition on receiving the offered gift: we must partner with Jesus in His suffering. We cannot be resurrected without first dying, and dying daily, as that old nature tries to reassert itself on the daily, doesn’t it? That old part of us that was given to the dominion of sin, though in the East, they would not use these terms, as they do not believe in original sin. For them, any sin nature we may have lived under was due to our own choices, not to some pre-existent original sin that is the domain of humanity since the Fall. I digress, though. How do we partner with Him in His suffering? We learn to love as He does. We learn to empty ourselves of pride, walking in a state of kenosis is suffering, and the world will try to beat up on us for living in such a radical way. In Philippians, we learn about the way of kenosis from Paul, and that we are called to live in the same way, forgetting ourselves in order to love God and others more fully. That does not mean that we neglect physical needs for extended periods. If Jesus can operate as a poor, powerless human, though He is God, even to the point of dying to save us from our own pride, so that we can be one with Him, even here and now, but to finish the process when we die. This is why elsewhere, Paul tells us to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”. I could talk about this for far longer, just diving into these passages for their own sake... What do you guys think? A study on what it is to be “in Christ” after Easter? In the Hebrews passage, we see the writer pull directly from the Septuagint in Psalm 8. I will talk more about this passage in Saturday’s memesplanation. I find it interesting that they (whoever the author was) pulled from the Greek translation, rather than directly from the Hebrew original text. I don’t know, but this is one of the prooftexts, though the Greek used is what we get the word “angel” from , rather than the more controversial elohim or a Greek equivalent such as Theos. What do you guys think about theosis based on these texts? Do you think it is heretical or perhaps might be something that we have missed out on here in the West? Let me know in the comments.

Hard stuff today. This is the process. We become formed into the likeness of Christ via cruciformity, then we empty ourselves of whatever it is that we think we have (that is kenosis). We humble ourselves before the Lord and our fellow human beings in truth. I’m not talking about a self-centered false humility which really just draws attention to itself, but rather a trn ue humility where we truly prefer others and seek to serve others. Then, through that process of emptying, of true humility, we can enter into deeper communion with God, even here on earth. After all, one cannot taste resurrection without first dying, correct?

This Sunday, we will continue our gloss of Theosis, this time in the New Testament. https://rumble.com/v2dim2u-theosis-3-theosis-in-the-new-testament.html?mref=2jfr3&mc=anr3y

Here’s a thought from Gregory’s dear friend, Basil. If we have been given the Holy Spirit as the seal of our inheritance as Children of God, then what is is that children are in relation to their parents? We tend to be just like them, don’t we? As kids, we think that our parents are the greatest human beings on earth (unless they do something to destroy that belief, thus little Johnny and little Billy and the classic “my dad could beat your dad up” thing), and we want to be just like them. If we are the Children of God, then we have the potential to be just like our Dad. That is what this is about.

Another thought from a great Church Father... Ordered to become God... That is heavy. What does that mean? Is this ordered in relation to commanded, or ordered in relation to put in place? If God became man in Jesus (which we all believe as Christians), then perhaps he came to restore the order that had been broken through pride and ignorance when man chose to bypass relationship for deity in its own right in the Garden. That was the nature of the temptation for Eve and Adam. Pride over relationship with God. God created us to be one with Him, that we would be able to enter into the great eternal community that is God. That is what salvation offers us, according to the Orthodox Traditions.

This is very similar to the thought of St. Athanasius from Monday. He was another Church Father, and the only Syrian Father to be considered a Doctor of the Church by both the West and the East. Why would God choose to empty Godself of all glory and break the created order by entering it fully through incarnation, if not to effect something massive? Turning humanity into persons able to fully commune with Him, then through that, restoring creation to His original intent. That was why Jesus came, not to simply make it possible to go sing and play a harp for eternity, rather than burning in Hell or being annihilated for eternity.

Most translations have this as “a little lower than the angels so as not to cause scandal in the West, but this is a better translation, as the Hebrew term in this passage is elohim. Elohim is one of the names of God. “For who is man...” The truth is that in the big picture, we are actually above the angels, we have the right to command them as well as to judge them, because that is the place we were given in creation. The angels cannot commune with God, they are more “other than” Him than we are, as we get the privilege to receive grace. They do not, and they marvel at it. If that does not speak to how God values us, then I don’t know what does, that God would come, show us how to be, then sacrifice Himself to put us right with Him, so that our nature can be restored, along with all things. It gives me the shivers, you guys.