Luke 11
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say:
“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread,
4 and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
14 Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” 16 while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; 22 but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”
27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
33 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”
37 While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. 38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.
42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 44 Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”
45 One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” 46 And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 48 So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. 52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”
53 As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.
In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen
So... if we take fire and put it under a basket you are going to get... a bigger fire. Or extinguished fire.
And if we listen to ancient scientific wisdom the four classical elements are Earth, Water, Air, and Fire frequently occur; sometimes including a fifth element or quintessence (after "quint" meaning "fifth") called aether in ancient Greece and akasha in India. The concept of the five elements formed a basis of analysis in both Hinduism and Buddhism.
And today we are sewing like Needlepoint, putting all the thoughts from our wool gathering in the appropriate places.
My very proper and sainted Grandmother Anita taught a well attended Sunday School for four decades. She loved to read and Confucius was someone she quoted in her religious writings. Which I found... rather shocking. Grandmother said, Really, Anne-Laurel, the ancients were not in possession of even knowing there was an Israel, much less the knowledge of the Temple and His Word. This is a foundation study for seeking Truth and Justice with Mercy.
The Word of God would explain this like this:
2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God [a] may be complete, equipped for every good work.
a] messenger of God (the phrase echoes a common Old Testament expression).
Let's compare - Genesis, the first Chapter, starts out with Akasha - aether filling the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere. The concept of aether was used in several theories to explain several natural phenomena.
Genesis 1
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
Aether - was hovering over the water. Recently Nova reported lightning from one place pulls the electrical ark as one unit, all over the earth, with the source of the "Fire" being the Sun. And if you look at the placement of the Temple in Jerusalem, you find the altar points to the sun. Always. For all Jewish altars.
Today we have the option of putting our lights under baskets we call lamp shades. We appear to have a real handle on the element Edison appropriately understood as fire. Seemingly this breaks Scripture. Just as we irradiate our wheat in an effort to feed more of the world's hungry people allowing our grocery store bread not to last - like it has for millenniums - as lasting barely a week, to now going oddly a little dry and with an unusual texture to last even a month. Recall with me, Jesus told us HE was also the Bread coming from Heaven called Manna.
Scripture will be fulfilled.
A light under a basket refers to the fire of the Holy Spirit. Times in Scripture when the fire of the Holy Spirit was hidden - when Solomon built God's Temple. 2 Kings 23:13 tells us Solomon then resorted to High Place foreign god worship. He took His Word from God and let Wisdom be worldly wisdom. And after God was placed away from scaring even King David, Solomon found he wanted to hear from God. And God became very silent. Solomon tried harder and harder. Leading Solomon to say he could not even find one good woman out of the 700 near him. Adam would have even reminded Solomon that Adam had a rib that copied Father God. Common thought would say if all the people you meet are back-ends, then...
Anyway. Solomon kept trying and trying. Different from Confucius because Solomon had been part of the Nation God called His Own. And finally Solomon began to hear from God again. Because. The dead end had suddenly made Solomon aware that there was something valid in remorse. And the desire to call upon HIM. And the prodigal son observed the Father run to Him. Making the words of Solomon recorded as the Word of God, using the Holy Spirit.
There was another time Light was hidden under a basket. The Second Temple. Maccabees records Jeremiah took his wisdom of the Word of God and hid the Ark upon Mount Nebo. Buried with ... Moses. The return of the Temple Tools is amazingly recorded from the Second Exile. But from the first the Temple is decaying. No Ark fills the Holy of Holies. If you were the head Priest would you run from the Holy of Holies to announce the Ark is ... gasp... missing...or Pray Fiercely. But The Second Temple starts with throwing the remnant Samaritans out. Who were sacrificing to God and praying at a broken down Temple Altar on a broken down Temple Mount and in 1960, DNA tests proved they were basically 3 of the 12 tribes of Israel. And upon throwing out the Samaritans they proceeded to build themselves houses and marry the local women who were not Children of Israel. But still covered their sins by hoping to build the Temple from being reminded and for the earnest joy they had in recognizing God had saved them miraculously. And following the law rather than Justice with Mercy.
When God saw people putting His Fire away from them, He did something. Something He planned to do. He went forth to Save the World. Equipping Confucius (whom I did not ever read), the Assyrian Empire Nineveh - to repent, Three Babylonian Emperors to return the exiles and the Temple Tools. And He used the desecration of the Temple for Zeus and for Herod as part of His Plan. And when the Syrian woman asked Jesus for mercy, and was humble, Jesus restored her child. Jesus again Being the True Light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
The times are unusual times. Our grandparents and those before us paid cash for houses. Thomas Jefferson said without a paid for home - we are financially unsound. The Scripture tells us not to take on debt for more than seven years. The Amish manage this still. We have so much technology - ways to communicate and we step back to communicate with telegraph. We travel far more. And we find ways to make life more comfortable.
Colossians 3:9-10
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Zechariah 6:8-10
And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”
Matthew 22
7 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
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