Woorde

Afrikaans tot Zulu
Sus en Daan en Koeloe
As jy nie verstaan
Vlieg dan na die maan
Dit is mos wat Ouma sê
Wanneer sy tog net wil hê
Kinders moet weer kinders wees
In plaas van TV, speel en lees.

Haar geslag is siek en sat
Van mense wat net woorde vat
Sê wat hulle nie bedoel
Al wat tel is: is dit cool
Wil jy weet wat woorde doen?
Plaas jou in die hoorder skoen
Woorde kan jou pamperlang
Maar is dit wat jy verlang?

In ‘n spreuk van Salomo
Vertel hy ons van woorde so:
Ek het meer behae
In ‘n vriend se slae
As soene van een wat verraai
Mooi broodjies bak maar jakkalsdraai
Die tong gee lewe of maak dood
Verdoem of red jou uit jou nood.

The bridegroom from heaven

 I always thought Genesis 2:24 should have read differently. The books of Moses clearly advocate a male dominated culture. In my view it should have been "... a woman will leave her father and mother ...". That was in fact the practice in Israel and the Middle East. A woman was under the guardianship of her father until she got married when her husband became her guardian. In South Africa, until 1984, a woman married in community of property was regarded a minor in law. Her legal rights were the same as those of an under age child.

So why does Genesis 2:24 read: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife ...". When 'therefore' is encountered in a reading one should read the sentence before it to see what it's there for! Genesis 2:23 contains Adam's exclamation: "... bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh ...". But what has that to do with a man leaving father and mother?

In the books of the prophets Israel is referred to as the wife of her Maker. Genesis 2:24 gives us a clue that her heavenly husband would leave his home and take on flesh and be joined to her, becoming one with her.

The most famous rabbi of all time used parables to explain the Kingdom of Heaven. In one of them he said it is like a man who discovered a treasure hidden in a field. He covered it up and was so delighted that he sold all his possession and bought the field. This parable can be explained as follows:

The field is the earth which was given to man as described in Genesis 1:28 and Psalm 8:6. All plants and animals were given to mankind to care for. We have not been very good at it. For the most part we have been fighting over which man would be in charge. The treasure is the righteous people, the elect, the chosen ones. The new owner sold his position in heaven to live with his bride.

But how does she become bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh? For this to happen he had to shed his blood and obtain a new body. This he did, and when his people are resurrected they receive the same type of body: "... when he appears we shall be like him ..."!

The above thoughts are not original. They were first hinted at by the second most famous expounder of the Law of Moses who said Genesis 2:24 contained a mystery.

Rainbow Nation

Rainbow Nation don’t cry

Beloved country don’t you die

While your children sigh

Saying why oh why

Why this why now

Could we not somehow

See the writing on the wall

And make a better call

Having won the world cup

Is our time now up

Are we now has been

On the African scene

We are not lying down

For a virus with a crown

Seen miracles before

Lord, give us one more

Is our money down the drain

Was our hard work all in vain

How are we supposed to cope

If there isn’t any hope

We in the South

Shall say with one mouth

Nkosi sikelela

Hallelujah amen selah

There’s a God up in the sky

He will hear us when we cry

We must never give up praying

Listen to what he is saying

A defender of the poor

Our sickness he will cure

In our pain he’s very near

And he sees our every tear

He will drive away our fear.

Trust

In the minds of most people, especially young people, the words ''obey" and "obedience" create a negative impression. No-one is eager to blindly obey a command issued by an unknown person. Our default mindset is to be suspicious and even distrustful of the unknown.

When we are distrustful of a trustworthy person, however, it hurts both the person and ourselves. Adam and Eve were seduced into breaking the single commandment their Creator had given them. This could only happen after distrust in the Almighty had been sown and taken root in their hearts. He had expressly warned Adam that death would be the immediate consequence of eating the forbidden fruit.

The human condition has not changed. Our natural tendency is to want life and what it has to offer independently from the one who created life. That is what Adam got after he had eaten the forbidden fruit. But the innocent relationship he had previously had with God died.

The cost of discipleship

 It is a human tendency to "brand" people by something they have done or are known for. Bible headings often label people in a way the gospel writers never did. When Jesus told the parable of a Samaritan who had compassion on the victim of a robbery, he did not call the Samaritan "good".

In the same way neither did Matthew, Mark or Luke refer to a "rich young man". In Mark 10:17 the word used for him is simply "one". In Matthew 19:20 he is "a young man" and in Luke 18:18 he is called "a certain ruler".

Thousands, if not millions of people living today should similarly consider themselves rich, young and "ruling". The young man led a full and exemplary life in which he also seemed to be successful. But he was not sure about his eternal destiny. He desperately wanted to make sure he would be counted among the "righteous", those who would live forever.

Jesus loved him and wanted the very best for him, but his criteria for discipleship were much stricter than the man had anticipated. Jesus is not happy to be an "add on" to our lives. From the very first words he spoke to the end of the conversation his intention was to get this fact across.

Firstly, Jesus was not opposed to the ruler calling him "good", as long as he was willing to acknowledge that the attribute "good" belongs exclusively to God. Then, as a kind of teaser he referred the man to the upbringing he must have had in a Jewish household. He must have learnt "the law". When asked "which commandments" Jesus conspicuously omitted the "first table" commandments which relate to God. He only quoted the commandments which refer to our behavior towards other humans.

Finally the young man was ready to receive the clincher: "Give up your present life and follow me". If he could put two and two together he would notice that Jesus equated the first commandments with following him. In other words, Jesus was making a not too subtle claim of divinity.

The immediate benefit of following Jesus would be the promise of an eternal "treasure in heaven". The man went away sad but had much to meditate on: Did he really prefer an eternal treasure to earthly treasures?

Perceptions

In John 9 the apostle relates a story of a blind man receiving his sight. Jesus' disciples asked him if the man's blindness was due to sin, either his own or that of his parents. "No", said Jesus, "but that the works of God may be displayed in him".

The man was healed after Jesus had "made him eyes of mud and spit" (my version) and the man had washed in the Pool of Siloam. He soon became a champion of Jesus' cause. He went so far as to insult the religious leaders, for which he got kicked out of the synagogue.

What I have never heard anyone preach on, was the fact that the man could have responded very differently. He could have thought "What kind of a God would let me suffer without sight from birth so that he could show off his own power?"

We are confronted every day by events which we can attribute to God's goodness or to his indifference to our feelings. The man could have blamed God for thinking only about his own and Jesus' reputation and lacking compassion. If he had done that, he would have just demonstrated his own egocentricity.

Brothers

I have always found Psalm 133 a little strange. What does "It is like the precious oil ... upon ... Aaron's beard" got to do with   "See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity"? None of the commentaries really satisfied my curiosity regarding this unusual juxtaposition.

Then I thought about brothers in the Bible and how seldom they related to one another in love. Moses and Aaron served God together for 40 years. I am not aware of any other such connection between brothers in the Bible. On the contrary, the relationships between brothers were often acrimonious.

The very first man born of a woman murdered his brother (Genesis 4:8). When God found a man with whom he could start a nation, his eldest son had to leave home while in his teens (Genesis 21:9-14). Jacob feared for his life because of his twin brother (Genesis 27:41). Jacob's sons came very close to killing their brother, but sold him into slavery instead (Genesis 37:18, 28).

Psalm 133 was written by David. His brothers did not treat him kindly when he went to bring them food while they were at the battle front (1 Samuel 17:28). But his greatest heartache must have been the toxic relationships among his sons. Absalom killed Amnon because he had raped his sister (2 Samuel 13:28). Even Solomon put one of his brothers to death because he had made a grab for the throne (1 Kings 1:5; 2:25).

On which relationships David was reflecting we can only wonder. But he must have found comfort in reading about Moses and Aaron, even though their relationship had also gone through an unhealthy patch (Numbers 12:1).