Gnostic Miracles

But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.  John 10:38

In high school, my AP English Literature teacher and I had lengthy conversations over whether it was acceptable to believe Jesus just because of the miraculous signs and wonders he did. Because of this verse, I said of course it was acceptable. Jesus did mighty and powerful things to demonstrate his power to the Jews. Jesus was certainly a demonstration of the power of God. He did have a point, though, because as Paul reminds the Corinthians in his letter, Jesus' death was a stumbling block for those looking for God's power because he was weak. He was also a stumbling block for the Gentiles, because as they looked for wisdom they found what appeared to be foolishness in Christ.

Nevertheless, his miracles remain as a testimony to his power and divinity, as professed by the blind man from birth before the Pharisees (John 9:13:34).

But what would the Gnostics have thought? They of course, would have assumed Jesus' divinity and separated his nature from his humanity. After all, the spiritual self is the true, pure, and better self, according to this worldview. So what miracles were given them so that they might know and understand?

Here is a short list of the Gnostic miracles - the signs and wonders meant to convince us of Jesus' humanity:

1. Jesus was born of a woman.
2. Jesus turns water into urine.
3. Jesus eats a loaf of bread and 2 fish.
4. Jesus swims in the water.
5. Jesus sees a blind man.
6. Jesus endures a storm.

While this list is certainly facetious, there are many comments in the Gospel that do lead us to see Jesus as a man and not just a spiritual representation. This is a wonderful mystery. The details include:

1. Jesus really was born, and was laid in a manager. He likely did cry.
2. Jesus walked with his parents to Jerusalem. He grew in stature.
3. Jesus got hungry after fasting.
4. Jesus was asleep during the storm.
5. Jesus was often at peoples houses eating and drinking.
6. Jesus was thirsty and asked for water to drink from the woman at the well.

Let us look at the miracles and ordinary acts of this man and trust that he truly was God's Son - Emmanuel.

Prime Time

 

What a name for what a man. He played football and baseball, not just in high school but in the majors. He also played both sides of the ball for the Cowboys, and I can remember one occasion when the color commentary during a lull in the football game drifted to explaining the differences between the two helmets that Deion sported.

But I'm not talking about this amazing star of the Atlanta Braves outfield. I'm also not talking about the not referring to  χαιρος - the concept of the time being the right time.

No, I'm talking about prime in the mathematical sense. Recently, I was bothering my wife with undesirable behavior, and when chastised, I quickly noted that I only do it when the time is prime, pointing to the clock which displayed a time whose digits summed to a prime number. When I repeated the mistake I simply pointed to the clock in helpless submission to prime time.

After this going on for a few days and happening much more frequently than socially acceptable, we began to question how common these prime numbers really were. 

In the first example, the sum is clearly 19, which is prime. In the second example, however, just 20 minutes later, the sum is 16 which is decidedly composite.

So how common are the times of the first kind? How much of our time is actually prime?

Acknowledging that neither 0 or 1 are considered prime, we then have a simple computational task of determining which of the 1,440 minute sums are prime.  If we use military time, then the possible range of sums spans 0 to 24, which occur at midnight and 19:59 respectively. So, our questions is really how does base 60 for the minutes, and the limitation of the hours to 0 through 23 affect the distribution of sums on the range of 0 to 24. Below is a histogram with an approximated normal distribution on top of it.

I probably shouldn't have been, but I was stunned to see the distribution so closely follow a normal curve. But to our real question, how many of these are prime? It turns out that 505 minutes of our day sum to prime numbers in military time. This corresponds to 35% of the time being prime. Likely not a coincidence is that between of the 25 numbers in our range 9 of them are prime leading to a 35% prime rate in our range. Again, being a Math major, I shouldn't be surprised by this fact, but it surprises me that the rate of primes in the time in our day corresponds to the rate of primes in the range of the possible sums. Further more that the possible sums corresponds to the hours in the day begins to border on numerology instead of mathematical observation.

Going further with this question, I began to ask questions like what percentage of the time are all of the numbers displayed primes individually (2% - e.g. 22:22, 23:25, 23:57, etc.), what percentage of the time are any of the numbers display primes (85% - e.g. 0:02, 11:16, 22:24, etc.), and what percentage of the time are there any 1, 2, 3, or 4 digit primes displayed on the clock face (92%).

For those of you considering the differences presented by limiting our attention to the laymen's watches, you might be surprised that the percentage of primes is only slightly higher at 36%. The notable fact when we begin to consider the other questions is that there are no examples where all the numbers are prime since the tens digit of the hour is always either 0 or 1.

All of this to say, I wonder if Deion ever felt like his swings were actually on prime time...television.

A Moabite King?

The author of Ruth ruthlessly reminds us of her heritage. She was from Moab. No, she was not the mother of all [insert any word that starts with "b"]. She was from a land south of Israel through which the Hebrew fugitives fled. A curse was pronounced upon them by Moses that no Moabite even down to the 10th generation could enter the temple (Dt. 23:3).

Unlike other nationalities, the Israelites were not explicitly forbidden to marry with these people. It certainly would have been distasteful, but not forbidden.

What is so amazing about the fact the Ruth is a Moabitess is that King David is her descendant, and sooner than the 10th generation by the lineage at the end of the book. David, by the Deuteronomy command should not have entered the temple. And yet the grace of God, and His choosing changed that. Furthermore, David serves as a picture of the coming King, the true Priestly King Jesus. Also in the line of Ruth, Jesus then is in a sense born outside the temple. He represents a people forbidden from the presence of God. He stands for all of those not allowed to come into the temple, either because of their imperfections or their descent. He too was a descendant of a Moabitess and yet was not only allowed into the temple, but was even greater than the temple itself (Mt. 12:6).

Sin - Irrational Self Destruction

The ancients have always noted that sin is a perversion of the good. As such, it only exists because of the good. However, in seeking the destruction of the good, it irrationally seeks its own demise.

Freely Enslaved - Free to Redeem

¹⁵ If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand him over to his master. ¹⁶ Let him live among you wherever he likes and in whatever town he chooses. Do not oppress him. --Deut. 23:15-16

The Law is clear. Fugitive slaves are to find refuge in our midst. The Jewish people were a bunch of fugitive slaves from Egypt, how could they send slaves back to their masters, when God had not sent them back to Egypt?

In the New Testament, we find Paul, a man well-versed in Scripture, returning a runaway slave, Onesimus, to a brother in Christ at Colossae! Did Paul not memorize his memory verse one week, or was something deeper going on here?

I think there are three reasons why Paul acts in a way contrary to this command:

1. Sent Onesimus back as a brother, not a slave, because

2. He (Paul) took the slave debt upon himself. Therefore,

3. Onesimus was wiling to lose his freedom and become a slave to all for the Lord's glory and the saving of many.

Let's treat each one in more detail.

1. Onesimus was returning as a brother, not a slave.

In Philemon 16, Paul tells Philemon that he is sending Onesimus back, "no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother." Paul was confident in Philemon's kindheartedness and ability to follow the Holy Spirit. He was also confident in the Holy Spirit's work in Onesimus's life such that he was willing to call Onesimus a brother and send him back. But to send him back as a brother, is to restore a family. To send him back as a slave would be treason. But Paul sees this as a different situation than that of a slave and master, a distinction that is relationally lost in the Gospel.

2. Paul paid the slave debt.

Paul starts this letter not on the basis of his apostleship, but on the basis of his state as a prisoner. Not only was he a physical prisoner when he met Onesimus and wrote this letter, but elsewhere he speaks of being a prisoner in another sense. In 1 Corinthians 9:19, Paul says, "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible." Paul doesn't send Onesimus back as a slave. He sends him back as brother, because he has assumed the debt! Paul is the prisoner. He has become the slave!

Why would/could he do this. Well, Paul was not the first one to broach this command found in Deuteronomy. The LORD, Creator of Heaven and Earth, desired to save sinful man, who through Adam had become slaves to sin and death. When we sought refuge in Him, he didn't send us back, but He sent His own Son as a slave so that we might go free. In the same way, Paul here mediates a deal where Onesimus' debts are transferred to him, so that Onesimus can be restored to his master as a brother.

3. Onesimus was willing to make himself a slave to everyone.

Finally, Onesimus desired to (or was at least willing to) return to his former master. He had served with Paul to the degree that Paul considered him useful (v11 - a play on his name) and even sent the letter to Colossae via him. That very letter Paul teaches, "Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it...with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord." Onesimus was likely convinced by Paul and the Holy Spirit to return in faithfulness to his earthly master as a sign of his submission to his Heavenly Master and let the chips fall where they may.

Not only that, but like Paul, he was willing to make himself a slave to everyone so that he might win as many as possible. Onesimus had been discipled by Paul and most definitely had a compassionate and evangelistic heart. He was willing to set aside his new found freedom in order to show grace and mercy to those he served.

The Rock of Ages Brings the Water of Life

Wisdom is the ability to respond appropriately to given situation. Folly is to respond to every situation in the same way. Psalm 78 presents a wonderful juxtaposition which exposes God's eternal wisdom.

He split the waters to bring them across on dry rocks. Then, later, he split the dry rock in order to bring them water to drink.

If our God is so wise and so powerful, can he not also use all things together for our good?

Careful It Might Blow Your Mind

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