Chapter Thirteen
FINAL DEPARTURE FROM THE GALIL
When the time was nearing for Yeshua to be sacrificed {as the Pesach Lamb}, He resolved to go to Yerushalayim with unrelenting determination. He sent messengers ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of Shomron to prepare the way for Him. But they did not accept Him there, because His face was set in the direction of Yerushalayim. {In those days many people of Shomron were offended with the Yehudim and opposed anyone who favored Yerushalayim. Putting your face in the direction of Yerushalayim was a sign to them of favor toward it.}
When His disciples Ya'akov and Yochanan saw this, they said, "Adonai, is it your will for us to call fire down from heaven and consume them, the same as Eliyahu did?"
Yeshua turned and rebuked them, saying, "You have no idea what kind of spirit is influencing you. For the Son of man has not come to destroy men's lives, but rather to save them." So they went to another village.
As they traveled the road, a man came and said to Yeshua, "Adonai, I will follow you wherever you go."
Yeshua said to him, "The foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man does not have any place to lay down."
He said to another person, "Follow me."
But he said, "Adonai, allow me to first go and bury my father."
Then Yeshua said to him, "Let the dead bury their dead, but you go and proclaim the Kingdom of Elohim."
Another person said to Yeshua, "Adonai, I will follow You, but allow me to first go and tell those at home in my household goodbye."
Yeshua said to him, "No one who has put his hand to the plow, then looks back, is ready for the Kingdom of Elohim."
Later, Adonai {Yeshua} appointed an additional seventy discciples, and sent them ahead two by two into every city and place, where He would eventually arrive.
He said to them, "Surely the harvest is great, but the laborers are few, so you pray the Adonai of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Proceed with your journey now, and take note that I send you out as lambs among wolves. Do not carry luggage, or paper, or extra shoes, and greet no one on the road. Whenever you enter any house, first say, 'Shalom lebeit [peace be to this house]. If a son of shalom is there, your peace will rest upon it, but if not it will return to you. Stay in that house eating and drinking the things they provide, because the laborer is worthy of his hire. Do not go from one house to another {seeking more or better provision}. Whenever you enter into a city and they accept you, eat the things which you are given. Heal the sick who are there, and tell them, 'the Kingdom of Elohim has come near to you.'
"Whenever you enter a city and they do not accept you, go your way out into the streets of that city and tell them, 'The dust of your city which clings to us we brush off against you. No matter, surely the, that the Kingdom of Elohim has come near to you.' I tell you, it will be easier in the day {of judgement} for Sodom, than for that city. Trouble be on you, Chorazin! Trouble be on you, Beit-Tzaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they would have done t'shuvah a long time ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes. Therefore, it will easier for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you. Also you, K'far-Nachum, who has been exalted to Heaven, you will be thrown down to sheol.
"The one who listens to you, listens [shema] to me, and the one who despises you despises me, and the one who despises me despises Him who sent me."
The seventy returned with joy, proclaiming, "Adonai, even the deceiving spirits are submissive to us through You Name."
"I watched haSatan [the Adversary] fall like lightning from the heavens," responded Yeshua. "Notice this! I give to you the power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the Enemy, and nothing will by any means cause you harm. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in the fact that the spirits are submissive to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven."
At that time Yeshua rejoiced in His spirit, and said, "Todah Rabah [Thank You ] Abba, Adon of Heaven and Earth! You have hidden these things from the self-assured and careful, and have revealed them to babes. Amen, Abba! You concluded it to be good in Your sight. All things are delivered to me by Avi and no one knows who the Son is except Abba, and who Abba is, except the Son, and the one to whom the Son will reveal Him."
Yeshua turned toward His disciples and spoke privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see. For I tell you, many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them; and to shema those things which you shema, and have not heard them."
A certain Torah expert stood up to test Yeshua, "Rabbi, what should I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Torah? How do you interpret it?," Yeshua asked.
The Torah expert answered, "You shall love YHVH your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
Yeshua said, "You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live!"
The Torah expert {was convicted in his heart, so} trying to justify himself, he asked Yeshua, "So who is my neighbor?"
Yeshua answered, "Some man went down from Yerushalayim to Yericho, and was attacked by robbers who stripped his clothes from him and wounded him. Then they departed and left him nearly dead. It happened that a Kohen came that way, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Also, a Levite, when he came to the place, looked at him, but passed by on the other side. Then a man of Shomron was on a journey and came by where he was. When he saw him he had compassion on him and went to him. He bandaged his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and put him on his own animal. Then he brought him to an inn and cared for him. As he prepared to depart the next day, he took out two weeks wages and gave it to the host, and said to him, 'Take care of him, and whatever more expenses there are, I will reimburse you when I come back.' Now then, which one of these three do you think was a neighbor to the one who was attacked by robbers?"
"The one who demonstrated mercy to him," answered the Torah expert.
"Then you go and do the same thing," instructed Yeshua.
FIRST VISIT TO MARTA AND MIRYAM
As Yeshua continued His journey He entered into a village {called Beit-Ani}, and a woman named Marta opened her home to Him. Her sister was named Miryam, who sat at the feet of Yeshua and listened [shema] to His Word, while Martha was burdened by busily serving. So she came to Yeshua and said, "Adonai, don't you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So, command her to help me."
"Marta, Marta," Yeshua said. "You are full of cares and troubled about many things. But only one thing is necessary and Miryam has chosen that good thing, which will not be taken away from her."
When Yeshua was walking by a place He saw a man who was blind since his birth. So His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, what sin caused this? Was it this man's fault or his parents fault that he was born blind?"
"It was not his fault nor His parents," Yeshua answered, "but rather, it is so the works of Elohim would be manifested in him. I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world."
Then He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva. He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay and said to him, "Go. Wash in the pool of Shalo-am, [Sent to the people]." The man went and washed, then returned able to see.
The neighbors and those who had known before that the man was blind, said, "Isn't this the one who sat and begged?"
Some said, "This is the one!" Others said, "This one looks like him."
Then the man said, "I am the one!"
Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes healed?"
He answered, "A man called Yeshua made clay and anointed mine eyes, then said to me, "Go to the pool of Shalo-am and wash, so I went and washed and then I could see!"
They asked, "Where is Yeshua?"
"I don't know," He answered.
So they then brought the formerly blind man to some of the P'rushim. It was the Shabbat when Yeshua made the clay and healed the man's eyes. These P'rushim asked the man how he had received his sight. He told them, "Yeshua put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see."
Some of the P'rushim argued, "This man is not of Elohim, because he does not keep the Shabbat."
Others of the P'rushim countered, "Then how can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?"
This caused a division among them, so they said to the blind man again, "What do you say about him, since he has healed your eyes?"
"He is a prophet," he answered.
But certain leading Yehudim did not believe the report that he had been blind and then received his sight, until they called his parents. They asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How come he now is able to see?"
His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind, but by what means he now can see we do not know, nor who has healed his eyes. He is of age, so ask him. He will speak for himself."
His parents spoke this way because they were afraid of the leading Yehudim, because some had already agreed, that if any man confessed that Yeshua was the Mashiach, he would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age. Ask him."
Then again they called the man who was blind and said unto him, "Give Elohim the praise: we know that this man is a sinner."
The formerly blind man answered, "Whether or not he is a sinner I don't know, but one thing I do know: I once was blind and now I see."
Then they asked him again, "What did he do to you? How did he heal your eyes?"
"I have told you already," he answered. "And you did not shema it. Why do you want to hear it again? Will you also become his disciples?"
Then they rebuked him, "You are his disciple, but we are Moshe's disciples. We know that Elohim spoke to Moshe. As for this fellow, we don't know where he is from."
The man said, "Wow! This is an amazing thing! You do not know where he is from, and yet he has healed my eyes! We know that Elohim does not hear sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of Elohim, and does His will, He hears them. Since the world began it has not been heard that any man healed the eyes of someone who was born blind. If this man was not of Elohim, he could not do anything!"
They countered him, saying "You were altogether born in sins, so do you teach us?" Then they threw him out {of the synagogue}.
Yeshua heard that they had thrown him out, so when He found him He asked him, "Do you trust in the Son of God?"
"Who is he, Adonai, that I may trust in him?" he answered.
You have seen him and it is he who is talking with you," explained Yeshua.
Then he said, "Adonai, I trust!" and the man worshiped Him.
Yeshua said, "I have come into this world to make a distinction, that those who do not see might see, and that those who see might be made blind."
Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words and said to him, "Are we blind also?"
"If you were blind you would have no sin," Yeshua replied, "but since you say, 'We see' your sin remains.
"Amen, amen! I tell you, the one who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but instead climbs up some other way, that one is a thief and a robber. But the one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter opens and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he takes out his own sheep, he goes in front of them and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, rather they will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers." Yeshua spoke this parable, but they did not understand the things which He was speaking to them.
Then Yeshua spoke to them again, "Amen, amen! I tell you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came ahead of me {announcing they were Mashiach} are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not shema them. I am the door. If anyone enters in through me he will be preserved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes for no other reason than to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it with overflowing abundance. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. The one who is a hired hand, and not the shepherd who owns the sheep, when he sees the wolf coming he leaves the sheep in a hurry. Then the wolf catches them and the sheep scatter. The hired hand leaves in a hurry because he is only a hired hand and does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep, and I am known by my own. As Abba knows me, so also I know Abba, and I lay down my life for the sheep. I also own other sheep who are not of this fold. I must also bring them along. They will also shema my voice, and the result will be one fold and one shepherd.
"Avi loves me because I lay down my life, so that I might regain it. No one takes it from me, rather, I myself lay it down. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to regain it. This commandment I have received from Avi." {In this Yeshua affirmed that the commandments of YHVH are given along with the ability to perform them.}
As a result of these words there arose once again a division among the leaders of the Yehudim. Some of them said, "He has a deceiving spirit and is mad! Why do you shema him?"
Others of them argued back, "These are not the words of someone who has a deceiving spirit! Can a deceiving spirit heal the eyes of the blind?""
Now it was time for the Feast of Chanukah in the winter, and Yeshua walked in the Mikdash around the part called King Shlomo's portico. Then some of the leaders of the Yehudim came around Him and questioned Him, "How long will you cause us to doubt? If you are Mashiach declare it plainly to us."
Yeshua answered them, "I told you, yet you did not trust it. The deeds which I do in Avi's Name, they witness concerning who I am. You do not trust because you are not among my sheep. As I told you, my sheep shema my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. To them I give eternal life and they will never perish, neither will anyone remove them from my hand. Avi, who gave them to me, is greater than anyone, and no one is able to remove them from Avi's hand. Avi and I are Echad [One]."
Then some of the leaders of the Yehudim picked up stones to throw at Him. "Many good works I have showed you from Avi, for which one of those deeds do you stone me?" Yeshua remarked.
They said, "We do not stone you for a good work, but rather for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself out to be Elohim."
Yeshua answered them, "Is it not written in the Torah, 'I say, you are elohim?' If he called those 'elohim' to whom the Word of Elohim came, and the scripture cannot be broken, how can you say concerning the one Abba has set apart from Himself and sent into the world, 'You blaspheme,' simply because I said, 'I am the Son of Elohim?' If I do not do the deeds of Avi, then do not trust me. But if I do them, though you do not trust me {because of the way I look to you}, trust in the {miraculous} deeds. You should understand by those and trust that Abba is in me, and I am in Him!"
Therefore they tried again to take hold of Him, but He escaped out of their grip and went away beyond the Yarden River again into the place where Yochanan first performed the mikveh. He found shelter there and many congregated to Him. They were saying, "Yochanan did no miracle, but all the things that Yochanan spoke about this man were true." Many trusted in Yeshua there.