Treasure

The words of Jesus in modern verse

paraphrased and annotated by Donivan Bessinger

3. Lessons About Life

[Section Index, 31-49]

31. The dynamics of good.

Treat others like you want to be treated.  a
That IS The Law and the Prophets.
 
: If you wouldn't want something done to you,  b 
: don't do that to somebody else. ::
 
 ---
 
A Pharisee asks, ‘What is the greatest commandment?’
 
What do you read in the Law?  c 
The first commandment is
Love God
 with all your heart
 with all your soul
 with all your mind.
 
The second commandment is very much like it --
Love your neighbor 
 as yourself.
 
On these two commandments 
 hinge
All The Law and the Prophets.
There is no commandment greater than these.
Follow these and you will live.
 
 ---
 
Happy are those who d
 hear the Word of God
 and keep it.
 
 ---
 
Trust God. e




 
 
 [31] [T] 

32. The dynamics of evil

Snakes! How can you speak good a
 when you are evil!
What one says comes
 from the treasure
 within one's own self.
Evil comes from the
 treasure of evil
 within one's own self.
 
You will have to give account
 for every evil word you say.
In the final court
You will be shown to be innocent
 by your words,
You will be found guilty
 by your words.
 
 ---
 
After leaving someone,  b 
When the spirit of evil
Searches the desert for a place to rest
 and can't find it,
That spirit will say
`I will go back where I was.'
 
The house will be empty 
 swept clean
 all in order.
 
That one will bring seven other spirits 
 even more evil.
The house will be worse off than before!
That's the way it will be
 with this generation.




 
  [32] [T] 

33. A lawyer asks, who is my neighbor?

A traveler was mugged
 on the road
 between Jerusalem and Jericho.
They stripped him
They beat him
They left him half dead.
 
A priest passed that way.
He scurried by on the other side.
 
Then there was a Levite.  a
He saw him too
And scurried by on the other side.
 
Then a Samaritan found him.  b 
He felt compassion for him
 and stopped
Cleaned and dressed his wounds
 and took care of him.
 
The next day
He paid the traveler's bill at the inn.
He told the innkeeper
`If there are any more charges
I will pay when I return.'
 
What do you think?
Which of these three
 was the neighbor
 to the man
 who was mugged? 
 
 ** [R(D): ‘The man who showed mercy.’ ] 




 
 You be a neighbor like that.





 [33] [T] 

34. On observing the sabbath. The fundamentalists protested when Jesus' disciples plucked grain, and Jesus healed a man, and later a woman, on the Sabbath.

When David and his companions were hungry a
 he entered God's house
 and took the holy bread
 presented to God.
By the religious Law it was wrong,
Only the priests should eat it
But he gave it to them anyway.
Don't you remember that?
 
And don't you remember
That priests aren't bound by the Law
 on the Sabbath?
 
Listen!
The One who is here
 is more important than the Temple rules.
If you'd understood the scripture
 `I desire mercy and not sacrifice'  b
You wouldn't condemn the innocent.
 
The Sabbath was made for people 
People weren't made for the Sabbath.
The Image-of-God rules the Sabbath. c
 
What if your son fell into a well  d
 on the Sabbath?
Or even an ox, or a sheep?
Wouldn't you rush to save him?
 
Let me ask you this -- 
Does the Law allow doing good on the Sabbath
 or harm?
Does it require you to save life
 or to kill?
 
The Law does allow doing good 
 on the Sabbath.
 
 ---
 
Woman,  e 
You are released
 from your disability. 
 
Hypocrites! 
On the sabbath
You untie your ox or your donkey
And lead it to water.
 
Then why shouldn't Abraham's daughter 
Tied up by Satan for eighteen years
Be untied on the Sabbath?




 
  [34] [T] 

35. Handwashing. The religious leaders asked why the disciples did not observe ritual handwashing before eating; the disciples warned Jesus that the leaders were offended by his answer.

Beautiful ! a
You write off God's law in your own traditions.
Why do you do that?
Moses said
  `Honor your father and your mother.' b
Moses said
 `If you dishonor your parents you will die.' c
But you say
 You can get out of helping your parents
 just by saying you gave the money
 to God instead.
When you keep people from helping their parents
You void God's tradition.
You do lots of other things
 just as bad.
 
You are hypocrites! 
Isaiah was right:
 `These people honor me with their lips d
 but not with their hearts.
 Their worship is empty.
 They just make up their own doctrines.'
 
Listen everybody.
Understand this --
It's not unholy hands or dirty food
 that makes you unclean
It's all that dirt
 that pours out of your mouths. 
 
- R: explain that to us. - 
 
Don't you understand?   e 
The food doesn't go into your hearts
It goes into the stomach
 and passes on out.
The evil that comes out of your mouths
 does come from the heart.
The evil thoughts
 And murder
 adultery and fornication
 thievery, lying, slander
 coveting
 pride, foolishness
That's what makes you unclean.
Eating with unholy hands?
No, that doesn't make you unclean.
 
 ---
 
Every plant will be rooted up  f 
 if the Beloved Creator
 did not plant it.
Let the blind guides alone.
When the blind lead the blind.
They both fall into a pit.





 [35] [T] 

36. Bathing Jesus' feet The host at dinner objected when a woman of bad reputation bathed Jesus' feet.

What if a lender forgave two loans --
 one of five thousand dollars  a
 one of five hundred --
Which creditor would love him more?
 
See this woman?
When I came to your house
You didn't rinse the dust from my feet
She has bathed them in her tears,
 wiping them with her hair.
 
You didn't give me the kiss of greeting.
She has been kissing my feet
 again and again.
 
You didn't anoint my head 
 with oil
She has anointed my feet
 with fine lotion.
 
She has been released from her many sins  b 
For she has loved greatly. 
 If you have been forgiven little
 you love little.
 
 -to the woman-
 
Your sincere faithfulness  c 
 has released you.
Go in peace.
 
 [36] [T] 

37. Sign from heaven? The religious leaders insisted on being shown `a sign from heaven', that is, for some sort of magic to prove Jesus' credentials.

You mean like a red sky  a
 in the evening?
That means fair weather.
 
You mean like a red sky 
 in the morning?
That means a storm is coming.
 
You know the weather signs 
But you can't interpret
The signs of the times.
 
 ---
 
Only an evil generation  b
 looks for such signs.
The sign of Jonah is the only sign
 which will be given.
 
Jonah was a sign 
 for two men at Ninevah.
I will be a sign  c
 to this generation.
 
For three days 
  Jonah was in the belly
 of the big fish.
For three days
For three nights
 I will be in the heart d
 of the earth.
 
When this generation is judged at the last court 
The queen of the South will testify against it,
 for she came from far away
  to hear Solomon's wisdom.
What's going on here is
 bigger than Solomon.
 
When this generation is judged at the last court 
The people of Ninevah will testify against it,
 for they turned around
 at Jonah's preaching.
What's going on here is
 bigger than Jonah's preaching.
 
  [37] [T] 

38. The religious establishment.

The religious leaders
 sit in Moses' seat
So live by what they say
But not by what they do.
They do not practice
 what they preach.
 
These doctors of the law  a 
Weigh people down
 with heavy loads
Loads almost impossible
 to carry,
And they won't lift a finger
 to help them.
 
Everything they do is for effect,  b
 just to be seen.
They wear oversize symbols
And exaggerated vestments.
They like special attention at the shopping malls
And the places of honor at banquets.
 
They like being called Teacher  c 
But do not call them that.
You have only one Teacher
All of you have the same rank.
 
Do not call humans 
 Father, either
Because your only father
 is in heaven.
 
And do not be called 
 Leader.
Only one is anointed leader,
 the Christ. d
 
Whoever is greatest 
 will be a servant.
Whoever seeks the high position
 will be brought down
Whoever is humble
 will be raised high.
 
Oyai! You clergy!  e 
 Hypocrites!
You use up the widows' pensions. 
 
Your long prayers are just a pretense.
For that, your condemnation
 is even greater.
 
Oyai! You lawyers!  f 
You have taken away the key to knowledge
You shut people out from
 the spiritual realm.
You don't enter yourselves
And you don't let in
 those who want to come.
 
Woe to you clergy!
You search over land and sea
For one convert
But then you make the convert
 into a child of hell
Twice as bad as you yourselves.
You are blind guides!
 
You say 
 `If anyone swears by the temple
 it means nothing,
But if you swear by
 the temple's gold
 you are bound by the oath.'
What blind fools!  g
Which is more valuable?
 The gold, or
 the temple which
 makes the gold sacred?
 
You say 
 `If anyone swears by the altar
 it means nothing
 But if you swear by
 the gift on the altar
 you are bound by the oath.'
What blind fools! 
Which is more valuable?
 The gift
 or the altar which
 makes the gift sacred?
 
If you swear by the altar 
 you swear by everything on it.
If you swear by the temple
 you swear by it and
 the One who lives in it.
 
If you swear by heaven 
 you swear by God's throne
 and by the One who sits in it.
 
Oyai! You clergy!
You ritually set aside
 the Lord's share
 even when you measure common spices
But you ignore discernment,
 and love of God.
That's what you ought to care about
Even while you keep the rituals.
 
Blind guides! 
You filter out gnats
And swallow camels!
 
You fundamentalists   i
Only clean the outside of your `dishes'
But your insides are dirty with
 extortion and greed.
You're fools. j
Did not the same One who
 made your outside
 make your inside too?
Give freely of what is within you
 then for you
 everything is clean.
 
You are hypocrites.
You are like whitewashed tombs
Beautiful outside
But inside, full of old bones
 and death's corruption.
 
You are like unmarked graves  k 
Which you can walk over
 without knowing it.
 
You build and decorate monuments  l 
 to the prophets
The same prophets your fathers killed.
You say, `If we had lived then
 we would not have shed their blood.'
When you say that you just indict yourselves.
You admit your fathers killed them.
You are guilty sons
 building monuments to the victims.
 
Figure up the accounts of your ancestors  m 
You snakes!
Offspring of vipers!
How can you escape going to hell?
The Wisdom of God says  n
`I send you holy, wise and learned
 people
Some of them you kill, you crucify
Some of them you whip
 in the worship places.
You then abuse them
 from town to town.'
 
All the wounds of earth's good people 
 are put on your ledger o
All the innocent blood
 from Abel to Zechariah --
You know Zechariah, son of Barachia
 whom you murdered
 near the altar.
All of those accounts come due
 on this generation.
 
Oh Jerusalem!  p 
 Jerusalem!
Killing prophets
Stoning those who come to help you.
 
Oh! So often I have wanted 
 to gather you up
Like a hen takes her
 biddies under her wings  q
But you would not have it!
 
Your house is abandoned.
Your land is a desert.
 
Someday you'll say 
 `Praised be the One
 who comes
 in the name of the Lord.'
 
You will not see me again 
 until that day.




 
  [38] [T] 

39. A Syrophoenician woman approached Jesus, asking help for her disturbed daughter; he ignored her at first, then put her off.

I was sent only to
 lost Jewish sheep.
I must feed those children first.
It's not fair to throw
 children's food
 to dogs. 

** [R: At least the dogs could get the crumbs that fall from the table.]

Oh woman,
How much you trust!
You may go on your way.
You will have what you asked for.
Your daughter is healed.

  [39] [T] 

40. Stumbling blocks.

Whoever receives a child  a
 in my name
Receives me.
 
But if you cause a  b
 little one like this
 to stumble away from me c
You'd be better off
 if you were
 thrown into the sea
With a millstone
 around your neck.
 
Stumbling blocks like that  d 
Bring much despair into the world.
Yes, obstacles are sure to come e
But watch out when they do.