War Club Tells the Good Story 10
10
1Creator Sets Free (Jesus) then left that place and walked to the territory of the Land of Promise (Judea) beyond the river Flowing Down (Jordan). There, as he usually did, he began to teach the crowds that had once again gathered around him.
TESTED ABOUT DIVORCE
2 Like hungry wolves the Separated Ones (Pharisees) came to test and accuse him.
“Does our tribal law permit a man to send his wife away?” they asked.
3“What did the lawgiver Drawn from the Water (Moses) instruct the people about this?” he replied.
4“He permitted a man to send her away by giving her divorce papers,” they answered back.
5“It is because of your hard hearts that he permitted this,” he said to them. 6“But this was not always so, for from the beginning of creation ‘he made them to be male and female.’#10:6 Genesis 1:27 7‘This is why a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8and together they make one flesh’#10:8 Genesis 2:24—no longer two—but the two braided together as one. 9So no human being should tear apart what the Maker of Life has joined together.”
10Later, back in the house, his followers asked him some more questions about this.
11He then said to them, “Whoever sends his wife away, without properly divorcing her, and marries another is guilty of being unfaithful to his first wife. 12If she then, after being sent away, marries another man, then she is also guilty of being unfaithful.”
In those days men would sometimes send their wives away for any reason without giving them divorce papers, leaving them destitute and unable to properly remarry.
LITTLE CHILDREN AND THE GOOD ROAD
13The people were bringing their little children to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) so he would lay his hands on them and bless them, but his followers spoke harsh words to the ones bringing them.
14When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) saw what his followers were doing, it made him angry, so he said to them, “Let the little children come to me! Do not turn them away. Creator’s good road belongs to the ones who are like these children. 15I speak from my heart, the only way onto Creator’s good road is to become as trusting as a little child.”
16He then took the children into his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
POSSESSIONS AND THE GREAT SPIRIT
17As Creator Sets Free (Jesus) set out walking from there, a man ran up to him and honored him.
“Good Wisdomkeeper,” the man asked, “what path will lead me to the life of the world to come that never fades away?”
18“Why do you call me good?” he asked the man. “There is only one who is good—the Great Spirit. 19You must know the instructions from the lawgiver Drawn from the Water (Moses). ‘You are not to take the life of another, or be unfaithful in marriage, or take what is not yours. Never lie about or cheat a fellow human being, and always give honor and respect to your father and mother.’”#10:19 Exodus 20:12-16; Deuteronomy 5:16-20
20“Wisdomkeeper,” the man answered, “from my youth I have followed all of these instructions.”
21Creator Sets Free (Jesus) looked at the man with love and said, “Only one thing remains. Take all your possessions, invite the poor of your village to come, and have a giveaway. Then in the spirit-world above you will have many possessions waiting for you. Then leave everything behind and come, walk the road with me.”
22The man’s heart fell to the ground. He hung his head and walked away, for he had many possessions.
POSSESSIONS AND THE GOOD ROAD
23Creator Sets Free (Jesus) then looked around at the people and said to his followers, “Finding and walking the good road is a hard thing for the ones who have many possessions.”
24His followers could not believe what they were hearing.
They thought having many possessions was a sign of blessing from the Great Spirit.
25Creator Sets Free (Jesus) spoke again to them. “Little children,” he said, “the ones who trust in their many possessions will have a hard time finding their way onto the good road. It would be easier for a moose#10:25 Lit. camel to go through the eye of a needle.”
26They shook their heads in wonder, looked at each other, and said, “How then can anyone walk the good road that sets all people free?”
27He looked at them and said, “It is not possible for weak human beings, but with Creator’s help all things are possible.”
28Stands on the Rock (Peter) spoke up, “We have left all our possessions, and our relatives, to walk the road with you! What will become of us?”
29“I speak from my heart,” he answered, “no one who has given up homes and families to follow me and walk my good road will go without. 30In this present world they will become part of an even greater family, with many homes and lands. Even though they have been abused and mistreated, they will receive much more than they have lost.#10:30 Lit. one hundred times as much Then, in the world to come, they will have the life of beauty and harmony that never fades away.
31“But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”
HE FORETELLS HIS DEATH AND RISING
32Creator Sets Free (Jesus) led the way as they walked the road toward Village of Peace (Jerusalem). As they followed behind him, they began to worry about what would happen when they arrived, and fear began to cover them like a blanket.
Creator Sets Free (Jesus) took the twelve aside and told them once again what would happen to him.
33“This is what you must see and understand,” he said to them. “We will soon arrive in Village of Peace (Jerusalem), where the True Human Being will be turned over to the head holy men and the scroll keepers. They will condemn him to death and then turn him over to the People of Iron (Romans). 34They will mock him, spit on him, and whip him with cowhide strips. After that, they will kill him, but three days later he will come back to life again.”
A PLACE OF HONOR?
35After that, He Takes Over (James) and He Shows Goodwill (John), the sons of Gift of Creator (Zebedee), came up to Creator Sets Free (Jesus).
“Wisdomkeeper,” they said, “We want to ask you to do something for us.”
36“What is it you want from me?” he replied.
37“When your shining-greatness is revealed,” they said back to him, “permit us a place of honor beside you, one on your right hand the other on your left.”
38“You do not understand what you are asking,” he answered. “Are you able to drink the cup of suffering that I will drink, or endure the purification ceremony#10:38, 39 Baptism that I will endure?”
39“We are able!” they answered.
“Yes,” he said to them, “you will drink from my cup of suffering and endure my purification ceremony, 40but the place at my right and left hand is not mine to give. This honor belongs to the ones for whom it has already been prepared.”
41When the other ten message bearers heard this, they began to look down on He Takes Over (James) and He Shows Goodwill (John).
THE GOOD ROAD IS ABOUT SERVING OTHERS
42So Creator Sets Free (Jesus) called them together and said, “Other nations have rulers, such as the People of Iron (Romans). They like to show their power over people and push them around. 43But this will not be the way of the ones, like you, who walk with me. 44The great ones among you will humble themselves and serve all the others. 45In the same way, the True Human Being did not come to be served by others but to offer his life in the place of many lives, to set them free.”
MOON VILLAGE HEALING
46Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and his followers walked through Moon Village (Jericho), and a large crowd followed behind them as they left the village. As the crowd passed, a blind beggar, whose name was Son of Honored One (Bartimaeus), was sitting on the side of the road.
47When he heard that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) from Seed Planter Village (Nazareth) was there, he cried out loudly, “Descendant of Much Loved One (David), have pity on me!”
48Many in the crowd scolded him, telling him to be quiet, but this only made him cry out even louder, “Descendant of Much Loved One (David), have pity on me!”
49Creator Sets Free (Jesus) stopped walking, turned to the crowd, and said, “Tell him to come to me.”
So they called out to the blind man, “Have courage! He is calling for you!”
50He jumped up, threw aside his outer garment, and walked with the help of others to Creator Sets Free (Jesus).
51“What do you want from me?” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) said to him.
“Wisdomkeeper,” he answered, “make me see again!”
52“Be on your way,” he said to him, “Your trust in me has made you whole again.”
Right then and there his eyes were opened! So he began to follow after Creator Sets Free (Jesus) as they continued on their way down the road.
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