"to the intent ye may believe" - Parables involving Servants and Masters

Mt. Fuji Viewed from Tokyo Suburbs 100 km Far at this Dusk

Parables involving Servants and Masters

The relationship between servants and the master must be critical in Israel 2000 years ago.

Most of poor men must have lived as servants of a rich man.  So, situations involving a master and servants must have been real and acute to them.  That is why Christ Jesus took up this relationship in His parable.  

Luke 12:35-48New International Version (NIV)
Watchfulness 

35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” 

41 Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?” 

42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 

47 “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

It is interesting that Christ Jesus did not depict masters as bad men.  Assuming that a master was just and fair, He constituted those parables.

Christ Jesus focused on laziness of servants but not on arrogance and cruelty of masters.  Masters were depicted as somebody servants should obey unconditionally.  And He superimposed God on those masters against servants.

Christ Jesus did not encourage revolution where poor servants rose in revolt and executed masters.  But, He rather seems to have taught poor followers to be faithful to a real master in their living like they should be faithful to God.

Indeed, peace and grace those poor followers could enjoy must have depended on their relationship with their masters in real lives 2000 years ago.  Even today, poor people working under a boss in any business have their peace and grace depended on their relationship with the boss.  And Christ Jesus did not encourage revolt at all.

Conversely, if you do not pay respect to God more than you do to your boss in business, you would be severely judged and treated by God, it must tell.

 



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Joh 11:11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
Joh 11:12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
Joh 11:13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
Joh 11:14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
Joh 11:15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

"all thy house shall be saved" - The Last and The First

Mt. Fuji at this Dusk, 100 Km Far

The Last and The First

It is true that an incident proving the saying "the first becomes the last" sometimes happens.

For example, Mr. Obama was the last who came to Washington DC far behind Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Kerry, and Mr. Biden.  But, it is Obama who assumed the office of the US President after Mr. Bush.

Matthew 20:1-20New International Version (NIV)

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard 

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 

3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing.6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ 

7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ 

8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ 

9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ 

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 

16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

What is the most essential in this episode is the word of Christ: "Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? "

Christ Jesus did not say, for example, "These last persons are taking care of 100 patients, 100 poor people, and 100 victims of crimes sacrificing themselves.  That is why they came late.  That is why I want give them money."

But Christ Jesus said that it was his own right to give money to those men as much as to others while they worked only from five o'clock in the afternoon.

Then you might think that next day everybody might come to be hired only at five o'clock but not early in the morning.  But in the early next morning, those who had been hired at five o'clock in the day before would come to work to the vineyard.  And those who came at five o'clock of the day on purpose should feel ashamed of themselves.  Since then, nobody would work in a dishonest manner.

So, the main reason for this handling of workers and wages must be that there are more important factors in any given situation that are related to the outer environment.  And, a matter in a closed situation should be sometimes managed with an eye to a wider environment.  And a result of such care might sometimes look like "the last will be first, and the first will be last."

In addition, it is often easy in any project to accomplish 99% of required work but there is sometimes the most important and difficult challenge lying in the last 1%.  Therefore, we sometimes need an expert or a special worker who can handle such a challenge.  It is a matter of quality and not quantity.  It is also better in a long war to threw new force to the last battle to make a victory sure.

The last does not mean the least important, as the first does not mean the most important.  With this in mind, foolish and unnecessary competition should be avoided as as not to make unlucky people more unhappy.


Now, Obama became the first.  But who is now the last?  Hillary Clinton?




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Act 11:13 And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter;
Act 11:14 Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.

"of a faithful spirit" - At Jacob's Well

Around Tokyo

At Jacob's Well

The only episode that depicts Christ Jesus with a woman alone is related to the scene at a water well in a village.

John 4:5-42New International Version (NIV) 

5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a]) 

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the welland drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

A woman who can marry so many times must be attractive in a sense.  So, this is the scene that Christ Jesus casually spoke to an attractive woman when none was there except the two.

But, Christ Jesus could see her past.  She married many times for whatever reasons.  Such a woman must be a little dangerous if she looks fine.  And such a woman must be corrected, if possible.

Indeed, she exchanged words with Christ Jesus so boldly, even mentioning Jacob.  She tried to suppress Christ Jesus with the name of Jacob.  But, Christ Jesus was the Son of God who had power to correct any dangerous woman.

And, this episode shows a pattern that His followers must follow when each of them is alone with an attractive and dangerous woman.  They have to correct such a woman before any other scenario is pursued.

Christ Jesus never chats with a woman but corrects a woman.

He was a very busy man, since there were so many sinful women.!





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Pro 11:13 A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.

"a great voice from heaven" - Poor Judaists

A Public Park around Tokyo

Poor Judaists

Not all Judaists in the world are rich.

There are poor Judaists in New York and Israel.  It means even for Jewish people the matter of material success in society is an individual problem but not a crisis of the race.

In 2003, UJA-Federation of NY and Ukeles Associates studied Nazi Victims in the New York Area, finding that half of New York's Holocaust survivors live in households with incomes below 150% of poverty guidelines. In 2004, the Met Council and UJA-Federation of NY published a new Report on Jewish Poverty, finding that about 244,000 Jews in the New York area had income levels under 150% of Federal poverty guidelines. 27% of these were large Orthodox households, 23% were Russian-speakers under the age of 65 (44% altogether were Russian-speakers), 34% were over 65, and 16% were either disabled, unemployed, or had no college degree. (According to the Met Council, one subset of the latter group includes those about whom the Jewish community has typically been in denial: single parent households, substance abusers, and Israelis who are in the US without proper documentation.) An additional 104,000 Jews in the area are near-poor, the report concluded, with incomes only modestly above that level. These near-poor Jews are even less well-known and understood than their poor Jewish counterparts, argued William Rapfogel, Ilene S. Marcus, and Esther Larson in the Journal of Jewish Communal Service in 2007. "The near-poor are not poor enough to receive federal assistance," they point out, "but do not have the means to make ends meet." In 2009, the Met Council commissioned a Report on the Federal Poverty Thresholds and the Federal Poverty Guidelines, laying out many problems with current standards.


Jewish poverty is even more acute in Israel. Writing for Jewish Ideas Daily, Yehudah Mirsky recently explored the Class Divide between American and Israeli Jewry, writing: "The world's two largest Jewish communities differ in many ways. Class is one of them." Jenny Cohen-Khallas assessed Penury and Hunger in Israel in the pages of Sh'ma in May 2003, reminding readers that one sixth of Israel's population is impoverished. In the same issue of Sh'ma, Eliezer Jaffe examined Wealth, Poverty, and the Zionist Vision, asserting that poverty in Israel today "is caused foremost by the economic depression worldwide and the ongoing war with the Palestinians". (In 1975, the same author appraised Israeli poverty from the perspective of Sephardi-Ashkenazi Divisions.) Writing in 2009, "at the height of the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression," Yael Shalgi outlined A Conceptual Map of Poverty in Israel, asserting, "Israel has a higher rate of poverty than most developed countries."
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs070/1102433540041/archive/1105492079878.html

So, it seems that historically some Judaists became rich not by relying solely on their own people of the same race but rather by taking a chance in Christian society that surrounded them.

It also means that wealth super-rich Jewish people have is not originated in the Jewish community but is common assets of the world.  That is why Hitler and Nazis could justify their atrocity by claiming that they were taking back wealth from Jews, since such wealth was inherently belonged to the German society but not to the Jewish society.

The same logic can apply even today.  To avoid the tragedy, Judaists should abandon wealth they got in the Christian society.  If all the Judaists lived in their own nation without relying on any assets of Christian countries, they must be safer.

However, as such a solution is impossible, it is better for Judaists to live poor for safety.  In this context. poor Jewish people in New York and Israel can be good examples.

Be poor, the teaching of Christ Jesus, should also apply to Judaists.

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Rev 11:12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
Rev 11:13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

"least in the kingdom of heaven" - A Drunken Poet

2014 Christmas Season Started around Tokyo

A Drunken Poet

Once a great poet lived in Japan.

He was a drunker, a great drunker.  Though his Japanese-style poems were highly praised in literary circles in Japan, he was a helpless drinker.

But his poems were so sophisticated that no readers realized that he was addicted to alcohol.  To earn money he traveled local regions where he visited persons with a literary bent.  In their homes, he wrote his poems on colored paper and so on to enjoy hospitality and receive lecture fees.  But the great poet didn't like this road show.  Money he earned was soon used for drinking.

But he sometimes looked like a homeless person.  In one inn, he was assigned to the worst room and requested lodging charges of soon after a supper.  When he visited a home town of his friend, who was also a notable poet, and went on a visit of the house of the friend's father to see the friend, he was mistaken as a hobo and expelled, since his friend was unfortunately absent.  But when the friend came back to the house and heard of the drunken hobo, he identified the great poet to go out and find him, in vain.

Of course, since when I was a boy, I knew the name Bokusui Wakayam, because his poems are so excellent.  But it was very recently that I learnt that Bokusui was a helpless drinker.

Bokusui Wakayama (1885–1928) was a Japanese author. Wakayama was a Naturalist tanka poet who was active at the beginning of the 20th century, during the tanka revival started by Yosano Tekkan. He traveled all over Japan and Korea, which, at that time, was under Imperial Japanese control composing many tankas about the places he visited. He also loved sake. Heavy drinking eventually damaged his liver and he died relatively young.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokusui_Wakayama

One of great verses Wakayama Bokusui wrote:

Aren't the white birds so sad
As they are straying around
Without being immersed
In the blue of sky and tides? 

(translated by EEE-Reporter)


Whoever is homeless, traveling around the country, with a mind of a poet reminds me of Christ Jesus, even if the hobo is mostly drunken.




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Mat 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

"the kingdom of our father David" - Economic Antisemitism

Around Imperial Palace in Tokyo

Economic Antisemitism

Are Judaists safe in this world?

Has the root cause that caused the Holocaust by Nazis in WWII suddenly disappeared from the surface of the earth so suddenly?

Economic antisemitism comprises stereotypes and canards based on the economic status, occupation or economic behavior of Jews. It also includes economic behavior, laws and governmental policies targeting the economic status, occupation or economic behavior of Jews.

...

Abraham Foxman describes six facets of canards used by proponents of economic antisemitism:
All Jews are wealthy
Jews are stingy and greedy
Powerful Jews control business world
Jewish religion emphasizes profit and materialism
It is acceptable for Jews to cheat non-Jews
Jews use their power to benefit "their own kind"

Statistics
The Anti Defamation League conducted a poll in Europe in 2007 which asked respondents if they agreed with the statement that "Jews have too much power in international financial markets". Polling data showed that respondents agreed with that statement as follows: 61% in Hungary, 43% in Austria, 40% in Switzerland, 40% in Belgium, 21% in the United Kingdom, and 13% in the Netherlands.[15][16] Another poll conducted by the ADL in 2009 found that 31% of Europeans surveyed blamed Jews for the global financial crisis that began in 2008.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_antisemitism#Statistics

 So, still more than 30% of Europeans think that there are Judaist bankers and Judaist leaders in the financial sector who could have a decisive influence on the whole society of Europe.

If this ratio becomes higher, probably, to 50% or more, another Holocaust might occur even in London.

The final solution to this problem is, of course, for mankind to abolish the money market all over the world.
.



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Mar 11:10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.

"Ask, and it shall be given you" - The Thirty Years War and Judaists

A Tokyo Railroad Line

The Thirty Years War and Judaists

More than 100 years after Columbus reached America, European Judaists got a chance to expand their scopes of activities in Europe.

They had accumulated big money till the Thirty Years War that lasted from 1618 to 1648.  And their money was wanted by an emperor and kings who got engaged in this War so as to cover costs of the War.  In exchange of providing financial services for these rulers of Europe, Judaists experienced improvement of their status toward some freedom, if any, in the Christian society in Europe.  .

The Jews were reintegrated into European Society as a result of the financial burden of the Thirty Years War. 

The Thirty Years War lasted from 1618 to 1648. It began as a renewal of religious warfare in the provinces of Germany, but quickly spread throughout Europe. As it spread it began to take on a more political meaning rather than a religious one. Thus, it became a struggle for dominance between European powers.
...
England had expelled its Jewish population in 1290 and France and Spain followed suit in 1394 and 1492 respectively. Where Jews were allowed to live, they were still restricted to certain arts of the cities called ghettos. Thus, Jews were extremely isolated from European society in the years before the Thirty Years War.
This trend of isolationism was reversed by the Thirty Years War. The largest reason for the reintegration of the Jews into society was the development of a good relationship with the Holy Roman Emperor. To explain this unlikely match we must look at the advancements of Jews in the economic sphere.
...

As the Thirty Years War raged on, The Holy Roman Emperor began to run out of money. Fighting a war against three large European powers that had vast monetary resources was incredibly expensive. The Holy Roman treasury was struggling to provide the added expenses of the war. In Italy at this time there were an incredible amount of Jews. These Jews lived harsh lives. They were confined to ghettos and were legally recognized as a race inferior to Christians. However, they were extremely prosperous merchants, bankers, and traders. Thus, they had incredible monetary resources at their disposal. The Emperor saw a golden opportunity in the plight of the Jews. Because they lived such hard lives they could provide loans in exchange for certain freedoms that Christian bankers took for granted. In this way the treasury would be refilled without having to repay expensive loans.

...

In 1623, in exchange for a large, no interest loan to the Holy Roman Emperor, Jews in Italian cities were allowed to trade in wine, cloth, and grain. Christian merchants had previously monopolized this activity. This policy of freedom in exchange for money was not just practiced in the Empire. As the war continued and the other participants began to run out of money they too developed this strategy.

...

They had been systematically banished from all trade fairs because they were competition for Christian merchants. They were allowed back into the fairs because it increased their financial security, and thus. More money could be extracted from them. Thus, as a result of the cost of the war, Jews were reintegrated into society.

http://www.essortment.com/jews-30-years-war-21585.html

The status of Judaists was further upgraded and expanded when Napoleon ruled a major part of Europe through wars in the early 19th century.

But, it was all smashed to pieces when Nazis got power in Germany before WWII.

Nonetheless, the Thirty Years War is so crucial to the fate of Judaists.  Without it, there should have been no Holocaust, and hence no Israel today.

During Thirty Years' War (1618-48; religious war between Catholics and Protestants and for political hegemony in Europe), Jewish financiers and provisioners provided essential services to central European monarchs (seen as neutral). 

Court Jews continued after war to serve as financial, commercial, and diplomatic agents for rulers; useful because of their liquid capital, lack of political demands and vulnerability; amassed great wealth and connections (which often used to benefit Jewish communities) but their fortunes and protection dependent upon monarch
http://www.yorku.ca/lockshin/courses/huma2850/lectures/lecture15.html

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Luk 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

"nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth" - Heavenly Sword

Anti-Nuclear Group's Tent in Tokyo Government District

Heavenly Sword

According to Forbes magazine, the most influential person in the world is Putin followed by Obama and Xi.

Putin invaded Ukraine, Obama failed in controlling Iraq to give a chance to ISIS for its rise, and Xi has nothing to do with democracy and justice as Hon Kong protesters are not respected and Chinese ships are invading territorial seas of other countries around the South China Sea and the East China Sea.

Still the most influential persons must be Abraham, Christ Jesus, and Muhammad.

For example, if the world should be conquered by a dictator, he would delete the names of the three great historic figures from history books all over the world and forbid religious practices associated with them.  Then, outwardly, the world will be very peaceful.

Indeed, Christ Jesus said that conflicts, tensions, and clashes cannot be avoided, probably, for mankind to reach the Kingdom of God.

Matthew 10:34

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.     

 But how will the Heavenly sword of Christ Jesus destroy armies of Russia, America, and China?





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Act 11:8 But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.
Act 11:9 But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.