The Three-Hundred-First (Make No Sense)

Over the past few weeks, we’ve looked at the ideas and concepts of aliens, hope, and why YHWH might feel distant at various times in our life.  Over the past almost six years, there’s been many weekly topics covered, with some making more sense than others depending on what we’ve all grown up learning and being told.  However, they’ve all been tied to learning about what’s really written in scripture.

This week is an encouragement, an exhortation even, but an encouragement for what?  The title this week is the summation of what we’re encouraged, and even directed, to do in life: make no sense.  That’s not to say we need to be certifiably insane!  Rather, we need to make no sense to those in the world that have limited or no knowledge of what’s in scripture and the lessons we have learned from it.  In some cases, we even need to make no sense to those that are familiar with scripture and know what’s in it!

Why do I say we need to make no sense?  First, as we’ll get into shortly, the overwhelming majority of what we see in scripture in terms of the events recorded and the lessons to be gleaned from them don’t make sense from the point of view of what the world knows and teaches.  Second, in many, if not all, cases, it is supremely hard for many of us to take the path of making no sense to those around us.  It takes courage for us to do or say something that we know, or believe, we will be judged for as being crazy, or that we’re in some cult.

Hopefully, when we get to the end of this week’s study, you have a little bit more courage in that area, no matter how slight it might be.  One of the things we’re going to do is look at examples in scripture of making no sense.  Ultimately, as I’ve emphasized in previous studies, I firmly believe that we are already at a time in YHWH’s plan where He is trying to get His people to make no sense according to the world, and I think not only is that going to be more evident as time goes on, it is also going to require more and more courage to be someone that makes no sense according to the world.

As alluded to earlier, there are stories upon stories and parables upon parables of things in scripture that make no sense from a worldly point of view.  Last week, we touched on a few of those.  Axe heads that float in a river, city walls that crumble from shouting and horn blowing, tens or hundreds of men defeating tens or hundreds of thousands in battle, they all are fantastical stories and one of the reasons why the world, and even many in Christianity, don’t believe they happened as literally as scripture says they did.  In other words, they put a “based on actual events” disclaimer on the front of scripture.

As a whole, I don’t know about you, but I’d rather believe all those events are true than try to explain them according to the scientific beliefs of the day.  I want to serve a YHWH that doesn’t operate within the bounds of what man thinks he knows about creation.  I want to believe in a YHWH that can do fantastical things, and knowing He did, and does, those things is justification to me that my faith in Him has purpose and meaning.

So many people today put their faith in various things, including mankind in general as well as specific people for specific reasons.  Their faith in these people and things is in hopes that they will produce the results that the person believes are right, but time after time those results don’t happen.  Whether it’s politicians, religious leaders, science itself, etc., they all fail in one way or another even while operating within the bounds of mankind’s knowledge and morality, even while sticking to what makes sense according to man.

I want to have faith in a YHWH that is beyond all that.  I want to serve a YHWH that shows that there’s something more than what we get disappointed in every day in the world.  Even more, by Him showing there’s something beyond it, that He Himself is beyond it, yet He still wants to interact with us and wants us to be with Him, I am even more humbled by His grace and love and it makes me feel even closer to Him.

The thing that I feel many believers don’t stop and think about enough, if at all, is how much of Yeshua’s ministry, His whole life even, included things that just make no sense to man.  Yes, many people talk quite a bit about being born to a virgin (Matthew 1:18-19), heavenly messengers showing up to announce His birth (Luke 2:8-15), and other things like that, but what about the seemingly mundane or inconsequential things?  For instance, have you ever noticed that after Yeshua’s resurrection, when He appeared to the disciples by the Sea of Galilee, He asked them if they had any fish but He apparently already had some and was cooking it by the time they came to Him? (John 21:1-9)

Doesn’t quite make sense, does it?  If He already had some fish and intended on sharing a meal with them, why not just have them come in and eat?  Was it all just a way for Him to get the disciples to recognize Him because that’s the way He first came to them? (Luke 5:1-11)

Perhaps, it was more than that.  Perhaps, and this is my belief, it was another miraculous object lesson.  In that first interaction, where Peter, Andrew, James, and John dropped everything and followed Him, Yeshua told them they would be catching men from now on.  In other words, the fish represented people.  I believe the fish that Yeshua was already cooking, and apparently appeared out of nowhere, represented those that were resurrected when He was resurrected (Matthew 27:53), and the fish the disciples caught were those that were to be resurrected in the future.  To put it another way, the fish being cooked over charcoal were already with Yeshua in heaven, and the fish just caught in the net were going to join with the disciples and be with Yeshua in heaven at some point in the future.

Obviously, this isn’t the only example of things in Yeshua’s life on earth that just don’t make sense from a worldly point of view, as we’ve already identified.  However, it’s not just physical miracles like that for us to learn from, form beliefs about, and model our lives after.  It’s His words and actions with which we should do the same thing.  

It doesn’t make sense, according to man, to challenge the doctrines and teachings of those who spend their whole lives studying things.  Specialists, people who focus on one aspect of a certain topic or area of study, are assumed to be correct when speaking about things they specialize in, and you may be called a moron, or at least be called foolish, to challenge them in those things.  Yet that’s exactly one of the things Yeshua did.

Multiple times throughout His ministry, Yeshua publicly and directly challenged the scribes and the Pharisees, those who were the experts in scripture during that time.  Today though, believers are judged as foolish, ignorant, or cultish if they challenge views and teachings of the religious leaders and theologians, the Pharisees and scribes of today.  Even if they simply formulate their own views based on their own studies of scripture, without the next step of going out and challenging other views and teachings, they’re judged for not going along with what the majority of others believe or follow and even accused of making Yeshua’s death “worthless” because of the views they hold.

Am I saying that these people are at the same level and authority of Yeshua?  Obviously not, but here’s where those “wide path” beliefs, that are held by most, trip people up.  By believing Yeshua is YHWH in human form, you already create a roadblock in your mind that what He did on earth is beyond your capability.  In this case, Yeshua challenging the scholars of the day is chalked up to His understanding of scripture only being achievable based on Him being YHWH, so in the believer’s mind today we have no place or ability to do the same thing He did in that way.

However, once you know and understand that Yeshua was born, and existed during His ministry, as simply a man, that roadblock either gets torn down or never gets built up in the first place.  The ability to understand scripture at its deepest level is now within your grasp, with the help of the Holy Spirit which is the same exact conditions Yeshua had: a man with the Holy Spirit.  While you may not feel comfortable, or be led, to outright challenge scholarship, you then can at least be confident that the beliefs you come to and the way you live your life are rooted in truth.

Another aspect of Yeshua’s ministry that just doesn’t make sense according to the world is His living and teaching of not worrying about things in life (Matthew 6:25-34, Luke 12:22-31).  People not worrying about where their next meal is coming from or how they’ll pay their rent either have it made or are crazy, according to the world.  If there’s a situation where it doesn’t look like you’re going to be able to take care of your own bare necessities, it’s absolutely insane for someone to not worry about it and, to go even further, trust in an invisible entity to provide it for you!

Yet that’s exactly what Yeshua taught and how He lived His life (Matthew 8:20, Luke 9:58).  In that same vein, He taught to give everything to the poor (Matthew 19:21, Mark 10:21, Luke 18:22).  According to the world, only when you’re well established financially and able to comfortably take care of yourself should you start thinking about giving to the poor, and even some of the most worldly people would say don’t give to the poor at all unless you get something out of it like a tax advantage or something like that.

That goes the same for stuff like setting aside things for YHWH.  Does it make sense, according to the world, for a business owner to set aside a portion of their business earnings to give to YHWH?  No, because whatever is set aside is not being used to grow the company or to provide income to the business owner.  However, scripture teaches that all we are given is YHWH’s to begin with, so not setting aside, for His purposes, some portion of what He has blessed you with is essentially telling Him you believe what you think it should be used for is more important than what He desires to use it for.

How about Yeshua’s teachings of humility and servitude?  A person with social status should be given the utmost in special treatment according to the world.  To not do so is to not give the person the respect that he or she has “earned.”  Additionally, those who choose the least desirable seat or position are seen as weak in the world.  You’re supposed to walk into a room “like you own the place” and “demand the respect that you deserve.”

In my experience, and I’m sure in yours as well, those that really succeed have a “commanding presence,” which essentially just means taking charge and directing things regardless of whether or not you fully understand something.  Those that are “not there to make friends,” naturally get ranked above those that approach things in a more humble and servant-like manner, and as a result they rise up the ranks faster.  The world does not reward those who truly “wash the feet” of others, even if sometimes it suggests that is a desirable trait to have! (most of the time, those high profile people projected as having that trait are not truly that way in their core.  It’s just an image used to promote an agenda and get people on board with it)

We’ve certainly not gone through an exhaustive list of things in Yeshua’s life, let alone in scripture, that teach us we should be living our lives in a way that makes no sense to the world.  There are plenty of other examples to choose from.  However, I hope that you’ve been able to see how we’re called to do just that as believers, and I hope that based on some of these examples you can have a little more courage to do so.

I also hope that as you’ve read this and looked at the examples in scripture it’s caused you to look at them in a different way than you had before.  Typically, events like what we’ve looked at in Yeshua’s life are not talked about from the point of view of how the world sees them.  Believers almost take for granted the fact that it’s just how we know we’re supposed to act and doing point out that they make no sense to the world.  We are truly called to live like Yeshua (1 John 2:6), and part of that calling includes making no sense!    

Have a great week!  Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!  

-Rob and Sara Gene

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The Gospel

We are born sinful as a result of Adam and Eve's sin (Genesis 2:17, 3:6, 1 John 1:8)

The consequence of sin, which is unavoidable through our own works, is death (Romans 6:23)

Yeshua, the Son of YHWH, lived sinless and was put to death (Hebrews 4:15)

His death, therefore, cleanses us of sin that would have required our death

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

He rose on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4)

Because of His resurrection, we are confident in our future resurrection and eternal life

(1 Corinthians 15:17-18, John 3:16)