The blood of Christ is the terminology that addresses his sacrificial death.  Death is the means of giving life or liberty: of this gate keeping concept, the Passover is the iconic precedent. There is even a secular version offered in the annual remembrances of the lives lost in the world wars.  In times of severe hardship people are willing to give up something or even someone that is precious and irreplaceable. Human sacrifice had not been outside the options, but bloodshed cannot be avoided because the price of going public with one’s wrongdoing is set by God.  It is at that level that bloodshed becomes operative in reconciling a man to God.

He shall slay the young bull before the Lord; and Aaron’s sons the priests shall offer up the blood and sprinkle the blood around on the altar that is at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

Leviticus 1:5

Perhaps the earliest expression of remission of sin and the necessity of blood can be seen in God’s provision of animal skins to cover the first couple in the Garden of Eden.

“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.”

Genesis 3:21

Even on the iconic day of atonement where people fasted to afflict themselves, it was blood that provided the atonement.  For all the contamination or impurity that ancient Israelites acquired there was no bloodshed required, just a quarantine until the sunset.  All of the people’s corporate and personal achievements were  gained by the common labours in the field and in the waters, never by bloody sacrifice, grain or drink offerings.

Trivializing the most precious commodity

It is a new twist on atonement for people to “apply” or “plead” the blood of Jesus to bring about changes in their financial situation, to get a job, to ensure personal safety, or personal relationships.  The giving of life is to pay for sins.  Christ’s death had nothing to do with procuring wealth and getting a job.  His death was not for ensuring believers or unbelievers get a good spouse. His death does not enable or guarantee a circle  of good friends. His death means that people can receive full pardon and receive the Holy Spirit.  The sad thing is that instead of asking for things from God people are trying to ensure that they acquire those things from God by means other than believing.  Saying that all things are under the authority of blood is a deadly hijack attempt that loses sight of the most holy and precious gifts. The proof that blood has worked is unhypocritical love towards all people.

Splashing the Lamb’s blood willy nilly

Failing to reach that intersection is the result of unbelief. If faith does not bring us victory over the world we probably have not availed ourselves of the forgiveness of sibs and the gift of the Holy Spirit that follows repentance and eternal life. Splash away and wither like a leafy fig tree

The origins of homelessness

Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Matthew 8:20, NASB

Even though the greatest of all unfolding mysteries has human migration at its core we find the satisfaction of the human race in the experience of home. Home was the place where we can expect to be free in our actions and free from external influences.  Owning a home may be one of the things that is on the minds of those Africans risking their lives on rickety boats for a chance in Europe.  Could they have not been made aware of what Europeans did to Africa over the last five centuries?  Or we could keep asking ad infinitum for the rational answer to why the cost of buying or renting a home suddenly skyrocketed out of reach, or refuse to accept that homelessness is a legitimate choice.

• Nomads have homes
• Christ did not live off the grid
• No person should be homeless

Economy that bridges the gap

Social links that connect and shelter all

Upheavals in the real estate market

What I’ve written I’ve written.  Retractable claws? Toothless Laws and Irresistible Facts.

Pic poc is the perennial and badly tanking American attempt to pick every pocket, especially Black-owned ones.

Tic toc is the newborn and wildly popular Chinese plot to surreptitiously gather video of every second of human activity, especially American pocket picking.

INRI and the Temple Crew (TC)

“Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum”, the Latin inscription on the cross was a voicing of the crime as the Roman governor saw it. Not insurrection.  Not blasphemy. Christ was killed for saying he was his people’s king, and unlike other kings, he conducted no wars of geographic conquest. He fed the hungry, healed the sick, and set captives free. He convincingly exposed the ruling priests, the scribes, the teachers, and the elders as thieves, persons with no interest in helping hungry, sick and enslaved people. They objected to the convicted being seen as a convincing Jewish king. In short, the TC wanted their crime to be obscured. The governor’s “Ο γεγραφα γεγραφα” was too much for them. Pilate was done writing.

Get outta here!  The number of shady schemes, shaky deals, wars, ceasefires, and security arrangements that litter the landscape that have been associated with Abraham are man, but Abraham was a pioneer of a different set of ideals. Abraham is not the father of culture. He is the father of Ishmael and Isaac.  God gave him a heart of implicit trust.  He was listening to God, not merely hearing Him, before God called him out of Ur, an assumed centre of excellence in every way like any modern metropolitan area.  Putting Abe’s name on a modern initiative, building, or highway can draw people to pay attention and give them a good feeling of family pride, but success based on the great prince’s name is going to be hard to find.

Abraham had precedent, not law (commands, statutes, and judgments mediated by Moses)

Abraham used to gather stones to form platforms on which he could express himself to Yahweh. He was not subject to the Sinai Covenant or the Palestinian Covenant.  He had his own unique relationship with Yahweh, one based on promises and personal fidelity.  This makes all of Abraham’s descendants, Ishmaelite or Israelite (properly Isaac’s descendants) way off the mark, because they are all bent out of shape trying to dominate their neighbours with superior claims.  Who today is giving up a sheep or a goat to acknowledge the Owner of the universe? Abe fought for no earthly territory, but he ran his household with his women in the place God designed for women; in respectful partnership. He died longing for a city founded and adorned beyond any he had known. Abe left no written legacy.

The mere existence of a fund of knowledge is not enough; unless knowledge is nurtured and nourished by devoted teachers and eager students alike, it will, like a pool of water following the rains, change its hue and slowly disappear.

Haile Selassie I

We shall soon see how very fractured Abraham’s household has become, and in particular how corruptly governments can act in pursuit of their own insular ideals, when all of the memos of understanding between the branches of Abraham’s family, their international trade deals, and their  regional cooperation accords, crumble like broken bulrushes. For our personal sanity we can keep our noses out of meaningless debates, and try to distinguish the facts from the spin and the hype. If the older stories of Abraham are not more reliable than the more recent, then we can enjoy the merry-go-round until it spins us off into the darkness. I choose to see Abraham as definitely not the foundation of anyone’s current agenda.