To Believe in Jesus – Part 61

 

ཡོ་ཧ་ནན། 6:11-14

11དེ་ནས་སྐྱབས་མགོན་ཡེ་ཤུས་ཕྱག་ཏུ་བག་ལེབ་བསྣམས་ཏེ་བཀའ་དྲིན་ཞུས་པ༌དང༌། ས་རུ་བསྡད་ཡོད་པའི་མི་རྣམས་ལ་བགོ་རུ་བཅུག་ཅིང་། ཉ་གཉིས་ཡོད་པ་ཡང་དེ་བཞིན་མཛད་དེ་མི་རྣམས་ཀྱི་འདོད་མོས་བཞིན་བགོ་རུ་བཅུག་གོ། 12དེ་ནས་མི་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ལྟོ་བ་འགྲངས༌རྗེས། ཁོང་གིས་ཐུགས་སྲས་རྣམས་ལ་འདི་སྐད༌དུ། ཟས་ལྷག་ཆུད་ཟོས་སུ་མི་གཏོང་བའི་ཕྱིར་ཐམས་ཅད་སྡུས་ཤིག་ཅེས་གསུངས་པས། 13དེ་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་ཀྱང་ནས་ཕྱེའི་བག་ལེབ་ལྔའི་ཟས་ལྷག་བསྡུས་ཏེ་སླེ་བོ་བཅུ་གཉིས་གང་ངོ༌།།

14ཡང་མི་ཚོགས་ཀྱིས་སྐྱབས་མགོན་ཡེ་ཤུས་མཛད་པའི་གྲུབ་རྟགས་དེ་མཐོང༌རྗེས། ཁོང་ནི་དངོས་གནས་འཇིག་རྟེན་དུ་འབྱོན་ངེས་པའི་ལུང་སྟོན་པ་དེ་ཉིད་ཡིན་ཞེས་སྨྲས་སོ།།

John 6:11-14

11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

 

We learn to give thanks and praise to our Father in heaven for our daily provisions, as what Jesus did.

So from what was offered by the boy – five barley loaves and two fish – the multitude were fed and with more than enough left over for the disciples of Jesus.

What is interesting to note is the gospel writer John highlighted

 

14ཡང་མི་ཚོགས་ཀྱིས་སྐྱབས་མགོན་ཡེ་ཤུས་མཛད་པའི་གྲུབ་རྟགས་དེ་མཐོང༌རྗེས། ཁོང་ནི་དངོས་གནས་འཇིག་རྟེན་དུ་འབྱོན་ངེས་པའི་ལུང་སྟོན་པ་དེ་ཉིད་ཡིན་ཞེས་སྨྲས་སོ།།

14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

 

In time past God had sent various prophets to warn and teach Israel to stay committed in their established covenant with God, and the people of Israel had been used to having prophets come and go, but there is one particular prophet who is to come to watch out for –

 

བཀའ་ལུང་། 18:15-19

15ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ཀྱི་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཡ་ཝཱེས་ཁྱོད་ཅག་ལ་བདག་དང་འདྲ་བའི་ལུང་སྟོན་པ་ཞིག་ཁྱོད་ཅག་གི་སྤུན་ཟླའི་ཁྲོད་ནས་བཞུགས་པར་མཛད་དེ། ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་ཁོང་ལ་མཉན་དགོས། 16དེ་ནི་ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་རི་བོ་ཧོ་རེབ་ཀྱི་འདུ་འཛོམས་ཉིན་མོར་ཁྱོད་ཅག་གི་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཡ་ཝཱེ་ལ། ང་ཚོ་འཆི་དགོས་པ་མིན་ན། ངའི་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཡ་ཝཱེའི་གསུང་སྐད་ང་ཚོར་ཐོས་སུ་མི་འཇུག་པ་དང་། མེ་ཆེན་པོ་དེ་ཡང་ང་ཚོར་མཐོང་དུ་མི་འཇུག་རོགས་ཞེས་ཞུས་པ་ནང་བཞིན་ཡིན་ནོ། ། 17དཀོན་མཆོག་ཡ་ཝཱེས་ང་ལ་འདི་སྐད་དུ། དེ་དག་གིས་བཤད་པ་རྣམས་བདེན་ནོ། ། 18ངས་དེ་དག་ལ་ཁྱོད་དང་འདྲ་བའི་ལུང་སྟོན་པ་ཞིག་ཁོ་ཚོའི་སྤུན་ཟླའི་ཁྲོད་ནས་བསྐྱངས་ཏེ། ངས་རང་གི་བཀའ་དེའི་ཁ་རུ་འཇོག་ཅིང་། དེས་ངས་བསྒོ་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་དེ་རྣམས་ལ་བརྗོད་པར་བྱའོ། ། 19ཁོས་ངའི་མིང་ནས་བརྗོད་པའི་བཀའ་རྣམས་ལ་སུ་ཞིག་གིས་མ་མཉན་ན། ང་རང་གིས་མི་དེའི་སྡིག་པར་རྩད་གཅོད་ངེས་ཡིན།

Deuteronomy 18:15-19

15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

 

From the time of Moses when this message was given, till today, there has been ongoing discussion who is this prophet to come. And by the time after the Babylon Exile, with hope of national restoration the expectation for this coming prophet become even more prominent.

The writings of Moses with particular reference to the Book of Deuteronomy was known among the Jews in their language as the Mishneh Torah and Moses teachings here carries a lot of weight and authority for the Jews especially for those religious minded and ultra-orthodox and for those planning to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem today.

The book of Malachi considered the last prophetic message before Christ, again made mention of the prophet who is to come and with particular reference to Moses’ writings.

 

མཱལ་ཨ་ཀེ 3:1-4

1དཔུང་ཚོགས་ཀུན་གྱི་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཡ་ཝཱེས་འདི་སྐད་དུ། ལྟོས་དང་། ངས་རང་གི་ཕོ་ཉ་མངགས་ཏེ་ངའི་མདུན་དུ་ལམ་གྲ་སྒྲིག་བྱེད་པ་དང་། ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་འཚོལ་བའི་གཙོ་བོ་ནི་གློ་བུར་ཉིད་ལ་ཁོང་གི་མཆོད་ཁང་ནང་དུ་ཕེབས་ངེས་ཤིང་། ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་ཡིད་སྨོན་བྱེད་པའི་ཞལ་ཆད་ཀྱི་ཕོ་ཉ་དེ་འོང་བར་འགྱུར་ཞེས་གསུངས་སོ། ། 2ཡིན་ནའང་ཁོང་སླེབས་པའི་དུས་དེ་སུ་ཞིག་གིས་བཟོད་ནུས་སམ། ཁོང་མངོན་པའི་དུས་ལ་སུ་ཞིག་ཚུགས་ཐུབ་བམ། ཅིའི་ཕྱིར་ཞེ་ན། ཁོང་ནི་གསེར་བཙོ་སྦྱང་བྱེད་མཁན་གྱི་མེ་དང་། གོས་འཁྲུད་མཁན་གྱི་བ་ཚྭ་དང་འདྲའོ། ། 3ཡང་ཁོང་ནི་དངུལ་བཙོ་སྦྱང་བྱས་ནས་དེ་གཙང་མར་བཟོ་མཁན་གྱི་མི་དང་འདྲ་བར་བཞུགས་ཤིང་། ཁོང་གིས་ལེ་ཝི་པ་རྣམས་གཙང་མར་མཛད་ཅིང་། གསེར་དང་དངུལ་ལ་བཙོ་སྦྱང་བྱེད་པ་བཞིན་དུ་དེ་རྣམས་གཙང་མར་མཛད་པ་དང་། དེ་ནས་ཁོ་ཚོས་དྲང་བདེན་གྱི་ངང་ནས་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཡ་ཝཱེར་མཆོད་པ་འབུལ་བར་བྱའོ། ། 4གནའ་བོའི་དུས་དང་སྔོན་ཆད་ཀྱི་ལོ་ཟླ་ནང་བཞིན། དེའི་དུས་སུ་ཡ་ཧུ་དཱ་དང་ཡེ་རུ་སཱ་ལེམ་གྱིས་ཕུལ་བའི་མཆོད་པར་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཡ་ཝཱེ་ཐུགས་མཉེས་ནས་བཞེས་པར་འགྱུར།

Malachi 3:1-4

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

 

མཱལ་ཨ་ཀེ 4:4

ངའི་ཞབས་ཕྱི་མོ་ཤེའི་བཀའ་ཁྲིམས་ཏེ། ངས་ཧོ་རེབ་རི་བོ་ནས་ཡེས་ར་ཨེལ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ཆེད་དུ་བསྒོས་པའི་སྒྲིག་ཁྲིམས་དང་སྒྲིག་སྲོལ་རྣམས་ནི་ཁྱོད་ཅག་གིས་གཟབ་གཟབ་བྱས་ནས་ཡིད་ལ་འཛིན་དགོས།

Malachi 4:4

“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

 

We must bear in mind during the time of Malachi, Jerusalem was under Persian rule. And with restoration work done on the walls of Jerusalem and reconstruction of the Temple started, those Jews who had returned from exile and resettled in Judah had their hope set for the Messiah to come restore Israel.

Today with benefits of hindsight we know Malachi 3:1 is speaking of John the Baptist and Jesus. But putting ourselves in the position of those Jews in the days of Jesus, would they have known this Jesus of Nazareth is the prophet to come?

By the time of John the Baptist a lot of the Jewish folks especially those of the Pharisees and synagogue had high expectations of the coming Messiah to restore Israel to her sovereignty over the land. And based on how they had read and interpreted scripture that prophet to come as told by Moses could well be the same messenger of the covenant spoken of by Malachi.

So for the Jews who came to Jerusalem to observe the feast of the Lord and had prior learning about how the coming Messiah should restore Israel based on what they had been taught, and seeing all these miracles Jesus did, they were beginning to see the connections!

Looking at that circumstance and how the multitude reacted to Jesus it would be reasonable to assume they were beginning to believe and were convinced by themselves this Jesus is the prophet to come, the Messiah to liberate Israel from Rome!

But, what these Jews expected of the Messiah and what Jesus wanted to do will soon prove to be different!

 

To be continue …

 

David Z

To Believe in Jesus – Part 60

 

ཡོ་ཧ་ནན། 6:7-10

7ཕི་ལིབ་ན༌རེ། དངུལ་སྒོར་ཉིས་བརྒྱ་བཀོལ་ནས་ཉོས་པའི་བག་ལེབ་དེ་དག་ཁོ་རྣམས་ལ་ཅུང་ཙམ་རེ་བགོས་ཀྱང་འདང་བ་མིན་ཞེས་ཞུས་སོ།། 8དེ་ནས་ཐུགས་སྲས་རྣམས་ལས་སི་མོན་པེ་ཏྲོའི་སྤུན་ཏེ་ཨན་དྲི་ཡཱ་ན༌རེ། 9འདིར་བྱིས་པ་ཞིག་ཡོད་པ་དེའི་ལག་ཏུ་ནས་ཕྱེའི་བག་ལེབ་ལྔ་དང་ཉ་གཉིས་ཡོད་ནའང་མི་འདི་འདྲ་མང་པོ་ཞིག་ལ་བགོས་ཀྱང་འདང་ངམ་ཞེས་ཞུས་པ༌ན། 10སྐྱབས་མགོན་ཡེ་ཤུས་འདི་སྐད༌དུ། ཁྱོད་ཅག་གིས་མི་རྣམས་ས་རུ་སྡོད་དུ་ཆུག་ཅེས་གསུངས་སོ།། གནས་དེར་རྩྭ་སྔོན་སྐྱེས་པ་བཟང་ལ་མི་རྣམས་ས་རུ་བསྡད༌ཅིང༌། སྐྱེས་པའི་གྲངས་ཀ་མི་ལྔ་སྟོང་ཙམ་ཡོད༌པ་རེད།

John 6:7-10

7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.

 

Continue from previous post, this happened during Passover when the people were expected to be at the Temple but instead came to Jesus.

Jesus knew they came to seek Him as they saw those miracles He did before and were in need of help. And Jesus in His act of compassion fed the multitude for He knew they were hungry and in need of food.

The gospel writer John recorded this conversation between Jesus and two of His disciples, Philip and Andrew, showing us how these disciples related to their master and something worth learning for us as we look to Jesus as our Master and Lord.

 

Master and Disciple Relationship

 

There were no arguments or any expression of intention to go against their master’s will to show compassion to feed the multitude but meaningful and constructive feedback and responses.

Philip in response to Jesus’ question “where to buy bread” disclosed the cost involved, an estimate of that day how much money they would need for the numbers of people.

Philip did not response with scorn and disbelieve but accepted it was Jesus’ intention to feed the multitude but a question of having the money to buy enough bread for everyone.

The next disciple mentioned was Andrew who already identified a boy with five barley loaves and two fish. Apparently that boy was willing to share his food but Andrew highlighted what any of us would have thought of as well – not enough for everyone.

What we can observe here was that Jesus, although He knew what He was going to do to feed the multitude, first tested His disciples about their opinions, their perspectives, and how they would response.

So Philip’s response seems to suggest yes they agree to feed the multitude but they had limited budget at that moment. Andrew got a boy who was willing to share his food but surely that portion was not enough. So the point is, they agree with Jesus and wanted to follow through with the master’s wish but they have limited resources. That was the fact and reality they were dealing with.

So it was back to their master to make any final decision!

Previous post I mentioned the purpose of testing Philip was to refresh his memory and together with the rest of Jesus’ disciples they might had remembered what other miracles Jesus had done before.

When Andrew brought the boy with five barley loaves and two fish to Jesus, I believe there was the intention to see if their master could do something He did before. Back in John 3 when Jesus turned water in to wine, His disciples were there and they knew what Jesus did.

So after how the disciples responded to Jesus here in John 6 before the multitude of hungry folks, Jesus gave the order –

 

10སྐྱབས་མགོན་ཡེ་ཤུས་འདི་སྐད༌དུ། ཁྱོད་ཅག་གིས་མི་རྣམས་ས་རུ་སྡོད་དུ་ཆུག་ཅེས་གསུངས་སོ།། གནས་དེར་རྩྭ་སྔོན་སྐྱེས་པ་བཟང་ལ་མི་རྣམས་ས་རུ་བསྡད༌ཅིང༌། སྐྱེས་པའི་གྲངས་ཀ་མི་ལྔ་སྟོང་ཙམ་ཡོད༌པ་རེད།

10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.

 

In previous post I mentioned the actual numbers could be at about 20 000 or more as the custom of that time to count only the family men as head of households and with average family units of 4 or more.

That is a lot of people to get organized! I mean how does anyone do crowd control with about 20 000 people and expect them to listen and sit down in peaceful manners?

The multitude could had first listened to the disciples’ instructions to sit in order and groups due to their expectation they were going to receive something from Jesus. But I believe the disciples would had felt stressed up, at least some of them, thinking if these hungry folks don’t get their food they might starts to riot!

Nevertheless the disciples did what their master told them to do.

What can we learn here?

Our Father in heaven cares for the hungry?

Presenting our need to our Lord and Savior?

We have limited resources but God can multiply?

That boy could have kept his fish and bread but he gives it and share. His willingness to sacrifice was used of Jesus for good!

 

པེ་ཏྲོ་དང་པོ། 5:6-7

6 དེའི་ཕྱིར་དཀོན་མཆོག་གི་དབང་ལྡན་པའི་ཕྱག་འོག་ཏུ་རང་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་དམའ་ས་བཟུང་ཞིང༌། དུས་ལ་བབས་པའི་ཚེ་ཁོང་གིས་ཁྱེད་ཚོ་མཐོ་བར་མཛད།

7 ཁོང་གིས་ཁྱེད་རྣམས་ལ་གཟིགས་སྐྱོང་མཛད་པས། ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་སེམས་ཁྲལ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཁོང་ལ་གཏོད།

1 Peter 5:6-7

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

 

Peter reminds the sheep that we have a God who cares for us. We need to present our prayers to God and we need to learn to trust and obey what Jesus had taught us about how to relate to God.

To be continue …

 

David Z