Welcome to Shema

1. Welcome to Shema Bless the Lord! Bless the Lord who is worthy to be praised for all eternity!

2. Shema Israel, AdonaiEloheinu, AdonaiEchad. Baruch shemk’vodmalchutol’olamva’ed. Shema

3. Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is One! Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom, forever and ever. Amein. Shema

4. The Pharisees and some of the Bible scholars who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Yeshua and saw some of his disciples eating bread with polluted hands - which means they hadn’t washed their hands first – as the Pharisees and all the Jews don’t eat unless they wash their hands in a special ceremonial way, keeping to the tradition of the elders. Mark 7:1-7

5. When they return from the market places they always wash in a ceremonial way before eating. They also observe many other traditions, such as washing wine cups, jugs, copper utensils and beds in a special way. And so the Pharisees and Bible scholars asked him, “Why don’t your disciples keep to the tradition of the elders, instead of eating their food with polluted hands?”

6. Yeshua said, “Isaiah prophesied well about you overly critical, hairsplitting pedantic religious types, as the Scriptures say, ‘The people honor me with their mouths but their hearts are far from me. They worship me uselessly, and their teachings are instructions invented by people.’

7. “You have dismissed the commands of God and are keeping to the traditions of people! Well and truly,” he added, “you disregard the commands of God in order to keep to your traditional teachings! In fact Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who physically or verbally abuses his father or mother will certainly be put to death!’ Mark 7:8-13

8. But you let a person say to their father or mother, ‘Whatever money you would have got from me, I’m saying is dedicated to God instead so I can keep it’, then by your tradition they don’t have to do a thing for their father and mother! You make God’s Word ineffective by your traditional teachings that you’ve handed down! And you do many things like that!”

9. When Yeshua had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to lunch. He went along and sat down for lunch. But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Yeshua didn’t wash in the ritual way before dinner. Luke 11:37-41

10. The Lord said to him, “As a matter of fact you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You silly twits! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside! However, as for what is inside, if you would give charitable gifts you would be clean all over!”

11. “Woe to you, Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of herbs, but you forget about justice and you forget to love God. You should have done this, without forgetting the rest of it. Luke 11:42-44

12. “Woe to you Pharisees! You love the best seats in the synagogues and you like to be greeted with honor in the marketplaces. “Woe to you! You are like unmarked graves that people walk over without noticing.”

13. Then the Bible scholars and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem went to Yeshua and asked, “Why do your disciples overstep the mark when it comes to the elders’ tradition? They don’t wash their hands in a special ceremonial way when they eat!” Matthew 15:1-9 The Source with Hebraic adaptation by Rabbi Lutton

14. “Why do your traditional teachings cause you to overstep the mark as well when it comes to the commandment of God?” Yeshua responded. “God says, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘The person who physically or verbally abuses their father or mother, must certainly be put to death!’

15. “But you say, ‘Whoever says to their father or mother, “What you thought you would get from me, I am keeping for myself – I just have to say it’s dedicated to God and then I can keep it,’” then that person does not honor their father or mother!

16. In this way you have made God’s Word useless by your traditional teachings! You overly critical, hair splitting, pedantic religious types! Isaiah prophesied about you correctly when he said, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, their teachings are rules made up by people.” (Isaiah 29:13)

17. Ah, Ariel, Ariel, • the city where David encamped! • Add year to year; • let the feasts run their round. • Yet I will distress Ariel, • and there shall be moaning and lamentation, • and she shall be to me like an Ariel. Isaiah 29 (ESV)

18. ESV footnote: • Ariel could mean lion of God, or hero (2 Samuel 23:20), or altar hearth (Ezekiel 43:15-16)

19. And I will encamp against you all around, • and will besiege you with towers • and I will raise siegeworks against you. • And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, • and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;

20. your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, • and from the dust your speech shall whisper. •  But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, • and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.

21. And in an instant, suddenly, • you will be visited by the LORD of hosts • with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, • with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.

22. And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, • all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, • shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.

23. As when a hungry man dreams he is eating • and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, • or as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking • and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, • so shall the multitude of all the nations be • that fight against Mount Zion.

24. Astonish yourselves and be astonished; • blind yourselves and be blind! • Be drunk, but not with wine; • stagger, but not with strong drink! • For the LORD has poured out upon you • a spirit of deep sleep, • and has closed your eyes (the prophets), • and covered your heads (the seers).

25.  And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed."  And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot read."

26.  And the Lord said: • "Because this people draw near with their mouth • and honor me with their lips, • while their hearts are far from me, • and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, Vs 13

27. therefore, behold, I will again • do wonderful things with this people, • with wonder upon wonder; • and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, • and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden."

28. Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel, • whose deeds are in the dark, • and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"

29. You turn things upside down! • Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, • that the thing made should say of its maker, • "He did not make me"; • or the thing formed say of him who formed it, • "He has no understanding"?

30. Is it not yet a very little while • until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, • and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?

31.  In that day the deaf shall hear • the words of a book, • and out of their gloom and darkness • the eyes of the blind shall see. • The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, • and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

32.  For the ruthless shall come to nothing • and the scoffer cease, • and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off, •  who by a word make a man out to be an offender, • and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, • and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.

33. Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: • "Jacob shall no more be ashamed, • no more shall his face grow pale. • For when he sees his children, • the work of my hands, in his midst, • they will sanctify my name; • they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob • and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

34. And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, • and those who murmur will accept instruction."

35. One of the experts in the Law of Moses complained, “Teacher, when you say all this, you’re insulting us, too.” • Jesus replied, “And all you experts in the Law of Moses, woe to you, because you impose burdens on people. They can’t carry them, and you yourselves don’t even lift a finger to help them! Luke 11:45-52

36. “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them! So this means that you approve of what your ancestors did - you built tombs for the prophets that your ancestors killed!

37. This is why God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them - they will kill some of them, and persecute some others!’ “So this people group will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this people group will be held responsible for all of it.

38. “Woe to you experts in the Law because you have taken away the key to the door of knowledge. You yourselves didn’t go in, and you have stopped people who were trying to enter!”

39. After Jesus left the house, the Bible scholars and the Pharisees held a terrible grudge and questioned him about lots of things, trying to catch him out on something he said. Luke 11:53-54

40. Then Yeshua left the region of Tyre and Sidon and went through the area of The Ten Cities to the Galilee Sea. Some people brought to Yeshua someone who was deaf and had trouble speaking. They insisted that Yeshua lay hands on the person. Yeshua took the person away in private and put his fingers into the person’s ears. Then he spit and touched the person’s tongue. Mark 7:31-37 The Source with Hebraic adaptation by Rabbi Lutton

41. He looked up to heaven and sighed deeply and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be completely opened!”) • Immediately the person’s ears were opened and the tongue’s binding was removed and the person spoke properly. Yeshua ordered everyone not to tell anyone, but the more he told them not to, they more they spread it

42. around. People were completely, utterly beside themselves with extreme shock. They were saying, “He’s done everything well! He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”

43. Yeshua moved on from there, and went around the Sea of Galilee. He went up on the mountain and sat down. Large crowds went to him, and along with them were lame, blind, mute, crippled people, as well as many others. They put them directly in front of Yeshua, and he healed them. Matthew 15:29-32

44. Consequently, the crowd was shocked when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored to their original undamaged state, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they praised the God of Israel.

45. Another time, a very large crowd gathered. They didn’t have anything to eat, so Yeshua summoned his disciples and said, “I have compassion for these people. They’ve been with me for three days now and they don’t have anything to eat. If I send them home hungry, they’ll get weak on the way. Some of them have come from a long way off.” Mark 8:1-10

46. “Where on earth is anyone going to get enough bread to feed them right out here in the wilderness!” his disciples exclaimed. • “How many loaves do you have?” Yeshua asked. • “Seven,” they answered.

47. Yeshua told the crowd to sit down on the ground. He picked up the seven loaves and expressed thankfulness. Then he broke them up into pieces and kept giving them to his disciples to keep serving the people, which they did. They had a few small fish as well, so he blessed these too and told the disciples to pass them out. The people ate until they were full.

48. Afterwards the disciples picked up seven large person-sized mat baskets full of broken pieces that were leftover in abundance. There were about 4,000 people. Yeshua sent them away. He immediately got into the ship with his disciples and went off to the region of Dalmanutha.

49. Yeshua called his disciples over and said, “I feel compassionate about the crowd. They’ve stayed with me for three days now and they don’t have a thing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, in case they get weak as they travel away.” Matthew 15:32-39

50. His disciples exclaimed, “How on earth are we going to get enough bread right out here in the desert to fill up such a large crowd!” • Yeshua asked, “How many loaves do you have?” • “Seven, and a few little fish,” they replied.