The Evangeliad (25:34-39)

 

(Click here for an introduction and previous installments of the Evangeliad)

Section 25:34-39 (corresponding to Matt. 19:7-9; Mark 10:11-12)

"Why then did Moses," the Pharisees asked,

"Grant his approval to just such an act?"

"Because your hearts are hard," Jesus replied,

"And God's approved way you could not abide.

God ordained marriage at first, not divorce,

So to break its bonds breaks God's own accord.

Hear what I say when I speak to you now,"

Said Jesus to them and to the whole crowd,

"If any man, then, should divorce his wife,

The woman to whom he has bound his life,

And marries another woman instead,

Adultery's charge he brings on their heads.

Or if it's the woman who leaves her spouse,

To go off and marry anyone else,

Adultery she commits just the same,

By breaking the union God has ordained."

Photo of the Week

For you who revere my name,

The sun of righteousness will rise

With healing in its rays.

- Malachi 4:2 

Quote of the Week

“The power of prayer has subdued the strength of fire; it has bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest, extinguished wars, burst the chains of death, expanded the gates of heaven, assuaged diseases, repelled frauds, rescued cities from destruction, stayed the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt.”

- John Chrysostom, early church father

More photos from the archaeological dig

 

Sunrise over the Sea of Galilee, from Mount Arbel

Roman-era perfume juglet

The "before" picture--what my dig square looked like when we started working on it

The "after" picture--me and my team in my dig square, having excavated what was probably a monastic cell down to the Byzantine-era floor

Roman-era discus lamp

Sunset, looking back toward Mount Arbel

Another Brief Video Update

 

Photos from the Archaeological Dig

 

Standing in my dig square -- we've uncovered the walls of some outbuildings adjoined to the north face of an early Christian basilica. The walls you see were built by Crusaders some five hundred years after the church's collapse in an earthquake, but they overlay both a Byzantine church/monastic site and, earlier still, a Jewish fishing village in Roman times (likely Bethsaida).

Green and yellow glazed pottery (Crusader period), now seen again for the first time in eight centuries.

A blown-glass perfume vial, Roman period

Sunrise over the north end of the Sea of Galilee, one of the main areas Jesus ministered

First Update from Israel

(A video clip I recorded for my church family--I'll have a couple photos to share here later this week of the area we've been excavating.)