Reading 3

Reading 3

• Five voices: Announcer, Yeshua, Gideon, Ruth, Jonathan

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”
(Matt.5:8)



Announcer. Good morning and shalom, listeners to GAL Radio, broadcasting from Beatitude Heights. It is a glorious morning, and Lake Gennesaret looks inviting for swimmers and canoeists. From where we sit it is possible to see little kids playing in the shallows. We welcome again to the studio for his weekly talk-back Rabbi Yeshua ben-Yosef of Nazareth. Rabbi Yeshua has been conducting seminars here for several weeks, and the crowds have been growing daily. Good morning, Rabbi. How do you account for the crowds?

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Good morning, all. We don’t bother with advertising – making a big show of ourselves. Word of mouth is the best advertising, I believe, and we have seen quite a number of troubled people lay down their burdens and walk away with a spring in the step and a song in the heart. I guess the word gets around.

Announcer. Maybe I need some of that, Rabbi. (laughs) What was it again, that you were talking about yesterday?

Yeshua ben-Yosef. We talked about the blessings of being single-minded. Oh, there’s the light. We have a caller. Who is this, please? Oh, Gideon! Now, there is an honoured name. Where are you from, Gideon?

Gideon from the north. Morning, Rabbi. Let’s just say ‘up north’, where it’s not very popular to be Jewish.

Yeshua ben-Yosef. So you’ve learned how to look after yourself.

Gideon from the north. Rabbi, I was a little runt as a baby, and my dad wanted me to know how to look after myself when I grew up. That’s why they named me after our great warrior Gideon.

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Our forefather Gideon was indeed a great man, in days when military prowess was prized, and you bear a worthy name. I’m not too much into that stuff, Gideon, but I do like the story of your namesake challenging the worship of idols. People are always looking for God-substitutes, Gideon. Know what I mean?

Gideon from the north. Are you thinking of the golden calf that Aaron made when Moses was up the mountain? Moses took a dim view of that, didn’t he?

Yeshua ben-Yosef. He sure did, Gideon. Say, were you at yesterday’s gathering down here?

Gideon from the north. Yes, I was . . . when you talked about being pure in heart. That rocked me a bit when you first said it. Our old rabbi used to scold us young guys for having what he called ‘impure thoughts’. We thought he meant the way we looked at girls. But that’s not what you were on about, is it?

Yeshua ben-Yosef.
No, not really. Some probably thought I was talking about lust, but it was much more than that. I really wanted to explore the idea of being single minded, or having what I sometimes call ‘an undivided heart’. There’s nothing quite so debilitating as having divided loyalties. Remember when you had two girl friends, Gideon, and you were trying to hang on to both?

Gideon from the north. Hey, how did you know that, Rabbi?

Yeshua ben-Yosef. I didn’t know, Gideon. Just kidding – but I think you get my meaning. I hope I see you next week. I see we’ve another caller; this is Ruth. Hi, Ruth. Calling from Jerusalem. Did I meet you yesterday?

Ruth from Jerusalem. I was there, Rabbi, with some girl friends. On the way home we were talking about stuff that gets in the way of being full-on for God. Stuff that divides you up into pieces. My friend Esther, who doesn’t care much for flash clothes, said she thought fashion could be a false god. What do you think about that?

Yeshua ben-Yosef. I don’t want to single out your girl friends for wanting to look nice, Ruth. There’s nothing good about slouching around looking like you don’t care, but I’ve been in places where the clothes cupboard has more finery in it than the high priests at theTemple have. I guess fashion can take you over if you let it.

Ruth from Jerusalem. Rabbi, what did you mean when you said the person with a pure heart, an undivided heart, would see God? We can’t really ‘see’ God, can we ? In fact, the Torah says that if we see God we will die.

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Of course. Nobody has ever seen God in any literal way. What I was getting at, Ruth, is this. The undivided person, who is not trying to go in two directions at once, has discovered one of the clues to inner peace. She feels like she is kind-of in touch with herself in a very good way – and that goes with feeling like we’re in touch with God. Another way I could have said it would be, “Don’t spread yourself thinly over too many things. You’ll never have peace of mind that way.”

Ruth from Jerusalem. Thank you, Rabbi. I’m coming again next week.

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Delighted to hear it. Bring a friend if you like. We have Jonathan from Capernaum on the line. What would you like to talk about?

Jonathan from Capernaum. Hello, Rabbi. I heard you yesterday, and I wanted to disagree with you. Well, not exactly disagree, but sort-of question. Is that OK?

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Yes, Jonathan. Fire away. I don’t mind a spot of debate. In fact, I rather like it. What was I saying that you wanted to take up with me?

Jonathan from Capernaum. Rabbi, sometimes I wonder if the person you’re talking about isn’t a bit of a menace. Seems to me like you could be talking about some kind of fanatic; somebody who has become a ‘true believer’, closed his mind to every possible alternative, and could be trying to make everyone the same as he is. When you talk about somebody having an undivided mind, or undivided heart, or however you put it, I get twitchy about some of the fanatics we have seen. Take the Zealots, for instance.

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Good point, Jonathan. I’ve had this kind of discussion with people who say ‘sincerity’ is what we need; more ‘sincerity’. And I have had to point out that some people who are deeply sincere can be sincerely wrong. Being sincere doesn’t mean you’re always right. That the sort of thing you had in mind?

Jonathan from Capernaum. Yes, Rabbi. And I mentioned the Zealots. OK to talk about them here?

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Oh, sure. I do worry about some of the hotheads, Jonathan. They could get us into all kinds of trouble with inflaming the people against Rome. I hope they don’t try that. We know that violence doesn’t work in the long run. I take your point, though. If you’re going to get passionate, single-minded, about something, it has to be the right thing.

Jonathan from Capernaum. OK, Rabbi. Like what?

Yeshua ben-Yosef. Well, I’ve got this vision, you see. Probably sounds a bit crazy to some – especially like some of the Zealots, who think the only way to freedom for our people is armed uprising. I’m silly enough to believe that we can be passionate about peace-making. But I see we’re running out of time. Thanks for listening.

Announcer. Be tuned to Radio GAL same time next week, listeners, and you will have another chance to spar with the controversial rabbi from Nazareth. You can write to him too if you wish, at ‘GAL Radio, Beatitude Heights, Galilee’.

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