I have often wished that I could have lived in Judea in the days of Christ.
Just to sit and listen to Yeshua speak would have been indescribable.
I would have been in awe just to follow behind him step by step as he walked the path.
I know that I would have wanted to be a part of the traveling group of women that served the Lord and his entourage, the women who prepared and cooked the food for Christ and his men.
If I had been, my ultra-religious family would have disowned me, and I would have been reviled for taking off and following a man who opposed their sacred Mosaic religion.
I’m sure all the families of the followers of Christ thought that Yeshua was just another rebel who had lured their loved ones down a crooked path.
They most likely hoped for the day that Yeshua would meet his demise by being beheaded by the Romans, like several other rebels had been.
However, Yeshua was different than all the others who rose up before him and vied for the position of the Messiah. The others were violent and encouraged their recruits to engage in the same manner.
Yeshua, on the other hand, taught and demonstrated peace. He was a spiritual teacher.
His dedicated followers knew for sure that Yeshua was a significant person in the history of their people, a man sent by God.
Like Isaiah wrote in chapter 42 of the Hebrew Bible, Yeshua did not yell in the streets or at the gates of the temple like other prophets had done.
He simply did the works of God that God showed him to do.
And, the people who believed in him, got the honor of beholding the wonders that flowed through this amazing being.
In Isaiah chapter 53 from the Hebrew Bible, it reads:
He had no form or beauty, that we should look at him. No charm, that we should find him pleasing.
Years earlier, King Saul was known to be a tall and handsome man, and that is why the people rallied for him to be king of Israel.
Likewise, two of the rebels that came before Christ and led violent crusades while claiming themselves as kings, were said to be tall and strong bodied, but not Christ.
He was an average Joe from the poor farming village of Nazareth. Nothing to see, nothing to brag about.
However, Yeshua possessed something far greater than physical beauty or charisma.
He possessed the desire to, above all else, do the will of God and the spirit of God rested upon him.
His followers could sense it.
Unlike their families, his disciples were not blinded by religion and they could behold Yeshua’s true beauty.
They were the ones who had to “hate” their families in order to follow Yeshua. (See the post- The End of Hate)
The teachings of Christ divided the ones who loved their religion from the ones who truly loved God.
That’s what Yeshua was talking about when he said, “do you suppose that I am come to give peace on Earth?” “I tell you no, but rather division. From now on there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.”
And, it is the same today.
The dedicated servants of the Lord will still have to separate from religion and from those who hold it dear.
They will still have to leave certain things behind in order to walk the path of Christ, except there is one difference.
Two thousand years ago, one could physically follow Christ. Today the journey must be accomplished spiritually, which makes it difficult.
Herein lies the problem. When the Messiah was murdered, his followers scattered, and the path was eventually abandoned.
However, there is no need to despair. I have good news.
God has shown us the trailhead!
Although the path has been overgrown through the years with religious thorn and thistle bushes so dense that it obstructs the view, we are clearing the way.
It is the path of the true way that Yeshua, the servant of God, came to teach the nations (Isaiah 42, Hebrew Bible).
The path that has been obstructed by a religion that bears his name.