Why Schindler Got It

Friday, December 2, 2022

Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son.  Help him judge your people in the right way; let the poor always be treated fairly.  May the mountains yield prosperity for all, and may the hills be fruitful.  Help him to defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to crush their oppressors.  May they fear you as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains in the sky.  Yes, forever!  Psalm 72:1-5

Adolph Hitler was a king (of sorts).  He did nothing as holy as rescuing children of the needy; rather, he had them killed in concentration camps, and shot in the streets by his ruthless SS officers.  Oskar Schindler was a German businessman, capitalizing on the Nazi need for military weapons and supplies.  He used cheap Jewish labor to make a fortune.  Then one day he saw the little Jewish girl in a red coat.  The next day he saw her corpse loaded on a truck with many other bodies.  Schindler’s whole life became a mission to protect people from Hitler’s obsession with exterminating Jews from the planet.  In the end Schindler saved nearly 1,000. 

There is nothing that evokes compassion that will move most humans like seeing what Schindler saw.  A greedy businessman does not mend his ways when confronted with difficult social conditions, caused by, or exploited by his business practices.  He is unmoved by ethics or morality.  But the stark reality of a human life, barely embarked on breathing, has the embryo of change for even the most hardened of souls.  Schindler got it (the compassion to do right) because life’s most poignant reality, our human connection with God, pierced his hard heart.

King David prayed the prayer recorded in Psalm 72 near the end of his life.  He had lived long enough, sinned big enough, and learned life’s lessons well enough, to understand the God-connection we all have.  As part of the created order, all human beings are “children” of the Almighty.  We’re related.  David’s prayer was that the wisdom, courage, and compassion he’d learned, would now be passed along – and take hold – in his son, Solomon.  It would be necessary to see the nation through lean times, and help the nation be humble before God in their high times. 

Adolph Hitler, baptized as a youth into the Lutheran Church, did his best to stamp out the image and lineage of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and David.  And it was done in the (supposed) holy name of preserving the purity of God’s created order.  It took a momentary confrontation of a child in a red coat with a Nazi-supporting, hardened businessman, to engage the holiness of God on a nightmare against humanity.  As King David had a prophet (Nathan[1]) who confronted him with his sin, and as Adam and Eve in the garden, Schindler heard the still small voice of God from out of the whirlwind of war’s madness saying …where are you…what are you doing?  He had to answer.

For You Today  

Oskar Schindler overlooked a lot to get to the top of the business world.  One day he could not get a little girl in a red coat out of his mind. 

What have you seen lately, or what will you see today, to remind you who, and whose you are?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

       Choosing   and   What to Do

Images:  Title Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=723965   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] Read 2 Samuel 12 for the account of Nathan the prophet confronting King David with his sins.

Aching Bones & Hopeful Hearts

 

Monday, December 6, 2021

For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering.  We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.  We were given this hope when we were saved.  (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it.  But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)  Romans 8:22-25

When your body is in pain, that pain can radiate to your mind, spirit, and soul.  That is true of all humans – and so is the inverse.  When your soul has joy and hope, it will radiate to the body.  You are probably familiar with the children’s ditty:  If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands, stamp your feet, tell your face.  (That last part isn’t in the kid’s song; I added it to make this point…let the joy inside you tell your body, so your body can radiate joy outside you.)

The Apostle Paul was making a similar, but seemingly contradictory point – not nature’s way, but a spiritually-sound principle of Christian doctrine and eternal truth.  That truth is:  although our bodies (bones) ache for release from the deadness of sin – that alienation from our Creator – the hope that resides in our inner being (heart) is so steeped in the confidence of hope (in Christ), the ache and hope pump together like systolic and diastolic measurements…they pump life into despair, joy into darkness, and out comes lightness to the soul.  The hope of Christ’s glory within our being counteracts anything Satan throws at us.

It’s no secret that some of us wear our feelings on our shirtsleeve; those folks make terrible poker players…couldn’t bluff their way out of a paper bag.  Then there are those who hide it like a master.  They stuff everything, good or bad, deep-down into compartments where they never have to meet with each other.  It’s a protection device humans develop to avoid pain.  It isn’t a new thing that Freud or Jung discovered; it is so old we read about it in the opening pages of Scripture.  Adam and Eve messed up, and God confronted them.  They both tried to shift responsibility to anywhere but owning it.  The result was the motherlode of dysfunction.  Their children picked-up on this and took it to the next level when Cain killed his brother Abel.  We do anything to avoid facing the pain caused by our own actions.  That’s why Paul wrote that we ache (literally agonize) for the day when we will be released from all that internal conflict and pain.

As in all of nature, a need presupposes something to meet that need.  A void has air to rush-in, like opening a sealed can of nuts…pssss!  Thirst presupposes there is water to quench the need.  And the ache in your inner, conflicted being which is caused by the separation you feel from your Creator (a result of that first step away from God’s will) presupposes the existence of salvation – God’s forgiveness and restoration (which are truly one and the same).

For You Today

Do your bones ache for release?  How about the heart…are you in-Christ, trusting His offer of grace and forgiveness.  Let those two realities out of their hiding places; let them meet without fear.   Let the Christ in you become all your spirit needs to grow strong and radiant.  Aching bones and a hopeful heart are the ingredients to mix together for an overcoming life.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

For another post on this text see The Creation That Groans and Foretaste of Future Glory

All Nations Means...ALL

 

Thursday, May 6, 2021

And now the Lord speaks—the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him.  The Lord has honored me, and my God has given me strength.  He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me.  I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”  Isaiah 49: 5 – 6
And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”  Genesis 22: 18

From the moment of original sin in the Garden of Eden God promised a Messiah would come to take away our sin[1].  In promises of blessing God made to Adam, Abraham, Noah, and others, He made promises to individuals, but extended their blessing throughout the nations; ALL the nations.  The culmination of the meaning of ALL nations is when God spoke to the apostle Peter in Acts 10.  Peter is given a vision of a sheet, held by angels at its four corners, the “four corners of the Earth” attaching a complete, or universal application.  In the sheet are all sorts of animals that were forbidden to Jews for meat.  The Lord tells Peter to satisfy his appetite; Peter cringes in repulsion at being told to eat the unclean animals (when actually he is cringing over putting aside a lifetime of obedience to a dietary law his peers saw as critical).  God finishes off Peter’s reluctance with a simple sentence:  Don’t call something unclean if I [God] have made it clean.

For Peter (and us) that one moment leveled the playing field where heritage arrogance is concerned.  Suddenly there is no Jew or Gentile, no savage or civilized, no male or female[2], and the line between East and West is a distant memory.  With one sentence God wipes out the justification for racism, sexism, nationalism, or elitist attitudes of any kind; all the “isms” lose their juice, and we are left with what Paul said in Galatians 3:28, that we are one in Christ Jesus.  Peter’s mind, life, and future have just turned on a dime, and we are back to the basics of one promise for all peoples:  God will save!

For You Today

If this whole thought, that we have One God, One Creator, who made One Race, and has provided One Messiah to eradicate the ONE PROBLEM we all have (of sin), does not cause anyone to simply say ONE Word of thanks – a hearty Amen would do – then somewhere along the line thoughts of Who God is, and what He’s offering to ALL people has gone off the tracks.

The good news is, He is willing to help anyone get back on the rails and travel on in His ride to Heaven’s glory.  Just ask.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image: Damzow via Wikimedia Commons   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

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[1] Read Genesis 3

[2] Note Paul’s characterization of this in Galatians 3:28

Of Camels and Last Straws

 

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.  The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience.  And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.  When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.  1 Corinthians 10:12-13

These verses always remind me of the saying, the straw that broke the camel’s back.  It is descriptive of a final added weight which causes a mortal stumble.

The truth of a saying can certainly be found in its long use by many people, but in (too many) cases, public opinion is wishful thinking, not bedrock truth.  The truth of the camel’s poor back is relative to dynamics of physics.  There is a tipping-point at which the strength of a camel’s legs, back, and will to stand cannot support the weight of even one last straw…and he must sit down or fall down.

There is another saying, a cousin to this camel sagacity, God will never put more on you than you can bear.  You hear that in times of trouble.  It’s intended to bring some hope for a cure, solution, or help from some unknown source.  It’s intended as theological wisdom, an appeal to trust in God, the One Who knows your frame, that we are dust, and in His providential care.  But the saying fails for lack of context. 

That context is the apostle’s statement to the Corinthian believers, a group so steeped in superstition and pagan practices, they were their own worst enemies when it came to following Jesus.  Paul was telling them there was hope for their weak stand against the temptations to sexual perversion; there was an answer for their soul’s desire to serve God with pure hearts and lives.  Paul was reminding them that the choice to yield was in their power because God is stronger than any temptation the enemy can devise. 

And so there is a difference between times of trouble, when a loved one dies, or a job is lost, or health goes wanting…and times of temptation, when avarice grows, or desire beckons, or truth slips into the shadows.  The difference is in human control as opposed to surrendering to the will of God.  Jobs or health lost, or a friend dies…these are above our pay grade.  We have no choice for the weightier happenings of life and death.  For these testings we can trust God’s leading, compassion, and, sometimes, miracles.  In temptations it is a reverse setting; this is when God is trusting us to yield on the side of godliness.  Temptation is an opportunity to sin, not another straw heaped on the camel’s back. 

The prime example for our instruction and empowerment is Adam and Eve.  In the Garden of Eden THE tempter offered the opportunity of a lifetime.  The entirety of humanity on earth at that time CHOSE to take what was in front of them, despite God’s provision of choice to say “no”.  It was within Adam and Eve’s power to choose; it wasn’t some overwhelming turn of life, a straw of adversity heaped on an overburdened life.  It was their will, choosing their way, over God’s.

Therein is the rub…and it has always been thus…we can, as the Burger King commercial reminds us, have it our way, or we can do it God’s way; we just cannot have both.

For You Today

Overcoming temptation isn’t a matter of waiting for God to do something about all He’s placed on your back; God is expecting you to say “no” loudly, and clearly. God is expecting you to seek God’s way of fleeing whatever is tempting you.  Just  don’t wait until you hear ol’ Slewfoot approaching in your garden; decide now, in the light of day, that your life, your body, your heart and hands belong to God. 

If you decide that in truth now…you’ll be prepared to escape the temptations that come your way.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

Beauty for Ashes

 

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.    He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.  To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair.  In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.   Isaiah 61:1-3

If there was a poster child for the year 2020 it would have to look somber, depressed, hopeless, cynical, frustrated, broken, homeless, jobless, penniless, and wearing a mask to cover it all.

The first century was much like our year in 2020.  It was a dark place which held little righteousness; evil seemed to rule the day.  The whole idea of goodness and a life of joy seemed to be on lockdown.  The restaurants of hope and joy had the doors locked and windows barred.  And it seemed to grow darker by the moment.  And then, to Mary and Joseph, Shepherds, Wise Men, and even Herod the Great, the heralds of Heaven, bathed in thunder, and clouds of light announce:  Good News! 

Isaiah predicted it seven centuries before Jesus was born.  Then, when Jesus stood in the synagogue[1] reading that same prophecy of Isaiah, He concluded his reading, not with, the word of God for us the people of God; rather He said, He who stands before you right now, is the fulfillment of every bit of Good News you could have hoped for – I Am is here.

What Isaiah predicted Jesus offered to the small group gathered at the synagogue in Nazareth.  The kind of Good News Jesus held forth would be like a miraculous cure for all diseases, including COVID-19 and old-age.  It would be complete pardon for every prisoner.  It would be recompense for every loss, sorrow, or fear.  This Good News is release, freedom, life, and abundance of joy.  It is blessing, rather than mourning, and praise instead of despair.  It was Good News because it was God’s promise of a crown of beauty given in exchange for the ashes of our grieving.

He seems to be looking in different directions at the same time, both forward to the coming new year, and backward to peruse the events of the year just past.  Those who are more cynically-minded perceive Janus as
In just a few days we will turn another corner.  Some will want to trash their 2020 calendar; some might want to blow it up with a stick of dynamite.  I think I will treasure mine.  I say this because I want to be a little like Janus, the mythical god for which January is named.  Janus has two faces, one looking East, the other West.  

He seems to be looking in different directions at the same time, both forward to the coming new year, and backward to peruse the events of the year just past.  Those who are more cynically-minded perceive Janus as two-faced, unable to truly speak his mind, only offering mixed messages.  Those who would see this in a more positive sense would see the backward-look as learning the lessons of the previous year, while looking forward is a better hope for next year.  Lessons learned, and wisdom applied for life.  I will choose that for my memory of this year’s legacy.

And that may be the whole issue for the spirit of heaviness in which 2020 has been bathed; how will we see it, and how will we choose to remember what to do with it?  Is there anything positive that we will take from this year’s hard lessons?  Well, apart from pop-psychology hackneyed phrases, the truth of one such cliché does come to mind:

It is always darkest before dawn

I have no idea where that saying comes from, but I know (on a first-name basis) some people who could testify to the truth of its message.  It’s a long list, but let’s just share several:

Adam…must have experienced a deep valley of depression and questioning the 2020 kind of darkness when he and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden.  He’d never really been on his own before, and now the produce came from the ground only by the sweat of his brow[2].  Adam’s darkness revealed life can be tough!

Noah…spent the better part of a year in a dark, smelly boat, cooped-up with fifteen thousand animals that made the ark smelly.  Genesis ^{(Ch 8,9)} tells us that after it was over Noah stepped out into a world without people.  He and his little family were totally alone.  That’s a good simile for living in the quarantine of 2020 darkness.

Abraham  …had several periods darkness.  God had promised an heir.  But Abraham kept getting older and older.  He was approaching 100, and his wife was no spring chicken either.  What was God up to?  You don’t have children when you’re in the old folk’s home!  Didn’t God know there are no nursery websites to help with giving Senior Adult baby showers?  And then, when Isaac was finally born, God told Abraham to take the boy to the mountain and kill him for a sacrifice.  Talk about darkness!  (you usually don’t think about sacrificing kids until they’re teenagers!)

Jonah…was disobedient about fulfilling his prophetic ministry role.  He got a holy submarine ride and several days in the darkness to think about his vows.

Israel…^{(Joshua 7)} the whole nation kicked back in shock after being whipped at Ai. They didn’t know Achan had sinned.  They only knew they were out in the dark.

Moses…was no stranger to the darkness syndrome.  After being raised in a king’s castle he spent forty years as a convicted murderer, working for his father-in-law, tending sheep on the back-side of the darkness of nowhere^{(Exodus 2)}.

David…^{(1 Sam 22)} the boy-king slept in the caves of Adullam while King Saul hunted for him.  He had spent his life trying to serve God and king…now the king wanted him dead, and God seemed nowhere in sight; it was all darkness.

Solomon…spent a lifetime searching for ways to get past the darkness of a life of affluence.  He couldn’t do it.  In frustration he recorded Ecclesiastes, the definitive key to how to live a frustrated life in the darkness of materialism.

Elijah…had his darkest moments after defeating the false prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel.  He was outnumbered 850 to 1, and God gave him the victory over the wild bunch.  It was one of the greatest spiritual victories of his career as a prophet.  The next instant we find him sitting under juniper tree pondering suicide ^{(1 Kgs 19)}. 

John the Baptist…found himself in a dark pit too; John 11 tells us he was wondering if he’d made a mistake in baptizing Jesus.  Was He really the Messiah?   He needed to know; John was living in the darkness of doubting his entire ministry.  

Judas…was a bad guy to us (who names his firstborn Judas these days?)  Nevertheless, Judas was chosen to come alongside Jesus with the other 11.  Judas had his toughest moments trying to understand Jesus’ motives.  As a zealot, waiting for the kingdom to be established, Judas must have been severely frustrated, proving that fighting God tooth-and-nail is the darkest of darkness.

The Disciples…(bless their little misguided hearts) spent seven long weeks in the upper room after the resurrection.  Jesus told them to wait, and then he disappeared in the clouds.  What a wonderful way to change the world, eh? 

Waiting – doesn’t that describe the darkness of 2020?

Peter… was the original action figure, always acting (especially before thinking). Toy makers of action biggies like G.I. Joe, Power-Rangers, and The Hulk, could make an Apostle Peter doll and market him to Christian parents.  The only problem is he’d have his foot in his mouth.  Matthew^Ch26 has Peter denying the Lord three times the night of Jesus’ arrest.  That had to have eaten-away at the walls of his stomach.  His darkness was from trying to figure out why it didn’t go like he thought it should.  His darkness was clothed in the question, why?  And every time he heard a rooster crowing it was like somebody locked on his midsection with a set of vice grips.

John Mark…left to go on the Great Adventure with Paul & Barnabas, an exciting mission trip to establish churches, and preach the gospel.  But John Mark chickened-out when the going got tough; he went home to Momma.  John Mark had a heart for God, and I am certain there were many times he awoke in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, remembering his failure.  It would be many years before light came to put away that darkness and he would write his Gospel.

John…was the Apostle whom Jesus loved, and who leaned on Jesus’ side during the Last Supper.  He became the beloved Pastor at Ephesus.  He preached the Word with boldness and effectiveness.  At age ninety he got to retire, but not to a condo in Miami beach!  John was imprisoned, exiled to a rock quarry on an island off the coast of Greece.  He spent his golden years hauling lime rock for the emperor. 

Darkness hardly describes this agony!

            And then, there was the New Testament Jeremiah……

Paul…who, when converted, immediately began to experience opposition – from within the church.  He spent 14 years in the desert seminary learning about God’s plans for the church.  Then came times of severe darkness

·       He was beaten (as Jeremiah). 

·       He was called a traitor (as Jeremiah). 

·       He was imprisoned and died for the cause (as did Jeremiah). 

Paul’s life was spent on mission, filled with times of battling the darkness.

Now, I do not consider myself worthy of even being mentioned with the previous bunch.  However, all the guys in that previous bunch lived two thousand years ago, and I’m still breathing, standing here before you as an appendix to what I’ve been trying to say about this exchange of beauty for ashes.  I want to share with you that there is meaning in what all of us have been forced to focus on this past year; it is the exchange of 2020 darkness for God’s Heavenly Blessing!

I’m not Peter or Paul, but here’s my darkness:

I’m simply a pastor, having served 9 churches in the last 4 decades.  None of those churches were even remotely perfect; it’s a good thing, because each of those churches also had an imperfect pastor.  It’s like that in all of life.  Life is exceedingly NOT PERFECT…it is messy, fun, disorderly, exhilarating, and painful, and you hardly ever know what it’s going to be when you wake up in the morning.

It was that way twenty years ago when we moved to North Carolina from Florida.  We were called to serve a church in Thomasville (messy, fun, exhilarating, disorderly, and, at times, painful).  That ended 15 years ago shortly after Christmas. 

My season of darkness started shortly after because I was a pastor without a church.  If you’ve ever meet one of those creatures, be kind, because they’re treading dark waters.  (I could add, be careful…they may bite when disturbed).

Months into seeking God’s will for where (and if) I would ever serve again, the problem was evident and predictable; each time a place seemed to open-up, it closed faster than a slap in the face. 

I was living in the darkness of questioning, wondering if I’d ever pastor or preach again.  Russell felt like Jeremiah in the pit, and I wanted some answers.  I wanted some sense of purpose during what seemed like wasted time.  (Can we say 2020?)  Give me some rhyme and reason, Lord!

I must confess that may have been one of the darkest times of despair in my soul.  When a person has been assured time and again that the calling upon your life is to serve God, having no place to serve is like drinking sand when you’re dehydrated.  Now, I never got to Elijah’s pity party…never wanted to end it all…but the darkness did make me wonder if God was just ready to bring me home.

And then, a spiritual version of 6° of separation kicked in.  Elizabeth had a position as Administrative Assistant to Pastor Don Lloyd in High Point.  The D.S. was a frequent visitor to that church, and, six-months into my blackout of darkness, the dots began connecting.  God provided a place for me to serve…and here we are in the 16^th year of being a recovering Baptist-now-Methodist.

Helen Steiner Rice sometimes connects with what ails my soul in times of darkness:

And Oh!  What a blessing

To know there are reasons

And to find that our soul

Must, too, have its seasons.

"Bounteous Seasons"

And "Barren Ones," too.

Times for rejoicing

And times to be blue.

But meeting these seasons

Of dark desolation

With strength that is born

Of anticipation

That comes from knowing

That "autumn-time sadness"

Will surely be followed

by a "Springtime of Gladness."

Considering all the Biblical examples of the darkness-turned-light in the lives of David, Paul, John, and others, it would be difficult not to see how it is always darkest just before light.

And, so, to the point…what is there about the darkness of 2020 that suggests what the light of 2021 might be like?

Is it just that, in the darkness of so much COVID-19 sickness and death, injustice, hatred and fear, it can’t get any worse?  Is that the light?  I trust that’s not the case; hanging-on to shaky ground is not moving towards the light; it’s just another kind of darkness.

Is the light of 2021 that, in the darkness of evil, we might be compelled into the light of world-wide revival?  Could be!

Is it that, in the darkness of days like Noah, it might be time for the light of the coming of Jesus Christ’s return to finally set everything that was wrong…right?

None of us is prophet-enough to predict what will happen next; only God knows when Christ will come.  But, like understanding the fields white unto harvest, we can say this:  we are ready for a little light…and when it’s been so dark, that light God gives will be one beautiful exchange for the heaviness of our grief, a crown of beauty for a garment of ashes!

Let’s give Isaiah the last word to this moment:

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.  For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.  Isaiah 9:2

It’s been dark for far too long; are you ready for a great light?

Our Prayer

Father, God of Heaven’s Armies, we are a people walking in great darkness for far too long.  Come, shed light on our spirit of heaviness; grant us a garment of praise, exchange our ashes for your crown of beauty.

We wait upon you, O Lord,

If you tarry so that the darkness must prevail for a little longer, our lives are in your hands; may You fill up the darkness until the dawn breaks.

If it is that your light will begin to reveal renewal and revival, let our lives so shine that others may see.

If your holy Child, Jesus will return now, so the entire world may be clothed in your glory and splendor, and darkness be ever banished, then, with the Revelator, the Disciple you loved, we cast our petition, even so, come, Lord Jesus.

For the glory, honor, and praise to which You alone are worthy, o Lord, we pray in the Name of the Son, cooperating with the Spirit, to honor and exalt the Majesty of the Father. 

Let it be so in each of our lives…Amen!

 

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com W  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation 

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Head of Janus, Vatican Museum, Rome

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[1] Luke 4:14-22

[2] Genesis 3