MATZAH! it's flat.. it's crunchy. it's delicious?!

MATZAH! It's flat, it's crunchy,... it's DELICIOUS! Oh wait, I think that in that episode Kramer was talking about Junior Mints ... Anyways, matzah isn't something people normally request to eat. However, if you are Jewish, chances are this week you have been eating only matzah and staying away from bread, cake, sweets, or anything else containing leaven. Although it's not the best tasting food, it's eaten during the celebration of Passover. Passover is a time to celebrate how God delivered the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. [Passover itself refers to the time when the Angel of Death "passed over" the homes covered in lamb's blood (Israelites) and went to all Egyptian homes sans blood to slew the first-born son as a punishment for not allowing the Israelites to be released from slavery. (Exodus 12)] Matzah is eaten because unleavened bread was eaten right before the actual Passover in Egypt (Exodus 12:15).

This week at church, a Jewish man named Steve from Jews for Jesus came to talk about Passover. He went through a whole demonstration of a Passover Sader, and it was very informative and awesome. My biggest takeaway from his demonstration was the soverignty of God. From the beginning of time, God knew everything that was going to happen, and because of his foreknoweldge he was able to weave in sublte hints, and foreshadow the coming of Jesus. It may appear obvious to some, subtle to others, or not at all to some blink folk. Let's take a look at some events during the actual Passover and some traditions during the Passover Sader. Decide for yourself if these items blatantly point to Jesus Christ as the Messiah/God.

Two main things of note:

1.) The Matzah Tosh- Jews are divded as to what they think the 3 coming to 1 symbolizes. Some think it represents the 3 Patriarchs of Israel (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob), while others think it represents a 3 fold divison of worship (Priests, Levites, rest of Israel). However, does it really make sense for Isaac or a Levite to be broken, buried, and brought back? Not really.....
2.) The Lamb Bone- Jews ceased performing animal sacrifices entirely after the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70 . But how do Jews TODAY atone for sin if they don't believe Jesus was the once and for all sacrifice for our sins? Hmmmmmm

I hope this has found you well, and I would like to encourage you to actually watch the whole video of the Passover Sader, pretty cool stuff. I left a lot of things out becasue I know how ADD ya'll can be.

The TRUTH about Cadbury Cream Eggs

There was a period of time when I honest to goodness thought that Cadbury Cream Eggs were real eggs covered in chocolate. I remember seeing the commercials as a wee lil one. A bunny appeared on screen with a basket of Cadbury Cream Eggs, clucking like a chicken. Clearly, Schweppes couldn’t afford to buy lots of air-time for the commercial, so they had to get the message across quickly, using subtle hints. I remember feeling like a total Gumshoe when I put the puzzle together and realized that Schweppes was just tricking kids into eating eggs, GROSS. I decided to stay far away from said wolf in sheep’s clothing. I didn’t learn the actual truth until I witnessed someone on my school bus eat a Cadbury Cream Egg. I remember being surprised that there was no lingering rotten egg smell on the bus, and the person didn’t keel over from salmonella poisoning. BTW, I was in high school at the time. Have you ever been in a similar situation where you thought you knew exactly what something was, and based on what you thought was the truth, you rejected it, called it sick nasty, and stayed away completely? Believe it or not, there was actually a period of time when I also had a misconception of Christianity. I thought I knew the truth, decided I didn’t like it, and stayed away. Then, one day the Truth was revealed to me. Perhaps the biggest misconception I previously had was that Christianity was similar to all other religions in that there was some formula an individual could follow (i.e. doing good works) to get to heaven. OOPS! Christianity is DISTINCT from all other religions in that it is the only religion in which an individual can’t get to heaven by his own works, but instead can get there by the work already done by God (Jesus). This past Sunday, Todd Philips, the pastor of Frontline, did a phenomenal job of touching on said Truth in a sermon that is part of a series that will cover the three days of Jesus's death/resurrection. Real quick, let's take a look at the day of Jesus's death (on a Friday). Details are below:

“From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. ..... And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom… The earth shook and the rocks split….When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"” (Matthew 27: 45,50-51,54)

Our focus will be on what happened immediately after Jesus died. You’ll notice that the curtain of the temple or veil ripped from top to bottom. Before we proceed, we must first remember that the Temple was the centerpiece of Jewish religious life. It was the place where animal sacrifices were made daily to atone for sins, and also the place where God resided. God’s physical presence resided in a room known as the Holy of Holies. No one was allowed to enter this room. There was a curtain/veil in front of the Holy of Holies that physically separated people from the presence of God. (This served to remind people that man was separated from God by sin (Isaiah 59:1-2)). However, once a year ONLY, a high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies to offer the sin offering (Hebrews 9:7, Leviticus 16:11). So there was a massively impenetrable curtain (6 stories high, 4 inches thick, intricately woven), yet the moment Jesus died, it tore in half from top to bottom. This action explains the fundamental Truths about Christianity which the chart below summarizes.


The veil was torn and now through Jesus we can no longer be separated from God, but can have a relationship with God that is real and personal. Ya’ll, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, do you see that? (Romans 5:8) It’s not from anything we did. It was all God’s work. That’s why Christians often refer to Christ’s work on the cross as a gift. It’s not something we deserve, we can’t earn it, we can’t pay for it. We simply accept it or reject it. If you profess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9).

Like what you read? If so, maybe you should come check out Frontline this Sunday at 5:30pm in person or online as my summary was nearly verbatim what was preached. The series continues over the next two weeks. This Sunday will be talking about the 2nd day, (Saturday, which was the Passover), and next Sunday will be talking about the 3rd and final day, (the Ressurection). In the meantime, stay away from those dreadful Cadbury Cream Eggs.

More Than Meets The Eye

Sometimes to see the true value of something, we have to look beyond the surface. A perfect example of this can be found during a visit to the US Mint. Let’s pretend you live in Costa Rica (we can dream can’t we?!). You speak no English, but decide to visit America during your vacation. Now look at the coins above and tell me their monetary value, READY GO!!!! Oh, what’s that? You can see a mountain man with a bow tie, two girlie men with braids and bows in their hair, a torch, an olive tree, an eagle, and two architecturally symmetrical buildings and they don’t clearly inform you of the coin value? Hmm, that’s kind of odd. Well it turns out US coins are one of the only monetary units in the world that don’t have the numerical value on the coins. (Go ahead, take a second to scrounge around in your pockets to confirm this. No I didn't photoshop the pics). Now just because the coins don’t numerically show $.01, $.05, $0.1, and $.25 that doesn’t make the coins worthless, does it? Of course not. You, as a Costa Rican, can easily find out the value by simply asking someone to read/translate the English on the coins. Bueno.

Sometimes to see the true value of something, we have to look beyond the surface. Today, I wanted to examine one of the most significant events in all of history and see if there really is any value beyond our initial impressions. I’m talking about Jesus dying on the cross. Sure, on the surface, it really doesn’t seem significant at all. After all, it was very common for people (mainly criminals) to be crucified on a cross. In fact, there were 2 other people that were crucified at the same time as Jesus…. So who cares, right? Well actually, there is more to it, and it involves asking someone from that time. Although we can’t time travel and ask someone from the time of Jesus we can still get the insight we need from the Bible. Let’s look at two facts and see why they are valuable:


So now we know that animal sacrifices were necessary for a person to experience forgiveness of sins. The innocent, blemish-free animal died in place of the sinner. This only temporarily forgave sins, and thus had to be offered over and over (Hebrews 10:4). You guys, this was foreshadowing and illustrating what Jesus was going to do. Jesus was the ultimate end-all-be all sacrificial substitute. His death on the cross was a sufficient payment to forgive all our sins---past, present, and future. We were separated from God because of our sin, and deserved death, but Christ took on our punishment so that we may have a restored relationship with God and experience eternal life.

“Look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

"Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself." (Hebrews 7:27)

I’ll leave ya’ll with a quote from the pastor of a church I went to in North Carolina “Rather than being never-satisfied, Jesus accepts you fully, as you are. The Messiah’s salvation was not that if you could be good enough for long enough then He would save you. Jesus’ salvation was an announcement of His acceptance of us based on the work He would do for us: He would live the life we were supposed to live and die the death we had deserved to die, in our place, so that if we would just accept it we would be immediately and fully forgiven and accepted. “ – J.D. Greear.

Journey to Abercrombie & Fitch / Synagogue

This past weekend I went shopping for the first time since last summer. It had been so long that I momentarily forgot which stores I frequent. To refresh my memory, I decided to walk around and see what caught my attention. When we were approaching Abercrombie and Fitch, my Mom asked me if I wanted to go in, and I proceeded to give her the I’m not going to dignify that with a response eye stare that conveyed the unspoken “Mom seriously, does it look like it’s 1995 and I’m a pre-teen?!” thought in my mind. We continued walking past the store, when something from the window caught my eye. Dangit! If you have never been in A&F before, consider yourself blessed. Sure, its fine if you are an oblivious 11-17 year old, can tolerate the blaring techno remix of Black Eyed Peas I Gotta Feeling, and enjoy paying an absurd premium for a paper thin shirt just because it has a cute little moose logo in the upper left corner. As a 20 something though, it’s not the best way to spend your time. My experience in the store was so cliche and stereotypical that I have to share it with you. I found an item to try on and after two failed attempts of asking customers to open a dressing room, I found a sales associate. The sale associate escorted me to the fitting room area and I got in line. In front of me was the token 15 year old girl with at least 20 items in her hand. This same girl also took an eternity in the fitting room only to reappear with 0 items in her hand, leaving behind a dressing room that looked as if a Tornado had swept through. Also in front of me, was the token teenage couple who was PDA-ing like whoa. Behind me, was the token Mom holding several pairs of jeans and calling out to her son who was in another part of the store. After about a 10 minute wait, a dressing room freed up. I tried on my item and exited said dressing room in an impressive 90 seconds.

Post dressing room, I headed towards the check-out as quickly as possible thinking “the faster I walk and check-out the less likely one of my friends will see me here”. After I got in line, I realized that my logic was irrational because the only friend that would see me here would be a friend that is also shopping here…. if that happened, we would both agree to not tell other people that we saw each other here, PHEW. The line moved quickly, but in the mean time I watched 3 preteens in front of me giggling uncontrollably as they handed their coins and crumpled dollar bills to the cashier to pay for 1 pair of male boxers. TSK TSK TSK. My turn was next and I handed my item to the cashier (The cashier likely had her mom drop her off at work because she didn’t even look old enough to be driving a motor vehicle!). The cashier rang up my item and proceeded to put it in the LARGEST bag available. Yes, I realize most patrons of A&F always request the EXTRA LARGE bag even when they buy perfume, and yes I also realize I was with my Mom which might make me look younger, but seriously do I really strike you as the type of person that wants to be walking around Tyson’s with a bag showcasing a half-naked man??!?!? (Needless to say I left the bag at the front of the store and put my purchased item into my purse.) Before leaving the store, I decided to report the one UNUSUAL thing that I noticed during my time in the store:

Me: I think your store’s profit margins are in jeopardy. In my dressing room there were at least 4 security buttons loose on the floor. You really should have someone monitoring the fitting room area.
Cashier: haha oh really?! Well we are low on staff
Me (in my head): Really? I would think refolding an already folded shirt should be a job duty that comes SECOND to monitoring and preventing theft.
My Mom: (reverting back to defensive/protective mom from the 90s): Yeah, and one more thing! The dressing room is like a pig sty!”

We decided to put our good Samaritan deed to rest and exited the store. If only, A&F realized, that I, once a regular patron now a visitor, was actually trying to help them and not make them irritated. Now, suppose instead of going into A&F and living in the 21st century, we lived in the time of Jesus, and walked into a synagogue one day. What would that experience be like? How would people react if a visitor walked in and tried to help out the people in the synagogue? First, let's brush up on our knowledge of synagogues:


So as you can see from the chart above, if you waltzed into a synagogue, you would experience something similar to a church service in the sense that it was a place to teach and learn scripture. On the Sabbath, a service would start with singing of Psalms, transition to a reading from the Torah, switch to a reading from the prophets, and then culminate with a sermon. Local teachers gave sermons and on occasion a visitor/guest teacher would preach. Attendees were Pharisees, aka middle class Jews that had a reputation of self righteousness. Pharisees were obsessed with rituals, laws, and outward symbols of faith such as circumcision. Almost all of them grew up memorizing the entire Torah (first five books of the Old Testament) by the time they were 12. Although they were gifted at rote memorization, they didn’t appear to have any kind of relationship with God or understanding of what the scriptures actually meant.

So now imagine if you can, that you are in your hometown of Nazareth at the synagogue on the Sabbath, and a guest speaker is giving the sermon. This guest speaker is someone that grew up in your neighborhood. Someone whose father Joseph was neither royalty nor of priestly decent, but instead a measly lower-class craftsman. Someone that is a carpenter by trade. Someone you haven’t seen in a few years, yet have heard news about him receiving praise in nearby towns (Capernaum being one of them) for healing a paralytic, healing a blind man, etc. Someone that has yet to perform any miracles in your and his hometown of Nazareth. Well that’s exactly what happens in Luke 4.

“Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:14-21)

Keep in mind, any other teacher before Jesus, would have started a sermon on a messianic prophecy by saying something along the lines of “And SOME DAY this will happen, not TODAY’. After saying he has fulfilled the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 61, Jesus continues to preach to his hometown, telling the people how they won’t accept him, and reminding them of the fact that God has imparted blessings upon non-Jews in the past. Now let’s see how the people react.

"All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way." (Luke 4:28-30)

YOU GUYS, WE KNOW JESUS IS GOD BECAUSE HE CLAIMED TO BE GOD! This passage makes it so blatantly obvious that Jesus claimed to be God. If he had just got up and said “I am God” the Pharisees would dismiss him as ignorant. The Pharisees knew the Old Testament Messianic prophecies inside and out and were always on the look out for the Messiah. The Pharisees tried to kill Jesus because they mistakenly were expecting the Messiah to be an actual Roman king and and were angry at the fact that Jesus was saying he would bring salvation for everyone and not just themselves (Jews). But alas, Jesus was trying to help them. He was bringing the 'good news' they and their ancestors had been waiting for.

Who DAT says he's perfect?

It's true though isn't it? I mean yes, figure skating is impressive. Triple salchows and quadruple axles are something I am 99.9% positive I will never be able to do in my life, and I'm okay with that. But that being said, there is something unsettling to me about watching a 'sport' that is so subjective. I like the idea that there is the potential for a skater in theory to achieve a perfect score, but I also dislike the fact that often times there is no clear winner. It's basically up to the discretion of some Canadians and Russians who in the past have been known to accept bribes and try and fix the outcome.

Football isn't like that. It's black and white. There are no ties (well almost never). There are no style points awarded to the Saints for the way Drew Brees spirals the football. There were no technical points awarded to the Steelers for the way Santonio Holmes magically lept into the air , caught the ball, and gracefully landed his tiptoes into the end-zone during the 2009 Superbowl. Scoring is instead very systematic, clear, and for the most part objective. Six points for a touch down, two for a safety, three for a field goal, etc.

This past year in football was particularly exciting because the Saints won their first ever Super Bowl. Although the Saints did walk away as champions, they did not have a perfect season. Overall, the Saints record for 2009-2010 was 13-3; 3-0. The only team in the NFL to have a perfect season was the 1972 Miami Dolphins who went 17-0. (14 regular season, 3 post season). The New England Patriots came close to matching this in 2007 when they went 16-0 in the regular season. However, the Patriots fell short when they lost to the Giants in the super bowl 14-17. The NFL has been around for 44 years, and only one team has had a 'perfect' season. WOW. That's pretty crazy. It must be pretty hard to achieve. But is that really perfect? Yes, the Patriots had a perfect regular season in the sense that they won all 16 games, but if we look at the individual games, was each game truly "without flaw or blemish, free from error" ?! I think the answer is a resounding HAILLLLLLL NO.

Okay, so maybe all 16 games weren't perfect, but was at least one game perfect? Was there at least one game when the Patriots had 100% completions, 100% for rushing, no turnovers, no false stars, no interceptions, no holding flags, and 0 points scored by the other team?! Hmmm, so no perfect game, but maybe there was a perfect player during one of the games? Someone who recorded perfect stats related to their particular position, and with no mistakes or turnovers of any kind? Sounds a little more plausible, but again probably very unlikely. So I think we can all agree it's really really tough to be perfect within four 15 minute quarters, even if when we use the term "perfect' we don't truly mean without error, but simply performing better relative to the surroundings.

Now think to your own life for a second. What do you think is the longest amount of time you have gone and remained "perfect' in a literal sense of being without flaw, blemish, or defect. Perfect in a sense where you did only things that were pleasing to God and nothing displeasing. Before you settle on an amount of time, remember that things considered displeasing to God , or more succinctly known as sin, aren't just major things such as murder or adultery. Failing to be perfect, could be as simple as stealing a pen from the office to use for personal use...or using a file sharing software to illegally download music...or watching free episodes of How I Met Your Mother from a sketchy non cbs.com or hulu.com website....or taking credit for when you receive a promotion, score a goal in soccer, negotiate a job offer, or complete a marathon...or being envious of your neighbors car, designer jeans, handbag, house, iphone, vacation home...or loving your parents, boyfriend/girlfriend , spouse, house, car, money, or anything else more so than you love God...or having lustful thoughts about someone....or cursing (it still counts if you do it in your head)....or speeding or any other form of breaking laws set in place by the government...or gossiping...or putting yourself before others...etc.

Okay, so what's the number you came up with?! Assuming we are talking about non-sleeping time, I think we'd all come up with around 5-10 minutes if we're being perfectly honest. Now what if I told you there was someone who came to this earth who was able to be perfect for a whole hour. What if I told you there was someone who led a perfect life for a whole day? What if I told you there was someone who led a perfect life for a whole week? What if I told you there was someone who led a perfect life for a whole month? What if I told you there was someone who led a perfect life for a whole year? What if I told you there was someone who led a perfect life for a whole lifetime?

You guys, the point is there was such a person! Jesus Christ roamed around on the earth for 33 years, and led a perfect life. He never sinned once, in-spite of the fact that he was tempted for 40 days and nights in the dessert by the devil. Jesus Christ was fully man, but he also had to be fully God. There is really no other logical or rational explanation for such a impossible task.

"He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth" (1 Peter 2:22)

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15)

"Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? " -Jesus (John 8:46)

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God " (2 Corinthians 5:21).

"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).... "I and the Father are one" - Jesus (John 10:33)

"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form" (Colossians 2:9)

"Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation..." (Hebrews 5:8-9)

Hopefully now, you realize we have just unveiled another reason why we know Jesus was God. We know Jesus was God because he led a perfect life . Who DAT was perfect? JESUS.

SPOILER ALERT: In a future post, I will address why it was so important that Jesus was perfect. If you would like to have a hint as to what we will discuss check out the verse below:

"When anyone brings from the herd or flock a fellowship offering to the LORD to fulfill a special vow as a freewill offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be acceptable" (Leviticus 22:21).