Author: Jim Cantelon

January 22, 2020

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) Part 8 Then there’s the story of Ruth. An entire, but brief, book of the Old Testament tells us about her. A Jewish man, Elimelek (“My God is king”), with his wife Naomi (“Pleasant”), migrate from Bethlehem to the region of Moab because of a famine. In Moab, shortly after, Elimelek dies. His widow is left with two sons and both marry Moabite women one of whom is Ruth. About ten years later both sons die leaving Naomi, Ruth and Orpah without male protection. The Bethlehem famine ends and Naomi decides to go back to her hometown and...

January 15, 2020

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) Part 7 Judah married Er to a young Canaanite woman named Tamar. Their marriage was short-lived. Er died. So Judah ordered his n ext son, Onan to have sex with Tamar in order “to raise up offspring for your brother.” This was what we know as “levirate marriage” (more on that later). Onan complied with his father’s command but not fully. Whenever he ejaculated he withdrew (“coitus interruptus”) and “spilled his semen on the ground.” He “knew the child would not be his.” We’re told, “what...

January 13, 2020

I was just remembering a conversation I had a while back with someone who was always anxious. It was a lifelong burden. Pretty much everything in his life was seen through a worst case scenario lens. And, of course, one can view almost anything in terms of what might go wrong. Worry is the father of fear. And fear paralyzes. It fosters a risk-averse approach to life, which in turn produces uneventful and boring living, leading to overall dissatisfaction and negativity. I saw an Instagram post the other day: “ Fear is faith that it won’t work out”. Insightful. So why borrow trouble from...

January 8, 2020

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) Part 6 In Ge. 38:1-3 the narrative of Judah and Tamar is written. Judah was the fourth-born to Jacob’s first wife Leah. He was the “father” of the future Isrealites who later took on his name to describe their territory — the southern kingdom of Judah — and their national/ethnic designation: “Jews”. As you read the Genesis account you realize that this story summarizes events over the course of 15-20 years. It reads like a soap-opera. Judah’s era was what modern Israelis refer to as “meyode primitivi”...

January 1, 2020

Jesus ‘ Ancestors (1:1-17) Part 5 But before moving on, there is something powerfully ironic in this genealogy. In contradistinction to almost all other Jewish records, Matthew’s includes women! Here are their stories. In Ge. 19:30-38 we read about Lot’s daughters. Lot, Abraham’s nephew had settled in Sodom which at that time was a fertile valley. The moral climate of Sodom was sexually out of control, and there was a decided hedonism characterized by pride, gluttony, laziness, and the neglect of the poor (Ez. 16:49). God decided to destroy it, but gave Lot and his family...

December 30, 2019

I drove past a prominent fitness facility recently and thought about the rush to membership that always accompanies the new year with its resolutions to get in shape. By February or March these born again fitness seekers will be supporting the facility with their year-long memberships but not participating. It is ever thus… Reminds me of leadership books, seminars, and courses. Seems everyone wants to be a leader, but few truly lead. Indeed if everyone is a leader, who follows? Ultimately leadership is something one does. It’s “caught, not taught”. A leader simply gets into the fray and...

December 25, 2019

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) Part Four But the common people, those illiterate, impressionable labourers, farmers, and shop-keepers, also had their say: “Could this be the Son of David?” (Mt. 12: 23) “A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy o me!'” (Mt. 15:22) Perhaps the ultimate declaration, albeit not from the apostles, nor the people, was the voice of the demonic spirits, no better illustrated than by Luke 4:33, 34: “In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried...

December 18, 2019

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) – Part Three This critical heritage was of huge import to later biblical writers. Listen to Peter, as he speaks to thousands in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:29-36: “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on the throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead nor did...

December 16, 2019

I have very warm memories of Christmas past. As a child I wasn’t aware of my parents’ poverty. Dad pastored a small Saskatchewan church that provided little compensation. Our house was uninsulated with a dugout dirt basement. In winter we were always cold. And food was never plentiful. But I never heard complaints or poverty talk from Mom and Dad. Rather they chose to be upbeat and thankful. I would often overhear their prayers of praise to God. Our humble church Christmas services impacted me deeply. Even as a preschooler I embraced the message of a baby in a manger who had come to...

December 11, 2019

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) – Part 2 This emphasis on genealogical purity was even harsher when it came to the centuries-long Jewish expectation of a future messiah. His pedigree had to go back all the way to Abraham, and, more specifically, he had to be a “son of David”. This is why Matthew starts his genealogy of Jesus with, “Abraham was the father of Isaac…”. Messiah’s family history had to be built on this exclusive bedrock. It is surprising to the modern reader to discover in doing a little historical study that most people in Jesus’ day...