Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
Sigh. Life is busy and I'm afraid I'm just going to be rather erratic for a season here. It seems like this has been the case for a LONG TIME now; all I can do is take a breath and keep going, lol. But we are moving into the New Testament in our look at 'Heart/ Hearts' as translated by the NIV 84 (which is the version my Exhaustive Concordance uses, lol). My list shows 12 verses/passages left so I'm just going to split that in half and do six of those today and six next week.
We start first with a story that is partly told in Matthew but has more detail elsewhere, about a group of folks that brought a paralytic, who was lying on a matt, to Jesus.
Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven." At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!" Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? -- Matt. 9:2 - 5. 'Take heart' is actually a phrase that is translated in King James as 'Be of good cheer'.. the Greek word here is Strong's G2293, Tharseo, which is a verb that literally means 'to be of good cheer'; 'to be of good comfort'; or 'to be of good courage'; the second use of 'hearts' is the Greek word we have seen before, Strong's G2588, cardia -- 'heart', which is used for both the physical organ and the center of all physical and spiritual life.
I can see Jesus telling the paralytic to be encouraged, to have hope...but I can also see him giving him a heads up that he's going to need to be brave and attempt something he knows he cannot do. He gives the cripple a minute to process that encouragement before he tells him to get up and walk. He could have done that first, but I think he was using that opportunity to educate the skeptics as well as providing a couple of beats for the guy to begin to make the paradigm shift. 'Take heart' is, of course, an idiomatic translation but to us it makes sense. Now, to the skeptics...the teachers of the law, the people who should have known the scripture so well that they would have recognized Jesus right away, but instead they stay within the realm of what they understand. Which is that no human has the ability to forgive sins. Therefore, in their minds, Jesus was blaspheming by claiming that authority for himself. This would seem to be straightforward reasoning...but Jesus called it 'evil thoughts'.
Think about that for a minute. Jesus referred to a simple logical conclusion as 'evil thoughts'. Why would that be evil? Because they refused to change their paradigm when it was challenged. There is another logical response to what they were experiencing: if no human can forgive sin, then Jesus must be more than a human...which Jesus goes on to prove to them by telling the guy to get up and walk, and he does. So what is the evil here? This wasn't of the 'I saw, I coveted, I took, I hid' sort of evil, this was a case of choosing to ignore what is clearly demonstrated before them. Refusing to believe the evidence of their own eyes and calling it something else that kept them comfortable.
That's worth a selah.
The next reference is in the account of the woman with the issue of blood (endometriosis?) who touched Jesus' garment as he was on his way to heal a sick girl and is somewhat similar.
Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment. -- Matt 9:22; 'heart' is, again, Strong's G2293, 'be of good courage'...this time, to a terrified, desperate lady who literally could have been stoned for what she did. Her life was also changed in that moment.
Jesus is speaking in the next verse we'll look at -
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for you souls." -- Matt. 11:29; 'heart' here is cardia once more, but this time we are talking about Jesus' heart, specifically, how he describes his character. He is gentle and humble, all the way through to his heart, which means he will be a kind and gracious teacher...and it's also a description of what we are to learn from him...how to be gentle and humble in heart.
In the next passage, Jesus is chastising the Pharisees, who have accused him of doing miracles by the power of the evil one.
"You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." -- Matt 12:34; 'heart' is cardia again.
I can attest to this myself; I can think of more than one occasion on which I'd had an...opinion...that I kept to myself. Fully intended to never let that thought see the light of day. But I did think on it. Over and over as time passed. And you know what? When I was in the heat of the moment, with no intention or forethought, that opinion came out of my mouth in the hearing of others. Ooopsie.
What is in your heart will eventually come out of your mouth. I think this is one of the reasons Paul enjoins us to 'take every thought captive'...there are some things that should not be expressed. But if it is pondered, examined, agreed with...it will come out. Why are we going to give an account for our words? Because the words reveal the condition of the heart.
That's another selah.
The last verse for today is prophecy; Jesus is speaking:
"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." -- Matt. 12:40; 'heart' is, once more, cardia, the connotation being in the middle or central or inmost part.
The Pharisees and teachers of the Law were looking for a miraculous sign...and Jesus said the only sign would be that of the prophet Jonah, speaking of his resurrection. I have always marveled at the audacity of those folks asking for a sign when Jesus had clearly performed miracles of healing, of multiplication, casting out demons and raising the dead. But they STILL WANTED A SIGN. Something greater than that.
They wanted the choice to be made for them. They did not want to be responsible for acknowledging the fulfillment of all prophecy. Like the Israelites at Sinai, they didn't want to deal with God themselves but pushed the responsibility on to Mosses. And they still ignored the sign he gave them, even when it was fulfilled.
Because they had already made up their minds to not believe.
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