“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” Matthew 19:23-30

“Pigeon holed”

Originally, a pigeonhole literally was a small recess or compartment for a domestic pigeon to roost or nest in, usually as part of a pigeon coop. That term has been around since at least 1577. A little over a century later, in 1688, the term was also applied to similar small compartments built into desks or bookshelves for storing or sorting mail, papers or writing supplies. But a third meaning came to be accepted, first recorded in 1864 — the one you most often hear today as a “narrow, sometimes oversimplified category.” Used as a verb, it’s the act of placing someone in such a category (among actors, it’s also called type casting). The consensus among etymologists is that this usage comes from the original meaning of pigeonhole — with the meaning that the category the person or thing is being assigned to is as narrow and confined as a literal pigeonhole.

It is really easy to pigeonhole people, giving them definitions that are narrow, and often discriminatory. People who want to be professional athletes will be pigeonholed as too short, too heavy, or too slow. And yet, we have seen individuals excel in sports by overcoming what others determine to be shortcomings. As such, is it really easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich person to enter G-d’s kingdom? I have two answers. First, the scriptures say that it is the “…love of money that is the root of all evil” – not money itself. Many rich people are generous and share out of their abundance. Second, when the disciples ask Jesus “Then who can be saved?” – Jesus answers, “For G-d, all things are possible.”

We need to learn not to pigeonhole people, and instead to trust that G-d wants all people to be saved.

Pastor Dave

“They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; and shouting with a loud voice, he said, “ What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” For He had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” Mark 5:1-8

“Graveyard Shift”, “Dead Ringer”

Has someone ever told you they are working the graveyard shift? Perhaps you have also heard someone referred to as a dead ringer? As an extension to yesterday’s devotion, if you were to be “saved by the bell” from your underground prison, someone had to stay among the graves at night to listen for the bell. That person who was hired to sit outside all night was working the graveyard shift to listen for these bells – to listen for the “dead ringer”.

There was a time when there was so much hysteria regarding this fate, of being “buried alive”, by mistake, that there were quite an array of devices invented so that the undead could escape their premature burials. Some of them were rather simple with spring loaded coffin lids that would open at the slightest movement inside. Others were much more complex — even using electrical switches, early dry cells and buzzers. For clarification purposes, there was never an actual documented case of any person ringing the bell and thus being saved. It must also be pointed out that this explanation is a bit of a controversy. Some disclaim this theory, saying that while the practice of reusing existing coffins did exist, it was a lot less common than reported. It has also been said that the term “graveyard shift” simply came from nautical origins when a person had the night shift on a vessel at sea and that the shift was named such for the extreme quietness and loneliness of the shift.

It has also been reported that the term ringer simply refers to an old devious practice regarding horse racing and betting in which a proven racehorse similar in looks was switched out for an old nag with a bad record in a race securing a long shot bet. Thus a dead ringer referred to an animal that you could not tell apart from the original without closer inspection.

The Gerasene Demoniac received a new life, just like those who might have been rescued from being buried prematurely in a coffin. In meeting Jesus, he received a new life, a new outlook, and a new mission — to tell others what G-d had done for him. My friends, what will it take for you to take on the mission of telling others what G-d has done for you? Will it take a new death experience? Or, will accepting that Jesus died for you be enough? Either way, Jesus rescues us nonetheless.

Pastor Dave