March 2022 - Serbian

March 25, 2022

Jesus’ Mission in the Raising of Lazarus

Stan Lee (1922-2018) became world-renowned through the Marvel Comics Superheroes that he created. Born and raised in a Manhattan Jewish household, in his youth, he was influenced by action heroes of his day. Stan Lee worked with fellow Jewish talents Jack Kirby (1917-1994) and Joe Simon (1913-2011). These three men created most of the superhero characters. Those whose exploits, power, and costumes so easily come to our minds from subsequent blockbuster movies. Spiderman, X-Men, The Avengers, Thor, Captain America, the Eternals, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, The Hulk, Ant-Man, Black Panther, Dr. Strange, and Black Widow: they all originated from the minds and sketches of these three brilliant comic book artists.

We have all seen these Marvel Studio movies. These superheroes all have extra-special abilities and confront villains also possessing special powers, resulting in spectacular and vivid conflicts. The superhero, through perseverance, power, skill, luck, and teamwork, finds some way to defeat the villain. And more often than not, save the earth and its inhabitants in the process. In short, in the Marvel universe created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Joe Simon, the superhero has a mission to undertake, an enemy to defeat, and people to save.

We have been looking at the person of Jesus through his Jewish lens. We are seeking to understand him in the context of contributions that Jews have made to the world. Many may not realize it, but the suite of Marvel Superheroes that we enjoy today is another contribution that Jews have made to mankind. Their superhero themes of missions and villains resonate so naturally with our human spirit. It also raises questions about the mission of this real-world Jewish person of Jesus.

What was Jesus’ mission? What villain did he come to defeat?

Jesus taught, healed, and performed many miracles. But the question still remained in the minds of his disciples, his followers, and even his enemies.

Why had he come?

Many of the previous prophets, including the Moses, also performed powerful miracles. Moses had already given the law, and Jesus himself said he “had not come to abolish the law”. So what was his mission?

We see it in how he helps his friend Lazarus. What he did carries relevance for you and me living today.

Jesus and Lazarus

Jesus’ friend Lazarus became very sick. His disciples expected that he would heal his friend, as he healed many others. But Jesus purposely did not heal his friend so his wider mission could be understood. The Gospel records it like this:

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²(This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) ³So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

⁴When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, ⁷and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

⁸“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. ¹⁰It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

¹¹After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

¹²His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” ¹³Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

¹⁴So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

¹⁶Then Thomas (also known as Didymus^[a]) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus

¹⁷On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸Now Bethany was less than two miles^[b] from Jerusalem, ¹⁹and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

Jesus comforting the sisters of Lazarus
^{_{Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons}}

²¹“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

²⁸After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” ²⁹When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

³²When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴“Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

³⁵Jesus wept.

³⁶Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead

³⁸Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹“Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

⁴⁰Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

⁴¹So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

⁴³When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
John 11: 1-44

Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead
_{^{James Tissot, PD-US-expired, via Wikimedia Commons}}

Confronting Death

The sisters hoped that Jesus would come quickly to heal their brother. But Jesus delayed his trip on purpose allowing Lazarus to die, and no one could understand why. But this account allows us to see into his heart and we read that he was angry.

Who was he angry with? The sisters? The crowd? The disciples? Lazarus?

No, he was angry at death itself. Also, this is one of only two times where it is recorded that Jesus wept. Why did he weep? It is because he saw his friend held by death. Death stirred anger as well as sorrow in him.

Death – the Ultimate Villain

Healing people of sicknesses, good as that is, only postpones their death. Healed or not, death eventually takes everyone, whether good or bad, man or woman, old or young, religious or not. This has been true since Adam, who had become mortal because of his disobedience. All his descendants, you and me included, are held by hostage by an enemy – Death.

Against death, we feel that there is no answer, no hope. When someone is only sick hope remains, which is why the sisters of Lazarus had hope in healing. But with death, they felt no hope. This is true for us also. In the hospital, there is some hope but at the funeral there is none. Death is our final enemy. This was the Enemy Jesus came to defeat for us. This was why he declared to the sisters that:

“I am the resurrection and the life.”
John 11:25

Jesus had come to destroy death and give life to all who wanted it. He showed his authority for this mission by publicly raising Lazarus from death. He offers to do the same for all others who would want life over death.

Greater than the Superheroes

Think of it! Jesus fought an adversary that even Stan Lee, with his brilliant and wide-ranging imagination, could not envision pitting his superheroes against. A number of them, despite their powers, succumb to death. Odin, Iron Man, Captain America, and some of The Eternals, were not just defeated by villains, but also held captive to death.

The audacity of Jesus as presented in the Gospels is this: Without any special strength, agility, technology, or exotic weapons, the gospel writers present him calmly confronting death itself, simply by speaking.

That Stan Lee did not attempt some such superhero plot shows that the Gospel did not originate from human resourcefulness. Even the most imaginative of us cannot visualize a successful confrontation with this enemy. Death reigns supreme even over the superheroes of the Marvel Universe. It would seem implausible then that the gospel writers, without the opportunities to expand their imaginations like Stan Lee and we have, would have been able to conjure up such an exploit simply in their minds.

Responses to Jesus

Though death is our final enemy, many of us contend with smaller ‘enemies’. These come from issues (political, religious, ethnic etc.) going on around us. This was true in Jesus’ time also. From their responses we can see what their main concerns were. The Gospel account records the different reactions.

Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. ⁴⁶But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. ⁴⁸If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

⁴⁹Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

^{_{Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons}}

⁵¹He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, ⁵²and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. ⁵³So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

⁵⁴Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

⁵⁵When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. ⁵⁶They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” ⁵⁷But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.
John 11:45-57

The Drama continues escalating

So the tension rose. Jesus declared that he was ‘life’ and ‘resurrection’ and would defeat death itself. The leaders responded by plotting to put him to death. Many of the people believed him, but many others did not know what to believe.

We should ask ourselves if we witnessed the raising of Lazarus what we would choose to do. Would we be like the Pharisees, focused on something else, missing the offer of life from death? Or would we ‘believe’, putting our hope in his offer of resurrection? Even if we did not understand it all? The different responses that the Gospel records back then are the same responses to his offer that we make today.

These controversies grew as the Passover approached – the very same festival that the Moses inaugurated 1500 years earlier. The Jesus story continues by showing how he, in a manner steeped in unsurpassed drama, took this encounter with Death a big step further. This step reaches out to you and me and Death’s hold over us.

He did this in the last week of his life, with bizarre actions that would even shake Dr Strange’s head. We look at the last week of his life day-by-day, learning the remarkable timing of his entry into Jerusalem.

March 18, 2022

Jesus Teaches Contrarian Investing

Perhaps the most common stereotype people make about Jews regards money. Rumors, wild conspiracy theories, and slander have falsely been directed at Jews side-by-side with sinister associations of wealth and power.

1898 cartoon showing Rothschild with the world in his hands. Cover illustration for Le Rire, 16 April 1898

For example, this cartoon depicting Lord Rothschild appeared on an 1898 cover of the French magazine Le Rire. It shows him with devilish hands, and a miserly face trying to grab the whole world. Le Rire published this during the Dreyfuss affair, a highly public anti-semitic trial which rocked French society for a decade.

But there is little doubt that some outstanding Jews have demonstrated financial shrewdness. We highlight some here.

The Legendary Rothschilds

The Rothschilds were a Jewish family operating as private bankers to governments across Europe. They began during the Napoleonic wars (1803-1815). Based in London, they had family connections across European capitals. They earned millions in interest from government loans and securities from many European nations. The Rothschilds ingeniously invested their profits into railroads and other infrastructure across the European continent as the Industrial Revolution spread.

Investment banking in the Americas

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Jewish entrepreneurs founded American investment banks which today dominate global commerce:

Goldman Sachs (founded 1869 by Marcus Goldman),
Lehman Brothers (founded 1847 by Henry Lehnam and bought out by Barclays),
Bear Sterns (co-founded in 1923 by Joseph Bear and bought out by JP Morgan Chase),
Salomon Brothers (founded by descendants of Haym Salomon and bought out by Citigroup)

These were all founded by entrepreneurial Jews with a knack for finance and investment.

George Soros

Today George Soros (1930 – ) carries the same reputation. Born into a Jewish family in Hungary he relocated to the United States, beginning his own investment hedge fund in 1969. Wikipedia reports his net worth as $9 billion – after having given away $32 billion. He is most known for betting against the bank of England in 1992. This brought the UK’s Pound sterling to its knees, earning him billions in the process.

Central Bankers

Jews have a prominent association with the US Federal Reserve. The Fed is the most powerful central bank in the world. It affects the economic livelihood today of everyone on the planet. It came into existence in 1913 primarily through the work of Jewish-German immigrant Paul Warburg. The past three chairmen of the US Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan (1987-2006), Ben Bernanke (2006-2014), and Janet Yellen (2014-2018) are Jewish.

US Federal Reserve Eccles Building
_{^{Federalreserve, PD-USGov-BBG, via Wikimedia Commons}}

On a per capita basis Jews tend to demonstrate a keen entrepreneurial spirit with a financial interest that has brought many into high profile financial roles. But there is nothing sinister or a world conspiracy behind this as some have suggested.

Many do not realize it, but the most well-known Jew in history, Jesus of Nazareth, also taught and lived as an investor. However, he used non-traditional metrics in his investment outlook. We look here at the investment philosophy of this representative of Israel.

Jesus as Investor

Using a sufficiently long investment time horizon is the key to investor and banker success. They also need to properly assess the ability of borrowers to repay loans. Jesus, equally gifted as his Jewish brethren surveyed above in financial thinking, used a totally different investment time horizon than they did. This changed his risk/reward financial thinking, radically altering it from ours.

Jesus summed up his overall view on investment risk/reward with this.

¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21

Jesus’ views on risk/reward

Say what you will about the reality of his long-term perspective on ‘treasures in heaven’, his valuation of ‘treasures on earth’ is shrewdly spot on. The Rothschilds have lost the financial power that they had 150 years ago. The European wars, the wealth confiscated by Nazis from Jews, and the nationalizing of European industries greatly reduced the Rothschilds’ family wealth. Most of the American banks surveyed above underwent bankruptcy or takeovers by other banks. They no longer operate. Jesus’ assessment that amassed value on earth corrodes has been demonstrated time and again. We do not always recognize it because our time horizon is short. But he used a time horizon stretching far out.

Jesus’ Investment Time Horizon

Jesus’ investment time horizon was uniquely long. Thus, he looked at value from the perspective of eternity in the Kingdom of God. Seeing value from his perspective allowed another rich Jewish investor to likewise assess value differently. The Gospel records it like this:

19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.²A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.³He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd.⁴So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

⁵When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”⁶So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

⁷All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

⁸But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

⁹Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 19: 1-10

Zacchaeus in the tree
^{_{Randers Museum of Art, PD-US-expired, via Wikimedia Commons}}

Does Money Serve or Master?

The pledge by Zacchaeus to donate his assets to the needy and to promote the first ever ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ project does not mean owning temporary earthly assets are wrong. Rather as Jesus said elsewhere:

Judas betrays Jesus for money
^{_{Lippo Memmi, PD-US-expired, via Wikimedia Commons}}

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Matthew 6:24

We usually think that money serves us, but our nature is such that instead we easily end up serving money. Then it becomes impossible to value assets, life and our souls (psyche) in the time horizon of eternity.

Jesus held a unique financial perspective regarding the Kingdom of God. Therefore, right after talking to Zacchaeus, Jesus taught this financial lesson.

The Story of the Ten Minas

¹¹While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.¹²He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return.¹³So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas.‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’

¹⁴“But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’

¹⁵“He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.

¹⁶“The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’

¹⁷“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’

¹⁸“The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’

¹⁹“His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’

²⁰“Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth.²¹I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’

²²“His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow?²³Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’

²⁴“Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’

²⁵“‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’

²⁶“He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away.
Luke 19:11-26

Owners? Or simply Managers?

^{_{Royman Walski, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons}}

Without extracting all the meaning from this story a few observations are instructive:

The minas, through the whole story, always belong to the nobleman. He loaned them to the servants, looking for a return on his investment. The servants managed the minas but never owned them.
Jesus represents himself as the nobleman in this story. He places us as the servants. We have been entrusted with ‘minas’, representing assets, value, opportunities and our natural talents. He expected the servants to produce a good return as any financial manager would for his investment clients.

Ultimately we do not own anything

We go through life thinking that our natural talents and opportunities are ours, but in reality, they are not ours, they have been loaned to us. Jesus shrewdly uses this story to remind us that we do not own our lives, health, opportunities, and even our future. We have to admit that this is true because we cannot retain them. Eventually, we have to give them all up. Jesus reminds us that these have been loaned to us temporarily.

Finally, as any good investor, Jesus explains that those who have produced a return on their investment will have it all returned to them with opportunities for further investment. His Kingdom will give them more than they could have imagined.

We generally do not associate Jesus with shrewd financial thinking, as we do with his Jewish brethren, but he kept single-minded attention on investing. He invites us to co-invest in his investment, which cannot be lost, stolen, or destroyed. It is just that, like other Jewish financial visionaries, he saw further than we can. He looked as far as the establishment of His Kingdom. In that sense, he showed himself to not be a herd investor (looking to others to see what to invest in), but a shrewd contrarian investor who saw attainable value that others could not see.

Jesus’ Investment Price

We might think of His Kingdom as ethereal, intangible or unreal. But convinced of the reality of this investment return, he passed over all other investments. He put all his equity into it. Nathan Rothschild said about his investment philosophy:

“the time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets.”

Rothschild meant that we should invest when others are panic selling. Then we will get our investment at a good price. We see how Jesus invested into The Kingdom with this maxim when his good friend dies.

March 16, 2022

Living Water by the Dead Sea

The Biblical land of Israel straddles the world’s largest mirage, giving an illusion of life where there is none. This has forced her inhabitants to lead out in the human quest for that indispensable and life-giving substance – water. It also provides an enlightening backdrop for some of the wisdom, wildest hopes, and extravagant promises in the Bible. These promises extend to you and, offer a life lived with satisfaction. But to glimpse this we need to see what those living there have had to learn to do because of it.

The Unique Dead Sea

The Dead Sea is the most prominent geographical feature in the land of Israel. It is located at the lowest elevation on earth, 431 m below sea level in the middle of a desert. To have such a beautiful and large body of water in the middle of a parched land would seem to be most fortunate for the surrounding inhabitants. However, at 35% salt content it is the largest permanent hypersaline lake in the world. Therefore it supports no life – hence the name Dead Sea. You cannot drink this water. Even getting some in your eyes and on any open sores causes extreme irritation.

The Bible first mentions the Dead Sea in accounts of Abraham some 4000 years ago. The Dead Sea has provided the backdrop to all subsequent writers, kings, and prophets through Biblical history, just a few miles from Jerusalem. These writers used water, a life-or-death necessity in that region, to illustrate truths about ourselves. They used water as a theme to extend promises to us.

Jeremiah Diagnoses our Thirst

Jeremiah lived at the close of the period of Kings (600 BCE), when corruption and evil extended through Israelite society. He denounced their evils, the same ones also common today in our societies. But Jeremiah began his message with this.

13 “My people have sinned twice.
They have deserted me,
even though I am the spring of water that gives life.
And they have dug their own wells.
But those wells are broken.
They can’t hold any water.
Jeremiah 2: 13

Jeremiah used water as a metaphor to help them understand sin better. He declared that they were like thirsty people searching for water. There was nothing wrong with being thirsty. But they needed to drink good water. God himself was the good Living Water that could quench their thirst. However, instead of coming to Him to quench their thirst, the Israelites relied on other sources, leaking ones, to drink from. But their broken cisterns would not hold water long-term and would thus leave them even thirstier.

In other words, their sin, in all its many forms, could be summed up as turning to other things apart from God to satisfy their thirst. But these other things would not be able to quench their thirst just as a leaky glass cannot be relied on to provide ongoing refreshment. In the, after all, their empty pursuits, the Israelites remained thirsty. They were left holding only their broken cisterns – i.e. all the problems and difficulties caused by their sins. Solomon, the richest and most successful person in all history, detailed, in masterful ways, the pursuit he undertook to quench his thirst.

Thirsty People in a Sea of bad water sources

This aptly also applies to us today in our age of wealth, entertainment, self-fulfillment and pleasure. Modern society is by far the wealthiest, best educated, most-travelled, entertained, happiness-driven, and technologically advanced out of any age. We easily turn to these, and other things of our age: pornography, illicit relationships, drugs, alcohol, greed, money, anger, jealousy. We hope that perhaps these will satisfy our thirst. But as the Dead Sea is a mirage, holding only sterile death even while appearing like fresh water from afar, these are also mirages. They cannot quench thirst in a lasting way and will only result in death.

Jeremiah’s warning and Solomon’s chronicles should provoke us to ask some honest questions ourselves.

Why in our modern age with so much, do we struggle with depression, suicide, obesity, divorce, jealousy, envy, hatred, and pornography,?
What ‘cisterns’ do you use to satisfy your thirst? Do they hold ‘water’?
Do you think you will ever get enough to satisfy your thirst? If Solomon’s thirst could not be quenched with all he obtained, how will you?

Jesus taught on these same questions, promising to quench our thirst. He did so claiming to represent Israel, with our conclusion here. His promise regarding water stands out particularly as we note that the nation Israel leads the world in water technology. The two Israels offer water, albeit of different kinds, to a thirsty world.

Israel offers great water to the world

Because of their arid conditions, Israelis have had to become world leaders in water technology, vital to their national survival. They have developed and built industrial-scale and world-leading, reverse osmosis water desalination plants that convert seawater to drinking water. This technology is energy efficient and less expensive than other desalination methods, which evaporate water. Israel has five such desalination plants giving it so much drinking water that it can now replenish the Sea of Galilee with drinking water. Countries across the Middle East are signing agreements with Israel so that this water technology can be developed for them.

Another Israeli technology can generate drinking water from moisture in the air. Begun by helping militaries to supply drinking water to troops, the technology has been expanded to quench the ‘global thirst’. Automaker Ford has recently added this technology to some of their so that you can take a drink ‘while you drive. SodaStream, which sells C02 cartridges with kits to carbonize your drinking water, has a global distribution allowing you to ‘fizz your way to sparkling water’.

Truly this arid land with its Dead Sea has become the world’s foremost leader in quenching the thirst of the world.

Israel offers Living Water to the world

It is fascinating then that the other Israel, Jesus, also offers water – Living Water – to the world. With the backdrop of Jeremiah’s diagnosis of our thirst, consider this conversation recorded in the Gospel.

Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard about him. They had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John. 2 But in fact Jesus was not baptizing. His disciples were. 3 So Jesus left Judea and went back again to Galilee.

4 Jesus had to go through Samaria. 5 He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar. It was near the piece of land Jacob had given his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from the journey. So he sat down by the well. It was about noon.

7 A woman from Samaria came to get some water. Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew. I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” She said this because Jews don’t have anything to do with Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered her, “You do not know what God’s gift is. And you do not know who is asking you for a drink. If you did, you would have asked him. He would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you don’t have anything to get water with. The well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Our father Jacob gave us the well. He drank from it himself. So did his sons and his livestock. Are you more important than he is?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14 But anyone who drinks the water I give them will never be thirsty. In fact, the water I give them will become a spring of water in them. It will flow up into eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water. Then I will never be thirsty. And I won’t have to keep coming here to get water.”

16 He told her, “Go. Get your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands. And the man you live with now is not your husband. What you have just said is very true.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our people have always worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 Jesus said, “Woman, believe me. A time is coming when you will not worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know. Salvation comes from the Jews. 23 But a new time is coming. In fact, it is already here. True worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth. They are the kind of worshipers the Father is looking for. 24 God is spirit. His worshipers must worship him in the Spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah is coming.” Messiah means Christ. “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus said, “The one you’re talking about is the one speaking to you. I am he.”

The Disciples Join Jesus Again

27 Just then Jesus’ disciples returned. They were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want from her?” No one asked, “Why are you talking with her?”

28 The woman left her water jar and went back to the town. She said to the people, 29 “Come. See a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 The people came out of the town and made their way toward Jesus.

31 His disciples were saying to him, “Rabbi, eat something!”

32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

33 Then his disciples asked each other, “Did someone bring him food?”

34 Jesus said, “My food is to do what my Father sent me to do. My food is to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying? You say, ‘It’s still four months until harvest time.’ But I tell you, open your eyes! Look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest right now. 36 Even now the one who gathers the crop is getting paid. They are already harvesting the crop for eternal life. So the one who plants and the one who gathers can now be glad together. 37 Here is a true saying. ‘One plants and another gathers.’ 38 I sent you to gather what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work. You have gathered the benefits of their work.”

Many Samaritans Believe in Jesus

39 Many of the Samaritans from the town of Sychar believed in Jesus. They believed because of what the woman had said about him. She said, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.” 40 Then the Samaritans came to him and tried to get him to stay with them. So he stayed two days. 41 Because of what he said, many more people became believers.

42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said. We have now heard for ourselves. We know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
John 4: 1-42

Jesus asked her for a drink for two reasons. First, he was thirsty. But he also knew that she was thirsty as per Jeremiah’s diagnosis. She thought she could satisfy this thirst through relationships with men. So she had had several husbands and was with a man her husband. Thus her neighbors viewed her as immoral. This explains why she had gone alone to get water at noon. The village women did not want her along when they went to the well in the cool of the morning had alienated themselves from the other village women.

Following Jeremiah’s lead, Jesus used thirst as a theme so she could realize that she had a deep thirst in her life – a thirst that is quenched. He declared to her (and us) that only he could ultimately quench her inner thirst.

To Believe – Confessing in truth

But Jesus’ offer of ‘living water’ threw her into a crisis. When Jesus told her to get her husband, he was purposefully provoking her to recognize and admit her broken cistern. He pushed her to confess it. We avoid this at all costs! We prefer to hide our sins, hoping no one will see. Or we rationalize, making excuses for our sins, but if we want to experience the living water’ then we must be honest and admit our ‘broken cisterns’ because the Gospel promises that:

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
Acts 3:19

For this reason Jesus told the Samaritan woman that:

God is spirit. His worshipers must worship him in the Spirit and in truth.”
John 4:24

By ‘truth’ he meant being truthful about ourselves, not trying to hide or excuse our wrong. The wonderful news is that God ‘seeks’ and will not turn away anyone who comes with this open honesty – no matter what they have drunk.

The Distraction of Religious Arguments

But this requires an honest vulnerability. Changing the subject from ourselves onto a religious dispute creates perfect cover to hide. The world always has many ongoing religious disputes. In that day there was a religious dispute between the Samaritans and the Jews regarding the proper place of worship. By turning the conversation to this religious dispute she was hoping to divert attention away from her leaking cistern. She could now hide her vulnerability behind religion.

How easily and naturally we do the same thing – especially if we have some religious affiliation. Then we can judge how others are wrong or how we are correct. We can ignore our need to be honest about our thirst.

Jesus did not follow into this dispute with her. He insisted that her honesty about herself in worship was what mattered. She could come before God anywhere (since He is Spirit). But she needed honest self-realization before she could receive his ‘living water’.

The Decision We all Must Make

So she had an important decision to make. She could continue hiding behind a religious dispute or perhaps just leave him. But she finally chose to admit her thirst – to confess. She did not hide anymore. In doing this she became a ‘believer’. She had performed religious ceremonies before, but now she – and those in her village – became ‘believers’.

To become a believer is not simply mentally agreeing with correct religious doctrine – important though that is. It is about believing that His promise of mercy can be trusted, and therefore you no longer should cover-up sin. This is what Abraham had modeled for us so long ago – he trusted a promise.

Vulnerable questions to ask oneself

Do you excuse or hide your thirst? Do you hide it with devout religious practice or religious dispute? Or do you confess? What stops you confessing before our Creator the broken cisterns causing guilt and shame?

The woman’s honest openness to her need led to her understanding of Jesus as the ‘Messiah’. After he had stayed for two days the villagers understood him as ‘the Saviour of the world‘. They realized that Jesus who gave them Living Water must also be the Lord God, because it had been written:

Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.
Jeremiah 17:13

Postscript – Dead Sea will come to Life

Jesus promises to quench our internal thirst with Living Water today. So also the Bible promises that one day in the future the Dead Sea, that ever-present picture of our dead spiritual condition, will:

“This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea.
Ezekiel 47:8-10

This will happen when

8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter. 9 The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.
Zechariah 14: 8-9

The Bible foresees that Christ will return. When he does, in His Kingdom, he will transform the Dead Sea into one teeming with life. That image of sterile death will no longer be needed then. The Dead Sea will accurately picture the Living Water flowing from the two Israels, both the nation and its Messiah.

Next we see Jesus teaching about investing, and he does so with contrarian convictions.

March 15, 2022

Jesus speaks on His Meta-Verse: Restricted to the Meta-noied

Mark Zuckerberg (1984 – ), the founder of Facebook (re-named Meta), has been one of the handfuls of 21^st century tech entrepreneurs whose achievements have been so profound that they have not only changed the way all people live today compared to just 20 years ago but are even changing our understandi ng of reality.

As a Jew, whose great-grandparents immigrated to the USA from Germany, Austria, and Poland, Zuckerberg’s efforts continue a long-term Jewish contribution to mankind that can be traced all the way back to Moses; to chart a pathway improving society and the relations between its members. This emphasis on improving society is captured by ‘social’ in ‘social media’, commonly used to describe Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.

Zuckerberg’s products do not simply allow for a one-way information flow from select content creators to the mass of content consumers. Thus, they are not traditional ‘media’ like television, newspapers, and movies. Zuckerberg’s IT platforms enable a society where its members develop and share information with other members. Thus Facebook enables a complex and ever-changing network of social relationships. You know this because you experience it.

Problems in the Meta-Verse

Despite Zuckerberg’s vision of harnessing IT, his achievements have laid bare a barrier noted two thousand years ago. Another tremendously influential Jew focused on a mission to transform society, and laid his finger on it back then. You have also encountered this fundamental flaw in your social media experiences. As the technical prowess of social media grows you will experience it more and more.

The Social Quest

Moses birthed social laws about 1500 BCE

To understand what this means for you it helps to go back 3500 years ago to Moses. He transformed the Jews from an extended tribe descended from Abraham, into a nation governed by laws. About to conclude his brilliant career, Moses offered the following reasons why God, through him, had created these laws.

See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. ⁶Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” ⁷What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? ⁸And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?
Deuteronomy 4: 5-8

Moses gave the Law to transform Israelite society into one of wisdom and understanding, characterized by righteousness. Then the surrounding peoples, who lived in ‘might-makes-right’ societies would take note and enter in.

But it did not work out that way. Instead of being a ‘light to the nations’, their society corrupted. So its social reformers, the Jewish prophets of the Old Testament, pronounced long-term destruction of that society. That nation would lie dormant until its Law-Giver would see fit to raise it again. That long-running social experiment revealed a deep problem.

The Insurmountable Social Obstacle

Jesus, the insightful social analyst of his day, pointed out the root problem like this.

But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. ¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. ²⁰These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
Matthew 15: 18-20

Jesus assessed that the roots of social problems come from flaws within her citizens, not primarily from inadequate social laws or protocols. Of course, unbalanced social protocols can magnify the problems. But fundamentally, we the citizens, have hearts that naturally tend to bring forth evil thoughts. We propagate these out into society, whether by hand and mouth, as in Jesus’ day, or through a keyboard, scanner, touchscreen, voice recorder, or ‘share’ button today.

Facebook in the News

Consider the general trend that Facebook’s news cycle has generated. After its mid-2000s launch, we heard a steady stream of positive news about the new social media platform. Its new technology dazzled us. World dignitaries sought out Zuckerberg, the whiz-kid entrepreneur, and listened to him on the global stage.

But the tenor of the news started to change in the mid-2010s. When Cambridge Analytica took the social information of millions for advertising purposes without their consent, that was an important turning point. Questions continue to surface about lies and misinformation spread on Facebook, often by powerful interest groups. The constant drip-drip of cyberbullying, pornography, and revenge publishing of intimate photos also came out. People witnessed depression, despair, and suicide. Questions remain about how Facebook’s algorithms target children, and what role Facebook played in the January 2021 storming of the US Capitol. Former insiders now claim that Facebook undermines democracy.

With this backdrop, Zuckerberg announced in October 2021, that he was renaming Facebook to Meta since the overall aim of his IT company was now not simply social media but creating virtual realities where people could enter into and participate as avatars. In short, Meta is creating a new world, a Meta-Verse. This new world will operate under programmed rules. So, for example, if my avatar throws a ‘ball’ to your avatar in Meta, its trajectory in the virtual world would mimic that in our physical world because programming laws would be created controlling its trajectory (always subject to change for wild experiences). The vision is for all to be able to talk, live, work, and socialize in Meta.

Change the Meta World…

Despite the immense technical skills and huge investments made into the Meta world (and the meta-verses that other IT companies are creating), the problem that Jesus put his finger on 2000 years ago remains. Even in beta testing, Meta reports the ‘creepy behavior’ exhibited by some avatars towards another avatar ‘citizens’. Meta is placing rules limiting behavior in the Meta-verse. Likened as ‘sexual abuse’ by some, it re-focuses on that age-old problem. How to control behavior so that citizens treat each other respectfully and without exploitation?

Or change the Citizens

Jesus also focused on birthing a new world which he called the ‘Kingdom of God’. He assessed that this problem was so serious that it could not be solved by a simple re-boot of the Meta world. Nor would making some rules, either as rigorous as those of Moses, or more light-handed as with Meta. Rather it would require a fundamental re-boot of the prospective citizens who would inhabit his world. Without this fundamental re-boot, access to His world would be strictly denied. Here is how he put it in a discourse with a leading teacher of Moses’ Law in his day.

Jesus and Nicodemus

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ²He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

⁴“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

⁹“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹²I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

¹⁹This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
John 3: 1-21

Restrictions in all Alternate Worlds

The very fact that Facebook, Meta and all social media platforms face the problems that they do underscores the reality of this obstacle. They make Jesus’ declaration to include only those ‘born again’ into his Kingdom deserve some reflection. A perfect world inhabited by corrupt people will sooner or later crumble into the mess we experience today in our physical world. Tech companies will attempt to solve this problem with better technology; governments with better institutions and education. Jesus will do it with transformed people.

A Meta-Verse or Meta-noia

Many assume that since ‘God loves me’ then I will certainly be welcome into whatever ‘Kingdom’ He might be creating. The move of IT giants to limit access to their platforms or Meta worlds to only those meeting their policies; the moves of governments around the world today to guard their borders; their limiting of visas and citizenship should put that assumption to rest. All societies, whether government, Meta-Verse, or Divine have standards by which they screen prospective citizens.

Zuckerberg chose the new name ‘Meta’ because it means ‘beyond’, or ‘change’. Jesus agreed on the necessity of change or Meta but he focused the required change on the individual rather than the platform. In Greek, ‘Metanoia’ means ‘change of mind’, often translated today by the word ‘repent’. Jesus’ co-worker, John the Baptist, built his entire career around this necessity of Metanoia. As they repeatedly said

John the Baptist, baptizing in the River Jordan
^{_{Nicolas Poussin, PD-US-expired, via Wikimedia Commons}}

From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent (Meta – noia), for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Matthew 4:17

When the Meta virtual world is ready we will have the option to enter in. Or we can remain outside in our current physical world. Jesus predicted a future when our physical universe will wear out, with the only one remaining being the Meta one he is now developing – The Kingdom of God. So, if our physical world terminates but we cannot enter His new world without a Meta (change) of our minds from his new birth then our options are limited. As he put it

I tell you, no! But unless you repent (Meta – noia), you too will all perish.
Luke 13:3

Delving deeper into his assessment

Of course, we may doubt his diagnosis of our condition. But his insights have had a way of standing up to the tests of time as many others have not. So it may be worth exploring his understanding of life. His dialogue with a woman about life, living water, and repentance against the backdrop of the Dead Sea provides a great entry point to do this.

March 1, 2022

The A-Z Avatar from Beyond our Universe

Sergey Brin, son of Jewish Russian immigrants to the US, and Larry Page, whose mother is Jewish, co-founded Google together in 1998. In 2015, Google reorganized, placing itself under its newly created parent company ‘Alphabet’. Alphabet has grown from a company valued at $23 Billion when it went public in 2004 to a value of $1.7 Trillion in early 2022. Alphabet has become so valuable because its search capabilities transformed our ability to access information from anywhere on the planet.

Larry Page
^{_{Stansfield PL, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons}}

Origins of the Alphabet

That two secular Jewish data scientist pioneers should launch such world-changing information technology and call it ‘Alphabet’ is ironic when one considers where the alphabet came from. Wikipedia tells us:

The history of the alphabet goes back to the consonantal writing system used for Semitic languages in the Levant in the 2nd millennium BCE. Most or nearly all alphabetic scripts used throughout the world today ultimately go back to this Semitic proto-alphabet.^[1] Its first origins can be traced back to a Proto-Sinaitic script developed in Ancient Egypt to represent the language of Semitic-speaking workers and slaves in Egypt.
(wiki)

A Semitic people living as slaves in Ancient Egypt first developed the alphabet. That would be the Jews, freed by Moses’ leadership from Egyptian slavery. Delving deeper into the ‘Proto-Sinaitic’ script we learn that

… it is only with the Bronze Age collapse and the rise of new Semitic kingdoms in the Levant that Proto-Canaanite is clearly attested (Byblos inscriptions 10th–8th century BC, Khirbet Qeiyafa inscription c. 10th century BC)
(wiki)

The Alphabet: A Jewish Contribution to Mankind

In other words, the earliest ‘clearly attested’ alphabet-based writing came with the rise of Semitic (i.e., Jewish) Kingdoms in Canaan (i.e. Israel). The Khirbet Qeyifra inscription is the oldest alphabet-based writing yet discovered. It was discovered in an ancient Israelite city that dates to the time and kingdom of David. So let’s summarize what we know. The earliest alphabet was developed from Semitic slaves in Egypt (Moses leading Israelites out of Egyptian slavery). The earliest discovered script comes from an Israelite city in the time of King David.

Khirbet Qeyifra Ostracon (writing on clay) from the time of King David of Ancient Israel. The earliest clearly attested alphabet writing

If not the outright developers, the ancient Israelites were most certainly central to the development of the first alphabet. Their ‘paleo-Hebrew’ alphabet then spawned the Aramaic, Brahmic, Greek, Latin, Arabic and other modern alphabets used today around the world. The letter names even today show the relationship. The first letter of our alphabet ‘a’, matches the first letter of the ancient Greek alphabet Alpha – α. The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet aleph – א, and the first letter of the Cyrillic alphabet – ‘а’ also correspond.

The Jewish Contribution to the Alphabets of today and yesterday

So, the evidence indicates that the ancient Jews contributed to the advance of civilization by developing and then spreading the alphabet as a writing system. And today, through the leadership of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Jews have once again contributed to mankind through their IT company Alphabet. As they note

We liked the name Alphabet because it means a collection of letters that represent language, one of humanity’s most important innovations, and is the core of how we index with Google search!
Google blog

We have been exploring Jesus in relation to his people of origin – the Jews. But here we should pause to reflect on the vast contribution that Jews have made to mankind. That civilization is founded upon the rule of law, with no one above the law, with society invested in the education of its citizens has come about, in part, because of the influence of Jews. Now we learn that the simple, but profoundly powerful, alphabet is a gift from the Jewish people to the world.

The Transcendant Alphabet

But there remains still a third alphabet, also Jewish in origin, that has been offered to the world. In our context of ‘alphabet’ note the following.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8

God describes Himself as the ‘Alpha’ (first letter of Greek alphabet) and the ‘Omega’ (the last letter). This is like saying, ‘I am the A to Z of everything, transcending knowledge, time and power’. Later in the same book we find Jesus saying:

_{^{Meuble_héraldique_livre.svg: Bluebear2 derivative work: Alekjds, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons}}

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Revelation 22:13

Jesus adopts the same term. He uses the alphabet as the platform to declare himself to be the same as the ‘Lord God’ who had earlier used that expression.

How to understand, let alone believe, this?

Our Physical Reality seen from perspective of Virtual Reality

The rapid ascent of IT platforms offered by such companies as Alphabet and Meta provides a new insight to this question. Information Technology has moved mankind to the cusp of creating virtual reality Meta-Verses, with parallels to our own physical reality. Philosophers now raise questions about the mind and reality from these developments. As the BBC explains:

_{^{Julia M Cameron, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons}}

A simulation operated by super-powerful entities (IT companies) is, in many ways, equivalent to a Universe created by a divine being. And it begs similar questions – not least if you turn out to be one of the super-powerful entities in question. What kinds of risks and responsibilities accompany the god-like powers associated with operating simulated worlds?

… consider an inexperienced user of a virtual environment who doesn’t, for instance, know that the avatar they’re chatting to is being controlled by a corporate AI rather than a human. This is a scenario in which an informational asymmetry – the fact that the user is profoundly deceived about the nature of the interaction – may be connected to all kinds of manipulation or exploitation. Contrast this with an experienced user of a virtual environment who is hanging out with some avatars controlled by (human) friends as well as an AI-controlled avatar that’s telling them stories beside a virtual campfire. This is a very different prospect. What’s playing out here is a potentially life-enhancing encounter in an artificial realm – its pleasures derived from a knowing combination of verisimilitude and fictionality.
(The man rethinking the definition of reality – BBC Future)

The corporate AI, the ‘creator’ of their meta-verse can enter its virtual reality as an algorithm-powered avatar. When it does so, there is a sense that the AI-avatar should declare itself to simple human avatars. Not doing so would be unfair, according to ethicists and philosophers who ponder what encounters we can anticipate in the coming virtual reality meta-verses.

Jesus through the Virtual Reality Lens

Consider now the following discourse of Jesus from that lens.

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. ²The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” ⁶Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

⁷Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. ⁹I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

¹¹“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

¹⁴“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

¹⁹The Jews who heard these words were again divided. ²⁰Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”

²¹But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Further Conflict Over Jesus’ Claims

²²Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. ²⁴The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

²⁵Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, ²⁶but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. ²⁷My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one.”

³¹Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, ³²but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”

³³“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? ³⁵If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— ³⁶what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? ³⁷Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. ³⁸But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” ³⁹Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.
John 10: 1-39

Ethicists urge virtual reality creators to openly declare any of their avatars which come from them, the AI creators. In this light Jesus’ declarations as sent from the Father makes perfect sense. He took responsibility for full ‘informational symmetry’ with his hearers.

Jesus as the ‘Word’ of God

This is what the Gospel means when it introduces Jesus as the ‘Word of God’.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning. ³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it.

⁶There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist
_{^{Daoud Corm, PD-US-expired, via Wikimedia Commons}}

⁹The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹²Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

¹⁴The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
John 1:1-18

Computer code is the foundational information source upon which the Big Tech companies build their virtual realities. In the same way, the Gospel presents Jesus as the information source which developed our physical reality. Thus, it represents him as the ‘Word’ of God. Knowing the immense talent, skill and work needed to code the emerging IT virtual realities informs us of the A-to-Z complete know-how required to produce our physical reality.

The Transcendant Reality

But the Gospel does not stop simply by stating the source of our physical reality. It describes another reality, more fundamental than this one. As Jesus said:

Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

²²This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”

²³But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

²⁵“Who are you?” they asked.

“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. ²⁶“I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

²⁷They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. ²⁸So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up^[a] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. ²⁹The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” ³⁰Even as he spoke, many believed in him.
John 8:21-30

Jesus talks about another reality, another world, which we cannot access. To understand why it is inaccessible to us we need to see some problems that Meta (formerly Facebook) is having in the development of its Meta-Verse.