100 Prison Meditations: Cries of Truth from Behind the Iron Curtain (3 page)

What is Cæsar’s?

Many Christians have submitted to Hitlers, Stalins, Maos, and the multitude of lesser white, black, and yellow dictators. Many did it with good intentions, guided by the Lord’s words, “Render therefore to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s” (Matthew 22:21).

These words have been misunderstood. Jesus did not advise His disciples to give anything to Cæsar. His words were addressed to the Pharisees. Has an order given to a German soldier any validity for a British soldier? The Pharisees and Jesus’ disciples were at odds with one another; the words were spoken to Jesus’ detractors, not to His friends.

Jesus had no coin of His own—“They brought Him a denarius” (verse 19). Jesus’ foes were caught in Cæsar’s monetary system, while Jesus’ disciples owned nothing.

The Hebrew Bible does not even contain the verb “to have.” Christians consider possessions to be wrong, for they are only administrators of God’s possessions. Owning nothing, the Christian could owe nothing to Cæsar.

Who was this Cæsar anyway? A foreign conqueror who had occupied Palestine, he had contributed nothing to its well-being. He had never planted a tree, built a highway, or even visited the country. Yet he had established tax collectors to milk its riches, and had slaughtered anyone who dared resist his edicts. Nothing in Palestine belonged to Cæsar.

If you say to a Czech, Hungarian, or Pole, “Render to the Soviets the things that belong to them,” he would understand you instantly. Nothing belongs to them. These words can only mean, “Give them a boot in the back and send them packing.”

This was also the sense of Jesus’ words. If the Pharisees were so convinced that they served God, why were their minds preoccupied with things that are not godly? Jesus commands them, “Do both things: serve a tyranny and serve God at the same time.” He knew they would soon realize that these things are not compatible. One must choose between being Cæsar’s bootlicker and a true servant of God who stands before a godless king like Herod and tells him to his face, “What you do is unlawful.” This is the attitude that cost John the Baptist his head.

It is a misuse of Jesus’ words to interpret them as counseling submissiveness to despots. My own interpretation is in fact the contrary. Just as the soul is higher than the body, so the sacerdotal dignitary excels and instructs the regal—in celestial and terrestrial matters. It is the duty of kings to obey church leaders, rather than the reverse.

Someone’s Missing in Jesus’ Genealogy

Who can believe in the Bible’s inerrancy?” a pastor once asked me. “I can show you at least one sentence that is positively untrue. It is Matthew 1:17 where we find the assertion that there were forty-two generations from Abraham to Christ. But there are more in the genealogy of Luke 3 and in those of the Old Testament.”

There is an even stranger aspect to Matthew’s genealogy. Matthew was a publican and he knew how to count accurately. He claims to give the names of forty-two generations. But if you thoroughly check, you will find that he gives only 41 names.

It is not immediately apparent that one person is missing. Attention to verses 11 and 12 of Matthew 1 reveals that one and the same Jeconiah is counted twice. The genealogy is divided into three groups of ancestors, each of fourteen persons, but the last person of the second group is also the first person of the third group.

There is one name wanting in this list: it is yours. Jesus has to be conceived in you as utterly as He was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary.

Jesus said, “Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister…” Up to this point His words are easily comprehended. Every believer can be His little brother or sister. But He offers one other possibility—He says, “…and mother” (Matthew 12:50). We can be mothers to Him, insofar as Jesus is conceived in us. His relationship with us will encompass that of son and mother, and we will be motherly toward Him.

All love contains an element of self-interest. You love your father —he gives pocket money; you love your mother—she gives candies. Your brothers and sisters are also your playmates. Only motherly love is completely unselfish. I know of a mother beaten to death with an axe by her son who, before she died, asked him whether he had hurt himself in doing it. A mother’s love exists without asking any return.

Your attitude toward Jesus can be motherly. Then you will be the forty-second generation, the missing link in His genealogy.

Matthew’s text was not meant to be simple history; nor was it meant to give mathematically precise figures, but rather figures that have a symbolic meaning. Both Matthew and Luke give a multiple of seven as the number of Jesus’ ancestors, forty-two in the first case, seventy-seven in the other. Seven in the Bible is the holy figure, a topic that will be explored in a later meditation.

One could say it is untrue that a coronation confers a kingdom, but it is a true symbol of its being conferred. So in the same way, the generations from Abraham to Jesus were not truly forty-two. Matthew himself gives only forty-one names. But the report contains a true spiritual message.

Something can be true without being factual.

Male and Female Words

For many years I never saw a girl or a woman. This increased my curiosity regarding everything to do with the feminine.

Like most languages, Hebrew has male and female nouns. English, which has the same article for all nouns, is an exception in the family of human languages. In German, “table” is male and has the article
der
, “lamp” is female and has the article
die
, “bread” is neuter and has the article
das
. Adjectives and verbs also take different forms according to the gender of the noun. This is true in Slavic and Latin languages, as well.

The Hebrew has not only male and female nouns, but also male and female forms for one and the same noun. For example, “ship” is
ani
in its male and
anijah
in its female form.
Shir
and
shirah
are male and female forms of the word “song.”
Erets
and
artsah
are the two forms for “earth,”
asham
and
ashmah
for “sacrifice.”

The male and female forms represent the active and passive aspects of the nouns in question, and their usage can greatly affect the inner meanings of many passages in the Bible.

Even when John writes in Greek, a language in which the noun does not have this peculiarity, he considers “the great winepress of the wrath of God” (Revelation 14:9, KJV) as not being so cruel a thing as it would seem. According to the rules of Greek grammar, he has to use the masculine gender for the noun, “winepress,” but he defies grammar and puts the adjective “great” in the feminine gender to show that with God even wrath has a gentle character.

The suffix “ah” in Hebrew usually indicates femininity. Women’s names often end with “ah,” as in Bathshebah, Delilah, or Sarah. However, this ending also shows direction in the sense of “tending toward.” What is thus expressed in the genius of the Hebrew language is that objects tend toward a female, passive or subject form. They all begin by asserting their independence, but in the end will all be submitted to the will of God.

Ruah
, the Hebrew word for spirit, is female. In Genesis 1:2, “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (KJV), the verb “moved” also takes the feminine form. Thus an exact translation of these words, a rendering which would reproduce a Hebrew’s feeling reading them, would be: “The female spirit moved in a womanly manner upon the face of the waters.”

The frequent name for God in the Hebrew Bible,
Adonai Sabaoth
, means not just “the Lord of hosts,” but, exactly translated, “The Lord of the female hosts,” like “the Amazons.” Both male and female Christians, all who believe, are
brides
of Christ and warriors with feminine characteristics. The direction for all of us must be toward acquiring more “female” characteristics: gentleness, quietness, submission, passive acceptance of everything the Bridegroom decides.

Biologists have discovered that all fetuses are created female. Later the Y chromosome sends a flood of male hormones over some fetuses, causing them to develop into males. The Y chromosome does this work by producing the H-Y antigen, a substance found in the cell walls of all men, but not in women.

Every embryo is female in the beginning. Through becoming brides of Christ, through putting ourselves in the feminine role toward Him, we return to the purpose for which we have been created: to be Christ’s brides.

A male, at conversion, also becomes a bride of Christ, not a bridegroom.

Manner of Breathing

New prisoners often ask us, “How can I resist torture?” Among many other pieces of advice, we tell them, “Breathe deeply, rhythmically.”

Paul writes, “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). This includes a saintly manner of breathing.

Life of mankind began when God breathed the breath of life into Adam (Genesis 2:7). In what rhythm and manner would God have breathed?

The Bible speaks about many kinds of breathing. The sinner is compared to “a wild donkey that sniffs at the wind in her desire” (Jeremiah 2:24). Jeremiah also speaks about men who neigh after their neighbors’ wives (Jeremiah 5:8). The persecutor Saul of Tarsus is described as “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1). Jesus Himself had a breath apart. He breathed on His apostles and they received the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). Orthodox priests still breathe on persons as part of the baptismal rite.

What is your manner of breathing? Do you exhale anger, lust? Or do you have the quiet, majestic, serene breathing of a man who has no attachment or repulsion toward the world, and who is undisturbed by it? Such breathing must be practiced.

Yoga exercises can be useful physically but do not solve spiritual or emotional problems. A man can practice yoga in the morning and begin to neigh and to breathe hatred in the afternoon. One must practice breathing to the glory of God in the moments of greatest temptation. When others shout at you or torment you physically, when you are in danger, or are attracted toward sin, proceed slowly and begin to breathe in the holy manner: deeply, evenly, rhythmically. This will help you be a victor.

The language of the Bible teaches us to be attentive to our manner of breathing. In Hebrew,
ketsar af
, “short of breath,” is the expression for “impatient”;
ereh apaim
, “long of breathing,” means “patient, serene.” The state of our soul is connected with our breathing. When one breathes deeply for ten minutes in a slow, even rhythm, constantly thinking, “Now I inhale; now I exhale,” anger becomes impossible. One who has the foolish desire to become angry can practice breathing in the opposite manner.

Do everything to the glory of God: even the manner in which you breathe is known by the Almighty.

Unintelligible Words

The Bible contains, in its original, words whose meaning we do not know. For example, no one is sure of the meaning of the words
selah
and
miktam
, which are found frequently in the Psalms. The renowned Jewish interpreter Rashi says that
selah
means “eternally.” Ybn Ezra thinks it is a musical sign. The Septuagint, the first Greek translation of the Old Testament, translates
selah
as “pause.”

Miktam
appears in the heading of Psalms 16, 56, 57, 58, 59, and 60. The Midrash says David was humble (
makh
) and righteous (
tam
), hence, miktam. Rashi believes it is, like
selah
, the indication of a melody. Ybn Ezra and Luther derive the word from
ketem
—“gold.” A note in the King James version calls Psalm 16 “a golden Psalm.” Others consider the Babylonian word
kafamu
as the source of
miktam
and translate it “a psalm of atonement.” All of these are guesses.

The Greek word
epiousios
, which appears in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:11), exists nowhere else in Greek literature. The English translation “daily” in the expression “daily bread” is arbitrary. Jerome used “our supersubstantial bread.” There are many other words whose meaning remains a mystery. One possibility is that no meaning at all should be attributed to such words. Nowhere does the Bible affirm that everything in it must have meaning.

The Hebrew text of the Bible has musical notations. The Old Testament is a song in which some sounds are there simply for their musical beauty, without any sense, like the “tra-la-la” in popular songs of modern nations.

The whole Bible is an inimitable symphony. Not only the meaning of the sentences, but their very sound can move the soul to ecstasy. To give just one example: in English we read that the multitude of believers were “of one heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32). This is a deep thought, but in Greek it is a beautiful sound also, a rhyme: “Kar
dia
kai psyche
mia
.” Letters, syllables, and whole words could have been written in the Bible just for the splendor of the sound. Anyone whose ear is attuned will enjoy them. They cannot be translated.

Luther called our reason “a beast” because of its tendency to interfere in religious matters. The rational mind seeks sense and logic in everything, including the Bible. But why should the Bible be bound to always make sense to the mind? It speaks rather to the soul.

Krüger, the president of the Boer Republic, went hunting, leaving behind his sick wife with a sick child. Upon his return he heard his wife singing, which was not her habit. Entering the house he found her sitting in bed with the dead child in her arms. Within a short time she also died, still clinging to the baby.

Forsaking everything, Krüger tramped through fields and forests, trying to make sense of life and love, which unite us for a time, until death forcibly separates us. His friends, alarmed, sought him for many days and found him hungry, singing, and with deep peace in his heart. He had not found the meaning of things, but he had given up seeking.

Why must we always apply logic and syllogism to everything? Why not simply sing a melody, as the nightingale does, without constructing meaningful sentences? It is in its music that the deep sense of the Bible is to be found—where the heart simply sings, sometimes in unintelligible words, about the unintelligible ways of God.

Thinking like this, I did not mind when my speech became blurred, because of the circumstances in which I was detained.