Father God be with me right now as I put these words here, in Jesus name amen.
In the book of Hebrews 5:11-14 the writer seems to interrupt themselves. In verse 11, you see these words and I’ve always heard them as frustration. I have so much to tell you, but you no longer try to listen another. Translation says that they had become “dull of hearing” another one says they “no longer try to understand.” Whenever this happens, a difference in wording from one translation to the next, it’s a sign that the translators had difficulty in putting across what is clear in the original language, into our English idioms and common usage.
- In most cases the translators are actually while committees of folks who have dedicated their lives to accurately rendering the original manuscripts into English
- Greek is that original language of the book of Hebrews.
- The other languages of the scripture are Hebrew and Aramaic
So the trick is to read regularly in one translation so that you get the rhythm of that Translation, and I’m kind of struggling for what I mean by that, it’s like when you regularly go out for coffee with the particular person say when I go for a bike ride with my neighbor, Derek, I know his way of talking. He’ll interrupt me for things like tangent of humor, or to point out golf balls in the ditch or a rabbit, he’s constantly noticing little details. I’ve actually been spending a lot of time with him, and this is a very interesting aspect of his personality. And I wonder if it’s because of what he did for a living before he retired. He was a person who sorted the mail. So he had to have a quick eye for things like missing postal codes, or proper postage things like that. And also at a high speed. So I’ve learned his rhythm of speaking, for example, when he interrupts me that it’s for a specific purpose, sometimes humorous, and sometimes serious, but it’s best not to push on without pausing to hear what he had to say, and it’s always rewarding whatever it is. Whether I get to see golf balls in the ditch beside a golf course or little bunny, rabbits and gophers that I otherwise would’ve missed. I think I’ll let him ride ahead of us from now on because I was so distracted by talking to I found myself not noticing traffic as well as I could have so it is also when we read in particular Translation, we understand things innately. But then, when the Holy Spirit has given us reason to pause on a particular scripture, such as the case right now as I ponder this passage in Hebrews.
It’s interesting is that the writer of Hebrews doesn’t stop trying to get the message across he just points out the stubborn lack of participation of their listeners in what is being said to them.
The title of this message is “no more bottle” which is an allusion to a time in my past, when one of my children didn’t want to let go of being a baby, he was stuck drinking his milk from a baby bottle. I thought of a creative solution.
We had a “last bottle” party, and his last bottle was the one we drew on his the cake in icing. We sang a song, “🎶 no more Bottle for ….” And it was a celebration! An advancement into maturity.
The writer of Hebrews scolds, and then reminds their listeners that it’s ok to be a baby. Until it’s time to grow up into maturity. How do we know when it’s time to move up?
Then in the final verse there in that context,
Running Down Vimy 