The Son of Man vol. 2 is finished
Here are the covers for volumes 1-3…
The final ebook version won’t be published until volume three is completed, and that won’t be until sometime early next year, Lord willing. It promises to be a busy Autumn and something had to give.
In the meantime, here’s a sample from the final chapter in the volume, entitled “The Rich Young Tragedy.” This sample covers a statement by Jesus that is often misunderstood and rarely considered in the context of the conversation…
The second year of Jesus’ Ministry—by this writer’s reckoning—ends with a conversation between the Lord and a young man asking a most important question: “Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” You can quibble over the word-choice—and indeed the man does seem to be looking for a simple box to check—but in the end his motivation seems genuinely pure: He wanted eternal life and he asked how to achieve it.
The Lord, however, latched on to the moniker of “good” that he used in reference to Jesus. “Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, that is, God…” The Lord’s response, as translated in the King James from the Textus Receptus, is probably not the best. It seems to imply that Jesus was trying to tell the young man He—Jesus—was neither good nor God.
The older, more accurate Textus Sinaiticus, however, renders the statement as: “Why do you ask Me what is good?” Of course, that might cause you ask why Jesus is questioning the man’s desire to learn from Him. In truth, Jesus is speaking rhetorically. He’s mildly rebuking the man for not knowing the answer already: “What are you asking Me for? Don’t you know what the Law says?”
Remember, the man asked what “good thing” he needed to do to be saved, so Jesus turns that around and says, essentially: “GOD is good, not the things you might do.” Immediately after that He reminds the young man about the commandments and how God expects them to be kept. That prompts the man to ask “which” commandment needed to be kept, as if one was more important than the rest. Clearly this guy has missed the boat…
As said, expect the complete three-volume set to be out sometime before Valentine’s Day, 2020 (if the Lord wills and the creek doesn’t rise).