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The naked High Priest
The naked High Priest
Text: John 21:7, Heb. 4:15,16, Lev. 21:10, Ex.28:2
“For we have not an high Priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Heb. 4:15,16
“Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, it is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (For he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.” John 21:7
“and he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes.” Lev. 21:10
“And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.” Ex. 28:2
“And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from loins even unto the thighs they shall reach…” Ex. 28:42,43
“Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.” Ex. 29:20
Definitions
Naked:
na·ked [náykəd]
adjective
1.
wearing no clothes: not covered by clothing, especially having no clothing on any part of the body
2.
lacking covering: lacking the usual covering or protection
· a naked light bulb
3.
not concealed: openly displayed or expressed and often threatening or disturbing
· naked aggression
4.
frankly unvarnished: direct, frank, and without embellishment
· the naked truth
5.
unarmed: unarmed and defenseless
"If you carry this resolution you will send Britain's Foreign Secretary naked into the conference chamber." (Aneurin Bevan 1957)6.
devoid of something: without or unaccompanied by a particular quality or thing
· naked of all pretensions to grandeur
7.
botany having no natural covering: having no natural covering in the form of earth, vegetation, or foliage
8.
zoology lacking hair, fur, or feathers: having no hair, fur, scales, shell, or feathers
9.
botany not enclosed in ovary: describes conifer seeds, which are not enclosed in an ovary
10.
botany lacking sepals or petals: describes flowers that have no sepals or petals
[ Old English nacod < Indo-European]
-na·ked·ness, nounThe Naked and the Dead, a novel (1948) by Norman Mailer.
Set on a Pacific island during World War II, it is both a powerful account of the experience of war and, through its presentation of the conflicting political and philosophical views of the principal characters, a portrayal of some of the tensions in contemporary U.S. society. It was made into a movie by Raoul Walsh in 1958.
Word Key: Synonyms
naked, bare, nude, undressed, unclothed,
CORE MEANING: without clothes or covering
naked not covered or concealed, especially having no clothing on any part of the body;
· a ceiling decorated with frescos of naked cherubs bare without the usual furnishings or decorations, or not covered by clothing;
· The three men sat around a bare wooden table.
· bare legs nude not wearing any clothes at all, especially in artistic contexts;
· the nude statue in the courtyard undressed not wearing any or many clothes, or having just removed clothes;
· The children were undressed and ready to put on their pajamas. unclothed wearing little or no clothing;
· a window full of unclothed mannequins
· He felt awkwardly unclothed in just a towel.
Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
High Priest
(plural high priests)
noun
1.
main proponent: the leading figure propounding a doctrine or ideology
2.
judaism Jewish chief priest: a Jewish chief priest, especially the head of the priestly caste at the time of the Temple in Jerusalem
3.
christianity Mormon priest: a man who is a priest in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, belonging to the order of Melchizedek
Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
I think I can guess what’s going through the minds of some readers now. Naked, they know; high priest they also understand, but naked high priest? That is preposterous. It is confusing and also unimaginable. The high priest is supposed to be a man of high unquestionable character and personality.
But the truth is, there was once upon a time wretched priest, a weeping priest, and this time a naked high priest. A reknown Rabbi of his time known as Joshua Ben Yusef. An uncommon high priest with uncommon pedigree, who contrary to popular opinion dared the statusquo.
He preached paradigm shifting messages. He went to brothels, he preached about the kingdom of God, moved from house to house, city to city, villages to villages.
His prayer life was unpareil. He prayed from sunset to sunrise. He slept when he was on a troubled voyage on high sea as comfortable as when in a mansion. He is generous even to a fault. He gave to charity until even his foes stripped him naked. To the extent that they had to cast lots on who will own his clothes.(not minding the fact that a high priest’s clothes represent glory and beauty Ex. 28:2) He donated his blood until according to him, he became only “flesh & bone.” It’s on record that he once prayed until the blood vessels and sweat pores mixed and busted out blood drops instead of sweat-drops. He spoke as an excellent mouth-piece of God.
It was on record that a prophetess looked forward to his birth before she will see death. Many said Yusef was not really his father, but Yusef adopted him; where he came from doesn’t matter here but that he once existed is the most important message. Some even said that Yusef picked him up right from child birth, legend said that a man met Yusef and divinely instructed him to pick the child, nobody knew where the man came from, he mysteriously disappeared since then.
Joshua grew up behaving extra-ordinarily. He preferred the company of adults as he reasoned intelligently among them.
Some said that what made his life confusing was the age. Alexander the great was 33 when he conquered the world. Joshua achieved his feat not with gun but morally, ethically, and spiritually.
Legend has it that he wrote no book, he marshaled no army, he never married, had no biological child, lived a very short ministry life. He socialized even with the harlots and the samarithans. He even paid tax. I bet you I.R.S. would have been glad he is born in their time.
Yet this man was doubted in his very own village. Once he had a police case that led to incarceration. His crime had no specific tag. Some say he claimed he was not just Joshua Ben Yusef He is Joshua Ben Yahweh. His judgment was passed at night when all court sessions were over.
Like in every organized society, the governor offered to free one person between Joshua and another man who beared the same name with him, a complete menace to society. Do you know what? They’ll rather have that menace to society go free than let Joshua Ben Yusef, whom I have come to recognize as Ben Yahweh go. That was how Joshua Ben Yahweh was exiled. Even the governor wasn’t happy about it. But then when he washed his hands off, these people shouted let his blood be on them and their children, even unto their children’s children.
Then somebody shouted, No! he deserves to be killed and so their voice drowned the governor’s. Joshua was not only exiled but sentenced to be executed outside the city.
But for the priest that he was, something strange happened in the temple back in the city. The curtains, I mean the veil into the Holy of holies tore into halves. Graves opened and loved ones saw their families.
Yes! They killed him but three jewish calendar days, he resurrected. The mainstream bribed soldiers with lots of money to waste around, telling people that the disciples came in the night over-powered the guards and stole Joshua’s body. For what money is in the society, people still believe that Joshua never resurrected.They bought and buried his resurrection message with plenty monies.
Joshua appeared to some faithful who had out of disappointment, hopelessness and disillusionment gone back to fishing, their old business before he drafted them into priesthood. Even at that, they toiled all-night and…they caught nothing!
Joshua was by the sea, and; and uhm, uhm , he was, he was, I mean he was naked. Yes! Naked by the sea.
After staring at the disgruntled looking followers, “ Children, do you have any meat there?” he asked. “No” was the reply. For the priest that he is, knowing that according to Moses, a priest knows how important the ‘right side’ is when he instructed Aaron to touch the right tip of his ear, thumb and the big toe with blood from the ram slaughtered for sacrifice and also on all the other priests. Understanding this, Joshua told his followers to cast their net by the “right side” of their boat.
There is such thing as ‘right and left’ also ‘right and wrong.’ So if it’s not the right side it’s the wrong side. If you’re not on the right side then that means you are on the wrong side. Either right-winged or left-winged. And when they obeyed, they had a great catch. So great that one of his followers suddenly noticed it was one of the priestly characteristics of Joshua Ben Yusef. Upon this sudden awareness; one of the followers had to unclothe himself in order to authenticate the Man of cloth that Joshua Ben Yusef really is with his fishing coat. At least that will cover his nakedness. Following the law for priesthood all their clothing is expected to cover their nakedness. Lev. 21:10; Ex. 28:2;
But Rabbi Joshua, though naked earlier, was not deterred from delivering a priestly word, he started a fire, offered them fish and bread.
How many priests will offer to go the extra-mile even when stretched beyond limits. Only Rabbi Joshua Ben Yusef. What can you learn from Rabbi Joshua? Your priestly office is beyond a clothing, it is a calling, a vocation.
Can you, even when you are scandalized, ostracized and those loyal to you become disillusioned; will you still serve?
If only you can still serve, someone will cover your nakedness, if only you can still offer the fire of priesthood, fish-out men, and break bread. Your ministry will still come back to life.
Joshua restored his followers back to leadership position with greater responsibilities.
The very man that clothed Rabbi Joshua ben Yusef was appointed a higher leadership responsibility from fishing to leadership. He was told to feed his lambs; feed his sheep and to follow him (Joshua).
Such is a man that once upon a time walked the surface of this earth, who was once naked but not ashamed.
May God make you a true priest whether gloriously and beautifully robed or shamefully stripped of your glory and beauty by scorn, criticism, rejection, spite, mischief, ridicule, and unbelief.
Rabbi Joshua ben Yusef bequeathed leadership to only the man who was also loyal to the point of un-clothing himself in order to clothe and cover the nakedness of his master Rabbi Joshua.
May God clothe those that cover your priestly nakedness. And to the faithful, as you cover the nakedness of Jesus Christ, our high priest through his Church and ministers; God will also clothe you with glory and beauty. Amen
Disclaimer:
This sermon does not in any way whatever promote or encourage nudity. The nakedness here does not imply nudity or anything close to it. Rather, it tells us about a kingdom-minded perspective to life. Neither was Caiphas ben Jonas.
May God send the likes of Caiphas Ben Jonas into your life and ministry; loyal followers through their sanguine nature or behavior will dress you up with glory and beauty of a royal priesthood; Royalty & Priesthood colliding to produce a glorious future in your life.
Whoever dresses a naked priest will share in the glory and beauty of the priest. God will glorify and beautify that person.
For further consultation, contact:
Apostle Dr. Genesis Dawuda
Administrator Centre For World Rebirth, Nigeria
E-mail: info@drgenesis.com | centreforworldrebirth@yahoo.com
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