THIS ISN’T POETRY…?

I read the New Testament Bible book of “JUDE”, this AM.  Jude was, according to most scholars–or tradition, whichever you wish t follow–the brother of James, the brother of Jesus Christ our (and his) Lord.

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What do you do when you are third down the list of importance in your family and you have sisters–trust my observations on this–and someone encourages you to “write something?”

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I’ve never experienced this–having no sisters and was the sickly baby in our family of two brothers and Mom and Dad–but think about it.  Technically Jude was 3rd in command, behind James and Joses (see the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 6, verses 2 through 3).  Why wasn’t Joses (or Joseph–the second brother) asked to write something?  The old tale about the middle brother or sister being “forgotten?”…I wouldn’t know!  🙂

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So Jude ( the baby in the line of brothers–maybe this makes more sense to me after all!)  is asked to write SOMETHING  for his fellow believers of our Lord and his Elder Half-Brother.  What can he say?

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Notice how this simple (?) guy, once he gets going, latches onto the most important point in the life of the Body of Christ…then and now:  false teachers among God’s flock.  Jude, maybe with some coaching (I needed some) combines what he knows with Hebrew tradition (such as the quote of Enoch…otherwise not in the Bible…and the arch-angel Michael disputing over the body of Moses) to make his point:

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False teachers are no good and they’ll ruin the witness of the Church and corrupt individual believers to satisfy their own lusts and hunger.  Their fruit, such as it is, comes from the pit of hell and they’ll just as soon drag whomever they can in with them as look at you!

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Good job Jude…you’ve hit it on the head for all of us!

–Jonathan Caswell–second son of my own earthly family…

and unworthy servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.