Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. [Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)]
Last month, I received an email from my college alumni association asking alums to share 21 words of encouragement or advice with the class of 2021. The request gave me pause as I pondered what wise and pithy advice for this year’s grads I would put into a mere 21 words. Since my eldest grand is starting her senior year at NYU, I wondered what words of wisdom I would share with her next year.
Turning first to Scripture, I thought of the to-the-point advice in Proverbs but discovered that one verse was too short and two were too long. Thinking of my favorite Bible verses, I turned to 1 Corinthians 16:13-14: “Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” Finding it one word too short, I checked other translations and eventually found the perfect length in the ESV. But, instead of “be courageous,” it said “act like men,” a somewhat imperfect translation of the Greek word Paul used meaning to act in a courageous and virtuous manner. Since today’s youth probably would be offended by what seems sexist language, I eliminated that from my possibilities.
I then turned to Matthew 22 and Jesus’ answer when the Pharisee asked Him the most important commandment. With some editing and the use of an ellipsis, I met the 21-word requirement with the Message translation of His answer: “Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence. … Love others as well as you love yourself.” [22:37,39]
As all-encompassing and wise as those words are, they aren’t mine and they didn’t cover everything I’d want to say to my own grands in just 21 words. If required to summarize my philosophy that succinctly, what would I say? The limit of 21 words made this exercise as challenging as writing a three-line 17-syllable haiku.
Eventually, I came up with the following: “Love God. Love others. Follow Jesus. Pray. Read Scripture. Work hard. Forgive. Be kind, generous, honest, and patient. Laugh. Be yourself.” If allowed more words, I probably would add, “Listen more, speak less,” along with “Believe in yourself.” These are some of the things I wish it hadn’t taken me several decades to learn! I do suspect that most of that advice actually was given to me as a youth; it’s just that I had to learn those lessons for myself.
Several years ago, I was given the assignment of writing my salvation story in 100 words or less. Selecting 21 words of inspiring advice turned out to be much harder than that! Nevertheless, just as we should be prepared to give a clear and concise answer when someone asks how we came to be followers of Jesus, we should be able to summarize our values and way of life in a few words.
What is important to you? What few words do you wish you’d heard when you were stepping into adulthood? What 21 words would you choose for today’s graduates?
“The luckiest traitor ever,” are the words historian Mary Beard used to describe Flavius Josephus, a first-century Jewish general who ended up allying himself with the Romans—the very people who destroyed his homeland and demolished the Temple during the Great Revolt (66-70 AD). Born in 37 AD, Josephus grew up in Jerusalem and studied with the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes before serving as a general during the Jewish rebellion against Rome. According to Josephus, when fleeing the Roman army, he led his troop of 40 men into a cave. Rather than surrender, they agreed to commit suicide and drew lots to determine the order in which they would die. Either Josephus was incredibly lucky or he’d fixed the lottery but, when only he and another man remained, he convinced him to join in surrender to the Romans. In support of his story, excavations at Jotapata in the 1990s revealed the remains of 30 to 40 men assumed to have been Josephus’ men.
Since 1890, a common teaching method in a surgical residency is to “see one, do one, teach one.” The med student learns the basics by watching an experienced physician do a procedure and then puts his knowledge into practice by doing the procedure himself. He hasn’t mastered the procedure, however, until he’s taught someone else to do it; it is only when we can teach something that we truly understand it.
The Great Sanhedrin was the Supreme council (high court) of the Jews. Formed around 200 BC and modeled after the 70 elders who helped Moses in governing the Israelites, its 71 members consisted of scribes, priests, and elders with the high priest acting as its presiding officer. Along with religious and ritualistic Temple matters, the Sanhedrin addressed secular criminal matters, proceedings in connection with the discovery of a corpse, trials of adulterous wives, tithes, the preparation of Torah Scrolls, and drew up the calendar. As long as the Sanhedrin maintained public order and the Jews kept paying their taxes to Rome, the Romans were content to leave most of the nation’s judicial matters to them. While the Sanhedrin were supposed to administer justice, in the case of Jesus, they were anything but just; in fact, they sought perjured testimony.
Rather than a religious sect, the Herodians were a political group who favored Herodian rule over direct Roman rule. Unlike previous kings of Israel, the Herodian kings were appointed by the Roman emperors. It’s been said that “You can’t tell the players without a scorecard,” and it seems that way with the various Herods we meet in the New Testament. It was Herod the Great, ruler of Judea from 37 to 4 BC, who enlarged the Temple Mount and began rebuilding the second Temple around 20 BC. This Herod was the “king of the Jews” who questioned the Magi and sought to kill the Messiah by slaughtering boys under the age of two. [Jesus was born between 6 and 4 BC.] After Herod’s death, his kingdom was divided among his sons and Herod Antipas became tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. This is the Herod who ruled Galilee throughout Jesus’ ministry—the one who married the wife of his brother (Herod Philip II), beheaded John the Baptist, and sent Jesus back to Pilate.
