The Brown Book Commentaries

―Divine Communications are as follows: big thoughts of Truth, caring words of Love,
passionate encouragements of support – and silent smiles.‖ ~ anonymous
―Big Thoughts of Truth‖ see past the veils of ―other‖, ―less than‖, ―enemy‖, & ―evil‖ to Perceive the
brother or Sister behind the same. They see past the circumstances of ―tragedy‖ or ―crisis‖ or ―difficulty‖
to Perceive the opportunity beneath the same. They see past the behaviors of slander, manipulation, &
aggression to Perceive the Child of God at every deed‘s helm … ―Caring Words of Love‖ make sure that
the other knows we are there for them – and Hear them – and Respect them – and have Compassion for
them … ―Passionate Encouragements of Support‖ cheer the other on in their times of greatest need –
often when they don‘t even know they desire the same; when they are in doubt as much as when they are
in despair, when they are discouraged as much as when they feel defeated … And in the end, of course, it
is deeds more than words that convey the greatest Affection (and thereby have the greatest effect) – and
one of the greatest of all these deeds is the Silent Smile both heartfelt & humble (especially potent when
given during times of confrontation,
accusation, insult, or attack);
communicating that LOVE is there without
saying a word – booming that Compassion
without thinking a single thought.
“The Son of Man has authority on Earth to forgive sins”~ Jesus (Luke 5:24)
First & foremost, it is extremely important for all earnest students of the Scriptures to realize that Jesus was
almost never referring to himself alone whenever he mentioned ―the Son of Man.‖ In other words, he is not
telling his listeners here that he alone ―has the authority on Earth to forgive sins‖. Indeed, to do so would not
only have dramatically diminished the ultimate authority he openly & vehemently vested in his heavenly Father
(see Mark 10:18 & John 8:50-54 et al), but it would have also been the epitome of arrogance (see also Matthew 26:64,
Mark 14:62, Luke 22:69), and this when humility was for Jesus the most staunchly encouraged of all virtues (see
Matthew 8:20, Matthew 18:3-4, Matthew 23:12 et al), which would have made him a blatant hypocrite – and
hypocrisy he clearly abhorred over all other human failings (see Matthew 6:5, Matthew 7:1-5, Matthew 7:15, Matthew
7:21-23, Matthew 23, Luke 6:46, Luke 12:2, Luke 16:15, Luke 20:46-47, John 8:4-9 et al)… No, when Jesus used the
term ―the Son of Man‖ he was almost always referring to all of his listeners – and indeed, to all of us as well. In
truth, how else could he be taken seriously when he said ―Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will
not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom‖ (Matthew 16:28), for if Jesus was
speaking of himself as ―the Son of Man‖ at this time, then he quite obviously misspoke (something the Messiah
could never do). And yet that is not who he spoke of when using this term, and he had even come right out and
said as much to his disciples a few verses prior (―Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked
his disciples, ―Who do people say that the Son of Man is?‖ And they said, ―Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.‖ And so he asked them, ―But who do you say that I am?‖ And Simon Peter
answered, ―You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.‖ at which point Jesus seemed to congratulate Peter for noting that
Jesus was indeed an embodiment of ―the living God‖ a la John 14:20-26, and yet immediately thereafter he ―sternly ordered
the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah‖ ~ Matthew 16:13-20) … Just as importantly, this interpretation
(namely, reading ―the Son of Man‖ as relating to all of humanity, not only Jesus Christ) happens to reconcile dozens of
other seeming contradictions and apparent theological inconsistencies in the Scriptures – for one, how Jesus
could tell us all to forgive everyone (the ―seventy‖ of Matthew 18:21-22, referencing the 70 nations of humanity found in
Genesis 10) without limit and without exception (the ―times seven‖ of that same passage, referencing the ―completeness‖
with which we are to forgive them all) while seemingly claiming in Luke 5 that he alone had the ability to do the
same … This interpretation also explains his claim that we all have the power to forgive the sins of others, and
thereby rectify the sins of ourselves (see ―if you forgive others their trespasses, your Heavenly Father [who resides within
you – see John 14:20] will also forgive you yours‖ ~ Matthew 6:14), and it also harmonizes with him telling others that
―the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve‖ (Matthew 20:28), a phrase that resonates in perfect
harmony with the primary message of his entire ministry – namely, his Gospel; that the Kingdom of Heaven was
already ―at hand‖ (Matthew 10:7), and that anyone could enter the same by persistently & selflessly serving
others (Matthew 24:12-14) – especially one‘s enemies (i.e. those who obviously needed forgiveness more than most;
see Matthew 5:43-49 & Luke 10:29-37) … Yes, Jesus did want to be followed (i.e. for us all to emulate his teachings
and enliven his Way of selfless LOVE – see Matthew 7:21-24, Matthew 16:24 & John 13:15-17 et al) and yet he also
made it extremely clear that he did not want to be worshipped in any way, shape or form (see Luke 18:19, John
5:41, John 7:16, John 12:44 et al) … And this all actually makes perfect sense – after all, if neither Jesus nor his
heavenly Father would ever condemn sinners (see John 5:22, John 8:15 & John12:47-48) , why would they be the
only ones with the ability to forgive the same?
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