First Thought

אֲנִֽי־קְרָאתִ֣יךָ כִֽי־תַעֲנֵ֣נִי אֵ֑ל הַֽט־אָזְנְךָ֥ לִ֝֗י שְׁמַ֣ע אִמְרָתִֽי׃

I have called upon You, for You will answer me, O God; Incline Your ear to me, hear my speech. (Psalms 17:6)

Imagine walking along a path like the one pictured below on a day Yeshua taught in this same area. What would you be thinking and feeling?

• Would you be giddy, as if if you got special access to a famous entertainer or dignitary? Would you try to get His autograph or a “selfie” with Him?
• Would you be skeptical, wondering whether this man named Yeshua you have heard about is really “all that”? In the back of your mind, would you even be questioning whether He is a fraud?
• Would He be just another voice with a platform like all the people with thousands of followers on YouTube today?
• Or, would you know there is something special about Him? Would you have realized that Yeshua is God, come to bridge the divide between you and the Father?

Be honest.

Meditate on that as you work through this lesson, and as you study the “Avinu” in this lesson’s Hebrew Quest Study Passage.

Figure 19.1: Mount of Beatitudes path through an olive grove. This vicinity is the suggested location of Yeshua’s teachings we call ‘the Sermon on the Mount’ (Matthew 5-7). Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands