Respecting His Heritage

This past weekend I captured photographs in our backyard of a ripening pomegranate.  Its beauty is magnificent, in my eyes.  I have memories of pomegranates from my childhood, but I'll save those stories for another day.  Today I wish to take the opportunity to honor my husband's heritage.

My husband is a Cohen.  He was raised in the Jewish faith, bar mitzvahed at the age of 14 and then quickly fell away from his faith due to life tragedies and consequent poor choices.

His addictive behavior led to a massive stroke before the age of 40.  He says that it was as if God had "smacked him upside the head" to get his attention. He began to get his life together.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

He met Christ and got to know him during his coma.  He speaks of the "man with the holes in his hands who would understand him when no one else did."  Of course, Bruce did not know that this "man" was Jesus Christ until years later.

Shortly after we were married he recorded this testimony for a friend of mine, also named Sharon.



But, I digress.  This post is about his heritage and my photos of the week.  The photographs are of pomegranates that hang over our back fence from a tree growing in the neighbor's back yard.

"And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about: A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about.   And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not."

Exodus 28:33-35

A Kohen (or Cohen, Hebrew "priest", pl. Kohanim or Cohanim) is assumed to be a direct male descendant of the Biblical Aaron, brother of Moses, and has a distinct personal status within Judaism.   

The Torah appoints Aaron, brother of Moses, and Aaron's descendants as Kohanim or high priests (Numbers 3:1-4).  Most of the service in the Temple could be conducted only by Kohanim.  

The high priest's vestments of office, which he wore, during his ministrations, above those prescribed for the common priests, included the "me'il," a sleeveless, purple robe, the lower hem of which was fringed with small golden bells alternating with pomegranate tassels in violet, red, purple, and scarlet.

The main role of the Kohanim was to act on behalf of the Jewish people in terms of performing the Temple service.  However, beyond that, their job was to unify the Jewish people and to keep them unified.

There is much to be learned of my husband's heritage and I enjoy the research.  I am always touched to discover how very chosen of God his lineage is.  The more I study, the more this is validated. 

But, honestly, I also know that Bruce, the individual, is chosen of God.   I knew that God was asking me to marry this broken man.  And that, though disabled in many ways, I was not being called to be his nursemaid.

Bruce had recovered sufficiently to live on his own for seven years before I showed up.  No, God wanted to bless this man with a helpmeet.  God had heard my husband's cries of loneliness and his pleading for a companion.  God impressed upon my heart and in my mind that I was to be his helpmeet.  I also knew that my duty would be to give this man the respect and honor God ordained for him.  It was and is an impression I am unable to shake.  

In essence, God told me that he had saved this man for a purpose and it was His desire that I should walk beside him on his journey.  If I were to coddle, circumvent, or otherwise diminish my husband's accomplishing his purpose and calling, to ignore his chosen status in God's eyes, would be a great dishonor to them both.

When you look at your husband, do you see the child of God that God himself sees?  Do you recognize that God orchestrated every world event that led to your husband's birth and his place on this earth and He did it intentionally?  Have you learned of the events that preceded your husband's arrival, that prepared for his existence and established his direction?  If you knew of them, of God's preparations for your husband's mission on earth, would it change the way you treat him?

These are questions and answers that fill my mind when Bruce doesn't know that I'm watching him.  These are the considerations that flavor my prayers on his behalf.  My constant prayer is that he fulfill the purpose to which God sent him, broke him and saved him to accomplish.  I also pray that I never get in his way or become a stumbling block on his path.

~~<3