MALKUTA
Christian Meditations
Centered on Jesus' Aramaic Words
Christian Meditations
Centered on Jesus' Aramaic Words
Welcome to this series. In this introduction to prayer-meditation, let us feel tselota as Yeshua showed us.
Abwun d'bwashmaya: Our Father in heaven
Nethqadash shmakh: Your name be honored as sacred
Teytey malkutakh: Your reign come
Nehwey sabyanakh: Let your will unfold
Aykana d'bwashmaya aph b'ar'a: As in heaven, so on earth
Hablan lachma d'sunqanan yaumana: Give us the bread we need this day
Washbuqlan khaubayn aykana daph khnan shbaqan l'khayyabayn: Release us from our offenses as we release those who offend us
Wela tahlan l'nesyuna: Let us not enter temptation
Ela patsan min bisha: Deliver us from misalignment
Metol dilakh hi malkuta w'hayla w'teshbukhta l'alam almin: For yours is the reign, the power, and the splendor forever
Ameyn
In this prayer-meditation, we feel the spirit-breath that is already fully here now, within and all throughout.
"Ruha blows where she wills, and you hear her sound, but you don't know where she comes from or where she goes. So it is with everyone born of Ruha." — John 3:8
Closer than close.
Always here, yet always in movement.
More intimate than anything, yet shared continuously.
Source of life and creation.
Effortlessly here now, breathing us and flowing us.
Spontaneously free.
How do we discover the most authentic map we can of Yeshua's teachings, as followers in modern times? The answer is nuanced, and the new seeing it opens can be wonderful.
In this contemplation, we return to the heart center.
What would it feel like to feel pure in heart, whole in heart, right now?
The divine sabyaneh is always and already here now.
Sabyaneh ("his will") and Sabyanakh ("your will") are both forms of the same root. This root is inseparable from positive overtones: what is pleasing to the Father.
Let us recognize this prior to words as reality unfolding, and let us return in surrender to what is here now created, complete.
"The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is single, your whole body is full of light."
— Matthew 6:22
In this meditation, we feel a mind divided with worry, yitseph, and a single eye, unified in the unfolding sabyaneh.
"Then God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good."
— Genesis 1:3-4
"In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
— John 1:4-5
"The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world."
— John 1:9
The Beatitudes in Aramaic: Matthew 5:3-10
Tubwayhun l'meskenaee b'rukh dilhounhie malkuta dashmaya
Flourishing are those poor in Ruha, for the reign of heaven is theirs.
Tubwayhun labwile d'hinnon netbayun
Flourishing are those who are mourning, for they will be comforted.
Tubwayhun l'makikhe d'hinnon nertun ar'ah
Flourishing are those who are softening, for they will inherit the earth.
Tubwayhun layleyn d'khaphneyn wa tzheyn l'khenuta
Flourishing are those hungering and thirsting for what is right, for they will be filled.
Tubwayhun lamrahmane dalayhun nehwun rahme
Flourishing are those showing compassion, for compassion will be shown them.
Tubwayhun layleyn dadkeyn b'lebhon d'hinnon nehzun l'Alaha
Flourishing are those being pure in heart, for they will see God.
Tubwayhun l'abdway shlama dabwnawhie d'Alaha nitqarun
Flourishing are those making wholeness, for they will be called children of God.
Tubwayhun layleyn detrdep metol khenuta dilhounhie malkuta dashmaya
Flourishing are those hunted for the sake of what is right, for the reign of heaven is theirs.
In this meditation, we open ourselves to the central experience of Yeshua's message: entering Malkuta.
"Amen, amen, I tell you: unless someone is being born from the beginning, he cannot see the reign of God."
— John 3:3
"Amen, amen, I tell you: unless someone is being born of water and Ruha, he cannot enter the reign of God."
— John 3:5
In English, we read "truly," "faith," and "believe" as separate concepts. In Aramaic, they all relate to trust in what can be firmly relied upon.
Ameyn: "Truly/Amen." Here is firm ground
Haymanuta: "Faith." Abiding trust
Heymen: "Believes." Trusts, stands firm
Haymenu: "Believe!" Trust! Stand firm!
Haymanuta is the key that opens the door within our heart.
"God said to Moses, 'Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh' — I Am That I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: 'Ehyeh — I Am — has sent me to you.'"
— Exodus 3:14
At the burning bush, Moses asks for a name. What he receives is not a title but a verb: pure being, whole presence, eternally unfolding.
"…that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, that they also may be in us, so the world may trust that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, that they may be one, as we are one, I am in them and you are in me, that they may be made completely one, so that the world may know that you sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Father, I want the ones you gave me to be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world has not known you, however I have known you, and they have known that you sent me. I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you love me with may be in them and I may be in them."
— John 17:21-26
"The time has come, and the reign of God has drawn near. Turn around, and trust into the hopeful news."
— Mark 1:15
"The reign of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. A man found it and hid it again, and in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field. Again, the reign of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he found one pearl of great price, he went and sold everything he had and bought it."
— Matthew 13:44-46
"Amen, I tell you: unless you turn around and become like little children, you will never enter the reign of heaven."
— Matthew 18:3
Sources: Mark 1:15, Luke 4:43, Matthew 13:44–46, Matthew 18:3, John 3:3–8, Matthew 5:3, Matthew 7:7–8, Luke 17:20–21, Matthew 21:31, John 4:14, John 14:16, John 14:26–27, John 16:13