What is The Waymark? · All stones
The Road So Far
Wednesday, August 26, 2026 — midweek in the Watch
This week the charge is the doorway. Pick the one person you have been quietly indignant about — someone who got loosed on a schedule you did not approve, forgiven too fast, welcomed back too soon, blessed while you still had them in the wrong — and get out of the doorway of their freedom. Say nothing about the timing. Rejoice with the people who rejoiced, not with the adversaries who were ashamed. And watch for the tell: the tightness in your chest when mercy lands on someone before you were finished being right about them. That tightness is the ruler's seat, and the charge is to stand up out of it. If instead you are the bent one this week, the charge is shorter and harder — stop admiring the burden long enough to let him call you up front.
It is Wednesday. Two nights of the Nightly Watch are behind you now — Monday, Tuesday — kept or missed, they are already written, and looking back will not change them. Tonight is the third. Do not spend it mourning the nights you let slip; that is not what the watch is for. Pick the charge back up right where you are standing, and bring it into tonight's prayer the same as you did the first night: where you kept it, where you missed it, what is honest, what is mercy. The Saturday Reckoning is still ahead, and there is road enough between here and there to turn. Keep the watch tonight.
~Shawn
How has the watch gone? However you answer, it counts. No streak is kept. No record carries your name.
A set marker on the road — one claim, the scripture it touches, and the sources on record.
Josephus Names Jesus Twice
The Jewish historian Josephus, writing in the 90s AD, twice mentions Jesus: once in Antiquities 20.9.1 as "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James," and once in Antiquities 18.3.3 in a longer passage that most scholars regard as containing later Christian additions.
Josephus (c. 37–100 AD) was a Jewish priest and historian who documented the period surrounding the Jewish revolt of 66–70 AD. Writing his Antiquities of the Jews in the 90s AD, he made two references to Jesus of Nazareth and his family.
The shorter reference appears in book 20, chapter 9, section 1, where Josephus describes the high priest Ananus executing a man "James the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ." This passage is widely accepted by scholars as authentic, as it fits naturally into Josephus's account of events in the 60s AD and does not contain Christian formulaic language. The reference identifies Jesus by his messianic title and connects him to James, who was a leading figure in the Jerusalem church.
A second, longer passage appears in book 18, chapter 3, section 3, known to scholars as the Testimonium Flavianum. This passage praises Jesus in language that is distinctly Christian in tone and theology. Most scholars, including John P. Meier and Louis H. Feldman in their major studies of Josephus, hold that this passage contains Christian interpolations—additions or revisions made by later Christian copyists. The passage likely contained some reference to Jesus originally, but the extent and precise wording of authentic material remain disputed.
Both passages place Jesus within the historical record of first-century Judea and connect him to figures mentioned in early Christian literature, including his brother James. The authentic reference in Antiquities 20.9.1 corroborates the mention of James as Jesus's brother found in the New Testament, though Josephus does not elaborate on Jesus's teachings or resurrection claims.
Every reference above is quoted from the KJV. Tap and see.
This week’s charge came from Sunday. Read the sermon →
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