(Gospel of John 5:1- 5:15)
Some time after, Jesus was in Jerusalem during one of the Jewish holy days. There is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a healing pool called, in Aramaic, Bethesda. It is surrounded by five porticoes under which would gather large numbers of ill and disabled people, the blind, the lame, and the crippled. Among them was one poor man had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him and learned that he had been ailing for such a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
"I'm not able to, sir," the invalid replied. "For you see, whenever the water is stirred up, there is no one to lower me into the pool, and when I try to make it there on my own, someone always gets there ahead of me and blocks the way."
"Rise up!" Jesus bid him. "Pick up your mat and walk."
The man, at once cured, did pick up his mat and walked.
As this occurred on the Sabbath, the Jewish religious authorities reproved the man who had been cured, "This is the Sabbath. It’s against the law to carry a mat!"
"It was the man that cured me who told me to 'pick up your mat and walk,'" the man explained.
"Who then is this man who told you to 'pick up my mat and walk'?'" they demanded.
The man who was cured had no idea who it was, for Jesus had already slipped away into the crowd. Later, though, Jesus ran into the man at the Temple and spoke to him. "Ah, so I see you are well. But you must refrain from sinning, so that nothing worse may befall you."
The man then left and reported to the religious authorities that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Notes
1. The pool at Bethesda possessed healing powers due to some supernatural agency that would, from time to time, stir up the waters. Just afterward, anyone entering the pool would be cured of whatever affliction he suffered from. (Many texts include this explanation.) Bethesda, a name familiar to us as the city in Maryland that is home to the Walter Reed hospital, is also called Bethsaida and Bethzatha. In almost all cultures water manifests healing and restorative powers. Pools and springs are often places where numinous forces manifest themselves. Bethesda reminds one of the most famous modern healing waters, those at Lourdes in France.
2. The narrative does not specific what ailed the soon-to-be-cured man, save that he could not walk. One gets the impression that his disability was due to disease rather than injury. He was, however, well enough over a period of years to come to Bethesda to try his luck at the healing pool. The later remark by Jesus, that he needn't to quit sinning so that no other tragedy might befall him, suggests a cause-and-effect connection between immorality and bad behavior and illness and misfortune. Belief in that connection is something we all wish to hold on to. We wish bad things to happen only to bad people and nothing but good things to good people, yet experience constantly reminds us that such a connection often does not hold true.
3. The cured man, as the story is told, not only shows no gratitude to Jesus, but, when the opportunity presents itself, gets Jesus in trouble by reporting him to the religious authorities. Of course, the man is present at the Temple, so we might concluded he had gone there to give his thanks to God.
4. The religious authorities, zealous in their strict enforcement of Mosaic law, rebuke the healed man merely for carrying a mat on the Sabbath -- carry a mat? After he was healed one supposed the cured man had no choice but to pick up the mat and carry it with him. (If he left it under the portico, he probably would have been guilty of some other offense.) Of course, doing any sort of work during the Sabbath is expressly in violation of the Ten Commandments. Regarding carrying a mat as work is an extremely strict interpretation.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Jesus Heals an Official's Son in Galilee
(Gospel of John 4:43- 4:54)
At the end of the two days, Jesus departed for Galilee. Although Jesus observed that a prophet is accorded no honor in his homeland, he was in fact well received by the Galileans who had been in Jerusalem during the Passover festivities and had witnessed what he had done there.
Jesus revisited Cana in Galilee, the place where he had transformed the water into wine. There was a court official whose son lay ill in nearby Capernaum. When he learned that Jesus had returned to Galilee from Judea, he came to see Jesus and begged him to come to Capernaum to heal his son, who was on the brink of death.
Jesus questioned, "Will you people never believe in me unless you witness miracles and wonders?"
But the official pleaded with him. "Please, sir, come before my little boy dies."
"Go home; you're son will live," Jesus assured him.
The man believed what Jesus had told him and started home. On the way, he encountered some of his slaves who informed him that his son was alive and well. He asked them at what hour he began to recover.
"It was yesterday, at about one o'clock in the afternoon," they told him. This was exactly the time that Jesus told him, "You're son will live." As a result, he and all his household became believers. This was the second miracle that Jesus had performed since coming to Galilee from Judea.
Notes
1. Jesus has apparently already built up a considerable reputation not only as a baptist, but as a healer. An official's young son is dying of some undetermined illness, but Jesus is able to heal him without even seeing him or learning anything about the boy.
2. This is the second miracle performed by Jesus since his return to Galilee. The author does not seem to want to tell us anything about the first miracle.
3. Jesus already seems annoyed by people pestering him to perform miracles and heal the sick. He assents to heal the official's son, but reluctantly; he seems very cavalier about it and manifests no real concern about the boy's life or the father's feelings. One already detects the onset of compassion fatigue that those who devote themselves to helping others often end up feeling.
At the end of the two days, Jesus departed for Galilee. Although Jesus observed that a prophet is accorded no honor in his homeland, he was in fact well received by the Galileans who had been in Jerusalem during the Passover festivities and had witnessed what he had done there.
Jesus revisited Cana in Galilee, the place where he had transformed the water into wine. There was a court official whose son lay ill in nearby Capernaum. When he learned that Jesus had returned to Galilee from Judea, he came to see Jesus and begged him to come to Capernaum to heal his son, who was on the brink of death.
Jesus questioned, "Will you people never believe in me unless you witness miracles and wonders?"
But the official pleaded with him. "Please, sir, come before my little boy dies."
"Go home; you're son will live," Jesus assured him.
The man believed what Jesus had told him and started home. On the way, he encountered some of his slaves who informed him that his son was alive and well. He asked them at what hour he began to recover.
"It was yesterday, at about one o'clock in the afternoon," they told him. This was exactly the time that Jesus told him, "You're son will live." As a result, he and all his household became believers. This was the second miracle that Jesus had performed since coming to Galilee from Judea.
Notes
1. Jesus has apparently already built up a considerable reputation not only as a baptist, but as a healer. An official's young son is dying of some undetermined illness, but Jesus is able to heal him without even seeing him or learning anything about the boy.
2. This is the second miracle performed by Jesus since his return to Galilee. The author does not seem to want to tell us anything about the first miracle.
3. Jesus already seems annoyed by people pestering him to perform miracles and heal the sick. He assents to heal the official's son, but reluctantly; he seems very cavalier about it and manifests no real concern about the boy's life or the father's feelings. One already detects the onset of compassion fatigue that those who devote themselves to helping others often end up feeling.
Samaritan Woman at the Well
(Gospel of John 4:1 - 4:42)
The Pharisees became aware that Jesus was gaining more converts and baptizing more people than John was -- although actually it was his disciples and not Jesus himself who performed the baptisms. When Jesus learned this, he left Judea and started on his way back to Galilee. To reach it, he had to travel through Samaria. Thus he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near a parcel of land that Jacob had willed to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was located there and Jesus, tired by the journey, paused by it to rest. It was midday.
A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water and Jesus asked her, "Could you please give me a drink?" (The disciples had gone into town to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman responded, "You're a Judean man and I'm a Samaritan woman. How come you ask me for a drink?" (Generally, Judeans have nothing to do with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered, "If you only knew the gift God is bestowing upon you and who it is that is asking you for water, you would ask me for water -- and I would present you with life-giving water."
"But sir," she replied, "you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep. Where would you get this ‘life-giving water’? Do you really think you're a better man than our ancestor Jacob and that your water is better than that he and his sons and livestock drank?"
"Every person that drinks the water from that well will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks from my water will never be thirsty again. My water will become a bubbling spring within bringing life everlasting."
"Please, sir, give me then this water of yours so I won't have to keep returning here to draw water whenever I'm thirsty."
"Go then, call your husband and bring him back here."
"But I do not have a husband."
"You are correct in saying that you do not have a husband. In fact, you have had no less than five husbands, and the man you live with now is not your husband. ... Your answer was quite true."
"Sir, you must be a prophet! ... Tell me then, why do you Judeans say that God should be worshiped at Jerusalem while we Samaritans say it should be at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?"
Jesus answered her: "The time will come when you will worship the Father neither at Jerusalem nor on your mountain. You Samaritans are ignorant of the god you worship, but we of Judea know the god we worship. The salvation of man will come through the tribe of Judah. The time will come -- indeed, it has come now -- when true believers will worship the Father sincerely with their spirit, for they are the kind of worshipers God desires. God is of the spirit and must be worshiped sincerely with the spirit."
"I know that the Messiah they call the Christ is coming. When he does, he will explain everything to us."
"But I am he, the very one speaking to you!" Jesus announced.
At that moment, the disciples returned and were quite surprised to see that Jesus was talking to a woman. No one dared question him, though, "What do you want with that woman?" or "Why are you talking to her?"
The woman left her water jar beside the well and hurried back to town to tell her people, "Come and see the man who told me everything I've done in my life! Could he possibly be the Messiah?" And so the people left the town and came out to see him.
Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, "Rabbi, please, have something to eat."
"I partake of a food you know nothing about, " he told them.
The disciples asked each other, "How could someone have brought him any food?"
Jesus then explained to them. "My sustenance is doing the will of him that sent me and accomplishing his mission. You are familiar with the adage, 'Four months between planting and harvest.' I say, take a good look at the fields, they're ready for harvesting now! The harvester is already being paid to take in the crop of everlasting life, so that the planter and the harvester may celebrate together. Here, the adage holds true: 'one plants and another harvests.' For I send you to harvest what you have not planted. Others have done that work so you might enjoy the fruits of their labor."
Many Samaritans from the town believed in him because of the woman's declaration, "He told me everything I've done in my life." When they came to see him, they invited Jesus to stay with them. He remained there for two days. During that time many more came to believe in him when they heard his message. These people told the woman, "It is no longer only because what you said that we believe. We have now heard for ourselves and realize that he is indeed the Savior of the World."
Notes
1. Judea has apparently become too hot for Jesus. His success has attracted too much attention, and he is fearful that the Pharisees, who disapprove of him, will cause him trouble. Therefore, he decides to leave Judea and return to his homeland of Galilee, a northward journey that take him through Samaria, the third sub-province or toparchy of the Roman Iudaea. Jesus, at least at this point, does not pursue a strategy of confrontation with authority. He presumably will not alter his message or back down to ingratiate himself with the Pharisaical authorities, but he can place himself out of their reach or at least out of their sight. Most Galileans practiced the Jewish religion, but there were many areas, including large cities, that had been Hellenized and where the deities of the Greeks and Romans were worshiped. As a result, Galilee had a reputation for greater tolerance and diversity than Samaria or Judea. And its ruler at that time, Herod Antipas, a son of King Herod the Great, exercised a considerable degree of autonomy from Rome and from the religious authorities in Jerusalem.
2. Interesting that Jesus reportedly performed no baptisms himself, but had his disciples do the work for him.
3. The Samaritan woman identifies Jesus as a Judean, which is incorrect: he is a Galilean. Her mistake is probably do to the fact that Jesus and his disciples have come from Judea. At any rate, the point is hereby made that Samaritans and Judeans have little use for one another and, while both practice the Jehovan, or Jewish religion, their customs differ. Judeans regarded the Samaritans as heretics at best, pagans at worst. There is a history of animosity between the two regions dating back to when the Israel of David and Solomon was divided north and south. Jesus, who does not offer to deny that he is a Judean, supports a Judean point of view. (Jesus would, in fact, often be referred to as a Judean and would even call himself a Judean, as a member of the tribe of Judah. --- The term “Jew” did not really exist at this time.) Jesus seems to deny the Samaritans the right to worship either at Jerusalem or at Mount Gerizim and condemns them for knowing nothing about the god they worship. This is a serious slight and seems a gratuitous put down of the Samaritans from one who is a guest in their country. But it allows Jesus to mention the prophecy that the Messiah will come from the tribe of Judah, from which his father Joseph was descended. (This is a questionable, if not specious interpretation of a line from the 49th Chapter of Genesis; Jacob’s blessing upon Judah was always assumed to refer to King David, a descendant of Judah.)
4. The tendency of Jesus to speak symbolically, metaphorically is consistently lost on his audience. The Samaritan woman thinks the “life-giving water" is a beverage she can drink. His disciples, no less literal minded, think the food their rabbi is speaking of is physical and not spiritual sustenance. Jesus is a bit too deep!
5. The disciples are told they are harvesters, in a metaphorical, spiritual sense. Their task is to convert the population, which is ripe for conversion. The ground work for this has been laid by others. By what others? It is unclear what Jesus means by this. If they are the harvesters, who are the planters with whom they will celebrate? Perhaps he means all the prophets who have come before.
6. Jesus again reveals his preternatural abilities when he tells the Samaritan woman, a stranger, the details of her private life -- five former husbands and currently shacking up with a man to whom she is not married. (He refrains from condemning her for this.) This is sufficient to convince her and the townspeople that Jesus could be the Messiah. When the Samaritans talk to Jesus themselves and hear his message, they are thoroughly convinced. This must be the Messiah, they conclude. At their invitation, Jesus tarries there for a couple days, not really very long considering he had made such a big hit with the local populace, (even while he trashed their religious practices). Still, one imagines he is anxious to go back home to Galilee.
The Pharisees became aware that Jesus was gaining more converts and baptizing more people than John was -- although actually it was his disciples and not Jesus himself who performed the baptisms. When Jesus learned this, he left Judea and started on his way back to Galilee. To reach it, he had to travel through Samaria. Thus he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near a parcel of land that Jacob had willed to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was located there and Jesus, tired by the journey, paused by it to rest. It was midday.
A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water and Jesus asked her, "Could you please give me a drink?" (The disciples had gone into town to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman responded, "You're a Judean man and I'm a Samaritan woman. How come you ask me for a drink?" (Generally, Judeans have nothing to do with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered, "If you only knew the gift God is bestowing upon you and who it is that is asking you for water, you would ask me for water -- and I would present you with life-giving water."
"But sir," she replied, "you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep. Where would you get this ‘life-giving water’? Do you really think you're a better man than our ancestor Jacob and that your water is better than that he and his sons and livestock drank?"
"Every person that drinks the water from that well will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks from my water will never be thirsty again. My water will become a bubbling spring within bringing life everlasting."
"Please, sir, give me then this water of yours so I won't have to keep returning here to draw water whenever I'm thirsty."
"Go then, call your husband and bring him back here."
"But I do not have a husband."
"You are correct in saying that you do not have a husband. In fact, you have had no less than five husbands, and the man you live with now is not your husband. ... Your answer was quite true."
"Sir, you must be a prophet! ... Tell me then, why do you Judeans say that God should be worshiped at Jerusalem while we Samaritans say it should be at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?"
Jesus answered her: "The time will come when you will worship the Father neither at Jerusalem nor on your mountain. You Samaritans are ignorant of the god you worship, but we of Judea know the god we worship. The salvation of man will come through the tribe of Judah. The time will come -- indeed, it has come now -- when true believers will worship the Father sincerely with their spirit, for they are the kind of worshipers God desires. God is of the spirit and must be worshiped sincerely with the spirit."
"I know that the Messiah they call the Christ is coming. When he does, he will explain everything to us."
"But I am he, the very one speaking to you!" Jesus announced.
At that moment, the disciples returned and were quite surprised to see that Jesus was talking to a woman. No one dared question him, though, "What do you want with that woman?" or "Why are you talking to her?"
The woman left her water jar beside the well and hurried back to town to tell her people, "Come and see the man who told me everything I've done in my life! Could he possibly be the Messiah?" And so the people left the town and came out to see him.
Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, "Rabbi, please, have something to eat."
"I partake of a food you know nothing about, " he told them.
The disciples asked each other, "How could someone have brought him any food?"
Jesus then explained to them. "My sustenance is doing the will of him that sent me and accomplishing his mission. You are familiar with the adage, 'Four months between planting and harvest.' I say, take a good look at the fields, they're ready for harvesting now! The harvester is already being paid to take in the crop of everlasting life, so that the planter and the harvester may celebrate together. Here, the adage holds true: 'one plants and another harvests.' For I send you to harvest what you have not planted. Others have done that work so you might enjoy the fruits of their labor."
Many Samaritans from the town believed in him because of the woman's declaration, "He told me everything I've done in my life." When they came to see him, they invited Jesus to stay with them. He remained there for two days. During that time many more came to believe in him when they heard his message. These people told the woman, "It is no longer only because what you said that we believe. We have now heard for ourselves and realize that he is indeed the Savior of the World."
Notes
1. Judea has apparently become too hot for Jesus. His success has attracted too much attention, and he is fearful that the Pharisees, who disapprove of him, will cause him trouble. Therefore, he decides to leave Judea and return to his homeland of Galilee, a northward journey that take him through Samaria, the third sub-province or toparchy of the Roman Iudaea. Jesus, at least at this point, does not pursue a strategy of confrontation with authority. He presumably will not alter his message or back down to ingratiate himself with the Pharisaical authorities, but he can place himself out of their reach or at least out of their sight. Most Galileans practiced the Jewish religion, but there were many areas, including large cities, that had been Hellenized and where the deities of the Greeks and Romans were worshiped. As a result, Galilee had a reputation for greater tolerance and diversity than Samaria or Judea. And its ruler at that time, Herod Antipas, a son of King Herod the Great, exercised a considerable degree of autonomy from Rome and from the religious authorities in Jerusalem.
2. Interesting that Jesus reportedly performed no baptisms himself, but had his disciples do the work for him.
3. The Samaritan woman identifies Jesus as a Judean, which is incorrect: he is a Galilean. Her mistake is probably do to the fact that Jesus and his disciples have come from Judea. At any rate, the point is hereby made that Samaritans and Judeans have little use for one another and, while both practice the Jehovan, or Jewish religion, their customs differ. Judeans regarded the Samaritans as heretics at best, pagans at worst. There is a history of animosity between the two regions dating back to when the Israel of David and Solomon was divided north and south. Jesus, who does not offer to deny that he is a Judean, supports a Judean point of view. (Jesus would, in fact, often be referred to as a Judean and would even call himself a Judean, as a member of the tribe of Judah. --- The term “Jew” did not really exist at this time.) Jesus seems to deny the Samaritans the right to worship either at Jerusalem or at Mount Gerizim and condemns them for knowing nothing about the god they worship. This is a serious slight and seems a gratuitous put down of the Samaritans from one who is a guest in their country. But it allows Jesus to mention the prophecy that the Messiah will come from the tribe of Judah, from which his father Joseph was descended. (This is a questionable, if not specious interpretation of a line from the 49th Chapter of Genesis; Jacob’s blessing upon Judah was always assumed to refer to King David, a descendant of Judah.)
4. The tendency of Jesus to speak symbolically, metaphorically is consistently lost on his audience. The Samaritan woman thinks the “life-giving water" is a beverage she can drink. His disciples, no less literal minded, think the food their rabbi is speaking of is physical and not spiritual sustenance. Jesus is a bit too deep!
5. The disciples are told they are harvesters, in a metaphorical, spiritual sense. Their task is to convert the population, which is ripe for conversion. The ground work for this has been laid by others. By what others? It is unclear what Jesus means by this. If they are the harvesters, who are the planters with whom they will celebrate? Perhaps he means all the prophets who have come before.
6. Jesus again reveals his preternatural abilities when he tells the Samaritan woman, a stranger, the details of her private life -- five former husbands and currently shacking up with a man to whom she is not married. (He refrains from condemning her for this.) This is sufficient to convince her and the townspeople that Jesus could be the Messiah. When the Samaritans talk to Jesus themselves and hear his message, they are thoroughly convinced. This must be the Messiah, they conclude. At their invitation, Jesus tarries there for a couple days, not really very long considering he had made such a big hit with the local populace, (even while he trashed their religious practices). Still, one imagines he is anxious to go back home to Galilee.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
The Two Baptists
(Gospel of John 3:22- 3:36)
After this, Jesus left Jerusalem with his disciples and spent some time with them in the countryside of Judea, where he performed many baptisms. Meanwhile, John was also baptizing, in Aenon, near Salim, for there was plenty of water there and the people kept coming to him to be baptized. (This was, of course, before he had been imprisoned.)
A debate arose between some of John's disciples and a certain Judean concerning ritual purification. The disciples then came to John and told him, "Rabbi, the man who was with you across the Jordan, the one you pointed out to us as being the Messiah, he’s here, performing baptisms. Everyone is going to him."
John replied, "One can receive only what has been given to him by God. You are witness to my declaration, 'I am not the Messiah, but am only to herald his coming.' It is the groom who marries the bride. The best man is content to stand at his side and listen to him. He feels joy when he hears the voice of the groom speaking the wedding vows. Similarly, I now feel complete joy at his success. He must become more important and more popular, as I become less so."
He who has come to us from the spiritual realm is exalted above all. We are of the material world and can speak only of material things, while he who has come from the spiritual realm is greater than any of us. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one credits his testimony. But whoever does, may affirm the truth of God’s message. For the messenger sent by God speaks the words of God and has been endowed fully with his divine spirit. The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his charge. Anyone who believes in the Father's Son will enjoy everlasting life, while those who reject him will never do so, but will incur God's wrathful condemnation.
Notes
1. Aenon’s location is not specifically known; it was probably a place of many springs far enough west of the Jordan River that the presence of much water was necessary for baptisms. It would have been about half way between the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee, in Samaria, which lies between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, north of Judea and south of Galilee. Samaria, comprising the ancient Kingdom of Israel, was one of the semi-autonomous toparchies of the Roman province of Iudaea, the other being Galilee to the north and Judea to the south.
2. Both John the Baptist and Jesus are doing a land- office business baptizing people who come to them. The baptismal procedure is not here described, although obviously it consisted of immersion in water. Whether it involved any confession, profession of belief, or resolution to lead a reformed life is not clear. The large number of people coming to be baptized indicates that there must have been at that time widespread dissatisfaction with conventional religious practices.
3. John's disciples argue about ritual purification with a Judean or Judeans, but the substance of the disagreement is not given. The Judean (this is a more accurate translation than “Jew”) was apparently the one who informed them about Jesus being in the vicinity baptizing. There might have been some rivalry, even jealousy between the two baptists, but John, believing Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of God, cedes precedence. Aware of his role merely to herald the coming Messiah, he resigns himself to the inevitability of his waning importance and popularity.
4. We have a reiteration of a primary theme of the Gospel of John, that everlasting life is achieved through belief in Jesus the Messiah and that rejection of him results in divine condemnation. It asserts that Jesus is divine. Also emphasized is the authority given to Jesus by his Father, specifically the authority to grant everlasting life to believers.
After this, Jesus left Jerusalem with his disciples and spent some time with them in the countryside of Judea, where he performed many baptisms. Meanwhile, John was also baptizing, in Aenon, near Salim, for there was plenty of water there and the people kept coming to him to be baptized. (This was, of course, before he had been imprisoned.)
A debate arose between some of John's disciples and a certain Judean concerning ritual purification. The disciples then came to John and told him, "Rabbi, the man who was with you across the Jordan, the one you pointed out to us as being the Messiah, he’s here, performing baptisms. Everyone is going to him."
John replied, "One can receive only what has been given to him by God. You are witness to my declaration, 'I am not the Messiah, but am only to herald his coming.' It is the groom who marries the bride. The best man is content to stand at his side and listen to him. He feels joy when he hears the voice of the groom speaking the wedding vows. Similarly, I now feel complete joy at his success. He must become more important and more popular, as I become less so."
He who has come to us from the spiritual realm is exalted above all. We are of the material world and can speak only of material things, while he who has come from the spiritual realm is greater than any of us. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one credits his testimony. But whoever does, may affirm the truth of God’s message. For the messenger sent by God speaks the words of God and has been endowed fully with his divine spirit. The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his charge. Anyone who believes in the Father's Son will enjoy everlasting life, while those who reject him will never do so, but will incur God's wrathful condemnation.
Notes
1. Aenon’s location is not specifically known; it was probably a place of many springs far enough west of the Jordan River that the presence of much water was necessary for baptisms. It would have been about half way between the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee, in Samaria, which lies between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, north of Judea and south of Galilee. Samaria, comprising the ancient Kingdom of Israel, was one of the semi-autonomous toparchies of the Roman province of Iudaea, the other being Galilee to the north and Judea to the south.
2. Both John the Baptist and Jesus are doing a land- office business baptizing people who come to them. The baptismal procedure is not here described, although obviously it consisted of immersion in water. Whether it involved any confession, profession of belief, or resolution to lead a reformed life is not clear. The large number of people coming to be baptized indicates that there must have been at that time widespread dissatisfaction with conventional religious practices.
3. John's disciples argue about ritual purification with a Judean or Judeans, but the substance of the disagreement is not given. The Judean (this is a more accurate translation than “Jew”) was apparently the one who informed them about Jesus being in the vicinity baptizing. There might have been some rivalry, even jealousy between the two baptists, but John, believing Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of God, cedes precedence. Aware of his role merely to herald the coming Messiah, he resigns himself to the inevitability of his waning importance and popularity.
4. We have a reiteration of a primary theme of the Gospel of John, that everlasting life is achieved through belief in Jesus the Messiah and that rejection of him results in divine condemnation. It asserts that Jesus is divine. Also emphasized is the authority given to Jesus by his Father, specifically the authority to grant everlasting life to believers.
Monday, May 12, 2014
The Instruction of Nicodemus
(Gospel of John 3:1-3:21)
There was a man named Nicodemus who was a Jewish religious leader and a member of the Pharisee sect. He visited Jesus one evening after dark and said this to him, "Rabbi, I know that you must be sent by God to teach us, for you would not be able to perform the miracles you do without God's help."
Jesus replied, "I tell you truly that unless you are spiritually reborn, you cannot have experience of the spiritual realm."
Nicodemus disputed this, "How can an adult be reborn? Can someone reenter his mother's womb and be born again?"
Jesus answered, "I assure you, no one can enter the spiritual realm without being born of water and spirit. What is born in the physical world is merely physical, but what is born in the spiritual world will be spiritual in nature. Don't be surprised by what I'm telling you: all of you must be spiritually reborn. ... The wind blows where it wills. You may hear the sound of it, but you know not whence it comes or whither it goes. So it is with all those who are spiritually reborn."
"How can these things be?" questioned Nicodemus.
"What? You're a respected teacher of the Jewish religion, and yet you don't possess an understanding of these things? ... I tell you with certainty of what we know and what we have seen, and yet your people dismiss the testimony. If you won't believe me when I speak of material things, how will you believe me when I speak of spiritual things? ... Indeed, no one has visited the abode of God, except he who departed there to come to earth -- the Son of Man. ... As Moses raised up the bronze snake on a pole when he was in the desert, so must the Son of Man be raised up in order that those who believe in him will, because of him, enjoy life everlasting."
Because God so greatly loved the world, he sacrificed to it his only son, so that those who believe in him may not die, but may achieve life everlasting. God did not send his only son to earth to condemn the world, but to furnish the means to save it. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but those who do not believe are already condemned, because they have refused to place their trust in the good name of God's only son. Such is the condemnation: Light has come into the world, but the people prefer darkness to light because their deeds are evil. Those who do evil hate the light and, afraid that their deeds will become exposed, shun it. But whoever conducts his life honestly will come into the light, so his deeds, done in accordance with God’s will, can be clearly seen.
Notes
1. Nicodemus, a religious leader and a Pharisee (a sect that advocated meticulous conformity to Old Testament traditions); he probably held a seat on the Sanhedrin, a ruling council that advised the Roman occupiers. He visits Jesus, but only after it is dark. This suggests that his visit is in secret and that he is fearful his recognition of Jesus as a someone sent by God would not meet with the approval of his colleagues. (It is interesting that Nicodemus believes that Jesus is divinely inspired not because of his message, his teachings, but because of the miracles he is able to perform.) The evening call might have a symbolic interpretation as well, that Nicodemus is coming from a place of ignorance, the darkness. This is very likely since the analogy of light and darkness is picked up later.
2. Jesus introduces the concept of spiritual rebirth (being born again) as a requisite for entering the spiritual realm (the Kingdom of Heaven, a vague and ambiguous translation I have eschewed). Born of water refers to the natural, physical birth. He tells Nicodemus that even his people, the religious leaders, must be reborn of spirit. But what constitutes spiritual rebirth is not yet articulated. On this matter Jesus makes no effort to enlighten the obtuse Nicodemus, who is still stuck on the idea of rebirth as something purely physical. --- The metaphor of the wind is a play on words, the Greek word pneuma meaning both spirit and wind, (perhaps more appropriate than in English, where "spirit" in the plural refers to hard liquor).
3. Nicodemus, very literal-minded for a man of religion, seems clueless in understanding the concepts of spirituality that Jesus touches upon in their conversation. Jesus is rightly appalled by his ignorance. There is an untold back story here. Apparently Nicodemus' colleagues, the Pharisees, or perhaps the entire Jewish religious establishment, have already rejected the message that Jesus and his disciples are bringing. Jesus is obviously more than a little miffed by the rejection. He complains that they won't believe or try to understand anything he has to say, even about non-spiritual matters.
4. The teachings conveyed to Nicodemus do not seem really part of a single argument, but discreet thoughts. Therefore, for clarity, I have separated them with dots.
5. The abode of God (I am avoiding the term heaven, whose meaning is imprecise -- sometimes it means the sky.) is a place that no man has visited. Only the Son of Man, that is, Jesus, has been there, because that is his place of origin (as Logos). The commonly held Christian view that good Christians go to Heaven after death is hardly consistent with this statement by Jesus.
6. Jesus alludes to his crucifixion by saying that he must be raised up as Moses raised up a bronze snake on a pole. The raising up is probably also metaphorical, an exaltation. This raising up (crucifixion) and exaltation is necessary so that his believers can achieve everlasting life.
7. I prefer the term everlasting life to eternal life. "Eternal" means existing in the eternity of the past as well as the future, while "everlasting" suggests existence only from a certain point onward, the future eternity, but not necessarily the past. --- Jesus is promising everlasting life on the condition of belief; no other condition is yet imposed.
8. Jesus' purpose in coming to earth and becoming incarnated as a man is not to save the world per se, but to furnish the means (his death and martyrdom) by which the world, that is, its people, may be saved and not condemned (presumably to death). Those who will not believe (as opposed to those who merely do not believe) are condemned, or rather, they have condemned themselves.
9. The analogy of light and darkness is again presented, but awkwardly. One expects the light that comes into the world to be spiritual revelation, which is rejected by evil doers who prefer ignorance, darkness. The metaphor here does not quite have this meaning. In this analogy, the light is not revelation, wisdom or even goodness, but rather the kind of enlightenment that allows one to appraise clearly human actions, to see people and the world as they really are. The good conduct their lives openly and honestly and, therefore, welcome the light that allows everyone, even God, to see and judge their actions, while the evil must act in secret, in darkness, to hide their evil deeds.
10. Many translations have the last paragraph of this chapter as a part of Jesus' dialogue, but it seems evident that this is the author of John speaking and not Jesus himself.
There was a man named Nicodemus who was a Jewish religious leader and a member of the Pharisee sect. He visited Jesus one evening after dark and said this to him, "Rabbi, I know that you must be sent by God to teach us, for you would not be able to perform the miracles you do without God's help."
Jesus replied, "I tell you truly that unless you are spiritually reborn, you cannot have experience of the spiritual realm."
Nicodemus disputed this, "How can an adult be reborn? Can someone reenter his mother's womb and be born again?"
Jesus answered, "I assure you, no one can enter the spiritual realm without being born of water and spirit. What is born in the physical world is merely physical, but what is born in the spiritual world will be spiritual in nature. Don't be surprised by what I'm telling you: all of you must be spiritually reborn. ... The wind blows where it wills. You may hear the sound of it, but you know not whence it comes or whither it goes. So it is with all those who are spiritually reborn."
"How can these things be?" questioned Nicodemus.
"What? You're a respected teacher of the Jewish religion, and yet you don't possess an understanding of these things? ... I tell you with certainty of what we know and what we have seen, and yet your people dismiss the testimony. If you won't believe me when I speak of material things, how will you believe me when I speak of spiritual things? ... Indeed, no one has visited the abode of God, except he who departed there to come to earth -- the Son of Man. ... As Moses raised up the bronze snake on a pole when he was in the desert, so must the Son of Man be raised up in order that those who believe in him will, because of him, enjoy life everlasting."
Because God so greatly loved the world, he sacrificed to it his only son, so that those who believe in him may not die, but may achieve life everlasting. God did not send his only son to earth to condemn the world, but to furnish the means to save it. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but those who do not believe are already condemned, because they have refused to place their trust in the good name of God's only son. Such is the condemnation: Light has come into the world, but the people prefer darkness to light because their deeds are evil. Those who do evil hate the light and, afraid that their deeds will become exposed, shun it. But whoever conducts his life honestly will come into the light, so his deeds, done in accordance with God’s will, can be clearly seen.
Notes
1. Nicodemus, a religious leader and a Pharisee (a sect that advocated meticulous conformity to Old Testament traditions); he probably held a seat on the Sanhedrin, a ruling council that advised the Roman occupiers. He visits Jesus, but only after it is dark. This suggests that his visit is in secret and that he is fearful his recognition of Jesus as a someone sent by God would not meet with the approval of his colleagues. (It is interesting that Nicodemus believes that Jesus is divinely inspired not because of his message, his teachings, but because of the miracles he is able to perform.) The evening call might have a symbolic interpretation as well, that Nicodemus is coming from a place of ignorance, the darkness. This is very likely since the analogy of light and darkness is picked up later.
2. Jesus introduces the concept of spiritual rebirth (being born again) as a requisite for entering the spiritual realm (the Kingdom of Heaven, a vague and ambiguous translation I have eschewed). Born of water refers to the natural, physical birth. He tells Nicodemus that even his people, the religious leaders, must be reborn of spirit. But what constitutes spiritual rebirth is not yet articulated. On this matter Jesus makes no effort to enlighten the obtuse Nicodemus, who is still stuck on the idea of rebirth as something purely physical. --- The metaphor of the wind is a play on words, the Greek word pneuma meaning both spirit and wind, (perhaps more appropriate than in English, where "spirit" in the plural refers to hard liquor).
3. Nicodemus, very literal-minded for a man of religion, seems clueless in understanding the concepts of spirituality that Jesus touches upon in their conversation. Jesus is rightly appalled by his ignorance. There is an untold back story here. Apparently Nicodemus' colleagues, the Pharisees, or perhaps the entire Jewish religious establishment, have already rejected the message that Jesus and his disciples are bringing. Jesus is obviously more than a little miffed by the rejection. He complains that they won't believe or try to understand anything he has to say, even about non-spiritual matters.
4. The teachings conveyed to Nicodemus do not seem really part of a single argument, but discreet thoughts. Therefore, for clarity, I have separated them with dots.
5. The abode of God (I am avoiding the term heaven, whose meaning is imprecise -- sometimes it means the sky.) is a place that no man has visited. Only the Son of Man, that is, Jesus, has been there, because that is his place of origin (as Logos). The commonly held Christian view that good Christians go to Heaven after death is hardly consistent with this statement by Jesus.
6. Jesus alludes to his crucifixion by saying that he must be raised up as Moses raised up a bronze snake on a pole. The raising up is probably also metaphorical, an exaltation. This raising up (crucifixion) and exaltation is necessary so that his believers can achieve everlasting life.
7. I prefer the term everlasting life to eternal life. "Eternal" means existing in the eternity of the past as well as the future, while "everlasting" suggests existence only from a certain point onward, the future eternity, but not necessarily the past. --- Jesus is promising everlasting life on the condition of belief; no other condition is yet imposed.
8. Jesus' purpose in coming to earth and becoming incarnated as a man is not to save the world per se, but to furnish the means (his death and martyrdom) by which the world, that is, its people, may be saved and not condemned (presumably to death). Those who will not believe (as opposed to those who merely do not believe) are condemned, or rather, they have condemned themselves.
9. The analogy of light and darkness is again presented, but awkwardly. One expects the light that comes into the world to be spiritual revelation, which is rejected by evil doers who prefer ignorance, darkness. The metaphor here does not quite have this meaning. In this analogy, the light is not revelation, wisdom or even goodness, but rather the kind of enlightenment that allows one to appraise clearly human actions, to see people and the world as they really are. The good conduct their lives openly and honestly and, therefore, welcome the light that allows everyone, even God, to see and judge their actions, while the evil must act in secret, in darkness, to hide their evil deeds.
10. Many translations have the last paragraph of this chapter as a part of Jesus' dialogue, but it seems evident that this is the author of John speaking and not Jesus himself.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Jesus in the Temple
(Gospel of John 2:13 - 2:25)
As the time for the celebration of the Passover was approaching, Jesus traveled to Jerusalem. There, in the very courtyard of the Temple, he found merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices. He also saw tables set up by brokers engaged in the business of currency exchange. Out of some lengths of rope, Jesus made himself a whip and, with it, he drove out all the cattle and the sheep and cleared the area around the Temple. He scattered the brokers' coins and upset their tables. Next, he accosted those who were selling the doves and ordered them, "Get these things out of here! Quit turning the house of my Father into a marketplace!" (This made his disciples remember a passage in scripture: “A passion to protect God's house consumes me.”)
In reaction, the religious authorities demanded, “What miracle are you going to present to us to justify doing this?”
Jesus declared, "Tear this Temple down, and in 3 days time I will raise it up."
The religious authorities responded, "This Temple took 46 years to build, and you tell us you can rebuild it in only 3 days?"
But the temple that Jesus was speaking of was the temple of his own body. After he had risen from the dead, his disciples recalled this exchange and consequently concluded that the passage in scripture referred to this pronouncement made by Jesus.
While he was in Jerusalem during the time of the Passover celebrations, many people became devotees of Jesus when they witnessed the miracles he was performing. Jesus, though, being well acquainted with human nature, was wary of them. (Indeed, he needed no one to tell him about men, for he knew what was in every man's heart.)
Notes
1. As a reformist, Jesus objects to and is strongly offended by the commercialization of religion and regards business conducted on the premises of the Temple as sacrilege, a violation of its sanctity. Here, for the first time in this Gospel, he calls himself the Son of God (earlier he assumed the title Son of Man). And he takes it upon himself to act in the interests of his father and forcibly to expel those who have set up shop in the Temple confines. His actions are those of a vigilante. He does not complain to the authorities or demand that they take action. He does not arouse popular support for his position. Or petition the government. No, he, a decisive, perhaps impulsive man of action, makes himself a whip and takes action on his own. (There is no reference to his disciples helping him, though they were apparently witnesses.) The justification he gives to the religious authorities could scarcely have been satisfying to them. It is a wonder his actions, comprising destruction of personal property and probably assault, did not land him in the clink. They did, of course, give him a certain reputation.
2. There is no implication that selling animals for sacrifice or making currency exchanges are illegitimate enterprises, only that they should not conducted in or around a house of worship. Business and religion should be separate.
3. In the Gospels, Jewish religious authorities are continually referred to as "the Jews." (One can't help thinking that this is an early manifestation of anti-Semitism, a curse upon the people responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus.) It is inaccurate and misleading to refer to them as "the Jews" since every person in the Gospels, bar Pontius Pilate, is a Jew, including, of course, Jesus. There was, though, an effort to divorce Christianity from Judaism, beginning at an early date. The authors of the Gospels, writing decades after the crucifixion, wanted to distance Jesus from Judaic orthodoxy, if not from the Jewish nation. Early, as well as later Christianity assayed to de-Jew Jesus and, as Christianity spread to many peoples who shared few traditions with the Jews or even Middle Eastern cultures, it had an interest in doing so. Later, the Jews, as an entire people, would be demonized as the facilitators of Jesus' execution (ignoring the fact that without his crucifixion there would be no Christianity).
4. The prophecy sited comes from the 69th Psalm.
5. Construction of the Temple of Herod was known to have begun in 20 B.C. Therefore, the actions recorded here occurred in 27 A.D.
As the time for the celebration of the Passover was approaching, Jesus traveled to Jerusalem. There, in the very courtyard of the Temple, he found merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices. He also saw tables set up by brokers engaged in the business of currency exchange. Out of some lengths of rope, Jesus made himself a whip and, with it, he drove out all the cattle and the sheep and cleared the area around the Temple. He scattered the brokers' coins and upset their tables. Next, he accosted those who were selling the doves and ordered them, "Get these things out of here! Quit turning the house of my Father into a marketplace!" (This made his disciples remember a passage in scripture: “A passion to protect God's house consumes me.”)
In reaction, the religious authorities demanded, “What miracle are you going to present to us to justify doing this?”
Jesus declared, "Tear this Temple down, and in 3 days time I will raise it up."
The religious authorities responded, "This Temple took 46 years to build, and you tell us you can rebuild it in only 3 days?"
But the temple that Jesus was speaking of was the temple of his own body. After he had risen from the dead, his disciples recalled this exchange and consequently concluded that the passage in scripture referred to this pronouncement made by Jesus.
While he was in Jerusalem during the time of the Passover celebrations, many people became devotees of Jesus when they witnessed the miracles he was performing. Jesus, though, being well acquainted with human nature, was wary of them. (Indeed, he needed no one to tell him about men, for he knew what was in every man's heart.)
Notes
1. As a reformist, Jesus objects to and is strongly offended by the commercialization of religion and regards business conducted on the premises of the Temple as sacrilege, a violation of its sanctity. Here, for the first time in this Gospel, he calls himself the Son of God (earlier he assumed the title Son of Man). And he takes it upon himself to act in the interests of his father and forcibly to expel those who have set up shop in the Temple confines. His actions are those of a vigilante. He does not complain to the authorities or demand that they take action. He does not arouse popular support for his position. Or petition the government. No, he, a decisive, perhaps impulsive man of action, makes himself a whip and takes action on his own. (There is no reference to his disciples helping him, though they were apparently witnesses.) The justification he gives to the religious authorities could scarcely have been satisfying to them. It is a wonder his actions, comprising destruction of personal property and probably assault, did not land him in the clink. They did, of course, give him a certain reputation.
2. There is no implication that selling animals for sacrifice or making currency exchanges are illegitimate enterprises, only that they should not conducted in or around a house of worship. Business and religion should be separate.
3. In the Gospels, Jewish religious authorities are continually referred to as "the Jews." (One can't help thinking that this is an early manifestation of anti-Semitism, a curse upon the people responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus.) It is inaccurate and misleading to refer to them as "the Jews" since every person in the Gospels, bar Pontius Pilate, is a Jew, including, of course, Jesus. There was, though, an effort to divorce Christianity from Judaism, beginning at an early date. The authors of the Gospels, writing decades after the crucifixion, wanted to distance Jesus from Judaic orthodoxy, if not from the Jewish nation. Early, as well as later Christianity assayed to de-Jew Jesus and, as Christianity spread to many peoples who shared few traditions with the Jews or even Middle Eastern cultures, it had an interest in doing so. Later, the Jews, as an entire people, would be demonized as the facilitators of Jesus' execution (ignoring the fact that without his crucifixion there would be no Christianity).
4. The prophecy sited comes from the 69th Psalm.
5. Construction of the Temple of Herod was known to have begun in 20 B.C. Therefore, the actions recorded here occurred in 27 A.D.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
The Wedding at Cana
(Gospel of John 2:1 - 2:12)
Two days later there was a wedding feast in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was in attendance and Jesus himself, as well as his disciples, had been invited to the festivities.
When the supply of wine gave out, Jesus' mother informed him, "They have no wine left!"
Jesus responded, "My dear woman, of what concern is that to us? ... My time has not yet come!"
But his mother bid the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
There happened to be standing nearby six stone jars of the type that were used to hold water for Jewish ritual ablutions. (Each had a capacity of from 18 to 27 gallons.) Jesus told the servants, "Fill the jars with water," and they filled them to the brim. "Now draw out some of the water and take it to the steward." They did what he had told them.
When the steward tasted the water, he found that it was now -- wine! He had no idea where it had come from, (though the servants who had drawn the water knew). The steward took the bridegroom aside and remarked, "Hosts generally serve the good wine first and cheaper wine later, after everybody’s had a few. But you have saved the best till now."
This miracle, performed in Cana in Galilee, marked the first time that Jesus had manifested his divine power. And because of it his disciples put their faith in him.
After the wedding, Jesus, accompanied by his mother, his brothers, and his disciples journeyed to Capernaum, where they stayed a few days.
Notes
1. Jesus, his mother, and disciples attend a wedding in Cana. We are not told who the bridegroom is, but he would probably have been a relative or a friend of Jesus' family, and someone of sufficient means to host an ample feast. He and his steward, though, are remiss in furnishing a sufficient supply of wine for the guests, an egregious faux pas. This provides the opportunity for Jesus to perform his first miracle, turning water to wine. Use of his magical powers allows his host to save face and furthers the consumption, if not over consumption, of alcohol. On the surface, is this really the best use of his powers, the most fitting debut to his career as a miracle worker?
2. The interchange between Jesus and his mother (she is not identified as Mary) is enigmatic. The mother mentions that the supply of wine has given out, but her son dismisses it as a matter of no concern to them, it being the responsibility of the host and his servants to make sure everyone has enough to drink. She seems to expect that her son will do something about it. Then he remarks, "My time has not yet come," What does he mean? We can only infer, less from the context than from what will later ensue, that he is not ready to reveal himself as the Messiah by working any miracles. His mother (the ultimate stage mother?) must give him a nudge. She goads him to make a miracle and come out of the closet, so to speak. She, therefore, must have been aware of his powers, aware of his true identity. (Had Jesus been practicing miracles around the house?) Far from desiring to show off, Jesus seems reluctant to do what he does and, it would seem, turns the water to wine only to please his mother. He takes no credit for it, yet his disciples and others are aware of what he had done. And this, according to John, comprises his coming out as miracle worker and Messiah.
3. Looking deeper into the water-into-wine miracle, one can easily see the symbolism in the account. The jars to be filled with water are connected with religious worship. The water turned into wine represents God transformed into man. The transformed water is the last and the best of the wine, as Jesus is to be the last and the best of the prophets. This incident, significantly, is not recounted by any of the other Gospel writers, surprising if it were actually Jesus' first documented miracle. It is presented here to evidence the divinity of Jesus, which John ardently contends. The miracle may be authentic or thought by the authors to be so -- but perhaps not: adding a fictional miracle or two in the interest of proving a point and promoting belief may have seen morally justified to the authors. It is also possible, perhaps most likely, that the account was not intended to be taken literally; the authors may have felt that the story, due to its symbolic significance, merited inclusion in the narrative. (It must always be remembered that the Gospels were written not as historical accounts, but as religious propaganda.)
4. Jesus attends the wedding with his mother. We may, therefore, assume that Jesus is not married and that his father Joseph is deceased. Indeed, few of the figures in the Gospels ever seem to have wives. Yet, in Jewish society at that time marriage was all but mandatory and matches were made at any early age. A bachelor didn't have much standing; even rabbis were expected to be married. It is likely, though, that among many of the religious sects prevalent at that time, men and women remained single and celibate, as would members of most future Christian orders, including the Catholic clergy (although this prohibition would not be strictly enforced until the 11th Century -- the First Lateran Council of 1123). However, if Jesus were a carpenter (or mason), a craftsman, a skilled artisan, perhaps, the inheritor of his father's business, it seems certain that he would be expected to marry, at least after he had established himself professionally. The fact that he has not done so may be excused by the fact that he is still young. There is also the possibility that he cannot yet afford to marry, because his father is not alive to pay the requisite bride price. Or maybe Jesus is considered of illegitimate birth by the community and is therefore a poor matrimonial prospect. (This is negated by the assertion of Philip that Jesus is the son of Joseph, though this could mean “stepson”. The fact that he was socially acceptable enough to be invited to the wedding also militates against this explanation.) And there is the possibility that Jesus may have been indeed married, but that a wife was considered an inconvenient irrelevancy or an embarrassment to Gospel writers who wrote her out of the narrative in the way Hollywood screenwriters excise dramatically superfluous characters from biopics. The canonical Gospel texts shed no light at all on this matter, however, and it must remain an subject of speculation.
5. Even in this brief scene with his mother, there is the impression that Jesus is a young man, certainly no older than early twenties, and not, as is always assumed, a man in his late thirties, which would, at that time, be middle age. If he is really a man in his middle 30’s, then one is faced with the question, “what had he done with himself for the 15 or 20 years of his early maturity.” If he were the Messiah, why would he waste most of his manhood in manual labor? If he was capable of performing miracles, would he wait so long to reveal himself? Why would his mother, who already seems kinda pushy, wait until her son is middle aged until she coaxed him to fulfill himself and his destiny? Or why would a man of such obvious greatness find his calling only in mid life? (This universally accepted older age for Jesus is based entirely upon the Gospel nativity stories, which are, without a doubt, entirely fabulous and should, therefore, be dismissed as chronological guides to his biography.)
6. Cana was probably a small village near Nazareth, It has never been positively identified. Capernaum was a fishing town on the north coast of the Sea of Galilee, northeast of Nazareth.
Two days later there was a wedding feast in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was in attendance and Jesus himself, as well as his disciples, had been invited to the festivities.
When the supply of wine gave out, Jesus' mother informed him, "They have no wine left!"
Jesus responded, "My dear woman, of what concern is that to us? ... My time has not yet come!"
But his mother bid the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
There happened to be standing nearby six stone jars of the type that were used to hold water for Jewish ritual ablutions. (Each had a capacity of from 18 to 27 gallons.) Jesus told the servants, "Fill the jars with water," and they filled them to the brim. "Now draw out some of the water and take it to the steward." They did what he had told them.
When the steward tasted the water, he found that it was now -- wine! He had no idea where it had come from, (though the servants who had drawn the water knew). The steward took the bridegroom aside and remarked, "Hosts generally serve the good wine first and cheaper wine later, after everybody’s had a few. But you have saved the best till now."
This miracle, performed in Cana in Galilee, marked the first time that Jesus had manifested his divine power. And because of it his disciples put their faith in him.
After the wedding, Jesus, accompanied by his mother, his brothers, and his disciples journeyed to Capernaum, where they stayed a few days.
Notes
1. Jesus, his mother, and disciples attend a wedding in Cana. We are not told who the bridegroom is, but he would probably have been a relative or a friend of Jesus' family, and someone of sufficient means to host an ample feast. He and his steward, though, are remiss in furnishing a sufficient supply of wine for the guests, an egregious faux pas. This provides the opportunity for Jesus to perform his first miracle, turning water to wine. Use of his magical powers allows his host to save face and furthers the consumption, if not over consumption, of alcohol. On the surface, is this really the best use of his powers, the most fitting debut to his career as a miracle worker?
2. The interchange between Jesus and his mother (she is not identified as Mary) is enigmatic. The mother mentions that the supply of wine has given out, but her son dismisses it as a matter of no concern to them, it being the responsibility of the host and his servants to make sure everyone has enough to drink. She seems to expect that her son will do something about it. Then he remarks, "My time has not yet come," What does he mean? We can only infer, less from the context than from what will later ensue, that he is not ready to reveal himself as the Messiah by working any miracles. His mother (the ultimate stage mother?) must give him a nudge. She goads him to make a miracle and come out of the closet, so to speak. She, therefore, must have been aware of his powers, aware of his true identity. (Had Jesus been practicing miracles around the house?) Far from desiring to show off, Jesus seems reluctant to do what he does and, it would seem, turns the water to wine only to please his mother. He takes no credit for it, yet his disciples and others are aware of what he had done. And this, according to John, comprises his coming out as miracle worker and Messiah.
3. Looking deeper into the water-into-wine miracle, one can easily see the symbolism in the account. The jars to be filled with water are connected with religious worship. The water turned into wine represents God transformed into man. The transformed water is the last and the best of the wine, as Jesus is to be the last and the best of the prophets. This incident, significantly, is not recounted by any of the other Gospel writers, surprising if it were actually Jesus' first documented miracle. It is presented here to evidence the divinity of Jesus, which John ardently contends. The miracle may be authentic or thought by the authors to be so -- but perhaps not: adding a fictional miracle or two in the interest of proving a point and promoting belief may have seen morally justified to the authors. It is also possible, perhaps most likely, that the account was not intended to be taken literally; the authors may have felt that the story, due to its symbolic significance, merited inclusion in the narrative. (It must always be remembered that the Gospels were written not as historical accounts, but as religious propaganda.)
4. Jesus attends the wedding with his mother. We may, therefore, assume that Jesus is not married and that his father Joseph is deceased. Indeed, few of the figures in the Gospels ever seem to have wives. Yet, in Jewish society at that time marriage was all but mandatory and matches were made at any early age. A bachelor didn't have much standing; even rabbis were expected to be married. It is likely, though, that among many of the religious sects prevalent at that time, men and women remained single and celibate, as would members of most future Christian orders, including the Catholic clergy (although this prohibition would not be strictly enforced until the 11th Century -- the First Lateran Council of 1123). However, if Jesus were a carpenter (or mason), a craftsman, a skilled artisan, perhaps, the inheritor of his father's business, it seems certain that he would be expected to marry, at least after he had established himself professionally. The fact that he has not done so may be excused by the fact that he is still young. There is also the possibility that he cannot yet afford to marry, because his father is not alive to pay the requisite bride price. Or maybe Jesus is considered of illegitimate birth by the community and is therefore a poor matrimonial prospect. (This is negated by the assertion of Philip that Jesus is the son of Joseph, though this could mean “stepson”. The fact that he was socially acceptable enough to be invited to the wedding also militates against this explanation.) And there is the possibility that Jesus may have been indeed married, but that a wife was considered an inconvenient irrelevancy or an embarrassment to Gospel writers who wrote her out of the narrative in the way Hollywood screenwriters excise dramatically superfluous characters from biopics. The canonical Gospel texts shed no light at all on this matter, however, and it must remain an subject of speculation.
5. Even in this brief scene with his mother, there is the impression that Jesus is a young man, certainly no older than early twenties, and not, as is always assumed, a man in his late thirties, which would, at that time, be middle age. If he is really a man in his middle 30’s, then one is faced with the question, “what had he done with himself for the 15 or 20 years of his early maturity.” If he were the Messiah, why would he waste most of his manhood in manual labor? If he was capable of performing miracles, would he wait so long to reveal himself? Why would his mother, who already seems kinda pushy, wait until her son is middle aged until she coaxed him to fulfill himself and his destiny? Or why would a man of such obvious greatness find his calling only in mid life? (This universally accepted older age for Jesus is based entirely upon the Gospel nativity stories, which are, without a doubt, entirely fabulous and should, therefore, be dismissed as chronological guides to his biography.)
6. Cana was probably a small village near Nazareth, It has never been positively identified. Capernaum was a fishing town on the north coast of the Sea of Galilee, northeast of Nazareth.
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