The Twist family studies the Gospel of John

[Wayne]

just because there is a natural reason doesn't mean there is no miracle.

   Yeah, I definitely agree!  That is the nature of miracles.

Was it Norman Vincent Peale who said "make miracles happen" ?

Like penicillin the miracle drug, sending robots to drive around on Mars, and coming to understand the cause of diseases so that people can take steps to avoid getting sick.  These things really are miracles!     

The woman at the well just wanted miraculous living water so she wouldn't have to carry water to her home every day.

John 4:15 -- The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

[Wayne]

An etymological aside.     

I don't know if this is true in Aramaic, which is what I think Jesus and the woman at the well were speaking, but in Indo-European there were two different words for water.

One meant still water, as in a cup or in a puddle or in a well.

The other meant flowing, or living water, as in a stream.

So maybe Jesus was telling the woman that he could bring her flowing water.

One of the things I thank Jesus for almost every day is the clean flowing water in my shower and my sink.

By living the way Jesus proposed, in peace with our neighbors, competing less and co-operating more, we can spend our resources on infrastructure rather than war and have living water instead of walking to a well every day and carrying heavy pitchers home.   

[Wayne]

From the Etymology Online Dictionary, and also at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/water :

Linguists believe the proto-Indo-European language had two root words for water: *ap- and *wed-.

The first (preserved in Skt. apah) was "animate," referring to water as a living force; the latter referred to it as an inanimate substance.

The same was probably true of fire (n.).

[fritzkep]

Well, some of us do in fact take the statement of Jesus' flesh and blood as being true food and drink quite literally. But rather than being shocked by the idea, it can be seen as the ultimate gift of Jesus to us. He gives Himself completely to us, in the crib and on the cross, in the host and in our hearts. And he thereby invites us to give ourselves totally to Him. A union of communion indeed.

[Wayne]

    Yes, absolutely!  There are so many ways to understand - that's part of what makes it great!

[Wayne]

      Heath, thank you for all you have done. I am so sorry ...

Requiem Aeternam dona ei, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat ei.

I read that he was lonely. If so, I wish he could have gone to somebody - even us - and just said he needed some friends.

I wish somebody could have helped him. So many people love him.

Sometimes we turn to the Bible in difficult times. On with John chapter 7.

It is the Feast of Tabernacles, one of the big 3 feasts when most everybody in Galilee walks the 90 or 120 mile route to Jerusalem. Jesus tells his brothers he's going to sit this one out because the authorities are after him, but after they have left, he goes to Jerusalem after all, in secret.

This the feast of "Sukkoth" or tabernacles or booths, a 7-day feast celebrating the harvest in late September or early October.

During this feast, everyone is to build a small structure that is only partly covered. It is to be made of organic materials - something that has grown from the ground like palm fronds or bamboo.

[Wayne]

Because only the portion of the sukkoth that is open to the sky above is kosher, some apartment buildings in Israel are built with this stairstep design so that each floor has a space open to the sky.

[Wayne]

3 or 4 days into the feast Jesus shows up and speaks in the temple. He responds to criticism for healing on the Sabbath, saying it's common sense. Baby boys are circumcised when they are 8 days old even if it is the sabbath, so why should people not be healed on the Sabbath.

"Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment," he says. This is the Jesus I can really relate to.

[Wayne]

People debate. Is he the Christ? The scriptures say when the Christ comes we will not know where he is from, but we know where this man is from - Galilee, Mary and Joseph, we know his brothers etc. The scriptures do not predict any prophet or any Christ coming from Galilee.

On the other hand, when the Christ does come, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?

Many decided that he was the Christ, and many decided that he was not.

[Wayne]

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

John writes that by this Jesus meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

On hearing his words, some said, "He must be the Prophet," that is, Elijah, who the prophet Malachi had said would be sent before Christ. (the same Elijah that came before, or somebody like Elijah? It just says "I will send Elijah")

Others said "He himself is the Christ." Christ, remember, means the Anointed One.

But many people pointed out that Christ is supposed to come from Bethelehem ! This guy is from Galilee, so it can't be him.  So that doesn't seem to fit what the scriptures say will happen.

I guess we have to ask ourselves why the people did not know the version of the story as we read it in Luke, that Jesus was in fact born in Bethlehem.  And more disturbingly, why does John not interject it in the text at this point as a fact if he knew it.     

Whatevz.