As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me

 "I can of Myself do nothing.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. 

"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.  There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.  You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.  Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.  He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.  But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.  And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.  You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.  You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?  Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

-John 5:30-47

Yesterday, we read that after He was accused of breaking the Sabbath, and also of making Himself equal to God (blasphemy),  Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.  For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom he will.  For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.  Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.  Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."

 "I can of Myself do nothing.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."  My study bible tells us that the divine will of God is common to the three Persons of the Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- because all fully share the same divine nature.  When the Son is said to obey the Father, we understand this is referring to His human will, which He assumed at His Incarnation.  Christ freely aligned His human will in every aspect with the divine will of the Father -- and set us an example to do likewise.

"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.  There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.  You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.  Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.  He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.  But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.  And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.  You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.  You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?  Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"  Jesus anticipates the thoughts and arguments of the leadership in the temple when He says, "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true."  (See also Luke 4:23, where He does the same thing.)    In Jewish law, two witnesses were required for a valid testimony (Deuteronomy 17:6).  Here, Jesus offers four witnesses, confirming His identity as Messiah and Son of God.  The first witness He offers is God the Father, the second is John the Baptist, the third His own works which the Father has given Him to do, and the fourth the Old Testament Scriptures, through which Moses and others gave testimony. 

In the midst of giving testimony and witnesses to His identity, Jesus makes the following statement to the leadership in the temple:  "I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?"  Jesus is making a very clear distinction here between the honor that comes from men and the love of God.  He frequently seems to be saying that while we may be buoyed by the favorable regard of society around us, we must not confuse it with the honor that comes from loving God.  In fact, one can completely contradict the other.  Jesus' unimpeachable witnesses are not those that these men of high distinction and title perhaps would like Him to call.  There is no expert in the Law here, there is no famous rabbi whom Jesus calls to testify on His behalf.  Instead, Jesus' witnesses are those that are firmly rooted in the love of God and the depth of such loving relationship.  Furthermore, to discern the testimony of these particular witnesses, one must truly love God as well.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus made the clear statement that to refuse the Son is to refuse the Father.  We either see the Father in the Son, or we fail to love and know the Father.   These may all seem like drastic pronouncements on the part of Christ, or harsh judgments, but the truth is that these same men which He elsewhere accuses of the worst forms of hypocrisy will come to exemplify what He's talking about.  They will seek to put Him to death, going against their own laws to do so.  They fail to see the good He has done in healing the man by the Sheep Gate on the Sabbath; they will persecute Jesus for doing good on the Sabbath to heal human beings.  They fail to distinguish the love of God in the healing and wholeness of human beings, the works that Christ does.  And when it comes down to the failure to heal, and the purpose of the murder of an innocent, then we are no longer talking about a "harsh judgment."  We are talking about the very real fruits of the failure to truly love God, and to pay attention only to the "honor that comes from men."  If we look around ourselves, we may find what we consider rather harmless fixations on the "honor that comes from men."  We may know many people who seem quite decent but who have love nor need for God.  These are small examples which we can't necessarily judge nor discern; to look into another's heart is truly the business of God.  But to place all our values in what society says or think or dictates is to lose track of who we really are.  It becomes a failure to find oneself in the love of God and the love that teaches us and embraces us in return.  It is to fail to know that true depth of love, and it becomes the failure to know a true depth of identity.  We find harshness and violence in the society where it fails to discern love and truth and true meanings.  We find condemnation in those who cannot love what is different from what the social rules dictate.  Let us always remember who loves us best and wants what is best for us -- regardless of the social rules of who can do what and when they can do it.  Let us remember where we truly find the One who knows our heart and loves us so completely that we are given everything in return for our love. 

The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live

 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.  For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom he will.  For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.  Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."

- John 5:19-29

On Saturday, we read that there was a feast of the Jews (considered to be the Jewish Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks), and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.  Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."  Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.  And that day was the Sabbath.  The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."  He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'"  Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"  But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.  Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well.  Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."  The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."  Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.  For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom he will.  For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life."  Jesus continues His discourse on the unity of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit.  The Father and Son, as Jesus expounds on the topic, are completely unified in nature, will, and action.  Here, Jesus states that the Son fully shares the divine attributes of both giving life and also executing judgment.  He teaches that judgment is based upon both faith (v. 24, "He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me"), and also works (at the end of today's reading, in verse 29, "Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation").  Jesus clearly links faith in the Son to faith in the Father -- the refusal of one is the refusal of the other.

Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.  Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."  My study bible says that the dead (in "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God") refers both to the spiritually dead, who will find life in Christ, and to the physically dead who will rise in the general resurrection.  In John's Gospel (11:28-44), this is confirmed by the seventh sign given, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, before Jesus goes to His own death.  These verses are read at the Orthodox funeral service, affirming their truth for all who fall asleep in faith.

That "the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live" is a very intriguing statement.  First of all it is an interesting understanding of time that is given here.  The hour is coming indicates a future action, but Jesus adds that it now is, meaning the time is here -- somehow this is a very present reality.  We must pay attention, is the message.  It gives rise and echoes what we say in making the sign of the Cross, an affirmation of faith in the Holy Trinity:  "now and ever."  The tenses change again within the same verse, when we read that the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God (future tense), and in the Greek, the tense switches back to past, as if to say those who heard -- and then to future again, will live.  I would posit that the switching "times" tells us something powerful about the nature of Judgment and of time itself within this context, that will hold up in the Gospels and in Jesus' teaching about "end times" -- that we don't know exactly when this time is, nor what it looks like.  Indeed, when speaking of Judgment and the end of the Age, Christ's words switch back and forth between events that are close to happening and events that are quite distant in the sense that "of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (Matthew 24:36).   His words suggesting that the hour is coming, and now is suggest a great mystery, and also the mystery of time, which is the prerogative of God as well.  There are overlapping realities here, that exist both in our time and the present, and in the future when time takes on a different nature, an eternal time.  All of this is to say that Christ both shares in this mystery as Son in the fullness of unity with the Father, and also that those present -- even standing before Him or reading these words -- must pay attention.  The time begins here and now for faith and judgment.  We can't separate either one into a time in the future that doesn't also apply right this moment.  The unity of Father and Son extend to more than the divine prerogative over time, but right down into each and every heart.  So much so, that without faith in One, one refuses faith in the Other.  The Son is God's gift to the world, given for the life of the world.  Do we hear His words calling to us?  They are always there, always present to us.  We can hear them at any time, or we may choose to refuse them at any time.  But He is always present, and so is this reality that He brings with Him, the choice to love God, to hear His voice, to live in faith and work the works for faith in our lives -- and for our lives, even for the life of the world. 

Do you want to be made well?

 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.  Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."  Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.  And that day was the Sabbath.

The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."  He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'"  Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"  But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.  Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well.  Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."  The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."  Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

- John 5:1-18

Yesterday, we read that after the two days Jesus departed from the town of the Samaritan woman and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.  So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Tradition teaches that this feast was the Jewish Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, a celebration of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai.  Throughout the chapter, there are references to the Law of Moses which affirm this interpretation.

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. My study bible says that this was a double--basin pool which has been discovered about 100 yards north of the temple area (near the Sheep Gate).  The water for this high-ground pool came from underground springs.  It was used to wash down the sacrificial lambs before slaying them.  In the pool, commentators see a type of Christian baptism.  Under the old covenant, a great multitude waited to enter the water for healing after an angel touched it.  The waters were special because they were an indirect way of participating in the animal sacrifices of the temple (the lambs were washed in the water).  But grace was limited only to the first person to enter.  In the new covenant, baptism is given to all nations and in direct participation in Christ's sacrificial death (Romans 6:3-6), without the mediation of angels.  Therefore, says my study bible, baptism grants the healing of the soul and the promise of eternal resurrection of the body, with inexhaustible grace.

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."  Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.  And that day was the Sabbath.  My study bible cites the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, who states that Jesus singled out this particular man who had waited thirty-eight years in order to teach us to have perseverance.  It is also a type of judgment against those who lose hope or patience in much lesser troubles lasting a shorter time.  Jesus' question, "Do you want to be made well?" is relevant for several reasons.  It makes a public display of his great faith -- even in a seemingly hopeless situation.  How could he ever be first into the water?  It draws attention away from the water and toward the need for a man to help us, which is fulfilled in Christ Himself, who became Man to heal all people.  Finally it focuses attention on the fact that not everyone who is ill, in one sense or another, actually truly wants healing.  Some really may prefer to remain infirm for various reasons.  There's a  hidden "benefit" in being able to complain, to avoid responsibility for various things in one's life, or to continue to receive the pity of others, for example. In many ways, becoming well is another kind of challenge in the change of life it may entail.

The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."  He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'"  Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"  But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.  My study bible tells us that although the Law itself doesn't specifically forbid the carrying of burdens on the Sabbath, it is prohibited in Jeremiah 17:27 and explicitly in rabbinical teachings.  That Christ is Lord over the Sabbath is made clear by His command to "take up your bed and walk" and also the man's obedience to it.  We recall that in John's Gospel the term Jews is used to refer to the leadership and not the people.  (By the time this Gospel was written, persecution in the synagogues had become very fierce.  "Jews" is used as a sort of title of political party affiliation.  All people in this story are Jews.)   My study bible points to the malice of the leaders evident in the story.  Their sole focus is on the violation of the Sabbath, searching for the Man who gave the command to "Take up your bed" while completely ignoring the miraculous healing. 

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well.  Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."  We note the healed man was found by Jesus in the temple.  It shows he is a man of great faith, gone there directly to thank God for his cure rather than leaving for someone's home or the marketplace, says my study bible.  There may be a general connection, a note tells us, between sin and suffering (Romans 6:23), but it's not always direct; that is, one-to-one, for the innocent frequently suffer, and the guilty are often spared earthly suffering.  (See also Jesus' comment in John 9:1-3.)  However, sometimes our sins do lead directly to our own problems and suffering in this world.  Chrysostom comments that such is the case with this man.  But Christ's warning applies to all.  This man has been given a gift of great grace.  To fail to refrain from sin would be to repudiate  God's gift.  My study bible says that the sins that destroy the soul lead to a far worse result than an affliction of the body.  The great hope is to flee from sin altogether. 

The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."  Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.  The man witnesses that it is Jesus who healed him; his testimony is not given in malice.  Regardless of what the leadership's aims were, the man testifies to Jesus' goodness, that He made him well, and does not speak of the command to carry his bed.  Jesus' statement is clearly one of equality.  In Monday's reading, Jesus will continue His teaching on this subject.

We see the 'wondrous' events that we link with the Old Testament; the water that is stirred by the angel, the people awaiting God's grace by the Sheep Gate, the tie with the sacrificial lambs and the Christ who is to come.  As a sort of parallel to Simeon in the temple just after Christ's birth, the person in need in today's reading is an older man, who has been awaiting his salvation for thirty-eight years.  In a sense, he is all of Israel who has been awaiting this light, in a group perhaps with both Simeon and Anna (see again Luke 2:22-38).  Awaiting the New Covenant, for baptism for forgiveness of sins, for healing, for reconciliation, for the true Light of Israel.  And here is Jesus, the One who stands in for the Law and is both Lord of the Law and of the Sabbath, with a new command, "Take up your bed and walk."  This question, "Do you want to be made well?" comes in that context as one that is far more profound that merely asking this man if he wishes to be healed of his physical infirmity.  Indeed, one assumes his illness is a paralysis of some type, and paralysis has often been used as a metaphor for sin, in that with sin we are "stuck" in some type of behavior and unable to move forward, so to speak.  All of these elements -- of full healing and redemption, deliverance from sin, the forward movement into the journey of faith -- are present here as metaphor for all of Israel and the extension of this light into the rest of the world.  The man waiting for help and healing is in a metaphorical sense all of the world, stuck in sin, and clinging to a slim hope, in need of help and deliverance.  It reminds us that sin is a difficult problem, an affliction, one with multiple and terrible consequences of suffering, whether we look on an individual life mired in difficulties, or at the whole of the world.  Our help comes first of all from the Lord, without whom we can do nothing.  Christ's healing may even set us apart from others, but apart from Him there is no healing.  We look upon a world full of problems.  Let us remember on whom we rely for help to even begin to address them, and the value of the gift we've been given.  Sometimes that is hard to see.  But we must remember these men and women who awaited the Light and rejoiced to see it.

Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe

 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

- John 4:43-54

 Yesterday, we read the continuation of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well.  At this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do you seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"  The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.  In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.  Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."  And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.  Jesus' testimony that a prophet has no honor in his own country is found in all four Gospels (see also Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24).

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."   We are back again in Cana of Galilee, where Jesus' first sign of seven in John's Gospel took place at the wedding.  Jesus complains to the people in general ("you" in Jesus' sentence here is plural both times) that faith based on miracles or wonders alone isn't true salvation.  My study bible says that this kind of incomplete faith quickly turns to scorn should the miracles cease (19:15).

The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.   This second sign in the Gospel of John teaches that Jesus not only sees into the hearts of people from a distance (see His first meeting with Nathanael), but also that He can heal from a distance.  My study bible tells us that this shows Christ's power has no earthly limits.  The nobleman's concern is primarily for his child, but his faith in Christ is weak -- he believes Christ needs to be physically present to heal the child.  Furthermore, Christ has power even over death.  The nobleman eventually asks about the timing of the healing.  When all is confirmed, then he and his whole household believe.  My study bible says that in healing the child from a distance, Jesus heals not only the physical body of the child, but also the soul of the nobleman.

It's interesting to note my study bible's emphasis on the progress of faith within the nobleman.  He's desperate to save his child.  But somehow he puts his faith in Christ to do so, although his faith is "limited," as my study bible says.  He doesn't really have the full confidence that Christ's true power warrants.  Jesus lectures everybody as the man pleads, that "unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."   This is how we get our first hint that woven through these actions is the story of faith and how it grows -- that it is a kind of a journey.  The man goes through his own process of growing trust and faith, and validation, to find that Jesus healed his son from a distance, and with a word given to him ("Your son lives").  Eventually, it is the whole household -- all the people involved here, including the servants who reported to him and participated in this process -- who believe.  The details are so important, because they illuminate great truths for all of Jesus' followers.  We don't really know where our search for faith is going to take us.  We don't even know how that search gets started.  Clearly this man's beginning was in seeking help to heal his son.  He put his hope in Christ for that reason, and it was Christ who called it out, disparaging in some sense that faith only comes through signs and wonders with "you people."   And yet, the man is on a road.  It is his persistence with Christ that moves him further along in faith.  This isn't the first time (witness the story of the Samaritan woman at the well) nor the last time that will happen!  The struggle with God for faith is a real and important factor in what determines who we are and how we grow.  (We can also see something of that in the story of Jesus' first meeting with Nathanael.)   There's something more in this story that is important and clearly central to our understanding of faith.  Faith is a search for truth.  It's not just a search for belief, and it's not just motivated by a desire to believe in 'something.'  At its heart, faith has to be about finding -- in a deep and sincere seeking -- that which we can put our trust into.  It's about finding truth; that is, finding what is truly real.  Truth and trust (the Greek root of "faith") are inseparable in this search.  We are built with a need to worship.  We are either going to find that root of truth in which to trust, or we will find other things we 'idolize.'   But the goal here is finding the love and trust, after all, in the Person who is Truth.  That is, the place in which we can rest with certainty that we are on the right road.  This is the true place in which we, in return, are loved and cared for properly; it is the place in which we will not be led astray from what is truly best for us.  As my study bible puts it in speaking of the soul of the nobleman, it's the place were we're fully healed.  We're truly in the fullness of 'home' and 'household' in this place.  In getting there, we may also bring many of those around ourselves with us through our relationship with them.  This works through the power of prayer, which goes as deep as the word Christ gives within us.  Do not be discouraged in the journey of faith.  The Gospels teach us that it is all of a process.  It is the love of truth that gets us there, in the word of the Logos Himself that teaches where we put our trust.  Let us be glad for the struggle in which we're invited to earnestly engage.  There is never a need to apologize for that honest search.

Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do you seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"  The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.  Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

- John 4:27-42

Yesterday, we read that when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.  But He needed to go through Samaria.  So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  Now Jacob's well was there.  Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.  It was about the sixth hour.  A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."  For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?  For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.  Where then do You get that living water?  Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"  Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.  But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."  Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."  The woman answered and said, "I have no husband."  Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ).  When He comes, He will tell us all things.  Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do you seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"  The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.   My study bible says that Jesus' disciples marveled not only that He spoke with a Samaritan, but that He was speaking with an unaccompanied woman.  This was potentially scandalous behavior.  John's Gospel gives us several instances of Jesus' dealings with women - see John 7:53-8:11, 11:20-33, 20:11-18 (also Luke 8:1-3).    In another kind of elevation of the common status of women, the Gospel gives us this woman as an early evangelist.  She testifies to the advent of Christ and she brings others to Him as well.  According to an early tradition, my study bible says she was baptized with the name Photini ("enlightened" or "illumined" one - phos is "light" in Greek).  With her two sons and five daughters, she went to Carthage again in her capacity as evangelist, to spread the gospel.  Later she was martyred with her family under Emperor Nero by being thrown into a well.   In the Eastern Church, she is commemorated on her own feast day and also the fourth Sunday of Easter.  Along with other women, she has been given the title Equal-to-the-Apostles.

In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."  Here is another occasion in which misunderstanding contributes to Jesus' teachings; this time the word that gives rise to new understanding is food.  Jesus fulfills His role as Messiah in doing the will of the Father.  This is His food.   My study bible says that it teaches us also that we are to do the will of God in our lives without being distracted by earthly cares (John 6:27; also Matthew 4:4, 6:25-33).  This image of food or nurturing is also linked to identity, in which one's joy is fulfilled. 

"Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."  John Chrysostom comments that Jesus tells them, "Behold, . . . lift up your eyes . . . " as the townspeople were approaching, ready and eager to believe in Jesus, and by tradition dressed in white.  These are foreigners, not Jews, and they are fields ready for harvest in Jesus' sight.  My study bible says that this command is also to all believers to look to those around us and to share the gospel with anyone who wants to hear it, regardless of race or ethnicity.   According to Chrysostom, those who sow and those who reap are the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles, respectively.  The prophets sowed in preparation for the Messiah, but the reaping was done by others who saw His coming and hence entered into their labors.  The apostles didn't do the preparation, and yet they were to draw thousands to Christ in their own lifetimes. 

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."  It is these despised (by the Jews) "foreigners" who are among the first to recognize Christ as the Savior of the world.  John shows us that the gospel is for all people in every nation.

John's Gospel sets the story right away in Jesus' ministry of these Samaritan townspeople who come wholeheartedly to faith.  In this out-of-the-way place, a stop on the journey toward Galilee from Judea, Jesus presents Himself as Messiah to a Samaritan woman, and views the "fields ripe for harvest" in the townspeople who come to faith.  That these are Samaritans, enemies of the Jews, tells us something extraordinary.  We cannot predict where the Spirit will go; we cannot predict who will respond to the gospel.  There are no real boundaries that we know of that God cannot cross, or where faith cannot go.  Nothing is predictable from our point of view when it comes to God.  This is why God must lead, and we follow.  This is how revelation works to expand our understanding and our awareness of life, how it works, how God is at work in our world.  It is the experience of faith that makes all the difference.  We can list attributes of God, we can marvel at the Gospels and at the events contained therein.  But the true experience of faith changes us on all levels.  One would not suppose our Lord, the Messiah, would first engage a Samaritan woman and reveal Himself to her, but this is the experience of faith, the way God has worked and revealed God's presence in the world.  We can make all the assumptions that we want about how things work, how God works, how people should work, but they are going to be defeated by the experience that faith gives us.  This story shows that we will always have the nominal "groups" to whom we belong, and with whom we identify.  But God may lead us in ways which are uncomfortable and hard to accept, in ways which are socially unpalatable, which take us away from security and "our own."  That's where the power of faith comes in, and we must make choices based on our own experience.  How does God teach you hard lessons by experience?  Have you been led into difficult choices?  It's easy to follow the crowd, but this is never what Christ teaches.   The experience of His faith will hone us as individuals and ask us to stretch beyond our assumptions, taking us into new territory -- even revealing to us who we truly are.  Let us become like St. Photini, living in His light and reflecting it back into the world.  Our "food," like Christ, is also to find and follow God's will.

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth

 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.  But He needed to go through Samaria.  So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  Now Jacob's well was there.  Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.  It was about the sixth hour.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."  For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?  For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.  Where then do You get that living water?  Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"  Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.  But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."

Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."  The woman answered and said, "I have no husband."  Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ).  When He comes, He will tell us all things.  Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

 - John 4:1-26

Yesterday we read that Jesus and the disciples into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized.  Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there.  And they came and were baptized.  For John had not yet been thrown into prison.  Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification.  And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified -- behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!"  John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.  You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.'  He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.  Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.  He must increase, but I must decrease.  He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth speaks of the earth.  He who comes from heaven is above all.  And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.  He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.  For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.  The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.  He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.  But He needed to go through Samaria.  So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  Now Jacob's well was there.  Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.  It was about the sixth hour.  Samaria is the region to the north of Jerusalem.  Jesus must journey through this land as it is between Judea and Galilee.  Jacob's well is not mentioned in the Old Testament, but Jacob lived in the area (Genesis 33:19).  My study bible tells us that wells were significant because of their rarity and value in desert life.  So, wells come to symbolize life itself (Psalm 36:9-10, 46:4; Isaiah 55:1).  Jacob's well remains a shrine today, from which pilgrims can drink.  John tells us that Jesus is wearied from His journey, giving us a picture of His humanity.  The sixth hour is noon.  By tradition in the Eastern Church, this woman is known as St. Photini ("Enlightened" or "Illumined").

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."  For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?  For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.  Where then do You get that living water?  Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"  Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.  But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."  Samaritans were traditional enemies of the Jews.  They worshiped the God of Israel and they were awaiting the Messiah, but they accepted only the first five books of the Old Testament (or the Pentateuch).  Their temple was built on Mt. Gerizim, which was destroyed by the Jews in 128 BC.    Here the term living water is used as a means for understanding Jesus' teachings.  In the ordinary sense, the term means fresh, flowing water, such as from a stream or spring rather than a pond or cistern.  But Jesus uses it to denote the grace of the Holy Spirit, leading to eternal life.  It is a give, says my study bible, that not only remains in a person but is also so abundant that it overflows to other people.  In the woman's misunderstanding, she mentions "our father Jacob" as patriarch.  Already mentioned in John's Gospel (at the meeting with Nathanael), Jacob's ladder (Genesis 28:12) was the vision which Christ fulfills.  That this is Jacob's well gives us another way in which Christ fulfills a promise of the Old Testament patriarchs:  one gives water for earthly life; Christ now gives the well of the Holy Spirit, "living water," for everlasting life.

Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."  The woman answered and said, "I have no husband."  Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."  The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."  Jesus knows about her life, that she's living with a man without being married, and also about her past husbands.  She believes He's a prophet.  The Samaritans did not accept any prophets after Moses, so the expected prophet was the Messiah prophesied by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-18).  Jesus' insight into the hearts of people, spoken of many times in the Gospels, serves to underscore His divine nature.  The Messiah (or expected Prophet) would be the one to settle the religious question about where worship was to take place.

Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."   Once again, Jesus turns an "earthly" focus into a spiritual one.  His purpose is not to focus on a question of where to worship, but rather the manner in which worship takes place.  Even more importantly, says my study bible, He turns attention to the One we worship:  the nature of God.  The Father is worshiped in spirit -- in the Holy Spirit,  and in truth -- in Christ Himself (14:6) and in accordance with Christ's revelation.  That God is spirit teaches that God cannot be confined to a particular location.  Those who receive the Holy Spirit and believe in Jesus Christ can worship God the Father with purity of heart, says my study bible.  Jesus teaches that salvation is of the Jews, meaning that true revelation comes form Judaism.  My study bible quotes St. Athanasius:  "The commonwealth of Israel was the school of the knowledge of God for all the nations."   Jesus testifies here that the Messiah, prophesied among the Jews, has risen from among the Jews.  The gift of salvation comes to all the world, but it's come from within Judaism.  The hour is coming:  this hour refers to the death and Resurrection of Christ, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, inaugurating the worship of the new covenant. 

The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ).  When He comes, He will tell us all things.  Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."   Jesus' statement here is literally "I AM [in Greek, ego eimi] who speak to you."  This I AM is the divine name of God from the Old Testament, the Lord.  John gives us a theophany, a revelation of God.  The use of this name by a man was considered blasphemy and punishable by death (8:58; Mark 14:62).  But Jesus' divine nature makes this use of His name a revelation of unity with the Father and the Spirit.  It is a revelation that He is God Incarnate.

Of course, one of the most "marvelous" things about this Gospel reading is that Jesus would reveal Himself as Messiah, even as God Incarnate, the Son, to this woman at the well in Samaria.  She has every strike against her.  She's a sinner, first of all.  She's a Samaritan, who -- as the text tells us -- is stunned that Jesus would even speak to her in the first place (as "Jews have no dealings with Samaritans").  Furthermore, she's a woman.  How on earth could this be appropriate?  And the answer is, of course, that by the customs of this time and place, of both Jews and Samaritans, this is wildly and totally inappropriate.  But Jesus isn't One to stand on custom for the sake of custom; He's here to reveal truth.  And often, it is His truth that shakes up the world and the established order.  The established order would teach that the real question of contention between Jews and Samaritans is the location of the proper place for the temple, the place where God is present to worship.  But Jesus shakes that up without even answering such a question, because the question is immaterial.  He's here to teach us all the nature of true worship -- and the true nature of God and where God dwells.  We must worship in spirit and in truth.  All of the content of today's reading is an extraordinary "shake-up" of customs and understanding of the time.  And this is the real nature of revelation; it is meant to take us out of the boxes and framework within which we think and ask questions, giving us an entirely new perspective from which to start.  You can't understand Jesus merely by tradition that comes before Him.  In fact, His Incarnation and revelation have the opposite effect:  one must now understand what came before Christ, all of the tradition, by His light and His revelation.  That is, indeed, what revelation means and is and does, and is all about.  He is the yardstick, and His will always be the measuring line, because He is the Light coming into the world.  Under this blazing hot noon sun, in the brilliant light of this desert day by Jacob's well, a man speaks to a woman, and the world is shaken, and will be shaken. So what is this living water He has to give?  Is it not in His teaching for the world?  Is it in His end to all quarrels of place and manner of worship?  Yes, because all things have their end in God and in God's truth.  It is there that all contradictions come together.   In this sense, He overrides everything, all customs and expectations.  He is the One who answers the questions, who gives us both light and the living water for an everlasting life.   That is, for all time, and all the questions that belong to the future.  It is in Him we find our lives and our hope, and all the questions and answers that come in the long road of faith and life.   He is the ultimate end into which all things gather in everlasting life.

This joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease

 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized.  Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there.  And they came and were baptized.  For John had not yet been thrown into prison.

Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification.  And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified -- behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!"  John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.  You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.'  He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.  Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.  He must increase, but I must decrease.  He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth speaks of the earth.  He who comes from heaven is above all.  And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.  He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.  For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.  The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.  He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

- John 3:22-36

In yesterday's reading, we were told about a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."

 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized.  Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there.  And they came and were baptized.  For John had not yet been thrown into prison.   Here we're told that both John the Baptist and Jesus' ministries continue side-by-side.  In John 4:2 we're told that it is not Jesus Himself who baptizes, but His disciples do.  The Baptist continues to be an important figure both the Gospel and to the ministry of Jesus.

Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification.  And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified -- behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!"  John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.  You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.'  He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.  Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled."   John explains his role in salvation history.  He calls himself the friend (or "best man") of the bridegroom (who is Christ).  The bride is the Church, or the people of God.  Once again, as we noted in an earlier reading, John's identity is given in relationship to Jesus, to the Bridegroom.  This is the Baptist's role in the coming of the Messiah, and all things are in relationship to Christ, the Anointed One, from whom we take our most profound and true identity.  John the Baptist is witness, herald, and friend to the wedding of Christ and His people, and thus his joy . . . is fulfilled.

"He must increase, but I must decrease."  John's humility is perhaps his most distinguishing personal characteristic, and one that serves true identity in Christ and in the salvation plan for the world.  He serves the purposes of God.  All earthly glory and reputation is given for the sake of Christ.  John finds true glory by serving the truth of Christ.  It is also a statement of the old covenant, personified in the Baptist.  My study bible says, "As the law vanishes, the grace of Jesus Christ abounds."   Traditionally, John the Baptist's birth is celebrated in the Church on June 24th, at a time when the sun begins to decrease in the sky, while Jesus' birth is celebrated when the sun begins to increase.

"He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth speaks of the earth.  He who comes from heaven is above all.  And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.  He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.  For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.  The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.  He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."   Here John the Baptist echoes the teachings of Christ Himself, as given in yesterday's reading to Nicodemus.  We note again the witness of John the Baptist to the fullness of the Spirit that rests upon Christ (see also John 1:33).  And again, the rejection of Christ is a turning away of all that is offered.  My study bible points out the absence of the word "alone" in the statement of faith.  St. John Chrysostom writes, "We do not from this assert that faith alone is sufficient for salvation; the directions for living that are given in many places in the Gospels show this."  See James 2:14-24.

Identity comes to fullness in Christ.  Such is the state of faith that it conveys the depths of who we are, and in this understanding do faith and works go hand in hand.  How can we separate what we do from who we are?  John states that Christ "must increase, but I must decrease."  This is what faith must work in each of us as we continue along the journey of faith in Christ.  John is friend and "best man" to the Bridegroom Christ, but later in the Gospel, Jesus will call His disciples friends (see John 15:15-17).  By extension, that includes all who learn from Him, who bear the fruit of faith, who love one another as He loved us.  In this identity is John's joy full, just as Jesus shares of the fullness of His joy in His command to love as he loved (see John 15:9-12).  One cannot separate true joy from purpose and identity, and the fullness of finding the place where love brings faith and works together.  Christ does not separate any of these things.  In effect, the fullness of His joy that remains in us is the fullness of true selfhood; there can be no greater gift offered to human beings and to the world than this.  And of this profundity we can never exhaust the gift.  We go forward in faith to find an increasing abundance, that joy of which both John and Jesus speak.  In this sense, it is life itself on offer, and life in abundance.   That is truly grace for grace.