God's gonna trouble the waters

Good evening friends,

Today's reading starts an interesting story in John's Gospel that will include some pretty harsh sounding words about judgment. One of the things I love about John's Gospel is that he has several extended stories, and this is one of them. Context is always important when we want to understand a passage. In this case, if we start at the beginning of the story we'll see the story in a different and more complete way. Apparently the pool Jesus appears at in this story was known for healing, but the healing was related to the water being stirred up. In this case, the man in question can't get in the water quickly enough to be healed. So not only is he affected by his disability, he also has the constant sense of being left alone by others. 

God bless,
Sam

John 5:1-9a

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ²Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. ³In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. ⁵One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 

⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”⁷The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” ⁸Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” ⁹At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

David comes to court

Good morning friends,
As you can see, we're getting ahead of ourselves in the daily readings, but the story of David is much more involved than the story of Saul. We've seen that God has rejected Saul and chosen David to be king. The story now turns to how God's plan will unfold practically. You notice if you read this whole story that there are some seams in the narrative as we've noticed in some other places too. In this story King Saul's servants bring David to court to play music for Saul. They praise David saying that he is a mighty warrior. Later in the story when David gets ready to kill Goliath, David is a young boy (not a warrior) and Saul doesn't know him.

The most likely explanation for these seams is that two or more older traditions were woven together when the story was written down or edited. David's story as a whole is rich and full of complexity. Here's a good start to that story.

See you in church,
Sam

1 Samuel 16:14-23

¹⁴Now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. ¹⁵And Saul’s servants said to him, “See now, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. ¹⁶Let our lord now command the servants who attend you to look for someone who is skillful in playing the lyre; and when the evil spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will feel better.” ¹⁷So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me someone who can play well, and bring him to me.” 

¹⁸One of the young men answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a warrior, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence; and the Lord is with him.” ¹⁹So Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me your son David who is with the sheep.” ²⁰Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a kid, and sent them by his son David to Saul. ²¹And David came to Saul, and entered his service. Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. ²²Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.” ²³And whenever the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand, and Saul would be relieved and feel better, and the evil spirit would depart from him.