Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine.
Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe."
The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my boy dies."
Jesus said to him, "Go, your son will live."
The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour at which he started to recover, and they said to him, "Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him."
The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he himself believed, together with his whole household.
Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.
July 30, 2009
Genesis 19.12-29
Then the men said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city--bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.
So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, "Up, get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.
When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of this city."
But he lingered, so the two men seized him and his wife and two daughters by the hand (the Lord being merciful to him) and they brought him out and left him outside the city. When they had brought him outside, they said, "Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain;. Flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed."
And Lot said, "Oh no, my lords; your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life, but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there--Is it not a little one?--and my life will be saved."
He said to him, "Very well, I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there." Therefore the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of Heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back and she became a pillar of salt.
Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord, and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain, and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.
So it was that, when God had destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot our of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.
So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, "Up, get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.
When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of this city."
But he lingered, so the two men seized him and his wife and two daughters by the hand (the Lord being merciful to him) and they brought him out and left him outside the city. When they had brought him outside, they said, "Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain;. Flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed."
And Lot said, "Oh no, my lords; your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life, but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there--Is it not a little one?--and my life will be saved."
He said to him, "Very well, I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there." Therefore the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of Heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back and she became a pillar of salt.
Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord, and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain, and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.
So it was that, when God had destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot our of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.
July 20, 2009
John 4.43-45
When the two days were over he set out for Galilee; for Jesus himself declared that a prophet is without honor in his own country.
On his arrival in Galilee, the Galileans gave him a welcome, because they had seen all that he did at the festival in Jerusalem; they had been at the festival themselves.
On his arrival in Galilee, the Galileans gave him a welcome, because they had seen all that he did at the festival in Jerusalem; they had been at the festival themselves.
Genesis 19.1-8
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate at Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. He said, "Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.
They said, "No, we will spend the night in the square."
But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so we may know them."
Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, and said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Look, I have two daughters who have never known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof."
They said, "No, we will spend the night in the square."
But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so we may know them."
Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, and said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Look, I have two daughters who have never known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof."
July 12, 2009
John 4.1-42
A report now reached the Pharisees: "Jesus is winning and baptizing more disciples than John"; although in fact it was only the disciples who were baptizing and not Jesus himself. When Jesus learned this, he left Judea and set out once more for Galilee. He had to pass through Samaria, and on his way came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph and the spring called Jacob's Well.
It was about noon, and Jesus sat down by the well. The disciples had gone away to the town to buy food. Meanwhile a Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
The Samaritan woman said, "What? You, a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" (Jews and Samaritans, it should be noted, do not use vessels in common.)
Jesus answered her, "If only you knew what God gives, and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
"Sir," the woman said, "you have no bucket and this well is deep. How can you give me 'living water.' Are you a greater man than Jacob our ancestor, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, he and his sons, and his cattle too."
Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I shall give him will never suffer thirst any more. The water that I give him will be an inner spring always welling up for eternal life."
"Sir," said the woman, "give me that water, and then I shall not be thirsty, nor have to come all this way to draw."
Jesus replied, "Go home, call your husband and come back."
She answered, "I have no husband."
"You are right," said Jesus, "in saying that you have no husband, for although you have had five husbands, the man with whom you are now living is not your husband; you told the truth there."
"Sir," she replied, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but the Judeans say that the Temple where God should be worshiped is in Jerusalem."
"Believe me," said Jesus, "the time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship without knowing what you worship, while we worship what we know. It is from the Jews that salvation comes. But the time approaches, indeed is already here, when those who are real worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Such are the worshipers whom the Father wants. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth."
The woman answered, "I know that the Messiah" (that is 'Christ') "is coming. When he comes he will tell us everything."
Jesus said, "I am he, I who am speaking to you now."
At that moment his disciples returned, and were astonished to find him talking with a woman; but none of them said, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"
The woman put down her water-jar and went away to the town, where she said to the people, "Come and see a man who has told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?"
They came out of the town and made their way towards him.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, have something to eat."
But he said, "I have food to eat of which you know nothing."
At this the disciples said to one another, "Can someone have brought him food?"
But Jesus said, "It is meat and drink for me to do the will of him who sent me until I have finished his work.
"Do you not say, 'Four months and then comes harvest!'? But look, I tell you, look round on the fields; they are already white, ripe for harvest. The reaper is drawing his pay and gathering a crop for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. That is how the saying comes true: 'One sows, and another reaps.' I sent you to reap a crop for which you have not toiled. Others toiled and you have come in for the harvest of their toil."
Many Samaritans of that town came to believe in him because of the woman's testimony: "He told me everything I ever did!"
So when these Samaritans had come to him they pressed him to stay, and he stayed with them for two days. Many more became believers because of what they heard from his own lips. They told the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard him ourselves; and we know that this is in truth the Savior of the world."
It was about noon, and Jesus sat down by the well. The disciples had gone away to the town to buy food. Meanwhile a Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
The Samaritan woman said, "What? You, a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" (Jews and Samaritans, it should be noted, do not use vessels in common.)
Jesus answered her, "If only you knew what God gives, and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
"Sir," the woman said, "you have no bucket and this well is deep. How can you give me 'living water.' Are you a greater man than Jacob our ancestor, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, he and his sons, and his cattle too."
Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I shall give him will never suffer thirst any more. The water that I give him will be an inner spring always welling up for eternal life."
"Sir," said the woman, "give me that water, and then I shall not be thirsty, nor have to come all this way to draw."
Jesus replied, "Go home, call your husband and come back."
She answered, "I have no husband."
"You are right," said Jesus, "in saying that you have no husband, for although you have had five husbands, the man with whom you are now living is not your husband; you told the truth there."
"Sir," she replied, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but the Judeans say that the Temple where God should be worshiped is in Jerusalem."
"Believe me," said Jesus, "the time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship without knowing what you worship, while we worship what we know. It is from the Jews that salvation comes. But the time approaches, indeed is already here, when those who are real worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Such are the worshipers whom the Father wants. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth."
The woman answered, "I know that the Messiah" (that is 'Christ') "is coming. When he comes he will tell us everything."
Jesus said, "I am he, I who am speaking to you now."
At that moment his disciples returned, and were astonished to find him talking with a woman; but none of them said, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"
The woman put down her water-jar and went away to the town, where she said to the people, "Come and see a man who has told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?"
They came out of the town and made their way towards him.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, have something to eat."
But he said, "I have food to eat of which you know nothing."
At this the disciples said to one another, "Can someone have brought him food?"
But Jesus said, "It is meat and drink for me to do the will of him who sent me until I have finished his work.
"Do you not say, 'Four months and then comes harvest!'? But look, I tell you, look round on the fields; they are already white, ripe for harvest. The reaper is drawing his pay and gathering a crop for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. That is how the saying comes true: 'One sows, and another reaps.' I sent you to reap a crop for which you have not toiled. Others toiled and you have come in for the harvest of their toil."
Many Samaritans of that town came to believe in him because of the woman's testimony: "He told me everything I ever did!"
So when these Samaritans had come to him they pressed him to stay, and he stayed with them for two days. Many more became believers because of what they heard from his own lips. They told the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard him ourselves; and we know that this is in truth the Savior of the world."
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