Synoptic Gospels

John 4:43-54 

           One of my most popular blog postings was "A dear slave" from September of last year ( see Luke 7:1-10 ). That reading is incredibly similar to this reading. One might think that the story came from the same source ( it did ). The fact that it is not technically the same as written is very clear. Even taking into account any translational differences or what the original texts say, they are different. They are written by a different person but obviously telling the same story. Each "writer" told the same story in his own words and to a different audience. What are we to get from this?  Clearly, the Bible is not the verbatim words of God. Humans, fallible humans were the conduit. However, they do tell truths about Jesus and about God. 

          The scriptures cannot be taken literally. They are subject to human error, human bias, translational errors, reference mistakes and so much more. If you decided to crack open the scriptures this Lent ( a very good idea ), should you now abandon your efforts and throw up your hands?

           Absolutely not. God gave us brains to discern and discover the truths that he wishes to convey to us. Studying scripture will deepen the appreciation and help you to grow in faith , not struggle .

           The decision to crack open Holy scripture is a gift you can give God. You are saying, I want to have a conversation with you . I love you. Speak to me.

        What message can we get from all this? How special you are? How much you are loved? How much God loves you? Yes. Yes. And Yes. All of the above.

     

When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honour in the prophet’s own country). When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival.

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 little 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 when he began 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, along with his whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.