Musings about Faith

“The Last Sign: Life out of Death Today, with the story of the Raising of Lazarus we have come to the end of the Book of Signs, which comprise the 1 st half of the Gospel of John.   Chapters 2 through 11 contain 7 signs – beginning with the story of Jesus turning the water into wine, there are several healings, including the story of bringing sight to the man born blind, the feeding of the 5000 and then we conclude with this amazing story of Jesus raising Lazarus.   In between these signs we also have several encounters that include important teachings of Jesus – these include Jesus’ calling the disciples, Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus, Jesus encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well and Jesus’ discourse on the Good Shepherd (which is actually his interpretation of the 6 th sign, the story of bringing sight to the man born blind.)   We have covered a lot.   So what have we learned from these signs?   Together as a group we can point to several important things that we have

Exiled – Thrown out – driven out – shunned – defined as outsiders, as exiles – unwanted – tolerated barely. All of those words and phrases describe part of the issues raised by this story of the 6 th sign in John 9 – Jesus brings sight to the man born blind. Exiled – Thrown out – driven out – shunned – defined as outsiders, as exiles – unwanted – tolerated barely. These words and phrases define the community of Christians living in late 1 st century Palestine, out of which this Gospel of John emerged.   After the Romans had destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem and the religious foundation of Judaism had shifted away from the Temple to the Synagogue, these Christians had suddenly found themselves as outsiders.   They had been thrown out of the synagogue – exiled within their own community – shunned and avoided by their friends, neighbors and family.   It is hard to describe and understand how profound and traumatic this must have been to these early believers.   To have your cultu