The Rolling Thunder

I have been studting for my sermon and part of the Gospel is very interesting, it is in John, chapter 12 vs 30 or so, some where in there, anyway, it says tha a voice came from the heavens and sme peopl einterpreted it as THunder. I just finished reading the commentary about it and one of the comments was that people beleived that any noise or phenomenon that came from the skies had special meaning. I began to think a little bit about that, this past week we had our very first Thunderstorm, and there were one or two peals of thunder and flashes of lightening that spread across the sky. We know now about why that happens, at least we can look it up, I am not so sure I can tell you right now, but science has described how Lightening nad THunder work. But I got to wondering about what people in ancient times did or believed when that lightening and thunder rolled.

Miracles are things that are of the Bible and for many of us may not have actually happened so much as they are stories of metaphorical occurences in Jesus' life. Some people, however, tend to go to the opposite extreme and claim everything that happens, from the birth of a child to getting the entire family around the dinner table. Miracles, in our time, are either non existiant fairy tales from a time long gone by, or cheap and easy ways of affirming something that took a wee bit of effort to accomplish. Seems to me that these miracle interpretations are lacking and seeking sometihng a little more in the middle, an acknowldegement of the power of God that doesn't take away our ability to resond to miracles and also a sense of holding the miracles we have expereinced and rad about in the Bible as sacred stories rather than cheap examples of faith.

The Gospel of John, a book of the Bible I have had trouble with for some time, continues to surprise me as I dig deeper and deeper into its meaning and history. This weeks reading affirms the work of JOhn as honoring the incarnation, the ENTIRE life of Jesus, as the act of salvation, the act of saving Grace for all of humanity, rather than just his dying on a cross. As we approach Holy Week, next Sunday is Palm Sunday, there is a tendency to focus so much on the cross and the Death of Jesus. I am with John on this one, the cross represents Jesus entire life and Jesus entire life represents the cross. The last verse of the Gospel in this weeks lectionary says that Jesus, upon being raised, will draw all people to myself. Their lives, their bodies their souls, all of them will be drawn to Jesus through his being raised up. Pretty powerful stuff I beleive, our lives are taken up as holy and divine as well as human and frail. That word ALL, is a tough one, but also one that is comforting especially in the knowledge that it is not ours to define.

Be well.

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