Lectio notes John 2 & 3

Lectio notes

John 2 ... felt unfinished because I had no comment on Jesus taking a whip to the money changers’ set up in the temple—this story being told on the heels of the Wedding at Cana where he turns water into wine.  I want to say something but have nothing to say. I’ve always appreciated His audacity—drawing the line of impropriety....

John 3

“No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5).  The lesson from turning the water into wine from chapter 2.  It is a miraculous and astonishing miracle.  Also seems to be the beginning of reminding these people of how truth works—stronger in metaphor, stronger in story.  There is a place for literal truth, for straightforward instruction, but the greater power, the deeper truth is found only in the heart and soul which can more fully be found in meaning, in story, symbols, connections beyond the surface of the literal.  Nicodemus asks the question—questions are the bridge, of course, to understanding—“How can anyone be born after having grown old?” (John 3:4). 

Contained in that question seems to be a theme throughout—how can anything change?  Especially against the law of chronos?  Especially against the law of common sense?  Logic?  Tradition?  Science?

In this same conversation Jesus says, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up . . . ” (John 3:14).  I can almost remember the day when this image connected.  Satan comes in the form of a serpent and the First Ones are deceived (Genesis 3).  The bronze serpent Moses made and lifted up that those bitten by the poisonous serpent could look up at it and be healed (Numbers 21:1-9); and now this connection when Jesus says He Himself will be lifted up.  Ironic that the essence is duality—evil and death embodied in the form of a serpent/antedote and life in the metaphor of a serpent...   A study of the symbolism in the serpent in that part of the world would no doubt be interesting...basically perpetual life, fertility, and yet also a rival for the human/son...