Lovely Questions

Kelly, Jordan, and Sue...thanks for being so faithful in your posting.

Jordan, you need to see Rob Bell's Nooma DVDs, especially Bullhorn Guy and Whirlwind. I have a guess on vs 23-27: Jesus answered, "I suppose you're going to quote the proverb, 'Doctor, go heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we heard you did in Capernaum.' Well, let me tell you something: No prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. Isn't it a fact that there were many widows in Israel at the time of Elijah during that three and a half years of drought when famine devastated the land, but the only widow to whom Elijah was sent was in Sarepta in Sidon? And there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha but the only one cleansed was Naaman the Syrian." I had to preach my very first sermon in my hometown church of 100 people, all who had known my dad since he was a kid. Isn't this Marty's son? What could he possibly have to say about God?

Sue, my thoughts on your question: with Jesus, it's all timing. I just read our Gospel text from John 2 for Sunday. It's Christ's first miracle, which his mother is pushing him to do...changing water into wine. He says, "It's not my time!"...i.e. if I do this, people will figure out that I'm the Son of God. Then he does it anyway. It's so hard to pin Jesus down and when it comes to the Holy Spirit, forget about it.