Lee Harmon's Blog, page 58

John 5:2, the Sign of Ahaz, part I of II

Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesdaand which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.

//Seldom does John include a story in his Gospel without a deep theological undercurrent. Today’s verse begins the famous story of the lame man at the pool. He lies waiting for the water to be “troubled,” indicating the presence of a healing angel, and Jesus tells him instead to just get up and carry his mat away. Miraculously healed, the man obeys.

But is...

Book review: Mother Teresa, The Private Writings of the “Saint of Calcutta”

by Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C.

★★★★★

Maybe you read the story of Mother Teresa from her friends, those who served alongside her. Maybe you read it differently from her detractors, like Christopher Hitchens. Here is the story from her own hand … a brutally honest account, because she had no intention of anyone ever reading it. This is an annotated collection of her personal letters, mostly to those in authority over her in the Church. She begged repeatedly that these letters be destroyed, so that t...

Luke 19:41, God Can’t Hold Back Tears

As [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it

//The story of this verse begins hundreds of years earlier. God appears to the prophet Ezekiel with this message:

“Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears. –Ezekiel 24:16

God is talking about Ezekiel’s wife. God is about to unleash Israel’s enemies on Jerusalem, destroying his metaphorical bride. (In several places in the Old Testament, and in...

John 9:7, The Pool of Siloam

“Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

//This verse contains a funny little explanation, reminding us that the word Siloam means “sent.” Indeed, Siloam is a transliteration of the Hebrew word Shiloah, meaning “send.” Why do you suppose is this important enough for John to mention?

Most readers relate the word “sent” to the command of Jesus: “Go.” But I learned something interesting, reading David Audlin’s transla...

Book review: Heavenly Signs

by Mel Gable

★★★★★

What do you get when you merge the book of Revelation with astrology?

You get what you start with: Revelation, in the spirit in which it was written. Few people give credence to the astrological underpinnings of Revelation, and the utter fascination its intended first-century audience held with the mysteries of the heavens. So while I knew I would disagree with Gable’s future-based interpretation of Revelation (I myself have little faith in astrology but quite a bit of faith i...

Acts 11:36, I am a Christian

And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

//I’ve had a number of discussions on various forums about what I believe, and I seldom feel like I’m getting through, so maybe I could just take a minute and lay it out for you.

I am a Christian. Yes, I realize fully that my definition of Christian probably does not match yours. To me, it just means a follower of Christ.

This is more than word games to me. The title “Christian” derives from “Christ within.” I don’t think of this relatio...

Mark 3:29, Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.

//This is a verse that troubles a lot of people. Will your little boy be condemned to everlasting hellfire because of a few “goddamns?”

No. First, get it out of your head that “eternal sin” means hellfire. A more precise interpretation of the passage is that your cussin’ son is sinning against the new age of God’s rule; he is living as if Jesus had never come. But even this doesn’t fit the fla...

Book review: John’s Gospel, The Way It Happened

by Lee Harmon

★★★★★

John’s Gospel, the sequel to my book about Revelation, is drawing higher praise than the first book. A few readers disliked the haphazardness of Revelation, so I made an effort with John to better integrate the scripture and commentary into the story. The result: Far more five-star reviews than any other rating, and not a single negative rating yet on any venue I’ve discovered.

So I’m pleased and feeling a little braggy! I’ll repost reviews in detail as I have opportunity, di...

Job 19:23-24, Carved With Iron and Lead

Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!

//These are the words of Job, written … well, we don’t know when. There are precious few clues in the book of Job about its authorship and dating. Scholars generally conclude the book of Job was written between the third and fifth centuries BCE, and continue to argue about where it came from and how the story became part of Hebrew literature.

One possible...

Daniel 1:1, When Was Daniel Written

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand …

//According to the Babylonian Chronicles, Nebuchadnezzar reigned from 605-562 BCE, and he began a siege of Jerusalem in 599 BCE (it eventually fell in 597 BCE). About King Jehoiakim, we read this in the Hebrew Chronicles:

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleve...