//Readers of the Bible are familiar with many different ways to get to heaven. Jesus ascended from a mountain. John visited heaven in a vision. Enoch appears to have been stolen up by the hand of God. Elijah flew up in a chariot. Clouds appear to be common vehicles for transport to and from heaven. You can probably think of other examples.

But here’s a trick you might not know about. When the angel came to Samson’s parents telling them they would have a son, he (the angel) went back home to heaven by asking them to sacrifice a goat to God on an altar. Once the fire grew strong, he hopped into the fire and rode the flame up to heaven.

Don’t try this one at home, folks.

//Sometimes it’s interesting to tie scripture to history, just to put Biblical events in historical context. In today’s verse, the writer of Acts tells of Paul meeting up with a couple of Christians who had been ordered to leave Rome.

This order by Emperor Claudius came in the year 49 CE, as reported by Roman historian Suetonius. All Jews had to leave Rome. Jewish Christians, of course, would have also been expelled. The order was rescinded in 54, when a number of Jews began to return home. Christian communities that were for many years completely Gentile would thus once again mix with Jews.

But how would the returning Jews fit back in? Would any that once held positions of leadership in the church (however informal such positions were) be reestablished? Would they feel like outsiders, or be treated like outsiders?

Such was the atmosphere when Paul penned his letter to the Romans. So what did he write? He emphasized his indebtedness to both non-Greeks and Greeks (meaning, both Jews and Gentiles), and reminded the Christians there of “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Romans 1:16). Open your doors to the returning Jews, you Roman Christians!

//We have in our heads an image of Jesus as a penniless wanderer, a poor peasant from an obscure rural farming town. But over and over, as I studied for my book about John’s Gospel, I found this simple image contradicted. Instead, in John’s Gospel, Jesus surrounds himself mostly with aristocracy (the royal steward, Mary and Martha and Lazarus, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus). Must we dispense with the penniless label?

Tradition and the book of Revelation tell us that St. John was banished to the Isle of Patmos by the Romans. For this to be so, John would have to be of high social status, and one wonders if John’s money and influence (or that of his mother, who accompanied Jesus’ entourage) didn’t help provide the small-town Jesus with connections above his caste.

Moreover, the image we have of “simple fishermen” for Jesus’ followers fits no better with John’s Gospel. Jesus doesn’t call them away from their nets in Galilee, he lures them away from John the Baptist. With the exception of the final chapter of John (which many scholars consider an add-on), the Fourth Gospel gives no indication that these men are fishermen.

What were Jesus and his disciples really like? We can only speculate.

//Caution: If you subscribe to a high Christology, of Jesus as God, then these two posts (today and tomorrow) may be a little disturbing … and more than a little confusing.

Today’s verse introduces an unidentified fellow named Judas. Who is this other Judas, the one who is “not Iscariot”? (meaning, not the Judas who betrayed Jesus?)

It is, most conservative readers agree, “Jude.” The person to whom the Epistle of Jude is attributed. But let’s dig deeper. This verse in Luke tells us the second Judas is the brother of James, likewise distinguishing him from Judas the traitor:

And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. –Luke 6:16 (see also Acts 1:13)

Chapter 1 of the Acts of Thomas affirms that Judas is indeed the brother of James (the wording is “Judas of James”), and names him “Judas Thomas.” Now, here’s where it gets interesting. The Syriac version of John’s Gospel tells us, in today’s verse (John 14:22), that “Judas, not Iscariot” is called “Judas Thomas.” Thus, he shares the name Thomas (which means “twin”) with another famous disciple, the “doubting Thomas” of John chapter 20. But these two Thomases are not the same person! There are two Thomases as well! This is clarified again in the Acts of Thomas, where the apostle Thomas appears in the same list of disciples as “Judas of James” (Judas Thomas, the brother of James).

Confused yet? It turns out that this “Judas of James” is the person about whom the Acts of Thomas is written, not “doubting Thomas!” Likewise, the famous “fifth Gospel” of the Nag Hammadi library, named the Gospel of Thomas, portions of which date back to the late first century, is not about doubting Thomas but about Judas Thomas, the brother of James.

And who cares? Maybe you should. More tomorrow.

//Today’s words were written by the prophet Jeremiah to encourage the Jews who were taken captive in Babylon. Included in the letter of encouragement is the instruction to procreate.

You may remember that while the Children of Israel were kept as slaves in Egypt, they grew strong and prospered by the help of God, becoming a great nation. No such claim is made about their later exile to Babylon, but it seems God was with them there, as well. Perhaps captivity stimulates procreation? Here are the details:

The Bible tells us that when Jerusalem was sacked in 586 BCE, a total of 4600 people were taken into exile in Babylon.

When they returned from exile in 538 BCE, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell us that the number of returnees counted “42,360, plus 7,337 slaves and 200 singers, in addition to all their livestock.”

We’re talking about a 820% increase in population in less than 50 years, and this doesn’t include all the deportees who remained in Babylon! These guys took Jeremiah seriously!

//John’s Gospel initiates Jesus’ ministry with a wedding in Cana. It is a marriage feast, where Jesus provides an excessive amount of wine, turning water into wine for the celebration. This is, of course, meant to remind us of the eschatological expectation of the final age, when God would provide food and wine in abundance.

With this wedding story, John sets the stage for his Gospel, which will repeat the feast theme over and over. John details the events of Sukkoth, Hanukkah, and an unnamed festival (probably meant to be recognized as Pentecost). Three different times John provides a Passover setting, leading chronological readers to assume Jesus’ ministry lasted about three years. Curiously, however, many of the events in Jesus’ life seem to happen twice, at different festivals. This is particularly true of the third Passover and the story of Sukkoth. It’s as if John tells the same story twice, with a different festival backdrop, as he leads up to the crucifixion.

This is not an unprecedented writing technique. The author of Revelation (the same as the Gospel?) does the same thing, often backing up to tell a story again from a different perspective. While the Gospel focuses on the joyous occasions of the spring festivals, Revelation points to the more solemn occasions of the fall festivals, the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement.

One can hardly probe the meaning of John’s writings without a study of Jewish celebrations. I try to bring the topic to life in my two books about Revelation and John’s Gospel.

//Remember the dream Jacob had, of a ladder resting on earth and reaching to heaven, with angels traipsing up and down the rungs?

Here in John’s Gospel, Jesus promises that one who sees “heaven open” will see the angels ascending and descending upon Jesus, rather than a ladder. Why the rewrite?

Let’s return to Genesis and the story of Jacob. While the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament, written a century or two before Christ) portrays angels ascending and descending upon a ladder, the original Hebrew is not so clear. Some translators say the angels climbed the ladder, others say they walked up and down Jacob. John appears familiar with this latter interpretation, and compares Jesus to Jacob.

Why? My thought is this: Jacob (known also as Israel, the father of the Hebrew nation) is being supplanted. Christ has started a new nation. John sees “Israel” as no longer the Jewish nation but as a new people reborn in Christ. The first nation is forgotten; the new nation of Christians is now in the company of angels.

//These are God’s words. God tells Moses on Mount Sinai that nobody can see his face. The confusing part of this, however, is that others throughout scripture do seem to see God face-to-face. So what, exactly, is God telling Moses?

Moses is shielded from seeing God’s face, but he is allowed to see God’s “glory,” the light which surrounds God. This becomes evident when the “glory” spreads to Moses, and his face also begins to shine (see the end of chapter 34).

According to Jewish tradition, God’s image hides behind an intense light. God’s glory—his kavod—conceals him and protects those who come face-to-face with God, just as happened with Moses. See, for example, the Gospel of Thomas saying 83:

Jesus says: “The images are visible to a person, but the light within them is hidden in the image. The light of the Father will reveal itself, but his image is hidden by his light.”

As the Gospel of John proclaims, God is Light. Tradition holds that this is the closest we will ever come to seeing God’s true image. Thus today’s verse, Exodus 33:20, tells the truth; perhaps many in scripture see the “face” of God, but they do not actually see the true image of God. The light emanating from God protects them from this.

and we saw his glory

Where is this line of philosophical thought leading us? More tomorrow.

//Five times in this chapter, the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus begins a topic with the words “You have heard.” Curious that Jesus would use these words, because the punch line resides in where they heard the words. They heard them in the synagogue, for each one is a quote from scripture.

In other words, Jesus felt it was permissible to say, “The scripture says this … but I say this.” Espousing a higher standard than scripture, Jesus calls his followers to step up to the next level.

Yet, today, we find it so hard to take this advice! We find it so hard to continue growing as Christians, if that means lifting ourselves above our beloved scripture. But how else is Christianity to continue advancing? How else are we going to draw nearer to Jesus’ vision of a Kingdom of Heaven on earth?

There is much good in scripture, but there is also much good in following Jesus’ example of rising above some of our scriptural teachings. One trendy example is the current issue over acceptance of homosexuality; it seems to me that the Bible’s stance is clear, yet as Christians, we are called to overcome such prejudices. Will we be able take the next step?