CADRE Comments

[Note: The contents page for this series can be found here. The previous entry, Chapter 52, can be found here. ] [This entry constitutes Chapter 53.] I could follow Abram through his story--history or legend or both as we have it. But I would rather show, if I can, the intrinsic harmony underlying this odd and disturbing story--a harmony I could expect the general principles of, if I know enough of God beforehand to have some clue how He will work. So, I will go back instead to our nameless chosen ancestor of the knowledge of God, as if I did not already know to suspect his name. He may not get along very quickly with his knowledge--or more precisely with his learning. But it would be important to teach him that God works slowly, sometimes through channels seeming at first to be unprofitable. The lesson might be almost anything, so long as it is linked to the filling of a promise, in a fashion that this man, and people like him throughout the world in later history, could easily appr...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) The Death of the Year (The Evangelist continues:) Now there came to be the winter Feast of Dedications in Jerusalem; and Jesus walked among the Temple columns in the portico of Solomon. The Jews (meaning Jewish leaders, per the Evangelist's standard usage) therefore surrounded Him and said to Him: "If you are the Anointed King, then tell us plainly!" Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you don't believe. "The works which I am doing in My Father's name are testifying to Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep--just as I have told you. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them; and they are following Me. Now I am giving them God's own life, and they shall by no means be dying-into-the-eon. "And no one shall be snatching them...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) Since some of the later chapters are long enough that I'll want to break them into two parts, I'm taking the opportunity to consolidate some shorter chapters here. These have some interesting plot-notes that I'll go ahead and include in the main entry rather than deferring them to comment entries below. The Woman at the Well Now Jesus had to pass through Samaria (says the Evangelist, meaning on Jesus' way to the Galilee region). So He came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the freehold which Jacob (one of the Hebrew patriarchs) gave his son Joseph. [Plotnote: as far as I can tell, Jesus is actually going to Nazareth now, which lies on the border between the Samarian region and the Galilee region; after which, as the storytellers know, He will go up further into Galil...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) First Adversaries Now Jesus, filled and led by the Holy Spirit, returns from the Jordan (River district, evidently back toward Nazareth, west-southwest of the inland sea of Galilee). But (instead of going straight back to Nazareth), the Spirit ejects Jesus into the wastes (of Samaria and the Galilee district, west of the lake and the Jordan River), a deserted place where wild beasts roam; and there He is led by the Spirit in a time of fasting--and trial. For forty days and nights He did not eat. After this is completed... Jesus hungers. Now the Adversary, who has been testing Him during this time, approaches Him (directly). And the tempter said: "If you are a son of God, then tell these stones to be cakes of bread!" But Jesus answered him, saying: "It is written (in the fifth...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) The plotnotes continue factoring heavily for this entry; so I'll continue blockquoting them to help distinguish them from textual data. The King of Trials Now when morning had come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled the Sanhedrin and led Jesus away to their council, saying: "If you are the Anointed King, tell us." [Trialnote: this incident is reported only by the Scholar, who does not report any earlier trials at the house of Caiaphas and/or Annas. (The Scholar also, incidentally, is the one who shows us Jesus looking at Peter during the third denial--as He is being led out the gateway of the high priest's house.) Still, it fits with other data: the verdict must be reached again in official session, at the very least so that Pilate will have some...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) Normally I would put all this material into one book-chapter; but seeing as how it would then be even more lengthy than my other entries before now, I have made provisions to divide it into two uneven halves for posting. The Greater Condemnations (2 days until the end...) (The Follower and the Scholar relate what happened Wednesday in the Temple...) Now Jesus sat down across from the treasury (in the Temple), and looking up He started to watch how the crowds were putting money into the treasury. Now many rich people were putting large sums in as gifts. Yet a poor widow came, and put in two lepta, amounting to a quadran. (1 quadran == 1/64 of a 'daywage' denarius.) And calling His disciples to Him, He is saying to them: "Truly I tell you--this poor widow put in more than all the...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) Btw, keep an eye out for the lawyer in the last exchange--for I suspect we have seen him twice before already, in related circumstances! Notice that the previous time the wedding feast parable is told (not quite as ramped up), it happens during a dinner party with Pharisees where a lawyer stands up to give Jesus a similar test, receiving the Good Samaritan parable in reply: a story set near Jericho. Then later, several days before this incident, as Jesus is passing through Jericho, a young chief is asking a similar question again more desperately. Third time's a charm, though... {s!} With All His Understanding... (3 days until the end...) Now (tell the Disciple, the Scholar and the Follower), it happened on one of the days when He had come into the Temple, and was walking through it, th...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) Since these next two 'chapters' are relatively short, I am presenting them both together, so that later I can divide the longest remaining 'chapter' into two entries. The King's Triumphant Entry (5 days until the end...) Now on the next day... Jesus was passing through one city and village to another (around Jerusalem?), teaching and proceeding, going in toward Jerusalem. [See first comment below for a footnote here.] And someone said to Him, "Master, are there only a few who are being saved?" And He said to them: "Struggle to enter through the short and narrow door; for I tell you, many will seek to enter and will not be strong enough, once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door. "But you will be standing outside, beginning to knock on the...