John 13: weak theological construct

 John 13: an Old Testament construct by an apostle, perhaps self-styled

Written about 90 AD

Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet

[John 13 seems pivotal contradiction to Genesis 1:26-28. Quoting NIV,

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish . . . and the birds . . . and over all the creatures . . .” So God created mankind in his own image . . . male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the [other species].”

John 13 contradicts Genesis 1.

The John 13 ceremony stories express Christianity’s power to divide people over opinion about unknowns and phantasms -- to increase chaos rather than Genesis 1:28’s safety& security by& among human-beings to all species and to the earth.

John 13 depicts Father& Son using Judas as an object to arguably-fulfill ancient Hebrew scripture rather than accommodating Judas to affirm Genesis 1’s conclusion:  In the-God’s image, each person can& may choose safety& security. According to Genesis 1:28, until the actual betrayal, Judas could have chosen fidelity to Jesus rather than dependency on Satan.

Jesus affirmed Genesis 1 directly in Matthew 19:4 and in Mark 13:19 and indirectly in Matthew 26:52. Further, Genesis 1:28 asserts that human-being can pursue order& prosperity on earth and has the necessary powers (in the-God’s image). Each human individual may choose to either aid safety& security on earth or to be dependent. On that choice, fellow-citizens divide themselves. Necessity& justice demands that citizens who practice, facilitate, and encourage safety& security on earth (civic-citizens) constrain fellow-citizens who choose dependency.

In history, one civilization, Sumerian kings created codes of law 5,500 years ago, accepting the observation that their Gods could not usurp humankind’s responsibility. Jesus affirmed civil responsibility in Matthew 22:21, “. . . give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s”.

Nomads can& may aid a better future.]

13 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. [Most Christian churches resist the notion that Jesus’ appreciation of persons is selective to the elect – the antinomians. Christians teach their children that Jesus loves everyone, then impose the real story to young adults: provided they conform to the church. Some church elites don antinomianism.]

² The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas [I re-read Genesis 1 to try to detect suggestion of the devil. There is none. Of course, there’s disorder, by default, but no evil.], the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power [This directly contradicts Genesis 1:28, which states that female& male-human-being can& may provide safety& security on earth. The-God cannot usurp duty that entity assigned.], and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷ Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” [For the first time, I perceive the Jesus-to-disciples relationship as teacher to follower rather than God to emissaries. Perhaps the leap to Son-of-God is a consequence of Mesopotamian political competition. That is, the family of David competing with the reset of Abraham’s descendants, both divided branches competing with the rest of humankind.]

⁸ “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” [Does anyone else perceive a quid pro quo? Peter submits to what he does not understand in order to remain in the group. I don’t know the-ineluctable-truth and think this John-phantasm divides humankind. Created in the image of the-God, no human is comfortable acting on coercion/force. Even when it comes to the mystery of salvation, the human-being wants to take responsibility. Responsibility is possible, by simply accepting the mystery of death without attempting to construct salvation.]

⁹ “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” [With this comment, John takes Peter’s person out of the discussion. Peter is just one of 11 objects being used to highlight the uncleanness of the 12 due to Judas. However, at this point, Judas is clean, too. He may be considering betrayal yet has not acted and could choose fidelity.]¹¹ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. [John’s speculation accuses Jesus of accommodating the betrayal. Where’s John’s evidence against Jesus? BTW: This reminds me of Agathon, who said that not everyone behaves for the-good.]

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. [This smacks of the erroneous “Golden Rule” and its 9 variants; philosophynow.org/issues/74/The_Golden_Rule_Not_So_Golden_Anymore. Our friend Chris Nalepa points out that some persons, for example, some narcissists want to harm and don’t want to be harmed.] ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him [I think there should be a footnote referring to John 6:38.]. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Jesus Predicts His Betrayal

¹⁸ “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’ [See Psalm 41:9-10 for vigilante thinking. Who among people living in 2022 would like to be used to justify ancient sophistry? I perceive Judas a victim of John and don’t accept John’s Jesus-of-constructed-vengeance. I prefer the Jesus I glean from Nomads experiences& observations. Of course, whatever happened to Jesus happened, and I don’t know.]

¹⁹ “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. [Recall “Before Abraham was born I am.” That implies before Sargon was born, too. We may discover that Jesus is the-God.] ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” [John 6:38 again.] [When I returned to UBC on October 17, 2021, I still perceived& accepted that I was not among the elect. I now perceive I am elect to advocate the practical Jesus, at least on par with Albert Einstein, rather than Christianity’s competitive demands on both humankind and the-God. I think Jesus accommodates a year-1787 American message: common sense (Thomas Paine visiting America) and self-reliance (Ralph Waldo Emerson)*, physics discloses lies (Einstein), Vaughn Crombie’s belief about his mom’s influence --- read the Bible, go to church, and be good boys, or my favorite, responsible-human-independence (RHI). *researchomatic.com/Compare-And-Contrast-Between-Emersons-Self-Reliance-And-Paines-Common-Sense-46158.html] [John could& did claim he is an apostle of Jesus.]

²¹ After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”

²² His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant.²³ One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved [May we detect competitive humility or pride?], was reclining next to him. ²⁴ Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”

²⁵ Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. ²⁷ As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. [A Jesus that would objectify a human being, even the son of Simon Iscariot, is not a-God I will choose. Thus, I am not elected by the-God to believe John’s writing. I am elect to advocate the practical Jesus whom, for example, human-beings can discover through transparent sharing.]

So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” ²⁸ But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. ²⁹ Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. ³⁰ As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

³¹ When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. ³² If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. [Glorified means made celestial, divine, otherworldly.]

³³ “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples [I prefer to appreciate every civic-person and to encourage dependent fellow-citizens to reform.], if you love one another.” [I don’t know but think this might be the verse on which LSU Professor Sam Adams weighed my opinion “heresy”. He would not tell me when I asked. I don’t think Sam ever confronted the-ineluctable-truth. I prefer appreciation to love, which is often confusing, even inappropriate. I’ve never observed or experienced appreciation that was not welcomed. I have witnessed Baptist helping Baptist with abject chagrin over scriptural coercion.]

³⁶ Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”

Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” [A Muslim friend tells me, “Phil, you are a seeker. Sooner or later you will submit to Allah.” I smile, thinking he refers to my death. I’m glad he and his are my neighbors.]

³⁷ Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” [This idea is a form of dependency. It’s counter to Genesis 1:28, which states that a human being has powers like the-God and therefore can& may choose the-good; can& may aid safety& security one earth; can& may reject infidelity.] [Incidentally, only this month have I stopped writing that Genesis 1:28 assigns to humankind the responsibility to provide peace on earth. This week’s Nomads lesson helps me consider that Genesis 1:28 reserves peace as an ultimate goal, expressing only that order& prosperity to self& posterity and the lesser species is humankind’s immediate responsibility.]

³⁸ Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times! [I think relinquishing religion in order to practice, facilitate and encourage responsible-human-independent living is more valuable than foregoing life. What value is life lived without civic-integrity? A person can& may accept salvation and develop civic-integrity. Consider it this way: Greater appreciation has no person than this: To admit to self and announce to fellow-humans “I don’t know” when that is so. By all evidence, I do not know the-ineluctable-truth.]

[Epilogue

Of course, I don’t know the-ineluctable-truth: the unavoidable, unchangeable, irresistible truth. However, I intend neither 1) to deny my responsibility to aid safety& security on earth nor 2) to entreat the-God to usurp my Genesis 1:28 duty. I work to affirm Genesis 1:28 in kindness and intention to learn from fellow-citizens.

The book of Genesis, beyond Genesis 1 through 2:3’s matter-of-fact God of creation, presents Israel’s “the Lord God” who communicates with elites. The Lord God competes with a more crafty being; molds the woman subservient to the man rather than in the-God’s image; and imposes sin on Adam’s descendants. The rest of the Old Testament disputes the character of the-God and predicts a messiah: Israel’s king.

The New Testament argues that the kingdom belongs to people the Lord God chooses to believe Jesus is the messiah.

The OT v NT squabble, written in the 1,000 years between 3,022 years ago and 2,022 years ago, hides the lessons learned before 3,022 years ago.

To review discovery through 2022, homo sapiens has been the dominant human-being for 300,000 years, excluding prior-mutation-mixes during the past 10,000 years. Ending 4,000 years ago, Sumer political philosophy worshiped their Gods yet took responsibility for safety& security on earth through codes of law and discovery. Perhaps erroneously, 4,000 years ago monotheism began to dominate political philosophy. About 3,022 years ago, Israel proffered a personal-God that accommodated the devil imposing sin on Israel and promising a messiah to establish a kingdom on earth to descendants who observed the Lord God’s laws. About 2022 years ago, Christianity argued that the messiah was for the portion of descendants and non-descendants whom the-God chose to believe Jesus. Some descendants claim the authority to kill infidels. Jesus’ promise is peace. Peace is a utopia wherein no fellow-citizen accuses another of infidelity to mystery. Safety& security on earth seems practicable.

Are Nomads willing to wait indefinitely for safety& security “to ourselves and our Posterity”? 

It seems time to happily accept the-God’s salvation, appreciating the-God’s opinion, unknown as it is, in order to pay attention to the political philosophy that preceded Israel: the individual human if not the-civic-collective among humankind is responsible for safety& security on earth.

At this pivotal time, UBC can inspire& motivate this reform to the U.S. – establish the civic-integrity to pursue safety& security even when salvation is secured.]

Copyright©2022 by Phillip R. Beaver. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for the publication of all or portions of this paper as long as this complete copyright notice is included.

Matthew 11 NIV: a bitter Jesus

 Matthew 11 NIV: a bitter Jesus

Written 38-51 CE, or 8 to 15 years after ascension

Note: I study the Bible to also consider whether a specific passage comports to the perhaps 5,000-year-old Sumerian philosophy probably expressed by Hebrew scholars 3,000 years ago in Genesis 1:28, in my paraphrase:  Female& male-human-being can& may, independent of other entities, pursue safety& security in their way of living. Each person can& may pursue responsible-human-independence (RHI) before dying. Jesus affirms Genesis 1 in Matthew 19:4.

I think the next Bible canon should include the law codes of Sumer. In other words, an Ancient Testament, the Old Testament, the New Testament and the-ineluctable-evidence comprise the messages human-being can& may consider.

I perceive that the 10,000-year-old Sumer civilization ought to be considered, in order to increase civic-integrity while appreciating responsible pursuits of individual happiness for 2022 and beyond. In other words, an expanded view of history would benefit the United States intentions of 1787.

The way things are, we continue Judeo-Christian squabble that was recorded 2022 years ago covering 1000 years of Middle-eastern war& God competition, without appreciating whatever constrains the consequences of human choice& action. We, the 2022 "ourselves and our Posterity" can stop this tyranny over the-good any moment enough of us perceive self-interest in RHI. We can develop by transparently discussing the ideas Jesus seems to have shared despite alien news-media& fiction writers about the 1-thousand-years before 2 thousand years ago.

Repeating, we belabor 1600 year-old opinion about political philosophies argued between 3200 years ago and 2200 years ago.

Writers represent Jesus as affirming Genesis 1:26-28’s RHI. For example, in Matthew 19:4-6 Jesus illustrates how far Genesis 1:28 should be taken respecting divorce: a man joins to a woman to become one. In Matthew 5:48, Jesus suggests that in God’s image the human-being can perfect their person. How does Matthew 11’s Jesus describe developing  (RHI)? I think it supports mystery rather than ineluctable-evidence.

Jesus and John the Baptist

[This reader imagines that whatever constrains the consequences of human-being choices is a peacemaker. I cannot trust Matthew’s “witness” that God is selective and Jesus is bitter.]

11 After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.

² When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah [Note: Matthew writes opinion decades after events; how reliable is Matthew then?], he sent his disciples ³ to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

⁴ Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: ⁵ The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. ⁶ Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” [Matthew feels vulnerable. He must convince readers of miracles townspeople did not accept. Matthew cannot persuade me to follow his ideas. I read to discover ideas that Jesus might have proffered. (So far, I see none in this chapter.)]

⁷ As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? ⁸ If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. ⁹ Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ¹⁰ This is the one about whom it is written:

“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
    who will prepare your way before you.’ [Malichi 3:1]

¹¹ Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he [What’s the point? Jesus is greater than John? John is cast out of heaven? I doubt Jesus would speak such nonsense]. ¹² From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. ¹³ For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. ¹⁴ And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. ¹⁵ Whoever has ears, let them hear.

¹⁶ “To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:

¹⁷ “‘We played the pipe for you,
    and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
    and you did not mourn.’

¹⁸ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ ¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” [Are we to think Jesus performed miracles to defeat glutton& drunkard hearsay?]

Woe on Unrepentant Towns

²⁰ Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. ²¹ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²² But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. ²³ And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. [According to John 6:39, Capernaum seems not elect: “I shall lose none of all those he has given me”.]  For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. ²⁴ But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.” [Maybe Jesus was bitter, but I doubt it. No man can witness for Jesus. I do not trust Matthew the least bit.]

The Father Revealed in the Son

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth [I think this contradicts Genesis 1:28, which expresses the creator stating that human-being can& may provide order& prosperity on earth. Having assigned the task to human-being, the-God cannot perform it.], because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. [If this is so, that is, if the Father wants to confound leaders, then Genesis 1:28 appeals to human-being to constrain the Father’s influence on earth. However, my opinion is that Matthew stretched his scholarship in V. 26. I trust the practical-Jesus but neither Matthew nor his-God. Note: there’s a difference between “trust” and “belief”.]

²⁷ “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. [Matthew herein advertises for either the insiders he’s writing for or for the enemy to fear, whether the 12 apostles, early Christianity, or the Jews.]

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” [Imagine this poetry for any civic-citizen of the U.S. in 2022. It seems that the institutional-Jesus has brought the USA to chaos in only 234 years. Let’s discover the practical Jesus by transparently discussing human-being’s failure to fulfill Genesis 1:28. Let’s reform the USA one church at a time, beginning with UBC.]

Mark 4 and the practical Jesus

 Mark 4 and the practical Jesus

The Parable of the Sower

Note: I study the Bible to also consider whether a specific passage comports to the perhaps 5,000-year-old Sumerian philosophy probably expressed by Hebrew scholars 3,000 years ago in Genesis 1:28, in my paraphrase:  Female& male-human-being can& may, independent of other entities, constrain political chaos in their way of living. Each person can& may develop responsible-human-independence (RHI) before dying. Jesus affirms Genesis 1 in Matthew 19:4.

I think the next Bible canon should include the law codes of Sumer. In other words, an Ancient Testament, the Old Testament, and the New Testament comprise the message human-being can& may consider.

I perceive that the 10,000-year-old Sumer civilization ought to be considered, in order to increase civic-integrity while appreciating responsible pursuits of individual happiness for 2022 and beyond. In other words, an expanded view of history would benefit the United States intentions of 1787.

The way things are, we continue Judeo-Christian squabble that was recorded 2022 years ago covering 1000 years of Middle-eastern war& God competition, with no regard for whatever constrains the consequences of human choice and action. We, the 2022 "ourselves and our Posterity" can stop this tyranny over the-good any moment enough of us perceive self-interest in the-good. We can develop by transparently discussing the ideas Jesus seems to have shared despite alien news-media& fiction writers about the 1-thousand-years before 2 thousand years ago.

Repeating, we belabor 1600 year-old opinion about political philosophies argued between 3200 years ago and 2200 years ago.

Writers represent Jesus as affirming Genesis 1:26-28’s RHI. For example, in Matthew 19:4-6 Jesus illustrates how far Genesis 1:28 should be taken respecting divorce: a man joins to a woman to become one. In Matthew 5:48, Jesus suggests that in God’s image the human-being can perfect their person. How does Mark-4’s Jesus describe developing  (RHI)?

4 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. ² He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: ³ “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed [PHB]. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

⁹ Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

¹⁰ When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. ¹¹ He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables ¹² so that,

“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
    and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!” [I think representing God to be so cunning is diabolical. I’d caution Mark to watch what he writes about Jesus, too, but it’s too late. I may be wrong. I think every human-being is a candidate to achieve civic-integrity and responsible-human-independence no matter how imperfectly they may now behave. Even Joe Biden and Donald Trump could reform.]

¹³ Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? ¹⁴ The farmer sows the word [to develop RHI, as suggested by the practical Jesus and Genesis 1:28]. ¹⁵ Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶ Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ¹⁸ Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; ¹⁹ but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²⁰ Others, like seed sown on good soil [integrity], hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” [Some adults practice, facilitate, and encourage the young into dependency, some exhort performance without sharing comprehension, others don’t share intentions, some encourage crime or worse by example, some children nourish irresponsibility, and some develop the integrity required for RHI. Only the person who comprehends& intends civic-integrity has a chance to practice, facilitate, and encourage RHI to ourselves and our posterity. I think that’s what Jesus shares.]

A Lamp on a Stand

²¹ He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? ²² For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. ²³ If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”

²⁴ “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. ²⁵ Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”

[Genesis 1:28 asserts that the human-being can constrain chaos in their way of living.]

The Parable of the Growing Seed

²⁶ He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷ Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. ²⁸ All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. ²⁹ As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰ Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. ³² Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.” [The individual who practices Genesis 1:28 RHI observes the benefits being mimicked everywhere.]

³³ With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. ³⁴ He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

Jesus Calms the Storm

³⁵ That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” ³⁶ Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. ³⁷ A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. ³⁸ Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

³⁹ He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

⁴⁰ He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

⁴¹ They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

[I recall poetry in Agathon’s speech in Plato’s “Symposium” (385-387 B.C.)

                        . . . the God who

Gives peace on earth and calms the stormy deep,
Who stills the winds and bids the sufferer sleep.

Did Jesus appear to Agathon before Jesus became a man? Did Mark plagiarize Plato?]

John 4: I doubt John's miracle reports aid human being

 John, Chapter 4

Note: I study the Bible to also consider whether a specific passage comports to the perhaps 5,000-year-old Sumerian philosophy probably expressed by Hebrew scholars 3,000 years ago in Genesis 1:28, in my paraphrase:  Female& male-human-being can& may, independent of other entities, constrain political chaos on earth. I think the next Bible canon should include the law codes of Sumer. In other words, an Ancient Testament, the Old Testament, and the New Testament comprise the message human-being can& may consider.

I perceive that the 10,000-year-old Sumer civilization ought to be considered, in order to increase civic-integrity while appreciating private spiritual pursuits for 2022 and beyond.

The way things are, we continue 2022 years of Judeo-Christian squabble that was recorded 2022 years ago covering 1000 years of Middle-eastern war and God-competition, with no regard for the-God or whatever constrains the consequences of human choice and action. We, the 2022 "ourselves and our Posterity" can stop this tyranny over the-good any moment we perceive self-interest in the-good we can develop by transparently discussing the ideas Jesus seems to have shared despite bad news media& fiction writers about 1-thousand-years 2 thousand years ago.

Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman

¹ Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— ² although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³ So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

⁴ Now he had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

1.    ⁷ When a Samaritan [adhering to a form of Judaism accepting only its own ancient version of the Pentateuch as Scripture] [Pentateuch:  the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). Traditionally ascribed to Moses, it is now held by scholars to be a compilation from texts of the 9th to 5th centuries bc. Jewish name Torah. I think Genesis 1 is Hebrew scholars’ expression of Sumer political philosophy.] woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” [John represents: Jesus lied to her. I do not follow a leader who would bait an innocent person. John chose to represent the story this way, and I do not trust John’s writing.]

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews [who argued with Sumerian political philosophy]. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks [How can John so causally contradict John 6:37-40m which claims that God elects Jesus-believers?]. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” [Phil: recall John 4:26 as the report that Jesus publically claimed he is the Messiah. I don’t believe John, because Jesus’s principles are available to every person who considers them. Most Christians don’t. For example, priests “Love the Church too much” to prevent their colleagues from abusing parishioners.]

The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

²⁷ Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” [It’s surprising that John now presents her posture as one of doubt. John is simply unreliable, in my opinion.] ³⁰ They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

³¹ Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

³³ Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

³⁴ “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. ³⁵ Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. ³⁶ Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷ Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” [This seems like nonsense; John is stretching his imagination beyond the circumstances let alone evidence.]

Many Samaritans Believe

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” [That implies that they offered nothing to assuage the woman’s doubt.] ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers.

⁴² They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” [“Savior of the world” seems neither the Messiah that came from the Jews nor the unselectively the Samaritans might imagine.]

Jesus Heals an Official’s Son

⁴³ After the two days he left for Galilee. ⁴⁴ (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) [The-good need not complain. Jesus does not complain.] ⁴⁵ When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.

⁴⁶ Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

⁴⁸ “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” [How can such belief be valued by the-good? What happens when the miracles stop?]

⁴⁹ The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

⁵⁰ “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. ⁵¹ While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. ⁵² When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”

⁵³ Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.

⁵⁴ This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee. [Mom& Dad never said they believed in miracles. The fact that they did not facilitate& encourage me to not position myself to have to unlearn them, convinces me that when they became adults they did not put them aside. In other words, adults, by not appreciating art bemuse children; confusion lives on. Consequently, I suggested to my children that “signs” could be artistic appreciation of the-good in Jesus. I never trusted the news and in 2022 mistrust both CNN& Fox and perceive John with the same misbelief.]

In summary, I don’t accept the haughtiness John represents in Chapter 4 incidents. I especially so no good in baiting the woman at the well. I don’t think John was attuned to Jesus’s references to Genesis 1:27-28.