Migration

[Sorry this didn't get out yesterday, the days events turned out to be busier than I expected.]

This week's Gospel Lesson (John 14:1-14, see Lectionary Texts for the 5th Sunday in the Easter Season) is often used at funerals. Maybe you remember the lesson as "Mansion(s)" rather than "dwelling places"? At funerals, I rarely bring this up, unless the dearly departed was an avid backpacker or loved the outdoors, but the "dwelling places" is a better translation. The idea is one of temporary shelter. Maybe even "tents" would be a better description?

I don't know if you've noticed, but the Hebrew people were not big on the sea (which often represented chaos to them). In addition, this is why when Jesus choose fishermen for his first disciples, there would have been some outrage and/or shock. Notice that only two of the four had a boat? As such, there are not lots of sea going examples. Tents and the life of a nomadic land people they understood deeply in their communal psyche. It would take a Phoenician (or their landed descendants the Philistines) to understand the sea.

What I'm getting at here, is that maybe "boats" (especially those with shelter) would be a better metaphor for what Jesus is trying to get across? After all, it is usually this time of year when there is a migration to the water (or upon the water - usually in a northerly direction as the temperatures warm up).

At any rate, it is what I'm pondering about this week.

Blessed Be

Joel