response to the comment on She Left

Thanks for your commentary Alicia. I haven't really done Jacobian English since memorizing Chaucer in high school, learning KJV doesn't seem helpful to me since I don't usually speak with Jacobians either. :)

I'm not sure what you mean by, "Maybe that is the interpretation from your translation"? I know that some people believe certain English translations of the Scriptures are somehow given holiness that other translations are not. So it is helpful to go back to the original language when there is doubt. I don't speak the original language, nor read it, so I find it useful to search the Amplified Bible which lists all possible meanings to the original words:

25The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming, He Who is called the Christ (the Anointed One); and when He arrives, He will tell us everything we need to know and make it clear to us.

26Jesus said to her, I Who now speak with you am He.

27Just then His disciples came and they wondered (were surprised, astonished) to find Him talking with a woman [a married woman]. However, not one of them asked Him, What are You inquiring about? or What do You want? or, Why do You speak with her?

28Then the woman left her water jar and went away to the town. And she began telling the people,

29Come, see a Man Who has told me everything that I ever did! Can this be [is not this] the Christ? [Must not this be the Messiah, the Anointed One?]

Even better-- take every part of Scripture in its whole context. One has to know who Jesus is, and who the Samaritans were in relation to the Jews. A Jew did not speak to a Samaritan- The entire scene is similar to 60 years ago if the woman was black and the disciples were all white, in the Southeast U. S. You can well imagine what "marveled that he talked with the woman" looked like on their faces, and why she would leave.

Or put it in this context-- this is a paraphrase of a parable told by Jesus. (author: John Burke, in No Perfect People Allowed)

On one occasion a Christian religious leader stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the law?" Jesus replied. "How do you read it?"

He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

But the religious leader wanted to justify his actions (for if the truth be known, he despised some people who safely weren't his neighbors), so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, an evangelical Christian, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a gay man, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wound. Then he put the man into his own car, took him to a hospital and stayed to care for him. The next day he paid the hospital, saying, "Look after this man, and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

The religious leader replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

John Burke points out: The Expositor's Bible Commentary notes that Jesus picked out the most hated of all persons in that religious culture, the Samaritans, in order to make his point.

The fact that Jesus has met with a Samaritan woman, and this story was recorded, is not happenstance. The "interpretation" that the Jewish men "ran her off" is not faulty. She was despised because she was Samaritan. She was further despised because of her morality. And the religious people forget how very much loved by Jesus are the despised of our society. Religious people forget about grace and justice. They rely instead of works of righteousness that they have done. And they don't seem to really notice that they run the despised away.....

In fact as the text continues, the disciples never appear to "get it."

31In the meantime, the disciples pressed him, "Rabbi, eat. Aren't you going to eat?"

32He told them, "I have food to eat you know nothing about."

33The disciples were puzzled. "Who could have brought him food?"

34 -35Jesus said, "The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started. As you look around right now, wouldn't you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I'm telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what's right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It's harvest time!

These despised people are ripe! We must be careful, so so careful, not to make the mistake of the Religious people who couldn't conceal their shock and disdain, and run them further away from the Truth. We must be ready to love our neighbor, embrace them, get into their lives and care about them.... this is the only way to show them Truth.

That was my point, is all.

She left

The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people,“Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?” http://read.ly/John4.28.MSG

Lately I haven't been able to get enough of this story. It's always been one of my favorites. The verse before, Jesus' disciples had come back and seen Jesus speaking to the woman and could not conceal their shock and horror. The people of Jesus were shocked and horrified that he would stoop to talk to HER. She's so different. She doesn't live an upright, righteous life as far as they can see. She probably dressed differently, too. And they were shocked and horrified and couldn't keep it from showing on their faces. So she took the hint, and left.

And when she left, she went back to her friends, telling them about the man she'd just met who could prophesy, and was offering her everlasting life. He said he was the Living Water. What did the disciples do when they realized they'd successfully run her off? Gloated? Mourned? Did they imagine they'd missed some opportunity? Did they learn anything? Were they rewarded?

Inspired by Jenny's blog...

My Sonlight E-friend, Jenny, and her husband are serving in South Africa. Their blog is here. Recently she had shared with us some problem they were having with a rat. Then she blogged about it.

I read this to Jeff and he said, "speaking of which, I need to go check all our traps...."

The day I'd found gnawed spots on the potatoes, I picked out the damaged spuds and put the rest in the fridge. The damaged parts were cut off, and I boiled them. Years ago I would have thrown them away, but I'd recently been listening to a retired gentleman tell stories of the food eaten while in prison camp in Vietnam. We ate the spuds.

Then Jeff put out traps for me, and went hunting. He discovered that much of the wiring he installed last summer was chewed, as was the bathroom vents he'd installed just a few months ago. He replaced and repaired. There were trails all through the insulation up there in the attic, too.

Then there was the day I went out to get into my 5 gallon buckets of rice, flour, oatmeal... the flour had been emptied in November and was still empty. The rice bucket had very small gnaw marks at the top-- but the oatmeal bucket was gnawed so far that you could actually see through it a little bit!!! GROSS!!!! There was also scat here and there. NASTY. SO, I got a vacuum and sucked up all the plastic shreds, and then I got disinfectant wipes and thoroughly wiped down the outside of the bucket. Then I waited for DH to get home. He carefully pried the lid off, and inspected the contents- the bucket was nearly full. The contents seemed undisturbed, yet we carefully removed the top inch or two of oats and set them aside for the chickens. The rest of the oats went into a new container.

Think we're ready for missions work yet?

I don't know what I'd do if Jeff weren't willing to go up in that attic. My skin crawls just thinking about it. He proudly held up a catch in the trap one day and I SCREAMED. Like a scared little girl. Haha.

How do you feed all those kids?

Monday: quiche: 10 eggs scrambled with some water and a dollop of sour cream, a few handsful of cheddar, and a sprinkle of bacon bits. Then I tossed in a good bit of frozen chopped spinach for color. 18 biscuits, made by mixing 3 cups flour with a stick of butter, some leavening, and water. We were out of milk.

Tuesday: a stew made of about 2 lbs of smoked venison sausage, chopped into bite size chunks, to which I added 4 cans of rinsed black beans, 3 raw peeled sweet potatoes chopped into bite size chunks, and a cup of frozen corn. Next time I'd put in at least 2 more sweet potatoes and another cup of corn, and more water to make 50% more stew. They've had liked bread to go with, remember to make bread next time.

Wednesday: had a hankerin for good old Memphis pulled pork bbq after I happened to see a "Memphis style" bbq sauce (HEB brand) on the store shelf. It was pretty good. Served with cole slaw, of course, on white bread. The cole slaw dressing was 1/2 cup Miracle Whip, 4 spoons full of mustard, 4 spoons full of honey, and a squeeze of lemon.

Thursday: beans and rice, just like they like it. With Corn bread.

Friday: pizza night!!!!! Actually it's Blue and Gold Banquet night, and last year I took pizza and for some reason it was a hit.....

I bought a bag of Clementines today. It's gone. ;)

Making things on Monday

I've had several friends send me links recently on how to make things. I have absolutely no desire to make anything right now. Hahaha. I have a pile of fabric to make napkins, and that's all I see happening any time soon. So I will pass on the links to YOU! Maybe one of you can make something. If you do, send me a picture and I'll post it, and we'll all Oooh and Aaahhh over your handiwork.

Remember, repurposing old things into new things is being eco-friendly!

Make a cute summer dress for daughter out of dad's old shirt.

Make fun team logo or other logo cloth diapers from old tees!

Make yourself a pair of yoga pants from an old teeshirt!

Make a cute doll for the little girls in your life.