{"id":71941,"date":"2019-03-23T22:44:19","date_gmt":"2019-03-24T04:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=71941"},"modified":"2019-03-23T22:44:19","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T04:44:19","slug":"new-testament-notes-140-141","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html","title":{"rendered":"New Testament Notes 140-141"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"J'lem<\/a>
A view of the Old City of Jerusalem from Mount Scopus \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

John 5:1 is so short that I\u2019ll just give you the full text here, in both English and Greek:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u039c\u03b5\u03c4\u1f70 \u03c4\u03b1\u1fe6\u03c4\u03b1\u00a0\u1f26\u03bd \u1f11\u03bf\u03c1\u03c4\u1f74 \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u1f38\u03bf\u03c5\u03b4\u03b1\u03af\u03c9\u03bd, \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76\u00a0\u1f00\u03bd\u03ad\u03b2\u03b7 \u1f38\u03b7\u03c3\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u1f39\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03cc\u03bb\u03c5\u03bc\u03b1.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I want to concentrate, simply, on the idea of \u201cgoing up\u201d to Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city of Jerusalem is situated on a relatively high mountain ridge, with the Mediterranean coast to the west and the even-deeper Jordan River Valley to the east.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thus, when \u201ca certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves\u201d (after which he was cared for by a \u201cGood Samaritan\u201d), he was really going down<\/em>. \u00a0And anybody who\u2019s ever driven the road from Jericho to Jerusalem knows how steep the grade is upwards.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 Nephi gets it exactly right when \u2014 clever boy, that Joseph Smith! \u2014 Lehi and the members of his family consistently go down from Jerusalem into the wilderness and then return up to Jerusalem when they\u2019re sent back.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s even more than that. \u00a0Jerusalem is the site of the temple of God, the mountain of the Lord. \u00a0So the pilgrim psalms in the Bible are \u201csongs of ascent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, even today, Jews who immigrate to Israel are said to be \u201cmaking aliyah<\/em>,\u201d where aliyah<\/em> means ascent<\/em>. \u00a0(Think of the Israeli national airline, El Al, the name of which means \u201cto the skies,\u201d or \u201cskywards.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In modern temples, too, worshipers climb up ever higher in the building as they perform temple ordinances.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is a very rich and very ancient idea.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

See my 30 April 2015 De<\/em>seret News<\/em> column \u201cGoing up to Jerusalem.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"BYU<\/a>
Carl Heinrich Bloch (1883), Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda \u2014 from the BYU Museum of Art
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

John 5:2-47<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just a quick comment on this wonderful story:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We often quote John 5:39 as an imperative, exhorting us to study the scriptures: \u00a0\u201cSearch the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a good use of the passage. \u00a0But it\u2019s probably built upon a misunderstanding.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The verb likely isn\u2019t an imperative, and the passage is aimed at zealous Jews who already did<\/em> study the scriptures, but who, failing to recognize Jesus, were missing the point<\/em> of the scriptures. \u00a0Here\u2019s a more sound translation, with some context, from the New Revised Standard Version:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

39\u00a0<\/span>\u201cYou search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. \u00a0<\/span>40\u00a0<\/span>Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The site of the pool of Bethesda (or, as some texts say, Bethzatha), in the Arab quarter of Jerusalem, is now far below the surface of the ground, which (as is common in very ancient cities) has risen over the centuries. \u00a0But it can be visited and seen today, nonetheless, and tour groups to Jerusalem (mine included) routinely go there:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Bethesda's<\/a>
The Pool of Bethesda, in Jerusalem (Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The location wasn\u2019t found until the nineteenth century. \u00a0Until then, some skeptics maintained that the account in the gospel of John was fictional, and that Bethesda was an imaginary place.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 John 5:1 is so short that I\u2019ll just give you the full text here, in both English and Greek: \u00a0 \u201cAfter this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.\u201d \u00a0 \u039c\u03b5\u03c4\u1f70 \u03c4\u03b1\u1fe6\u03c4\u03b1\u00a0\u1f26\u03bd \u1f11\u03bf\u03c1\u03c4\u1f74 \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u1f38\u03bf\u03c5\u03b4\u03b1\u03af\u03c9\u03bd, \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76\u00a0\u1f00\u03bd\u03ad\u03b2\u03b7 \u1f38\u03b7\u03c3\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u1f39\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03cc\u03bb\u03c5\u03bc\u03b1. \u00a0 I want to concentrate, simply, on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Testament Notes 140-141<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    John 5:1 is so short that I'll just give you the full text here, in both English and Greek:   "After this there was a feast of the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Testament Notes 140-141\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    John 5:1 is so short that I'll just give you the full text here, in both English and Greek:   "After this there was a feast of the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-24T04:44:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/04\/800px-JPF_-_Old_City_From_Mount_Scopus.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html\",\"name\":\"New Testament Notes 140-141\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-24T04:44:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-24T04:44:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    John 5:1 is so short that I'll just give you the full text here, in both English and Greek:   \\\"After this there was a feast of the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Testament Notes 140-141\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Testament Notes 140-141","description":"    John 5:1 is so short that I'll just give you the full text here, in both English and Greek:   \"After this there was a feast of the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Testament Notes 140-141","og_description":"    John 5:1 is so short that I'll just give you the full text here, in both English and Greek:   \"After this there was a feast of the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2019-03-24T04:44:19+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/04\/800px-JPF_-_Old_City_From_Mount_Scopus.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html","name":"New Testament Notes 140-141","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-03-24T04:44:19+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-24T04:44:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    John 5:1 is so short that I'll just give you the full text here, in both English and Greek:   \"After this there was a feast of the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/new-testament-notes-140-141.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Testament Notes 140-141"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71941\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}