Readings for March 2nd

John 9:1-41 1 Then, as he passed by, he saw a man who was born blind. 2 So, his students asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned to cause him to be born blind, this man or his parents?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that the works of God might appear in him. 4 We must do the work of the one who sent me while it is still day; Night is coming when no one is able to work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6 When he had said this, he spat and made mud out of the spit and smeared the mud on the man’s eyes. 7 Then he told the man, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam (interpreted as “Sent”). So, he went away and washed and came out seeing. 8 Then his neighbors and the people who used to stare at him because he was a beggar said, “Is this the same man who sat and begged?” 9 Some said that he was, others that he was not, but was similar to the man, then he said, “I am the same one.” 10 Then they asked, “How did your eyes open?” 11 He answered them, “A man named Jesus made mud and spread it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ When I went and washed, I could see again.” 12 So they asked him, “where is this man?” He answered, “I don’t know.” 13 they took the man who had formerly been blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now, it was the Sabbath when Jesus spit mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees questioned him a second time about how he had come to see again. He answered, “he put mud on my eyes and I washed and I saw.” 16 Then some of the Pharisees said, “He is not a man of God, since he did not keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a bad man do these types of miracles?” so there was a split between them. 17 Then they asked the blind man again, “What do you think about him, since it was your eyes he opened?” So he answered, “he is a prophet.” 18 So those Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had his eyes opened until they heard from his parents that he had his eyes opened. 19 then they asked them, is this your son who you say was born blind? So, how does he see?” 20 Then the parents answered him, “we know that he is our son, and that he was born blind 21 but we do not know how he can see now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him: he is old enough to speak for himself.” 22 The parents said this because they feared these Jews, since these Jews had already agreed to throw anyone out of the synagogue if they confessed that he was Christ 23 (that is why the parents said, “he is old enough, ask him.”) 24 So they called the man who had been blind a second time and said to him, “Give glory to God:[i] for we know that this man is a sinner.” 25 Whether or not he is a sinner, I don’t know. One thing I do know: I was blind; now I see. 26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered, “I already told you but you did not listen: why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to be his students too?” 28 Then they made fun of him, “Are you his student? We are students of Moses 29 since we know that Moses spoke to God, but we have no idea where he came from.” 30 the man answered them, “Why are you confused? Why is it that you do not know where he came from when he opened my eyes? 31 We know, ‘God does not listen to bad people,’ but perhaps he listens to a godly person who does what he desires. 32 Since the beginning of time, no one has heard of someone opening the eyes of a man who was born blind. 33 If he was not from God, he would not be able to do anything.” 34 they dismissed him, “You were born in total sin; are you going to teach us?” So they kicked him out. 35 When Jesus heard that they kicked him out, he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “Who is he that I would believe in him?” 37 Jesus answered, “He is the one you are looking at and with whom you are speaking.” 38 He said, “I believe, Lord.” And he bowed down to him. 39 Then Jesus said, “I came into this world to judge, so that those who cannot see will see and so that those who can see will be blind.” 40 When those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things they asked him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus replied, “If you were blind you would not have done wrong, but now, since you think that you see, your wrongs remain.”	Far from a funeral text, Psalm 23 is about life; afterall, goodness and hesed are pursueing him all the days of his life. Furthermore, the last verse is not speaking about living in God's house in Heaven, it clearly indicates that the author intends to return to the temple on a daily basis. I suspect that the grassy fields and restful waters are metaphors for what he finds in the temple. In this case the author knows about sheep, but is near enough to the temple to visit daily, so this does fit David himself but I think that "to David" in the Psalms is a musical designation (maybe "to the tune of") rather than an indication of authorship, even if the author was David, that is why I choose to render it with to (rather than for, or of or any other likely translation). Psalm 23 - A Psalm to David 1 Adonai is my shepherd, I will not be in need 2 He will make me lie down in grassy pastures he will lead me to waters of rest. 3 On account of his name, he will restore my life; he will lead me down the well-worn blameless paths. 4. Even when I walk in the valley of Deathshadow, I will not be afraid of evil if you are with me: your club and staff, they comfort me. 5. You will place a feast for me right in front of my enemies, you cover my head with oil; my cup is full to the point of spilling out. 6. Only goodness and loyalty will chase me every day of my life and I will return to the House of Adonai every day.
	I Samuel 16:1-13 1 Then Adonai said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and I will send you to Jesse in Bethlehem, for I have seen my king among his sons.” 2 Samuel answered, “How shall I go, since if Saul hears of it he will kill me?” So Adonai said, “Choose a cow from the herd and say, ‘I come to sacrifice to Adonai.’ 3 Then call Jesse to the sacrifice and I will tell you what to do. Then you will anoint the one which I tell you for me. 4 So Samuel did as Adonai said and entered into Bethlehem and the elders of the city were afraid and said, “Come in peace(?)” 5 So he answered, “Peacefully --to sacrifice to Adonai-- prepare yourselves and come with me for the sacrifice and prepare Jesse and his sons and call them to the sacrifice. 6 Then he happened to go in and he saw Eliab and he said, “The person in front of me must be Adonai’s Anointed.” 7 Then Adonai said to Samuel, “Do not look at how he looks or at how tall he is, since I have rejected him, because what I see is not what a person sees, since a person looks at the eyes but Adonai looks at the heart.” 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab. He went to Samuel and Samuel said, “Adonai has certainly not chosen this one.” 9 So Jesse had his son Shammah come to him and he said, “This is not the one Adonai has chosen.” 10 So, Jesse sent his seven sons to Samuel too and Samuel told Jesse, “Adonai’s chosen is not among these.” 11 The Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all of your sons?” Then he said, “He’s still out, and small, now he’s with the grazing flock.” Samuel told Jesse, “Have someone go get him and bring him here, since we cannot leave until he comes here. 12 So he sent for him and had him brought and he had red cheeks and pretty eyes and he was attractive. Then Adonai said, “Stand up and anoint him, because this is the one.” So Samuel took the oil horn and anointed him among his brothers. Then the Spirit of Adonai came upon David from that day. Then, Samuel got up and went to Ramah.
	Ephesians 5:8-14 8 For you were once Darkness but now you Light in the Lord: you must live as children of light. 9 For the fruit of the light is in all goodness, blamelessness, and truth 10 –interpreting what is pleasing to the Lord, 11 and not taking part in the useless actions of Darkness, but rather condemn them. 12 Since the things which they do in secret are shameful even to say, 13 but everything that is condemned is revealed by the light, because light makes everything evident. Therefore someone says, “Get up sleepyhead and rise from the dead, then Christ shall shine upon you.”
	When Paul uses the term "flesh, he is not talking about skin, but rather about everything that is not ruled by spirit. As he explains in this passage, flesh is that which does not naturally obey God's will. The use of the term spirit to describe the redeemed state of the Christian does not indicate complete incorporeal existence, but rather it indicates the same nature as the ressurected Jesus disaplays when he visits the disciples prior to Pentecost: this is a body which is made to be controled by the laws of God, by our higher, spiritual, nature, not ruled by the whims of our shameful failings. Romans 8:1-8 1 So then, judgement no longer goes against those in Christ Jesus, because, by Christ, the law of the Spirit of Life set us free from the law of sin and death. So then, that which the law was powerless to accomplish (because of the flesh), God sent his own son in that very same sinful flesh and he condemned sin within that flesh, 4 so that the regulation of the Law might be carried out in us, who do not live by the rules of the flesh, but by those of the spirit. 5 Because those who live by the rules of the flesh think of material things, but those who live by the rules of the spirit have spiritual things on their minds. 6 For the mind of flesh is tantamount to death, but the mind of spirit is equivalent to life and peace; 7 that is why the fleshly mind is at odds with God: it does not obey God's law, and it is unable to. 8 For no one is able to please God by fleshly means.