Readings:
1 Kings 22
Wisdom 3
John 1

1 Kings 22

There’s a period of peace between the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, during which the king of Judah goes to Ahab in a diplomatic mission. While there he agrees to join Ahab in taking back an Israelite city being occupied by the Syrians. Before they go, king Jehoshaphat requests that they inquire of God what to do, because he was actually a righteous man who was concerned with what God wanted.

So Ahab calls in about 400 prophets and they’re all telling them what they want to hear. But Jehoshaphat smells a rat, and asks if there’s any one else they can inquire from, meaning possibly an independent source. Ahab mentions there’s a prophet that he hates names Micaiah, because he always tells him bad news. Jehoshaphat must’ve been thinking “that’s exactly who I want to talk to.”

But as Ahab expected, Micaiah’s prophecy was not good for Ahab, he was told he’d die in battle and his “prophets” who told him otherwise were allowed by God to be possessed by an evil spirit to entice him into battle and his death. Obviously this didn’t sit well with Ahab and he had him thrown in prison.

Ahab goes to battle and just like was prophecied, he dies in battle with the Syrians. Jehoshaphat returns to Judah and continues on as king. Even though he was righteous and done what was good in God’s eyes, he still didn’t completely route out the idolatry that had taken hold in Judah.

John 1

John’s gospel is unlike the other gospels, it’s not called one of the synoptic gospels because it’s a completely different thing. The book is usually broken down into two sections after the introduction; the book of signs and the book of glory. The first covering the miracles of Christ, called signs by John because they point to his divine identity. The second is centered on the passion narrative and Christ’s resurrection.

The prologue explores the eternal existence of the Word, prior to his incarnation. This “Word” is the second person of the Blessed Trinity and is the pre-incarnational Jesus Christ. John uses Greek concepts like the Logos, and shows how Jesus didn’t begin to exist in a town called Bethlehem some 33 years before his death in Jerusalem, but had existed before all time and co eternally with the Father. That’s why he begins the book with the exact same phrase that begins the first book, Genesis.

John the Baptist testifies to the divine nature of Jesus and his role as messiah. He calls him the “Lamb of God” signifying at the very beginning of his ministry, that his ultimate end in his ministry for our salvation will be as Passover Lamb.

Jesus then goes and begins to call his disciples. Included in John’s gospel, but not in the synoptic gospels, is the calling of Nathaniel. He is sitting under a fig tree when his friend Phillip comes and tells him that he’s found the messiah. At first Nathaniel is dismissive, but goes anyway. When he approaches Jesus, he says a few things that completely changed his mind.

First Jesus greets him as a “true Israelite, in whom there is no guile” which is kind of interesting because the first Israelite, the man who is know as Israel and Jacob, was known for his beguiling way. He tricked his elderly father into giving him the blessing and talked his way out of being killed by Esau when they met again years later by flattering him with gifts.

He also tells him that before Phillip went to him, he saw him sitting under the fig tree. Just that was enough to convince Nathaniel that he was the Son of David and the messiah. The reason is because he was apparently at a distance that it wasn’t possible to see him there, and there was no time for a messenger to go tell him or he was being a trickster. Also there were messianic prophecy regarding inviting your neighbor under a fig tree from the prophet Zechariah.

Readings:
2 Kings 1-2
Wisdom 4
John 2