Thursday, October 9, 2008

The Monk Chronicles: John 2

Well. That infernally blasted man has assigned me an entire chapter this week to make up for last week incompetence, as he called my hard work. But I’m not angry. Well, I’m not going to let him know that I am angry. I think that’s why he’s been haunting me, he is trying to break me of my anger. So if I just hide the fact that I am angry, he will leave me alone and my life can return to semi-normal. Of course, I still have to serve my continuing penances for the pot incidence, but that will pass with time. I might even be promoted to more than just an apprentice monk sometime this year if all goes well! That allows that I am able to bear under the pressure of all of the penances I have right now, of course. I’m getting so little sleep these days that I actually fell asleep while scrubbing pots last night, and they didn’t punish me for it because they felt sorry for me. Brother Fedor grumbled a little about my laziness, but Brother Michael stood up for me.

I had better keep this work short, I have to go muck out the stables again, Brother Franz blamed me when a whole pot of ink disappeared. I didn’t do it, but whenever anything goes wrong anymore, people blame me for it. That infernally blasted man was right there when I was punished, too, smirking his evil little grin. Brother Franz just passed, I’m so glad that he hasn’t caught on that I call the Abbot names. I fear the penance that I would receive then would never be served out in my lifetime, nor his. I think the Abbot realizes I call him names, though. Maybe that’s why he’s persecuting me.

No matter, whatever his reasons are, I still must complete this before I can move on. That infernally blasted man has assigned the whole of chapter two to me this week in the hope that I can come up with the “right questions” this time. What is that supposed to mean, the “right questions”? I thought there were no wrong questions, only stupid ones. That man has me grasping at straws again, with no real solution to the riddles he is posing. Maybe he is inferring that I’m not asking the questions that cut to the heart of the issue presented by the passages. That is the only thing that makes sense to me, anyways.

Well, in the light of that, I am going to look at the chapter in two parts so that my connections can be “meaningful”, just like that infernally blasted man wanted them to be. The first section talks about when Jesus changed water into wine. This is Jesus’ first miracle in John, and one of the many miracles recorded in John that aren’t recorded in the other gospel accounts. As odd as this is, I don’t think that it’s the important thing about this passage, and neither is the fact that it is the first in John. Elder Brother Georg would disagree with me on this, he argues the main significance about this passage is that it illustrates Jesus’ innocence because of the simplicity of the first miracle he does. I would rather not argue that, because we cannot be sure that this is the very first miracle he does. What if there were others before this one? I have asked Elder Brother Georg this very question, and he points to verse eleven as his answer. Now, I have no wish to argue with the author of this gospel, but couldn’t Jesus have done miraculous things before this? And this act was just the first public act? That would explain why his mother would come to him in the first place, asking him to alter the situation. But what is the purpose of this miracle, exactly? Brother Handel has told me time and time again that every miracle Jesus does has a specific, intended purpose. The overarching purpose is to further the Kingdom, of course, but how does this miracle achieve that exactly? I just don’t see any answer that make sense over any others in this case.

The second section of verses is about when Jesus clears out the Temple. This section is a little over my head; I mean I understand what Jesus is doing and why, but I just don’t understand why the sudden shift from a wedding banquet to this. Could it be an illustration of the concept that there is a time and place for everything? I don’t understand, yet again, anything that John is hinting at in this passage. Is he trying to illustrate Jesus’ passion for God? But then why the cryptic statement about destroying the temple and then the completely vague verse twenty-five. What is that about? Ooh, there goes that infernally blasted man! Can’t he just leave me alone? Oh, great, Brother Franz is calling my name. I wonder what I’m in trouble for this time. Time to go see, then go clean out the stables again. I wish I had never even heard of fire dust anymore. I truly didn’t mean to cause any harm, honest. But that infernally blasted man is determined to make me the most miserable wretch in God’s sight…

Brother Henrich
8 of October
This Year of our Lord 1507

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