Regarding the Lazarus of Luke 16…Professor Siegbert Becker…: “This passage of Scripture is often ruled out of the discussion of the question of the state of the soul after death on the plea that this is a parable. But there is nothing anywhere in Scripture to indicate that this is a parable. Certainly the text does not say so. If we define a parable as a story taken from the earthly life of men which is used to teach a spiritual truth, every story that we usually classify as a parable will fit the definition except this one. There is no parallel here between earthly, bodily life and spiritual things. It reads more like an actual historical event. We may never, in this world, be able to decide for sure whether this is a parable or an account of something that actually took place and of which Jesus knew because of his omniscience.”

The State of the Soul After Death
October 17, 2005. WELS Q&A

(Kibbutz Tsuba, Israel) Several crosses and a rough drawing of a severed head were also carved into the walls, illustrating John’s death by beheading at the hands of Herod Antipas, ruler of the northern Galilee region at the time.

Underneath the picture of John is a small niche “designed for a relic”, Gibson explains.

“These drawings are the work of Byzantine monks who used to gather in the cave to tell the history of John the Baptist,” he said, pointing out an area around the eyes where vandals, or iconoclasts, had tried to destroy the pictures.

…Just outside the entrance, further excavations revealed several huge pools for collecting rainwater which fed the main pool inside -- only water “from heaven” being suitable for the sacred baptism ritual.

“Once the disciple came out of the ritual bath, he would place his right foot in a notch cut out of the rock, where they would pour oil on it, a ritual which sanctified his taking a new path,” Gibson explains.

British archaeologist discovers ‘John the Baptist’ cave near Jerusalem
December 5, 2004. AFP – Science

A few weeks ago I heard Senator McCain on the radio. NPR is broadcasting a series called “This I Believe.”…

Senator McCain told his story just a few weeks ago…

Once a group of Vietnamese soldiers had tied McCain up in a painful position and had left him to suffer, sleepless, through the night. Not long after the soldiers left one returned and wordlessly loosed McCains bonds. Early in the morning, the soldier came back and retied McCain so that the others wouldn’t know.

On Christmas Day that same soldier waited until no one else was around and came up to McCain. In the dust in front of their feet with his shoe the soldier drew a cross. For a few moments McCain and the soldier stood side by side reverencing the cross. Then the solider wiped it away and left.

I think about that soldier and I think about John the Baptist. John wasn’t the messiah, he wasn’t the prophet, he wasn’t even Elijah, but he was something. The soldier who loosed McCain’s bonds didn’t end the war. He didn’t unlock the prison door. He didn’t even say a word. He unloosed John McCain for one night, one night out of 2000 nights, he came to McCain’s aid. The soldier didn’t help McCain start a prison church, or give him a Bible, or even offer a prayer. But one day he drew a cross in the sand. And that was enough. It was enough to give John McCain the strength to survive a dark time.

Hines-Shah, Katie (ELCA Pastor – Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church,
Berkeley, CA, cf.: sothb.org). Sermon Third Sunday in Advent
December 11, 2005

(Kibbutz Tzuba, Israel) Archaeologists think they’ve found a cave where John the Baptist baptized many of his followers — basing their theory on thousands of shards from ritual jugs, a stone used for foot cleansing and wall carvings telling the story of the biblical preacher. It was carved by the Israelites in the Iron Age, sometime between 800 B.C. and 500 B.C, the scientists said. It apparently was used from the start as a ritual immersion pool, preceding the Jewish tradition of the ritual bath.

The explorers uncovered 28 steps leading to the bottom of the cave. On the right, a niche is carved into the wall — typical of those used in Jewish ritual baths for discarding the clothes before immersion.

Crude images were carved on the walls, near the ceiling, and Gibson said they tell the story of John’s life. One is the figure of [a] man... The man appears to have an unruly head of hair and wears a tunic with dots, apparently meant to suggest an animal hide. He grasps a staff and holds up his other hand in a gesture of proclamation. On the opposite wall is a carving of a face that could be meant to symbolize John’s severed head.

Laub, Karin. Israel Cave Linked to John the Baptist
August 17, 2004. Associated Press – Science

Comment: I didnt' know John was a caveman?

In Eden life was good. Adam and Eve knew who they were, singly and together. Their life involved daily conversation with their Creator and Father. This open relationship involved brilliant knowledge of his will as well as clear self-awareness. Fellowship with God lives and breathes trust.

Somebody, however, was watching and plotting. Some bold thief set them up and took them down. Call it identity theft classic. Adam and Eve lost the image of God. Led to abandon their trust in their Father, their unbelief transfigured each of them singly and collectively. Something inside of them died. And as God totaled the damages, he recounted grim news: their broken trust in him consigned them to pain, bitterness, and a return to dust.

Transfigured by sin is how each of us enters life on earth. Changed from what God designed for our first parents, this is devolution. Human life fell from something lovely into something revolting, something spiritually hideous. My identity at birth was not the image of God, for I was born in the image of faithless Adam, whose identity had been stolen.

…No matter what damage Satan brought to you in the past through a stolen identity, know today that there has been a metamorphosis: the Son of God became the Son of Man, so that children of Adam might become children of God. That is, transfigured.

Jeske, Tom. Christian identity theft, p. 8
February, 2005. Forward in Christ – Editorial, Vol. 92, No. 2