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In the beginning, most of us start a task with the intention of making a good change in the world. However, we may reach a point where we are willing to compromise our original intention for the sake of better production or profit.

Jesus makes the point very clear that the qualities acceptable to heaven are different from what the material world values. In John, he answers Nicodemus by saying, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (3:5-6)

The Sabbath meant more than just taking a day of rest for the Israelites. Keeping Sabbath, according to Moses, meant keeping the tribal identity of the Israelites, which was at the core of bonding the chosen people of the living God.

At times, even when people realize and acknowledge the fact that their habits are destructive to their lives, they still strongly resist changing the habits, because change is perceived as giving up stability and comfort in their lives.

Unlike humans, our animal friends are often “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,” meaning that their love almost never changes. In a way, our animal friends bring a glimpse of divine presence into our lives.

The Greek word for sin is hamartia, meaning “failing to hit the mark.” Hamartia could easily be translated as a mistake or failure. As we all know, both mistakes and failures are redemptive. In this context, Jesus proclaimed that “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

They claimed to believe in Jesus, they even claimed to experience his presence in their daily lives, and they further claimed to have met Jesus! Yet, the way they lived did not change at all.

“You can’t see the forest for the trees.” This often means that people fail to see the larger picture, because they are focused on a small and narrow spot. According to Emanuel Swedenborg, people are innately focused on the materialistic and physical way of living and being, and thus are not capable of perceiving the spiritual reality within which their true existence resides.

It seems that there is definitely something special about being Jesus’s disciples, because they were given the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, while others were not. The disciples symbolize the spiritual preparedness for the spiritual journey.

Jesus not only engages in conversation with the Samaritan woman, but also leads her to the teaching of spiritual truth about eternal life. But why her?