Jesus told his closest followers, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (Jn 15:5) He talks about pruning as well. The metaphor rises and falls on our knowledge of growing and tending vines.

Here are three things to keep in mind from Pliny the Elder’s Natural History written in the first-century.

• Vines require space but not too much space.

The space between every two vines in a soil of medium density should be 5 feet, in a rich soil 4 feet at least, and in a thin soil 8 feet at most. (Pliny the Elder, Natural History 17.35.171)

• Vines are pruned and pruned again. And the pruning is drastic.

A quickset (a cutting of the vine) placed in a vineyard after two years is cut back right down to the ground, leaving only one eye above the surface. . . . In the following year also it is again lopped in a similar way, and it acquires and fosters within it sufficient strength to bear the burden of reproduction (italics added, 17.35.173).

• There is a big difference between growth and bearing fruit.

…in its hurry to bear fruit [the vine] would shoot up slim and meagre like a bulrush and unless it were restrained with the pruning described would spend itself entirely on growth. No tree sprouts more eagerly than the vine, and unless its strength is kept for bearing, it turns entirely into growth (17.35.173).

Jesus was a carpenter by trade, but he knew something about vines in order to craft such a rich metaphor.

I suppose we could say that Jesus and super-heroes have some things in common. They help people. They have supernatural powers. They uphold truth and justice. They are somewhat misunderstood by those around them.

On the one hand, there is enough information in the Biblical Gospels to give us a pretty good idea of who Jesus was. On the other hand, the writers leave out or assume a considerable amount of day-to-day detail in Jesus’ experience.

As readers, we supply day-to-day attitudes and actions from our experience and from virtual options like comic books and movies. So Superman flies, and Jesus walks on water. Inevitably, we develop a storyline around Jesus from our cultural expectations.

But there is a disconnect. In Superman’s story, he made headlines all over the world for his exploits. Somehow, Jesus, in spite of his miracles, was relatively unknown in the wider world. For some centuries, detractors wondered if Jesus existed at all.

What happened to the arrest warrant issued by the religious authorities during the Feast of Huts? After the feast, Jesus left Jerusalem. The guards did not stop him.

There are several reasons, political in nature, why the religious authorities would assume a wait-and-see posture toward Jesus.

First, the gentle balance of power with the Roman governor moderated action. While Rome delegated authority particularly within the temple courtyards, the rulers were still subject to Roman rule.

Second, the guards had to own the arrest. As they listened to Jesus, they were unconvinced that he was a threat (Jn 7:46). Arrest might upset the zealous among the feast crowds — a constant threat.

Third, members of the ruling court encouraged caution (Jn 7:51). The gentle balance of power necessitated time to assess whether Jesus’ threat-level would grow or fade.

Finally, Jesus himself said that he was going somewhere that they could not follow (Jn 7:33-34). That statement alone could have diffused the situation as the rulers waited for Jesus to leave the country.

Conflict looms over Jesus’ experience, yet in Jesus’ actions we do not observe the hesitancy of someone looking over his shoulder. Instead, we observe calm resolution (Proverbs 28:1).

Piecing together Jesus’ experience in the SpendaYearwithJesus timeline is a challenge — getting to know the characters, grappling with the setting and producing a set of plot options true-to-life.

Major principles like no shortcuts, religious conflict, and friendship frame Jesus’ experience.  Cues from the Gospel stories help fill in the gaps.

There are two important dynamics shaping the winter story-line.

The first dynamic is the development of Jesus’ friendship with Lazarus. However we tell the story it needs to account for the development of friendship between two first-century men.

The second is the aborted arrest order of the Jerusalem religious rulers at the Fall Feast. The winter tension in John 10 resumes the explosive fall tension recorded in John 7-9.

Jesus’ pattern was to engage and withdrawal, so withdrawal in between the tensions and after is logical based on the cues.

To be sure, the winter story-line is one of tension  to the end.

Connect with Jesus’ experience.

Can we get closer to the reality that Jesus lived by telling Jesus’ story in space and time?

Let’s take the events recorded in John 9, for example. Jesus put mud on a blind man’s eyes and told him to wash at a pool, on Sabbath. The man washed his eyes and regained his sight right there at the pool (9:11, 14). Conflict followed.

Here are some observations from the scene.

• Space: The south-city pool was some distance from the place where the man met and left Jesus (9:7). The man only heard Jesus’ voice. He never saw Jesus. This was not a “seen” healing, so to speak.
• Time: The man’s neighbors brought him to the Pharisees (9:13). An inquisition on Sabbath? Most likely no, since the Pharisees would be working and thus breaking the law. At least a day passed between 9:12 and 9:13.
• Back Story: The blind man’s parents knew that the religious leaders had already decided to reject Jesus’ followers (9:22). While the leaders’ conversation and decision is not recorded, the account assumes it happened.
• Back Story Time: Enough time had passed since the leaders’ decision to reject Jesus that a random couple in Jerusalem had learned of the ruling.

In twenty-first century time (or perception), decisions are made and communicated in the time it takes breaking news to interrupt regular broadcasting. At first glance, the action in John 9 takes place continuously and many readers presume over a single day.

The SpendaYearwithJesus experience aligns with Jesus’ experience at first-century speed, to unpack space and time as a part of the experience of getting to know Jesus more deeply.

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Jesus’ experience is like ours. Some days pass quickly without much notice, but other days are filled with pivotal experiences.

Today’s events in the withJesus storyline are from the first part of John 9 and from Genesis 1. The yearly Torah-reading schedule reboots today and begins anew in Genesis 1.

Today (in the storyline) we encounter three great themes in Jesus’ story:

• Torah (aka Moses’ Law)
• Healing activity
• Sabbath

Torah regulated Jesus’ thought and action. And today, the yearly reading of the Torah begins anew. “In the beginning…”

The focus of John’s Gospel, the healing event, passes quite quickly in the course of the day. The reading from the Hebrew Scriptures may actually have been much more profound for Jesus’ disciples since healing happened more frequently during the year than the annual reading of the creation account.

The final theme, Sabbath, establishes boundaries in Jesus’ and the nation’s schedule. Appropriate Sabbath activity is at the center of the controversy surrounding Jesus’ healing activity.

While today’s activities are pivotal, the story continues tomorrow. Jesus’ experience like ours does not have built-in study guide questions or reflection periods. We live the events and move on, only later realizing their  significance.

The Feast of Huts (aka Tabernacles) celebrates a major chapter in Israel’s formation–the time when the exodus generation lived in portable, temporary shelters. The nation remembered (by re-enacting a part of) the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land.

The Gospel of John specifies that Jesus attended the Feast of Huts…in secret at first (John 7:10). None of the Gospel accounts mention the palm-branch huts specifically, so did Jesus participate in the re-enactment? Did he live in a hut?

Moses’ Law records the instruction from God for people attending the Feast. First, every able-bodied man in the nation must participate. Then, “Live in the huts for seven days” as a national remembrance of Israel’s history. (Leviticus 23:42)

Josephus reiterates the command, “Upon the fifteenth day of the same month, when the season of the year is changing for winter, the law enjoins us to pitch tabernacles [huts] in every one of our houses, so that we preserve ourselves from the cold of that time of the year” (Josephus, Antiquities 3.10.4  244).

The Mishnah states that “All seven days [of the feast] a person treats his sukkah [hut] as his regular dwelling and his house as his sometimes dwelling” (Sukkah 2.9).

Did Jesus have a feast hut? Yes, naturally … if Jesus was an able-bodied male who followed God’s law recorded by Moses.

On a very earthy level, it seems that he would have been more conspicuous if Jesus did not have a hut.

For more on understanding Jesus’ story, see Earth-Bound Experience.

The Gospel writers mention a variety of people around Jesus — the twelve disciples, supporters, crowds of followers, teachers and scribes, children, his brothers, and his mother.

At least three times a year, Jesus and his friends and family would travel to Jerusalem. And we see this larger community around Jesus.

In John 7, Jesus has conversation with his brothers who are preparing to go to the Feast of Tabernacles (or Huts).

In Matthew 20, Zebedee’s wife and mother of Jesus’ followers, James and John, is on the road to Jerusalem traveling the Passover.

Jesus’ mother and other women were Passover pilgrims as well (Luke 2:41; John 20:25). In fact, Luke writes that Jesus’ parents went to the Passover feast every year (2:41).

Later, Paul observed that the disciples as well as Jesus’ brothers traveled with their wives (1 Corinthians 9:5). This observation comes after Jesus’ last year, but it implies a common practice among these men.

While the record shows that the twelve were Jesus’ common companions, the historical context and hints in the records include a community of friends and family who traveled with Jesus at certain times and for specific events.

New Year (Rosh Hashanah) was an official holy-day that began with loud trumpet blasts. In fact, in the Hebrew Law, it was called the Festival of Trumpets.

Businesses were closed on New Year’s, and in addition, the law prohibited working from home as well. The Hebrew Scripture mentions the day in Leviticus 23:23-24.

The Gospel writers suggest that in Jesus’ experience, he followed the Hebrew Law recorded by Moses, so we can assume that on this day he listened to the trumpet blasts and enjoyed the down-time.

No walking/traveling and no teaching that would qualify as work. Jesus could enjoy New Year’s day at home with family and friends.

New Year’s is a good example of how we relate more deeply to Jesus’ experience by knowing a little bit of the ancient Hebrew Law. Leviticus 23 lists all of the holidays that Jesus would have followed.

You too can follow Jesus’ story including the holidays at SpendaYearwithJesus.

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Logical deductions. We make them all the time. Subconsciously, we fill in data like the edges of a cropped photograph.

The Gospel writers cropped the photograph of Jesus’ life. And like a cropped photograph, they leave us edges from which to complete the picture.

One such cropped edge is the scene at the High Priest’s gate in the John 18:15-16. It is the night Jesus was betrayed. The guards have arrested Jesus. Peter and another disciple follow.

At the gate, the disciple is allowed to enter because he is “known to the High Priest,” but Peter is not. This other disciple talks to the gatekeeper, and she allows Peter to enter.

The compelling two-part question follows: who is this unnamed disciple and how is this disciple known? One plausible answer is that the disciple is John, son of Zebedee, who supplies fish to the High Priest.

The implications of this fish connection combine with other factors to inform four periods of the SpendaYearwithJesus story. Labor marked Jesus’ experience as well as the lives of his disciples. Though their trade ceased to be the defining feature of their lives, the disciples continued to work periodically maintaining their work connections.