Posts from July 2023

We’ve got a couple of greatest hits from Jesus in John 14, some of his most recognizable words. “In my Father’s house are many rooms and I go there to prepare a place for you,” and “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” The latter has unfortunately been often used as a convenient assurance that we are in fact better than all those other religions, even though that’s…

‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Now…

We most readily associate the raising of Lazarus in John 11 with, of course, Lazarus. His name is universally synonymous with resurrection. But someone who doesn’t get nearly enough credit for what a superstar she is in John 11 is Lazarus’ sister, Martha. Almost every memorable thing Jesus says throughout the story he says because Martha has drawn it out of him. It’s because Martha has struck up a conversation that Jesus has this to say: “I am the resurrection…

Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The…