Posts from January 2023

Posts from January 2023

Light rays forest at night

In the Light, Part 2

John begins his letter to the Church (1 John) by talking about how the forces of light and dark pull on us. The dark promises to keep our secrets for us and thereby make us look clean. But the light of Jesus promises to actually cleanse us. John learned to talk like this, of course, from Jesus who, throughout the Gospel of John talks a lot about light and dark. But these aren’t just words or convenient metaphors. They are…
Light rays forest at night

In the Light

    In the Gospel of John chapter 1, we see the excitement of those who meet and follow Jesus. John the storyteller, Andrew and Peter, Philip and Nathaniel. They knew immediately what a special and exciting thing it is to be a follower of Jesus. And now that John begins his letter (later in the New Testament) with, “We declare to you what was from the beginning! What we have heard! What we have seen with our eyes!” (1…
Wooden road sign with empty boards

What Are You Looking For?

In John 1, we begin with a mind-blowing, densely theological, poetic prologue (vv.1-18). Then we meet John the Baptist (not to be confused with the author of the present Gospel) whose sole concern is making sure we fix our eyes completely on Jesus. And then we see Jesus begin to gather his disciples. The Gospel of John here in chapter 1 paints a picture of what it looks like to be utterly captivated by the presence of Jesus. Two of…
Blinking lightbox with The End text

Telos

The beginning of a new year is a good opportunity to think not only about beginnings, but endings as well. A path is trodden more wisely when we already have an idea of where the path is leading us. As we take our first steps into 2023, let us look to where our story finds its ultimate destination, something which the book of Revelation is more than happy to show us. Another word for Revelation is apocalypse. We need not…