Posts from 2023 (Page 3)

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…

The four Gospels agree that it is man named Joseph from Arimathea who buries Jesus after his crucifixion. Each account sprinkles into the story some unique details, and the details are everything. When John tells the story (John 19:38-42), we find out that this Joseph is a disciple of Jesus, but a secret disciple. He’s a well-respected man among Jerusalem’s religious elite, and openly following Jesus would have been a quick way to lose that status and whatever privileges and…

In John 9, a man who’s been healed by Jesus is interrogated by the Pharisees (since the healing happened on a sabbath). When the formerly blind man refuses to throw Jesus under the bus, he’s expelled from the synagogue community, which would mean the loss of many relationships and connections in his community. Jesus continually invites us to step into sacrifice, into oblivion with the faith that, when we do, we haven’t actually lost what we thought we would lose, and…

Everyone is blind. Those who can’t see, can see. And those who can see, can’t see. Everyone is blind. At least that’s what Jesus has to say at the end of John 9 after healing a man of his blindness – with saliva and mud! It is genuinely one of the most entertaining stories in the Gospels (which is saying something, considering Jesus is absent for most of it). The healing happens on a sabbath, which means the Pharisees feel…

Starting in John 7, we follow Jesus to Jerusalem and into the temple, and we’re there with him for a good while. We should be prepared – Jesus is heading into the lions’ den, to the Pharisees’ and priests’ home turf. Anyone who has spent any time at all in the Gospels knows what kinds of confrontations await Jesus any time he enters the space of religious procedure. Feathers get ruffled. Toes get stepped on. Tempers flare. Here we go.…

In Exodus 16-17, we read of the Israelites meeting their first challenges of life in the wilderness after Egypt. They grumble that there’s nothing to eat or drink, but God provides. Daily manna, the bread from heaven as Jesus calls it in John 6, and water from the rock. It’s not a glamorous existence, but it is enough. It is neither too much nor too little. This wilderness chapter of Israel’s story would last for 40 years before finally settling…

What are we supposed to actually do with Jesus? Yes, we sing, we pray, we read our Bibles, we try to follow his example, we profess our belief in him. But if we simply follow his example, is he anything more than just a good teacher? If we sing and pray to him, is he anything more than a magic genie that will hopefully grant us some wishes? And if we claim to believe in him, we’re still left asking…

Turning water into wine at the Cana wedding is one of Jesus’ best known miracles. But once we look deeper into the story, water turned into wine is just one of the incredible things happening here in John 2. The wine running out isn’t simply an inconvenience for those who weren’t finished drinking. It’s a source of shame, a sign of inhospitality to not be able to fully provide for your guests. When Jesus intervenes, the miracle is not only…

When Jesus feeds 5,000 people with just a little bit of bread and a little bit of fish in John 6, the crowd doesn’t want to let Jesus out of their sight. At first, they want to make him king, so Jesus flees. But they persist. The next day, they finally happen upon Jesus again. “Rabbi! When did you come here?” they ask (a perfectly ironic question, asking not only when Jesus arrived at his current location, but also asking,…

The Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. – John 5:19 It is not in Jesus’ nature to speak or act in a way that is contrary to the heart and will of God. It is only in his nature to speak and act in perfect accord with the heart and will of God. Jesus will say and do nothing except that which…

For the final chapter of John’s Gospel, the disciples are fishing (unsuccessfully), and a difficult-to-recognize Jesus is making a fire and breakfast on the beach. He calls out to the disciples on the water, “Cast the net to the other side of the boat!” They do so, and the haul is so great the net and boat can barely handle it. Now the identity of the stranger on the beach crystalizes. It’s Jesus after all! Like Mary Magdalene a chapter ago,…