Posts from 2023 (Page 4)

In John 20, when the risen Jesus finally comes to his disciples, they’re huddled together in some secret location behind a locked door. They’re afraid that the Jewish authorities that manufactured the death of Jesus will come for his followers now and finish the job. Even so, Jesus walks right through the locked door, as if to say that in the new creation wrought by his resurrection, there is no barrier erected by fear that can keep Jesus out. New…

As John 20 begins, three days after Jesus’ death and right before dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene approaches the tomb where her grief has brought her and sees that the stone in front of it has already been rolled away. Thinking there has been a grave robbery, she runs to tell the other disciples. Peter and “the beloved disciple” (whose real name is never told to us) now run to the tomb. The beloved disciple looks…

Even though Jesus never incriminates himself quite as easily as Pilate and Israel’s priests would like him to, they decide to crucify him anyway. So in John 19, Jesus is beaten, given his crown of thorns, mockingly named “King of the Jews,” and nailed to the cross along with two other criminals. In his finals moments, he says, “I am thirsty.” A sponge is filled with wine, put on a branch (from a hyssop bush) and extended up to Jesus.…

“What is truth?” This is the sinister question Pontius Pilate asks Jesus in John 18. In just the last few hours, Jesus has been arrested, interrogated by his Israel’s priests, and delivered to Pilate (the Roman governor of Jerusalem) to be crucified. Pilate cares little what is actually true about Jesus, about the priests, about anything. The amount of power and authority he has allows him to condemn or pardon regardless of what’s true. In order to crucify Jesus, he…

To begin John 13, Jesus uses one last dinner before his death as an opportunity to wash his disciples’ feet. After doing so, he asks them, “Do you know what I have done to you?” What a haunting question. We confess we don’t really know what Jesus has just done to us. We’ll spend our whole lives trying to understand what Jesus has done to us with just the simple act of washing a few feet. Jesus knows his hour…

You’re on vacation. The welcome sign as you drive into town reads, “Save us.” The hotel clerk, the restaurant server, the greeter and employee at every place you visit greets you with “Save us.” It’s not the most pleasant-sounding vacation, is it? In John 12, this is how the Jerusalem crowd greets Jesus – “Hosanna!” which means, “Save us.” Hosanna here is shout of praise, said with excitement and anticipation. Many of our own hymns express the same thing. Save us!…

At the beginning of John 12 there is a brief but incredible story with a rich cast of characters. First is Lazarus, recently raised by Jesus from the dead and his resurrection is the catalyst for this whole episode. Here he is at the dinner table once again. The Gospels tell a handful of stories about Jesus bringing the dead back to life, but this is the only one for which we get some followup. What is it like for…

One consequence of Jesus’ miraculous signs in the Gospel of John is intense opposition, as we see in John 5. Another consequence is the sudden flood of new followers ready to see what exciting and miraculous thing Jesus will do next, as we see in John 6. The intrigue surrounding Jesus is so great that something like 5,000 people are willing to follow Jesus halfway up a mountain just to not miss out on anything that might happen (John 6:1-3).…

The first half of the Gospel of John is often called “The Book of Signs” because of the large role that Jesus’ miraculous signs play in the story. And Jesus is clear as to why he performs them – that we may believe, not just that Jesus is a powerful guy, but that God himself is powerfully present and active in the world. One of these is the healing of a lame man at the pool of Bethesda. This man hasn’t…

Allow me to state the obvious (but not as obvious as it seems): the Gospel of John is a story about Jesus. Why is that something that needs clear stating? Because sometimes we need reminding that Jesus is not just a teacher with some good ideas and advice. Jesus is not an instrument by which we achieve happiness and success (which would reduce him to a pawn in our narrative and needs). He is nothing less than the focal point…

John is clearly eager to follow up Jesus’ interaction with Nicodemus with Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. The two characters are perfect opposites. Nicodemus is a respected Jewish rabbi. This unnamed woman is a lonely Samaritan outsider (an outsider to the Jews and even to her own people). And yet, she is the one who listens to Jesus and learns and grows, while Nicodemus, for being a renowned “teacher of Israel,” can’t comprehend…

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…