Content related to John

Home » New Testament » John

John 16:12-15

Trinity Sunday C

Even on the best of days, if ever anything counted as information that we “cannot bear,” the nature of the Trinity is one of them. The nature of the three persons and their union will forever be out of our reach, but at least we know that we will have some inklings about it because…

Read More

John 14:8-17 (25-27)

Pentecost

Though many of us return to Acts 2 for Pentecost, writing these gospel commentaries for the last number of years has made me appreciate the work of the Holy Spirit that much more. I mean, don’t get me wrong, flaming tongues are pretty cool to imagine—and a friend of mine once made a pretty rocking…

Read More

John 17:20-26

Easter 7C

This section of Jesus’s lengthy prayer in John 17 is a good summary of the whole: it reveals the heart and intent behind the prayer, as well as what’s at stake. Given the fact that along with pastoring I’m currently working on a PhD in the History of Christianity, I consider myself someone a little…

Read More

John 14:23-29

Easter 6C

“I do not give to you as the world gives.” – Jesus Our lectionary passage this week is Jesus’s response to a disciples’ question. Jesus has been talking about the coming Holy Spirit and how he will reveal himself to his disciples even though he is no longer with them. And one of them basically…

Read More

John 13:31-35

Easter 5C

How confusing this all must have been for the disciples. During the supper that they’ve just shared, Jesus has taken on the role of a servant and washed their feet—an act he tells them should be part of what they do for one another (verses 1-17). Then Jesus starts to speak of belonging to him…

Read More

John 10:22-30

Easter 4C

After two weeks of post-resurrection Easter encounters, the lectionary always brings us back to pre-Easter events and to Jesus’s teachings about the new life he envisioned for his beloved. We start here at the Festival of Lights/Dedication or as it is more well-known today, Hannukah. It is a gift to return to these texts during…

Read More

John 21:1-19

Easter 3C

The new life that Easter represents finds its expression this week in a call to discipleship. So much about this pair of scenes calls back the original call to disciples. The gospel writer tells us that this is the third time Jesus appears to the group, but even still, the awkwardness the disciples feel as…

Read More

John 20:19-31

Easter 2C

Suffering is the feeling, the fear, the bedrock that fills the space of the story without really ever being its focus. Even when Thomas is touching the wounds in Jesus’s side and hands, suffering is the note played, but not the song sung. Being held captive by fear is most definitely a kind of suffering….

Read More

John 12:1-8

Lent 5C

The little family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus are the prime example of disciples who were not the disciples (the twelve). They are front and center of some of Jesus’s most intimate moments as well as perhaps his most spectacular miracle. And though this scene is one of many positive encounters Jesus has with women,…

Read More

All Locked Up

Why didn’t they go looking for him? Today we pick up right where we left off last week on Easter here in John 20.  When last we saw the disciples, Mary Magdalene had just burst in with the excited and exciting news, “I have seen the Lord!” Earlier that day, when Mary told these same…

Read More