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John 6:24-35: Never Go Hungry: Proper 13B
In the Simon and Garfunkel song Mrs. Robinson, we hear the line, “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you. What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson? Joltin’ Joe has left and gone away.” Originally part of the soundtrack for the film The Graduate, the song became one of the…
John 9:1-41: Now I See – Lent 4A
It was probably the big goofy grin on his face that kept some folks from recognizing him. Oh, they’d seen him for years. But rarely had they seen him at eye level. Instead they’d long ago grown accustomed to seeing this hapless man sitting, legs akimbo, on the ground near the entrance to the farmer’s…
John 3:1-17
Lent 1A
In the verses just before Nicodemus comes knocking on Jesus’s door, the gospel writer tells us that people were coming to believe in Jesus because of the signs Jesus was doing while in Jerusalem. Then there’s this rather ominous line: “But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them… he himself knew what…
John 1:29-42
Epiphany 2A
A theme in the Gospel of John is that of testimony, or being a reliable witness. Throughout the whole text, Jesus is establishing himself as needing no other witness. Here at the beginning of the narrative, we see John pointing to this reality through his own witness, supported by the witness of the prophecy he…
John 1:10-18
Christmas 2A
The world didn’t know what it has, but God keeps giving anyway. That grammatically incorrect sentence is my best quickfire attempt at summing up this Christmas dip into the Gospel of John’s prologue. The world didn’t know that it had a gift waiting to be recognized and enjoyed. And because it could not recognize the…
John 11:1-45: Just About Everywhere – Lent 5A
In one of her short stories the writer Annie Dillard has a scene in which a family is sadly gathered at a grave to commit a loved one’s body to the earth. At one point the minister intones the familiar words from I Corinthians 15, “Where, O Death, is thy sting?” Upon hearing that, one…
John 1:43-51: The Child’s Leading – Epiphany 2B
Don’t you wish sometimes you could have been there, could have seen them in person? I mean the disciples and, of course, Jesus himself. You hear people say things like that once in a while. Wouldn’t it have been something to have been able to meet Peter, to shake Matthew’s hand? What if even now…
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…
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…
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…
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