You may have heard a saying that life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward. The Gospel of John tells its story forward, but John tells us many things were only understood backward. The first understood-backward thing was back in Chapter 2: “Thus when he was raised from the dead his…
“Time and space make way for love.” — St. Nikolai Velimirovich’s Prayers by the Lake XV The Third Sign in John’s Gospel is all about time, beginning with the special time of the Sabbath, and ending with Jesus blending past, present, and future into one. Yes, it’s kind of mindblowing, and may be troubling to…
The next conversation Jesus has is very different from his conversation with Nicodemus. It’s an unplanned meeting, in the middle of the day, with a powerless Samaritan woman rather than a powerful Sanhedrin man. The woman is combative where the man is befuddled, and, in the end, the woman is converted while the man is…
Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, when he could not be recognized. As a ruler of the Judeans, Nicodemus could not afford to be seen with Jesus, not after Jesus had driven sheep, oxen, and moneychangers out of the temple. Jesus re-arranges the house of his Father in John 2, continuing the work of the…
Q: How many people does it take to be baptized, and how many does it take to be married? My mind answers back, one to be baptized, and two to be married. I grew up in a “Baptist” church that talked about a personal relationship with Jesus. I also grew up on boy-meets-girl movies that…
The first readers of the gospel of John were shocked, but not by the verses that shock us modern readers. I’m shocked by “the word was God” and “through him all things were made.” But John’s readers had heard things like this already. In Proverbs 8, God’s Wisdom speaks to us, a person, firstborn of…
“While rejoicing you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” (Quinn-Miscall p. 99, 108) We are at the end of this Advent road, on the cusp of the night when that transcendent God descended to a body of flesh and bone, and at the end of this road there’s a song. Isaiah has used…
“He will wave his hand over the River with his mighty wind; He will split it into seven streams and allow people to cross it in sandals. Thus there will be a highway for the remnant of his people that remains from Assyria, as there was for Israel when he came up from the land…
“The Lord will extend his hand again to gather the remnant of his people that remains from Assyria and Egypt. … He will raise a signal to the nations, and he will collect the outcasts of Israel; the dispersed of Judah he will gather from the four corners of the earth.” (11:11-12 Quinn-Miscall p. 73)…
“On that day the root of Jesse will stand as a signal for the peoples; nations will come to him to inquire.” (Isaiah 11:10, Quinn-Miscall p.64) “And again, Isaiah says: ‘There shall be a root of Jesse; And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope.’” (Romans 15:12…
