The text this week is John 16:16–33, assigned as part of a series on the “very truly” sayings in John. These are initial notes and reflections on the text, co-text, and intertext before recourse to contextual materials and commentaries. What does the assignment of a text do to the process of delimiting the interpretive boundariesContinue reading “Sermon Prep. for John 16:16–33”
Category Archives: John
Death Throes of Christendom
Right, right—we’re already in “postChristendom.” In the same sense that we’re already in postmodernity, sure. The institutions of Christendom and modernity have hardly evaporated. They’re just in obvious transition. And by transition I mean death. Gasping, grasping, clinging-to-life death. The ugliest part of Christendom’s demise is the institutional Western church’s denial as it tries diagnose its death throesContinue reading “Death Throes of Christendom”
John 21
The final chapter of John is admittedly a little strange. Chapter 20 seems to provide the climax and the finality the story needs, and chapter 21’s focus on Peter feels almost too particular. There is a certain awkwardness to ending this way. (For a variety of reasons, many scholars doubt that ch. 21 is originalContinue reading “John 21”
John 20
John—if indeed John is the “other disciple” with Peter—was honest enough about his own experience of doubt to say that until the resurrection, he did not yet understand (20:9). This conflicts with the contrast that John presents to the Synoptic accounts, not least Mark, whereby revelation is much more blatant and conclusions are far moreContinue reading “John 20”
John 19
The duplicity of the Jewish authorities is on display in this chapter. Their motivation for crucifixion is that he has “made himself God’s son.” When Pilate is adamant that there is nothing against him in terms of Roman law, the crowd makes explicit his political bind by resorting to a different accusation: he claims toContinue reading “John 19”
John 18
This is not Jesus meek and mild. The YHWH theme continues as Jesus comes to meet his betrayer’s entourage, asks who they seek, and volunteers himself with two words that, quite impressively, knock them to the ground. I AM. Revelation is getting rawer now. The narrative seems to be spiraling into a rapid climax. TwoContinue reading “John 18”
John 17
A number of themes converge in Jesus’ prayer. Among them, five key ideas that have guided us throughout John now come together with a special intensity. They are glory, life, sending, word, and name. We might say that these are issues at the heart of Jesus’ view of what God is about. All of themContinue reading “John 17”
John 15:18–16:33
Jesus’s words have a meandering quality at first glance. Though it seems we have now, starting with 15:18, left the fruitfulness discussion, there is a direct line running from 15:11 and 15:16 to 16:24. The disciples fruitful prayer and their abundant joy (a fruit of the Spirit according to Paul, to stretch the exegesis aContinue reading “John 15:18–16:33”
John 15:1–17
These seventeen verses are for me some of the hardest in John. They circle back on themselves and defy every attempt to make them linear in meaning. We have here the final “I am” saying of John, repeated twice: “I am the true vine” and “I am the vine” (vv. 1, 5). The metaphor constitutesContinue reading “John 15:1–17”
John 14
Aside from pure busyness, I’ve been very hesitant to approach John 14 for a couple of reasons. It is one of the most personally moving pieces of Scripture for me, and I feel reticent about not doing it justice. I guess I should feel that way about the whole canon, but then I’d never postContinue reading “John 14”
Scripture & Mission 