05142022 – John 13. 31-35 If you are in a liturgical church, your heart and your mind races back in time to HOLY WEEK. You are reminded of SPY WEDNESDAY and MAUNDY THURSDAY. You remember “that commandment to love” from there…John’s gospel. Now, during the Season of Easter we are being reminded of it again, […]
05112022 – John 10. 22-30 I am not sure “WHY” there are not more sermons on this particular promise. And, WHAT AN AWESOME PROMISE, it is! Maybe people find it “UNCOMFOTABLE.” I dunno. Maybe it puts YOUR “FAITH on the line.” “Perhaps” they DO NOT BELIEVE in “the words”…or they find it to be too […]
5072022 – John 10.22-30 Jesus was not always “Captain Obvious.” He was not always as clear as he could be. He did seem to speak in riddles. He answered questions with questions. He loved teaching in parables… He did speak philosophically from time to time. And sometimes, he did leave his audiences baffled and confused…and […]
05042022 – John 22. 19-31 A whole lot of people THINK that they are “DEFINED” by their past…and who THEY WERE, or WHAT they REPRESENTED, at one time! It has been said, that either we “IGNORE the past” or “we CHOOSE to live in it and dwell in our past.” Some people never let go […]
04302022 – John 21. 1-19 Mark writes hastily the MEMOIRS and the STORIES from Peter to establish the FIRST gospel format. Matthew writes for a decidedly HEBRAIC audience. Luke attempts a more “accurate account” to be published for the GENTILE world. AND THEN, there is John. He has the leisure to do his “own thing.” […]
04232022 – John 20. 19-31 This is important to note. It’s been ONE WEEK since Easter, ONE WEEK since the all the CHAOS, EXCITEMENT, and DRAMA erupted, one week since the EMPTY TOMB was first discovered, one week since OUR FIRST “Alleluia” echoed and called forth a new liturgical season of the church year. It […]
04142022 – John 13. 1-17, 31b-35 Maundy Thursday One by one, Jesus kneels on the floor in front of each disciple. You can picture it. You can see it in your mind’s eye. It is more than just a parable acted out in real time. It is a teaching. A teaching meant to hit home. […]
04062022 – The Anointing at Bethany Just for the record: John has a version of the story that is similar to Mark’s. Remembering of course, that Mark was the first Gospel to be written…his is the original storyline. Everybody else follows Mark in some form or another. Both stories occur in the village of Bethany. […]
03022022 – John 12.1-8 William Shakespeare wrote the memorable line in Hamlet, “something is rotten or something “smells rotten” in Denmark,” I think more Biblically accurate – something is “pretty stinky in Bethany…” too! And it is coming from that “big house” right – over there…people have argued about “who’s house” it actually was. Such […]
01192022 – John 2. 1-11 When the gospels were being written the AUTHORS, the WRITERS, the EVANGELISTS (as they were called) were ALL very CALCULATED. Nothing was RANDOMLY DONE! EVERYTHING is SIGNIFICANT, suggestive, POINTED, and revealing. Placement was PURPOSEFUL and WITH great MEANING. HOW the ministry of Jesus BEGINS is “very telling.” Mark, the first […]