Gospel of John 13 – Does Jesus Really Want me to Wash Feet?
John doesn’t give us the Last Supper/institution of the Lord’s Supper but he does give us the “rest of the story.” It was not uncommon in their day to enter a home for a meal and expect to have your feet washed by someone in the lowest position, usually a slave. The point was, doing […]
Ten Reflections on the Importance of Scripture
I really do love the Bible. It has meant so much to me in both the peaks and the valleys of life. It is like a long standing relationship that just gets better and better with age. I have had the times when the Bible fell open to just the right text at just the […]
Gospel of John 12:20-33 – Greeks Want to See Jesus
The triumphal entry concludes with jealousy from the Pharisees and the statement, “Look how the whole world has gone after him.” (12:19). The very next verse shows how true that statement was. Some Greeks approach Philip and ask to see Jesus. Philip and Andrew ask Jesus if this would be okay and, in typical Jesus […]
Attractional or Distractional – Part 2
The Attractive Draw of the Cross: When I watched the crucifixion seen in the Passion of the Christ I had to force myself to keep my eyes glued to the screen. I didn’t want to see all the blood and violence but I figured if Christ endured it, I can at least witness it. On […]
Attractional or Distractional – Part 1
We hear a lot about attractional models of worship, evangelism, and all the rest “doing church.” I wonder at what point attractional becomes distractional. Moving Away from Worship as Penance: I don’t want you to mishear me here. I am not trying to say the duller and more irrelevant our worship services are the more […]
Gospel of John 12:12-19 – Jesus’ Triumphal Entry
What would cause you to join a crowd? What would motivate you to get out of bed and join a group of people for a particular cause? We have seen people march on Washington over health care but I doubt many of you reading this were there. We have seen million man marches but I […]
The Shortcut of Changing the Labels – Christian vs. Christ-follower
In John 10 Jesus has some tough words for the Pharisees in response to their poor reception of the man he healed from blindness in John 9. I wrote up quite a lengthy post detailing what was going on in John 10, Jesus as the good shepherd and the gate and all the rest…context, historical […]
John 9 – Mud in the Eyes Christians
After reading and re-reading the story of the man born blind in John 9 today I am struck by the power and authority of Jesus combined with the blind man’s willing obedience. Our faith is a partnership of unequals. We can’t even take credit for listening and doing because without his command we wouldn’t have […]
Gospel of John 8:12-59 – Jesus Gets Testy
John 8:12-59 contains some of the best known lines in John but they aren’t said to a loving, accepting mob of fervent believers. They are spoken to a mostly obnoxious and rebellious group in Jerusalem. In 8:12 Jesus says he is the light of the world. One of the great “I am” statements and one […]
Gospel of John 8 – Jesus Light of the World
As was already mentioned the Feast of Tabernacles had several ceremonies that keyed in on themes of Jewish history. The water ceremony remembered the wilderness wanderings where God dwelled with his people and provided them water to drink. Jesus worked off this theme in calling himself the source of living water (John 7:37). The second […]