Summary: Jesus meets a Samaritan woman and tells her that people encounter God, not in specifically designated places, but out there, beyond the walls. If God is not confined to churches, or to gatherings of like-minded individuals, then we may need to reassess who God is and what a life of faith looks like.
Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post, Day1, and Patheos.
Summary: Jesus’ prayer in John 17 affirms this: “I need other people. I do, if I want the chance to experience union with God and plunge into the heart of what God is about. And I don’t need only other people who are like me; love requires me to attend to a wider group.”
Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post and Day1.
Summary: The Gospel according to John describes Jesus as a new temple, a new “place” where God is accessible to people. This suggests that we might encounter God in any and all aspects of life. What does this mean for our public speech about religion, and for the political rhetoric offered by presidential candidates?
Read the full article, which is part of the ON Scripture–The Bible project, on The Huffington Post and Day1.
Summary: In this biblical passage, Jesus, having risen from the dead, breathes the Holy Spirit into his followers and commissions them. The lectionary assigns this passage for the Day of Pentecost.
I wrote this biblical commentary for those preparing to preach or teach on the passage. Read the commentary at Working Preacher.
Summary: The New Testament contains four gospels. These books describe the same man named Jesus, but they do so in sometimes strikingly different ways. Instead of combining the gospels into a single, composite story, we do well to let each one speak for itself and keep varied perspectives in view.
Read the full article on The Huffington Post.
Summary: In this biblical passage, Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus with costly perfume. It’s a gift of lavish, extravagant devotion that sets a foreboding yet fitting context for Jesus’ impending death.
I wrote this biblical commentary for those preparing to preach or teach on the passage. Read the commentary at Working Preacher.
Summary: In this biblical passage, Jesus promises that “the truth” will set people free. People know the truth (which, in John’s Gospel, refers to the knowledge of God that Jesus reveals) when they dwell in his word—in him and his message. The lectionary assigns this text for Reformation Day (October 31).
I wrote this biblical commentary for those preparing to preach or teach on the passage. Read the commentary at Working Preacher.
Coronavirus, John 9, and What the Church Is Doing Here Anyway
Summary: When people ask Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” his answer rejects the premises of the question. He would rather talk about what it means to see “the works of God” become manifest among us. Jesus’ move in John 9 provides an insight for preachers who are facing enormous challenges as they figure out how to do ministry in the midst of a pandemic and all the public-health controls that have been put into place: focus less on the “why?” and “how?” questions and instead think creatively about how to point people toward the works of God in our midst. Christian faith refuses to be bound by prevailing assumptions about how things “must” be done but instead sees signs of God’s presence and transformations in seemingly desolate conditions. Christian faith knows how to find creative ways to love and serve others in the midst of adversity. Indeed, Christian faith came into being in precisely that kind of a context.
I wrote this article for those preparing to preach or hear sermons on John 9:1-41. It was originally a contribution to the “Dear Working Preacher” series. Read the full article at Working Preacher.
Bible commentary: preachers & teachers workingpreacher.org commentary
community coronavirus covid-19 crisis gospel of john john 9:1-41 preaching rodney stark witness