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In the overture (John 1:1-51) of the symphonic Fourth Gospel, a clear chord is struck that emphasizes the welcoming and adoption of those who embrace Jesus Christ, Son of God: “But to all who received (...)

“And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us” (1 John 3:23). “In truth it is impossible (...)

The good shepherd discourse, or at least the idea of Jesus as the good shepherd, is one of John’s especially memorable moments that tend to be remembered out of context. While it can have in (...)

Like the good shepherd of last week’s text, this week’s image of the vine is another extended metaphor, which also borrows from and adapts Old Testament imagery for Israel. Whereas the Synoptic parable of the (...)

Now we have a shift from the vine of last week’s text to love. The two texts are actually of a piece. The vine can only be understood in light of its definition as an (...)

The community to whom 1 John was written was facing a crisis. Former members of the community were denying that Jesus was truly the Messiah, God’s flesh and blood, fully human, son. Like many churches (...)

First John, in some ways, is like a commentary on the meaning of the Fourth Gospel, but in other ways it is like a catechism. For example, the Elder1 likes to raise questions that his (...)

This week’s text is the middle of Jesus’ prayer for his friends, which brings to a close the extended farewell section of this Gospel (John 13-17). The lectionary assigns the opening and closing of the (...)

The temptation when preaching Pentecost is to make the sermon a witness to something that happened. When we do this, we simply retell the story of Acts 2 and reconstruct the account of the Holy (...)

Students who have studied John’s Gospel with me, and especially my teaching partner Barbara Rossing, will be shocked that I am cautioning preachers not to move too quickly to the Eucharist on these Sundays devoted (...)