Tag: Gospel of John

Morning Prayer, 17 Mar – John 14:1-4 ~ trust me

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences – Cuthbert of Northumbria (635-87)

Lower my vengeance, my anger and my hatred, and banish my wicked thoughts from me; send down a drop from heaven of Your holy Spirit to vanquish this heart of rock of mine. Amen.

Morning reading

John 14:1-4 ESV:

going home

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”

Reflections:

trust me

While Jesus has made it clear that the disciples cannot trust in their own loyalty to him, this is not a cause of despair but an invitation to true security. They can only find real hope and confidence by focusing on God rather than on themselves. So Jesus tells them to trust in God; trust also in me. They have had such faith, and now they are to continue in that faith. The context suggests that Jesus is commanding them to trust. They are to stop letting their hearts be disturbed and hold firm their trust in God and in Jesus.

trust as command

The command to stop being disturbed requires that the disciples change their feelings. They are to do so not by focusing on their feelings, which would simply trap them in self-preoccupation, but by focusing on objective reality, namely, the Father and the Son. The disciples are to continue to hold on to their confidence in the Father and the Son despite all the feelings that will come as they see Jesus killed and as they are confronted with their own weakness. Despite all the evidence to the contrary in what is about to happen, God remains the loving, just, sovereign Father that Jesus has revealed, and Jesus remains his Son, beloved by God, and the disciples themselves remain loved by the Father.

trust as warfare

Their confidence is in God as revealed by Jesus, not in their circumstances nor in themselves. Only by being thus grounded in God do they have a stable center to focus on and to calm their hearts. By living from God’s reality rather than their own feelings and the appearances of this world, they are engaging in the battle that Jesus himself is waging. Jesus’ death is central to his victory over the world and its ruler. By their faith the disciples also conquer the world. Thus, “Jesus’ demand that they have faith in him is more than a request for a vote of confidence” (Brown)!

trust as peace

Jesus has already provided them with an example of what he here commands. When his heart was “troubled” he focused on the Father and the accomplishment of his will. Such remains the only source of peace and security. Given the presence of fear and worry in epidemic proportions among people, including Christians, the lesson Jesus is teaching his disciples at this point is greatly needed today as well. Only a trust in the revelation of the beauty, goodness and power of the Father and the Son will bring healing. It is perfect love that drives out fear (1 Jn 4:18).

trust as hope

Jesus’ main point is that he is going to God and will return for them; Jesus is talking about heaven and his second coming (Brown; Ridderbos). This is one of the few places in this Gospel where Jesus speaks of the future hope.

The word room refers to an objective “place” but not in the material sense many have in mind. Perhaps the most helpful language we have at present to speak of such a reality is to refer to it as another “dimension.” The phrase my Father’s house refers to “not mansions in the sky, but spiritual positions in Christ” (Gundry; Brown). While the ultimate goal is the Father, this passage is centered on Christ — it is his Father’s house, and Jesus says he will come again to take them to be with me more literally, “I will take you to myself,” pros emauton).

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

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Canticle:

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

_____________________________________

Peanut Gallery: A brief word of explanation – the general format for Morning Prayer is adapted from the Northumbrian Community‘s Daily Office, as found in Celtic Daily Prayer (see online resources here.) The Scripture readings are primarily from the Gospel of John, with the intent to complete the reading by Easter. Other Scriptures which illuminate the Gospel of John will be included along the way.

Reflections from various saints will be included as their memorial days occur during the calendar year.

On Sundays, I’ll return to the USCCB readings (see online resources here) and various liturgical resources in order to reflect the Church’s worship and concerns throughout the world.

Photo illustrations and music videos, available online, are included as they illustrate or illuminate the readings. I will try to give credit and link to sources as best I can.

Morning Prayer, 15 Mar – John 13:36-38 ~ not ready… yet

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences – Cuthbert of Northumbria (635-87)

Anyone who claims to be in the light, but hates his brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother and sister lives in the light; and there is nothing to make that person stumble.

Morning reading

John 13:36-38 ESV:

Saint Peter perhaps early 17th century, After El Greco
Saint Peter
perhaps early 17th century, After El Greco

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?”

Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”

Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

Reflections:

Peter claims he would lay down his life for Jesus, but he does not know his own heart. Despite his own estimate of his devotion, his love is still too self-centered and he does not yet have the guidance of the Spirit. The Lord will bring him to a new stage of maturation after the resurrection.

The poor showing of Peter, Judas and the other disciples at this point can be an encouragement to us in our immaturity. The Lord is incredibly patient. Indeed, he is love, a will to all goodness in our own lives. But God alone is good, and we are not the ones to define goodness. So we should find in Judas’s and Peter’s experience a warning to be loyal to Jesus as he is rather than as we would like him to be. Only he can guide and correct our mistaken notions, as we see him doing in this Gospel repeatedly. We should be asking him to do so in our lives, receiving the guidance he has given to the church through the Spirit.

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

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Canticle:

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

_____________________________________

Peanut Gallery: A brief word of explanation – the general format for Morning Prayer is adapted from the Northumbrian Community‘s Daily Office, as found in Celtic Daily Prayer (see online resources here.) The Scripture readings are primarily from the Gospel of John, with the intent to complete the reading by Easter. Other Scriptures which illuminate the Gospel of John will be included along the way.

Reflections from various saints will be included as their memorial days occur during the calendar year.

On Sundays, I’ll return to the USCCB readings (see online resources here) and various liturgical resources in order to reflect the Church’s worship and concerns throughout the world.

Photo illustrations and music videos, available online, are included as they illustrate or illuminate the readings. I will try to give credit and link to sources as best I can.

Morning Prayer, 14 Mar – John 13:31-35 ~ love each other

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences – Cuthbert of Northumbria (635-87)

O King of Kings, O King of the universe, King who will be, who is, may you forgive us each and every one. Accept my prayer, O King of grace.

Morning reading

John 13:31-35 ESV:

love one another 1

When [Judas] was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.

“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Reflections:

the glory of God

In general the glory of God refers to his “own essential worth, greatness, power, majesty, everything in him which calls forth man’s adoring reverence” (Caird). This glory has been manifested throughout Jesus’ ministry, but now it comes to a climax on the cross. For the chief characteristic of God revealed in Jesus is his love, a self-sacrificial love. Thus, God is glorified in him through his death, “for in the cross of Christ, as in a splendid theatre, the incomparable goodness of God is set before the whole world” (Calvin).

the love of God

The love of God has now been mediated in a radically new way, through the incarnation. And the possibility of sharing in that divine love now becomes possible in a manner and to a degree unlike anything up to this point. The disciples are called to enter into the relation of love that exists between the Father and the Son. This love also is not new; it has existed from all eternity. But it has not been manifested or made available until the incarnation. Such love is the fruit of the disciples’ union with Jesus and, in Jesus, with the Father. The disciple, therefore, is one who is characterized by love, which is the laying down of life. The disciple, like the Master, reveals the Father.

the people of God

The love command focuses on relations within the new community – the divine love to be shared by the disciples, and extended to the whole world. Indeed, their love for one another is part of God’s missionary strategy, for such love is an essential part of the unity they are to share with one another and with God; it is by this oneness of the disciples in the Father and the Son that the world will believe that the Father sent the Son. The community is to continue to manifest God as Jesus has done, thereby shining as a light that continues to bring salvation and condemnation. Without this love their message of what God has done in Christ would be hollow.

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

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Canticle:

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

_____________________________________

Peanut Gallery: A brief word of explanation – the general format for Morning Prayer is adapted from the Northumbrian Community‘s Daily Office, as found in Celtic Daily Prayer (see online resources here.) The Scripture readings are primarily from the Gospel of John, with the intent to complete the reading by Easter. Other Scriptures which illuminate the Gospel of John will be included along the way.

Reflections from various saints will be included as their memorial days occur during the calendar year.

On Sundays, I’ll return to the USCCB readings (see online resources here) and various liturgical resources in order to reflect the Church’s worship and concerns throughout the world.

Photo illustrations and music videos, available online, are included as they illustrate or illuminate the readings. I will try to give credit and link to sources as best I can.

Morning Prayer, 13 Mar – John 13:21-30 ~ love rejected

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences – Cuthbert of Northumbria (635-87)

All whom I love, into Your safe keeping; all that I am, into Your tender care; all that I will be, into Your perfect will. Amen.

Morning reading

John 13:21-30 ESV:

Closeup of Judas The Last Supper (Mosaic) Giacomo Raffaelli, Vienna, c. 1800
Closeup of Judas
The Last Supper (Mosaic)
Giacomo Raffaelli, Vienna, c. 1800

After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”

The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?”

Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.”

So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

Reflections:

anguish

Jesus’ anguish is caused by great love — the love he has for his disciples, including his betrayer. In Jesus’ anguish we see revealed the effects of our sin on the heart of God, from the first rebellion in the Garden right up to the most recent sin you and I have committed today. All sin is a rejection of God’s great love.

We are all quite capable of the worst sin. If we think otherwise, we are deluded and have no real idea how much we owe to the grace of God.

decision

When Judas receives the bread he seals his fate – now we have the point of decision. Just as faith is a progressive sequence, so acceptance of the devil’s will also follows a sequence. “His acceptance of the morsel without changing his wicked plan to betray Jesus means that he has chosen for Satan rather than for Jesus” (Brown).

The ultimate contest between light and darkness now begins in earnest – What you are about to do, do quickly. Jesus is not commanding Judas to sin but rather commanding him to get on with what he is going to do, one way or the other. “No man in all history was more truly `put on the spot’ than Judas in that moment” (Beasley-Murray).

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

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Canticle:

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

_____________________________________

Peanut Gallery: A brief word of explanation – the general format for Morning Prayer is adapted from the Northumbrian Community‘s Daily Office, as found in Celtic Daily Prayer (see online resources here.) The Scripture readings are primarily from the Gospel of John, with the intent to complete the reading by Easter. Other Scriptures which illuminate the Gospel of John will be included along the way.

Reflections from various saints will be included as their memorial days occur during the calendar year.

On Sundays, I’ll return to the USCCB readings (see online resources here) and various liturgical resources in order to reflect the Church’s worship and concerns throughout the world.

Photo illustrations and music videos, available online, are included as they illustrate or illuminate the readings. I will try to give credit and link to sources as best I can.

Morning Prayer, 12 Mar – John 13:1-20 ~ love on display

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences – Cuthbert of Northumbria (635-87)

God’s will would I do, my own will bridle; God’s due would I give, my own due yield; God’s path would I travel, my own path refuse.

Morning reading

John 13:1-20 ESV:

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

Jesus Washing Peter’s Feet Ghislane Howard (2004)
Jesus Washing Peter’s Feet
Ghislane Howard (2004)

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

Reflections:

footwashing and betrayal

It is extremely important to realize that Jesus is going to wash the feet of one who is considering betraying him. Judas has not yet given in to the temptation, but the devil has prompted him. This is the first step in a sequence that temptation follows – “the provocation,” the initial idea. It is wise to reject the thought at this point because the temptation is at its weakest and one is not yet guilty of sin.

Jesus’ own awareness is also an important part of the context of the footwashing. He knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God. This knowledge does not simply give Jesus the security to wash the disciples feet — his sharing in the divine essence is what leads him to wash their feet. This is what God himself is like — he washes feet, even the feet of the one who will betray him!

footwashing and humility

Footwashing is something slaves did for their masters, wives did for their husbands, children for their parents, and disciples for their teachers. In Jesus’ case, there is an obvious reversal of roles with his disciples. The one into whose hands the Father had given all now takes his disciples’ feet into his hands to wash them (Augustine).

Peter cannot stand the thought of his teacher doing the work of a slave. It would have been appropriate for one of the disciples to have washed Jesus’ feet, but the reverse is intolerable. This response expresses Peter’s love, but his love lacks humility. Indeed, humility is the very thing illustrated in Jesus’ present action. In Peter’s response we see the pride and self-will that is at the heart of all sin and that is the very thing for which the cross will atone and bring healing.

footwshing and leadership

The community Jesus has brought into being is to manifest the love of God that he has revealed through serving one another with no vestige of pride or position. There will be recognized positions of leadership within the new community, but the exercize of leadership is to follow this model of servanthood – demonstrating in word and deed the selfless love of God.

The pattern of life exemplified in the footwashing is true blessedness, contrary to what the world, which is centered in pride and selfishness, thinks. Accordingly, Jesus says, Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. The Gospel is a life to be lived and not just an ideal to be contemplated.

footwashing and mission

Jesus gives his own mission and that of his followers “an absolute theological significance; in both the world is confronted by God himself” (Barrett). Seen in the context of the footwashing, this statement of the dignity of the Christian witnesses is not an expression of power and authority in any worldly sense. The one who represents Christ by bearing the same self-sacrificing love of God will meet with the same response Jesus met but will also be the agent of the same eternal life that comes through knowledge of the Father in the Son by the Spirit.

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

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Canticle:

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

_____________________________________

Peanut Gallery: A brief word of explanation – the general format for Morning Prayer is adapted from the Northumbrian Community‘s Daily Office, as found in Celtic Daily Prayer (see online resources here.) The Scripture readings are primarily from the Gospel of John, with the intent to complete the reading by Easter. Other Scriptures which illuminate the Gospel of John will be included along the way.

Reflections from various saints will be included as their memorial days occur during the calendar year.

On Sundays, I’ll return to the USCCB readings (see online resources here) and various liturgical resources in order to reflect the Church’s worship and concerns throughout the world.

Photo illustrations and music videos, available online, are included as they illustrate or illuminate the readings. I will try to give credit and link to sources as best I can.