Dear Partner in Preaching, I am posting this reflection on this week’s readings incredibly late and for that I’m very sorry. I hadn’t forgotten. It was just one of those weeks, and each day as I thought about writing you I then had a variety of things – some planned, some unplanned – crop up and make it difficult to write. And because this week hasn’t yet ended, I’m going to keep my comments on Jesus’ command to love in this week’s readings quite brief. In fact, I’m going to simply pose a series of related questions, and whether you want to ask them of your parishioners or simply ponder them yourself, I hope they’re...

John 10:22-30 Dear Partner in Preaching, I don’t usually start this letter, or my sermons, by calling to mind theological controversies, but I will make an exception in this case. Why? Because there is something deeply dissatisfying with this exchange between Jesus and his questioners. Just a quick contextual note to remind us where we are in John’s distinct narrative. After healing the man born blind in chapter 9, Jesus goes on to interpret that sign (John’s intentional naming of what we often call a miracle) across the first two-thirds of chapter 10 in what is often referred to as the “good shepherd discourse.” In these verses,...

Dear Partner in Preaching, This “epilogue” to John’s dramatic and symbolic Gospel, while perhaps not part of the “original” Gospel, nevertheless does not disappoint. Indeed, it provides a clue not only to the questions and fate of this early Christian community but sheds light on key elements of our life as disciples today. Scholars have posited a variety of reasons for this additional chapter: questions about the fate of the “beloved disciple,” the need to rehabilitate Peter as the Johannine community moved closer to other communities more familiar with Peter’s significant role in the early church, the need to “position”...