A Fresh Perspective

In his farewell discourse to his disciples in the Gospel of John, Jesus says: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34–35). Jesus creates community, not on the basis of purity codes, levels of holiness, or degrees of worthiness, but on the basis of a transcending, inclusive, loyal love. The command to love is itself not new, but what is new is the emphasis and centrality Jesus brings to it. The duty of humankind toward God and toward each other can be gathered up in the command to love. If there is one virtue that is foundational to all other virtues, if there is one quality or attribute that stands above all the others and is the source of all the others it is love. This is the essential mark of Christian discipleship. The commandment is also new in the way Jesus makes God’s love tangible, visible...

In John  10:27 Jesus says:  “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.” Eternal life in John’s Gospel is as much about quality of life as quantity of life. It is not merely life without end; it involves a particular kind of life that is without end . This Gospel offers a rather simple, but profound explanation of what it means by eternal life. In John 17:3 we read: “This is eternal life,  that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” From the perspective of the Johannine community, eternal life is knowing God and Jesus Christ whom God sent into the world. This “knowing” is not simply knowing about, it is not information based knowledge. It is intimate knowing, experiential knowing, relational knowing, intuitive knowing; it is deep, innate, inner, spiritual knowing. Faith, of course, is vital in nurturing this kind of kind of knowing. It is critically impor...

In John 21:1–19, Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Peter is singled out not because Peter is more noteworthy than the others. Peter functions in a kind of representative role. He is the one who tends to talk the most and shout the loudest. The three times that Jesus addresses Peter corresponds to Peter’s three denials (18:17, 25–27). All the disciples betrayed Jesus and fled in fear, but Peter was the most adamant in his claim to loyalty. He had insisted that he would never desert Jesus. It was painful for Peter to have to respond to Jesus three times, each time remembering his betrayals. Jesus holds no grudge; there is no retribution. We need not fear condemnation, but we all, like Peter, must be led through a process whereby we face the pain our betrayals and denials and failures have caused those we have hurt. Without such a process we cannot enter into the new covenant of forgiveness. It’s not that God withholds forgiveness, it’s simply that we will be u...

If you are familiar with Thomas’ encounter with the risen Christ in John 20, then you may know this as the story of doubting Thomas. In fact, the expression “doubting Thomas” has become something of a cliché. But it’s not really accurate. It is true that most of our English versions use the word “doubt.” Jesus says to Thomas: “Do not doubt, but believe.” A more literal reading of the Greek is: Do not be unbelieving, but believing. Jesus is exhorting Thomas to move from a state of unbelief to belief (trust, faithfulness). But even if we accept the translation—“Do not doubt”—Jesus is not judging or condemning doubt per se, nor is he condemning the particular kind of doubt expressed by Thomas. The living Christ accommodates himself to Thomas’ requirements in order to move Thomas from a state of unbelief to belief. Of course, Christ was under no compulsion to do so, and John 20: 29 suggests that the vast majority of believers will not be given the kind of special revelation that ...

In the film Doubt, Sister Aloysius becomes convinced that Father Flynn is having an inappropriate relationship with a student in the school. She is relentless in her pursuit to expose and get rid of Father Flynn. She even lies to Father Flynn about calling a sister in a previous perish who acknowledges Father Flynn’s past history of “infringements.” Father Flynn resigns. Sister James, a younger nun, was the one who originally suspected something and notified Sister Aloysius, but then her fears dissipated, and she came to the conclusion that Father Flynn was just concerned about the boy, the only African American student in the school.   Sister James is at home visiting her family when Father Flynn resigns. Soon after her return, she sees Sister Aloysius sitting outside, looking troubled. It is a cold day, snow is on the ground. The following is the interchange beginning with Sister James. “Why did Father Flynn go? What did you say to make him leave?” “That I called ...

Luke 12:1-12; 1 Corinthians 15:19-28 On the first day of the week, at early dawn, (the very timing of it has theological significance), the women arrive at the tomb bringing spices to anoint the body of Jesus. They come looking for the body of Jesus, but they do not find the body of Jesus. The stone that sealed the tomb is rolled away and the body is absent. Their first reaction is bewilderment. They stand there “perplexed” Luke says. Just then, while they are standing there perplexed, not knowing what to do, what to say, where to go, two men in dazzling clothes appear beside them, and ask them, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” Fred Craddock tells about the time he was at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta , Martin Luther King, Jr.’s. Pastor Joe Roberts had invited him. The time had come in the service for Fred to preach. He walked up to the pulpit, opened his Bible, and was about ready to read his text. But before he could get started, the Past...