You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 8:30-59, go here. The Gospel of John: Unblinding Light, Part I (John 9:1-34) The opening verse of our text suggests that there is no pause between 8:59 and 9:1, or no very substantial pause (like the kind implied by 2:12)—the Lord is apparently still on his way out of Yrushalem, and performs this miracle more or less... Read more

You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 8:12-29, go here. The Gospel of John: Sukkot, Part IV (John 8:30-59) The Sukkot sequence at last draws to a close, in one sense: as we will see next week, as chapter 9 begins, the Lord is still only just leaving Yrushalem, though as in chapter 3 there will be an interlude during which the narrative “camera” leaves... Read more

You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 7:32-52, go here. The Gospel of John: Sukkot, Part III (John 8:12-29) The unofficial cross1-examination of Christ in Yrushalem continues, and the tension continues to simmer. Next week, in my fourth and final installment on this pericope, it will boil over. John 8:12-29, RSV-CE Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world;a... Read more

You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 7:1-31, go here. (My apologies for getting this out so late, and with no Patreon sponsor early version! I was without a working laptop charger for a couple of days, which set me back quite a bit work-wise.) The Gospel of John: Sukkot, Part II (John 7:32-52) The theme of Yeshua’s cross-examination again grows prominent: questions dart... Read more

You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 6:52-71, go here. The Gospel of John: Sukkot, Part I (John 7:1-31) The seventh and eighth chapters of John take place during the festival of Sukkot, which occurs on the 15th to 21st of the month of Tishrei, so that it usually falls in late September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. This is the greatest... Read more

You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 6:22-51, go here. The Bread of Life Discourse, Part II (John 6:52-71) St. Peter’s Church in Capernaum, Israel. Authorship unclear—used via a CC BY 2.0 license (source). We now conclude the Bread of Life discourse, which completes the first half of the “grand foreshadowing” (discussed in the postscript two weeks ago), the part corresponding to the Passion.... Read more

Happy Solemnity of St. Joseph! You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 6:1-21, go here. The Bread of Life Discourse, Part I (John 6:22-51) The Gathering of the Manna (c. 1440), from the anonymously-made Hours of Catherine of Cleves. With the Bread of Life Discourse, we reach the center of the “Book of Signs” (roughly John 1-11), not only positionally but conceptually. The... Read more

You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 5:19-47, go here. The Five Thousand and the Fifth Sign (John 6:1-21) Church of the Multiplication in Tabgha,1 Israel. Photo taken by David Shankbone in 2007, made available via a CC BY-SA 3.0 license (source). I’ve translated most of this passage before, but that was a couple of years ago, and I’ve made a number of different... Read more

You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 5:1-18, go here. The Third Sign, Part II (John 5:19-47) Here, we have the Lord’s longest homily in the book thus far. His last homily was the one delivered to Nikodemos in chapter 3, which concluded without a reply from what seemed to be its sadly bewildered recipient; as of 5:18, the third-chapter theme of judgment has... Read more

You can find my two-part introduction to the Gospel of John at these two links, and my index/outline for it here; for the previous installment on John 4:4-42, go here. The Second Sign (John 4:43-54) Folio 309r from the Book of Kells (early 9th c.), containing part of the Gospel of John. Though a comparatively short bit of narrative, this passage has a good deal of structural significance. After the episode in Samaria, the action returns to the Galilee—where, compared with the Synoptics, we... Read more