 |
| WOF Gospels Bible Tetramorph: St. John Eagle |
Happy New Year!
There's good news for 2026.
I run to Jesus in the Gospel of John
over and over again like a child
running toward their favorite pair of arms.
+ Brenna Blain,
The first post for this new year is based on one of my favorite memories of 2025. Near the close of the year, I enjoyed a month of texting with friends and family, in country and out of the country, some seeking, some believing, sharing each day about one chapter in the Gospel of St. John.
In the Tetramorph representing the Gospels (based on the imagery of being in God's glorious presence featured in Ezekiel 1:4-13 and Revelation 4:1-8), St. John's Gospel is represented by the eagle (see image above) as John speaks to the grace and truth of Jesus' divinity, soaring to the highest heights and reaching to our deepest depths, fully showcasing the Son of God as Immanuel, God with us.
Today, with Emmaus City Church, we will begin to the new year worshiping together, focused on Jesus in John 1:1-5 and 10-14, full of grace and truth, dwelling among us.
This post will include the brief reflections that were part of text exchanges based on Chapters 1-12 in St. John's Gospel. And to honor the anonymity of those I enjoyed these exchanges with, the excerpts below include only my side of the conversation.
Chapter 1 | He Is the Beginning
The beginning of this Gospel offers us a poetic and powerful introduction that mirrors the beginning of the first book of the Bible in Genesis 1 (i.e. both books begin with "In the beginning ... ) and then showcases God's creation and liberation of the world through Jesus, "the Word made flesh who made His dwelling among us" (vs. 14).
Jesus is the Logos (Greek word translated to "Word," but is bigger in meaning as the rationale foundation of the universe, the very wisdom and power of God to create everything), the Life of God (vs. 4), and the Light the darkness cannot overcome (vs. 5).
And Jesus is reconciling heaven and earth in being both fully human and fully God in His embodied dwelling among us in the Incarnation as Emmanuel, God with us, "the Word made flesh who made His dwelling among us" (vs. 14).
As Tim Keller writes,
Some have argued that
the supreme miracle of Christianity is not
but the Incarnation.
The beginningless, omnipotent Creator
of the universe took on a human nature
without the loss of His deity,
so that Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth,
was both fully divine and fully human.
Of all things that Christianity proclaims,
this is the most staggering.
J.I. Packer puts it starkly:
"God became man;
the divine Son became a Jew;
the Almighty appeared on earth
as a helpless human baby,
unable to do more than lie
and stare and wriggle and make noises,
needing to be fed and changed
and taught to talk like any other child. ...
The babyhood of the Son of God
was a reality.
The more you think about it,
the more staggering it gets.
Nothing in fiction is so fantastic
Chapter 2 | Filling What's Empty
The story continues with an abundant showcase of Jesus bringing the bigger and better party, while also revealing how He cleans house so no one and nothing can pillage our experience of being in God's presence.
The Wedding at Cana is the first of seven signs (i.e. public miracles that point to who Jesus is) John includes in his Gospel to reveal that Jesus is the Son of God.
In this scene of celebration turned crisis (it was inhospitable and shameful to not have enough to share with everyone over the multi-day wedding celebration), Jesus listens to His mother to bless the guests on the third day (remember what happens on the third day later in His story ... ) and resurrect the party. But to do so, Jesus reveals Himself publicly, which begins His time, His journey towards the cross.
Mary also listens to Jesus
and says her final words
we hear from her in the Gospels,
words every disciple of Jesus
learns to say like she did
as His first disciple:
"Do whatever He tells you."
(vs. 5)
Why do I want to continue to learn to do what Jesus says? Because He brings the abundance of heaven to earth at no cost to me and to everyone who follows Him, fulfilling what prophets (Amos 9:13-14; Joel 3:18) had been saying would happen when the Messiah comes, including Isaiah in one of my favorite passages:
Isaiah 55:1
Come, all you who are thirsty,
Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to Me;
listen, that you may live.
Jesus performs His first public miracle at great cost to Himself, but at no cost to the wedding party, including us if we believe in Him. He's beginning to reveal what heaven on earth looks like. As Joshua Ryan Butler says in God Is on Your Side:
God turns water into wine all the time.
Rain falls to the earth, soaks into the soil,
and is absorbed by the vine.
It eventually emerges in the grapes,
which come bursting off the branches.
With this miracle,
Jesus is not contradicting nature
but rather speeding up the process,
through Himself as the Vine.
Rain falls to the earth, soaks into the soil,
and is absorbed by the vine.
It eventually emerges in the grapes,
which come bursting off the branches.
With this miracle,
Jesus is not contradicting nature
but rather speeding up the process,
through Himself as the Vine.
Yet there's one more crucial step
in the process of making wine:
You have to crush the grapes.
Jesus is crushed
to bring forth resurrection wine.
His life poured out is what
brings life to the world.
in the process of making wine:
You have to crush the grapes.
Jesus is crushed
to bring forth resurrection wine.
His life poured out is what
brings life to the world.
And that's why His response at the temple with the tables is also a display of His passionate love and purpose for us. The places where goods were being sold filled up where Gentiles in particular were supposed to have room in the temple courts to be close to the one God and Lord of heaven and earth. Jesus clears the cacophony out of this temple just like when we confess and repent, believing He is where we meet with God (i.e. He is the true temple that is raised in three days). He purifies what's in our hearts and minds (see hint of this in the purification jars He chose to fill with water that's turned into wine at Cana) so we can hear His voice and be full of His peace.
Jesus fills what's empty in us.
And Jesus clears what's crowding out
our ability to connect with Him.
He wants more for us.
He wants us to see the signs
and believe in His name (vs. 23).
And Jesus clears what's crowding out
our ability to connect with Him.
He wants more for us.
He wants us to see the signs
and believe in His name (vs. 23).
John 2 reminds me of a newer song, "Come As You Are" based on an older hymn, "Come Ye Disconsolate." Both are beautiful and powerful and reflect Jesus' power to fill us and purify us.
Chapter 3 | God So Loved
In one of the most read chapters, the focus features Jesus' powerful exchange with religious and cultural leader Nicodemus in the first half of Chapter 3, and the Prophet John the Baptizer's joyful words about Jesus to close the chapter.
Some of my most memorized verses are featured here:
For God so loved the world
that He gave His one and only Son,
that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send His Son
into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through Him.
+ Jesus
(John 3:16-17)
He (Jesus) must become greater;
I must become less.
+ John the Baptizer
(John 3:30)
Life to its fullest is offered in Jesus.
A proud and powerful man like Nicodemus
is offered and needs this good news
about the one and only Savior of the world.
And a poor and prophetic man like John
is offered and needs this good news
about the one and only Savior of the world.
And I desperately need this good news.
After all, if what Jesus says about Himself, and what John says about Him is true, then the world is not "going to hell in a hand basket." The God who made it, through Christ, is redeeming and rescuing His children from every tribe, tongue, and nation, including me, and is restoring the world to be the place where heaven and earth reconcile.
Why? Because His love is strong enough and His grace is greater than my sin and evil and the satanic systems in play in this world that seek to accuse, steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus is greater, and His greatest act of love will turn things upside down and expose evil's weakness. In light of that, this morning, I'm singing with "We the Kingdom":
For God so loved
The World that He gave us
His one and only Son
To save us.
Whoever believes in Him
Will live forever.
The power of hell
Forever defeated,
Now it is well,
I'm walking in freedom
For God so loved the world.
Also, for a quiet, yet powerful, artistic portrayal of Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus at night on a rooftop, here's a clip from The Chosen.
Chapter 4 | He Had To
Now (Jesus) had to go through Samaria
... (vs. 4).
Love the focus and determination
that begins the beautiful story of Jesus
meeting the woman at the well.
He had to go through Samaria, the place of tension and hostility. Jews and Samaritans did not get along, but Jesus stepped into this divisive moment to bring deliverance. Jesus has to meet people where they are, including us, and change lives forever.
Jesus had to meet this woman in her isolation, bitterness, grief, and pain. He chose her when others had abandoned or left her. He wanted to be with her when she went to the well in the heat of the day to avoid being with people. He offered her the water that would sustain her and save her in the deserted places of her heart and life.
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am He.” (vv. 25-26).
She listened to the Messiah, and now, fully able to see herself through Jesus' eyes, she believed the good news that her sin was forgiven, her life was redeemed, and her story would help save others.
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to Him, they urged Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days. And because of His words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” (vv. 39-42)
And we can trust now
that Jesus, the Messiah,
is still meeting us and speaking to us,
even today in simply reading this story
in the Scriptures that share His Word
of hope, truth, and grace
that changes our history
and heals our hearts.
Like with the Samaritan woman,
Jesus is compelled to meet me
in the heat of the day
when my life is not what I expected.
When relationships aren't
what I want them to be and
spirituality proves murky and muddled,
Jesus comes to me, and to you,
to offer us living water
that clarifies, satisfies, and
won't stop welling up within us
when we drink from Him,
filling us with His eternal life
that overflows to others.
Drinking this water proves so good, I want to share it with others like the woman did with the town people she once avoided. Like her, we can tell our stories ("everything I ever did," vs. 29), including weaknesses, failures, and fears, and know He will redeem.
Par the course for many of these first stories in the Gospel of St. John, The Chosen provides a powerful glimpse of what some of this conversation might have been like at the well.
Chapter 5 | Get Well?
"Do you want to get well?”
(vs. 6)
Love this question from Jesus to the man at the pool of Bethesda. For 38 years, this man has known life from one perspective, and Jesus asks him if he wants to experience something freeing, something healing that only Jesus can provide. And the man decides he wants more of what Jesus can offer than what the man has known for nearly 4 decades.
I'm grateful that Jesus still asks people today like you and me, “Do you want to get well?” And that we have the opportunity to answer Jesus, "Yes," and receive restoration and resurrection like this man.
How? Because Jesus is Lord, one with the Father and the Spirit, and, “My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working.” (vs. 17)
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are always at work to bring healing, rest, and salvation to those who desire it and ask for it from Jesus, in this life with full healing guaranteed in life after death.
But sadly, I confess, I sometimes want to stay where I am with what I know. I live by what I understand instead of believing what Jesus says He can do. I settle for so much less. And Jesus' words still pierce like a good doctor who knows what when a patient has been healthy and sees what it takes to be healed again: “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” (vs. 14)
So I repent again today, turning to Jesus and trusting Him when He says, "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it." (vs. 21)
"Jesus, I want to be made well.
Give me the life only You can give.
Amen."
“Very truly I tell you,
whoever hears My Word
and believes Him who sent Me
has eternal life and will not be judged
but has crossed over from death to life.
Very truly I tell you,
a time is coming
and has now come
when the dead will hear
the voice of the Son of God
and those who hear will live."
+ Jesus
(vv. 24-25)
The pool of Bethesda reminds me of a powerful song (and banger) by artist, author, and hip hop MC, Sho Baraka, also titled, "Bethesda." I include the lyrics and the link to the song at the end of this post focused on the life of abolitionist Absalom Jones, a man who not only lived with the belief that Jesus could heal and transform people, but that Jesus was the King of kings who could also liberate and change (religious, political) systems to provide glimpses, no matter how small, of an answer to the prayer "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
Clouds will come,
The rain will fall.
Sometimes the sun
Won’t shine at all.
From pain inside,
Cries will soar.
But I’m hoping that You
Hold all things together.
Wade in the water,
Wade in the water, children,
Wade in the water,
God's gonna trouble the water.
+ Sho Baraka,
"Bethesda"
Chapter 6 | Where Else?
"It is I; don't be afraid."
(vs. 20)
"The work of God is this:
to believe in the One He has sent."
(vs. 29)
“I am the Bread of Life.
Whoever comes to Me
will never go hungry, and
whoever believes in Me
will never be thirsty."
(vs. 35)
"I am the Bread of Life" is the first of the 7 "I Am" statements in John's Gospel, each speaking to who Jesus is as the great I Am. Each answers a deep need, and this one speaks to how Jesus provides contentment in a world of coveting, fullness and satisfaction in a world of never enough.
This is why it can be so hard to believe in Him because we're swimming in waters that tell us there's always something else we should want and something else we should look to in order to feel safe, to look for satisfaction. But in the times we realize we're in a desert, Jesus promises to be the manna that meets us in our wilderness and gives us life that will sustain us always.
So with Peter, I have learned to respond, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." (vs. 68) And lately, the song, "Where Else Can I Go?" helps me sing these words to Him.
Chapter 7 | Let Anyone
Here Jesus again offers an invitation for us to trust Him, rest in Him, and taste and see that He alone can refresh and satisfy:
On the last and greatest day of the festival,
Jesus stood and said in a loud voice,
“Let anyone who is thirsty
come to Me and drink.
Whoever believes in Me,
as Scripture has said,
rivers of living water
will flow from within them.”
By this He meant the Spirit,
whom those who believed in Him
were later to receive.
+ John 7:37-39
These words remind me of another favorite passage in Matthew's Gospel:
“Come to Me,
all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you
and learn from Me, for
and you will find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy
and My burden is light.”
May this day be full of invitation to rest and find Jesus with us and for us, and may each of us freely receive all He has to graciously give when He says, "Come to Me."
Weary burdened wanderer,
There is rest for thee
At the feet of Jesus
In His love so free.
There is freedom taste and see,
Hear the call come to Me.
Run into His arms of grace,
Your burden carried He will take.
Chapter 8 | I Am
Now we get to hear the 2nd of 7 "I Am" statements Jesus says to reveal who He is the leaders and the people:
“I am the Light of the world.
Whoever follows Me
will never walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life.”
+ Jesus
(vs. 8:12)
Jesus is the light who shines in the darkness that the darkness cannot overcome (vs. 1:5), whether He is protecting the woman at the beginning of the chapter through revealing the hypocrisy of those who aim to stone her and trap Jesus, or whether He is warning the Pharisees about their sin and their lack of trust in Him.
"Neither do I condemn you.
Go now and leave your life of sin.”
(vs. 8:11)
"I told you
that you would die in your sins;
if you do not believe that I am He,
you will indeed die in your sins.”
(vs. 8:24)
Only God is able to forgive sins and redeem people, and Jesus offers this to anyone who will listen to Him, including the Pharisees, woman, and the people throughout the scenes in this chapter. And John tells us that, "Even as He spoke, many believed in Him" (vs. 8:30).
And He reveals what this faith, trust, and loyalty to Him means in order for Him to be the I Am who is the Bread of life and the Light of the world. Jesus has to be greater than Abraham, greater than the prophets, the one God gives glory to, truly the Word of God made flesh (vv. 8:52-58). And with His final words in this chapter, they finally get that He is saying all this and that's why they want to stone Him for blasphemy. When Jesus says, "I Am," He is saying He is the one and only liberating and holy God who revealed Himself to Moses with the same words:
Moses said to God,
“Suppose I go to the Israelites
and say to them,
‘The God of your fathers
has sent me to you,’
and they ask me,
‘What is his name?’
Then what shall I tell them?”
God said to Moses,
This is what you are to say
to the Israelites:
‘I Am has sent me to you.’”
God also said to Moses,
“Say to the Israelites,
‘The LORD, the God of your fathers
—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob—
has sent me to you.’
“This is My name forever,
the name you shall call Me
from generation to generation."
+ Exodus 3:13-15
One song that came to mind while reading this chapter that I love singing in worship with Emmaus City Church is, "Light of the World."
Chapter 9 | See
Jesus reminds us again that He is the Light of the world (vs. 9:5) who not only the darkness cannot overcome, but also who makes the blind see. And Jesus does this not only through the power of His words, but also through the compassion of His touch and the nearness of His presence.
"The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see" (vs. 11).
This moment reminds me of the powerful words from the timeless hymn, "Amazing Grace,"
" ... I once was lost,
but now I'm found,
was blind,
but now I see ... "
" ... I once was lost,
but now I'm found,
was blind,
but now I see ... "
May we have humble hearts to listen to what Jesus says, do what He asks, and see where the Light of the world shines in the darkness and worship Him.
When we worship Jesus (another example of Jesus' divinity in this Gospel as it is only good, right, and true to worship God alone), we give love, awe, and glory to the One who is worthy of it. And then we are also sent to witness to what we have heard, seen, and experienced, like this blind man did from the pool of Siloam, which means "sent," when he kept speaking what he now believed about Jesus to his neighbors, family, and to the Pharisees.
The man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped Him. Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind" (vv. 38-39)
Here's a Gospel medley of "Humble Thyself" and "Amazing Grace" that surges like a timeless and timely spiritual.
Chapter 10 | Listen
Here St. John includes two more "I Am" statements by Jesus (we're up to 4 out of 7): "I Am the Gate" (vs. 9) and "I Am the Good Shepherd" (vv. 11, 14), both revealing more of the depth of Jesus' identity as the Lord of heaven and earth and the One who saves.
"My sheep listen to My voice;
I know them, and they follow Me.
I give them eternal life, and
they shall never perish;
no one will snatch them out of My hand.
My Father, who has given them to Me,
is greater than all;
no one can snatch them out
of My Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
(vv. 27-30)
I know them, and they follow Me.
I give them eternal life, and
they shall never perish;
no one will snatch them out of My hand.
My Father, who has given them to Me,
is greater than all;
no one can snatch them out
of My Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
(vv. 27-30)
This passage showcases Jesus fulfilling and embodying the most popular Psalm in Scripture: Psalm 23:
1 The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not want,
I have what I need,
I lack nothing.
I shall not want,
I have what I need,
I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters,
3 He restores my soul.
He guides me on paths of righteousness
for His name’s sake.
4 Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for You are with me;
Your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely Your goodness and mercy
and love will follow me
all the days of my life, and
I will dwell in
the House of the LORD forever.
Jesus is the LORD, the great I Am, and with Him we lack nothing. With Him, we have everything we need in this life and the life to come. He leads us where we need to go and He restores us along the Way. With Him, we don't have to fear evil or death because He has crushed the evil one through His victory on the cross and overcome death through His resurrection. His Eucharist table is a table of reconciliation where enemies come together to be God's family. And through His mercy and goodness and love, we can trust Him that no one can take us out of His hand and that forever we will dwell with Him.
One of my favorite songs that helps me remember the power and comfort of John 10 is "Psalm 23 (I Am Not Alone)" by People & Songs.
Chapter 11 | Jesus Reveals God
Here we see four particularly powerful revelations about Jesus:
Jesus reveals God
not only loves people generally,
but also very personally:
“Lord, the one You love is sick.”
not only loves people generally,
but also very personally:
“Lord, the one You love is sick.”
(vs. 3)
Jesus reveals God
grieves with us,
feels pain with us,
has compassion on us,
and cries: Jesus wept.
(vs. 11:35)
Jesus reveals God's
anger against the destruction of death
is visceral (i.e. "deeply moved" in Greek
is a gutteral anger against the forces of death):
Jesus, once more deeply moved,
came to the tomb. (vs. 38)
Jesus reveals God
can raise someone from the dead
no matter how long
they've been in a tomb, and
call them to come and
follow Him into new life:
“Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out,
his hands and feet wrapped
with strips of linen,
and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them,
“Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
(vv. 43-44)
We receive the same invitation from God today. And we can respond like Lazarus in how we come and follow Jesus, singing the words of "Grave Clothes."
Here we also get to hear Jesus' 5th I Am declaration: “I Am the Resurrection and the Life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (vv. 25-26)
Chapter 12 | Extravagant
Lots of amazing things went on in Chapter 12 of St. John's Gospel. One moment that is extravagant, beautiful, and full of wonder involves Mary anointing Jesus in vv. 3-8. I love how Japanese American artist and author Makoto Fujimura describes this moving moment:
"In a remarkable scene in John 12,
Mary of Bethany barges in and
breaks open this jar of nard
that she's been saving up all her life.
The disciples are furious at her
as she is doing only what a woman
should be allowed to do
on her wedding day,
which was to anoint her bridegroom.
Everybody knew what that
aroma signified.
They're expecting Jesus
to kick her out and
Jesus says, 'No, you have no idea.
You don't understand this night.
She has done a beautiful thing to Me.'
Mary is responding to
this encounter with Jesus
when Jesus intentionally came late.
He was supposed to come and
heal Lazareth, her brother,
and he's dead.
So she's very upset with Him.
And Jesus' answer to Mary
was His tears.
Jesus wept.
When Jesus wept,
it was this gratuitous,
useless beauty
that was flowing through Him
to her and she knew that.
And all she could do was to think,
'What is the most valuable thing
that I have to offer back to Him?'
So she grabs this jar and runs in.
She wasn't thinking about
this drama that she would create.
What she knew was that
Jesus was going to suffer,
so the only thing she can do
is to anoint Him.
But what she has done is beautiful
and enduring because it's ephemeral,
it's useless, because it's a waste.
God demands of us so much more
than what's transactional.
It is really about the gift
that we've been given and
the only response we can give back
is with extravagance,
with gratuitous beauty.
And we need to tell this story,
not the story of pragmatism,
not the story of utility.
This story of extravagance,
of gratuitous beauty is the Gospel."
+ Makoto Fujimura
Some key words that help unpack what Makoto is saying about this powerful scene that has been remembered for nearly 2,000 years are:
Behold:
To wonder at the beauty,
abundance, and truth
within God's creation.
Waste & Uselessness:
Philosophical terms
for things that are utilitarian.
Wonder appreciates the value of things
in and of themselves,
not their pragmatic value.
Wonder & Wisdom:
Wonder is to wisdom
what flavor is to cooking.
"Taste and see that the Lord is good"
(Psalm 34:8).
Extravagant Beauty:
God sent His Son to die for us
while we were sinners
estranged from Him (Romans 5:8).
His wondrous, extravagant love
restored us to Himself,
to His truth and beauty.
Because of His love,
we have the gift of wonder –
to know Him.
To consider these themes a bit more with Makoto and others, check out this 15-minute video from the "For the Life of the World" series entitled, "Wonder."
With wild wonder and hope,
No comments:
Post a Comment