This coming weekend we celebrate the 2nd Sunday of Easter in Lectionary Cycle B. Consider this one verse: When Jesus prayed for his disciples he said to the Father, “As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world” (17:18).

Jesus and the disciples were not born into a time of theological vacuum.  Jewish theology was robust and with a history of succeeding and competing rabbinic schools.  The followers of Jesus and the people of his time were Jews who were raised and lived this theology.  It provided the framework for their daily lives and shaped their expectations about the Messiah, the Anointed One, who was to come.  Among the gospels, John’s is the writings whose work expresses the fulfillment of those expectations and provides the theology for those that would follow Jesus.  The basis of the theology is evident from the opening:

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and Word was God…”

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