The Biblical scholar Gail O’Day offer some final thoughts:

John 12:20–36 is the most concentrated collection of sayings on the death of Jesus in the Gospel of John and, therefore, provides the interpreter with an appropriate place to reflect on the meaning of the death of Jesus in this Gospel. Theological inquiry about Jesus’ death and its soteriological [things relating to salvation] efficacy is most frequently identified as “atonement theology.” Before looking at the Johannine understanding of the death of Jesus, it will be helpful to review the theologies of atonement that have shaped and continue to shape the life of the church. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Lent.  31 Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” 33 He said this indicating the kind of death he would die. 

This unusual mixture of dialogue and monologue seems to come to its point and purpose: “Now is the time of judgment..”  It should echo the words spoken at the end of the dialogue/monologue with Nicodemus in John 3: Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Lent. 27 “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” With the word “now” the focus returns to Jesus’ hour and St. John portrays a different Jesus than the one we encounter in Gethsemane as portrayed by the other gospel writers. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Lent.  The introduction of a new group of people (some Greeks) indicates a new narrative and thrust of the gospel message. Anyone could “see” Jesus as he was in the Temple precincts. I think it is a given that the Greeks wanted more. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Lent. In John 11:47, as Jesus’ popularity grew, the Pharisee had asked of one another: what are we to do? The Pharisees themselves testify to the fulfillment of their fears in v.19: “So the Pharisees said to one another, “‘You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him.’” Their confession of vulnerability (“You see that you are gaining nothing”); their hyperbolic announcement that the “world” (kosmos) has gone after Jesus provides ironic testimony to the truth of Caiaphas’s prophecy:  50 nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.” 51 He did not say this on his own, but since he was high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, 52 and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God. (John 11:50-02) Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Lent in Lectionary Cycle B. During Ordinary Times, the lectionary selection for readings largely follow the flow the gospel accounts. But this is Lent and the gospels are taken to reflect, not the sequence of gospel events, but large themes important to the Lenten season. Previously on the 4th Sunday of Lent we read from John 3; this week we jump all the way to John 12. This chapter is located at the end of a multi-chapter section called the “Book of Signs” which contains all the miracle stories from the Gospel of John. A quick recounting of preceding events include: the anointing of Jesus’ feet by Mary a type of burial anointing, the triumphs entry into Jerusalem, and then our gospel. Continue reading →