Johannine Literature: Devotional

A practical guide offering helpful reflections, biblical insights, and suggestions for the preacher's preparation to assist in preaching on the Gospel of John.

The intimate presence of God in Jesus can be found in the gospels of John and can transform sermons. But this Fourth Gospel is often difficult to preach because of its long dialogues and intertwined narrative and theology. Unlike the synoptic accounts of Jesus' life, John's gospel does not fit neatly into the rhythms of the lectionary cycle. Gail O'Day encourages preachers to take on the task of preaching Johannine texts, assimilating these frequently elusive texts into the vital life of the church. Through exegetical guidance, homiletical instruction, and sample sermons, she helps preachers to enter the texts, to be shaped by them, and then to proclaim their message in their fullness. O'Day invites preachers to preserve the unique voice of Johannine texts by defying the traditional tendency to reduce a scripture passage to a central point, and even to abandon such a reductionist approach to biblical texts in general. Completely revised and undated, The Word Disclosed focuses on four of the most popular texts in John (passages involving Nicodemaus, the Samaritan woman, the man born blind, and Lazarus) and includes new or extensively revised sermons on other lectionary texts from John and other parts of scripture.

In this accessible treatment of the major themes of the Gospel of John, renowned New Testament scholar Lamar Williamson blends the best of biblical scholarship and a close reading of the Fourth Gospel to meet the practical needs of weekly preaching. A more reflective Gospel in which the risen Jesus speaks in signs and discourses, John does not simply tell stories, but allows us to experience the Word and to see Jesus offering living water to the aridity of the institutional church and bread to the hungry hearts of individual disciples. More than mere exposition, Preaching the Gospel of John includes at the end of each passage three to five possibilities for preaching the text--creative and pertinent suggestions that can help preachers apply the words of the Fourth Gospel to the lives of today's churchgoers. Proclaiming the living Word is a major theme of the Gospel of John, and this clear and insightful commentary captures that message in the preaching moment.

The John Gospel Devotional Commentary is a practical and easy-to-use commentary that includes each passage of John's Gospel with a faith-filled meditation. While devotional, this commentary draws from solid Catholic scholarship as well. Readers will find new and rich meanings as they meet Jesus through the eyes of St. John.

Immorality is inudating the Christian community and gradually eroding the foundations of Christian living. The truth of God incarnate, the atonement and the bodily resurrection of Christ are under attack--even from within the church.These are the concerns of Christians today, and they were the problems that faced the Christians of John's day. In a society that scorned the gospel and sneered at godly living, John encouraged Christians with a message forged from two words--truth and love.In this contemporary retelling of John's message, David Jackman describes John's first letter as an upwardly spiraling staircase that circles and broadens out around the twin themes of truth and love, mind and heart, Word and Spirit. It is a message both timeless and timely for the church today.

This volume in the New Testament in Context (NTC) commentary series is a concise treasure-trove of information about two New Testament letters (2 and 3 John) and a treatise or sermon (1 John). Issues of authorship and province are considered, and related commentaries by Bultmann, Schnackenberg, and Brown are engaged. In contract to the infinite detail of these latter commentaries, Gerard Sloyans work stands as a paragon of clarity, insight, and access to the meaning of the Johannine letters. The overall effect provides the reader with perspective on the kinds of issueschristological, ethical, organizational, and theologicalthat were troubling and dividing the church in the second century.

God's Promises to Humanity explores the role of this Old Testament covenant metaphor in the literary fabric of the Gospel and Letters of John.