Tag Archives: Gospel of John

Read my heart

Grain of wheat

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” John 12:24

We send messages to others in every moment. Our words, attitudes, gestures, body language, and actions speak our truth in that moment.

God has written the law of love upon our hearts. Compassion, kindness, acceptance, welcoming, encouragement, courtesy, and nonviolence are ways to express what God has written upon our hearts.

Do the messages I send others reflect God’s writing?

But this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD.
I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jeremiah 31:33

Apprenticed to Jesus

Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) Nicodemus and Jesus on a Rooftop, 1899 oil on canvas Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts via Wikimedia Commons

Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937)
Nicodemus and Jesus on a Rooftop, 1899
oil on canvas
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
via Wikimedia Commons

God so loves us that he trusts us to be his hands, voice, eyes, ears, heart, and compassion in the world.

In order that we learn how to become more like God, he apprentices us to Jesus. Ours is not academic learning; it is experiential learning where we practice by watching and imitating Jesus.

Heal, eat with sinners, speak out against injustice, serve the poor, pray, love your enemies, lay down your life for others.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” John 3:16

No surprises

Head_of_Christ_by_Rembrandt_(Philadelphia_panel)

Christ
Rembrandt or workshop (1606-1669)
oil on oak, circa 1648-1656
Philadelphia Museum of Art
via Wikimedia Commons

Nothing that happens to us, nothing we do, nothing we feel is a surprise to Jesus. In his humanity, he felt anger at the money changers and sadness at the death of Lazarus. He blamed the fig tree for not producing fruit. He accused God of abandoning him on the cross. He loved us so much he gave his life for us.

Jesus is one of us. He knows us. He knows we are capable of indifference and of compassion. He knows we can be stiff-necked and insist on our own way and he knows we have what it takes to surrender our life and will to God’s care.

Perhaps the only surprise is for us: God trusts us to be fully human and loves us just as we are.

But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well. John 2:24-25