‘God is love’ (a statement made twice, 4:8, 16).
‘Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit’ (5).
‘God is love’ (a statement made twice, 4:8, 16).
‘Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit’ (5).
Theme(s): Jesus the Good Shepherd / The Cornerstone / God's power to transform life
Sentence: There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved' (Acts 4:12)'No. You must love all the believers, both the easy-to-love ones and the hard-to-love ones.'
The simplest answer is that the mission of Jesus is to the fold of the Gentiles as well as the fold of the Jews. When Jesus says 'there will be one flock, one shepherd' (16) he speaks consistently with his pray in John 17 that his followers might be one (11, 20, 22).
‘You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you and you killed the Author of life whom God raised from the dead’ (14-15).
‘Repent therefore and turn to God’ (19).
‘You have put gladness in my heart, more than when their grain and wine abound.’
‘when he is revealed, we will be like him’.
‘You are my witnesses of these things’ (48).
Theme: Resurrection / Overcoming Doubts / Believing in the risen Christ / New life in Christ
Sentence: But God raised Jesus up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held by in its power. (Acts 2:24)(Expiation has the sense of removing our sin and guilt, noting that "ex" means "out of" or "from", so sin and guilt is taken away from us by an act of expiation. God looks on us as cleansed people because our sins have been taken away by Christ. Propitiation has the sense of doing something about our sin and guilt "before" [pro] God, of appeasing God's wrath, of placating the angry God. See further here and here. For a sampling of Bible translations on the matter of how hilasmos should be translated:
Romans 3:25: expiation (REB; RSV; NEB); propitiation (ESV; KJV); atoning sacrifice (NRSV; NIV); sacrifice for reconciliation (NJB);
1 John 2:2: expiation (RSV; NJB); propitiation (ESV; KJV); atoning sacrifice (NRSV; REB; NIV); remedy (NEB)).]
It may be worth noting - in a nod to "propitiation" - that my copy of The Cambridge Greek Lexicon [Cambridge: CUP, 2021], which has no particular leaning theologically in respect of definitions of Greek words, simply defines hilasmos as "act of appeasement.")
(On another occasion we might engage with the question of how this account of endowment of the Spirit complements the account given by Luke in Acts 2, but here we simply note that John offers us 'the Johannine Pentecost', the moment when the Spirit of the Father is given by Jesus the Son to the disciples.)
(As an aside, in the great debate between Western and Eastern Christianity over the filioque clause of the Nicene Creed, that is, over whether the Spirit proceeds from the Father or proceeds from the Father and the Son, 20:22 underlines why we in the West believe the Spirit proceeds from Father and Son and not from the Father only.)
(To be fair to Thomas as 'the Doubter', the other disciples were not so convinced by Mary's similar testimony, 18, on the day of resurrection that they did not lock the door to their hiding place, 19!).
As we contemplate the resurrection of Jesus Christ we are not being invited to be spectators, let alone judges as to whether what we 'see' by aid of the gospel is true. We are being invited to be participants in the life of God through Jesus Christ.
*The resurrection narrative in Matthew's Gospel is episodic: something happens in Jerusalem; something happens in Galilee. In Mark's Gospel, the resurrection narrative is "episode" rather than "episodic" since one event happens (though another is forecast - the meeting in Galilee). In Luke's Gospel it is episodic and continual: the episodes are at or near the tomb, on the way to and at Emmaus, then back in Jerusalem; the continuity is that everything seems to take place in one (long) day).
Theme: New life in Christ / Christ is Risen: He is Risen Indeed / Death overcome
Sentence: 'You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.' (Mark 16:6)4. A strong theme in Mark's gospel is that the miracles Jesus performs are evidence that he was God's Son, the Christ or Anointed One. Now, in his last verses, Mark tells us of one more miracle. A miracle performed on and not by Jesus. It is the greatest miracle of all: Jesus is not overcome by death. Death could not hold him down. We, readers of Mark's testimony to Jesus, should set all reservations aside and commit ourselves to Jesus.
Try to keep within the allotted time limit for the day :)
Theme: Suffering (Passion) of Jesus / New Covenant / Death and Glory
Sentence: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)'Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.'
"the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him" (9).
"Sir, we wish to see Jesus." (21)
Could we say that Jesus raises this question for those who would like to meet him,
"Do you really understand who I am, and if you understand the pathway to suffering and death on which I am on, do you still want to meet me? To truly meet me is to meet one who is going to call you to a similar pathway of suffering and death, is that what you actually want?"