It is an odd thing for April Fools Day and Easter to fall on the same day. It isn’t unheard of – it has happened before and it will happen again. Because Easter is based on the date of the first full moon after the spring equinox, the date for ...

Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, 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) Life is fragile. As this post is being written, as a pastor this week I have been ...

Jesus answered Pilate, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above;” (John 16:11a) We hear platitudes all the time. People say things like, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” When someone dies tragically we hear, “Don’t be sad. They are ...

Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” ...

Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They asked him, “You are not also one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” (John 18:25) The pressure is on now. Jesus has been arrested and the forces that want him dead are closing in ...

The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (John 11:44) The picture above is from the St. John’s Bible that we just finished hosting in Elgin for ...

Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” (John 9:2-3) Today’s lesson is based in a question we all struggle ...

“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”  (John 4:29) In John’s gospel, Jesus makes direct contact with all sorts of people from all sorts of groups. In this case, as he travels he passes through Samaria. This ...

Nicodemus had come to Jesus at night. As a Pharisee, it was in his best interest not to show much interest in Jesus. But he couldn’t help himself. There was something about Jesus that seemed different than other rebels. Jesus was doing signs that could only have come from God. ...

Making a whip of cords, Jesus drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s ...

Jesus did this (changed water into wine), the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. (John 2:11) In John’s gospel, the first of Jesus’ signs is the changing of water into wine at a wedding. It is significant that ...