Category: Preston Clegg

John 21:1-19

This text is used for the Lectionary Year C on April 10, 2016.

Hermano Leon Clipart
Hermano Leon Clipart

John’s epilogue provides a powerful conclusion to the gospel, despite the number of perplexing elements to the story.  A number of unanswered questions arise from the text.  Why do the disciples return to fishing?  Why are we told the specific number of fish caught in the nets (153)?  Why are there two different words for “love” mentioned in this text?  Why were the disciples able to catch fish simply by casting their nets on the other side of the boat?  While these enigmatic issues are fascinating, the preacher is better off centering the sermon on the clearer declarations within the text.

The setting invites some intertextual observations which can inform the sermon.  The disciples are fishing on the Sea of Tiberius (21:1).  The only other time the Sea of Tiberius is mentioned in the gospel is when it serves as the setting for the feeding of the 5000 in chapter 6.  In that story, Jesus provides a miraculous meal for a large crowd.  In this story, Jesus provides an ordinary breakfast for a small crowd.  In both stories, Jesus proves to be the provider for those who follow him.  Like God who provided manna in the wilderness, Jesus provides fish and bread to sustain his people in their need.

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John 20:19-31

This text is used for the Lectionary Year C on April 3, 2016.

Hermano Leon Clipart
Hermano Leon Clipart

In a number of ways, this text serves as the pinnacle of John’s gospel.  Themes which run like threads through the fabric of the gospel find their culmination in this text.  If one views chapter 21 as the epilogue of the gospel, then this text serves as the conclusion to the core narrative.  Its location in the narrative and its theological density demand that the preacher interpret this text against the overarching Johannine narrative.

The disciples were huddled behind closed doors.  At this point in the story, they are no longer hiding from the horrors of crucifixion but the wonders of resurrection.  The preacher might want to pause and illustrate ways in which resurrection upsets the status quo as much as crucifixion does.  The resurrection says, “The world doesn’t work the way you’ve always thought it worked.”  Many find it easier to huddle up and retain whatever normality remains rather than live into the subversion of resurrection.  However, in this text, Jesus sends his followers out rather than blessing their huddle.  Followers of Jesus cannot stay in our huddles, largely because he did not stay in his tomb.

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John 20:1-18

This text is used for the Lectionary Year C on March 27, 2016.

Hermano Leon
Hermano Leon

Gardens are important, crucial even, to the flow of the grand biblical narrative.  The Bible opens in a garden, with God making all things bright and beautiful.  At the end of every day, God delights in the goodness of creation.  Of course, the pinnacle of God’s work are human beings, who bear the very image of God.  God, the chief gardener, invites Adam and Eve to join in as God creates and cares for a diversity of plants and animals, all of which are participating in the gift of life. Of course, it’s also in the Garden of Eden that God’s good creation goes terribly wrong.  What began as intimate web of relationships between humans, God, and all creation, turns to fracture and blame.  Where once there was no shame, now people are covering themselves.  Where once there was mutual relationship, now there is hiding in the bushes and the development of power structures.

The biblical canon closes with a garden as well in Revelation 22.  It seems as though the idyllic Eden will return, with the Gardener as its central focus.  All will be prayer and praise.  Everything will live in shalom.  What’s broken will be mended.  What’s lost will be found.  What’s wrong will be righted.  Paradise will be restored.

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Luke 22:14-23:56

This text is used for the Lectionary Year C on March 20, 2016.

Hermano Leon
Hermano Leon

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus used tables to announce the Kingdom of God.  Table fellowship, which was an important act of hospitality for all people in the Mediterranean world, was absolutely essential for Jesus’ ministry and an indicator of how he understood the nature of God’s Kingdom.  Jesus spends a great deal of time in this gospel teaching his disciples of table manners in the Kingdom.  Don’t take the seats of honor.  Don’t invite only those who can reciprocate.  Over and over again, the table of Jesus is illustrative of the ways of the Kingdom.  This Passover table in 22.14-23 – along with the one in Emmaus – should remind the reader of all the tables that have frequented the entire gospel.

It was at the table that Jesus announces Judas’ betrayal.  One of Jesus’ own disciples betrayed him.  One might expect betrayal from someone on the periphery, but for the betrayer to arise from Jesus’ inner circle intensifies the scandal.  The betrayal occurred amidst a larger debate amongst his followers as to who was the greatest.  In a gospel saturated with reversal stories, this argument over who is the greatest portrays the disciples as extremely dense.  On the other hand, Judas’ betrayal and the disciples’ ignorance are not limited to that particular table or to the first century.  To the degree that Jesus’ followers continue to have this argument, we continue to follow in Judas’ footsteps.

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