Trinity Presbyterian Church

In John 20:10-18, the Gospel of John brings home the reality of the resurrection of Jesus by showing you Mary Magdalene, and her transition from being blinded by fearful grief to coming to joyful trust and service. The chapter opens with an emphasis on darkness, echoing the opening note of John’s Gospel, that Jesus is the light that shined in darkness.

It is to this woman, whom Jesus had delivered from demon possession, that Jesus now reveals himself as the risen Lord. John inserts into the flow of her story the account of Peter and he running to the tomb, and John, as he sees the evidence of the empty tomb with the graveclothes still lying there, comes to believe that Jesus is alive. But Mary, back at the tomb and blinded by grief and her tears, Continue reading →

As you focus on the suffering and death of your Savior, come with the Apostle John to where he takes you in John 19:25-27, the foot of the cross. In the midst of his pain Jesus takes time to speak to his mother and to commit her to the care of the disciple whom he loved (that is how John identifies himself in his Gospel). Jesus is concerned about his mother. He prayed for the four soldiers who nailed him to the cross. He spoke with the thief. He entrusts Mary to John. He died, not for a concept or an ideal, not for humanity in the abstract, but for each one of those the Father had given him.

There is a certain cutting of ties, an isolation in Jesus’ action. He is replacing the mother-son relationship between Mary and him with a mother-son relationship between Mary and John. In a real sense, Jesus is going to face death alone–even though Continue reading →

Once a month a pastor friend of mine and I take turns driving to an early morning board meeting. My friend is big, 6′ 4″ tall, was a contractor before he entered the ministry, and still looks like he could nail 2x6s and sheets of plywood all day long. When he picks me up it is in his roomy Ram truck, a vehicle that is capable of taking a load of lumber to a work site (which he doesn’t usually do), or pulling a trailer on a hunting trip (which he does do occasionally). His truck seems suited to who he is. It fits him. I think about that when it’s my turn to drive and he folds himself into the passenger seat of my ten year old Honda Civic. What you drive seems to say something about who you are. His vehicle really suits him (though my Honda gets better gas mileage!).

John 12:12-19 records what is called the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, during which he is hailed as the King of Israel. But in this royal procession, King Jesus is mounted, Continue reading →

Do you see the world the way that Jesus does? As you come to the end of John’s account of Jesus speaking with the Samaritan woman, found in John 4:27-42, Jesus commands his disciples to look at the harvest. The disciples, who have returned with food they had bought in the village, urge Jesus to eat. But the focus of the Lord is on the harvest, a harvest to which his disciples are oblivious, but which he sees as ready for reaping.

The harvest is ready because the seed has already been sown. Jesus had initiated a conversation with the woman at the well. He had offered her living water. Continue reading →