Fourth Sunday in Lent (Year B, RCL)
28 results found.
Good news that doesn’t fit on a sign (John 3:14-21)
What has always interested me about the John 3:16 signs is the singular focus.
March 10, Lent 4B (Numbers 21:4–9; John 3:14–21)
When John 3 came up I used to preach on the dangers of fixating on one verse. Now I cringe at that memory.
Spending Lent with people in recovery
In the company of church members in recovery from addiction, I’m feeling more open to the doctrine of original sin.
March 5, Lent 2A (John 3:1-17)
Triumphalist uses of John 3:16 contradict the verse's historical context.
How faith-based organizing helped end money bail in Illinois
The Bible provided some healthy agitation as we built coalitions to literally set the captives free.
Ethnobotanist Gary Nabhan on food justice and Jesus
“Jesus was preaching to people who were in the middle of the worst farming and fishing crisis yet.”
Let the redeemed pray the Psalms (Lent 4B) (Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22)
Reading Psalm 107 aloud, what's most striking are the calls for voice.
Maybe this really is a time of divine judgment
Amid pandemic and protest, will we turn to each other and live?
The great drama of the trinitarian hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy”
The beloved song can contain God’s glory no more than the scripture it’s based on.
May 27, Trinity Sunday (John 3:1-17)
John 3:16 is about crisis, but not the crisis of God brooding in heaven waiting on us to make a choice.
The nature of eternal life (John 3:14-21)
I memorized John 3:16 as a child—along with a specific interpretation of it.
Ecclesiastes for the ecclesia
A wisdom ecclesiology embraces the church’s earthly context—but without romanticizing it.
Nicodemus in the shadows
In this week’s Gospel reading, Jesus speaks of dark and light—one of our most primary realities and symbols. How can this be vivid language today, when we can turn the switch and flood almost any place with light any time?
March 15, 2015, Fourth Sunday in Lent (John 3:14-21)
The binary world of John’s Gospel is well drawn in Jesus’ talk here. How could a God of love condemn people? What does it mean to be in darkness?
In the heavenly places
The preacher faces several challenges in these Ascension texts. How can we present Jesus’ departure from the earth as an occasion for not sorrow but celebration? How to translate the kingship and hierarchical language into imagery that speaks to a world no longer governed by kings and monarchs?
Feminist biblical scholars note a third challenge: How can we counter Luke-Acts' use of the Ascension to exert a degree of social control?