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REFERENCE SHELF – MAY 27, 2012

Jesus assumes the disciples know the way to the Father’s house…. Thomas, however, puts the twofold question: “Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” (v. 5).

REFERENCE SHELF – MAY 20, 2012

In accordance with custom, mourners have come to console the sisters (v. 19). That the mourners were “many” testifies to the family’s wealth (cf. 12:1-5).

REFERENCE SHELF – MAY 13, 2012

In this passage, Stage One (vv. 7-10) is a meditation on the figure of vv. 1-5 by means of a double explanation of “door” (v. 1), with “thief” (v. 1) also present in vv. 8 and 10.

REFERENCE SHELF – MAY 6, 2012

When they cannot find Jesus, even though they do not know how he might have left, they get into the boats that have come from Tiberias and go to Capernaum, “seeking Jesus.”

REFERENCE SHELF – APRIL 29, 2012

John 9:1-41 is a commentary on the claim of Jesus in 8:12 (“I am the light of the world”). In this chapter, the man born blind sees with increasing clarity; the ones who claim sight, however, plunge into progressively deepening darkness. Like all miracle stories, this one has three components expanded by dialogue, especially in the third component, the reaction to the miracle.

REFERENCE SHELF – APRIL 22, 2012

The material falls into two parts built around two imperatives (“Give me,” vv. 7b-15; “Go, call, come,” vv. 16-26), each of which contains three exchanges between Jesus and the woman. In the first part Jesus is the giver of God’s gift; in the second he is the revealer of God’s will.

REFERENCE SHELF – APRIL 15, 2012

In John 2:13-3:21 the reader is offered the first of seven episodes that present the earthly Jesus as giving warrants for the fulfillment of Jewish worship in that of the Johannine community. This section (2:13-3:21) is composed of two units, 2:13-22 and 2:23-3:21.

REFERENCE SHELF – APRIL 8, 2012

Verses 3-10 function apologetically in several ways in the Johannine plot. First, they confirm Mary’s testimony of vv. 1-2. According to Jewish law, two witnesses are needed to authenticate the fact of the empty tomb (Deut 19:15; John 5:31-32).

REFERENCE SHELF – APRIL 1, 2012

The trial before Pilate…takes place at the praetorium (18:28), either Herod’s old palace near the Jaffa gate or the fortress of Antonia…. When the Jews bring Jesus to the praetorium it is early (the time when Roman civil servants took up their office duties).

REFERENCE SHELF – MARCH 25, 2012

At 3:12 the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus comes to an end; at 3:13 the theological reflections of the Evangelist begin (cf. 3:31-36, where a similar shift takes place). Verse 13 states the thesis. The new birth is not brought about by means of human ascent into heaven but by means of the descent-ascent of the Son of Man.

REFERENCE SHELF – MARCH 18, 2012

The miracle story consists of the customary three parts.
(1) The problem (when the wine failed, v. 3). This component of the miracle story is expanded by an exchange between Mary and Jesus and by a word from Mary to the servants (vv. 3-5).

REFERENCE SHELF – MARCH 11, 2012

The central issue to be resolved is: at what point does the passage cease to talk about the preexistent Logos and begin to speak about the incarnate Word? The key to any determination of the story order of 1:1-18 is the history of religions parallels.