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Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demonsContinue reading “It’s not what you do, it’s who knows you”

John 14:1 One of my favourite phrases in the Gospels: Μὴ ταρασσέσθω ὑμῶν ἡ καρδία· The third person imperative is shrinkingly rare in English (Wilfred E. Major and Michael Laughy’s excellent Ancient Greek for Everyone suggests “someone help him!” and “nobody move!” as examples) and is more usually rendered with “Let”, as in “Let notContinue reading “No churn”

John 12:25 If you have read the previous post on John 12:24, especially if you did so with your Bible open, there is just the faintest chance that you have been shouting “hey! you! What about the next verse?” Because here is how it reads in the NIV: Anyone who loves their life will loseContinue reading “Yes, but…”

John 12:24 ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν μὴ ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σίτου πεσὼν εἰς τὴν γῆν ἀποθάνῃ, αὐτὸς μόνος μένει· ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ, πολὺν καρπὸν φέρει. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces manyContinue reading “A seed, falling”

John 10:27 τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἐμὰ τῆς φωνῆς μου ἀκούουσιν, κἀγὼ γινώσκω αὐτά, καὶ ἀκολουθοῦσίν μοι “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” I am sure you recognised the passage from the title of this post. John 10:27 sums up a great deal of what Jesus has said inContinue reading “They hear, I know them, they follow”

(John 6:44) We are looking at just one verse from a passage which begins with some of those who have been fed by Jesus in the wilderness asking “when did you get here” (ie to Capernaum); and ends with most of Jesus’ disciples leaving Him, on account of the “harshness” of His teaching about bread.Continue reading “It’s a Drag”

(John 6:1-15) I already wrote about the feeding of the 5000, from Matthew’s version of events. That they are exactly the same event is an assumption; we know for sure that Jesus fed a multitude on at least two occasions, which we refer to as the feeding of the 5000 and the feeding of theContinue reading “Where shall we buy bread?”

(John 5:36-38) The back end of John 5 is one of those passages which can. become a bit of a blur to a reader who is less than awake, alert and eager, just because of the repeated and rearranged words and ideas. But here are just two sentences (three verses) which spoke to me. ἐγὼContinue reading “The works I do”

(John 5:9-15) I wasn’t going to cover the “after story” of the feeble man at the Pool, but changed my mind: because it raises one absolutely fundamental issue. The easy part is this: when Jesus tells the man to get up, pick up his bed and walk, he does exactly that, and walks off, whileContinue reading “Not the sharpest stick in the forest”

(John 5:2-9) This one is for those who struggle with the chunks of Greek. That’s because what matters in this passage stands out in pretty much any translation. It begins with Jesus having returned to Jerusalem for a Feast… There was in Jerusalem near the Sheep (Gate) a diving pool called in Hebrew, Bethesda (houseContinue reading “I have no one to throw me in…”