John 10:22-30 Dear Partner in Preaching, I don’t usually start this letter, or my sermons, by calling to mind theological controversies, but I will make an exception in this case. Why? Because there is something deeply dissatisfying with this exchange between Jesus and his questioners. Just a quick contextual note to remind us where we are in John’s distinct narrative. After healing the man born blind in chapter 9, Jesus goes on to interpret that sign (John’s intentional naming of what we often call a miracle) across the first two-thirds of chapter 10 in what is often referred to as the “good shepherd discourse.” In these verses,...

Dear Partner in Preaching, There are so many themes worth exploring in the Prologue to the Gospel of John that it can be difficult to decide just where to land for a sermon. Do we make the connection between the first verse of John and that of Genesis, calling attention to John’s audacious claim to be writing a new Genesis? Do we let our gaze settle instead on the fourteenth verse, John’s Christmas story and the heart of the doctrine of the Incarnation? Either of these elements of John’s magnificent “hymn to the Word” would make for a fine sermon on this second Sunday of Christmas. But I’m going to suggest two other verses, not...