“The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs in to it and is safe.”
—Solomon, Proverbs 18:10
Whom Do You Seek? (John 18:1-11)
“The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his
And he is mine for ever.“
—WH Baker, “The King Of Love My Shepherd Is”
Jesus's Prayer for Us: Unity (John 17:20-26)
“[There] is nothing so social by nature as man, nothing so unsocial by corruption.”
— Augustine of Hippo
“[R]edemption being a work of restoration will appear to us by that very fact as the recovery of lost unity – the recovery of supernatural unity of man with God, but equally of the unity of men among themselves.”
— Henri de Lubac
Jesus's Prayer for the Disciples (John 17:1-19)
“Two men appeared
Moses and Elijah came, they were at his side
The prophecy, the legislation
Spoke of whenever he would die”
—Sufjan Stevens, “The Transfiguration”
The Hour is Coming (John 16:25-33)
“The pac Romana (the Roman peace) was won and maintained by a brutal sword; not a few Jews thought the messianic peace would have to be secured by a still mightier sword. Instead, it was secured by an innocent man who suffered and died at the hands of the Romans, of the Jews, and of all of us. And by his death he effected for his own followers peace with God, and therefore ‘the peace of God which transcends all understanding’ (Phil.4:7).”
— D.A. Carson, The Gospel According to John
Great Sorrow, Greater Joy (John 16:16-24)
“Part of the goodness of creation is we were made to be dependent on God, on our neighbor, and on the earth. That is not a result of sin. Dependence isn’t a result of sin. Sin just distorts those dependencies.”
—Kelly Kapic
The Work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:4-15)
“Come O Spirit comfort true,
Help us by Your pleading.
Come and every heart renew
Breath of God proceeding
You alone to God can win us
Spirit now work good within us
Come our conscience to relieve
From the sin remembered.
Come our Savior’s blood to plead,
Naked we surrender.
Sin hath left a wound revealing,
Spirit help us with Your healing
All our riches all our crowns
Cast we now before Thee
Scales removeth chains unbounded
Boldly we implore Thee
As You knit us once together
Fasten us to You forever.”
—Isaac Wardell
The World Will Hate You (John 15:18-16:4a
“An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous,
but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked.”
— Proverbs 29:27
Love One Another: Lay Down Your Life (John 15:12-17)
“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
—Leviticus 19:18
The Link Between Joy and Obedience (John 15:1-11)
“The faith that… is able to warm itself at the fire of God’s love, instead of having to steal love and self-acceptance from other sources, is actually the root of holiness.”
—Richard Lovelace