“Come, our conscience to relieve from each sin remembered. Come, our savior’s blood to plead; naked we surrender. Sin hath left a wound revealing; Spirit, help us with your healing.”
—Come, O Spirit, by Isaac Wardell
Seeing the Father (John 14:8-14)
“The Father and the Son are so perfectly one in their mutual indwelling that when we listen to the words of Jesus and attend to his works, we are coming to see God, and it is therefore futile and irrelevant to look elsewhere.”
—Lesslie Newbigin
The Way to the Father (John 14:1-7)
“What can strip the seeming beauty, from the idols of the earth? Not a sense of right or duty, but the sight of peerless worth.”
— Ora Rowan, Hast thou Heard Him, Seen Him, Known Him
Living as Disciples of Jesus (John 13:31-38)
“My entire hope is exclusively in your very great mercy. Grant what you command, and command what you will.”
—Augustine of Hippo, Confessions X.29
The Anatomy of Betrayal (John 13:21-32)
“The company of Jesus’ friends who have accepted (even if uncomprehending) the washing of their feet by their Lord and Master have made the decisive turn. But among them there is one who remains in the service of the power of this age. There is treason in the very heart of the Church, and Jesus knows it and has known it from the beginning. His disciples must know it too, and be forewarned against the collapse of faith.”
—Leslie Newbigin, The Light Has Come
The Results and Root of Faith (John 13:1-20)
Q. What is true faith?
A. True faith is not only a sure knowledge by which I hold as true all that God has revealed to us in Scripture; it is also a wholehearted trust, which the Holy Spirit creates in me by the gospel, that God has freely granted, not only to others but to me also, forgiveness of sins, eternal righteousness, and salvation. These are gifts of sheer grace, granted solely by Christ’s merit.
—Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 21
A Living, Breathing Love (1 John 3:19-24)
“Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, before anyone had done a stroke of work or acquired a jot of merit, he rose from the sepulchre, bringing new life to his disciples. What then began had nothing to do with last week's work or last week's sins; they all seemed centuries away. The old world for Christ's disciples had ended in calamity, had gone down into a gulf of darkness; the earth had crumbled under their feet, they had nothing to stand upon. But here was something as new as the creation of the world where no world was; new life straight from the hands of the only living God.”
—Austin Farrer
The Unbelief of the People (John 12:36-50)
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps on the sea, And rides upon the storm.
Ye fearful saints fresh courage take, The clouds you so much dread, Are big with mercy, and shall break, With blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour.
The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan His work in vain; God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.
—Written by William Cowper d.1800; last hymn written before he descended into mental illness, from which he subsequently died.
Darkness and Light (John 12:27-36)
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it, I see everything else.”
— C.S. Lewis
The Hour Has Come (John 12:12-26)
“Never is tranquillity restored to our minds, or fear and trembling banished from them, except by knowing that Christ reigns amongst us.”
— John Calvin, Commentary on John