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. 

Mary's Act of Devotion (John 12:1-11)

“The sisters were heartbroken when Lazarus died. They must have felt sure that they knew what their heart’s desires were, and they must also have felt sure that they had lost them forever. But what the story of Mary of Bethany shows is that a person can feel sure about these things and still be altogether mistaken.”

Eleonore Stump, Wandering in Darkness

Jesus's Emotional Response to Us and to Death (John 11:28-44)

“Jesus wept, and in his weeping, he joined himself forever to those who mourn. He stands now throughout all time, this weeping Jesus weeping, with his arms about the weeping ones: ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’ He stands with the mourners, for his name is God-with-us. Jesus wept.”

- Ann Weems, Psalms of Lament

“For in [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”

- Colossians 2:9

“He sanctified the body by being in it.”

- Athanasius, On the Incarnation

Powerfully Proclaim the Works of the Father (John 10:22-42)

The King of Love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am His
And He is mine forever.

Where streams of living water flow
My ransomed soul He leadeth,
And, where the verdant pastures grow,
With food celestial feedeth.

Perverse and foolish, oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me;
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing brought me.

In death’s dark vale, I fear no ill
With Thee, dear Lord, beside me;
Thy rod and staff my comfort still,
Thy cross before to guide me.

Thou spread’st a table in my sight;
Thine unction grace bestoweth;
And O what transport of delight
From Thy pure chalice floweth.

And so through all the length of days,
Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
Within Thy house forever.

—The King of Love My Shepherd Is, Henry Baker