John 1

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Markings

John 1 by verse:

John 1:1-18

John 1:1-18 by verse:

General References

Di Brandt, “a poem for a guy who’s,” [Poetry Binder], p. 15

“a poem for a guy who's”

the poem is bigger
than i am, the poem

is hungry, & insists
on its own truth

Alfred Corn, “Deuteronomy and John,” Communion, p. 393-415

“Deuteronomy and John”

This is the risen Body of Christ—each member thereof eventually leaving behind its own ark when the received content is turned over to others still present in the flesh, flesh “inscribed” with the Word. The Hebrew name for Deuteronomy, taken from the book’s fist sentence, is devarim, which simply means “Words.”

Clive Scott, translation using Erasmus’ Latin translation as a “guiding light,” http://cornerstonemk.blogspot.com/2009/04/in-2001-i-was-listening-to-radio-4.html

Clive Scott

It all arose out of a conversation,
conversation within God, in fact the
conversation was God. So, God started the
discussion, and everything came out of this,
and nothing happened without consultation.

This was the life, life that was the light of men,
shining in the darkness, a darkness which
neither understood nor quenched its creativity.

John, a man sent by God, came to remind
people about the nature of the light so that
they would observe. He was not the subject
under discussion, but the bearer of an
invitation to join in.

The subject of the conversation, the original
light, came into the world, the world that had
arisen out of his willingness to converse. He
fleshed out the words but the world did not
understand. He came to those who knew the
language, but they did not respond. Those
who did became a new creation (his children),
they read the signs and responded.

These children were born out of sharing in
the creative activity of God. They heard the
conversation still going on, here, now, and
took part, discovering a new way of being people.

To be invited to share in a conversation
about the nature of life, was for them, a glorious
opportunity not to be missed.

Gary Snyder, “No Matter Never Mind,” No Nature, p. 212

“No Matter Never Mind”

The Father is the Void
The Wife      Waves
Their child is Matter.
Matter makes it with his mother
And their child is Life
a daughter.
The Daughter is the Great Mother
Who with her father/brother Matter
as her lover
Gives birth to the Mind.

Ivan Steiger, Ivan Steiger Sees the Bible, p. 238-240, 243
Samuel Terrien, “The Tent of the Presence,” The Elusive Presence, p. 417

John 1:1-5

T. S. Eliot, “Ash Wednesday,” Complete Poems, p. 65

“Ash Wednesday”

If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent
If the unheard, unspoken
Word is unspoken, unheard;
Still is the unspoken word the Word unheard,
The Word without a word, the Word within
The world and for the world;
And the light shone in darkness, and
Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled
About the centre of the silent Word.

Nikolai Gumilyov, “Words,” Divine Inspiration, p. 3
John of the Cross, “The Incarnation,” Divine Inspiration, p. 5
W. S. Merwin, “To the Words,” The New Yorker (October 8, 2001), p. 65

“To the Words”

When it happens you are not there

oh you beyond all numbers
beyond recollection
passed on from breath to breath
given again
from day to day from age
to age
charged with knowledge
knowing nothing

indifferent elders
indispensable and sleepless

keepers of our names
before we ever came
to be called by them

you that were
formed to begin with
you that were cried out
you that were spoken
to begin with
to say what could not be said

ancient precious
and helpless ones

say it

Ku Sang, “The True Appearance of the Word,” Divine Inspiration, p. 4
R. S. Thomas, “The Coming,” Divine Inspiration, p. 7
Richard Wilbur, “Games Two,” New and Collected Poems, p. 315

“Games Two”

Silence will take pity
On words. There are
Pauses where words must wait,
Spaces in speech
Which stop and calm it, and each
Is like a gate:

Past which creation lies
In morning sun,
Where word with world is one
And nothing dies.

1        Genesis 1:1; John 8:6
4-5    John 8:12

1-2     [Pygmy], “Today Is God,” An African Prayer Book, p. 8

“Today Is God”

In the beginning was God,
Today is God,
Tomorrow will be God.
Who can make an image of God?
He has no body.
He is the word which comes out of your mouth.
That word!
It is no more,
It is past, and still it lives!
So is God.

     Martin Buber, I and Thou, p. 69

I and Thou

In the beginning is the relation.

     Lucille Clifton, “Testament,” how to carry water, p. 81

"Testament"

in the beginning
was the word.

the year of our lord,
amen. i
lucille clifton
hereby testify
that in that room
there was a light
and in that light
there was a voice
and in that voice
there was a sigh
and in that sigh
there was a world.
a world a sigh a voice a light and
i
alone
in a room.

     M. C. Escher, “Verbum,” Imaging the Word, Vol. 3, p. 232 Malcolm Muggeridge, Confessions of a 20th Cent. Pilgrim, p. 121 Wallace Stevens, The Necessary Angel (quoted in In Parables), p. 15

“Verbum”

    Madeleine L’Enble, Walking on Water, p. 22-23

Walking on Water

Martin Buber. Listen: “You should utter words as though heaven were opened within them and as though you did not put the word into your mouth, but as though you had entered the word.” Buber was certainly not consciously thinking of the second person of the Trinity when he wrote that. Nevertheless his words become richer for me when I set them alongside these: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

    Malcolm Muggeridge, Confessions of a 20th Cent. Pilgrim, p. 121

Confessions of a 20th Cent. Pilgrim

There followed an overwhelming joy such as he had never experienced before; an ecstasy. In some mysterious way, it became clear to him that there was no darkness, only the possibility of losing sight of a light which shone eternally;

    Wallace Stevens, “The Necessary Angel” (quoted in In Parables), p. 15

"The Necessary Angel"

A poet’s words are of things that do not exist without the words.

    Simone Weil, Awaiting God, p. 201

Awaiting God

λόγος means above all ‘relation’ and is synonymous with ἀριθμός (number) in Plato and the Pythagoreans. Relation, which is to say proportion. Proportion, which is to say harmony. Harmony, which is to say mediation. I would translate it, ‘In the beginning was Mediation.’

3-5     Imaging the Word, Vol. 2, p. 98-101
       Jaroslav Pelikan, The Illustrated Jesus through the Centuries, p. 60-64
4-5     Mary Oliver, “Poppies,” New and Selected Poems, p. 39 f.

“Poppies”

But I also say this: that light
is an invitation
to happiness
and that happiness

when it’s done right
is a kind of holiness
palpable and redemptive.

and what are you going to do—
what can you do about it
deep blue night?

4-5     Hans Walter Wolff, Old Testament and Christian Preaching, p. 58

Old Testament and Christian Preaching

We mistake [Jesus] if we compare him with the lanterns and headlights we use to help us find our way in the night. With him dawn breaks on the morning of a new divine creation of God’s among us.

      Wendell Berry, “1995 – V,” A Timbered Choir, p. 192

“1995 – V”

To my granddaughters who visited the Holocaust
Museum on the day of the burial of Yitzhak Rabin

Now you know the worst
we humans have to know
about ourselves, and I am sorry,

for I know that you will be afraid.
To those of our bodies given
without pity to be burned, I know

there is no answer
but loving one another,
even our enemies, and this is hard.

But remember:
when a man of war becomes a man of peace,
he gives a light, divine

though it is also human.
When a man of peace is killed
by a man of war, he gives a light.

You do not have to walk in darkness.
If you will have the courage for love,
you may walk in light. It will be

the light of those who have suffered
for peace. It will be
your light.

      Anne Lamott, Plan B, p. 274

Plan B

We celebrate Good Friday … It’s a sad day, of loss and cruelty, and all you have to go on is faith that the light shines in the darkness, and nothing, not death, not disease, not even the government, can overcome it.

     Denise Levertov, “Venerable Optimist,” Evening Train, p. 52

“Venerable Optimist”

He saw the dark as a ragged garment
spread out to air.
Through its rents and moth-holes
the silver light came pouring.

    Malcolm Muggeridge, Confessions of a 20th Cent. Pilgrim, p. 110

Confessions of a 20th Cent. Pilgrim

There followed an overwhelming joy such as he had never experienced before; an ecstasy. In some mysterious way, it became clear to him that there was no darkness, only the possibility of losing sight of a light which shone eternally;

    Jan Richardson, Circle of Grace, p. 54

Circle of Grace

Perhaps it takes
a lifetime
to open our eyes,
to learn to see
what has forever
shimmered in front of us

    William Stafford, “Meditation,” The Darkness Around Us is Deep, p. 123

“Meditation”

Animals full of light
walk through the forest
toward someone aiming a gun
loaded with darkness.

That’s the world: God
holding still,
letting it happen again
and again and again.

    William Stafford, “I Have a Witness,” A Scripture of Leaves, p. 14

“I Have a Witness”

Sometimes a center the soul can recognize
will speak from anywhere, inside a mountain, or from
a whirlwind. … The world can take; the soul
restores. A million wrong voices proclaim.
One light lives forever.

    William Stafford, Every War Has Two Losers, p. 35

Every War Has Two Losers

Sure, there is darkness in the world, but when I want to read I use the light.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  2 He was in the beginning with God; 3 all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.  4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

1:1 εν αρχη ην ο λογος και ο λογος ην προς τον θεον και θεος ην ο λογος 1:2 ουτος ην εν αρχη προς τον θεον 1:3 παντα δι αυτου εγενετο και χωρις αυτου εγενετο ουδε εν ο γεγονεν 1:4 εν αυτω ζωη ην και η ζωη ην το φως των ανθρωπων 1:5 και το φως εν τη σκοτια φαινει και η σκοτια αυτο ου κατελαβεν

John 1:6-18

“Grace in the Flesh,” John 1:1, 10-18, Jeremiah 31:31-34
January 2, 2022, Northminster Presbyterian Church, Salinas

6            Matthew 3:1; Mark 1:4; Luke 3:1-2
9            Isaiah 60:1
10-12    1 John 3:1, 13
10-11    Isaiah 1:3, 50:2
11-12    Matthew 7:13-14John 3:10-11
12-13    Luke 7:28
14          2 Samuel 7:6; Proverbs 3:3; Ezekiel 37:27
14          John 14:16; 2 Corinthians 3:2-3; James 1:21-25; Revelation 21:3
16
          John 14:16
18          John 13:23

           Malcolm Muggeridge, Jesus: The Man Who Lives, p. 47
           John Donne, Classics of Western Spirituality, p. 119-136
10-11     Søren Kierkegaard, “True Individuality,” Provocations

“True Individuality”

True individuality is measured by this: how long or how far one can endure being alone without the understanding of others. The person who can endure being alone is poles apart from the social mixer. He is miles apart from the man-pleaser, the one who manages successfully with everyone he who possesses no sharp edges. God never uses such people. The true individual, anyone who is going to be directly involved with God, will not and cannot avoid the human bite. He will be thoroughly misunderstood. God is no friend of cozy human gathering.

13          Robinson Jeffers, “Sign-Post,” The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, p. 504

“Sign-Post”

Turn outward, love things, not men,
turn right away from humanity,
… but now you are free, even to become human,
But born of the rock and the air, not of a woman.

14-16     Imaging the Word, Vol. 3, p. 106
14-15     Samuel Terrien, The Elusive Presence, p. 421 f.

The Elusive Presence

It was the body itself which at once concealed and revealed the glory.  Only those who received him perceived with the sensorial apprehension of sight the quality in this man which set him apart from other men because it communicated the hidden reality of the divine.

…  Those who received the Logos as presence received also the power to become children of God.  The ethical ear allied itself to the mystical eye.  To see the glory meant being born to sonship.

Verse 14

16-17     Francis Patrick Sullivan, “Drumming Up Christmas,” A Time To Sow, p. 34
16           T. S. Eliot, Complete Poems, p. 65

Complete Poems

No place of grace for those who avoid the face

17        Brian A. Gerrish, “Sovereign Grace,” Interpretation (January 2003), p. 45 f.

“Sovereign Grace”

“Grace,” for [Paul], means more than a divine attribute: it refers to something that has happened, entered into history. The Prologue to the Fourth Gospel similarly testifies: “Grace and truth came (egeneto) through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17; cr. 2 Timothy 1:9-10). The profound sense that “grace” does not simply describe diety but names an event, both past and continually re-presented, is fundamental to the controversies on grace in the Western church.

17      Jaroslav Pelikan, The Illustrated Jesus through the Centuries, p. 177
18      Dan Damon, “Not with Naked Eye,” The Sound of Welcome, p. 6

“Not with Naked Eye”

Not with naked eye, not with human sense:
through the eye of faith observe omnipotence.

God is always near, but is never seen:
Source of heaven and earth and all that lies between.

Children learn of God trusting what they feel;
touching, tasting, seeking, finding what is real.

Thomas saw Christ breaking earth’s routine;
blessed are those who trust the Holy One unseen.

Not with crafted scope, not with crystal lens:
vision of the Christ begins where seeing ends.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  7 He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him.  8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.  9 The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.  11 He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.  12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.  15 (John bore witness to him, and cried, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.’”) . 16 And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace.  17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  18 No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

1:6 εγενετο ανθρωπος απεσταλμενος παρα θεου ονομα αυτω ιωαννης 1:7 ουτος ηλθεν εις μαρτυριαν ινα μαρτυρηση περι του φωτος ινα παντες πιστευσωσιν δι αυτου 1:8 ουκ ην εκεινος το φως αλλ ινα μαρτυρηση περι του φωτος 1:9 ην το φως το αληθινον ο φωτιζει παντα ανθρωπον ερχομενον εις τον κοσμον

1:10 εν τω κοσμω ην και ο κοσμος δι αυτου εγενετο και ο κοσμος αυτον ουκ εγνω 1:11 εις τα ιδια ηλθεν και οι ιδιοι αυτον ου παρελαβον 1:12 οσοι δε ελαβον αυτον εδωκεν αυτοις εξουσιαν τεκνα θεου γενεσθαι τοις πιστευουσιν εις το ονομα αυτου 1:13 οι ουκ εξ αιματων ουδε εκ θεληματος σαρκος ουδε εκ θεληματος ανδρος αλλ εκ θεου εγεννηθησαν

1:14 και ο λογος σαρξ εγενετο και εσκηνωσεν εν ημιν και εθεασαμεθα την δοξαν αυτου δοξαν ως μονογενους παρα πατρος πληρης χαριτος και αληθειας 1:15 ιωαννης μαρτυρει περι αυτου και κεκραγεν λεγων ουτος ην ον ειπον ο οπισω μου ερχομενος εμπροσθεν μου γεγονεν οτι πρωτος μου ην 1:16 και εκ του πληρωματος αυτου ημεις παντες ελαβομεν και χαριν αντι χαριτος 1:17 οτι ο νομος δια μωσεως εδοθη η χαρις και η αληθεια δια ιησου χριστου εγενετο 1:18 θεον ουδεις εωρακεν πωποτε ο μονογενης υιος ο ων εις τον κολπον του πατρος εκεινος εξηγησατο

Verse References for John 1:14

Wendell Berry, “1991 – VII,” A Timbered Choir, p. 133

“1991 – VII”

Where the great trees were felled
The thorns and thistles grow
From the unshaded ground,
And so the Fall’s renewed
And all the creatures morn,
Groan and travail in pain
Together until now.
And yet their Maker’s here,
Within and over all
Now and forevermore,
Being and yet to be
In columbine, oak tree
Woodthrush, beetle, and worm,
In song of thrush and stream,
Fact, mystery, and dream:
Spirit in love with form,
And loving to inform
Form formed within itself
As thought, fulfilled in flesh,
And made to live by breath
Breathed into it by love.
The violence past for now,
The felling and the falling
Done, as a mourner walks
Restless from room to room,
I cross the stream to find
On a neglected slope
The woods’ floor starred with bloom.

Wendell Berry, “Awake at Night” (p. 128), “To Tanya at Christmas” (p. 253), Collected Poems; “In a Motel Parking Lot, Thinking of Dr. Williams,” Entries, p. 20

“Awake at Night,” “To Tanya at Christmas,” "In a Motel Parking Lot, Thinking of Dr. Williams"

“Awake at Night”

I think of a luxury
in the sturdiness and grace
of necessary things, not
in frivolity. That would heal
the earth and heal men. (p. 128)

“To Tanya at Christmas”

We come to good by love;
our words must be made flesh.

And flesh must be made word
at last, our lives rise
in speech to our children’s tongues. (p. 253)

“In a Motel Parking Lot, Thinking of Dr. Williams”

The poem is important but
not more than the people
whose survival it serves
one of the necessities, so they may
speak of what is true, and have
the patience for beauty.

Wendell Berry, Standing by Words, p. 30

Standing by Words

In affirming that there is a necessary and indispensable connection between language and truth, and therefore between language and deeds, I have certain precedents in mind. I begin with the Christian idea of the Incarnate Word, the Word entering the world as flesh, and inevitably therefore as action.

Maria Boulding, “Gateway to Hope,” Weavings (January/February 1992), p. 42

“Gateway to Hope”

The word was made failure and died among us.

Leonard Cohen, “Addressing the Mess,” Academy Accents (Summer 1996), p. 4

“Addressing the Mess”

… the continuous stutter of the Word being made flesh

Terence E. Fretheim, “Because the Whole Earth is Mine,” Interpretation (July 1996), p. 231; 232

“Because the Whole Earth is Mine”

God desires such a “home” among the people! No more mountain hideaways; no more palace precincts. … The Christian conviction regarding Jesus, voiced most particularly in the tabernacle language of John 1:14, gives further testimony of this divine desire. (p. 231)

God leaves the mountain of remoteness and ineffable majesty, the typical abode for gods in the ancient Near East, and moves into a residence that belongs to the same type, if not quality, as that of the people themselves. No longer are the people—or their mediator—asked to “come up” to God; God “comes down” to them. No more trips up the mountain for Moses! God here begins a “descent” that will climax in the incarnational move God makes in Jesus. (p. 232)

Thom Gunn, “Julian the Apostate,” Collected Poems, p. 62

“Julian the Apostate”

No subject can divert his cold resolve
To fix a question that, eluding name,
To make corporeal would be to solve.
The answer lies in some embodyment
Of question mark itself, not what is meant:
He stoops within that hypothetical frame.

David Jones, “The Anathemata” (quoted in In Parables), p. 121

"The Anathemata"

O yes, technique—but much more:
the god still is balanced
in the man stones.
but it’s a nice thing
as near a thing as ever you saw.

Denise Levertov, “On Belief in the Physical Resurrection of Jesus,” Sands of the Well, p. 115 f.

“On Belief in the Physical Resurrection of Jesus”

For the others,
of whom I am one,
miracles (ultimate need, bread
of life) are miracles just because
people so tuned
to the humdrum laws:
gravity, mortality
can’t open
to symbol’s power
unless convinced of its ground,
its roots
in bone and blood.

Denise Levertov, “The Son,” Poems 1960-1967 (The Sorrow Dance), p. 168

“The Son”

He-who-came-forth was
it turned out
a man—

Moves among us from room to room of our life
in boots, in jeans, in a cloak of flame

Malcolm Muggeridge, Jesus: The Man Who Lives, p. 20
Kathleen Norris, “A Prayer to Eve,” Little Girls in Church, p. 3

“A Prayer to Eve”

Bless our metaphors
that we might eat them. (p. 3)

Henri Nouwen, “Trust in the Place of Unity,” The Inner Voice of Love, p. 15, 40

“Trust in the Place of Unity”

You are called to unity. That is the good news of the Incarnation. The Word becomes flesh, and thus a new place is made where all of you and all of God can dwell. (p. 15)

You are looking for ways to meet Jesus. You are trying to meet him not only in your mind but also in your body. You seek his affection, and you know that this affection involves his body as well as yours. He became flesh for you so that you could encounter him in the flesh and receive his love in the flesh. (p. 40)

Mary Oliver, “Ghosts,” New and Selected Poems, p. 152 f.

“Ghosts”

content after all

to have left the perfect world and fallen
helpless and blind
into the flowered fields and the perils
of this one.

Mary Oliver, “Poem,” Dream Work, p. 52 f.

“Poem”

The spirit
likes to dress up like this:
ten fingers,
ten toes,

shoulders, and all the rest
at night in the black branches,
in the morning

in the blue branches
of the world.
It could float, of course,
but would rather

plumb rough matter.
Airy and shapeless thing,
it needs
the metaphor of the body,

lime and appetite,
the oceanic fluids;
it needs the body’s world,
instinct

and imagination
and the dark hug of time,
sweetness
and tangibility,

to be understood,
to be more than pure light
that burns
where no one is—

so it enters us—
in the morning
shines from brute comfort
like a stitch of lightning;

and at night
lights up the deep and wondrous
drownings of the body
like a star.

Parker Palmer, “All the Way Down,” Weavings (September/October 1998), p. 38

“All the Way Down”

… I had embraced a form of the Christian faith devoted less to the experience of God than to abstractions about God, a fact that now baffles me: how did so many disembodied concepts emerge from a tradition whose central commitment is to “the Word made flesh?”

Parker Palmer, On the Brink of Everything, l. 1052

On the Brink of Everything

The spiritual yearning to connect with the largeness of life can powerfully enhance one’s experience. But the spirituality I’d embraced was more about flying above life’s mess than engaging with it on the ground. How did the Christian tradition in which I was raised—one centered on “the Word made flesh”— become so disembodied?

Ruthellen Quillen, “West Virginia Sleep Song,” Pushcart Prize III, p. 108

“West Virginia Sleep Song”

some

fire blindly at Orion unable to touch
a moment of their lives

John Shea, “Sharon’s Christmas Prayer,” The Hour of the Unexpected, p. 56

“Sharon’s Christmas Prayer”

She was five,
sure of facts,
and recited them
with slow solemnity,
convinced every word
was revelation
She said

they were so poor
they had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to eat

Then the baby was borned.
And do you know who he was?

Her quarter eyes inflated
to silver dollars.

The baby was God.

And she jumped in the air,
whirled round, dove into the sofa,
and buried her head under the cushion
which is the only proper response
to the Good News of the Incarnation.

John Shea, “A Prayer to the God who Fell from Heaven,” The God who Fell from Heaven, p. 75

“A Prayer to the God who Fell from Heaven”

If you had stayed
tightfisted in the sky
and watched us thrash
with all the patience of a pipe smoker,
I would pray
like a golden bullet
aimed at your heart.
But the story says
you cried
and so heavy was the tear
you fell with it to earth
where like a baritone in a bar
it is never time to go home.
So you move among us
twisting every straight line
into Picasso,
stealing kisses from pinched lips,
holding our hand in the dark.
So now when I pray
I sit and turn my mind
like a television knob
till you are there
with your large, open hands
spreading my life before me
like a Sunday tablecloth
and pulling up a chair yourself
for by now
the secret is out.
You are home.

J. Barrie Shepherd, “Evidence,” The Moveable Feast, p. 47

“Evidence”

They held hem up against his word
and nailed him to it
Word become not only flesh
but also wood—Wordwood—
the cruel branching tree
that blossomed only blood
and bore rich cross-bred fruit.

William Stafford, “Another Language,” Even in Quiet Places, p. 3

“Another Language”

Speakers of the new language are seeking not just freedom of speech but freedom in speech—their own lives embodied in language.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Hymn of the Universe, p. 64 f.

Hymn of the Universe

Purity does not lie in separation from, but in a deeper penetration into the universe. It is to be found in the love of that unique, boundless, Essence which penetrates the inmost depths of all things, and there, from within those depths deeper than the mortal zone where individuals and multitudes struggle, works upon them and moulds them. Purity lies in a chaste contact with that which is ‘the same in all.’

Samuel Terrien, The Elusive Presence, p. 468

The Elusive Presence

The entire “midrash,” or exegetical homily, on manna [John 6:25-59] is hinged upon faith in Jesus who is wisdom in the flesh (John 1:14).

Jean Vanier, “Be Open” We Need Each Other, p. 78

"Be Open"

The word became vulnerable.

Walt Whitman, “Preface,” Leaves of Grass

"Preface"

… re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.

Richard Wilbur, “Love Calls Us to the Things of this World,” Poetry Binder
Flora Slosson Wuellner, Prayer and Our Bodies, p. 18
Imaging the Word, Vol. 2, p. 104-107
from Worship Resources

Worship Resources

Like the rolling ocean’s tide
Does our Lord his love provide
God delivers heaven’s stranger
Wrapped in swaddling clothes and manger,
Wrapped in flesh and blood and bone,
Wrapped in shroud and tomb and stone.

John 1:19-28

23     Wang Weifan, Lilies of the Field, p. 65

Lilies of the Field

[The church as John the Baptist]

… our ignorance carves out hollows in God’s way. Our self-assurance throws up ridges, our vacillations create twists and turns in the road.

26-31   John Dominic Crossan, “John’s Message,” The Historical Jesus, p. 234 f.

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, he did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”  21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” And he answered, “No.”  22 They said to him then, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.  25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”  28 This took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

1:19 και αυτη εστιν η μαρτυρια του ιωαννου οτε απεστειλαν οι ιουδαιοι εξ ιεροσολυμων ιερεις και λευιτας ινα ερωτησωσιν αυτον συ τις ει 1:20 και ωμολογησεν και ουκ ηρνησατο και ωμολογησεν οτι ουκ ειμι εγω ο χριστος 1:21 και ηρωτησαν αυτον τι ουν ηλιας ει συ και λεγει ουκ ειμι ο προφητης ει συ και απεκριθη ου 1:22 ειπον ουν αυτω τις ει ινα αποκρισιν δωμεν τοις πεμψασιν ημας τι λεγεις περι σεαυτου 1:23 εφη εγω φωνη βοωντος εν τη ερημω ευθυνατε την οδον κυριου καθως ειπεν ησαιας ο προφητης

1:24 και οι απεσταλμενοι ησαν εκ των φαρισαιων 1:25 και ηρωτησαν αυτον και ειπον αυτω τι ουν βαπτιζεις ει συ ουκ ει ο χριστος ουτε ηλιας ουτε ο προφητης 1:26 απεκριθη αυτοις ο ιωαννης λεγων εγω βαπτιζω εν υδατι μεσος δε υμων εστηκεν ον υμεις ουκ οιδατε 1:27 αυτος εστιν ο οπισω μου ερχομενος ος εμπροσθεν μου γεγονεν ου εγω ουκ ειμι αξιος ινα λυσω αυτου τον ιμαντα του υποδηματος 1:28 ταυτα εν βηθανια εγενετο περαν του ιορδανου οπου ην ιωαννης βαπτιζων

John 1:29-34

Raymond Brown, John, Volume 1, p. 74 [note]

John

Some have suggested that this scene in John is an adaptation of the Synoptic scene where John the Baptist sends his disciples to question Jesus (Mt xi 2; Luke vii 19). There are very few similarities between the two scenes.

Luke 7:18-23                                  Matthew 11:2-6          John 1:29-39

John (the Baptist)                         John                             John
“Who are you?” (x2)                     Question                      Did not recognize (x2)
Sent 2 disciples John,                   Sent disciples             2 disciples went to follow Jesus
“Shall we look for another?”        Same                             Jesus, “What do you seek?”
Jesus, “Tell them what you          Jesus Answers             Jesus, “Come and see.”
…  have seen and heard.”                                                       They came and saw …
In that hour …                                                                        … and stayed with him

Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., “Is There Life After Christmas?” Lovely in Eyes Not His, p. 67-72
Thomas R. Haney, Today’s Spirituality, p. 200

29-39    Matthew 11:2-6; Luke 7:18-23
32           Isaiah 11:2

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, for he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”  32 And John bore witness, “I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him.  33 I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’  34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

1:29 τη επαυριον βλεπει [ο ιωαννησ] τον ιησουν ερχομενον προς αυτον και λεγει ιδε ο αμνος του θεου ο αιρων την αμαρτιαν του κοσμου 1:30 ουτος εστιν περι ου εγω ειπον οπισω μου ερχεται ανηρ ος εμπροσθεν μου γεγονεν οτι πρωτος μου ην 1:31 καγω ουκ ηδειν αυτον αλλ ινα φανερωθη τω ισραηλ δια τουτο ηλθον εγω εν τω υδατι βαπτιζων 1:32 και εμαρτυρησεν ιωαννης λεγων οτι τεθεαμαι το πνευμα καταβαινον ωσει περιστεραν εξ ουρανου και εμεινεν επ αυτον 1:33 καγω ουκ ηδειν αυτον αλλ ο πεμψας με βαπτιζειν εν υδατι εκεινος μοι ειπεν εφ ον αν ιδης το πνευμα καταβαινον και μενον επ αυτον ουτος εστιν ο βαπτιζων εν πνευματι αγιω 1:34 καγω εωρακα και μεμαρτυρηκα οτι ουτος εστιν ο υιος του θεου

John 1:35-42

Thomas R. Haney, Today’s Spirituality, p. 203 208
Jean Vanier, “What Are You Looking For?” We Need Each Other, p. 5-18

35-39     James Keir Baxter, “The Maori Jesus,” Divine Inspiration, p. 99
35-39     Henry Vaughan, “The Dwelling Place,” Divine Inspiration, p. 98
35-38     Imaging the Word, Vol. 2, p. 118-121
38           Jean Vanier, “What Are You Looking For?” We Need Each Other, p. 9

"What Are You Looking For?"

This is beautiful.  The first words of Jesus are not a command.  He gently asks, “What are you looking for?  What are your desires?  What do you long for?”

40-46     Dom Helder Camara, Through the Gospel, p. 34

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples; 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”  37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.  38 Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying; and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.  40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.  41 He first found his brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).  42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, “So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

1:35 τη επαυριον παλιν ειστηκει ο ιωαννης και εκ των μαθητων αυτου δυο 1:36 και εμβλεψας τω ιησου περιπατουντι λεγει ιδε ο αμνος του θεου 1:37 και ηκουσαν αυτου οι δυο μαθηται λαλουντος και ηκολουθησαν τω ιησου 1:38 στραφεις δε ο ιησους και θεασαμενος αυτους ακολουθουντας λεγει αυτοις τι ζητειτε οι δε ειπον αυτω ραββι ο λεγεται ερμηνευομενον διδασκαλε που μενεις 1:39 λεγει αυτοις ερχεσθε και ιδετε ηλθον και ειδον που μενει και παρ αυτω εμειναν την ημεραν εκεινην ωρα ην ως δεκατη 1:40 ην ανδρεας ο αδελφος σιμωνος πετρου εις εκ των δυο των ακουσαντων παρα ιωαννου και ακολουθησαντων αυτω 1:41 ευρισκει ουτος πρωτος τον αδελφον τον ιδιον σιμωνα και λεγει αυτω ευρηκαμεν τον μεσιαν ο εστιν μεθερμηνευομενον χριστος 1:42 και ηγαγεν αυτον προς τον ιησουν εμβλεψας [δε] αυτω ο ιησους ειπεν συ ει σιμων ο υιος ιωνα συ κληθηση κηφας ο ερμηνευεται πετρος

John 1:43-51

Frederick Buechner, “Nathaniel,” Peculiar Treasures, p. 115-117
Madeleine L’Engle, The Irrational Season, p. 189-191 [Big fig tree as private hiding reading place.]

51     Genesis 28:12

40-46     Dom Helder Camara, Through the Gospel, p. 34
46             Kathleen Norris (?)

Kathleen Norris

Early in the gospel, Philip has been given one of the greatest straight lines in history. When, as a newly converted follower of Jesus, he evangelizes Nathaniel, who scorns Jesus, saying “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip says, simply, “Come and see” (John 1:46). Much later, however, we find a poignant scene in which Jesus, knowing that he is soon to die, questions the disciples, beginning with Philip: “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?” (John 14:9).

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. And he found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”  44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  45 Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”  47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!”  48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”  49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”  50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these.”  51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

1:43 τη επαυριον ηθελησεν εξελθειν εις την γαλιλαιαν και ευρισκει φιλιππον και λεγει αυτω [ο ιησουσ] ακολουθει μοι 1:44 ην δε ο φιλιππος απο βηθσαιδα εκ της πολεως ανδρεου και πετρου 1:45 ευρισκει φιλιππος τον ναθαναηλ και λεγει αυτω ον εγραψεν μωσης εν τω νομω και οι προφηται ευρηκαμεν ιησουν τον υιον του ιωσηφ τον απο αβ 1:46 και ειπεν αυτω ναθαναηλ εκ αβδυναται τι αγαθον ειναι λεγει αυτω φιλιππος ερχου και ιδε 1:47 ειδεν ο ιησους τον ναθαναηλ ερχομενον προς αυτον και λεγει περι αυτου ιδε αληθως ισραηλιτης εν ω δολος ουκ εστιν 1:48 λεγει αυτω ναθαναηλ ποθεν με γινωσκεις απεκριθη ιησους και ειπεν αυτω προ του σε φιλιππον φωνησαι οντα υπο την συκην ειδον σε 1:49 απεκριθη ναθαναηλ και λεγει αυτω ραββι συ ει ο υιος του θεου συ ει ο βασιλευς του ισραηλ 1:50 απεκριθη ιησους και ειπεν αυτω οτι ειπον σοι ειδον σε υποκατω της συκης πιστευεις μειζω τουτων οψει 1:51 και λεγει αυτω αμην αμην λεγω υμιν απ αρτι οψεσθε τον ουρανον ανεωγοτα και τους αγγελους του θεου αναβαινοντας και καταβαινοντας επι τον υιον του ανθρωπου