Sunday Dive

Our readings today explore the Ascension of the Lord.  Drawing on our first reading from Acts which is proclaimed each year on this feast we discover fascinating connections between the Son of Man image in the Book of Daniel as well as interesting connections to the Jewish feast of the Day of Atonement.  Enjoy this rebroadcast from May 24, 2020!  For the full show notes head here.

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Picking up where we left off in last week's Gospel, Jesus continues his Last Supper discourse, this time turning his attention to love, the law, and friendship with God. Taking the lead of the evangelist himself we explore the idea of belovedness and how receptivity to Divine love is the foundation of the spiritual life. Bringing in the topic of the law as well as the thought of Thomas Aquinas we discover that the practice of abiding in God's love has very little to do with our own efforts and everything to do with God's.

Diving deep into our Gospel we'll spend our episode looking closer at:

- What, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, we must do in order to keep God's commandments [8:49]

- The Greek etymology of the word "friend" and what it can tell us about being friends of God [18:48]

- The two Old Testament figures that were said to be friends of God [31:20]

- Greco-Roman and Jewish conceptions of friendship that likely inform our Gospel [41:52]

- Jewish inheritance law and what it has to say about friendship and servitude [45:04]

- Some priestly overtones subtly present in the latter part of Jesus' exhortation to the Twelve [51:35]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, Raymond E. The Gospel according to John (XIII-XXI): Introduction, Translation, and Notes. Vol. 29A. Anchor Yale Bible. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008.

Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of John: A Commentary, Vol. 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012.

Martin, Francis, and William M. Wright IV. The Gospel of John. Edited by Peter S. Williamson and Mary Healy. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015.

REFERENCES

Exodus 33:11 - "Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend."

Isaiah 41:8 - "But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend"

2 Chronicles 20:7 - "Was it not you, our God, who dispossessed the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it forever to the descendants of Abraham, your friend?"

John 1:18 - "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known."

Numbers 8:10-11 - "When you present the Levites before the LORD, the people of Israel shall lay their hands upon the Levites, 11 and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of the LORD."

Numbers 27:18-19 - "And the LORD said to Moses, 'Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him; 19 cause him to stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight.'"

Join Katie's weekly newsletter and get a free audio download of her popular talk, Bible 101: A Crash Course in Scripture. Visit www.sundaydive.com/bible101

We continue exploring the Gospel of John in our readings for this Sunday. In them Jesus makes his seventh and final "I am" statement, comparing himself to the true vine. Combing through the Old Testament we discover that vine imagery is often associated with Israel, but an Israel that is unfaithful and disobedient. It is Christ then, the faithful son, and we his disciples who are to embody a new Israel, radically faithful to the Father. How do we achieve this faithfulness? Our Gospel reveals the secret.

Diving deep into our Gospel we'll spend our episode looking closer at:

- The seven "I am" statements in John, the last of which forms our Gospel

- The image of the vine in the Old Testament and how it helps us interpret Our Lord's analogy

- How our Gospel both demands and promises radical faithfulness

- The ancient heresy that our Gospel was employed to refute

- What it means to abide in Christ and a tangible way to practice that abiding

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, Raymond E. The Gospel according to John (XIII-XXI): Introduction, Translation, and Notes. Vol. 29A. Anchor Yale Bible. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008.

Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of John: A Commentary, Vol. 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012.

Martin, Francis, and William M. Wright IV. The Gospel of John. Edited by Peter S. Williamson and Mary Healy. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015.

REFERENCES

Psalm 80:8-18 - "You brought a vine out of Egypt;

you drove out the nations and planted it.

9 You cleared the ground for it;

it took deep root and filled the land.

10 The mountains were covered with its shade,

the mighty cedars with its branches;

11 it sent out its branches to the sea,

and its shoots to the River.

12 Why then have you broken down its walls,

so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? [...]

Ezekiel 19:10-14 - "Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard

transplanted by the water,

fruitful and full of branches

by reason of abundant water.

11 Its strongest stem became

a ruler’s scepter;

it towered aloft

among the thick boughs;

it was seen in its height

with the mass of its branches.

12 But the vine was plucked up in fury,

cast down to the ground [...]"

Isaiah 5:1-7 - "Let me sing for my beloved

a love song concerning his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard

on a very fertile hill.

2 He digged it and cleared it of stones,

and planted it with choice vines;

he built a watchtower in the midst of it,

and hewed out a wine vat in it;

and he looked for it to yield grapes,

but it yielded wild grapes [...]"

Mark 12:1-9 - (Parable of the Vineyard)

Matthew 21:43 - "Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it."

John 13:10 - "Jesus said to him, 'He who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but he is clean all over; and you are clean, but not every one of you.'"

"All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” Cf. Exodus 19:8; Exodus 24:3, 7;)

Luke 1:38 - “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

Mark 14:36 - "Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

Matthew 6:10 - "Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven."

John 5:19 - "“Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise."

John 8:28 - "So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me."

John 1:3 - "All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made."

“Short of a miracle, a man who does not practice mental prayer will end up in mortal sin.” - St. Alphonsus

“A man without mental prayer is not good for anything; he cannot even renounce the slightest thing.” - St. Vincent de Paul

“If you do not practice mental prayer, you don’t need any devil to throw you into hell, you throw yourself in there of your own accord. On the contrary, give me the greatest of all sinners; if he practices mental prayer, be it only for fifteen minutes every day, he will be converted. If he perseveres in it, his eternal salvation is assured.” 
- St. Teresa of Avila

Join Katie's weekly newsletter and get a free audio download of her popular talk, Bible 101: A Crash Course in Scripture. Visit www.sundaydive.com/bible101