Slow Read: John’s Gospel

Sundays beginning September 7, 9:00-9:45am. In the library and on zoom (hybrid set up).

What’s a slow read? In the library we have comfy chairs.  We’ll also provide coffee and simple treats.  It’s simple: we just take turns reading the text out loud, chapter by chapter, from beginning to end; pausing at times to reflect, ask questions, share insights and consider the implications for us today.  A facilitator will prepare a little background information, keep us moving forward and remind us where we’ve been.

It’s a “slow” read like “slow food”: not a fast-food burger to wolf down in the car, but a sit-down feast to savor, bite by bite.  The texts of scripture are both ancient and rich in meaning.  It helps to have time, focus, and company as we seek to understand them.  

If you’re new to reading the Bible, this is a great way to start!

What’s John’s Gospel?

Like other gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke), John tells the story of Jesus: why he was born, what he said and taught and did, how he died and was raised.  In a preface to the New Testament, Martin Luther suggested Christians read John’s version first and often, coming back to it as their daily bread.

The plot takes us through seven signs (such as Jesus turning water into wine) and seven “I am” statements (such as “I am the bread of life”), corresponding with the seven days when God creates all life in Genesis 1.  John’s gospel doesn’t just present information, it is also a summons.  The author invites us to trust Christ and so to find new life in him. (John 20:30-31)

We have plenty of Bibles available, but if you like, you can bring your own.  Study bibles are recommended, such as the Harper Collins and Lutheran Study Bible.  We tend to use the NRSV, but a variety of translations are welcome.

September 7 – Prologue (John 1:1-18)

September 14 – Call of the First Disciples (John 1:19-51)

September 21 – Wedding at Cana and Cleansing the Temple (John 2:1-25)

September 28 – Jesus and Nicodemus (John 3:1-21)

October 5 – John the Baptist and Jesus (John 3:22-36)

October 12 – Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (John 4:1-42)

October 19 – Healing the Official’s Son (John 4:43-54)

October 26 – Healing the Lame Man at Bethesda (John 5:1-47)

November 2 – Feeding the Five Thousand and Walking on the Sea (John 6:1-21)

November 9 – Bread of Life Discourse (John 6:22-71)

November 16 – Debates about Jesus’ Identity (John 7:1-52)

November 23 – The Woman Caught in Adultery (John 7:53-8:11)

Our current plan is to keep at it and finish John’s Gospel by the end of the school year! 

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it …The word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory … The lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world … Come and see … Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace! …. The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going … No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above … God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in  him may not perish but may have eternal life.


(That’s just from the first three chapters!)

It’s by Leandro Bassano and depicts the Wedding at Cana (John 2) where Jesus turns water into wine as the first sign of his glory: he’s come to bring joy. We like all the symbols of joy here: the wine itself, musical instruments, food, luxurious cloth, and of course – pets. More info at the Prado.

“From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16). John is a Gospel of abundance. The prologue first sounds this note; the first sign that Jesus does turns a huge amount of water into good wine; the Spirit is a wind that blows where it will and is given “without measure” (3:34); the “living water” that Jesus gives is “a spring of water gushing up to eternal life” (4:14); when Jesus feeds five thousand with five loaves, there are twelve baskets of fragments left over; through Jesus there is abundance of glory, healing, light, life, truth, fruitfulness, joy, and love; the last sign that Jesus does brings about a large catch of big fish; and John’s closing sentence responds to the impossible task of writing all that could be said about what Jesus did: “If every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (21:25).

Ford, David . The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary (p. 1). Baker Publishing Group. Listen to a podcast interview with David Ford here.