Fifth Sunday of Easter 2025 John 13,31-35 Rev. Neli Miranda Following our recent celebration of Good Shepherd Sunday, we now turn to Jesus’ farewell discourse, a touching section of John’s Gospel that anticipates the upcoming celebration of Jesus’ Ascension and Pentecost Sunday. John’s Gospel dedicates a significant portion, chapters 13-17, to this intimate exchange between Jesus and his community of disciples. Here, embodying the roles of teacher, shepherd, and friend, Jesus comforts his disciples and instructs them on how to live as a community in the world upon his departure. His central teaching is about love! Today’s passage, John 13:31-35, is situated in the context of the Last Supper. It is here, after a profound act of service and in the shadow of betrayal, that Jesus tells his disciples, “. . . Love one another, just as I have loved you. . .” This commandment is given to a community of disciples whom Jesus loves deeply. In the preceding verses (13:1-17)...
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Third Sunday of Easter 2025 John 20:1- 19 Rev. Neli Miranda Last Sunday we heard the powerful conclusion of John the Evangelist’s Gospel, a testimony of the Risen Jesus’ manifestation to Mary Magdalene and those disciples who, though initially hidden in fear, were ultimately sent on the mission of reconciling and restoring the broken world. John, in bringing his Gospel to a close, declares, “ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (20:30-31). Today we find that there is a Chapter 21, which appears to be a deliberate addition by the Johannine community to John’s account. This chapter preserves treasured memories of the early Christian community and highlights the roles of key figures within it. More importantly, it reaffirms the active and continuing...
Easter Day. April 20, 2025 Luke 24:1-12 Revd. Neli Miranda Today’s Gospel narrative opens with a group of women, disciples of Jesus, going to the tomb… It is the first day of the week, and in the wake of Jesus’ crucifixion, the first community of disciples is experiencing profound grief. As noted in the preceding chapter, after Jesus’ death all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance observing these events. Luke also recounts that a righteous man named Joseph, from the town of Arimathea, approached Pilate and requested Jesus’ body. Joseph was a member of the council that had dissented from its plan and action to execute Jesus. Joseph took Jesus’ body down from the cross, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb hewn in the rock, where no one had ever been laid. Luke notes that the women who were Jesus’ disciples followed Joseph and observed the tomb where Jesus’ body was placed. As ...
Palm Sunday 2025 Luke 19:28-40 Rev. Neli Miranda The celebration of Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem accompanied by his disciples and a multitude of pilgrims—children, women, and men—who journeyed to the city to celebrate Passover. Passover was one of the three major pilgrimage festivals as well as Pentecost and Tabernacles when all the Israelites were called to travel to the temple in Jerusalem. During Passover they celebrated the Exodus, when God delivered their ancestors from slavery in Egypt. In Jerusalem they attended and participated in different festivities and rituals at the temple, including the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb and the offering of its blood to God by the priests. Since his childhood, Jesus had often journeyed to Jerusalem as a pilgrim. However, on this occasion, he is more than a pilgrim. He is a herald of the Kingdom of God proclaiming a new Exodus. This time, he himself will become the Paschal Lamb. Jesus...
Fifth Sunday in Lent 2025 John 12:1-8 Rev. Neli Miranda On the fifth Sunday in Lent, our Gospel readings shift from Luke to John’s account, where Jesus arrives in Bethany, the home of Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead. As John details in the preceding chapter, this act by Jesus has placed the Jewish authorities on high alert. So, after this event, the chief priests and the Pharisees concerned about Jesus’ growing influence, called a council meeting and asked themselves, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs” (11:47). They feared the potential political repercussions of Jesus’ action in the eyes of the Roman authorities; thus, they begin to plot Jesus’ death. Aware that Jesus is coming to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, the chief priests and the Pharisees have given orders that anyone knowing his location should report it, so that they might arrest him and silence his message. Today’s gospel begins by no...
Third Sunday in Lent 2025 Luke 13:1-9 Rev. Neli Miranda On the Third Sunday of Lent, we continue our journey with Jesus toward Jerusalem. This is a journey rich in learning, transformation, and growth, for, as Luke tells us, as Jesus made his way to Jerusalem, he continued teaching and challenging the oppressive religious system that in collusion with the political system perpetuated injustice in Israel. In today’s passage we read of an incident where, as Jesus was teaching, some in the crowd informed him about some anti-Rome Galileans murdered by Pilate—the Roman governor—in the temple. These Galileans, it seems, were offering sacrifices when Pilate violently ordered their deaths, mingling their blood with that of their sacrifices. Jesus’ response suggests that those giving him this violent news, based on a retributive justice system—the belief that suffering is punishment for sin—assumed that these Galileans deserved this punishment. Known for their resistance aga...
Second Sunday in Lent 2025 Luke 13:31-35 Rev. Neli Miranda https://www.chickensforbackyards.com/what-you-should-know-about-mother-hens/ Following his baptism in Judea, Jesus returned to Galilee, where he has carried out most of his ministry. He now journeys towards Jerusalem as Luke has indicated in earlier passages: “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (9:51). Luke describes Jesus traveling through towns and villages, proclaiming the Kingdom of God as he makes his way to Jerusalem. Today we read that, while Jesus teaches, some Pharisees warn him of Herod’s murderous intent: “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you” (13,31). This is Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, a Roman puppet king who feels threat...