The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem.
It was winter.
And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon.

Many times we forget that Jesus was Jewish.  The scripture selections today remind us of that. …

“I was at prayer in the city of Joppa when in a trance I had a vision, something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered from the sky by its four corners, and it came to me.”

As we move into the 4^th week of the Easter season, Spring is brimming over and rushing forward with the Good News Joy of the empty tomb and beyond. …

But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.…

  “This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

  “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

The disciples are still reeling from the Bread of Life discourse that Jesus has just given them in John’s Gospel (JN 6: 60-69). …

“The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?’ ”

I can only imagine how scandalous this kind of talk must have been for anyone to hear at the time of Jesus, as we hear in John’s gospel story today (JN 6: 52-59).…