John 11:1-45

This passage is found in the Revised Common Lectionary for Lent, Year A and All Saint's Day, Year B  (Most recently for March 22, 2026); The All Saints reading is shorter, verses John 11:32-44.
  
Summary:  This emotional passage does not need to deep exegesis to understand.  But as always, the Greek amplifies the emotions, especially of Mary.  Furthermore, the Greek offers some poignant connections to other parts of John's Gospel.

Key words:

ερχομαι & οραω (11:32 and 11:34, also 1:39; 1:46; 4:29; 19:33; 20:8 "Come and see").  These two verbs come together a number of times in John's Gospel. A quite impressive list actually:
A) When Jesus begins his ministry and calls his disciples.
B) When the woman at the well returns to her hometown to invite others (different cognate for "come");
C) When they bring Jesus to Lazarus' tomb.
D) When they find Jesus dead on the cross.
E) When they come to the empty tomb.

John's Gospel invites us to come and see, even Jesus on the cross and finally the empty tomb.  The result of coming and seeing is believing.

In this passage, however, the two words come together in two very emotional ways.  The more obvious one is when they invite Jesus to see the tomb of Lazarus.  The more subtle one is that Mary came (ηλθεν) and saw (ιδουσα; note feminine participle endings may be less familiar, sadly).  In this case, she falls at Jesus feet (see next note).  She has done what a disciple should do, she has come and seen. What happens when we come and see, not in intellectual or hopeful curiosity, but in grief?

ποδος (from πους, meaning "foot" as in words that have "pod" in them; 11:32)  Mary will fall to Jesus feet twice in a short time.  Mary cries at Jesus feet in this story; after her brother is revived, she will fall to Jesus feet to anoint them.  Twice she worships at Jesus feet; the first in lament for her situation; the second in lament for Jesus' situation.

Other powerful scenes happen at Jesus feet. 
- When the women (including Mary) gather at the foot of the cross. 
- Mary (Magdalene) stoops down to where Jesus' feet were in the tomb. 
- In chapter 13 of John's Gospel, Jesus will wash the disciples' feet. 
In short, if there are feet involved, it is likely an emotionally charged passage, relating to the profound cruciform servant-hood of Christ and his followers!

κλαιουσαν (from κλαιω, meaning "weep", 11:33)  Simple point:  People in the Bible cry.  We give so little permission for people to cry today.  Jesus himself cries here (11:35; it is a different word, εδακρυσεν) but don't get caught up in that.  Death produces tears even from the Lord of Life.

παραμυθουμενος (a participle form of παραμυθεομαι, which is from παρα and μυθος, 11:19, 11:31)  This is my 100th time reading this passage...and still seeing new stuff.  The word for console here is a bit unusual; normally when we read "console" in Scripture, it is a form of παρακαλεω (parakaleoo).  In this case though, it is παραμυθεομαι, which from two words - para, which means "around" and mythos, which means story.  They are literally surrounding the grieving one with stories!  We encourage and console each other with stories.

ει...αν (if, if; 11:33)  Mary has a particularly harsh construction of Greek here for Jesus.  This combination of ει...αν indicates "a hypothetical that is actually false."  In short, it should best be translated, "If you had been here, WHICH YOU WERE NOT, my brother would not have died."

εμβριμωμενος (from εμβριμαομαι, meaning "snort in", 11:38)  This word means "admonish in anger" visually in the sense of a "horse snorting."  I think its this word that has given rise to all sorts of terrible interpretations that Jesus is really mad in this passage that they don't believe.  I think this is kind of nuts.  I think a better translation is simply this:  "Jesus was so worked up about this death that he looses control of his breathing..."  To put it another way, Jesus does the uncool thing of lose control of his emotions.  Unlike the rest of humanity, when Jesus' gets angry, no one is hurt, but the deepest emotion, love, and deepest power, resurrection, is unleashed.

-- 2024 reflection - Jesus's grief is a prelude to powerful action.  However, we cannot rush people through sadness and anger.  But some of the most beautiful things in human history have grown out of people's grief.

μνημειον ("tomb", 11:38).  The word for tomb is literally "mnemonic" as in something we use to help us remember -- they have gone to a "memorial."  (Jesus is also buried in a tomb, a place of memory).

εδακρυσεν ο Ιησους  (aorist form of δακρυω, "Jesus wept", 11:35)  This verse is shorter in English (two words) than in Greek (three words.)  Why?  Because Greek adds in the word "ο" with Jesus, it literally reads "The Jesus wept." Jesus name in Hebrew - Joshua - means "God (YHWH) saves."  John tells us then "The God who saves wept." 

λυσατε ("unbind", 11:44)  The word for unbind means to "loosen" or "free."  In short, Lazarus must be freed!  This itself might provide all sorts of interesting directions for a sermon -- the work of Jesus to bring new life also entails freedom.  What I find worth noting though is that the verb is a plural command.  It is the work of the community to free Lazarus.  Even when Jesus' power is on full display, the community of Christ still has work to do.

John 9:1-41

This passage occurs in the RCL during Lent (year A), most recently March 15, 2026. This passage also occurs in the Narrative Lectionary for Transfiguration Sunday.

Summary:  Jesus' claim to be the light of the world doesn't simply put him above it all.  Rather it puts him in the midst of it all, even amid people's problems and divisions.

Some key words:

ημαρτεν (aorist form of αμαρτανω, meaning "sin", 9:2 and 9:3)  A few comments here
- The Pharisees want to ascribe sin as the cause for problems in this man's life.  Jesus says that this problem is really an opportunity for God's glory.  There is always a tendency in us to ascribe God's judgement to a situation rather than see things as an opportunity for transformation and God's goodness.
- Afterwards the Pharisee's obsession with sin and the law means they cannot see God's goodness at work.  Even after the healing, they shun the man.  This is a passage that personally challenges me.  I can easily find fault in situations rather the see God's goodness.

του πεμψαντος (from πεμπω, "to send"; substantive participle here meaning "the one who sent", 9:4)  The idea of "sending" is crucial in all of the Gospels, but especially in John.  After the resurrection, Jesus is the one who sends (πεμπω) the disciples as the Father has sent him (20:21).  Jesus also promises that he will send the Spirit (15:26; although in 14:26, it is the Father who will send).  That this is not random is reinforced by the use of the word:

Σιλωαμ/απεσταλμενος (Siloam and apostalmenos, Hebrew and Greek for "sent", 9:7)  The pool's name is "sent"; John makes sure we catch this by adding the translation.  The Father has sent Jesus who sends the man to the pool called "sent" to be healed.  A couple of thoughts
- Baptism is a pool called sent for all of us!
- The Christian life is one of being sent in Christ's name to announce (and deliver) God's healing.
- In order to be healed we must be sent, which includes taking a risk at the obedience of God.

επτυσεν /πτυσματος ( "spit" (aorist form) and "saliva", 9:6)  In order for Jesus to give man sight -- to be the light of the world -- he must spit.  John uses the word as a noun and verb to make sure we picked this up.

οφθαλμος ("eye", 9:6)  This word appears 10 times in these verses.  I especially like the phrase "open my/your eye."  I can't help but think that John wants to draw attention to the physicality of everything.  Jesus is literally touching this man's eyes!

νιψαι ("wash", from νιπτω, 9:7)  This word comes back into John's Gospel at another interesting juncture:  When Jesus washes their feet!  Again a reminder that being the light of the world, washing people, is a very humble and earthly task.

Εγω ειμι ("I am" but "It's me!", 9:9)  The man emphatically says "I am" when people begin to question whether he was the former blind beggar.  This is a reminder that in Greek, one uses the pronoun with conjugated verb for emphasis, because the conjugated verb already contains the subject.  In this case though, I cannot help but wonder if there isn't something more playfully subtle going on here, whereby the healed man is now carrying Jesus inside of him -- that Jesus is speaking through the man to say "I am he."  It is a stretch, but the artistry of John is so good, I can't help but wonder about such things. 

τον ποτε τυφλον (literally the formerly blind one (in accusative case), 9:13)  It is interesting how the man is not called "the one who now sees" but the "one formerly blind."  He continues to be identified by his disability rather than his capacity.

αποσυνάγωγος (literally apo-synagogos, meaning "banish from synagogues", 9:22)  This word appears three times in the Gospel of John (12:42, 16:2)  John is the only biblical writer to use the word.  It is hard not to imagine that this was becoming an issue for people as John's Gospel was being written -- that claiming Christ was getting people kicked out of their religious communities.  It is a reminder that claiming Christ has a cost.

ευρων (from ευρισκω, "find", 9:35)  In the very next story, Jesus talks about how he is the good shepherd.  Well, in the Gospel of Luke we hear about a shepherd that finds lost sheep.  Here Jesus is finding lost sheep.

φος ("light", 9:5)  One can go many directions with light.  It is interesting to see where the word light appears in John's Gospel.  Almost all the time there is a contrast of living in the dark vs living in the light.  The Jesus of John's Gospel is a prophet in many ways, who speaks out against the church and culture of his day; he is not afraid to tell the leaders of his culture they are in the dark. 

Here are the light passages in John that reference light vs dark

John 1:5: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it
John 3:19:  This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
John 8  Jesus says he is the light of the world, but immediate the pharisees protest against this
John 11:9-10  But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.

John 12:35-37 Jesus said to them, "The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light." After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.  Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him.

John 12:46
I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness.

Does this produce an unfair (and unhelpful in our current environment) dichotomy of who is in the light and who is in the dark?  The propositions suggest a light/dark universe.  But the narrative suggests that walking in the light is a process in which even the faithful stumble. The man encounters Jesus, is sent to a pool, endures lots of people misunderstanding him, harassment of his family and finally meeting Jesus again in the temple.

John 4:1-42 (woman at well)

This passage occurs in the Revised Common Lectionary, Year A, Lenten Cycle (most recently March 2026); in the narrative Lectionary, Year 4, Lenten Cycle.
 
Summary:  Chapter 3 and 4 couldn't be more opposite:  man vs woman; Pharisee Jew vs sinful non-Jew (a dig at the Samaritan people, Jews intermixed with five other tribes); night vs day.  There is fertile ground here for many sermons.  What struck me this time was the continuity in both chapters regarding the notion of salvation, and life -- it is found in Christ; it begins now here on earth. 

A question this text leaves me pondering:  How does Jesus convert her?  He says to her brutal truth:  her religion isn't complete and she is a sinner.  What converts her?  What converts all of them?  Simply his word of promise?  Actually, he is only proclaimed as savior after he stays with her.  I suggest it is also his vulnerability, his admission that she can help him and finally, his willingness to be with her and with them.  To evangelize entails meeting people where they are, but also staying where they are until they are ready to move ahead.  This passage demonstrates a profound truth about cross-cultural evangelism and listening -- it begins with acknowledging the gifts of the other, not rebuking their sin.

Low hanging fruit:
ωρα εκτη (sixth hour, 4:6)  This means noon.  Don't miss the obvious symbolism.  Nicodemus comes at night (chapter 3); the woman comes in the day (chapter 4).

γυνη Σαμαριας (Samaritan women, 4:7)  Again, don't miss the obvious symbolism.  Samaritan woman means total outsider; someone powerless in the whole system.  Obvious symbolism again:  Nicodemus gets a name; this woman doesn't.

Δός, from δίδωμι (give!, 4:7)  Jesus today asks -- commands -- the woman to give her water.  In an age of deep tribalism, when we assume the stranger has nothing to offer, Jesus comes along and acknowledges that the other, the stranger, the foreigner, the non-Jew, has something to offer him.  This is a profound orientation for mission!

Slightly more interesting:
αἰώνιον ("eternally," 4:14)  This really struck me.  The word for forever or everlasting in Greek means "of the eons."  When we hear "forever" we assume this means "life after death," but nothing grammatically or even theologically in John's Gospel, certainly in this chapter, suggests this.  This word definitely has the sense of that which has no end, but it also has a sense of that which has no beginning.  This is a continuing theme in John's Gospel:  life in Christ begins now and continues even through death.  Or another way of reading it more literally -- another era, another time has begun when we are in relationship with Christ.

ου μη (no, no - meaning never 4:14)  These two negative words together produce an emphatic "No!"  What I am curious about though is the fact that even after I've met Jesus I have encountered periods of profound "dryness" spiritually.  Times in my life in which my prayers are the prayers of lament in the Psalms.  I struggle with the idea that either a) I will not be spiritually thirty again or b) that I have some wellspring in me that will always nourish me.  I struggle with this.  Two thoughts

• Jesus is the one that gives the water, not our own efforts.
• We still need water, we just have our own pool to drink from, that Jesus has given us.

σωτερια ("salvation" in the sense of saving, preserving, delivering, 4:22; σωτηρ 4:42)  Christians again assume that salvation means heaven, specifically life after death.  The word in Greek means saving, simply delivering, including if not primarily a very earthly sense.  John's Gospel includes resurrection and this is ultimate salvation, but Jesus' ministry includes bodily life on earth.

μενω ("abide" 4:40) This is theme word in John's Gospel.  For some, it was enough to hear Jesus, or even just hear the woman's testimony.  But for many, the trust/belief only started after he abided with them.  This is a reminder that to me that the promise is truly incarnational.  In order for us to do better evangelism, we have to meet and STAY with people where they are.

κοσμος ("world" 4:42) A reminder that even though salvation comes FROM the Jews it is FOR the world...see last week's post -- http://lectionarygreek.blogspot.com/2014/01/john-31-21-nicodemeus.html  The world doesn't love God!

κεκοπιακως ("labored", 4:6 and 4:38) John describes Jesus as having labored.  First, this is interesting because it reminds us that Jesus was a human who worked and got physically tired!  Second, Jesus tells the disciples that they will harvest where others have labored (same word!).  Perhaps Jesus acknowledges here that others have gone before him in their prophetic ministry?  This passage should cause us to be more humble when people we know do convert -- we are reaping where others labored.  Also, it should comfort us when people do not convert -- we are laboring where others will reap.

Romans 5:1-11

This passage (or portions of it) occur frequently in the Revised Common Lectionary, including Holy Trinity Sunday in Year C.

Summary:
The English reader will catch what Christ does:  In an unjustified act of love, Christ justifies us and the Holy Spirit pours out love into every aspect of life.  The Greek helps the reader see when this all happens.  For example, whenever Paul refers to Christ's death in this passage, he uses the aorist tense.  This allows him to reference this event with great subtlety.  Yet the past event of Christ's death is not without present and future implications:  Having peace, having access, standing in grace and boasting in hope. Faith is connecting the past event of our justification and our current reality of peace, grace and even pride in God with the future hope of our salvation.

(Challenge:  Go through and highlight each verb in a different color based on tense. A very interesting pattern emerges, especially with the aorist tenses…It may be tough to explain in a sermon, but for your own personal good, this is a worthwhile exercise.)

Key Words:
διακιαωθεντες ("make right," passive aorist participle of διακιοω, 5.1)  Paul begins the whole train of thought with the verb “justify.” Because it is in participle form, most translators make it an adverbial phrase, “Since we are justified…” But I think any phrasing here loses a bit of steam. It can and should just read: “Justified therefore by faith we have peace with God through our lord Jesus Christ.”  In other words, Paul does not mess around, but simply begins with justification.  Also worth noting that the verb justify, as always, is in the passive.  We do not justify ourselves; only God justifies.  It is also in the aorist, pointing toward an event in the past, namely, Christ's death.

A further note on the meaning of the word:  The verb justify in English often means to make an excuse for or rationalize away.  This distorts the English ear from hearing Paul's intended words!  The word justify in Greek here means to make right, with a heavy sense of bringing into right relationship.  In fact, the Greek word διακιοω may fairly be translated into English as "righteousness" or "justification."

This idea that God granted us righteousness through Jesus, was the central focus for Luther.  While people do not articulate Luther's problem of a lack of righteousness before God, we still live in a world hungry for right relationship with God and with others.  Unfortunately, we have robbed God of his judgment role, but not gotten rid of the role of judgment in our lives; we simply have transferred it to other people - our boss, our neighbors, our family, our kids, the person down the street with the nice car.  It seems that true peace, acceptance of ourselves, God's role in our lives and fellow humans, requires us to let God be the judge...the only judge...the only judge in whom there is mercy.

εκ πιστεως ("of faith" 5.1)  We are justified out of or as a result of faith; See my post on Romans 1 for more about translation issues with this phrase .  Fine, but whose faith is Paul talking about? Jesus or ours? This is a trickier question in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In this case though, especially in light of 4.24, I would argue Paul seems to be speaking about the faith of humans in God.

καυχωμεθα  ("boast", from καυχαομαι, 5:2, 3, 11)  Only Paul boasts; James specifically tells us not to!  Clearly we are not supposed to be braggarts, but Paul is okay with us boasting in the Lord.  Have you bragged about God recently?  As Psalm 107:32 says, "Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the council of the elders."

δoθεντος (διδωμι, aorist participle, "give" 5.5) Paul uses an interesting tense here with the word “given” in that “we are given the Holy Spirit.” One would have expected a present or perhaps a perfect tense, but Paul again puts it in the aorist. Throughout this section, Paul is using the aorist tense to point toward the event of our justification – the cross.  It might seem that Paul is suggesting we get the spirit at Christ's death.  However, the spirit is not given to us in Christ's death, but rather through our Baptisms, as Paul will suggest in 1 Cor 12:13.  I believe Paul here is setting up his argument in Romans 6, that our Baptism and Christ's death are linked.

συνιστησιν ("present" or "demonstrate"  5:8)  This verb is significant not for its meaning, but for its tense. The cross was not but IS a show of God’s love for us. A reminder than even though it is a once and done matter, we always need this demonstration of God’s love.

σωθησομεθα  ("will be saved", future passive of σωζω, 5:9)  The verb save is in the future here. The cross did not save us but will save us! In fact Paul generally avoids the idea of salvation as a past activity, but views it as a present, on-going reality that will reach culmination in the future. Yes, the cross did save us from hell.  But it did more than this!!!

οργης ("wrath" from οργη, 5:9)  The word God is not used here; although it is hard to understand where the wrath comes from if its not from God.  Perhaps this omission of God from wrath is the ultimate reminder of the hiddenness of God.  We can avoid saying it -- and perhaps we must avoid preaching it? -- but it is always there.

κατηλλαγημεν (aorist form of "reconciliation"; 5.10) Reconciliation (katallass-oo) is a beautiful thing!  When I first wrote this blog post almost 20 years ago, I wrote "reconciliation, the favorite metaphor of liberals."  I think what I was getting at is that reconciliation can be described in terms of a movement of God's love that doesn't require the death of Jesus or the death of the sinner.  Worth pointing out: Reconciliation required Jesus’ death.  

That said, reconciliation is clearly more of a relational than judicial term.  This is not to argue against forensic justification, but that Paul wants to press beyond simply an easing or erasing of previous sins/tension in the relationship.  Too often forgiveness on the cross can become a past event that gives a future hope, rather than leading to what Paul sees it as, namely a past event with a future hope that creates a present reality.

Grammar Review:  Past tense:  Aorist, imperfect and perfect

This passage is an excellent passage to examine verb tenses. Go through and highlight each verb in a different color based on tense. A very interesting pattern emerges, especially with the aorist tenses…It may be tough to explain in a sermon, but for your own personal good, this is a worthwhile exercise.

Moreover, Greek has three ways to speak about past action.  Technically, four, but the pluperfect is rarely ever used.  The most basic way is through the aorist.  The aorist describes an event.  Within in a narrative, this normally describes a simple action most easily translated by the simple past (Christ died).  The aorist can be more flexible than this, but 90% of the time, it is describes a simple event that occurred in the past.  In geometric terms, think "point."

The imperfect describes an event start started in the past and whose action continues.  "Jesus began to teach them" or "Jesus was preaching."  In geometry, think a "ray."  The emphasis here is on the on-going and past nature of the action, rather than the present situation.

Most interestingly, Greek's perfect tense functions in a past-present manner.  It refers to a completed past action than still has a present impact.  Like "I got dressed."  The action is past but the state of being continues.  So in this passage, the love is poured out (5.5); the love is still flowing from our hearts.  The past action creates the current state of love that is being poured out. 

The perfect tense is almost always the most interesting because the writer is intentionally connecting two time frames in a manner difficult to convey in English.  However, in this section the aorist might be the most interesting because Paul uses it always to refer to Christ's action on the cross.

John 3:1-21; Nicodemeus

This passage occurs in both the Narrative and Revised Common Lectionaries.  The Revised Common Lectionary breaks it up into two separate passages; the narrative leaves it as one.

Summary:  I don't know if one truly can summarize John 3.  One could describe it as THE chapter of Scripture.  The Greek shows a number of interesting wrinkles in the text, each of which can help get at the core message about the work of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in saving the world.  Perhaps one little tidbit: eternal life doesn't begin after death in the Gospel of John.

Νικόδημος ("Nicodemus" vs 1):  It is worth noting that Nicodemus gets a name; the woman at the well in chapter 4 will not.  Nicodemus, like the woman at the well, misunderstands Jesus.  His story should end in chapter 3, but it does not.  It keeps going.  Because God is author of our story, our own failures do not end the narrative.  In chapter 7 Nicodemus will defend Jesus; at the end of the Gospel he will help bury Jesus (19).  Jesus invites people to come and see.  For Nicodemus, this invitation changed his life, as he came and saw, and was drawn in. 

Little side note:  Nicodemus' general confusion is emphasized in the Greek that he repeatedly says "How can it be that..."  (The tense of λεγω in 3:4 is present tense).

νυκτος (νυξ, "night", vs 2)  The fact that he visits at night might have many meanings.  It might mean that he is worried about shaming himself by association with Jesus.  It might also suggest he is still 'in the dark'.  Finally though it might suggest that he does not want a confrontation.  He is not seeking to embarrass Jesus but wants to meet with him alone.

ο διδασκαλος ("the teacher", vs 2)  Nicodemus calls Jesus "a" teacher; Jesus calls Nicodemus "THE teacher."  Obviously Jesus is catching Nicodemus in his words!

βασιλεια του θεου ("Kingdom of God", vs 3).  It is interesting that Nicodemus didn't ask about the Kingdom.  Jesus seems to give a strange reply.  One might argue that Jesus is simply pushing his own agenda.  However...Jesus never will use the phrase Kingdom of God in the Gospel of John outside of this conversation.  He somehow is addressing a concern specifically for Nicodemus.  I wonder if one could make the argument that Jesus whose listening is so powerful that he can force us not only to listen to him, but somehow to listen to ourselves.  Why did Nicodemus come to Jesus?  Because he wanted to enter into the Kingdom of God.  Nicodemus must realize that this is both a gift but also comes with a profound transformation of Nicodemus' life, one akin to a new birth. 

ανωθεν ("again" or "above" vs 3)  I would argue that 'above' is a better translation here. Not simply because of the context (Jesus says you don't have to come out of the womb, but must be born of the water and Spirit), but because above includes again.  If you are born from above, this is the second birth anyway!  We must be born again, but this birth isn't through human agency, but God alone.

πνευμα (literally, "pneuma"; meaning "spirit" vs 5, 6 and 8)  The word Spirit is related to breath, but also blow and wind.  So the verse that reads "The wind blows where it will" could and arguably should be translated "the Spirit blows where it will."  In fact, one could read it as "The spirit spirits where it will."

πιστευω ("believe" vs 15 and 16, etc).  Believe is only a verb in the Gospel of John.  It means trust; it is an action not a thing.  It is also in the present and active tense:  the one is who is trusting...

εχη ("have" vs 16)  The word here is in the present tense.  ETERNAL LIFE begins NOW.  It is not a future reality, but a present one found in Christ!  Whoever is trusting in God has life which continues into eternity.

κοσμος ("world" vs 16).  Throughout the Gospel of John, the world doesn't like God.  It doesn't understand God (1:10); it doesn't give like God (14:27) ; in fact, it hates God (7:7).  This is the world God loves!

Also important to recognize that the WORLD is the object of salvation.  The individuals receive eternal life, but the scope of salvation is broader than simply humans.

John 3:16

This passage occurs in the RCL Lent Season, Year A and B, most recently March of 2026 and also on Holy Cross day.  It also occurs in the Narrative Lectionary Year 4 Epiphany cycle.
 
Summary:  We've heard John 3:16 a million times before.  For this week, I broke it down, word by word.  Awful for a sermon, yes, but a closer look reveals how this really is the Gospel in a nutshell.  Fun Greek fact:  The phrase eternal life is literally "eons of a zoo."  God's eternal party is a zoo!  Helpful Greek fact:  This eternal zoo is not a future reality, but a present one, available here and now.

John 3:16.  Broken down.

ουτως γαρ ηγαπησεν ο θεος τον κοσμον, ωστε τον υιον τον μονογενη εδωκεν, ινα πας ο πιστευων εις αυτον μη αποληται αλλ εχη ζωην αιωνιον

ουτως γαρ:  Two interjections, combining to mean:  "For in this manner"  Don't spend too much time here, we have bigger fish to fry.

ηγαπησεν (αγαπη):  This word supposedly means divine, only from God love.  In this particular sentence that's what it means: divine, pure, gracious, awesome, life changing love.  Interestingly, later in this section people will love (αγαπη) the darkness more than the light.  First, this shows that agape is not simply a divine thing.  Second, it reminds us how absurd (and misdirected) some of our love really is.

ο θεος:  God (think theos as in theology)

τον κοσμον:  The world.  This word in English is cosmos, like universe or cosmopolitan or cosmetic.  The point is that in the Gospel of John the world does not love God (John 7:7; 15:18,19; 17:14).  God's love comes over and against the world that does not like God

ωστε:  that.  Conjunction.  Don't worry.

τον υιον τον μονογενη:  only begotten son.  Nice like adjectival participle here.  The son, the only begotten.  If you break the Greek down you get :  mono-gene.  The only one who has the Father's genes are the son.  In this case, Christ is the only one who really is of the Father, who has his dna to love a world that doesn't love him back.

εδωκεν:  Gave.  Jesus Christ is the gift.

ινα:  In order.  God's giving of his son had a purpose

πας ο πιστευων:  Substantive participle:  All who believe.  Because it is present tense we should make it:  All who are constantly believing.  Remember, in John's Gospel, believe is a verb; faith is a not a thing, it is an action.  Faith is not the evaluation of whether a statement is likely true over and against a certain degree of uncertainty, but a constant trusting in a person.

 
εις αυτον:   In fact you cannot trust in something but have to trust INTO something.

μη αποληται:  Be lost, be destroyed.  This verb is in the "middle" voice, which means that it is not simply active "He destroyed" or passive "He was destroyed" but is reflexive "He destroyed himself."  This particular verb is one that often appears in active or middle voice; I would not want to confidently assert the full semantic difference between the two.  However, I think is interesting that in this case, we are left with some agency, however unclear, in our own destruction.

αλλ :  but

εχη :  STOP.  read carefully: This is a present tense verb.  This means that we HAVE the eternal life, not we will have, but we HAVE the eternal life.  In John's Gospel life begins here and in as we, through faith, live in the son.  This means that we experience both spiritual living at the same time as we are physically dying.

ζωην αιωνιον:  literally:  eons of zoo.  That is the grand goal of God:  eons of zoo.  The word for eternal (αιωνιον) is kind of interesting, but in the singular form it can be understood as eternal.  

Matthew 4:1-11

This passage occurs during Lent in the Revised Common Lectionary (Year A) and Epiphany (Year 1) of the Narrative Lectionary, most recently Feb 22, 2026.

Summary:
This is a text of testing.  That verb, πειραζω, appears three times!  Testing allows us to discover the nature of something.  What do we discover?  We discover that the devil is pretty good at tempting...tempting with the flesh, the power and the glory.  Even using scripture!  More importantly, we learn that Jesus draws his strength from the Word of God.  We learn that the Word of God comes from God's mouth, brings life in the wilderness, overcomes evil and is even worshiped by angels.

New for 2026:  The connection between fasting and praying

Key Words:

πειραζω & εκπειραζω ("tempt" or "put to the test,"  Found in 4:1, πειρασθναι (aorist passive infinitive), 4:3, πειραζων (participle present) and 4.7, εκπειρασεις (2nd person future)):   BDAG offers that this word means, "to endeavor to discover the nature or character of something by testing."  In this story, we discover the nature of two people, both the devil and Jesus.  The devil is the one who tempts us, tempts us with the flesh, glory and finally deceptive power, all so that we would worship him and not God.  He will quote Scripture and has no fear of God.  We learn also, here, by experience, that Jesus will draw on his power from the Word of God.  He alone, and not the devil, is master of Scripture.  He will also be ministered by angels, and though human, cannot be defeated by human weakness, but only by the will of God.

Note:  Although a slightly different word, εκ-πειραζω, is used when Jesus says to the Devil, "Don't test God," (4:7) I don't think this distinction is key.  It means essentially the same thing.  Furthermore, because it is a direct quote from the LXX, Jesus (Matthew) is forced to use it instead of simply, "πειραζω."  Regardless, this word comes into English in very clear way: "experiment"!  (literally e-x-p-e-r-i-m-e-n-t) Jesus is saying, "Don't experiment with God!" 

νηστεύω ("fast"; 4:2)  Just a little connection here -- nearly every time the word fast is used in the Old Testament, it is connected with praying

• Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. (Judg. 20:26)
• David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. (2Sam. 12:16)
• So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.  (Ezra 8:23)
• As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. (Neh. 1:4)

Often when we think about fasting we think about it as a separate activity from our praying, perhaps even a diet thing.  In the Bible, it is typically accompanied by praying and even mouring.

εκπορευομαι   ("come out" 4:4, εκπορευομενω (dative participle))  This word here is a fairly common word in Greek -- "come or go out."  What is significant here is that is goes hand and hand with the word and the mouth of God.  God's Word does not stay still, but goes out from God's mouth.  And what does it do?  It brings life in the middle of the wilderness and overcomes all evil.

προσκυνεω and λατρευω ("worship" 4:10, προσκεησεις & λατρευσιες (2nd person future))  προσκυνεω comes from the Greek for "forward kiss" as in lean down to touch and kiss the ground in front of the person.  λατρευσιες can also mean worship, but has to do with serving God in the temple, or more broadly, serving God as a way to fulfill obligations.  The root of the word is payment!  In the sense of "paying one's vows" before God.  When you put these two together, you have the image of full body worship, with both our knees (on the ground) and our arms (serving God through the offering plate, the acts of worship).

διακονεω ("serve" 4:11, διηκονουν (imperfect))  This word means to "serve" like a waiter serves on tables.  It comes into English and the church vocabulary through a variety of servant ministries.  It might be fun to play with the connection between worship service (4:10) and service as worship (4:11).  In the early temptation, Jesus (and we as humans) are tempted to worship the devil with his knees.  Here the temptation is about worshipping with our feet through acts of service.  You could argue that the angels fulfill the word of the Lord as the both worship and serve Jesus.

Grammar:  εαν vs ει

εαν is nice for translators.  It means "if" in a truly hypothetical sense.  "εαν" it rains today, the game will be canceled.  For example, in Matthew 4:9, the devil says, "εαν" you throw yourself down Jesus, I will give you all of this.
ει, however, is much harder.  It can mean "if" or "since" or "because not" depending on the context and the verb moods used around it.  Let's look at 4:3:
ει υιος [ει] του θεου, ειπε ινα οι λιθοι ουτοι αρτοι γενωνται
The  [ει] has breathing marks that indicate it is a form of the verb "to be," in this case, "are."  In fact, most of the words in this sentence an individual learns in the first couple weeks of Greek:
if son are of God, say in order the stones these bread [some form of become]
Because you know the sentence, you probably piece it together:
If you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread.  Why the subjunctive γενωνται?  Why ουτοι?  For another day!  In this sentence, it seems odd that the devil would wonder if Jesus is the son of God.  The devil is saying, more likely, "As the son of God, do X, Y and Z."  Not only does this make more sense in the narrative, but grammatically, the fact that the verb [ει] is in the indicative and not subjunctive mood, also suggests this.