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The Gospel of John shows us Jesus Christ, who is both God and man and Son of the Father. It provides spiritual insights that go beyond what the other Gospels have, so that we can believe and have life. Previous Next John List Introduction to John The Gospel of John shows us Jesus Christ, who is both God and man and Son of the Father. It provides spiritual insights that go beyond what the other Gospels have, so that we can believe and have life. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti October 31, 2025 Introduction: Background Regarding the Gospel of John (This background information is a synthesis of the scholarship presented in many sources, including the following: Brown, Introduction , pp. 362-376; Brown, The Community , pp. 22-24, 166-182; Bruce, pp. 1-12; Flanagan, pp. 101-104, 119-121; Perkins, pp. 942-950; Sloyan, pp. 8-28; Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , pp. 157-158; Ellis, pp. 1230-1231; and New American Bible, revised edition , New Testament, pp. 142-144.) Why was the Gospel of John written? The Gospel of John tells us why it was written: John wants us to believe and have life: At the end of chapter 20, John says that he could have written many more things about Jesus. “But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31, NRSV). Around AD 324, Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea, tried to summarize everything he could find about the origins of the Gospels. In his Ecclesial History , he quotes from a document written by an earlier bishop, Clement of Alexandria (AD 150-215), that we no longer have: John tells about events before John the Baptist was arrested that are not in the other Gospels: Clement said that John wrote his Gospel partly because the first 3 Gospels did not tell about the beginning of Jesus’s ministry but only covered the final year of Jesus’s ministry after John the Baptist was arrested (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III , Chapter 24, pars. 7-8). Eusebius reports: “John accordingly, in his Gospel, records the deeds of Christ which were performed before the Baptist was cast into prison, but the other three evangelists mention the events which happened after that time” (par. 12). John wrote a “spiritual gospel”: Eusebius writes: “But, last of all, John, perceiving that the external facts had been made plain in the Gospel, being urged by his friends, and inspired by the Spirit, composed a spiritual Gospel. This is the account of Clement.” (Eusebius, Book VI , Chapter 14, pars. 6-7) This suggests that John is going beyond the external, physical, material facts and exploring the meaning of what Jesus did He is exploring on a deeper level than the other Gospels, not just providing strictly what Jesus said and did. We might call this the “theological” Gospel, because it focuses on the symbolic nature of Jesus’s life and the metaphors that help us understand the true nature of Jesus. We can see this in the ways John talks about Jesus being the light, the way, the truth, the life, the resurrection, the good shepherd, etc. How important are metaphors like the light, the way, the truth, the life, etc. in understanding who Jesus is? How do you think this Gospel might help you believe in Jesus and have life? Who is the author? We are not sure of the identity of the author of the Gospel of John. None of the Gospel authors put their name on their Gospel. The titles that say they are “according to Matthew,” “according to Mark,” etc., were added early on and are not part of the original documents. There are two puzzles regarding the authorship of the Gospel of John: John’s Gospel never refers to “John,” but it does talk about “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” who scholars call the “Beloved Disciple.” Was this Beloved Disciple the same as John the apostle, or someone else? John the apostle and his brother James were the sons of Zebedee. This Gospel never refers to James or John by name, and it only refers to the sons of Zebedee once: in an epilogue (chapter 21) not written by the author of the rest of the book. Many scholars believe that the Beloved Disciple was the apostle John, the son of Zebedee. A smaller number of scholars think it was Lazarus or Thomas. A significant group of scholars think it was another disciple not named in the other Gospels: an eyewitness who was there through it all but was not one of the “Twelve” and only rose to prominence later. The simplest conclusion is that “the one whom Jesus loved” is the apostle John, the son of Zebedee. The Beloved Disciple appears in many places where we might expect John the apostle. He reclines at Jesus’s side at the last Supper (13:21-26). He is treated as a leader (20:1-2). He is at the foot of the cross and took Mary into his house (19:25-27). And he is the disciple who it is suggested would not be martyred as Peter was (21:17-24). These are all things that fit John the Apostle. So concluding that it was John the apostle requires the fewest additional assumptions, even though many scholars prefer the idea that it was an unknown eyewitness. Who wrote the Gospel of John? Was it the eyewitness Beloved Disciple/John the apostle, or was it another person from John’s community drawing on John’s oral accounts? Irenaeus, writing around AD 180, says: “John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia” ( Irenaeus , par. 1). Eusebius, reporting what Clement had written, says that “the apostle John . . . gave in his Gospel an account of the period which had been omitted by the earlier evangelists” (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III , Chapter 24, par. 11). The belief that John the apostle provided the Gospel of John has a long history, and it is likely that he was the source of the eyewitness testimony (unless the scholars who think the Beloved Disciple was another, anonymous disciple are right). But that may not tell us who actually put pen to papyrus (or parchment). Several other facts complicate the question of who wrote the Gospel of John: Chapter 21 of John’s Gospel is clearly an epilogue added by someone else. Chapter 20 has a clear ending in verses 30-31. Chapter 21 tells several stories, including the story of the conversation about whether Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved would be martyred. It tells us that the story came from the beloved disciple, and “we know that his testimony is true” (21:24). The use of the word “we” indicates that some or all of chapter 21 was added by a group. Scholars talk a lot about the “Johannine community” – the community of which John was a central member in Ephesus. There was another John – John the “presbyter” or “elder” – who was also a highly respected member of the community at Ephesus. Some scholars, going all the way back to the time of Eusebius, have thought that John the Elder wrote the Book of Revelation; some also think he wrote, or at least compiled the final version of, the Gospel of John. All of the Gospels were developed through a process as they transitioned from oral stories to written accounts that compiled those stories. None of the Gospels appeared from out of nowhere. The stories were first told orally. Then, someone wrote them down. It appears that the 4 Gospels have material that was gathered from a variety of sources – probably mostly oral sources, though there also may have been written documents that were partial Gospels or collections of sayings or stories. So even if John the Apostle was the primary source for this material, it might have gone through stages, including possibly more than one written stage, before it arrived at the final version we have. Many scholars today think that the Gospel of John was the work of several people in the Johannine community. They think there was an original “John” who was an eyewitness; that there was an “evangelist” who first wrote a Gospel that built on what the original eyewitness reported; and that a redactor put it into its final form. Some think that there was a version written in Aramaic before the first version in Greek, but others find no evidence for that. We will call the author “John,” but whether it was John the apostle or an unnamed disciple whom Jesus loved doesn’t chang the outcome. What matters is that at its root, it came from an eyewitness, and the result – the Gospel we have today – was inspired by God. Where did the author of the Gospel of John get his material? The original source was an eyewitness. The Gospel shows great familiarity with Palestinian geography (for example, Solomon’s portico in the Temple area; the pavement called Gabbatha where Pilate decided Jesus’s fate; that there were 2 towns called Bethany; the pool of Siloam, which was only rediscovered in 2005; the pool of Bethesda with its 5 porticos, rediscovered in the 1800s; etc.); the details of Jesus’s trial and crucifixion (that 4 soldiers gambled for Jesus’s robe; the blood and water that poured from his side; the weight of the myrrhs and aloes used to anoint his body; etc.), and many other details (that the boy with the loaves and fishes had barley loaves; that they had rowed 3 or 4 miles before Jesus came walking to them on the water; that Judas objected that the perfumed oil used to anoint Jesus’s feet could have been sold for 300 days’ wages; quotes of statements made by Thomas; etc.). This original eyewitness had a unique perspective, separate from the other Gospel authors. Most of the material in the Gospel of John is different from what is in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) – not contradictory (except in one significant place), just different. There is some overlap with Mark, but that could just relate to the fact that different eyewitnesses saw the same events. Some of the material in the Gospel of John appears to come from the reflection of the Johannine community and not necessarily all from the mouth of Jesus while he walked the Earth. That would be consistent with the idea that John’s is a “spiritual gospel” that presents more of an interpretation or analysis of who Jesus is, not just what he did and said. The Johannine community appears to have placed a strong emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit (the Paraclete), so some of the material may not have come directly from Jesus but from later revelations the Johannine community received that they believed were revealed to them by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. So, for example, in John 3:16-21, did Jesus say, “For God so loved the world that he sent his only son,” or is that an explanation by John? The Greek of that time did not use quotation marks, so we don’t know whether it is a quote or an explanation. But maybe it doesn’t matter, because either way, we believe it is part of the inspired Word of God. To what extent does it matter to you whether the Gospel of John was written by John the apostle or another eyewitness? To what extent does it matter to you whether the final version reflects a process of editing and refinement by other writers in the Christian community, or not? Do these questions affect whether the result that we have today is the Word of God? Explain. When was the Gospel written? Most scholars think the Gospel of John was written in the AD 90s, but a small case could be made that it was written before AD 70. John does not offer many textual clues for when it was written. Scholars think Matthew was written after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70 in part because Matthew’s Gospel makes some statements that sound like the author knew that it had happened. John does not give us that kind of clue. There is one spot where John uses a phrase that could indicate that it was written before AD 70. John 5:2 says, “Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool....” It would be odd for John to use the word “is” if he knew that the city had been destroyed and the pool was no longer there. However, the Gospel could merely be relating the story as it would have been told orally and handed down for decades, so a single “is” is not much evidence to base a conclusion on. John presents what is called a “high Christology” – a high view of Jesus’s identity as God. Many scholars believe that it took time for the understanding to develop that Jesus was not just the Messiah/Christ but God in the flesh. That argues for a later date. The latest it could have been written was the early 100s. For a while, some scholars argued that John’ Gospel wasn’t written until as late as 150 or later. That idea was shot down when a fragment of papyrus was discovered in Egypt that contains a few verses from chapter 18 of John’s Gospel and that is considered to be dated between 100 and 150. Since it would have taken some time for that copy of the Gospel to have reached Africa, John was probably published no later than the early 100s ( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , p. 157; Bruce, pp. 6-7). On a separate note, people sometimes wonder whether the Gospels might have been doctored or rewritten over the centuries by people or factions who had agendas of one kind or another – for example, after the time of Constantine when Christianity became the state religion. The facts don’t support such a theory: We have a papyrus dating from the end of the 2 nd century (the late 100s, only 100 years after the Gospel of John was probably written) that contains most of the first 14 chapters of John’s Gospel and parts of the rest. Another papyrus from the end of the 2nd century contains most of Luke and the first half of John. We also have a papyrus from the early 3 rd century (100 years before Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire) that contains portions of all 4 Gospels and Acts of the Apostles (Bruce, pp. 6-7). The Gospels we have today are not hugely different from what the Church had in the 2 nd and early 3 rd centuries. Where was the Gospel written? There is widespread agreement that the Gospel of John was written in Ephesus. There is a large amount of evidence that John lived in Ephesus for much of his later life, with Jesus’s mother Mary. What do we know about John’s audience and community? Many scholars have written whole books presenting their theories about the Johannine community. These scholars try to read between the lines of John’s Gospel and compare it to what we know or think we might know about what was going on the Church at that time, to extrapolate what we might conclude about John’s community. The most important points are these: Many scholars think that John’s Gospel was written mainly for Jews and Jewish Christians, though not all agree. Although it does not quote the Old Testament as frequently as other Gospels, John’s Gospel would be nearly unintelligible to people who lack an understanding of Jewish traditions and concepts. For example, this is the Gospel with all the “I am” statements that echo God’s name for himself in the Old Testament. Non-Jews would tend to miss the import of those statements. John also focuses on Jesus’s attendance at Jewish feast days in Jerusalem, without bothering to explain them. John’s community appears to have faced intense opposition from Jews who did not believe in Jesus. Those Jews kicked Jewish Christians out of the synagogues. When John speaks negatively of “the Jews,” modern people tend to wonder why, since John was a Jew. He is talking about the leaders of the non-Christian Jews who persecuted Christians. It might be like a White person speaking negatively about “the Whites” who persecuted Black people in the South for 100 years after the Civil War. He doesn’t mean all Jews, just those who rejected Jesus and mistreated Christians. Many scholars think John’s community may have included Samaritans who converted to Christianity. They reach this conclusion because of John’s inclusion of the story of the Samaritan woman and the conversion of her town in John 4 and the lack of any negative references to Samaritans in his Gospel (Matthew and Luke each have one or more negative references to Samaritans). The idea would be that John originally gathered converts in Palestine, Samaritan converts joined him, and they all eventually moved to Ephesus because of Jewish opposition in Palestine. If indeed John’s community included Samaritans, that could have precipitated even more Jewish persecution since there was a longstanding hatred of Samaritans in the Jewish community. John’s community may have had a special emphasis on the Holy Spirit. John’s Gospel has much more material on the Holy Spirit than the other Gospels do. John’s community may have had frequent theological disagreements with other Christians and may eventually have had a split inside their own community. Scholars think the Johannine community was critical of what scholars call “crypto-Christians” – Jewish Christians who downplayed their Christian faith in order to remain in the synagogues. They see hints in his Gospel that he may have had disagreements with Christians who did not share his high Christology or who did not place such a high emphasis on the ongoing role of the Holy Spirit. And the New Testament letter 1 John, which might have been written as few as 10 years after the Gospel of John, indicates that the Johannine community eventually faced a serious internal disagreement that led to a painful split in which some Christians in the community left. In what ways do you think the experiences and difficulties the early Church faced might have shaped what the Gospels writers decided to include or not bother to include in their Gospels? Themes in the Gospel of John The Gospel of John is marked by a series of 7 “signs” – wondrous deeds Jesus does that demonstrate his authority – beginning with his turning water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana (2:1-11). The first chapter of John provides a first mention of many themes that will recur later in the Gospel. These themes include: Jesus is the Son of God the Father. Jesus is one with the Father and existed before he was born as a human. Jesus reveals the Father. Some people do not know the Father because they refuse to accept Jesus. Jesus’s followers are children of God. Jesus brings life. Jesus brings light. Jesus brings the truth. Many people and events provide testify that Jesus is who he says he is. John develops additional themes as the Gospel progresses , include these: There is a Third Person of the Triune God, the Spirit, who will be with Jesus’s followers when Jesus returns to heaven. Jesus is the Bread of Life. Jesus will be “lifted up” to bring people to himself. God loves the world and shows his love in Jesus’s sacrifice of himself. Jesus’s disciples are called to follow him, obey him, and love one another. Which of these themes of John’s Gospel intrigue you the most, and why? What do you hope to learn by studying John’s Gospel? What questions do you hope to have answered as you study? If you could ask John one question, what would you ask, and why? How do you think he would respond? Take a step back and consider this: Atheists criticize belief in the Gospels because they have such different perspectives, which they call contradictions. If God inspired them all, how could the authors have such different versions of the story? The differences do not trouble me. In fact, if the Gospels were all perfectly aligned, I would be more skeptical. If every book told the story in exactly the same way, it would make me wonder if some person or group doctored or coordinated all the writings. I can’t imagine that a genuine set of Scriptures could be any other way than our Scriptures are: different in tiny details because of the humanness of the human authors and how they obtained and crafted their material. The only way the accounts could be entirely identical and still genuine is if God turned the original authors into robots taking dictation from him, and that would go directly against what it means to be a human made in the image of God with freedom, a unique personality, unique experiences, and unique ways of telling what we know to be the truth. Not everyone has such confidence in God: to believe that he could work through humans to develop a collection of books and letters that are inspired by him and have sacred and eternal value even though they were written by human authors working with their various perspectives and limitations. But that is why we say God is the author of the sacred Scriptures even as humans were the authors of the various books. God, in his awesomeness, honored human freedom even as he guided the result. What does the fact that God used such different people to produce the 4 Gospels tell you about God’s confidence in working through human beings to achieve his purposes? How can that give you greater confidence that God can work through you? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2026, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous John List Next

Bible Study resources for 2 Thessalonians, to help individuals and small groups explore how the Bible applies to life today: background, commentary, and questions. 2 Thessalonians Introduction to 2 Thessalonians Paul continues to guide the young church at Thessalonica with wisdom that is still relevant to local churches and the whole Church today. 2 Thessalonians - Bibliography Bibliography of major sources and additional sources used in this study of Paul's Second Letter to the Thessalonians (2 Thess.). 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 Continue in faith, love, and endurance despite persecution, so that the Lord may be glorified in you. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 The world and the Church will face difficult times, marked by lawlessness and apostasy, but in the end the Lord will be victorious. 2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:18 Stand firm in what you have been taught and live an orderly life, doing your own work and not minding other people’s business. Image at top by Markos Mant, provided by Unsplash via Wix.

A righteous man, Zechariah, has a supernatural experience that begins the story of Jesus. Previous Next Luke List Luke 1:5-24 A righteous man, Zechariah, has a supernatural experience that begins the story of Jesus. Tom Faletti Luke 1:5-14 In this passage, a priest has an overwhelming, spiritual experience in the Temple in Jerusalem. How is Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth described? What kind of people are they? What kind of life do they live? If someone were summarizing your life in a couple of sentences, could they say that about you? What would they say about your faith life? (to be continued) Bibliography See Luke - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/luke/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next Luke List

That's one of our goals. Previous Next Table of Contents To Have the Mind of Christ That's one of our goals. Tom Faletti March 6, 2024 Some people think of religion as being like the relationship between a master and a slave: God orders and I obey. This attracts some people and repels others. They are both missing something central to our faith. People from both perspectives are missing something because they think that the Christian faith asks us to turn off our minds and just “believe.” That’s not the faith of the gospel. St. Paul says, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5-11, NRSV). How can I think of my mind as something to turn off, if I am urged to have the same mind as Christ. I have to think carefully in order to think like Christ. Paul also says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2, NRSV). What does God want to transform? Our minds. Why? So that we can discern well. If our minds are not valued by God, if He just wants us to turn off our minds and “have faith,” why would Paul say this? Ephesians says that we are to use our gifts to build up the body of Christ “until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ” (Eph. 4:13, NRSV). Our goal is to reach the full stature of Christ. Did Jesus turn off his brain? No! He used it very carefully and wisely, throughout His ministry. Jesus said to his disciples, “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father” (John 15:15, NRSV). How could we possibly make use of all the wisdom and knowledge that Jesus has received from the Father if we do not spend time thinking, but instead assume that we can “believe” and be done? So the point is that we are called to think. We are called to use these magnificent brains that we have received from God. We are called to put on the MIND – not just the heart or soul or will – of Jesus. So let’s get to work! TO BE CONTINUED Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Table of Contents Next

Who is Jesus? Who is Peter? Where do you fit in the Church that God is building? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 16:13-20 Who is Jesus? Who is Peter? Where do you fit in the Church that God is building? “On this rock I will build my church.” St. Peter’s Church, Staunton on Arrow, England, UK. Photo by Fabian Musto, 12 May 2018. CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:On_this_rock_I_will_build_my_church_-_St._Peter%27s_Church_(Staunton_on_Arrow)_-_geograph.org.uk_-_5772113.jpg . Tom Faletti June 16, 2025 Matthew 16:13-20 Peter recognizes Jesus as the Messiah and is given the keys to the kingdom This happens in the region of Caesarea Philippi, which is 20-25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee and inhabited mainly by Gentiles. Jesus first asks the disciples who the people say the Son of Man (i.e., Jesus) is. How do they answer? Why might the people have thought that Jesus was a return of one or another of these figures that preceded him? Jesus then asks them: Who do you say I am? Simon Peter speaks, and speaks accurately. Who does Simon Peter say Jesus is (verse 16)? Some translations use the word “Christ”; some use the word “Messiah.” Peter would have used the Hebrew word Messiah , but the biblical text was written in Greek and the actual word in the biblical text is the Greek word Christos , from which we get our word “Christ.” Both mean “Anointed One.” Peter adds that Jesus is “the Son of the living God.” (That is not in Mark 8:29.) Matthew has previously identified Jesus as God’s Son in 2:15 and 3:17. Including the term here helps clarify that Jesus is not the kind of military messiah the Jews were hoping for. (For those who might be troubled that Matthew might be adding something, many scholars think Peter might have declared Jesus to be the Son of the living God when Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection, and Matthew may simply be combining the two declarations to keep things tidy.) What does the “Anointed One” mean to you personally? Why is it so important that Jesus is the Messiah? Matthew builds the case that Jesus is the Son of God slowly throughout his entire Gospel. In 2:15, Matthew applies to Jesus an Old Testament passage where God refers to his son. In 3:17, God calls Jesus his Son. In 14:34, the disciples say Jesus is the Son of God after he walks on the water. Here, Peter identifies Jesus as the Son of God. In 27:54, the centurion calls Jesus the Son of God. Why is it so important that Jesus is the Son of God? Jesus asks all of us: Who do you say I am? We can’t let someone else answer this question for us. If you didn’t feel bound to use the particular term Messiah or Christ , how would you answer the question: Who do you say I am? People experience Jesus in so many different ways: as their savior, hope, healer, teacher, model, purpose for living, strength, the one they can share anything with, and more. In verse 17, Jesus says to Peter, “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,” but God the Father. In what ways could you say about your faith that it has not been revealed to you by humans but by God himself? “this rock” Until verse 18, Peter has been known as Simon. Here, Jesus gives him a new name in Aramaic which was the language spoken by the Jews in Jesus’s time (a distinct language but related to the Hebrew language). The new name means “rock,” and that name has been passed on to us as Peter ( Petros in Greek in the New Testament). Jesus immediately continues by saying, “upon this rock [ petra , which also means “rock”] I will build my church.” When Jesus says, upon “this rock,” what does he mean? Throughout history, the scholars have not agreed. Is he saying that Peter is the rock, or that Peter’s faith is the rock, or that the truth that Peter professed is the rock, or that Peter’s confession of faith is the rock, or that the Messiah Peter proclaimed (Jesus) is the rock? The Roman Catholic Church has leaned heavily on the first interpretation, while Protestant preachers have ranged widely while rejecting the first interpretation. What do you think Jesus means when he talks about “this rock” in verse 18? “church” There was no “church” yet in Jesus’s time. The Greek word for “church” that appears here appear only twice in the Gospels: here and in Matthew 18:17 (the NRSV in two other verses refers to a “member of the church” but the Greek in those places is “brother”). What did “the church” mean to Matthew and his community? They had to translate into Greek what Jesus said in Aramaic. The Greek word for “church” is ekklesia . The corresponding Hebrew word is qahal , and translators generally used the Greek word ekklesia for the Hebrew word qahal . This Hebrew word was used for the assembly or congregation of the people of Israel, and that sometimes meant the entire people of Israel and sometimes a local gathering. So when Jesus refers to the “church,” he could mean the universal church – the whole body of Christians. But he could also mean the local manifestation of the church – what we would call a parish or congregation – and that is clearly what Matthew has in mind in 18:15-20. The word is also used in the New Testament in chapter 2 of the Book of Revelation, which addresses the “church” of Ephesus, the “church” of Smyrna, etc., and there it probably means the group of local assemblies that met in those cities. The Catholic Church interprets this passage in light of the development of the papacy, a different view than evangelical churches, which reject the hierarchical superstructure of the Catholic Church. Mainline Christian denominations and the Orthodox church reject the papacy but have hierarchies. What do you think Jesus means when he says that upon this rock “I will build my church”? “the gates of Hades” In verse 18, Jesus uses the phrase “the gates of Hades.” He does not say “the gates of hell.” In Greek mythology, Hades was the god of the underworld where souls went when they died, and the name came to be used for the place where they resided: the abode of the dead, the netherworld. “Hades” was the word used to translate the Hebrew word Sheol , which was the place of the dead. There was no joy in Sheol, but it was not a place of torment. It was merely the place where the souls of the dead went. Jesus says that the place of death will not prevail over the Church: the people of God will not end up in the grip of (in the gates of, in the location of) death. The power of death cannot overcome the Church. We will end with God, not in the place of death. When Jesus says in verse 19 that the gates of Hades will not prevail over the Church, he is saying that death is not our final destination. What does Jesus’s promise that death will not prevail in the end mean to you? “the keys of the kingdom” and the power “to bind” and “to loose” In verse 19, Jesus two things that have been controversial through much of the Church’s existence. He is still speaking specifically and singly to Peter. He says he will give to Peter “the keys to the kingdom” and the power “to bind” and “to loose.” Scholars have debated the meaning of “the keys of the kingdom.” The phrase is often interpreted in light of Isaiah 22:22, where God says that Hilkiah will become the master or chief steward of King Hezekiah’s royal household. He will have the key to the House of David – “key” being a symbol of authority – and he will have control over whether the doors are open or closed. Scholars also have debated the meaning of the power to bind and loose. Father Daniel Harrington says, “The content of that power is not completely clear. It may involve laying down rules and giving exemptions, imposing or lifting excommunications, forgiving or not forgiving sins, or even performing exorcisms” (Harrington, p. 68). In Jesus’s time, rabbis might have interpreted these terms in reference to their teaching authority. They would have been seen as having the power of excommunication (and Jesus was once expelled from a synagogue by rabbis who thought they had that authority). The leading rabbis also made rulings on how to interpret the Scriptures. The early church saw this teaching authority as being held by the apostles. As time went on, this teaching authority passed from bishop to bishop. In Matthew 18:18, the power to bind and loose is extended to all of the disciples in cases of disciplinary action in the local church community. But only Peter is described as receiving the revelation from the Father that Jesus is the Messiah (Matt. 18:17), and only Peter is given the keys of the kingdom. The Roman Catholic Church has develop a whole theology of the papacy, and this verse is part of that theology: that the Church is built on Peter, that Jesus instituted Peter in a unique role, that Peter has primacy in the teaching authority of the Church, and that his teaching authority is passed on to his successors (the popes) as the visible head of the Church. Protestants reject this whole theology of the papacy and do not see any hint of papacy in this passage. They see Peter as the leader of the apostles in Jesus’s time, but they generally see “this rock” as Peter’s confession of faith or the truth he professed or Jesus himself, not Peter, and they see the power to bind and loose as broadly shared by all Church leaders or the Church as a whole. Note, however, that this is partly a disagreement over who has authority and how much authority, not over whether there is a teaching authority. Protestants believe that their denominations have the power to determine who is and is not a member of the denomination and the power to decide what is and is not official doctrine. That leads to a series of questions for people of any denomination: In verse 19, Jesus is still speaking specifically and singly to Peter when he gives Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven and the power to bind and loose. What do these statements about Peter mean to you? How important was Peter’s role in the early Church? In what ways does the binding and loosing authority of the Church benefit us (the authority to establish doctrine and to decide who is a member of the church or not)? How can this authority be used wisely so that it is not abused? Jesus ends this exchange in verse 20 by telling the disciples not to tell people that he is the Messiah. This restriction was obviously only meant for a time; after his resurrection, they were called to tell the world all about him. But why do you think he told them not to tell people he was the Messiah at this time? Take a step back and consider this: The arguments over the papacy have taken attention away from Jesus’s metaphor. He says that the Church – which is the entire people of God from every Christian denomination – is like a building made of rock and built out of individual stones. In Matthew 21:42, Jesus identifies himself as the cornerstone, quoting Psalm 118:22 (“the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”). Peter builds on that image when he writes, “Come to him, a living stone,” adding that “you, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house . . .” (1 Pet. 2:4-5). Jesus is a living stone, the cornerstone of God’s house, and we are living stones who help form that house of God. This is a metaphor for the Church. Each one of us is a living stone in God’s enormous spiritual building. Each of us have our own, specific place in the Church that God is building. How important is it for the stones that make up the Church God is building to fit together well? How important is it for each stone to be fitted to the stone next to it, for each row of stones to be aligned properly upon the row before it, as part of God’s overall plan? In what ways are you a living stone in the Church that God is building? Where do you fit in the construction of God’s spiritual house? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

Faith, charity, and hope; life everlasting; death; happiness. (Paragraphs 18-21 of Spes Non Confundit) Previous Next Jubilee Year 2025: Embrace God’s Hope and Extend It to All Session 6: A life anchored in hope, part 1 Faith, charity, and hope; life everlasting; death; happiness. (Read paragraphs 18-21) Link to S pes Non Confundit Photo by Tom Faletti, Washington, DC, July 26, 2020. Tom Faletti November 13, 2024 When you complete this study, please give us feedback using this feedback form . Hope extends beyond the grave! It walks with us through even sin, death, and final judgment, as it accompanies us to our ultimate destination of everlasting life with God. That is the message of Pope Francis’s final section of Spes Non Confundit , which we begin to explore in this session. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, we can remain anchored in hope and have confidence in our future. Our study guide questions will help us explore simple ways we can demonstrate our hope as we go through our everyday lives. We will also explore what eternal life is like, the reasons we can have hope of eternal life, and how life is a pilgrimage toward eternal life where death is not the final destination. Read paragraphs 18-21 in preparation for this session. (Section 5) Anchored in hope In this section, Pope Francis explores reasons why we can live a life anchored in hope. Paragraph 18 (hope gives direction and purpose to life) 🔗 Read Romans 15:13 In Romans 15:13, Paul describes God as a “God of hope.” In what ways is God a God of hope? According to Paul, what does God fill us with, that enables us to abound in hope? How does the Holy Spirit play a role in our ability to abound in hope? In paragraph 18 of Spes Non Confundit , Pope Francis says that when we abound in hope, “we may bear credible and attractive witness to the faith and love that dwell in our hearts.” What does this mean? Pope Francis shows a keen awareness that we can serve God in the most mundane parts of our everyday lives. God is present in the so-called “secular” spaces of our lives as well as the “sacred” spaces. What are some specific examples Pope Francis suggests for how we can demonstrate our hope in our ordinary, everyday interactions with others? Pope Francis’s examples show how simple actions can bear witness to our faith and the love of God. What are some simple actions you could adopt or make more habitual that would bear witness to the love of God even if you did not have an opportunity to say a word? Read 1 Peter 3:15 How can the little ways that we live our lives open up opportunities for us to share the reasons why we have hope? How can you let your hope show more clearly to the people around you? Suggested Activities: Pay attention to the little things that some people do that bring life, joy, and hope into their interactions with other people. Then considers ways that you can be a similar vehicle of God’s hope and joy. Make a point of looking up at and smiling at your children and loved ones when they come in the door of your house. Make eye contact and smile when people walk by you at work. Look for the little things you can do that might make other people’s loads a little lighter, and do those things without calling attention to yourself. Start each conversation with something positive rather than something negative. Make saying “thank you” a habit. Paragraph 19 (life everlasting) 🔗 Read John 11:21-27 What does Jesus mean when he says that believers who die will live? What does this teaching mean to you? How does it give you hope or comfort? Pope Francis says that we can have hope because we know that in the end we will encounter the Lord of glory. How does knowing that in the end you will see and be with Jesus affect how you live your life? Suggested Activity: Spend some time by yourself, contemplating what it will be like when you have left this world and are present with Jesus. Open your heart to His presence now. See the love in His welcoming face and soak up His love. Talk to Him. Listen to what He says to you. Then carry that awareness of the presence of Jesus back into your everyday life. Paragraph 20 (death, and Jesus’s resurrection) 🔗 Read 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 In paragraph 20, Pope Francis confronts the fact that, although we have hope of eternal life, we still have to deal with the reality of death. He quotes 1 Corinthians 15:3-5. What does Paul say in that passage? Pope Francis calls attention to four verbs that apply to Jesus: He died , was buried , was raised , and appeared . Why are these verbs so important? In paragraph 20, Pope Francis quotes from one of the prefaces that can be prayed in the Mass of the dead used for funeral Masses, which states that when a person dies, “life is changed, not ended.” What does this mean and how does it offer hope? In the second part of paragraph 20, Pope Francis says that we have “a life capable of transfiguring death’s drama.” What does that mean? How does the life we have in God take some of the drama out of death? If life is a pilgrimage toward life everlasting, as Pope Francis says at the end of the second part of paragraph 20, then what role does death play in what is to come? How do you want to live your life now, knowing that in the end you will be with your loving Father and His Son Jesus? The third and fourth parts of paragraph 20 focus on the example of the martyrs. How do they provide insight into the image of life as a pilgrimage? How do they provide support for the hope we have that transcends death? Suggested Activity: Pick a martyr whose story speaks to your heart and learn more about them. Go beyond the obituary facts. Learn about their thinking, their spiritual life, how they related to God during their life, how they communicated the love of God to others as they lived. Try to emulate something you find attractive in the way they lived. Paragraph 21 (happiness) 🔗 In paragraph 21, Pope Francis discusses what life after death is like. Our human understanding of heaven is limited, but God has revealed some things about what heaven will be like. What are some of the things we will experience in eternal life? “Happiness” is a term often used to describe what life is like for those who live in full communion with God in heaven. The second part of paragraph 21 tries to describe that happiness. What will the happiness of heaven include? Read Romans 8:38-39 Pope Francis quotes from the apostle Paul as he discusses the love of God that we will ultimately experience. What does Romans 8:38-39 tell us about the love of God? If none of the things that Paul mentions in Romans 8:38-39 can keep us from God’s love, what does that tell us about God? How does this understanding of eternal life give you hope? How does knowing that we can live forever in full communion with God free us to do more, rather than less, to extend the love of God to the least among us who struggle so much in our present world? Suggested Activity: Think about people who are facing grave trials in our world today (Romans 8:35 provides examples such as war, persecution, and famine). Place yourself in their shoes and feel their agony. See them as God, who loves them dearly, sees them. Pray for them. Pray that they will experience the love of God in the midst of their trials. Pray that God’s people will work to ease their suffering. Closing question: Look over the questions we have considered in this session. What especially gives you hope or stands out as especially important from this week's material, and why? When you complete this study, please give us feedback using this feedback form . You can also share your thoughts using the Contact Form at the bottom of this page. Bibliography See Jubilee Year 2025 - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/jubilee-2025/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Jubilee 2025 Contents Next

We explore how to apply the Bible to everyday life, with free Bible studies for individuals and small groups and a positive approach to issues of faith and justice. See our full set of Bible Studies for the Gospel of Matthew Read our Latest Blog Post Take a look at our Jubilee Year 2025 Study Guide Based on the Word of God The Faith Explored website is for everyone who has an open heart: Catholics, Protestants, evangelicals, and Orthodox; people who are active in their church, have stepped away, or have never found a church home; people who are familiar with the Bible and people who are just starting out; seekers, doubters, agnostics, explorers, and the curious. Everyone is welcome here at Faith Explored. We explore what the Bible says and means, how it applies to our everyday lives, how God is calling us to care for each other and extend his love and justice to everyone, and how we can respond more fully to God's invitation to become like him in every part of our lives. Come join us as we explore! Faith Explored Exploring how to apply the Bible to our lives today Applied to Real Life Bible Study Materials Resources for Justice Resources for Growth Our Latest Posts We are continually developing new materials that apply God’s Word to our lives and our world. Here is a sample of our recent articles: A Lesson from an Open Casket Funeral As I looked at my friend’s body, the message was clear: Your days are numbered; use the time you have well. It’s a lesson that applies both to our personal lives and to our professional lives. Tom Faletti 6 days ago The “Three Kings” Show That the Good News is For Everyone The “wise men” of the Christmas story are foreigners who travel from another country to see Jesus and are welcomed by the Holy Family. But these wise men are part of a much bigger story that Matthew is telling in his Gospel. What is Matthew's bigger point, and how do the wise men fit into it? Tom Faletti Jan 4 Lessons from a Christmas Cactus My Christmas cactus didn’t bloom for years. When it did, I learned some lessons about having patience and not judging others. Tom Faletti Dec 29, 2025 Read More Articles Subscribe to Be Notifed of New Posts Bible Study Materials Our Bible Studies provide study materials that equip small groups and individuals to study the Bible confidently and apply it to their lives in practical ways, with thought-provoking questions, background commentary where needed, and challenging reflections. Explore Our Bible Study Materials Justice The Justice section of the website explores God’s repeated call for justice throughout the Old and New Testaments and how we can respond to that call by working for justice in our time. God is not willing to settle for only saving our individual lives; He also wants to transform our societies, businesses, governments, and cultures. This section explores how we can participate in that work. Respond to God's Call for Justice Christian Faith The life of a follower of Christ is an adventure. The Christian Faith section of our website addresses a variety of questions and challenges that arise as we try to live the Christian life. Each article focuses on one aspect of the faith or one component of Christian living, such as joy or forgiveness. The goal is to help us understand how we can put our faith into action in every area of our lives. Grow in the Christian Faith and Life God's Purposes God’s Purposes explores what God is trying to do in our world, why He doesn’t make life easy for us, and how each of us is called to join in God’s work to transform the world in our own unique ways. Consider God’s Purposes for Your Life Images at top of Bible, individual with Bible, and small group provided by Wix. All other images by Tom Faletti.

How can we recognize when we are focusing on little things that are of less importance and missing the more important matters of justice, mercy, and faithfulness? Previous Matthew List Next Matthew 23:13-24 How can we recognize when we are focusing on little things that are of less importance and missing the more important matters of justice, mercy, and faithfulness? Image by Sheldon Kennedy, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti August 21, 2025 Matthew 23:13-24 (Part 1 of Matthew 23:13-36) Read Matthew 23:13-36 Jesus denounces the scribes and the Pharisees for their hypocrisy In Matthew 23:13-36, Jesus pronounces 7 woes upon the scribes and Pharisees. The word usually translated “woe” has a meaning that communicates sorrow as well as anger. Wiliam Barclay tells us, “There is righteous anger here, but it is the anger of the heart of love, broken by the stubborn blindness of men” (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , p. 318). Jesus is speaking these stern words of judgment with a heavy heart. Part 1 Verses 13-14 It is not surprising that, of all the groups that opposed Jesus, Matthew retains this denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees, because those were the two groups that lived on after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and opposed the work of Christian communities such as Matthew’s that included both Jews and Gentiles. What is the first thing Jesus denounces the scribes and Pharisees for? In what ways do you think they were doing that? Are there ways that we might unintentionally block people from entering the kingdom of heaven or be an obstacle to other people’s faith? How should we act to avoid being an obstacle to other people’s faith? Sometimes, the problem is a desire to try to push everyone to conform to one for how to live the faith, so it may be helpful to try to avoid being controlling or judgmental. Instead of trying to corral or force people, we can seek to love them into the kingdom of heaven. Note: Most modern translations leave out verse 14, in which Jesus accuses the scribes and Pharisees of devouring widows’ houses. It is not in the oldest and most reliable manuscripts of Matthew, but it is in the corresponding passage in Mark; so it may have been added by a copyist who pulled it from Mark 12:40 rather than being in the original version of Matthew. Verse 15 What do the scribes and Pharisees do that leads to the second woe? Judaism is not today thought of as a proselytizing religion. However, in the 1 st century, before the destruction of Jerusalem, Jews encouraged Gentiles to join them as “god-fearers" – people who accepted the Jewish moral law and belief in one God – and Pharisees sought to convince them to convert fully to Judaism through circumcision and acceptance of the full Law with all its detailed rules regarding foods, etc. In Matthew’s time, Pharisees wanted Christians to embrace the whole Jewish Law; so verse 15 might have resonated even more for Matthew’s readers than for Jesus’s original audience. Every Christian denomination seeks converts. What’s wrong with what the Pharisees were doing? Barclay says it well: “The sin of the Pharisees was that they were not really seeking to lead men to God, they were seeking to lead men to Pharisaism” (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 , p. 321). In our time, how might Christians sometimes be more focused on converting people to their “side” or their flavor of Christianity than to God? How are we vulnerable to focusing more on winning people to our “party” – our part of the body of Christ or even our political party – than to God? One of the ways we see this happening in the United States is people putting politics before religion. Ryan Burge, a political science professor at Eastern Illinois University, author, and American Baptist pastor, says that between 2005 and 2020, political scientists observed a “pretty significant revolution” in people’s thinking. Previously, political scientists thought that “religion was the first lens and then politics lived downstream of religion” – i.e., that people chose their religion first and then decided how to vote based on their religious views. But now, he says, “we recognize that politics is the master identity, and . . . that people pick their religion [or denomination or local church] based on their politics. It’s not the other way around” (“ Faith and the Faithful in the 2024 Election ”). Given that our faith should be the primary guiding light for our worldview and everything else should come second to that, this finding is troubling. Verses 16-22 Recall from Matthew 5:33-37 (in the Sermon on the Mount) that Jews in Jesus’s time were casual about oaths, arguing that unless an oath directly invoked God it didn’t “count.” Here, Jesus may be quoting them, or he may be using exaggeration to show the foolishness of their hypocritical hair-splitting. What is the point of Jesus’s response to the Pharisees’ game-playing about which oaths “count” and must be honored? Jesus is pointing out that the things they say don’t “count” – the Temple, the altar – are more important than the things they say do count. Furthermore, in verses 20-21 he suggests that it all goes back to God, so all of it “counts.” Perhaps the real issue here is whether you should need to swear by anything in order to assure someone that you are telling the truth or will fulfill your word. When should people be able to count on your words being trustworthy? What does it say about us if we are focused on when we might be able to slip out of an oath based on a technicality? In Matthew 5:33-37, Jesus told his followers that they should never swear an oath by anything. Should you ever need to swear an oath, other than in a court of law or official document? Explain. Verses 23-24 Jews were directed in the Law of Moses to tithe from the produce they harvested (Lev. 27:30-32). Jesus indicates that the scribes and Pharisees are so zealous about collecting the whole tithe, or tithing of their entire gain, that they demand that people tithe even from their garden herbs (mint, dill, and cumin). If you have ever owned a basil plant, imagine if an advocate of tithing asked you to give to the church one-tenth of your “harvest” of basil, besides your tithe of your income. That’s what Jesus is criticizing here: they were trying to calculate the tithe down to the basil leaves, while ignoring more important matters. Is there anything wrong with tithing from even your smaller gains? In verse 23, what are the “weightier” matters of the Law that Jesus says they should be more focused on? Jesus identifies justice, mercy, and faithfulness as “weightier” matters than the tithing of mint. (The NABRE uses the word “judgment,” but “justice” may be a more appropriate translation that better captures the meaning of the word today.) What does it mean to practice “justice”? Justice means is to give to God what is due to God and to give to people what is due to them as people made in God’s image. What does that call us to do? What does it mean to practice “mercy”? One way to think about mercy in a modern context is to think about the use of discretion to balance the possible harshness of strict justice. Legal systems often ask judges to use discretion in deciding what is an appropriate way to deal with the circumstances of an individual case. What does it mean to practice “faithfulness”? (Note: Some translations say “faith” or “fidelity,” but in today’s language “faithfulness” probably better captures what Jesus is saying.) Why are justice, mercy, and faithfulness “weightier” than detailed tithing? Jesus does not reject tithing. He says that they should focus on the weightier matters “without neglecting the others” – i.e., without neglecting tithing. Does Jesus want us to tithe our mint and basil? How can we balance Matthew 22:21 – where Jesus tells us to “give back to God what is God’s” – with Jesus’s overall objection to the zeal with which the Pharisees focused on details? The Pharisees might say, “We haven’t neglected the weightier matters. We tithe of everything because of our faithfulness to God.” What point are they missing? In verse 24, Jesus refers to gnats and camels. Both are identified as “unclean” in the Law of Moses (Lev. 11:41-43 and Lev. 11:4), so Jews were supposed to avoid them. Pious Pharisees poured their drinks through a cloth to strain out any possible gnats. Jesus accuses them of straining the gnats out of their drinks while swallowing camels. What is the meaning of this metaphor? What are the “gnats” they we might become unnecessarily focused on in our day? In other words, what are the little things we might have a tendency to focus on that don’t really matter very much in the grand scheme of our faith, but that might draw our attention away from more important things? What are the “camels” – the big, important things – that we might be overlooking in our focus on gnats? This could be considered personally and also societally. Societally, we might fail to address weighty matters such as hunger, homelessness, racism, etc. Individually, we might fail to address issues such as paying fairly those who work for us, avoiding unkind or abusive words that hurt other people, doing our fair share of the chores, showing mercy to other people when they are not perfect, etc. You can probably add good examples of your own. Throughout this denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus repeatedly calls them “hypocrites” (see verses 13, 15, 23 ,25, 27, 29). What is a hypocrite? “Hypocrite” is actually a Greek word. That word was used to describe actors in the theatre. They play a part that is not who they really are, so they are pretending to be something they are not. The meaning of the word then expanded to the more general meaning we have for it today. How does their behavior make it appropriate to describe them as hypocrites? How are we at risk of falling into hypocrisy in our day? Take a step back and consider this: It is easy to become critical of the scribes and Pharisees and miss the ways we also put our focus in the wrong places. It is also possible to go to the other extreme and adopt a worldview that unconsciously says that no details matter – that anything goes. God calls us to find the balance that allows us to stay focused on justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matt. 23:23). What are the big things that you think matter most? What can you do to make sure you stay focused on those big things and don’t get distracted by little matters that aren’t as important? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew List Next

Jesus gets in trouble for healing a man on the Sabbath. No one seems to care that God has done a marvelous deed. In what ways do we miss what God is doing by being too focused on rules and protocol? Previous Next John List John 5:8-18 Jesus gets in trouble for healing a man on the Sabbath. No one seems to care that God has done a marvelous deed. In what ways do we miss what God is doing by being too focused on rules and protocol? Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti January 17, 2026 We are in the middle of the story of the paralytic man Jesus healed on the Sabbath (John 5:1-18). Read John 5:8-18 Jesus is criticized for healing a man on the Sabbath This is the first passage in John’s Gospel where Jesus encounters strong opposition from what John calls “the Jews.” We need to understand what the phrase “the Jews” means. When John refers to “the Jews,” he means the Jewish religious leaders Read John 1:19 , which is the first time that John uses the phrase “the Jews.” In 1:19, John says that “the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites” to question John the Baptist. (Some translations put the words in a different order, but the Greek clearly says that these men are “Jews from Jerusalem.” The Temple was in Jerusalem. The priests performed the sacrifices in the Temple, and the Levites had other duties in the Temple. If someone has the power to send priests and Levites, what does that tell you about their position or power? The “Jews in Jerusalem” who are doing the sending must be the religious leaders, for they are the only people who would have had the authority to send priests and Levites. So John is referring to the high priest and the other religious leaders in Jerusalem. Throughout his Gospel, John uses the phrase “the Jews” as a shorthand for what he said more fully in chapter 1: that he is referring to the Jewish religious leaders based in Jerusalem (and their followers). When he uses the phrase “the Jews” in this way, he is never talking about the Jewish people as a whole. Whenever there is a conflict, “the Jews” means the Jewish religious leaders. Why is this an important thing to understand as we read and interpret the Bible? The man Jesus healed picks up his mat and walks away, as Jesus told him to do. He runs into some men who are under the leadership of the Jewish religious leaders. That is not surprising since the pool of Bethesda was near the Temple. They don’t like what they see. In verse 10, what is their objection? John assumes we know why it would be unlawful for a Jew to carry a mat (or mattress or pallet) on the Sabbath. Why was that forbidden? God rested on the 7 th day of creation and told the Israelites to honor the Sabbath by doing no work on that day. Over the centuries, the Jewish scholars developed a detailed interpretation of what counts as “work” that encompassed almost any exertion. The prophet Jeremiah, 600 years before the time of Jesus, issues a prophecy saying that no burden shall be carried into Jerusalem on the Sabbath (Jer. 17:19-27). So now it is not just work for pay that is prohibited, but any exertion. But what is a “burden”? By the time of Jesus, the Torah was interpreted so severely that carrying even small items, even your bed-mat, crossed the line and was prohibited. Sometimes, when we “Arise, take up our mat, and walk” in response to God, we run into trouble from people who don’t like what God is doing. Have you ever seen or experienced that? What do you think Jesus would say to you about how to handle it? Notice what happens in verses 11-12. The man tells the Jewish leaders two things: a man healed me, and he told me to pick up my mat and walk. The religious leaders could have asked for more information about either half of his story. They picked the wrong part to focus on. Why didn’t they ask more about the unusual fact that the man was healed? Are we ever like those men, missing something good because we are so focused on the rules? How does that happen in our day? Jesus then finds the man. In verse 14, what does Jesus say to him? Jesus is not linking all suffering to sin – in John 9:3, he rejects that idea. But it is possible that Jesus knew that this man had a particular area of sin that he needed to resist or it might lead him to a worse outcome (perhaps he had become disabled in an injury caused by anger, for example, and another incident like that could get him killed). Or Jesus could be referring to the final judgment of a life lived in rejection to God, since that would be a “worse” situation than simply being disabled. This may be what John has in mind. In every age, Jesus says to all people: “Sin no more.” For your own self-examination, consider this: With regard to sin, what is your point of vulnerability? How does Jesus guide you and help you to avoid sin? This man has not thanked or honored Jesus for healing him. What does he do in verse 15 that makes life more difficult for Jesus? Now that the man has spoken again with Jesus, he knows who healed him and he reports Jesus’s name to the Jewish religious leaders. Some scholars see in this the “sin” Jesus warns about in verse 14 when he tells the man not to sin anymore. This man may be a symbol of people who don’t believe in Jesus (Perkins, p. 959, par. 75): he never indicates any faith and acts in a way that undermines Jesus, whereas the man born blind whom Jesus heals in chapter 9 puts his faith in Jesus and defends Jesus when challenged by the authorities. For this reason, the New Oxford Annotated Bible goes so far as to call this healing “The sign that failed” (5:1-18 fn.). Both the religious authorities and the man who was healed, miss the significance of the fact that God is working in their lives. How might people in our day fail to notice the way that God is at work in their lives? In what ways are you most likely to forget to thank God or to notice what God is doing in your life? How do the Jewish religious leaders respond in verse 16 when they learn who healed the man? How does Jesus respond in verse 17? Jesus says that, as his Father is at work, so too, he is at work. This statement seems unrelated, but there is a connection. Jewish rabbis debated what kind of work God still did even while he rested on the Sabbath: for example, he still sustains the universe, gives life to newborn babies, judges those who die, etc. ( New American Bible, revised edition , John 5:17 fn.). Jesus is saying that they shouldn’t be criticizing him, because he is just doing what his Father does. His Father (God) works on the Sabbath, and he does too. When Jesus refers to God as his “Father” in verse 18, this further enrages the religious leaders. Why? For the next 8 chapters, every single chapter will include at least one instance where Jesus or one of his followers is threatened. In this story, there is not a single hint that the religious leaders care at all that a man who was paralyzed now walks free and can live an independent and productive life. Are there situations where your leaders seem to be so focused on following the letter of the law that they miss opportunities to help people live free, independent, and productive lives? Explain. How can you be more focused on healing and opportunity, and not just on protocol? Take a step back and consider this: In some ways, the fundamental question about Jesus, which becomes a central issue in this passage, is this: Is Jesus God’s Son, the Second Person of the Trinity? Is Jesus God? Throughout history, non-religious people have usually been able to tolerate the Jesus of moral philosophy (“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” etc.). Some find it much harder to tolerate his claim to be one with God, because it interferes with their own absolutes (or their rejection of absolutes). Do you believe that Jesus and God are essentially one – that Jesus is God? If so, why? If not, why not? If you aren’t sure, what would you like to explore more in order to answer your questions? What different does this question make in your faith? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2026, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous John List Next

God loves us with an incomprehensibly immense love. But he doesn’t force us to accept it. People can choose to live in the darkness without him. Previous Next John List John 3:16-21 God loves us with an incomprehensibly immense love. But he doesn’t force us to accept it. People can choose to live in the darkness without him. Statue of Jesus Christ, in the chapel at the Jesuit residence at Georgetown University, Washington, DC. Photo by Tom Faletti, 13 Apr. 2024. Tom Faletti December 30, 2025 Read John 3:16 God so loved the world that he sent his only Son In Jesus’s time, Greek writing did not use quotation marks. Therefore, translators must make a judgment about whether verses 16-21 are quoting Jesus or are John’s commentary on what Jesus said in the previous verses. Modern Bibles are divided on the matter. In the following questions, I will refer to those words as coming from John (i.e., no quotation marks), because it sounds like what the early Christians might have said in interpreting what Jesus did for them. If Jesus spoke the words in John 3:16-21, his listeners would have had little understanding of what he was saying. However, if you think these are Jesus’s words, please substitute “Jesus” for “John” in the following questions. In your own words, what does verse 16 say? The word “love” appears more than 50 times in John’s Gospel. The first instance is here in verse 16. Why is love a particularly important part of the message of John 3:16? What does it mean to say that God “loved” the world? John sometimes uses the word “world” to mean people who reject Jesus, but here he means all of creation and all of the human beings God created. If God loves the whole world, how should that effect how we treat others? What does “believe in him” mean? What does “eternal life” mean to you? How is eternal life “eternal” both in the type of life it is and in how long it lasts? Which word or phrase in verse 16 is especially meaningful to you, and why? Many Christians use John 3:16 as a shorthand summary of the entire gospel or good news of Jesus. If you were going to summarize the gospel – the central message of your faith – in a sentence or two, how would you say it? If you are in a small group, write out your answers and then share them with each other. If meeting online, paste your answer in the chat. In what ways is this verse an encouragement to you? Read John 3:17-21 God did not send Jesus to condemn the world, but some choose to live in darkness What does verse 17 say? Many people have a highly developed concept of God as a God of judgment. How might verses 16-17 help balance our image of God? The Greek word that is translated as “condemned” can also mean “judged.” Verse 18, with its reference to being “already” condemned, could be misinterpreted to suggest that people don’t have a choice. That is not what John is saying. This verse must be interpreted in the light (pun intended) of verses 19-21, where John indicates that people choose to live in light or darkness. What does this tell us about people’s final judgement or ultimate status with God? People have a choice to believe or not. Some people embrace the light and live with Christ. But some people reject the light. They have judged or “condemned” themselves by their own choice to reject the light of Christ. In verses 18 and 19, John identifies two pieces of evidence that indicate that someone has chosen to walk in darkness: they do not believe (verse 18), and their work is evil (verse 19). What are some examples of evil acts you see in our world today that appear to come from the darkness? Now look at the other option. Based on verses 18-19, what is the evidence that indicates that a person is walking in the light? Verse 18 gives us the first piece of evidence that we are walking in the light: that you believe in Jesus. And believing is not just a matter of saying that you believe: for John, believing means that you are putting into action what you claim you believe. John gives us a second piece of evidence in verse 19: that your deeds are not evil. What do verses 18-19 tell you about yourself? In verse 20, what reason does John give for why people prefer to avoid the light? Do you think it is true that there are people who resist the light of Christ because they don’t want to give up the things they are doing that are inconsistent with being born from above? Explain. Although each of us may have made a clear decision at some point to be born from above and live in the light of Christ, we are not perfect. Are there ways that we might not want to give up things that don’t belong in the light? Are there ways that we try to hang out in the shadows, so that the aspects of ourselves that are not Christlike might not be noticed? How so? This passage draws a bright line. In John’s view, there are only two options: to choose to be in the light or to choose to be in the darkness. But sometimes we fail; sometimes we sin. John makes it clear in other places that Jesus forgives us when we sin. How can that promise of forgiveness encourage you to live more fully in the light of Christ? How does this passage challenge you in your faith, in your thought life, in your words, or in your actions? Take a step back and consider this: John’s language is so black and white (light vs. darkness) that many Christians wonder how God at the end of our lives, will deal with the fact that even when we have chosen to believe in him we still sin. The various Christian traditions have different answers to this question. Here are some examples: The Catholic Church teaches that when people die, they go through a final purification called “Purgatory” in order to achieve the holiness necessary to enter heaven (Catechism of the Catholic Church, pars. 1030-1031 ). Protestant churches see it differently. For example, Calvin taught that every person is predestined by God for eternal life or eternal condemnation. He affirmed that those destined for heaven continue to sin in their earthly lives, but he argued that God purifies them immediately at death, with no purgatorial process. In some Protestant traditions, there is a belief that, for people who have committed their lives to Christ, God no longer sees their sins but only the saving work of Christ. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 that on the Day of Judgment, the work of each person will come to light. He speaks symbolically of our deeds being like gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, and says that our work will be tested by fire. For some people, he says, their work will be burned up and the person “will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:15). This suggests that there is a process by which God purifies us when we die so that we can enter into eternal life with him purged of our sinfulness. God knows that believers will not be perfect, and he purifies them as he brings them into eternal life with him. Knowing that God loved the world so much that he sent his only Son to live and die for us, how do you think God deals with the fact that, because even believers sin, when we die we are not likely to be fully without sin? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2026, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous John List Next

Continue in faith, love, and endurance despite persecution, so that the Lord may be glorified in you. Previous 2 Thess. List Next 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 Continue in faith, love, and endurance despite persecution, so that the Lord may be glorified in you. Image by Olivia Snow provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti March 10, 2025 2 Thess. 1:1-12 Paul begins with the traditional letter format (to, from, thanks, and a prayer) Verses 1-2 Paul begins with words that are very similar to what he wrote at the beginning of his earlier letter. Does anything stand out to you as different in this beginning? Or is there anything that strikes you as especially deserving of repetition here? Explain. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul wishes them “grace and peace,” but does not name the source of that grace and peace. Here, in verse 2, where does he say the grace and peace come from? How do you experience “grace” from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ? How do you experience “peace” from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ? Verses 3-4 In verses 3-4, Paul praises the Thessalonians for their faith, their love for one another, and their endurance in the face of persecution and affliction. He also praised them for these traits in the first letter he wrote to them. What is the value of praising people for the good things they are doing? Are there some people you could encourage by praising them for the good they are doing? How might your life be different if you cultivated a habit of praising others? What would you need to do to be such a person? Verses 5-10 In verse 5, what does Paul say about their persecution? Their steadfastness in the face of persecution is a sign that they are worthy of eternal life in the kingdom of God. In verse 6, what does Paul say will happen eventually to those who are afflicting the Thessalonian Christians? How does the idea that people who mistreat others will someday face God’s judgment make you feel? Is the idea that evil will someday face judgment important for our theology? How does Paul’s statement in verse 7 that those who have been persecuted will find “rest” (NABRE) or “relief” (NRSV) make you feel? Note: The reference to “fire” in verse 8 is standard apocalyptic language of Paul’s time and not necessarily meant to be taken literally. The primary and most haunting pain of rejecting God is not physical but instead lies in having freely chosen to live forever outside of God’s presence, separated from him, as Paul indicates in verse 9. In verse 8, Paul identifies what is worthy of judgment in the people who have persecuted the Thessalonians. He does not just criticize their specific wrongful actions; he diagnoses what is going on in them spiritually. What are the two things about them that he finds worthy of God’s judgment? They do not know/acknowledge God and they do not obey the gospel. So, they do not recognize God’s authority or place in their life and they do not obey God’s teachings about how to live. Paul finds them deficient with regard to both their missing relationship with God (they do not know/acknowledge him) and their missing actions (they do not obey the gospel). How are both of those elements – knowing and doing – important in the Christian life? In verse 9, Paul says that those who have rejected God will experience the ultimate penalty: they will be “separated from the presence of the Lord.” In what ways is this a particularly fitting description of what we call “hell”? Notice that this chief feature of hell – separation from God – is something they already chose while they were on earth: they chose to live a life that was not in communion with God. Why would they want anything different in eternity? How does this passage support the idea that God doesn’t choose to send people to hell; they freely choose it for themselves by rejecting him? Verses 11-12 In verse 11, what two things does Paul pray for the Thessalonians? Paul prays that God will make them worthy of God’s calling and fulfill every good “purpose” (NABRE) or “resolve” (NRSV) and every “effort” (NABRE) or “work” (NRSV) of their faith. In verse 11, Paul prays that God will make them “worthy of his calling.” How might you evaluate whether you are living a life that is worthy of God’s calling? Also in verse 11, Paul prays that God will bring to fulfillment every good “purpose” (NABRE) or “resolve” (NRSV) and every “effort” (NABRE) or “work” (NRSV) of faith. In other words, may God fulfill both their good intentions and the actions they take because of their faith. How can we try to make sure both our intentions and our actions are consistent with our faith? Who is someone for whom you could pray this prayer, that God will fulfill their good purposes and efforts of faith? What are they trying to do with the help of God that you could support in prayer? In verse 12, Paul indicates that, because of God’s grace, the name of the Lord Jesus can be glorified in us, and we can be glorified in him. What does it look like when Jesus is glorified in us, and how can that happen? How can we be glorified in Christ? What does that mean or look like? What are you doing, or what might God be calling you do to, that could bring glory to him? Take a step back and consider this: William Barclay offers a beautiful image, and a challenge, in response to verse 12. He writes: “A teacher’s glory lies in the scholars he produces; a parent’s in the children he rears not only for living but for life; a master’s in his disciples; and to us is given the tremendous privilege and responsibility that Christ’s glory can lie in us. We may bring discredit or we may bring glory to the Master whose we are and whom we seek to serve. Can any privilege or responsibility be greater than that?” (Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians , pp. 210-211). Jesus frequently uses the word “joy” to characterize his attitude when we do good. In Matthew 25:21, Jesus tells us that the master says to the servant who uses well the gifts he was given, “Come, share your master’s joy” (Matt. 25:21, NABRE) or “enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:21, NRSV). In Luke 15:3-6, he says that the shepherd (an image of Jesus Christ) rejoices and invites others to rejoice with him when he finds the lost sheep. In Luke 15:7-10, he says there is joy or rejoicing in the presence of the angels when a sinner repents. In John 15:11 and John 17:13, he says that he wants his joy to be in us. Jesus is a person of joy. When we fulfill God’s purposes in our lives, the joy is not only ours; it is also his. When we glorify the Lord by serving him effectively, it gives joy to our Lord. How might it recast or even transform how you approach the details as well as the major actions of your life if you were to remember consistently that your faithful efforts to serve Jesus give him joy? How can you live in that joy even when God has not yet fulfilled "every good purpose and every effort of faith” in your life (2 Thess. 1:11)? Bibliography See 2 Thessalonians - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/2-thessalonians/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous 2 Thess. List Next

Peace and war; welcoming children; prisoners. (Paragraphs 7-10 of Spes Non Confundit) Previous Next Jubilee Year 2025: Embrace God’s Hope and Extend It to All Session 3: Where signs of hope are needed today, part 1 Peace and war; welcoming children; prisoners. (Read paragraphs 7-10) Link to S pes Non Confundit This ancient tree looks hollowed out and dead on the bottom (left), but it is still producing new leaves in its upper branches (right). Photo by Tom Faletti, On the grounds of the Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, Turkiye. October 26, 2023. Tom Faletti November 16, 2024 Everywhere we look in our world, hope is desperately needed. People everywhere are suffering. No one seems more aware of the magnitude of the suffering than Pope Francis. The whole world is his flock, and he calls on us to care as he cares. In the third section of Spes Non Confundit , Pope Francis discusses the many areas of people’s lives where greater hope is needed and what we can do about it. We will explore these areas over the next three sessions, starting with the difficult issues of war, the need to build a society where people want to welcome children into the world, and how to treat people in prison with dignity and respect. Our study guide questions will help us explore ways that leaders can work for peace in our world, but also ways we can be peacemakers in our own lives. We will also explore ways to encourage young people to be open to starting families, and ways that our justice system could do more to honor the human dignity of all people. It is our calling and privilege to bring God’s hope to all people, even in the most challenging circumstances. Read paragraphs 7-10 in preparation for this session. (Section 3) Signs of hope In paragraphs 7 through 15, Pope Francis discusses 8 areas of social life where hope is especially needed in our time. Where he provides scriptural references, we will explore them. Where he does not, we will look at Scripture passages that clearly speak to the concerns he raises. Paragraph 7 (signs of the times) 🔗 Pope Francis uses the term “signs of the times.” To read the signs of the times means to examine what is going on in the real world around us. Pope Francis recalls that the Second Vatican Council document Guadium et Spes (“Joy and Hope”) reminds the Church to interpret those “signs” in the light of the Gospel. That is what we will do in the next few sessions. Why is it important to use the Gospel in interpreting what is happening in our world today? Pope Francis does not want us to recognize only the challenges we face but also “the immense good present in our world” and “the yearning of human hearts” (par. 7). Why is it valuable to start by seeing the good and the desire for good, as we consider areas where people are suffering? Paragraph 8 (peace and war) 🔗 Pope Francis says the first sign of hope is the desire for peace amidst war. He finds it baffling, or perhaps shocking, that world leaders have not done more to resolve the many regional wars that are causing so much death and destruction around the world. He offers the Beatitudes as the starting point for discerning how to address the immense suffering caused by so many wars. Read Matthew 5:9 Who does Jesus call “blessed” in Matthew 5:9? What is a “peacemaker”? Jesus doesn’t bless those who “wish for” peace but those who are peace makers . What steps are required to be the kind of person who helps make peace? What is the vision of hope that God would want us to have as we respond to the wars that plague our world? What does Pope Francis want world leaders to do , in order to try to secure a lasting peace? Pope Francis mentions diplomacy. What is the role of diplomats and diplomacy in working for a lasting peace? Why are they important? In what ways can we encourage our leaders and diplomats to be peacemakers? Our leaders are not the only ones who need to be peacemakers. Pope Francis says, “The need for peace challenges us all.” We need to be peacemakers in our own lives – in our families, in our relationships, in our political conversations, in our workplaces, in our social media posts, in our parishes, etc. What are some concrete steps you can take to be a peacemaker in some area of your life where peacemaking may not always be your first impulse? It is hard to be a peacemaker if you do not have peace in your heart. How can you cultivate an inner peace at the core of your being? Suggested Activity: Explore the work of Pax Christi USA , a membership organization of Catholics working to promote peace and nonviolence and resist war, violence, domination, and racism. You can check to see if there is a local chapter of Pax Christi USA near you. Pax Christi USA is a member of Pax Christi International , a global Catholic peace movement. Paragraph 9 (welcoming children) 🔗 Why might Pope Francis be concerned that many young adults don’t want children? In the first part of paragraph 9, what are the societal issues Pope Francis identifies as reasons why people are less open to parenthood in our time? Read Psalm 127:3 In what ways are children a “gift” or “heritage” we receive from God? How is having children a result of hope? How does it also lead to additional hope? Pope Francis calls for a “social covenant” – i.e., public policies – that will help young adults embrace bringing children into the world. How might we do this in a way that is “inclusive and not ideological” and avoids making young adults feel pressured to have children? Paragraph 10 (prisoners) 🔗 In paragraph 10, Pope Francis asks us to think about people in prisons. What does he ask governments to do with regard to prisoners? In the second part of paragraph 10, Pope Francis quotes from Leviticus 25:10 and Isaiah 61:1-2 as a basis for proposing programs that would reintegrate prisoners into the community. Why might this be a worthwhile goal? What might be the positive effect of developing well-planned programs to do this? Pope Francis calls on Christians to demand dignified conditions for prisoners and respect for their human rights. Why do prisoners have a right to be treated with dignity despite their crimes? What is it about our faith that demands that they be treated with dignity? Suggested Activities: Find a Catholic prison ministry (through your diocese or online) that has a pen pal program for writing letters to a prisoner, and consider becoming a pen pal. Do some research about the treatment of prisoners in your local prisons and jails. If you find that they are being subjected to degrading or inhumane treatment or unsafe living conditions, contact a public official to express your concern. Throughout the Bible, people of God are unfairly imprisoned; for example, Joseph (Genesis 39); Jeremiah (Jer. 37-38); Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego (Dan. 3); Daniel (Dan. 6); John the Baptist (Luke 3); Peter and other apostles (Acts 5); and Paul and Silas (Acts 16). Toward the end of the second part of paragraph 10, Pope Francis reminds us of the Church’s opposition to the death penalty, which is discussed in paragraph 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church . You can read a statement of the Church’s position on capital punishment at “ New Revision of Number 2267 ” ( The Vatican , 1 Aug. 2018). Why does Pope Francis say that the death penalty “eliminates all hope of forgiveness and rehabilitation” (par. 10)? Why does the Roman Catholic Church oppose capital punishment? How is it "at odds with Christian faith" (par. 10)? Read John 8:1-11 In the story usually called “The Woman Caught in Adultery,” scribes and Pharisees come to Jesus and seek his approval to execute a woman. They want Him to join them in condemning her to death. He refuses. How is His response – “Neither do I condemn you” – a rejection of the death penalty? Why would God want us to preserve the life even of criminals? What can we do to help our society respect every human life, including the lives of prisoners? How can the way we treat prisoners become a sign of hope in our society? Suggested Activity: Explore the work of Catholic Mobilizing Network , an organization that uses education, advocacy, and prayer in its efforts to end the death penalty, promote responses that provide justice and support human dignity for both those who have been harmed and those who have caused harm, and foster approaches such as restorative justice that promote healing. Closing questions: In these paragraphs, Pope Francis explores problems where we might be tempted to think, “That’s just the way the world is.” He invites us instead to envision a different world that is guided by respect for the value and dignity of every human being. What are the commonalities in these problems: war, the hesitation to have children, and the harshness of prisons? How are the similar at a root level? What are the commonalities in the alternatives: peacemaking, welcoming children, and granting freedom to prisoners? How are they similar at a root level? What are the values or mindsets we are called to have, that would help us take the approach of hope as we confront these issues? Bibliography See Jubilee Year 2025 - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/jubilee-2025/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Jubilee 2025 Contents Next