There is a vineyard. Someone has planted it, put a fence around it, dug a winepress, built a watchtower, and entrusted it to tenants. And everything in Jesus’ parable turns on one simple fact: The vineyard does not belong to the tenants. They have been entrusted with it. They are responsible for it. They are […]

“I will not leave you orphaned,” Jesus says. “I am coming to you.” It is one of the tenderest promises in John’s Gospel. And it comes at a moment when tenderness is desperately needed. Jesus is speaking to his friends on the night before he dies. The table has been shared. Feet have been washed. […]