It might have seemed to him as if I had ants in my pants. Whatever it was about me that caught his attention, he openly invited impressions of John's christology and then immediately zeroed in on me: Teresa, do you have something?!

He had no idea what I would say because, well, I've never said it before, to him, to anyone, except to myself ... and to God.

"I had a strange thought on 2.22," I began too confidently, really proud of myself for finding unique evidence for a famous Johannine theme.

I read 2.22 aloud to everyone from the NAB:

Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

I explained, "There's a vague identification going on here between the living words spoken by Jesus and the written word in the scripture. And the disciples catch that correspondence - they come to believe in both, Jesus' spoken word as much as the written word."

So, the implication for the christology is Jesus' words are en par with the Hebrew scripture. And the implication for us is that Jesus' words are trustworthy.

Frankly, I thought I took it a little too far, overstating matters somewhat. So, I really wanted him to correct me, tell me to drop it back a little. But he didn't and he went into his usual Logos presentation, including my favorite Isaiah 55:10-11 and many, many verses from Wisdom and Sirach about God's word at creation.

In conclusion, we considered the I AM declarations so special to John.

And Jim said the statements are structured as invitations, as if to say, "I AM the resurrection and the life ... for you; I AM the true vine ... for you." He read an excerpt from Barrett's commentary which I wasn't able to follow because he didn't hand out a copy. So I just ordered the commentary right now and ought to have it by Tuesday. Something on chapter 14, Christ's reply to Philip's request, "Show us the Father," the inter-relationship and the invitation to partake of that. I hope to get a handle on it when I go over the material myself.

He had me read 1:12-13 because I had shared that with him during the week, from Wills's book on the rosary. It's really a great verse.

The couple next to me had their Bible open to John's first epistle. A remarkably common mistake.

I could tell immediately when she read a few words from her text: we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you ... That first person plural pronoun "we" tipped me off and, as discreetly as possible, I helped them flip back to the Fourth Gospel.

He ended by confessing that he loves John's gospel, really loves John's gospel.

That's no secret, really. I mean he did his school work on it.

Yet, every time he teaches it .. and I've seen him teach it several times ... his entire attitude changes ... he's less uptight, more confident ... he knows this text ... Still, he looked downright happy tonight ... and it was humbling to hear him say how much he loves it - to know it so well and to love it.

All of Hebrews for next week!