The gospel “according to John” doesn’t give us much by way of instructions like the synoptic Gospels do: be poor, love everyone who’s marginalized, love your enemies, and so on. Mostly it just gives us something to contemplate. It is an invitation that draws us in to love whom it presents, the one who is always here, everywhere within and all around us, even in the interstices.

How did we ever turn it into a dogmatic decree?