The end of the twelfth chapter of John is a turning point.

All of Jesus’ life up to the last supper happened in twelve chapters. The last few weeks will take the next nine chapters (with all but the last chapter happening in three days).

There is, I suppose, a lesson for writers here. The time your story represents doesn’t have to be balanced. If you want to devote one whole chapter to an afternoon in Samaria, go for it. If you want to spend another one on a blind guy in Jerusalem, feel free. And if you want to spend chapters 13-17 recording the words of your protagonist on his last  night, that may be the best approach.

There is, I would guess, a lesson for living. Your life doesn’t happen in equal segments, nicely spaced out. There are huge gaps lived undocumented. There are small time slices brimming with the distilled essence. Live all of it well.

There is, I would venture, a lesson for followers.  Stay close to the one you are following. You have no way of knowing when the next lesson will be the one you most need, when the words will be the very ones that will be seared in your memory by timeliness or circumstances.

At the turn, there is a summary. Two groups of people around Jesus have their response to him summarized simply and devastatingly. And then, for the rest, the teaching continues. Quietly, privately, passionately, Jesus will give the twelve (soon to be eleven as Judas slips out of the room), his last words, his “here’s what you need to know before everything changes” message.

It is a good place to be in August. The year more than half gone. Getting ready for the intensity of fall. This week, Jesus’ summary.