The Gospel of John

The gospel of John was Martin Luther’s favorite gospel.  In fact, he thought it was “far to be preferred over the other three” because it will “show you Christ and teach you everything you need to know” (Luther’s Works, Vol.35, Fortress, 1960, P. 362)

At first, we may be tempted to think Luther is exaggerating.  There is much the gospel of John does not tell us.  There are no Christmas stories, no baptism, temptation, or transfiguration of Jesus.  Jesus does not tell any parables.  He does not cast any demons out of people, and there is no story of Jesus instituting the meal that we now call Holy Communion.  In other words, we would miss a great deal if we had just the gospel of John.

John’s gospel admits there is more to the story of Jesus than what it reports.  If everything that Jesus did were written down, the author jokes, the whole world would not be able to contain all the books that would be written.  “But these are written,” he says, “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.” (20:31)

This is what Luther means when he says the gospel of John will teach us everything we need to know: it will teach us what we need to know to believe in Jesus and to find the life he offers.

Characteristics of John's Gospel

The gospel of John is only a little longer than the gospel of Mark.  However, as you read it, you will notice right away that it is very different from Matthew, Mark and Luke.  For one thing, it is evident that John did not use Mark’s gospel in any conscious way to write his own.  Nor did he have any of Jesus’ sayings or parables to add to his material.  Indeed, John is not so much interested in “just the facts” as he is illuminating metaphorically who Jesus is really.   Here are a few of John’s characteristics:

1)                  In stead of allowing the ready to slowly come to an understanding of who Jesus is, John begins upfront with a poetic prologue that presents Jesus as the Word of God made flesh;

2)                  A number of stories are found in John that are not found anywhere else: the wedding feast at Cana; the raising of Lazarus; the washing of the disciples’ feet before the Last Supper; the resurrection appearances to the unbelieving Thomas to name but three.

3)                  John includes accounts of extensive conversations Jesus has with people such as the one with Nicodemus about being born again and another with the Samaritan woman at the well about the water of life.

4)                  John includes a great deal of symbolic language describing Jesus was such metaphors as “Lamb of God,” the “bread of life,” “the true vine.” 

5)                  Jesus instead of trying to keep his true identity a secret openly talks about himself and why he has come.  John is filled with the famous “I am” passages: “I am the way, truth and life”; “I am the good shepherd”; “I am the resurrection and the life”.  In John he readily admits his unique relationship with his heavenly Father;

6)                  A person known only “the disciple whom Jesus loved” is referred to sever time in the last part of John’s gospel that has prompted much speculation and even controversy.  Generally, scholars believe this is an allusion to John himself either immodestly inserted by his own hand or more plausibly by his community to honor the author of their gospel.

Characteristics of John’s Community

And that brings me to the community behind John’s gospel?  But before I comment on that, let me make an observation.  The question is often raised, “Did a man by the name of Mark really write Mark or was it a group of people?  Did a man by the name of Matthew really write Matthew or did a committee of scribes in Matthew’s church do it?  Did a man by the name of John really write the gospel we know as John?”  Here is my answer to that question.  I believe that Mark wrote Mark and John wrote John.  However, I believe that books we had today didn’t come to us in the same way that C.K. Rowling published her Harry Potter books or Mary Higgins Clark her mysteries.

Mathew, Mark, Luke and John were probably responsible for the writing of the gospels we have today but the books we have today are probably not exactly the way Matthew, Mark, Luke or John wrote them.  They are the result of editing and rewriting by the communities in which it Mathew, Mark, Luke and John lived, preached and died.  We have no originals of the gospels; only copies, copies that only go back a little over a thousand years but not two thousand.  I have no doubt that John’s gospel went through a polishing phase, a revision by his church that made it more readable, more sophisticated, more understandable.  After all these gospel writers and his church were on a mission: to tell the unchurched about Jesus and to convince them that Jesus was the savior.  It would do no good to have a sloppy copy of a gospel for seekers of the truth to read.  

Turning now to John’s community, what can we learn.  We are very fortunate to have three letters I, II, and III John written much latter than the gospel by leaders of the community that produced this gospel:.  After reading those letters several facts are evident:

1)                  John’s church was composed mostly of Jewish Christians who had been expelled from the Jewish synagogues.  The pain of that expulsion was very deep.  To read out of context today certain passages from John is embarrassing.  They betray a bitterness toward the Jews who did not believe in Jesus;

2)                  John’s community found the world to be a terrible and threatening place.  The world of John was a world ruled by darkness and the devil;

3)                  John’s church also knew first-hand about infighting among Christians themselves.  By the time this gospel was written, Christianity had already splintered into different groups.  In other words, denominations and factions have been around for a long time.

You would think that such a bitter community might be tempted to just hunker down and move to “survival” mode.  But this group produced one of the most beautiful books ever written, a book that proclaims God’s love for the world and the love of Christians for one another.

Right off the bat, John says, “Jesus is the Word of God” in the flesh.  Readers of this gospel are expected to know that the Word of God can be an active dynamic force.  They are expected to know that when God said in Genesis, “Let there be light,” that it happened.  John’s readers were assumed to know that God’s word has the power to create.  John’s gospel opens with exactly the same words as the first Old Testament book, Genesis-- “In the beginning…”  Then, in his gospel John tells us that “all things came into being” through the Word, that is, through the Word that has taken on human form in Jesus.  So Jesus as the Word of God embodies the creative power of God.

This power is demonstrated dramatically by the works that Jesus performs: just as in the beginning God created the waters on the earth, Jesus changes water into wine; just as God bless the fish and tells them to multiply, Jesus blesses fish and causes them to multiply to feed a multitude; just as God created a man out of the earth, Jesus uses dirt to give sight to a man born blind.  Of course, none of this proves that Jesus is God.  Realizing this John calls these miracles “signs,”  signs that point to the power of God and the continuing involvement of God in the world.  And that brings me to the last point I have time to make.

John’s gospel encourages and expects people to grow in their faith and understanding.  Beginning faith is not mature faith.  Or to put it another way, the faith you learn in Confirmation while a good start will prove in time to be insufficient to last a lifetime.  For example, Jesus is disappointed in people who follow him because he filled their stomachs but who do not realize that the word was a sign to teach them about God.  He expects people to move beyond their entry-level faith to a deeper understanding.  Jesus allows people to enter the realm of faith wherever they are able, but he expects people to move beyond this to a deeper faith.  And what is this deeper faith, this deeper truth: that God is love!

To many of us, this simple truth may not seem very profound.  It can be put on a bumper sticker: “God loves you!  Or “God is love!”  But if this message sounds trite to us, it is only because we know it so well.  People live in darkness, John’s gospel says, when they do not know there is a God who loves them, or at least do not realize all that means.  Some people may think of God only as a judge waiting to condemn them.  Some may not realize that God cares about them at all.  For such people the simple message of God’s love is like a light in the darkness, water that satisfies, truth that frees.

This belief is central to the Christian faith today, but it was not easily accepted by everyone in the early church.  Non-Christians claimed that, since Jesus was actually killed, he couldn’t possibly be God.  Others claimed that if he was God he couldn’t be killed.  In response, the community insisted that Jesus was completely human and that his death on the cross was real.  Indeed, they were not ashamed of the cross; rather they lifted it up as the ultimate sign of God’s love for the world.  Today, that truth—the belief that Jesus is both human and divine—is accepted by virtually all Christians and is the central confession of what we call the Nicene Creed.  Next week: The Acts of the Apostles.