Lesson 7: The Gospel According to John
Remember I am looking at the four gospels, one at a time. Doing that with John, you quickly see quite a difference from the other three. John offers intellectual reflection. If the others express Jesus’ oneness with God by proclaiming him God’s Son, John portrays him as the incarnation of the Word.
Usually, I would stop to think about what this ancient concept, the Word, meant in the first century. But my intention this time was to read the entire book in one sitting. My hope was reading it like a short story might reveal some new perspectives and nuances.
One of the first things I noticed was the book is built around extensive accounts about how certain people’s lives were changed when they met Jesus. You can probably tick them off rather easily: Nathaniel and Phillip, Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the woman caught in adultery, the blind man, Lazarus, Mary and Martha, Mary Magdalen. John emphasizes that these are encounters with God by having Jesus make some kind of statement about knowing the Father or being one with God in each one. I think he is also making a point by including so many women in these rather few episodes
It is also evident that John builds up to a long account of the Last Supper and particularly to his version of the love command, “Love one another as I have loved you.” John begins talking about the Word or logos which seems to mean reality or the design of the universe. In the first chapter, he describes Jesus bringing truth, the term that replaces the Word after that. Eventually, Jesus speaks of himself as “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” And in the concluding chapters he stands before Pilate as the truth that the governor does not recognize.
However, truth is clearly defined as love in the Last Supper narrative. John’s unique wording “…as I have loved you” clearly refers back to all those personal encounters that preceded it. Caring relationships define truth better than rational propositions. Jesus’ grace goes beyond Moses’ law because personal involvement goes beyond written word. We live according to God’s will when we care for others. We find eternal or fullness of life when we love others. Love makes the world go round.
John accents his point by including only one command in his entire gospel. Jesus does not tell his followers to be servants, he washes their feet. He does not tell them to give their lives for their friends, he does exactly that. Truth, then, is not something you talk about but something you live. The Gospel is presented as Jesus’ lifestyle that is in harmony with the ways of God’s creation.
I come away realizing John has gone beyond Mark’s promise that Jesus will return to rule in glory before some of the apostles have died. Much, much more emphasis is placed on encountering Jesus now. The key seems to be the ability to discern what has always been among us. My personal encounters can be divine ones if I am one with God and I am one with God when I imitate Jesus.
This offers some needed guidance for a society that does not know how to define truth. We are divided into two bitterly opposed camps that cannot even agree on facts. John maintains our pursuit of truth should begin with loving, caring encounters that enable us to work together in our search for common sense and common good.
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