Peter’s hope may have been rocky at times …but he held on to it and passed it on through his preaching, his letters and the reminiscences he shared with Mark. What a down-to-earth hope Mark had. He knew how much Jesus was a man of action. Jesus’ brother, James, found it difficult at first to take Jesus’ teaching to heart: but something changed all that as the risen Christ became a reality in his life. Leading the church family in Jerusalem he was convinced that hope comes through actions as Christian people put their faith into action.
Faith, hope and love underpinned the experience of the writer of the letter to the Hebrews as he affirmed the Jewishness of the roots of the Christian faith and mapped out the way to hope. Maybe coming from the same Christian community in Antioch where the followers of Jesus first came to be called ‘Christians’, Matthew brought together all the teaching of Jesus in a hand-book of hope for would be disciples.
Paul it was who bridged the Jewish and the non-Jewish worlds. A Jew who had studied at the feet of Gamaliel, he was at the same time a Roman Citizen by birth. His Jewishness and his ‘Roman-ness’ placed him in a good position to share a Christian hope even through the suffering he knew only too well.
He passed on that tremendous commitment to faith, hope and love to his travelling companion, the doctor Luke who in Gospel and Acts shared a healing hope that would make a difference to people individually and collectively too.
Writing from prison Paul shared his hope for a better world, continually coming back to the challenge for Christian people to live by love.
That’s the love that underpinned the writings of another of apostles.
The Disciple Jesus Loved
It is in John’s Gospel that the one who appears to be the youngest of the twelve apostles plays a particularly significant role. He is linked with Peter and over the years has been identified with John, the son of Zebedee.
As Jesus shared the last supper with his closest friends they were troubled when Jesus began to speak of one who would betray him.
21 After Jesus had said this, he was deeply troubled and declared openly, “I am telling you the truth: one of you is going to betray me.”
22 The disciples looked at one another, completely puzzled about whom he meant. 23 One of the disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was sitting next to Jesus. 24 Simon Peter motioned to him and said, “Ask him whom he is talking about.”
25 So that disciple moved closer to Jesus' side and asked, “Who is it, Lord?” (John 13:22-25)
Later that night when Jesus is arrested it is John’s gospel that informs us that Simon Peter and another disciple followed the captured Jesus to Annas, the High Priest. John explains a connection this other disciple had with the High Priest …
15 Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. That other disciple was well known to the High Priest, so he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the High Priest's house, 16 while Peter stayed outside by the gate. Then the other disciple went back out, spoke to the girl at the gate, and brought Peter inside. (John 18:15-16)
Some have called in question whether John, the Son of Zebedee, could have been known to the High Priest, others have pointed out that Zebedee seems to have been a person of some standing: indeed John’s mother is very anxious about issues of status for her sons. (Matthew 20:20-28). It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that John was well known to the High Priest.
Everyone else may have deserted Jesus at the cross. But not this disciple. It is in John’s Gospel alone that we hear Jesus bringing together the disciple he loved and his mother:
25 Standing close to Jesus' cross were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there; so he said to his mother, “He is your son.” (John 19:25-26)
On the day of resurrection when Mary Magdalene fears that the body of Jesus has been taken from the tomb it is to Simon Peter and the disciple Jesus loved that she goes with a message that prompts them to race to the tomb. It is the disciple Jesus loved who reaches the tomb first …
1 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away from the entrance. 2 She went running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!”
3 Then Peter and the other disciple went to the tomb. 4 The two of them were running, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and saw the linen wrappings, but he did not go in. (John 20:1-5)
It is some time later that the apostles have returned to Galilee and have spent the night fishing to no avail. A stranger on the shore suggests they try one more time. It is the disciple Jesus loved who recognises the stranger …
The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Peter heard that it was the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment round him (for he had taken his clothes off) and jumped into the water. John 20:7
After a meal of bread and fish, cooked by Jesus on a charcoal fire, Jesus has a remarkable conversation with Peter during which he asks him three times, ‘Do you love me?’. The conversation over, Peter turns round … his eye falls on the disciple Jesus loved.
Peter turned round and saw behind him that other disciple, whom Jesus loved — the one who had leaned close to Jesus at the meal and had asked, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”
21 When Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”
22 Jesus answered him, “If I want him to live until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!”
23 So a report spread among the followers of Jesus that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he said, “If I want him to live until I come, what is that to you?” (John 21:20-23)
Who could this disciple be?
He tells us in the next verse.
24 He is the disciple who spoke of these things, the one who also wrote them down; and we know that what he said is true. (John 21:24)
What a climax to the story John tells!
Then comes an almost wistful comment he makes at the very end of his Gospel.
Now, there are many other things that Jesus did. If they were all written down one by one, I suppose that the whole world could not hold the books that would be written. (John 21:25)
What is the Purpose of John’s Gospel?
John is quite clear about the purpose of his Gospel. It is written, not just to tell the story of Jesus, but to bring people to faith in Jesus, to change people’s lives, to give people the life that Jesus alone can give.
30 In his disciples' presence Jesus performed many other miracles which are not written down in this book. 31 But these have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith in him you may have life. (John 20:30-31)
What is John’s Gospel like?
Written in the simplest language, it is filled with the most profound thinking. Anyone starting to learn New Testament Greek will begin with John’s Gospel. Anyone wishing to explore the depths of the very essence of Jesus Christ must build up to John’s Gospel and maybe give him the last word.
How does it relate to the other three Gospels?
Very little of John’s Gospel appears in the other three gospels and there are not the same parallel passages at all. The other three can be looked at side by side and so have come to be known as ‘the Synoptic Gospels’. John is quite different.
At first sight it can seem to be very ‘Greek’. The opening words of the Gospel have the feel of Greek philosophising …
1 In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 From the very beginning the Word was with God. 3 Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him. 4 The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to humanity. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out. (John 1:1-5)
Look more closely and you will find that John’s gospel is shot through with Jewish thinking as well. Indeed, talk of the Word of God at the very beginning with God in the creation is an echo of thinking about the Wisdom of God in Proverbs 8 and in the Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach, Ecclesiasticus.
Maybe it’s no coincidence that the parts of the Old Testament that seem to underlie John’s Gospel are in the Writings and the Apocrypha and have to do with ‘Wisdom’. These come into their own in the period when Jewish people are mixing with the Greek world of thought as well.
John has roots in the Jewishness of the Hebrew Scriptures and in the Greek world too.
It is not inappropriate to arrive at John’s Gospel after reading through Paul’s letters.
History or Philosophy?
Jesus is portrayed quite differently in John’s Gospel from the other three Gospels, and yet he is recognisably the same person. Only the feeding of the 5000 occurs in all four Gospels, and yet read it in John 6 and you will find it has quite a different feel. Following on from the miracle, called by John ‘a sign’, Jesus goes on to teach the disciples at great length about the ‘significance’ of the bread of life. There are overtones and echoes of the Last Supper.
Only seven incidents are recorded in John’s Gospel: each one seems to be accompanied by teaching from Jesus that has quite a different feel to it from the much more practical teaching you encounter in the other three Gospels. Here Jesus is portrayed in very reflective, almost philosophical mode.
The other three Gospels lead up to Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem in the last week of his life. Jesus enters into Jerusalem and cleanses the temple right at the beginning of John’s gospel. He goes in and out of Jerusalem a number of times, often linked to the great festivals of the Jewish year.
Like Luke, it looks very much as if John has put a structure on to the telling of the story of Jesus that brings out the message of Christ as powerfully as possible. He holds light to chronology.
But that is not to say that he is not interested in history. As you come to the end of the Gospel you feel that the writer is convinced. These things happened in the view of the writer of the fourth Gospel.
Whereas the strength of the other three gospels is that you can see the way they handle their material, the strength of John’s Gospel is that it gives us access to a separate line of thinking and tradition that goes back to the story of Jesus.
What is John’s Picture of Jesus?
John’s Gospel has a clear structure. It is made up of three parts:
Who is this Jesus? The Introduction. (1)
What does this Jesus mean for us? The Book of the Signs. (2-12)
The Greatest Sign of All. (13-21)
The Introduction leaves the reader in no doubt as to the identify of Jesus.
But where does the Prologue begin and end. Is it John 1:1-14? Or is it John 1:1-18?
Or is it John 1:1-51?
1) Who is this Jesus? The Introduction – John 1:1-51
In the very first chapter John leaves us in no doubt as to the identify of Jesus.
He is …
The Word. The source of Life. The Light of the World. The Only Son who makes God the Father known. (John 1:1-18)
Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the Son of God. (1:29-34)
Teacher (Rabbi), Christ (Messiah – anointed one of God) (35-42)
The one whom Moses wrote about in the book of the Law, and whom the prophets also wrote about. Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth. A true Israelite in whom there is nothing false.
Teacher, Son of God, King of Israel (43-50)
As chapter 1 begins with a most powerful image of The Word made Flesh, so it finishes with an equally powerful picture of ‘heaven open and God’s angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.”
John 1:51 brings together the story of Jacob at Bethel and the image of the Son of Man in Daniel and Ezekiel. In his vision Jacob sees a ladder going from earth to heaven and angels going up and coming down. When Jesus speaks of people seeing heaven open and God’s angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man, how does that tie in with the story of Jacob. Is he, as Son of Man, like Jacob and the angels go up from him into God’s presence and come down from God on him?
No, that’s not the picture.
Instead, the Son of Man is like the ladder.
Just as the ‘Word of God’ that is with God ‘in the beginning’ and becomes flesh is a massive, larger than life images that touches heaven and earth, God and creation and brings them together, so too the Son of Man spans earth and heaven, us and God.
It is as if Christ in John’s Gospel has his head in heaven and his feet on earth and he is the one who links earth and heaven, us and God in the most wonderful of ways.
The ‘I am’ Sayings of John’s Gospel
It is in John’s Gospel that Jesus speaks of himself in a sequence of sayings that have come to be known as the ‘I am’ sayings.
In Greek there is a single, simple word that means ‘I am’ - eimi. Very occasionally the pronoun ‘I’ can be put in front of that word for emphasis. However, that’s not a very comfortable way of saying ‘I am’. The purists, grammatically, would not really like it!!
In each of these sayings, Jesus uses that expression. Ego eimi I am.
Why?
Hiding behind a seemingly straightforward expression is a reference back to one of the most mysterious and significant moments in the Hebrew Scriptures.
It is when God discloses his name to Moses in the burning bush in Exodus
13 But Moses replied, “When I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ So what can I tell them?” 14 God said, “I am who I am. This is what you must say to them: ‘The one who is called I AM has sent me to you.’ 15 Tell the Israelites that I, the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have sent you to them. This is my name for ever; this is what all future generations are to call me.
A footnote explains the significance of ‘I AM’ as a name for God.
3.14 I am who I am...I AM; or I will be who I will be...I WILL BE. “I am” sounds like the Hebrew name Yahweh, traditionally transliterated as Jehovah. This name is represented in this translation by “the Lord” in capital letters, following a usage which is widespread in English versions.
Is there a deliberate link between the unusual use of the words I AM in these sayings and the mysterious name for God disclosed to Moses in the burning bush?
Together, the I AM sayings build up into a wonderful picture of Jesus …
I AM the bread of life 6:35
I AM the light of the world 8:12
I AM the one who bears witness concerning himself 8:18
I AM the one from above 8:23
Before Abraham was I AM 8:58
I AM the gate 10:7,9
I AM the good shepherd 10:11,14
I AM the resurrection and the life 11.25
I AM the way, the truth and the life 14:6
I AM the true vine 15:1,5
2) What does this Jesus mean for us? The Book of Signs 2-12
John homes in on a small number of events in the life of Jesus, each of which is accompanied by conversations Jesus has. The events are considered by John to be ‘signs’. The conversations bring out ‘the significance’ of those signs.
The First Sign – a New Beginning (2-4:45)
Events: New Wine
New Temple
Conversations: A Conversation at Night
A Conversation by a Well
The Second Sign – New Life (4:46 – 5)
Events: A boy is healed
A man who cannot walk is healed
Conversation New life
The Third Sign – The Bread of Life (6)
Events: The feeding of the five thousand
Conversations: Living Bread
The Fourth Sign – Light and Life – Yes or No? (7-8)
Events: Jesus goes up to the feast
Conversations Who is Jesus – the light of the world
The Fifth Sign – Judgment by the light (9-10)
Events: A blind man sees
Conversations: Many points of view
The Shepherd and his sheep
The Sixth Sign – The Victory of Life over Death (11)
Events: The death and raising of Lazarus
Conversations: With Mary and Martha on resurrection
The authorities plot the death of Jesus
The Seventh Sign: Life through Death – the meaning of the cross (12)
Events: The anointing at Bethany
Jesus rides into the City
Conversations: Foreigners, Greeks and Gentiles meet Jesus
Conclusion to the Book of Signs – Light of the World (12:44-50)
3) What has this Jesus done for us? – the Greatest Sign of All! (13-21)
In the final part of John’s Gospel the order is reversed. First, come the conversations at the Last Supper and then the greatest Sign of all – the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Conversations at the Last Supper (13-16)
The Prayer of Jesus (17)
The Death of Jesus (18-19)
The Resurrection of Jesus (20-21)
Love made Real
The greatest sign of all is sealed by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Sometimes John has been known as the most spiritual of all the Gospels.
It is at the same time the most physical.
Read through the account of the resurrection and you will find each of the senses used to establish the reality of what happened.
Mary hears Jesus call her by name.
Peter and John see the empty tomb.
Mary sees Jesus.
Peter, John and the other disciples see Jesus in the upper room. All except Thomas.
Thomas touches Jesus and believes.
The disciples smell Jesus’ cooking on the shore and taste the meal with him.
The Gospel message of John is rooted in reality. But it is written for those who have not seen.
29 Jesus said to him, “Do you believe because you see me? How happy are those who believe without seeing me!” John 20:29
We have come right back to where we started when Peter expressed that wonderful hope in his letters. He had seen and therefore believed. He, like John, was writing for those who had not seen and yet could also believe:
Although you have not seen him you love him; and even though you do not now see him, you believe in you rejoice with a glorious and indescribably joy for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
A Covering Letter
This is exactly the point taken up by John in a letter that’s written in just the same style as the Gospel, uses the same kind of language and expresses the same kind of thinking. 1 John is almost like a covering letter to accompany the Gospel.
It begins where the Gospel left off with the reality of all that John has found in Jesus.
We write to you about the Word of life, which has existed from the very beginning. We have heard it, and we have seen it with our eyes; yes, we have seen it, and our hands have touched it. 2 When this life became visible, we saw it; so we speak of it and tell you about the eternal life which was with the Father and was made known to us. 3 What we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you will join with us in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 We write this in order that our joy may be complete.
William Barclay recalls an age old story of the church. Tradition has it that John wrote his Gospel and his letters when he was an old man. Later, when he could scarcely walk, let alone talk, he was carried in to preach one last time. He had three things to say. God is love. God is love. God is love.
The culmination of the Gospel had been in the new command Jesus gave his disciples ‘ to love one another as I have loved you for by this shall everyone know you are my disciples, if you love one another.
In his letter he now appeals to all who would follow Jesus to love one another for this is the essence of the Chrsitian faith. More than that it is the essence of God.
What is the essence of God? 1 John 4
Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. 10 This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.
11 Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in union with us, and his love is made perfect in us. 13 We are sure that we live in union with God and that he lives in union with us, because he has given us his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and tell others that the Father sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 If anyone declares that Jesus is the Son of God, he lives in union with God and God lives in union with him. 16 And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us.
God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them. 17 Love is made perfect in us in order that we may have courage on Judgement Day; and we will have it because our life in this world is the same as Christ's. 18 There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear.
The Last Word is … Love
We must give the last word to John … or is it to Jesus? One verse more than any other captures the grounds of our hope, the essence of our faith … it is John 3:16
For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life
John’s Gospel – Hope through Love
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son of the Father. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, the teacher from Nazareth who came to be seen as Son of God, King of kings. With his feet firmly on the ground and his head in heaven this Jesus is the one who links heaven and earth as no one else has ever done.
The old rituals have had their day, no longer is God’s presence located in a Temple. It is let loose in the world …and finds new birth in anyone who is prepared to make a new start, begin all over again, believing in Jesus, the one given by God to the whole world in love.
To those spiritually thirsty he gives the water of life, and to those spiritually hungry the bread of heaven. No wonder he came to be seen as the Light of the World, the Good Shepherd prepared even to lay down his life for the sheep, the doorway to something new and lasting, the way, the truth, the life. Not even death itself could stand its ground against him for those who believed in him he was nothing less than the resurrection and the life.
As he came to the end of his life he promised not to leave his followers on their own. Jesus was convinced that the unseen, yet very real power of God would be alongside his followers, and deep within them, to give them strength at the moment of their utmost weakness. How important it was for his followers to love one another – for that’s the way everyone will know that they are followers of Jesus, if they have love for one another. The kind of love that makes for a wonderful unity.
Taken out to be crucified, his execution in a strange way marked the point at which he could say, It is finished. It was as if his task had been completed. But his death was not the end. Sight, sound, touch and smell … all convinced his followers that he had risen from the dead. They saw and believed. How much more blessings are in store for those who did not have the opportunity to see with their own eyes but have nonetheless come to believe!
Jesus did many more signs than the ones that are recorded in John’s Gospel. These are recorded so that you might believe that Jesus is the one everyone’s been waiting for, the Son of God … and that through believing you might have life in all its fullness, life here and now and forever!
John’s First Letter – Hope through Love
It’s not just theory. It’s rooted in reality. It’s something that’s been there from the beginning of time and before. We’re talking about nothing less than the very mind of God, the word of God if you like. It’s something that’s not just of interest: it’s life transforming, life enhancing: it’s all about life in all its fullness. This life that was with God from the beginning, and is the very essence of all creation, has been revealed in the flesh-and-blood world of every day reality. At one moment in history it was there in all its fullness. And we have heard it with our own ears, seen it with our own eyes, touched it with our own hands. And this is what we are writing about. Act on what we say and you will find that you enter into a remarkable relationship not just with us and with other people who have discovered this life: you will enter into the closest possible relationship with the God who has created the world.
The One who makes all that possible is none other than Jesus Christ. He is nothing less than the true God and eternal life!
This is something that will bring joy into a world of despair, light into a world of darkness and love into a world of hatred. This is something for everyone: young and old, male and female, black and white. It is something unique. Nothing else quite matches up to it.
It all boils down to one thing and one thing only. Love.
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love finds its fulfilment in us.
God is love. To be in tune with God, and to have the very life of God coursing through our veins we need to be filled with love. And when our love runs dry, and we feel as if we’ve let other people down, let ourselves down and let God down because we haven’t loved enough we need to look again at Jesus Christ. This is the love that really counts. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to the means by which our sins are forgiven. What a remarkable love: so great that it takes away our greatest fears!
Love God. Love other people. And discover a faith that will conquer the world.
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