I can’t even
contain my excitement about beginning a study of the book of John. John is like
a big flashing neon sign illuminating Jesus, and it’s so fun to read.
John’s gospel gives us such a beautiful picture of Jesus as the
Christ, the Son of God. It’s different in tone and content from Matthew, Mark,
and Luke, which are collectively known as the synoptic gospels. John
strategically includes different miracles of Jesus, clearly assuming that his
audience was already familiar with many of Jesus’ works from the synoptic
gospels, and he includes some additional stories and sermons of Jesus.
John also gives us expertly integrated symbols and lessons, like
when Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for a drink from the well (4:7-8) and then
pursues a conversation with her that ends with Jesus’ claim to be the source of
living water that wells up to eternal life (4:9-15). Another time, Jesus feeds
five thousand people (6:1-14), and a few verses later we read that Jesus is the
bread of life (6:25-40). Look for these symbols as you read, and for contrasts
like light versus darkness, fleeting versus eternal, life versus death.
John
opens with a lovely passage known as the Christ hymn, a poem of praise to the
person and work of Christ. It’s meant to grab our attention and draw us into
the epic story he is going to tell. He begins with, “In the beginning,” an
obvious callback to Genesis 1:1, with which his audience would have been
extremely familiar. But instead of moving forward through history from that
point, he moves backward, into time
before history when the Word was with God creating everything that has been
created.
In
Greek, the word translated as “the Word” is Logos,
and it’s a word with more meanings than its English counterpart. It not only
means “the spoken word,” but also “the thought expressed by the spoken word.”
As one commentary puts it, “In the Logos had been hidden from eternity all that
God had to say to man; for the Logos was the living expression of the nature,
purposes, and Will of God.”
In
the Old Testament we see the Word of God personified as sending out his divine
will, throughout Genesis 1 and the Psalms. In Proverbs 8 and 9 the wisdom of
God is likewise personified as an attribute of his divinity. The wisdom of God
speaks in Proverbs 8:23: “I was formed long ages ago, at the very
beginning, when the world came to be.” Sound familiar?
But
John is not speaking metaphorically here; he is speaking historically. He truly
wants us to understand by his words that Jesus is the incarnation of the Word
of God and is divinely one with God the Father. This is a great mystery to us.
But that’s precisely John’s point. Jesus is not just a philosopher, he is not
just some great moral teacher. Jesus is God. John doesn’t want to teach us theology; he
wants us to fall in love with the God-man Jesus so that in him we may have
life.
While
all of the gospels cover the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, John
spends a full 40 percent of his gospel on the last week of Jesus’ life on
Earth. He points us with startling clarity toward the purpose and objective of
his writing, showing that everything about Jesus leads us to his cross and his
empty tomb. John wants us to understand that Jesus is the “Yes!” and “Amen!” to
all of God’s promises (2 Cor. 1:20).
When we fix our eyes on Jesus, we see the Father. As we walk
through the gospel of John together over the coming months, we will travel
closely along with Jesus and we will see him care for God’s people in many
ways. Frederick Bruner says, “We long to know who God
is and what God thinks and does. In Jesus, his most personal Word, God has
‘spoken’ to us in the most human way possible, giving us his innermost thoughts
and heart, in deeds that are as profound as his words, and the believing human
race has experienced deep help ever since.”
Knowing Jesus in this way is life changing. Like the woman at the well, we can be transfixed and transformed by an authentic encounter with Jesus Christ. I’m so excited to see how God moves and shapes us as we come to know more about who Jesus was and what he was all about. So now, on with the beginning!
Written By: Jess Upshaw Glass