In John’s gospel, the prologue introduces Jesus as Light coming into a dark world where, though it is not understood and is met with hostility, even so He is “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (v.9) and “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”.
The prologue to a gospel is the place where the writer sets out his stall as it were – as in the overture of an opera we discover glimpses of the themes and melodies that will unfold more comprehensively as the work progresses.
John’s gospel depicts Jesus as Light moving through the dark world, allowing us to see the way, illuminating the hearts and minds of those who welcome Him.
The crucifixion is described in this particular gospel in terms of glory (eg “Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son” John 17:1), so that the moment of self-offering in sacrificial death is the great blaze of light, the hour of glory when the work of the Cosmic Christ depicted in the prologue is consummated and fulfilled.
John’s gospel was written later than the other three, though it shows strong internal evidence for first-hand testimony (eg see John Robinson’s excellent book The Priority of John, a must for any Bible student). Each of the gospel writers is working in a church context, and understanding the context is helpful in perceiving the thrust and slant of the thematic content of that gospel.
John is writing for a church bearing severe persecution at a time when the expected imminent return of the Christ seems dismayingly delayed.
A question (not the only question, but a question) his gospel is answering is an urgent “Where is Jesus?”
Thus John’s gospel in telling the story of Jesus brings out the searching of discipleship.
In each of the gospels, the first words that Jesus speaks as He enters the drama offer a clue to the themes of that particular gospel. In John’s gospel, Christ’s first words are ‘What are you looking for? . . . Come . . . and see.” Christ encourages the search, beckons us on further and deeper, calls us to keep looking.
John shows us that the light to our search is Christ Himself, drawing us through the darkness to union with Him, to the state of faith in which we are completely one with Him (see His prayer in John 17) and with the Father.
The task of the gospel writer is not the same as that of a journalist telling the story of a famous man; the gospels are written for discipling the flock of Christ, teaching the household of faith. John’s gospel is teaching a weary and embattled flock how to find Christ now; where Jesus is to be found.
What he does is to show how the real presence of Christ has transferred from the man Jesus of Nazareth into the body of believers – that is to say the risen Jesus is still really and fully with us, but the locus of encounter is no longer in an individual only, but diffused into the laos – the people of God.
He tells the story of the risen Jesus appearing to the disciples the day Thomas was not with them, “the first day of the week” – and then shows us the same group a week later, this time with Thomas present, encountering for real, for himself, in person, the living presence of Jesus. This incident helps the believers (then and now) to grasp with powerful immediacy how it is that as the faithful meet together week by week, Christ can be encountered really and immediately in the midst. The Light of the World known in the hands and feet and smile and touch and laugh of the man Jesus, has now passed into the whole Body of Christ.
There’s an interesting detail that we are inclined to miss in translation, in the story (John 20) of Peter and the disciple Jesus loved at the tomb on the resurrection morning. Here it is in the King James version of the Bible. Note the words in bold:
1The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. 2Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. 3Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. 4So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. 5And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. 6Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, 7And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. 8Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.
Three times the word “saw” crops up. The other disciple saw the linen cloths . . . Peter also saw the grave cloths . . . the other disciple saw and believed.
One word in English – but three different words in the Greek: “glimpsed . . . examined . . . understood.”
The other disciple stooped, looked in, and caught sight of the grave cloths. Peter went on in and examined the grave cloths and the head cloth lying nearby. Then the other disciple came in too and he saw – as in “Ding!” Lightbulb moment! He got it.
My daughter Alice made two etchings portraying the inner truth that John, with his preoccupation with light, was conveying to us in telling us about this happening.
John is showing us how the Light continues to move and illuminate and transform.
Look at Alice’s pictures.
Do you see?
In the first one, the light is outside, behind the disciples, and the place they are coming into is dark. The way they walked with Jesus, behind them now, was illuminated by his presence. This death has clouded their understanding. But look at the picture. Light is waiting for them in the depths of the tomb, like a promise: the grave cloths are shining.
The in the second picture we see Peter holding up the cloth, mystified. Alice expresses the moment in the way she shows the cloth partly obscuring the light and partly allowing it to shine through. Peter is searching for meaning there, but hasn’t quite got it yet.
But in that second picture, look at the other disciple, who has “seen” (understood): he himself is shining now, as he looks back towards the light of the way they have come. The Light has passed into him, is incorporated with him.
This is the message of John, the promise of Light that can shine within us, “While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light” (John 12:36); “the true Light, which lighteth every man”.
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Oh right, a spork. I felt really excited about these when I discovered them – like the ultimate travel-light implement. In actual use, I found them hard to manage – the prongs of the fork don’t spear things very well, if I use the ends alternately to eat I get the palm of my hand greasy or sticky, and neither end feels comfortable as the handle. After a while it dawned on me I had a much better picnic tool, called fingers.
Beautiful, sensitive etchings, Alice. and an enlightening word, Ember. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHave you heard this song by Bob Bennett called "Come and See"? Used to be a favorite of ours decades ago.
http://youtu.be/DU48-u-kVic
I've been listening to Melvyn Bragg's talks on The Word on Radio 4 each morning and much of what he said has to do with the word written in books first used by the early christians ...small to carry around as opposed to scrolls which were more used then. I love that line...In the beginning was The Word".......
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ReplyDeleteHi Julie, Hi Gerry !
Do you recall the friend of our family with a deformed hand who used to use sporks? He carried them around with him and ate with them when he visited us.
ReplyDeleteI imagine sporks were useful for him, because he couldn't use normal cutlery or his hand very well. But for the rest of us, I suppose there's a reason they aren't the go-to tool.
Oh yes, Buzz! I'd quite forgotten that! I wonder if his might have been a bit more fit-for-purpose than the new trendy ones?
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