The Gospel of John

I don’t know if there’s really any way to capture the magic of the pictures John paints. I was going to synopsisize the Gospel of John chapter by chapter as a sort of devotional, but never got a lot done on it. I got caught up reading it instead. Anyway, here’s some notes.

John’s First Chapter

This may be my all-time favourite piece of literature. It’s everything. It’s a novel, a factual account, a screenplay that runs in my mind. It’s a shifting panorama of scenes that begins with one of those mystical interplays of light and darkness, stars and rushing ocean waters. And a Man standing among them.

Then we’re on the riverbank, ages gone by. A rough, wild character in a hairy hide comes striding into the shallow waters. I’m listening to an old man’s whisper describe it, and I watch this stranger through his eyes. The Baptist chastises religious leaders, preaches words of fire, and wraps the faithful in his strong arms as the waters close over them. And then he cries out.

There is a Man standing among them.

I hear old John’s whisper again, and I’m sitting in a dark, clammy room near a fire, somewhere on a distant island of exile. There is sadness in the words I hear – “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”

But then, there is wonder.

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth,” says John’s soft voice, touching my ear across thousands of years. “For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”

I know John aches to explain it to me, but even he, with all the aeons encompassed in his words, can’t capture the infinite. So instead, John points me to the One on Whom his eyes remain fixed – even to this day, when only his letters remain behind. “No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

The Baptist, too, points to the Son of God, arm outstretched. When two of his disciples leave his side to follow Jesus, he doesn’t call them back. They’ve entered a circle they can’t fathom.

The carpenter stops, looks back at them, and I see the first glimpse of His quiet humour. It’s a question you could get asked if you followed someone on the street today. “What are you looking for?”

They can’t give an answer. All they know is, the Baptist says this is the guy, and they just have to follow Him. So they ask where He’s staying.

I think He smiles, and His dark eyes twinkle just a little. “Come, and you’ll see.”

The next day, He goes out, and He finds Philip. No explanation given, none needed. This is how He is. In awe, Philip goes and finds the driest fisherman among them.

In Nathanael’s mind, there is only the drudgery of now. He would never dream that someday, his name will be inscribed upon an eternal foundation stone, nor that you and I and many others will pause to trace its engraving when we get Home.

Nathanael shrugs at Philip’s excitement, and the corner of his mouth lifts. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Philip answers, “Come and see.”

There is a Man among us.