Overview of John

Today we start John’s gospel. John’s Gospel is likely the last gospel written, dated around 90-110 CE. The author only identifies himself at the end of the gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20-2). There are a few Johns that could fit this description, but tradition suggests that this is John, the brother of James, part of Jesus’ twelve closest disciples.

Out of the four, John gospel is fairly unique. Both Matthew and Luke used Mark’s gospel as their basis and then add their own spin on it. This means that those three gospels often feel very similar, sometimes sharing whole paragraphs that are exactly the same.

This isn’t the case with John, and so his perspective is completely unique. While the other gospels often focus on Jesus’ humanity, John chooses to focus on his divinity. Because of this, many of the stories of Jesus struggling or suffering are left out, such as Jesus’ prayer to God at Gethsemane. This isn’t because John doesn’t think they happened. But for him they distract from the focus, which is the story of Jesus, God in human form.

Let’s be clear John isn’t talking about a different Jesus. He’s not saying the other gospel authors got it wrong. He just wants to emphasise something that he thinks the other gospel writers missed.

John 1 - The Prologue

John 2-10 - Jesus' Public Ministry

• John 2-4 - Key Jewish institutions: a wedding, the temple, a rabbi, and a sacred well
• John 5-10 - Important Jewish festivals: the Sabbath, Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles, and Hanukkah

John 11-12 - The Raising of Lazarus

John 13-17 - Jesus' Private Ministry

• John 13 - Jesus washes the feet of His disciples
• John 14-17 - Jesus’ private discourse and His prayer

John 18-20 - The Crucifixion and Resurrection

John 21 - The Epilogue

In his pursuit of emphasising the divinity of Jesus, John uses two groups of seven. Seven ‘I am’ statements, and seven ‘signs’. In Matthew 14:22-33, we looked at how Jesus saying ‘It is I’ (ego eimi in the Greek) was a reference to God’s name back in Exodus 3:14. Here in John, Jesus is going to make seven ‘I am’ statements (also ego eimi in the Greek) that reflect a different aspect of Jesus' divine nature. These then culminate in an eighth 'I am' statement near the end of the gospel that more fully demonstrates Jesus' divinity.

In the same way, we also get seven ‘signs’ that demonstrate Jesus’ authority as the son of God. These seven signs point to the eighth ultimate sign at the end of the book, Jesus' resurrection. Using these two sets of seven culminating in an eighth, John is demonstrating the divine power and authority of Jesus.

The last thing to note is John’s use of ‘the Jews’. Multiple time in John’s gospel, we see people in opposition to Jesus and they are often referred to as ‘the Jews’. It is likely that ‘the Jews’ refers specifically to the religious leaders in Jerusalem, such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, and members of the Sanhedrin. But it’s also possible that by the time John’s gospel is being written, Christianity is further separating itself from the Jewish tradition and this phrase is a marker of that.

John 1-2

John begins his gospel with the line, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1). We will soon see that this Word is Jesus, and so John is telling his readers that this man called Jesus is not just a man. He has been around since the beginning, both with God and equal to him.

It has been intentionally been written to sound similar to Genesis 1:1, because John is retelling that story with a new lens. When God spoke the earth into being, Jesus was there, active in making it happen. This word is life, and it is light. And this word became flesh and blood and “dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

The Greek word for ‘dwelt’ here is the same root word used for the tabernacle back in Exodus. Just like the tabernacles was the physical place where God’s presence and earth met, now that place is in the physical body of the God-man Jesus. And just as Moses brought the law, Jesus is a new Moses bringing grace and truth. John wants to make it clear that Jesus’ ministry is not separate from the works of Moses. Jesus is the fulfilment of what Moses brought. His role? To make God known.

And so we focus on a man named John (we know him as John the Baptist from the other gospels). This John has been baptising people in water, and when the religious leaders ask him who he is he replies, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (John 1:23). John is preparing the way of the Lord, and the one he is preparing for is Jesus. Jesus is the Lord.

The very next day John sees Jesus and gives him another title and purpose, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). So far Jesus is the word, life, and light all found in Genesis 1, and he is both the tabernacle and the Passover lamb found in Exodus. John declares that just as he has been baptising in water, Jesus will baptise in the Holy Spirit.

But note what story is missing here. There’s no explicit mention of Jesus’ baptism. John’s Jesus is God in flesh. He is the one who baptises others. There’s also no mention of Jesus going into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. For John, Jesus is so far above Satan that any ‘temptation’ is far too insignificant to mention.

Then Jesus calls the first of his disciples, each of whom immediately recognises who Jesus is. Andrew tells his brother they have found the messiah. The Christ. The king they’ve been waiting for. Nathaniel realises that Jesus is the son of God.

With the intro introduction to John’s gospel finished, John now launches straight into Jesus’ ministry, focusing first on his public ministry. In the first half of Jesus’ public ministry we focus on Jesus interact with four Jewish institutions.

The first is a wedding in Cana. While at a wedding, the hosts run out of wine. Jesus’ mother encourages him to do something, and at first Jesus resists. But his mother insists, and so he tells the servants to gather six large jugs of water. All together this would have been over 100 litres.

Jesus miraculously turns the water into wine and sends it out. The master of the feast tastes the wine and is impressed with the quality. John describes this as Jesus’ first sign. Just as a wedding is a covenant between a husband and wife, Jesus is bringing in a new covenant. A new kingdom that is generous in both quantity and quality.

The next institution is the temple, God’s presence on earth where he meets his people. Jesus goes to the temple and sees it filled, not with worship, but with corrupt traders. Immediately, he begins to chase them out. In this we see Jesus’ role to redeem. He has come to take places that have been desecrated and restore them to be places of God’s presence.

The religious leaders demand some kind of sign to show how he has authority to cast the traders out like this. Jesus points them to a sign that would come later. Destroy the temple and he will rebuild it in three days.

They assume he’s talking about the literal temple and refuse to believe he can rebuild in three days what took forty-six years to build. But Jesus was talking about his own body. This sets up a repeated theme in John with the religious leader and others misunderstanding Jesus, often known as the misunderstanding motif. Like other gospels, these misunderstandings are highlighted to cause the reader to reflect on them and on what is really happening.

Just like Jesus is the new tabernacle, he’s also the new temple. Both the places represented where God’s presence and earth met. But now that is in his body. If someone wants to meet with God, then they come to Jesus.

Note how both Matthew and Mark have this story near the end of their gospels. Both used this story as the culmination of Jesus’ ministry. The king has entered his city and has cleared out the temple with his authority. John places this story at the beginning of his gospel. He wants you to see from the beginning that Jesus’ ministry is one of opposition.

Then comes a short passage that Jesus didn’t want to entrust himself to anyone ‘because he new all people’ and ‘knew what was in everyone’ (John 2:24-25). Jesus can see the hearts of people and know what they are thinking, just as God can (1 Kings 8:39, Psalm 139:2).

Psalm 101

The psalm is attributed to king David and is believed to fall into the category of royal psalm. This isn’t because of its content but its context. It’s believed that this psalm was said by a king, perhaps at their coronation, as a vow for how they will lead.

Psalm 101:1-2 - Commitment to justice and integrity

Psalm 101:3-5 - Avoid the wicked

Psalm 101:6-8 - I will stand by the faithful and destroy the wicked

The psalmist, a king, starts with a commitment to love and justice. They will think upon how to live a blameless life and how to walk with integrity.

In contrast, they won’t even look at anything wrong. If others do wrong, the psalmist will make sure it doesn’t affect or contaminate them. They will keep those who are wicked away from them so that they have no opportunity to engage with evil. As part of their justice, the psalmist will destroy the wicked who slanders innocent people in their arrogance.

The psalmist then reiterates their stands. Those who are faithful and good the psalmist will support. They will allow those who live rightly to come close to them. But those who are wicked will not come close to them. Instead, the psalmist will destroy them, removing them from the land from access to God’s presence.

This psalm reaffirms the role of Israel’s human kings. To pursue righteous and justice and to remove wickedness from their lands.