This week we take a closer look at The Book of John. After a bit of research we see immediately that this forth Gospel is quite different from the other three due mainly to all that it omits as compared to the other three.  -No account of the Birth of Jesus -Nothing of his baptism or of his temptations -John does not write of the Last Supper, he does not share with us Christ’s agony in the Gethsemane and there is no writing of the Ascension -John completely omits any record or mention of the healing of people possessed by devils and evil spirits

One of the things I enjoy in biblical writings and records is missing completely in this book…there are none of the parable stories Jesus told and are part of the other three Gospels. These differences continue on. One being here in the fourth Gospel the speeches of Jesus are often a whole chapter long and  facts of the life and ministry of Jesus are often different from the other three. Another interesting difference is that in John’s Gospel most of Jesus’ ministry takes place in Judaea with occasional trips to Galilee. John puts Jesus in Jerusalem for Passover, cleansing of the Temple, for the Feast of the Tabernacles and The Feast of Dedication. It might be helpful to explain this feast.  The Feast of Dedication is another name for Hanukkah, an eight-day Jewish festival that commemorates the rededication of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century b.c.e. It usually occurs in December but can also happen in late November and can extend into January. (dictionary.com)

We find in reading the Fourth Gospel Jesus never left Jerusalem after that feast. This would have meant a stay of months there between that feast and the spring celebration of the Passover, at which time Jesus was crucified.

One of the wonderful things of this day would be the wealth of information available to the ordinary person…yes like me, a Layman who loves the word and wants to share it as much as I can.One more interesting observation. The other three Gospels note that Jesus and his ministry did not emerge till after the imprisonment of John the Baptist. In the Book of John some of the ministry of Jesus occurred during the activity of John the Baptist. We can continue to list other differences but I believe it would be better to simply wrap this up by leaving you to consider this…John writes of the first acts of Christ and the other three give an account of the latter part of his ministry. For seventy years John had many occasions to think about Jesus. We are so blessed to have this book. What a time that must have been. John saw what Jesus did, heard what he said and through the infilling of the Holy Spirit understood what he meant. John was the last of the Apostles to put to writing the glory of God’s Son as he walked among us.

John 16:12, 13 12 ‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

Life is Good

jk