Chapter 5
John
The Person:
John, born around ten AD, was a son of Zebedee who had a fishing business by Galilee. His mother was named Salome and his elder brother was James. These two brothers were among the first disciples called by Jesus90. Together with Peter, they formed an inner group of disciples. These were privy to events like the transfiguration, the raising of Jairus’ daughter and praying privately in the garden of Gethsemane. John refers to himself throughout the book as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’. John’s gospel is written in very basic Greek. All his words are in the ‘Ogden's Basic Word List of Greek’.91
John was present when Christ was crucified, and he also was extremely loyal to Jesus during his ministry in Jerusalem. Jesus told him to look after Mary his mother, which he did, despite Mary having other children. After the resurrection, John spent twelve-years working in Judea and Samaria with other disciples. After this, when he was about forty-two, he went to Asia and settling in Ephesus, one of the seven major churches in Turkey. Ephesus was still at ‘housegroup stage’ then92. The city bye-laws show Jews were not supposed to hold any office or major property, presumably to hold back the Jewish capacity to rise rapidly in business.
After John had spent several years in Ephesus, he was falsely accused of preaching against Rome and brought for trial before the emperor Domitian93. Domitian had begun a cruel persecution against the Christians, accusing it as a public subverter of Roman religions. This was a capital crime punishable by being placed in boiling oil until dead, and should have been dealt with in the supreme court. There is no concrete evidence John actually went to Rome, neither do we know how the sentence was commuted to ‘life’ of hard labour in the salt mines on the island of Patmos. It is here he wrote the book of Revelation.
On the death of Domitian in ninety-six AD, Narva repealed Domitian’s act, recalling all those he had banished. John returned to Asia, and, at the age of about eighty-six, settled again in Ephesus. John came back to a very different and declining Ephesus. Timothy, its pastor, had also been put to death by Domitian. The Church had by now, been permitted to buy the old coin-mint94, the Church had reached its peak and flourished for a few years, before the more wealthy members moved to a modern, purpose built synagogue in the suburbs. This effectively split the Church especially as Judaizers infiltrated the newly built Synagogue congregation via the trade guilds. John came back from exile to settle at the coin-mint church in the town centre, where he spent his last days mentoring Polycarp to be the overseer of the seven local churches.
It is suggested that Polycarp urged him to write his Gospel because he recognized he would not be around for much longer despite the misinterpretation of Jesus’ words,
Jesus answered, ‘What is it to you, if I want him to live until I return? You must follow me.’ 95
The story is told that, because of his age and disability from working in the mines, Church members would carry him to church each sabbath to give the final blessing. When they asked him why he would always say ‘My Children you must love one another’, he would simply reply ‘ because, My Children, you must love one another’. Very poignant as Jesus told them to do the same in Revelation.
In John’s later days John took to teaching leaders, Polycarp studied under John, who in turn taught Irenaeus. These two became founding fathers of the Church. Although he used simple language, he was by far the most theological of the disciples.
John held an authoritative position in the early church as shown by his visit with Peter to Samaria to lay hands on new converts. He was helpful in the conversion of St. Paul.96 Besides the Gospel, John wrote three letters (1 John, 2 John, and 3 John), and the book of Revelation97
Mark’s Gospel hints of John’s martyrdom, but his death as a martyr is unknown. The theologian Tertullian reported that, according to the apocryphal ‘Acts of John’, John was plunged into boiling oil but miraculously escaped unscathed. This is highly unlikely as that was a High court punishment and John was never sent to Rome. He refused to declare Caesar as Lord and was sentenced to hard labour in the salt mines of Patmos where he penned Revelation. Among later traditions it was propagated that he ascended to heaven without dying. Officially, the apostle’s grave is in Ephesus.
The Gospel
Solomon asked, ‘Will God indeed dwell on earth’? Solomon built the temple, it was filled with God’s Glory at first, but Glory departed once the people got their hands on it. Moses had raised a tabernacle in the wilderness, God’s Glory arrived and no-one could go in for the glory. But by the end of Exodus, they could not go in because of their own sin. Jeremiah saw the Glory of God depart at the beginning of his book, but it returned again at the end. Later John will see the glory being carried away in a Basket only to return immediately before the final Judgement98.
John picks up from there.
The Word became a human being and lived here with us. We saw his true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. From him all the kindness and all the truth of God have come down to us. 99
John is a contrast to the synoptics gospels. Where the synoptic gospels observe the teachings and the actions of Jesus, John looks at the person Jesus. He tries to capture the heart of the Son of God, in an attempt to see the Father. Ninety-percent of John’s writings is not in any other gospel. He does not mention Jesus’ birth, baptism, temptations, transfiguration, last supper, Gethsemane or his ascension. Instead, he chooses seven incidents in Jesus’ life that he sees as signs of the essential nature of Jesus. He calls them ‘Seven-Signs’: Turning water into wine, Healing the nobleman’s son from a distance, Healing the Cripple of thirty-eight-years, Feeding five-thousand, walking on water, healing the man blind from birth and raising Lazarus after four-days in the grave.
John also picks seven, ‘I Am’ statements made by Jesus about himself: I am the Bread of heaven100, I am the Light of world101, I am the Good shepherd102, I am the Door103, I am the Resurrection104, I am the Way Truth and Life105, and I am the True vine106.
Jesus himself said, ‘If I bare witness of myself it means little’. He is citing the law which says two witness in agreement is the minimum allowed to substantiate a claim. So John provides seven: The seven witnesses recorded by John are: John the Baptist107, God himself108, Nathaniel109, Peter110, Martha111, Thomas112 and John himself113.
Further to the seven witnesses, John mentions seven titles given to him during his public ministry and endorsed by others: The Lamb of God114, The Son of God115, The Son of Man116, The Messiah117, The King of Israel118, Rabbi119 and the Nazerene. Joseph took Jesus and Mary to live in Nazareth when he returned from Egypt. Matthew says this was to fulfil what prophets had foretold that, ‘He shall be called a Nazarene’120. This phrase is certainly accepted by John’s readers as prophesy but is not directly stated in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is foretold by Jeremiah and Isaiah who specifically say Messiah will be born in the North country. The term ‘Nazarene’ was used to describe ‘Northerners’ back then. Samaritans certainly expected Messiah would come from among them as the woman at the well intimated.
We have already talked about the origin of the word Logos in the introduction. Greeks used the word Logos in everyday language. To their mind it meant ‘The prime cause’, and they used it in connection with the order of the universe, ‘And Logos became flesh’. John also records Jesus’ longest Prayer in chapter-seventeen before he gives the remaining one-third of the book over to the last eight days of Jesus’ life.
For speed reader’s benefit, the prime subject of the book is found in the two words, ‘Jesus’ and ‘Christ’, which appear one-hundred-and-seventy-times. And the word ‘believe’ which occurs over ninety-times.
John is Hebrew minded, not Greek. Heaven and earth are not an age to come but a reunion of earth with heaven. God always intended heaven and earth to be interconnected. That is why he was so keen to come and dwell among his people at Sinai. It is often overlooked that even when this earth is finished with there will be a new heaven and a new earth. John is very clear in his Jewish thinking that, just as the resurrection requires a new body, so the new Heaven requires a new earth. It was Greek thinking that separated them.
Jesus came from heaven to reconcile earth to heaven. Earth is not a separate entity with a separate destiny; ‘… On earth as it is in Heaven’. In his final words, ‘Go and lo I am with you always’!
John also brings out the meeting with Nicodemus, highlighting the unity spirit to a body. The connection between water and spirit in a new birth confused Nicodemus and Jesus remarks ‘but you are a Jew and leader among Jews what stops you seeing that? Jesus understood Greeks might get not get it, but it had been part of Jewish understanding from Eden when God breathed into a body to give life. There is no separation of Spirit and Body, the body is integral to being born of the Spirit. Being born of water is essential to being born of spirit. It is a clear confrontation to the Greek idea that, body and spirit are separate and have no effect on each other.
John three-sixteen also challenges the popular Plato view that human beings must become the best they can without the help of gods. It is God who sought to rescue humanity while they were dead in sins. The dead do not search. Further, the motivation to rescue carries the motivation of perfect love, not the segregated sections of love understood by Greeks.
John is the only one to recall the incident with woman at well. When John says, ‘Jesus needed to go through Samaria’, he is speaking of spiritual guidance. There are two other routes to pass by Samaria, much preferred routes by most. It is this insight into the motivations of Jesus that marks John out as more in tune to Jesus than the others. When he did preach in Samaria, it turned into a revival to which the disciples would have to return later in acts to establish and build up a church.
In chapters-five-to-twelve, we see seven confrontations leading to seven ‘I Am’ statements. At the feast of Tabernacles, the priest would go down to the pool of Siloam and get jug of water. It had to be ‘living’ water from the spring source which he brought back. Pouring it around the altar, he would quote:
Behold, *God is my salvation: I will trust, and not be afraid; for Jehovah, is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation. And with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Give ye thanks to Jehovah, call upon his name, declare his deeds among the peoples, make mention that his name is exalted.121
This is the time and place for Jesus to Say:On that day Jesus stood up and said loudly, ‘Whoever is thirsty may come to me and drink’.122
90Which means he was a teenager when he was called
91Here I rely on Greek students who tell me this,
92See further information in chapter on Ephesians under History section.
93It was reported John had preached Jesus was Lord and so was taken to Caesar to proclaim him Lord.
94Into which they built another church back to back which is marked on archaeological maps as ‘the Double Church’. See Lower Ephesus (source Ephesus Museum).
95John 21: 22
96Paul went up to Jerusalem to speak with John, and James after his conversion.
97This is the considered conclusions of the author. Other people question which John wrote Revelation but the style content and spiritual insight of John are strong evidence that he is the writer.
98Revelation 19: to 22.
99 John 1: 14
100 John 6 :51
101John 9: 5
102John 10: 11-14
103John 10: 7 - 9
104John 11: 25
105John 14: 6
106John 15: 1
107John 1: 29 -36
108John 1: 33 -34
109John 1: 49
110John 6: 68 -69
111John 11: 27
112John 20: 28
113John 21: 24
114John 1: 29-36
115John 1: 49
116John 1 : 51, John 3: 14, John 6: 27
117John 1: 41, John 4: 26
118John 1: 49
119John 1: 38
120Matthew 2: 2 John 19: 19
121 Isaiah 12: 2-4
122John 7: 37