Tuesday, 17th. June 2008
John 1: 6-9
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In a Nutshell John the apostle tells of another John, the one to whom God gave the special task of preparing the way, bearing witness, pointing people to the light. The story tells of the coming of light into the world, the story of life itself. |
It's not too clear just when John wrote his gospel. There has been much discussion about that. It is important to gain some sense of the time and circumstances in which he wrote. That way we better appreciate what he is trying to say. Clearly, it was written to assist those who were taking the message of Jesus with them wherever they went. Some of those readers would have also been influenced by John the Baptist.
We do not know everything about the Apostle John and how he lived out his life as a leader of the church. Some say that he eventually resided in Ephesus. There, some years after Jesus' departure, Paul met refugee followers of John the Baptist who had not yet heard about the coming of the Holy Spirit. And so, although they believed in Jesus because of the Baptist's witness, they had not received the full story. They had not yet understood fully the purpose of John's preaching in the desert. So we can say that this part of John's Gospel was not only written to tell new generations of believers about the way John the Baptist prepared Israel for the coming of the Messiah, it was also written to assist the disciples of John the Baptist see their teacher from the desert in the light of the One to whom he pointed. The morning star (John the Baptist) reminds us that the sunrise (Jesus) is not far behind.
So this gospel was written some years after the events it describes; probably it was a few decades. Initially, John the Apostle had been a disciple of John the Baptist. He writes about the Baptist who pointed him to Jesus and said: "Don't follow me; there's the One you should be following. He's the Lamb of God." When this gospel writer says that John the Baptist was not the light but only sent to point to the light, we realize that he was writing with a similar orientation - like John the Baptist, John the gospel writer, was not the light but bears witness to the light.
The story of Jesus could not be properly told without including John the Baptist in it. This other John "bore witness"; he called upon the people of Israel to "Prepare for the coming of the Lord"; he decisively changed this writer's life by pointing out "the Lamb of God - follow him!" That is what John the Baptist did - he called all and sundry to repent. He bore witness that everyone might believe and live in the light. This call was indiscriminate. This light was going to shine for all the world to see. John the Apostle also knew that this message had eventually cost the Baptist his life. It might cost him his own!
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth!
So it was not a secret message, a message to be hidden. In
"bearing witness", this Morning Star had spoken out about the problem
of living a lie, the problem of pretending to have fellowship with God while
walking in darkness. And so his head rolled. When the writer writes that John
the Baptist came for testimony, came to bear witness, he is telling us that
this testimony would become the message
of a martyr. John the Baptist was the
herald of the dawn, the wake-up-call for a new day. He called the people of
Israel, God's specially chosen people, to wake up and to greet the light and
live in it. A little further on the writer tells us that John the Baptist was
not too worried whether he was recognised or not. His own accomplishment was
secondary, given that he was bearing witness to Another.
And so, right from the
outset John the Apostle links his account to this desert preacher, the grown-up
child of Zacharias and Elizabeth. That made the writer a second cousin of the
one he is writing about. The Baptist was imprisoned and eventually murdered by
Herod for denouncing his adulterous affair with his brother's wife. And so the
writer knew that martyrdom was a central theme in this story. The word
"witness" also indicates this.
This writer is also the
brother of James; they were sons of Zebedee - sons of thunder as Jesus had
called them. They, like Jesus, were relatives of John the Baptist. Elizabeth
was Mary's cousin and the gospels tell us that Zebedee was married to Mary's
sister. That made James and John first cousins of Jesus. Keep in mind that
their mother was one of the women who stuck with Jesus to the end, right
through the ordeal of the crucifixion. She played an important role - at one
point she even encouraged her sons to ask Jesus for added responsibilities.
When they asked Jesus about this, He asked them whether they could be
"baptised" with the baptism He had to endure? They answered "Yes!"
and He accepted that, replying, "Yes, you will indeed ... but to sit at my
right hand and at my left is not mine to grant." From the cross, Jesus
commissioned John the Apostle, the writer of this gospel, to take care of Mary
- his aunt. Later, James would be murdered by Herod who was keen to gain favour
with the enemies of those following "the way". Bearing witness
sometimes means martyrdom; this family had its share of those who died for
their faith, for "bearing witness".
For us, the story of Jesus cannot be told without mention of John the Apostle. He is the gospel writer after all. Later, the Christian story would continue in Ephesus, where Paul baptised the followers of John the Baptist. It was also in the surrounding region that the seven churches were to receive the letters written in the Apocalypse of John, the book we call "Revelation". That last book of the Bible carries the same teaching of John the Baptist as well as John's Gospel and John's three letters. We know about John the Apostle, and discussion about the authorship and date of this gospel includes discussion of "John the Elder" and also "John of Ephesus". Were they the same person? We don't know for sure. The story includes John the Apostle but as with his account of John the Baptist - "he was not the light but was sent to bear witness to the light" - the writer is telling us that it doesn't really matter all that much. Why? Because these Johannine writings continue the work begun by John the Baptist announcing the coming dawn - as the Word became a human being and dwelt in their midst. These writings continued the witness. They tell of the coming of Jesus, the Light of the world. That one message enlightens what is written in these various documents telling us about the Word of Life, encouraging us to walk in the light just as He is in the light. John's Gospel is the story of how we, with all of Jesus' disciples, including the Apostles and those who died bearing witness, share an abiding unity with each other because the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sins. That is the life which Jesus' coming has brought to light.