John, an eyewitness to the ministry of Jesus, writes this book that we may BELIEVE. Join us as we take the weeks leading up to Easter to read through John's account of what he heard Jesus say and what Jesus did.
We start on February 23rd. We will have a handout in church, but you can also come back to this page which will be updated each week as we progress through the Gospel.
Once you have read through this introductions page, click on the "Readings" button to move to the daily readings page.
Lent. Traditions like Lent, Ash Wednesday, and things like that are subjects that we often approach cautiously, if at all. While it is true that many traditions and activities are not rooted in the Biblical text and even worse, many have been abused by man – the reality behind Lent is something we all should embrace.
Preparation. The reality is that it is a time to prepare for the remembrance of the Suffering, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. The goal is to purify our hearts and draw closer to God. That is a purpose we all should desire.
Join Us. We have chosen for our own time of preparation a read through of the Gospel of John. It isn’t exactly 40 days, but it is close. We hope that you join us. As you will see, each day is simple; it involves reading a section of the text, a few questions to think about, and a prayer.
Spirit’s Leading. This isn’t a compilation of devotionals. While devotionals and commentaries are important (we encourage you to study further and we have at times even added in some additional notes), but what is most important is that each of us be open to the Spirits leading as we learn more about God and prepare for the celebration of Easter.
Pray. Reading. Study. Learning. Each has its place in a Christian’s life, but the bedrock of our spiritual growth is time with God. Start each day in seeking God. And as you read, pray that God would open your eyes to the life of Jesus; that not only will you see it in a deeper light, but that you will believe it in a fuller, richer, and life changing way.
So, who wrote this book? Although the author’s name does not appear in the Gospel, early church tradition strongly and consistently identified him as the apostle John. What was this “tradition”? Foremost we have the testimony of a direct disciple of John the Apostle – Polycarp (AD 70-160). Irenaeus, who was a disciple of Polycarp, and so heard it directly from him, tells us that Polycarp said the Apostle John wrote this Gospel during his residence in Ephesus. Besides these testimonies, there are other reasons we can know John the Apostle wrote this, such as the internal structure and characteristics. We can direct you to other sources if you want more information.
So, who was the Apostle John? John and his older brother, James, were the sons of Zebedee – but Jesus called them “sons of Thunder”. John becomes one of the three closest disciples of Jesus, joining Peter and James, and is a direct eyewitness to Jesus’ ministry, including some most intense moments of His earthly life – the Transfiguration and His prayer in Gethsemane. After Jesus’ ascension, John was one of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem until he moved to Ephesus. It was from there that the Romans exiled him to Patmos.
So, why did he write this book? Polycarp tells us that John wrote this later in his life and was aware of the other Gospels. Apparently, he wrote his Gospel to make a unique contribution to the record of the Lord’s life – a complementary witness to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In doing so, he supplies a large amount of unique material, as well as information that helps us understand events in the other Gospels.
So, is it a biography? Not really, it isn’t set up like that, but It IS an accurate, historical account, but there is a deeper, more important reason that John wrote this Gospel. In his own words he says that this was written that we might believe that:
He wrote it because the coming of Jesus is
GOOD NEWS!
A Community Reading. Our questions and comments really only touch a small part of the text. Our desire is not that we guide you, but that the Spirit guides each one of us - that as we read we will be open to the Spirits leading. However, this is also a "community reading." All this means is that we hope that many (all?) of us will be reading this at the same time - allowing us to talk with each other what God is showing us in His word. This may take different forms, but we hope that you will take this time to not only read, but also share.
It’s a small world. Even in the New Testament era, when the world was far more interconnected under the vast Roman Empire, nearly all the recorded events of Jesus’s life took place within about 65 miles of his hometown of Nazareth—a distance that could be traversed by foot in three or four days.
The buttons below lead to introductory videos about the Gospel of John. These are done by The Bible Project (check out their website sometime, they have videos on all the books of the Bible, as well as many other resources – www.bibleproject.com).
The left button introduces the Gospel and covers Chapters 1-12. The right button is for Chapters 13 -21 – you can wait until March 20th to watch that. You can also find the videos by entering your web browser
https://bibleproject.com/videos/john-1-12/, and https://bibleproject.com/videos/johm-13-21/.
The button below leads to the daily readings page.