Saturday 22 May 2010
"This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." (v.24-25)
Background
These are the final verses of John's Gospel. They may not havebeen written by John at all but by a friend or companion after hisdeath. They may even have been written as an afterthought to thebook. These final verses, in fact, mirror the end of chapter 20where the author says, "Jesus did many other signs in the presenceof his disciples, which are not written in this book"(20:30).
The Bible is a central focus for Christians, but these sentences atthe end of John's Gospel are a timely reminder that all thelibraries in the world, or in our day all the digital storagesystems, could not possibly contain all that Jesus did. What Jesusdid and what Jesus was were all too explosive - too revolutionary -to be contained in human writing.
However good the Gospel writers were, however proficient the Bibletranslators and researchers are, nothing can 'capture' Jesus inwords! Jesus is God's Word and, ultimately, the relationship ofChristians needs to be with the 'Word made flesh' (John 1:14) - notwords on a page. This is perhaps not an easy message forBible-based Christians to take on board because it is risky andopen ended. The Methodist Deed of Union puts it in an interestingway: "The doctrines of the evangelical faith, which Methodism hasheld from the beginning, and still holds, are based upon the divinerevelation recorded in Holy Scriptures." A divine revelation whichcontinues as we read the Scriptures.
To Ponder
What is your attitude to the Bible? In yourjourney of faith what other sources of inspiration do you lookto?
If the author of John and his fellow Gospelwriters had been able to write down a great deal more detail aboutJesus' life and ministry, what would you like to discover moreabout? Why - would we be in a better position?