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N e w T e s t a m e n t G u i d e
JOHN
By Antonio Fuentes
JOHN the apostle, the son of Zebedee and Salome and the brother
of James the Greater, was probably a native of Bethsaida, a city in Galilee on
the shore of Lake Gennesaret. His family was fairly well off and he worked in
the family business, fishing. As a very young man he became a disciple first of
John the Baptist and then of Jesus: he followed Jesus when he heard the Baptist
say, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" (1:36).
That very afternoon, as he tells us himself, after following Jesus on the
lakeshore and asking him where he lived, he spent many hours in his company
(1:38-39). After that conversation, which he never forgot, he left his father in
the boat with the hired men and threw himself into the new life to which our
Lord had called him (Mark 1:20). He might have been twenty years old at the
time.
He remained faithful to the Lord his whole life long. As a young man, in his
total commitment of love and his passion for the things of God, he and his
brother earned the nickname of 'sons of thunder' (cf. Luke 9:54). He did not
allow difficulties to get in his way. He alone of the apostles, together with
the Blessed Virgin and the holy women who accompanied her (Mark 15:40-41),
remained at the foot of the cross. And Jesus showed his confidence in John by
entrusting him with the care of his Blessed Mother, the person he loved most in
the world. The tradition of the Church, as witnessed by Polycarp, tells us that
John moved from Palestine to Ephesus and that he was exiled, during Diocletian's
persecution, to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse. After
the death of that emperor he returned to Ephesus, where he wrote his three
letters and Gospel.
John is the inspired author of the fourth Gospel. This is explicitly recognized
by tradition and witnessed to by, among others, Papias, Irenaeus, the Muratorian
fragment, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and Origen. It is also borne out by
internal evidence of the text: the author's familiarity with Jewish customs and
his policy of pointing out how the Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled (the
cleansing of the Temple, the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the unbelief of the
Jews, the distribution of Jesus' clothes and the casting of lots for his tunic,
the piercing of his side with a lance); the vivid eyewitness quality of many of
his accounts; his detailed knowledge of the topography of Jerusalem (he knows
that the portico of Solomon is part of the Temple; that there was a pavement in
the praetorium called Gabbatha; that the pool of Bethzatha has five porticoes
and is located near the Sheep Gate); and, finally, by the wealth of detail which
gives the narrative a special freshness and originality which could only come
from an eyewitness.
To this should be added the fact that whereas the synoptics expressly mention
John ( Matthew three times, Luke seven and Mark nine), the fourth Gospel never
gives his name, and never refers to his family, except on one occasion when it
mentions the sons of Zebedee (21:2). Because the author seems to hide his true
identity by using the literary form of 'he whom Jesus loved' (13:23) and this
could only refer to our Lord's three most intimate apostles (Peter, James and
John: Matt. 17:12 Mark 14:33), we can conclude by process of elimination that
this disciple was John, because we know James was already dead (he died in the
year 44, in the reign of Agrippa) and Peter asked this disciple a question
(13:24) but Peter had also died a martyr's death in Rome during Nero's
persecution of the Church, which began in 64.
In writing his Gospel--under the charism of inspiration-- John had a clear
purpose in mind: "These [signs] have been written," he says,
"that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that
believing you may have life in his name" (20:31). He seeks to strengthen
the faith of those early Christians of the young churches of Asia Minor, who are
threatened by the latent danger of going astray and even falling into doctrinal
error about who Jesus Christ is and what is the true story of his life.
John goes straight to the point: Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God made man.
His account has a structure similar to that used by the other apostles in their
oral teaching (cf. Acts 10:36-43), but he fills out the account given in the
synoptic Gospels, with which Christians were already familiar. Like them, John's
aim is not to write a complete biography of Jesus. He selects (21:25) only the
material necessary for explaining the main truth he wishes to get across to his
readers--that Jesus Christ is the Son of God made man.
His Gospel consists essentially of a prologue and two main parts:
The prologue (1:1-18). This contains a revelation extremely important
from the doctrinal point of view. John presents the Word--the Logos--as
eternal, distinct from the Father, and yet identical with him because he shares
the same divine nature.
The Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, in addition to being eternal
and consubstantial with the Father, is the Creator of the world, together with
the Father, by whom all things are made. He is the Saviour, the true light which
enlightens every man--light against the darkness of the world of those who
refuse to receive him. He came to his own people (Israel, the chosen people),
but they too chose not to receive him, but to those who do receive him through
believing in him he gives eternal life, the power (grace) to be children of God.
In the fullness of time, the Word became man, in the pure womb of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, ever virgin. He came, as Jesus of Nazareth, to save all men, living
among us full of grace and truth. All are called to share in his fullness. The
Old Covenant gives way to the New, which will be sealed by the sacrifice of the
Son of God on the cross. The teaching contained in this prologue is a summary of
John's entire Gospel.
The first part (chapters 1-13). John devotes this part mainly to
presenting Jesus as the promised Messiah, whom the people of Israel have so long
awaited. To prove that he is the Messiah, he describes a number of miracles in
detail. The first of these is the changing of water into wine at Cana in Galilee
(2:9). In response to the faith and humility of his Mother he acts before his
"time has come." There follows the cure, also in Cana, of the son of
the royal official who is lying ill in Capernaum (4:46-54).
Here again we can see the faith our Lord awakens in those who approach him with
good will. There follows the curing of the paralytic at the pool of Bethzatha
(5:1-18), the multiplication of the loaves (6:5-13), Jesus walking on the water
(6:19), the curing of the man born blind (9:18), the raising of Lazarus
(11:1-45) and his own Resurrection (20:1-18). To these should be added the
miraculous draught of fish after his Resurrection (21:11).
By means of these miracles, Jesus shows that he is the true Messiah, the Saviour
of the world. He wants people to realize that only God can work such miracles.
That is why he works cures on the sabbath: He is the Lord even of the sabbath.
He restores sight to the blind, to show that he is the light of the world. He
does these miracles so that people can see that his preaching goes further than
mere words. And, after his death, he rises by his own power, to dispel any doubt
the apostles might have about his divinity.
The second part (chapters 13-21), The second part of the Gospel covers,
in three acts, the most intimate and significant events of our Lord's life--the
Last Supper, his Passion, and death, and his Resurrection. In each of these acts
we can see the realization of the plan of salvation which the Father has given
to the Son. Through them the Son's love shines forth; so great is it that he
gives up his life on the cross. It is followed by the profound joy of the
Resurrection. Thus, love, sacrifice and joy are the keynotes of this second part
of the Gospel.
1. John opens his account of the Last Supper with a passage which summarizes
Christ's whole purpose during the episodes which follow: "Now before the
feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew the hour had come to depart out of this
world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them
to the end" (13:1).
The limitless love of Jesus is the key to understanding his later sacrifice on
the cross; it fulfils, as it were, what John says at the beginning of his
Gospel: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (3:16).
Genuine love implies surrender, self-denial, to the point of giving oneself; it
needs to be expressed in actions. Thus, Jesus will say that no one loves better
than he who lays down his life for his friends (15:13), even if that love is not
reciprocated. Jesus' love is not a matter of empty words or superficial
gestures: he sacrificed himself. In the face of this completely disinterested,
pure and generous love which God has for him, man--every one of us--can only
feel ashamed; he is unable to reply.
But Jesus Christ, in his priestly prayer at the Last Supper, has prayed for his
disciples (17:6-19), for each one of us (17:20), to enable us to respond to his
love. The ground of God's love for men is to be found in the intimate life of
the three divine Persons. Therefore, Jesus prays "that they all may be one;
even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so
that the world may believe that thou has sent me" (17:21).
This is the content and scope of the new commandment Jesus gives his disciples:
"that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love
one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have
love for one another" (13:34-35). With the help of God's grace it is easy
to keep this commandment; but when a person isolates himself and distances
himself from God, he also ruptures his attachment to his brothers and can even
come to despise them and hate them if they get in the way of his self-centred
plans; whereas love unites and smooths one's neighbor's way to holiness. This is
why Christian life can be summed up as love of God and love of one's neighbor.
Living by love is living the life of God, because "God is love" (1
John 4:8).
Jesus Christ reveals himself as the expression of the Father's love. He is the
vine and we are the branches. "He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is
that bears much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing" (15:5). To
strengthen our union with him he institutes the sacrament of the Eucharist,
remaining with us in order to make our way easier. In the synagogue of Capernaum
he promised he would do this when he said, "My flesh is food indeed, and my
blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me,
and I in him" (6:55-56). The Eucharist maintains our union with our Lord,
enabling us to live as sons of God (1:12-13) and, despite our weaknesses, to
hope confidently in attaining possession of God in heaven.
2. In his account of the Passion and death of our Lord, beginning in chapter 18,
John writes in a very personal style and seeks to fill out or nuance the
synoptic version of these events. His approach is different from that of the
synoptics. They give special importance to certain circumstances surrounding our
Lord's death--the darkness that envelopes the earth from midday onwards, the
sundering of the veil of the temple; the Jews who witness his death and are
overcome by terror; the dead rising out of their graves; etc.
They obviously want to stress the transition that is taking place from one era
to another, from the Old to the New Covenant. John lays the emphasis on one
feature of the events which he regards as fundamental: Christ's death brings
about the foundation of the Church. This is the key, as it were, to
understanding the whole Redemption. Hence the importance he gives to the wound
in Christ's open side, caused by the lance, with blood and water coming out (cf.
19:35).
From the Church flow the sacraments, in the same kind of way as from the open
side of Jesus, our Saviour, water (baptism) and blood (Eucharist) flow--blood
being a symbol of expiation, and water a symbol of purification. The sacraments,
and the Church itself, flow from Christ's death. As Vatican II puts it,
"the Church--that is, the kingdom of Christ--already present in mystery,
grows visibly in the world through the power of God. The origin and growth of
the Church are symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side
of the crucified Jesus" (Lumen Gentium 3).
A Church-meaning is also to be seen in the details given about casting lots for
the seamless tunic, which is a symbol of the unity of the Church (19:23-24); as
are Jesus' farewell words, when he entrusts his last and most precious
possession, his Blessed Mother, to the disciple whom he loved (19:25-27). John
stands for all of us, the entire Church. Mary, who had entered into the plan of
salvation by the express will of God, becomes through this last act of her Son
mediatrix of all graces, the Mother of the Church. Vatican II said, "She
endured with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, associating
herself with his sacrifice in her mother's heart, and lovingly consenting to the
immolation of this victim who was born of her."
3. Jesus' Resurrection and everything connected with it can be said to be the
best recounted of all Gospel events, and the best testified to, as we can see
from John's Gospel. We should not forget that he was a personal witness of the
death and subsequent burial of our Lord; he was the only apostle who stayed on
Calvary and was present at the burial, until the entrance stone was sealed. He
reports all the details which he considers basic to our belief. That, he says,
is why he wrote his account--"that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name"
(20:31).
Because the Resurrection of Christ is the basis of the Christian faith (20:28),
John takes the trouble to recount everything relevant to guaranteeing the
historic truth of the Resurrection and to strengthening our faith--the discovery
of the empty tomb (20:1-10), and the physical reality of the body of the risen
Jesus, who three times lets himself be seen and touched by those who were to act
as witnesses for all whom faith would later lead into the Church.
Despite the little faith shown by the apostles (Thomas did not believe until he
saw and touched Jesus), the facts are so overpowering as to make it impossible
to deny that the Resurrection happened. John takes delight in describing the way
the linen cloths and the napkin were when he entered the tomb behind Peter. When
he saw them, "he saw and believed" (20:8). Up to that they had not
understood the Scripture "that he must rise from the dead" (20:9). He
gives great importance to the empty tomb and makes it very clear that the napkin
was not with the linen cloths but in a place by itself.
Like Jesus' Passion and death, his Resurrection is closely linked to the
foundation of the Church and the full authority with which our Lord expressly
endowed it. Only after the Resurrection does Jesus hand the apostles the power
to forgive sins: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you
retain the sins of any, they are retained" (20:23). After his Resurrection
Jesus confirms Peter in primacy of jurisdiction over the whole Church
(21:15-17).
First, though, our Lord wants to hear Peter's triple confession, to test his
love and atonement for his three previous denials. Peter learns the lesson and,
deeply repentant, confesses his weakness--and also his sincere love for our
Lord. Only then does Jesus hand over the power and authority he had earlier
promised Peter. As the bishops of Vatican I taught in Pastor Aeternus,
"After his Resurrection, Jesus conferred upon Simon Peter alone the
jurisdiction of supreme shepherd and rule over his whole fold with the words,
'Feed my lambs . . . Feed my sheep'" (John 20:15-17).
From this moment onward, all those who, by God's grace, are converted and enter
the Church, will find in Peter and his successors the security and strength that
is the endowment of Christ's vicar on earth. From union with this head the whole
body derives its cohesion, its vigor and its growth.
The Fathers of the Church have pointed to the symbolism in the miraculous
draught of fish after the Resurrection: the sea is the world; the boat, the
Church; the fishermen, the apostles; the net, doctrinal unity in the preaching
of the Gospel; and the fish, the elect. By giving the exact number of fish
caught (153 large fish) John points to the multitude of faithful people whom the
Church will comprise, thus ending his Gospel on a note of optimism and hope, the
same note as is struck by the synoptics.
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