Why go through John’s Gospel?

If you were to ask random people on the street who Jesus was, you’d get answers like a good teacher or a prophet or a fiction. You’ll find his name addressed with reverence or used as an expletive. There are many ways that people speak about the gospel as well. Some think of it purely in terms of a style of music. Some think it’s a book. Some simply have no clue.

Our age, much like the age during which St John, the son of Zebedee, wrote is an age marked by suspicion about embodied existence. Various tech-bros and billionaires are talking about transhumanism, the idea of humans elevating themselves beyond their bodily limits. Many of us live increasingly disembodied lives, spending much of our time in one place physically but elsewhere mentally. We live through our smartphones. We are told, daily, that we can (and must!) cast off the shackles placed on us by our physicality, circumstances, and the patriarchy.

And it is directly into that darkness that the light of Christ shines. Our world is one which does not know its Maker.

For the next twelve weeks, we’ll be doing a sort of survey of John’s Gospel. It’s a gospel which is as beloved as it is misunderstood and twisted. Over the course of our study, we will learn who Jesus is, what he did, and why he did it. We’ll learn about the uniqueness of Jesus, that there is no one like him, that he alone can save, and there are real dangers to rejecting him.

We will also see that the story of Jesus’ life is a glorious one. This series, like the Gospel itself, will be a mere montage of Jesus’ life and work. The Evangelist himself writes that the whole universe could not contain all of the books which would record what Jesus did and said. Yet what we will see is the story of God himself stepping into history in order to save sinners.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)