John 1-2

[wolfpurplemoon]

This books starts with a grand introduction and then appears to be about to tell Jesus' story from John the Baptist's point of view but instead John drops out when he tells his disciples about Jesus and they decide to follow Jesus instead.

Here's the first reference I've seen to Jesus turning water into wine, it wasn't mentioned in the previous gospels.

Comments

[morgian-le-faye.livejournal.com]

Jesus Christ, Superstar, Do you think you're what they say you are?

This is my favorite book in the bible. Actually, I've never read it... but it's the one that Andrew Lloyd Webber used for Jesus Christ Superstar... my favorite "musical". (In reality, it's a rock opera.)

John

[marci38.livejournal.com]

You'll find John to be a little different from the other gospels. It was the last gospel to be written and was written much later than the others (probably @ 90 A.D.).

The main difference in John is the style. While the author includes some historical events, that is not the focus of the book. Its focus is on seven (I believe it's seven) signs that point to Jesus being the Messiah. They start small with the water into wine and gradually progress till the last sign. Because of this, the pace of John is much quicker than the others since an historical account of Jesus' life is not the main focus.

Another thing to look for in John are the I AM statements. They are sprinkled throughout the book. Many translations will indicate them by capital letters (as I did). The purpose of the caps is to show that when Jesus uses I AM, He is identifying Himself as God. It goes back to Moses and the burning bush when God said His name was I AM THAT I AM.

All in all, John is much more theological than the others. Since the history of Jesus was well known by the time this gospel was written, this gospel focuses more on what Jesus said than what He did, particularly what He said to His disciples.

As for the water into wine, one of the reasons it may not have been mentioned in other gospels is because at the time this miracle occurred, Jesus had not chosen all of the disciples yet, and He only had a few of them with Him. John, being one of the few with Jesus since the beginning, probably noticed that it was not mentioned in the other gospels and made a point of including it here.

Marci

The disciples that decided to follow Jesus

[max h. miller (from livejournal.com)]

I think it's very interesting to take notice of the small details in scripture. One small detail that I've never heard a sermon about is the fact that one of the disciples that leave John's ministry to follow Jesus is Andrew, Peter's brother. It's pretty obvious from scripture that Andrew was not a highly educated theologian because when he gets a chance to speak to Jesus, his first question is "Where are you staying." If Andrew were a scholar, he would have been more likely to have asked Jesus some question about prophecy being fulfilled. What is even more interesting to me is the fact that when Andrew introduces Jesus to his brother Peter, Peter is not impressed at all. Peter doesn't show any reverence or awe for Jesus until his miraculous haul of fish. This is significant because Peter eventually becomes one of the pillars of the church but starts out so utterly clueless. Andrew on the other hand, recognized Jesus' majesty immediately. He was diligently striving to know the Savior, and is in fact, one of the first people to follow Him. But he drops into Peter's shadow almost immediately. Andrew impresses me because we don't see him doing any petty jockeying for position like we see the Sons of Zebedee do. He simply introduces people to Jesus and then lets Him be glorified. I'm intrigued by Andrew because I've always identified with Peter. If I were among Jesus' earliest followers, I probably would have said all the same things Peter said. But his brother Andrew is remembered in scripture so quietly as simply the one who introduces people to Jesus. It takes a special kind of humility or devotion or maturity (I have no idea) to live in people's shadow. I look forward to meeting him someday.