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At the end of the second century, only a hundred years or more after the writings of the New Testament were completed, Clement of Alexandria penned one of the earliest and most well known descriptions of the gospel of John.  Appearing in a context concerning when and why the four gospels emerged, Clement claimed that the gospels with genealogies (Matthew and Luke) were written first and than Mark wrote down the memoirs of Peter.

But, last of all, John – away that the outward facts had been set out in the gospels – was encouraged by his disciples and divinely motivated by the Spirit, composed a spiritual gospel.

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I don’t know about you but the first time I read this description of John it seemed rather strange.  Why would Clement describe John alone among the four gospels as “spiritual”?

The word “spiritual” is used today of non-secular concerns like prayer and beleif in a higher power but in this sense the same could be said of Matthew, Mark and Luke.  The four gospels are all spiritual in the sense that they speak of spiritual things.

An alternative approach might be to see in Clement’s explanation that John was “divinely motivated by the Spirit” a subtle implication that the fourth gospel is inspired while the others are not.  But this too doesn’t make sense for Clement himself sets the four gospels apart from the numerous false gospels that were floating around even in his day.

In what sense then did Clement see John as spiritual?

The simple key can be glimpsed in Clement’s own description.  Look at it again.

But, last of all, John – aware that the outward facts had been set out in the gospels… composed a spiritual gospel.

The Greek word here translated as “outward facts” is literally fleshly.  In the gospels, Clement sees a flesh/spirit dichotomy.  According to Clement the first three gospels imparted the material facts while John conveyed the soul.  Clement has something of the immaterial in mind, something which he felt external details alone could not fully provide.

The flesh in this sense is something which is visible, tangible, easily discerned by surface appearance.  Spirit on the other hand is invisible, intangible, and can only be discerned by those who take the time to see.  

Clement understood that there is something more to the gospel of John then simply meets the eye.

Of course Clement has not been alone in this assessment.  John has often been compared to a pool in which a child may wade and yet an elephant may swim.  Concerning this Leon Morris states,

There are unplumbed depths in the limpid clarity of this writing.  What at first appears obvious is presently seen to pose problems.  Most students would agree with Hoskyn that years of close study of this Gospel do not leave one with a feeling of having mastered it, but rather with the conviction that it is still “strange, restless, and unfamiliar.”

Evangelicals may love John because of it’s perceived simplicity but John isn’t always that simple.  Outside the book of Revelation, no other New Testament book compares with the mystery contained within its pages.  What seems clear on the surface is not quite so plain.

John’s gospel overflows with mystifying symbolism, anomalies and codes, hidden levels of meaning that go well beneath the surface of the text, clues to a powerful truth.  John is a mystery inviting the perceptive reader to unravel.

What do you think?

The most quoted passage of scripture, emblazoned on billboards, banners and bumper stickers is of course John 3:16.   Evangelicals love the gospel of John.  It’s the first book we encourage people to read.  We hand out individual bound John booklets by the thousands.  But its more than just for John 3:16.  We use John in evangelism because of 6 (SIMPLE) ways John is able to reach just about everyone.

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S:Style

The simpler your selection and arrangement of words the easier your writing is for people to read.  Not surprisingly these are the fundamentals of John’s style.  John writes short sentences and uses few words.  For instance, although John is longer than the gospel of Mark (by more than 4,000 words)  he use 300 less vocabulary words.  Notice how John uses few words in His introduction.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.

It’s comparable to a book for beginning readers.  Though I hesitate, for various reasons, to compare John to Dr. Seuss, teachers of Koine Greek, the language of the New Testament, regularly test beginning students with passages from John.

I:Imagery

Most of us are visual learners to one degree or another.  We often understand pictures better than words. And John excels at providing them.  Metaphors abound.  Jesus’ “I Am” sayings paint mental pictures.  “I am the bread of life,” “I am the good shepherd,” and “I am the door of the sheep,” Jesus says.  One could speak in a whole host of theological phrases and never capture these thought so eloquently.

M:Movie like Quality

John fits the dramatic form we enjoy best.  While scenes and dialogues in the first three gospels are typically short, episodic and involve no more than one or two lines, John depicts Jesus in lengthy discussions with multiple changes of topic and character.  Who can forget Jesus conversation with the Samaritan woman or the interrogation of the man once blind?   Read chapter 8.  Marvel how John’s dialogue conveys an escalating tension between Jesus and the Jews.

P:Personal Immediacy

The Jesus of John is a figure that stands beyond history.  This is in part due to the subject of Jesus’ teaching.  “I” appears on Jesus lips more than double any of the first three gospels.  He talks more about himself and his relationship with his followers than any other subject.

Abide in me and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

But on occasion Jesus appears to address people beyond the historical events themselves.   In 12:36, Jesus departs and hides himself from the crowd.  The narrator follows, summarizing and offer some interpretation of His overall ministry.   Suddenly Jesus cries out in John 12:44

Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me…

Who is he talking to?   No one else is around except the reader.  I have the distinct impression He’s talking to you and me.  John conveys a similar feeling when in chapter 17 Jesus prays for those who will come to believe.  That’s us!

The personal nature of Jesus message and the way he delivers it collapses the 2,000 year divide separating us from the events described.  It’s as if Jesus as an actor turns and speaks directly to the camera. His words are not just spoken then and there.  They are spoken here and now.

L:Love

It’s interesting that John lacks a lot of hands-on application.   In Matthew, Mark and Luke Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray, tells them what he thinks about divorce and so on.  But in John the only hands-on application we find is this.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

Love is the heart of the Gospel of John.  He is the “disciple whom Jesus loved” and the author of John 3:16, “For God so loved…”

E:Evangelistic Center

But Love isn’t the only important issue in John.  Belief in Jesus is the gospels bottom line.  While the word belief occurs 11 times in Matthew, 14 times in Mark and 9 times in Luke it occurs 98 times in John, three times the first three gospels combined.  Belief is the purpose for all that John writes.  He tells us plainly

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.

Like a school bus driver who limits the number of rules so that her young passengers can remember to obey them, John narrows the list of commands to belief and love.

What do you think?  Why do you love the Gospel of John?

Have you ever wondered who will sit on Jesus right and left in his glory?

In Mark 10:40, Jesus responds to James and John

To sit at my right or left is not for me to grant.  These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.

The answer has been in front of us all along.

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The Request

In Mark 10:33, Jesus, nearing Jerusalem, gives the most detailed description of his impending death.

Behold we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again.

James and John approach Jesus.

Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.

Jesus responds,

You do not know what you are asking.  Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?

They reply,

we are able.

Jesus affirms that they will be able but as for his right and left this he cannot grant because  they have been granted to others.

Jesus’ Glory

The only place we find anyone on Jesus right and left is in the crucifixion.

They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. (15:27)

And what’s interesting is that the detail comes at the culmination of a list of coronation elements.

  • At the Praetorium (read Ceasar’s guard),
  • the soldiers put a purple robe on him (15:16)
  • They put a crown on his head (15:17)
  • They said, “hail, king of the Jews (15:18)
  • They fell on their knees and paid homage to him (15:19)
  • They post a sign above him: “king of the Jews.” (15:26)
  • They place men on his right and his left (15:27)

Jesus’ glory is not something past the horror’s of the crucifixion.  In an ironic twist those who mocked and crucified Jesus because of his claim to the throne placed him on the throne.

The Disciples Misunderstanding

Jesus tells James and John,

You don’t know what you are asking.

The disciples all appear to have believed that Jesus was heading for His coronation in Jerusalem.  From the moment Peter declared Jesus to be “the Christ,” they had thoughts of earthly glory.

Three times Jesus banishes all these thoughts, telling them he’s going to suffer, die and be raised again (8:31, 9:30-31, 10:32-34).  But the disciples just don’t get it.  Peter rebukes Jesus.  The disciples argue about which one of them is the greatest.  And here James and John have the audacity to request to sit on his right and left in his glory.

 You don’t know what you are asking.

He is the Christ, the King, but he’s not the king of the disciples expectations.

Nor ours.

If you desire share in Jesus’ glory remember such places are prepared only for those who die with Him.

What do you think?

In Mark the figure at the empty tomb is no ordinary angel.  In fact Mark doesn’t call him an angel at all.  He’s described as “young man” and it’s significant.  Only one other person in Mark is so described and he’s found at the arrest of Jesus.

A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus.  When they seized him he fled naked, leaving his garment behind. (14:51)

For years people have speculated as to the identity of this man.  Does the ending of Mark offer a clue?  Not exactly.  It does, however, reveal a powerful meaning in Mark’s abrupt ending.

As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.  “Don’t be alarmed,” he said.  “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.  He has risen!  See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see him just as he told you.'”  Trembling and bewildered, the women went and fled from the tomb.  They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

The end.

That’s it!

The copies closest to the original do not contain 16:9-20.

Why doesn’t Mark record Jesus’ encounter with the disciples?  Why show himself in Galilee and not immediately in Jerusalem as Luke records?  The answers are found in the description of these two men.

The Disciple Who Abandons His Call

Whatever the naked man’s identity, he’s clearly a symbol in Mark.  Note the ways in which he embodies the disciples.

He’s “following Jesus.” “Following” for Mark is the essence of discipleship.  Three times Jesus calls men to follow him and each time they leave everything to follow him (1:14-20, 2:13-14).  The five men (Peter, Andrew, James, John, Levi) form his core.  In all, He chooses twelve men so “that they might be with Him” (3:13-14).  When Jesus returns to his hometown, Mark poignantly adds they, “followed him” (6:1).  In “following Jesus” the young man is acting like a disciple.

He’s “wearing nothing but a linen garment.”  Two “linen” garments are mentioned in Mark.  The other is wrapped around the dead body of Jesus (15:46).  Given Mark’s penchant for symbolic connections, it looks like the linen garment here represents the death Jesus has called his disciples to die.  On the road to Jerusalem, after prophesying his own death, Jesus teaches his disciples,

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.

Dietrich Bonhoffer aptly said, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.”  The linen represents that death.

“He fled naked, leaving his garment behind.” The disciples left everything to follow Jesus (1:14-20, 2:13-14, 10:28).  By deserting him, they left the one thing that still remained – the call to follow Jesus.  The “young man” likewise leaves the linen garment and embraces his nakedness, the biblical symbol for shame (Genesis 2:25, 3:7-11, 9:20-29, Exodus 20:26, Isaiah 47:1-15, Revelation 3:17).

The Disciple Who Embraces It

This isn’t the last word on the “young man” however.  If he’s a symbol of the disciples desertion at Gethsemane, the “young man” at the empty tomb, hints at their future restoration.

He’s “wearing a white robe.”  Note how this man is also described by his attire.  Instead of nakedness or a linen garment, he wears a “white robe.”  The only other mention of such a robe is in Revelation 6:11

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.  They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”  Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.

It’s a symbol for the martyrs.  The first “young man” fled from death.  This “young man” appears to have embraced it.

He is “sitting on the right.” When James and John requested to be seated on Jesus’ right and his left in his “glory,” Jesus turns their attention to the cross and asks them if they can do the same (10:35-40). The position of the two thieves clearly reveals that such places are prepared for those who die with Him (15:27).

He calls the disciples to once again follow Jesus. The young man’s message is simple and direct. “Go tell the disciples and Peter ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see him just as he told you.'”

Why do they have to return to Galilee?

Why dosen’t Jesus just meet in Jerusalem as he does in Luke?

For Mark It’s the place where the disciples were called.  Jesus through this young man is calling them to start over again.  Like His message to the church of Ephesus (Revelation 2:5) “Consider how far you have fallen, Repent and do the things you did at first.”  Jesus continues to go before them.  The only question is will they start over – will they follow – will they follow him this time to the end?

Your Choice

Mark’s sudden ending leaves the call and the failure of the women ringing in his audiences ears.

Will you follow?  Will you?

Jesus is waiting.

What do you think?

Its Resurrection week! And what better way to spend it then looking at some of the ways the gospels draw the Story to a close.  The Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20 is by far the most familiar.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore Go and make disciples, baptizing them in that name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always even to the end of the age.”

Here are three things Matthew does in these few short verses.

1. Making disciples is rebuilding the temple.

Matthew follows Chronicles by being the only other book in the bible to open with a genealogy.  Their endings are likewise similar.

This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you – may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.”

Note the connections.

  1. Universal authority.  Jesus says, “All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me.”  Cyrus, says, “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth.
  2. Orders to go.  Jesus tells his disciples to “go, make disciples.  Cyrus authorizes anyone who wants to build the temple to “go up.”
  3. God’s presence.  Jesus promises his disciples, “I am with you always.”  Cyrus prays that God would “be with” those who go.

The main difference between the two accounts is in the disparity between the building the temple and making disciples.  The difference, however, is precisely the point.  Making disciples, for Matthew, is building the temple.

2. Matthew’s gospel is the teaching that makes disciples.

Jesus’ instruction in Matthew to teach “all that I have commanded you”, refers specifically to his teaching recorded in Matthew.  Don’t forget, Matthew originally circulated alone.  It was likely his readers would know little of Jesus beyond the narrative he provides.

Such a thought seems to be behind Matthew’s writing.  For it appears Matthew copied the gospel of Mark and changed it by adding numerous sayings of Jesus in five major teaching sections.  Each section represents an essential issue/chapter in Christian discipleship.

• Kingdom Living (Ch. 5-7)
• Kingdom Mission (Ch. 10)
• Kingdom Growth (Ch. 13)
• Kingdom Leadership (Ch. 18)
• Kingdom Judgement (Ch. 23-25)

By ending with the call to ‘teach all that I have commanded,’ Matthew reminds us that his gospel is a ready-made manual on how to do just that.

3. Matthew’s five sermons set us up for the Great Commissions ending twist.

Matthew’s five teaching sections are marked by a consistent pattern.  Jesus gathers his disciples, He teaches his disciples and then he departs. Matthew 28 fits the pattern with one surprising exception. Jesus gathers his disciples, he teaches his disciples but just when you expect him to leave he stays.

And surely I am with you always even to the end of the age.

There is no ascension in Matthew. There’s no departure like Luke records. The broken pattern emphasizes Jesus’ abiding presence. Just when you thought he was going to leave, Jesus remains.

What do you think?  What insights have you found in the ending of Matthew?