Saturday
Saturday
John, Part 2—Jesus the Giver of Life
These [signs] are written 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 20:31
John tells us that his ultimate purpose in writing his Gospel was that his readers might receive life through Christ. In order to receive life from Christ, they must believe in Christ, and in order to believe in Christ, John has selected certain signs that bear witness to Christ. Thus testimony leads to faith, and faith to life.
Indeed, John sees his Gospel primarily as testimony to Christ. It is almost as if his Gospel were a court scene and Jesus Christ were on trial. A succession of witnesses is called, beginning with John the Baptist, and the trial continues with seven miraculous signs, each of which is a dramatized claim.
1. Jesus turned water into wine, claiming to inaugurate a new order.
2. and 3. Jesus performed two healing miracles, claiming to give a new life.
4. Jesus fed five thousand people, claiming to be the Bread of Life.
5. Jesus walked on water, claiming that the powers of nature were under his authority.
6. Jesus gave sight to a man born blind, claiming to be the Light of the World.
7. Jesus raised Lazarus from death, claiming to be the resurrection and the life.
Yet there is another side to John’s witness to Jesus. The seven signs, recorded in the first half of his Gospel, are signs of power and authority. In the second half of his Gospel, however, John records signs of weakness and humility—first in the washing of the disciples’ feet and then in the cross, which John sees as the glorification of Jesus.
To sum up, John’s Gospel is in two halves: part 1 is the Book of Signs, and part 2 is the Book of the Cross. But in both, throughout his Gospel, John is bearing witness to Jesus in order that his readers may believe in him and so receive life from him.
For further reading: John 20:30–31; 21:25