Reading the Gospels Together The Storyline of John’s Gospel – Part 2 So, as we turn to John’s storyline we will need to observe the same things as we have with each of the other gospels. Where does the action take place? What indications of time are provided by the writer of John? How are the character developed? All of these are important as we trace John’s storyline. So let’s begin. We have noted how each of the gospel writers begins in their own distinct way. John is perhaps the most unusual of all. John begins with a theological claim about Jesus and about God. John introduces his readers to someone he calls the “Word” and then goes on to tell them that the “Word” was with God from the beginning and, in fact, the “Word” was God. John then tells his readers that at a particular point in time this “Word” became human – “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us!” This is a very bold theological claim by John. We soon learn that the “Word who became flesh” is Jesus. So John is claiming and telling his readers that in Jesus the very being and presence of God dwells, yet Jesus is a human being. John wants his readers to know that at one and the same time Jesus is both God and human. John is not saying that Jesus is God some of the time and human some of the time. No, Jesus is always both Divine and human. John is not saying that Jesus is somehow 50% God and 50% human. No, Jesus is 100% God and 100% human. John begins his gospel by introducing his readers to what we might call the God-man. God and humanity are dwelling as one in the person of Jesus. All of this, of course, presses our minds to the edge and perhaps over the edge of understanding. We are finally not able to explain how this can be – John does not attempt to explain either, but he does tell his readers in the first ending of his gospel that he has written his gospel that we might believe in the God-man and that believing in him will mean life. In one sense this theological claim rests outside the actual story. In another sense this claim is essential to the story. John wants his readers to know from the very beginning that Jesus is unique – that Jesus is the God-man. Of course none of the participants in the story know this. One of the main tasks of Jesus will be to reveal this to his disciples and to anyone who is willing to be drawn to God. If one were to look at the big picture of the storyline of John’s gospel that storyline can be summed up by saying that John tells the story of Jesus who comes from God and returns to God whose work is to make God known to those who believe in Jesus. But we need to trace that storyline more carefully.