John

John was a son of a man who operated a successful fishing business in Galilee.

All the Gospels portray John as one of the inner circle of the disciples, with Peter and James.  They also portray him as ambitious and volatile!  It is John who whispers with his brother James about ways to gain the chief places in Jesus’ coming kingdom.  And it is these same two who earn the nickname “Sons of Thunder” by their eagerness to call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village to avenge an insult.  Like many successful individuals, John seems highly competitive and achievement-oriented.

But this same John is also “the disciple Jesus loved,” and who becomes known through his writings as the Apostle of Love.  John’s Gospel and his three Epistles uniquely lift up love, not only revealing the love of God for us, but also that love for others which is to infuse the life of every believer.  How beautifully John’s own personal transformation testifies to the truth of his teaching.  Jesus is the Son of God.  One of his most notable miracles was to take the volatile, self-centered John and transform him into the tender and sensitive person we know through his writings.

 

 

 

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  John 1:1-5

the Word — what does this mean?  While I don’t understand everything.. seems to be a fundamentally good news.  talks about who made me, the world around me.  he’s light of all mankind.

light, hope, and life vs. darkness, despair and death

God was there from the beginning and he is the light for us. Light can be mine and darkness cannot overcome the light in me.  I want to have these passages with me all the time until they become mine.  my knowledge & bread of life.

I want to understand.  want to know Him.