"Love follows knowledge."
"Beauty above all beauty!"
– St. Catherine of Siena

Friday, December 27, 2013

Faith Filled Friday: Feast Day of St. John the Evangelist

All four Gospels are great in their own way, but I have to say I have a special affection for that of John’s.  For me it transcends. 
 
Today, December 27th is the Feast Day of St. John, the author of the fourth Gospel and a couple of epistles.   Here are a couple of his famous passages.  All quotes taken from the NAB translation.


I love the poetry in the opening first chapter.
 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.  What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

A man named John was sent from God.  He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.  He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.  The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him.  He came to what was his own but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.

And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.

John testified to him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’” From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.

            -John 1:1-18

And then from the 18th chapter you get this intense moment when Jesus is brought to face Pontius Pilate. 

Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium.  It was morning. And they themselves did not enter the praetorium, in order not to be defiled so that they could eat the Passover.  So Pilate came out to them and said, “What charge do you bring [against] this man?”

They answered and said to him, “If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.”  At this, Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.”

The Jews answered him, “We do not have the right to execute anyone,” in order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled that he said indicating the kind of death he would die.

So Pilate went back into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?”

Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”

Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants [would] be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”

So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?”

Jesus answered, “You say I am a king.  For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

                        -John 18:28-38

But we know the answer to that.  John has presented it in the 14th Chapter.


And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.  Where [I] am going you know the way.”

Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you know me, then you will also know my Father.  From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

                        -John 14:1-7

 
“I am the way and the truth and the life.”


 
 

2 comments:

  1. I forgot to respond to this last week- I was going to say that although my longtime favorite gospel is that of Luke, in this new year I was going to actually study John, as opposed to just reading it again.

    If you never heard another thing out of the bible, the first five verses of John would almost be enough to set your faith.

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    1. Oh that's great. John's Gospel is my favorite and I would be interested in your study. Perhaps you could post some of your thoughts on your blog. By the way, this was in spam again. I'm going to have to check spam on a daily basis.

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