John's Story Series

The Story Starts Here

Advent Series

Part 4: John 1:1-18

Introduction:

Here we are just three days from Christmas…I hope you’ve gotten most of everything done by now. And this is the fourth and final message in our Advent Series…in which we’ve been taking a look at how each of the Gospel writers chose to introduce Jesus to the world.

So…why? Why keep looking at these stories year after year? Haven’t we told these stories enough? Well, no. We haven’t told these stories “enough”…you can’t tell these stories “enough”. Fact is that outside of the Christmas season, and more specifically, outside of the Church, you’re gonna hear these stories little, if at all.

Look…the stories you don’t tell will be the stories you forget. The untold stories are the ones that aren’t passed on…they represent ideas that are no longer important. The stories you stop telling will no longer frame your worldview. Other stories will begin to slip in to fill the empty spaces…and they’ll frame your worldview. So, we keep telling these stories year after year because the stories themselves matter and shouldn’t be forgotten. We keep telling these stories because we want them to continue to frame our worldview.

We’re going to tell these stories yet again because if we don’t do it here, where will it be done? If we’re not reminded of the purpose and significance of Jesus’ arrival here, in this place, then where will we be reminded? If you don’t hear it from this pulpit, then who will you hear it from?

In all of the craziness of these last few days before Christmas, and in our observations of the holiday itself, we need to be reminded of what matters most. And what matters most is the fact of Christ’s advent and the purpose of his advent. That’s what each of the Gospel writers told the story for; to establish the fact of Jesus’ coming and the reason for Jesus’ coming. We’re hearing these stories again…one final time…so that we don’t lose sight of what Christmas is about for us.

So…in each message we’ve learned a bit about how each of the Gospels have a unique way of introducing Jesus to the world, how each introduction was shaped by the author’s audience, and the way each author wished to represent Jesus’ character. John’s Gospel is different in that his intention isn’t to provide a synopsis of Jesus’ life but to help his readers understand Jesus in connection with the God of Israel, and how Jesus fulfilled the role of Messiah of Israel. So, you could say that John’s focus is theological and Christological…and it makes the Gospel of John the most profound and thought provoking of the Gospels.

This is deliberate, not accidental. You see, this book is probably John’s swan song; the last thing he is to write before he passes from this life. He’s a very old man by the time of this writing, and he’s thought very deeply about Jesus for a long, long time. He’s the last of the twelve…he’s even outlived the later apostle, Paul. He’s endured exile to Ephesus, banishment to Patmos, and now he’s back in Ephesus again. In all this time and experience since he first was called to be a disciple, Jesus has been his primary thought…for around 60 years.

Now, let’s add to the context the knowledge that Jerusalem has been destroyed. The entire Roman province of Judea had been put to fire and sword by the Roman army due to a massive Jewish revolt. Before the revolt, persecution of the followers of Jesus by the priestly elite had resulted in Christians being scattered from Jerusalem.

Then, the revolt itself found followers of Jesus being killed by Romans because they were Jewish, and being killed by the revolutionaries because they refused to bear arms. So, another wave of Christian exile occurred…with the country we now call Turkey becoming home to thousands of fleeing Christians. Ephesus became a center for these refugees, and that’s probably why John was based there.

It’s in this period that the Jewish followers of Jesus experience the rejection of Jewish religious authorities more than ever before. Jewish Christianity starts to be treated as something quite different from the evolving rabbinic Judaism, with Jewish believers in Jesus being expelled from synagogues with some frequency. In some communities, feelings against Jewish Christians were running high. All this means that John’s audience is probably 2nd generation Jewish Christians who are experiencing…not only the hostility of their Gentile neighbors…but also the hostility of those with whom they shared ethnicity, culture, language, customs, and worldview.

Everything except belief in Jesus as the Messiah. So, John writes his Gospel…filled with theological musings about the person and work of Jesus Christ…so that they, these 2nd generation Jewish Christians, would “believe and have life in Jesus name.”