John.

Through studying the gospels in this new way, reading them front to back and looking for a purpose or theme to present itself, I’ve found a lot of intention in the three synoptic gospels that had never really occurred to me. Their differences are subtle but important.

I noticed the disbelief of the apostles and the perfect faith of God portrayed in Mark. In Matthew God renews his covenants and fulfills his promises through Jesus. And in Luke, Jesus’ love permeates through to everyone in the world and the details of his ministry are revealed.

But John is entirely different.

In each of the synoptic gospels, we see something new about the person of Jesus and the nature of God. And each week I’ve pointed out some way to relate the ministry of Jesus on Earth to my own life.

But John just doesn’t seem quite as concerned with letting us know what Jesus was like when he was here. I don’t get a very clear picture of what kind of a guy he was or what he taught people from reading this gospel. There are hardly any of his parables represented here. But in what is represented, there’s a whole lot of meaning.

In fact, I want to focus on a set of stories in John that seem to hold a particular amount of meaning: his miracles.
Personally, I have always struggled with the meaning of Jesus’ miracles. I’ve questioned why they’re significant, whom they affected, and even how they’re possible. For a while I never even considered accounts of Jesus’ miracles to be literal or possible even accurate.

In the other three gospels in particular, they’re represented in groups that make it difficult for the reader to understand the answers to these questions. It seems like Jesus just goes around healing people when they ask him to, and he heals a lot of people but not everyone. It’s always made me ask questions.

Like, “What’s the point?”

If Jesus really did have the ability to heal anyone he wants to, then why didn’t he heal everybody?
Why would God have allowed disease into the world if he were just going to come down and rid us of it as much as he can?

What’s the point of allowing us to have free will if Jesus is going to heal all with ailments?

And, most prevalently: How is it possible for a human being to be literally healed from blindness in a matter of seconds? Why hasn’t this happened since then? How can a basket of fish feed 5000? Jesus’ miracles make no sense.

And in the three synoptic gospels, I don’t feel like these questions are answered to the extent that they are in John’s gospel. John isn’t concerned with what kind of a person Jesus was, he’s concerned with what kind of a Christ he is. What does it mean to be messiah? What does it mean for a human being to be fully divine? These are questions John would have been interested in exploring through his gospel.

And in the context of John’s recollection of miracles, I think he is a lot more intentional about portraying them. There are far fewer, and an additional story accompanies each one.

I’m not going to go all the way into each explanation and all the significances John presents through miracles, but I will say that it’s helped me to understand more fully why and how Jesus would perform these amazing acts. John comprehends that being the Christ means being fully human and fully divine. It means that he heals broken people when they profess their brokenness. He understood the ways of this world and his ministry reflects that.

And the image of Jesus as Christ and Messiah is humbling.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.