Gospel of John, Chapter 1

Lately, I've been reading through the Gospel of John, and it's re-awekened my love for Christ. Maybe I should say that it's given me a new and exciting love for Christ. Before, Jesus has always seemed so mysterious and distant, but, reading this Gospel, you can understand why the early Christians believed John the Evangelist to truly be the disciple of Jesus Christ. His love for and closeness to our Lord is unmistakable.

John is achingly beautiful, and the first chapter is his overture. The most mesmerizing poetry is here. "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." All of the most important themes swirl through the prologue, like the swirls of paint in Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Starry Night." As a teacher once told me, "it may seem like chaos, but it's an organized chaos." Similarly, the depth of John's love prevents him from giving a linear, "just the facts" of the Gospel. He has to tell you what Jesus Christ means to him.

And there's nothing I can add to that. You just have to read the prologue for yourself. Anything I could say about it would be putting snow on John's (and the Holy Spirit's) bell.

After the prologue, we see John the Baptist proclaiming the coming of Jesus and Jesus calling his first disciples. I find it interesting that John is the only Evangelist who highlights Andrew and Philip. They pop up later in this Gospel, and both have connections to Greece. Andrew was martyred in Patras, Greece and Philip is a Greek name. This may indicate that John was speaking to a Greek audience.

But let's not get bogged down in historical trivia. "Greek" is often synonymous with "gentile" in the new testament. Thanks to Alexander the Great, Greek was the language of most of the peoples surrounding the ancient Jews. The important thing to remember here is that John is speaking from a universal (or catholic!) perspective. If you know the ins and outs of Christianity and Judaism, that can amplify your appreciation of John, but, what comes through to anyone willing to listen, is that this is a love letter. God bless John the Evangelist.

Note -- if you're looking for a more scholarly commentary on the Gospel of John, I'd recommend Tim Gray's series. You can download it here from the EWTN website.