Week 39 John
Each of the gospels tells the story of the Lord Jesus.
Different writers. Different ideas. Different points-of-view. Different objectives. It makes common sense that they’d be a bit different. If they were all the same I’d only need one. In spite of their differences it’s surprising to me that Matthew Mark Luke are as similar as they are. And then comes John.
John is different. Different enough that if I was on a flight to Mars and I could only take two gospels John would have to be one of them (for me it would be John & Luke. But whatever…one would have to be John).
John seems to think along different lines than the other three. Not on a completely different wavelength, and not to say the first three gospels aren’t unique. But I think MM&L are unique and similar. John has taken the less-travelled road. Sure…he has the same hero with the same awesome talents and the same fateful finale followed by the same oh-man-what-a-relief! revival. But all along the way there’s subtlety and novelty and singularity and originality.
Three songs written in a major key and then the fourth in a minor.
Three guys shooting baskets at one end of the court…the fourth one making free-throws alone at the other.
John’s gospel story is a great one. But I know I’m in the deep end of the pool right from the start.