Four Gospels

By Rev. Neal McLaughlin

John 1:14 The word became flesh and his dwelling upon us.

We as people need to communicate with one another through verbalization, gestures of the hands and face or in some form of communication.

Unless we demonstrate who we are, what we believe, how we live and the talents of which we are blessed no one will ever truly get to know us and we will forever remain a mystery.

This also holds true for our Savior! God would have remained a mystery if He had not broken His silence and spoke once; bringing all creations to life upon this earth.

Then when He spoke a second time, His words took the form of man…and The Book of John relates this story of the word in flesh.

When we begin to read the Book of John we can plainly see in the first few paragraphs that John has broken sharply from the styles of Mark, Matthew and Luke.

While the other disciples focus on the events surrounding Jesus as well as telling of His trek throughout the marketplaces and villages; we find that John approaches his writings from a different perspective.

Instead of focusing on the facts of Christ, John assumes that we are familiar with these already, so he writs his story as he had contemplated the profound meaning of Christ and highlights the nature of Christ.

Absent from John’s writings are the mention of Christmas, stables, the Shepard’s, wise men. He actually introduces Jesus as an adult; omitting any mention of His birth and his youthdom.

As we further explore the gospel of John we can se that he ahs selected roughly about 20 days in the life of Jesus and set them so that the presented Christ as one who “knows where He came from and where I am going.” (8:14)

Upon further exploration we find that the overall rhythm of John is that he is stating that Jesus did not simply fall to earth but was sent to do the work of His Father.

According to the Gospel of John; he includes Jesus in the original creation of the Earth but was sent later as the Word to walk among us speaking in a way that we could truly understand.

Many New Testament Christians use the gospel of John as their learning tool as John has taken the basics of faith and wrote them in a clear and concise format. His Gospel also lends credence to who Jesus is and what he has done.

John has also selected seven ( not mentioned prior) signs and miracles and has woven them into a story that conveys their message as well.

Although the Gospel of John is considered to be different in many aspects, the reading of Matthew, Mark and Luke are still vital to the understanding of the Word.

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