Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

John 1:19-28

The Gospel of John exhibits what is called a ‘high christology,’ that is, Jesus’s divinity is very clear. A tricky thing for the first generation of Christians was the matter of Jesus having been baptized by John the Baptist. How curious, the God-Man being baptized by a human being. While the three synoptic gospels live with this conflict, John actively works to neatly solve the problem. In the fourth gospel we don’t actually read about Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist. In John’s gospel John the Baptist isn’t even compared to the great prophet Elijah, in contrast to the other gospels (see Matthew 11:14 and Luke 1:17). 

I share these few thoughts to point to the complex world behind the gospels. Our stories give us a glimpse into the past -- or bring the past into the present -- but not always the whole story. Sometimes it is helpful to think of the world in which the gospels were written: the smell of fish in the air, the feeling of frustration at the ruling Roman authorities. We should also include the theological issues that were handled by the writers of the New Testament. It seems that for a mystic like the writer of the fourth gospel, historical facts (or historical questions) were handled in a way to express the greater theological truth of God as revealed in the person of Jesus. Our heads tend to mash up all four gospels into a single story, in similar fashion to how Christmas pageants combine Matthew and Luke’s accounts. But careful reading will make us more sensitive to the many voices in the Bible. Their differences and contradictions aren’t simple mistakes or oversights; the scriptures were very carefully crafted and edited. Instead, they reflect the many personalities and traditions at play, all witnessing to an experience of a God who is active in history.

- Matthew Kieswetter