Sunday, Jan. 23 Class Notes

Judith led the class.

I. We had a discussion about the fact that over 90% of John is unique to this Gospel. Some of these items are…

§ Jesus as the Creator

§ Jesus as the “only begotten” of the Father

§ Jesus as “Lamb of God”

§ Jesus turning water into wine

§ Jesus’ conversations w/Nicodemus, the woman at the well, & the woman caught in adultery

§ Jesus raising of Lazarus from the dead

§ Jesus washing the disciples’ feet

§ Jesus’ teaching on the coming of the Holy Spirit

§ Jesus’ high priestly prayer (John 17)

§ Six of the 8 miracles recorded in the Gospels

§ The “Upper Room Discourse”

II. Look for these characteristics in the Gospel throughout our study…

§ Dualisms (contrasts)

§ Conversations and discourses

§ “Signs”

§ “I am’s”

§ Confrontations w/”the Jews”

- Hogan’s question

§ “His own”

§ Movement to/from Jerusalem

o To for festivals

o From when someone’s after him?

o Minimal Galilean ministry

III. Word of God

We had a lengthy discussion about what the Word of God meant as written in the Prologue section of John. I think we came to the conclusion that it was a placeholder for the power, knowledge and love God gives to the world that is beyond our ability to describe in language. Hence, “word” is a symbol or placeholder for something beyond our earthly ability to describe. The word comes form the Greek “logos”, which means “word.”

IV. Beginning of John

John does not start with an earthly genealogy of Jesus or a birth narrative. Rather this Gospel suggests Jesus was with God at the beginning of time. It then moves to a witness of Jesus in John the Baptist. We discussed why John the Baptist put in here by the Gospel writer. We concluded it was probably to have an earthly time marker, since we know when John the Baptist preached.

We also note that John the Baptist witnesses the descending dove on Jesus when baptized. And, John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the coming messiah, a witness to the true identity of Christ.

There was also a spirited discussion of the role baptism played if at all in ancient Hebrew faith and what role it plays today. Follow to this post to find more depth on the matter.