Wednesday, September 12, 2007

word and voice

I've been spending some time in John's Gospel lately. I love that book. In the first chapter, Jesus is The Word and John the Baptizer is The Voice. Clearly, it is a book about communication.
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2 comments:

Locust-Eater said...

It's my favorite Gospel too. I am also struck by the idea of God's Word as an active agent that goes forth and achieves things. (God called out 'light' to the darkness, and there was light).

Fri Sep 14, 04:30:00 AM 2007
Scott said...

My pastor (and boss), Tim White, is doing a series on John’s Gospel this fall. One of the things he has pointed out is the depth of philosophical understanding and vocabulary in the book. It seems unlikely that a fisherman would have had chops like that.

Tim has offered an explanation that I find quite plausible. By his own admission, his conceptual vocabulary has been significantly expanded by the people he’s had the privilege of pastoring over the years. It’s not a stretch for him to imagine John having had a similar experience.

Tim suggests that as a lifelong pastor, John probably had people in his congregation from all walks of life. It wasn’t just the poor and oppressed that came to the Jesus Way; one of the most amazing things about the early church was its startling diversity – escaped slaves, praetorian guards, the wife of Herod’s financial advisor… It’s not unthinkable that John might have discipled a philosopher or two. And Christian discipleship is meant to flow both directions – it’s not a “top-down” thing. (Because we know what flows downhill…) The Jesus Way is much more of an alongside-of thing.

Sat Sep 15, 10:10:00 AM 2007

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