This is only the Introduction of author’s Commentary on
Gospel According to John. Full text is 50 pages.

Gospel According to John

by Philip G. Roets STL, SSL

JOHN’S GOOD NEWS: REAL LOVE IS SERVICE c. 125 A.D.

PRENOTES to Understand this Gospel.

This Gospel story is traced to the teachings of John, the Apostle. He was a boy in his early teens at the time he was chosen by Jesus as a member of the select 12. The other members of the twelve were all a bit older. However, they were not old men as artists often depict them. They were all in their late teens or early twenties, just a few years younger than Jesus was. He had waited until he was thirty years old to start his public work as itinerant preacher and teacher. John was recognized as the favorite of Jesus from the very start but this was clearly not a matter for jealousy or envy on the part of the others.

John and his brother, James, were called (in Greek) “Boanerges” by Jesus. This nickname means “sons of thunder.” The phrase indicates that they were very active persons and wanted to get things done, no matter who is stepped on in the process. John was also called the “beloved disciple” or “apostle of love.” This is a reference to the key point of his message about Jesus and the Christian way of life. Everything centers around the true notion of a life of total love.

FIVE WRITINGS.

John has been the source of five writings in the New Testament. One is an encyclical letter addressed to the Christian communities of Asia. There were various heresies among them and they were on the verge of a break-up. The letter presented a summary of various Joannine themes: light, justice, love, and truth. John stressed that these truths had to be brought into the lives of the people in order to fulfill their faith in Jesus Christ and their love of each other. This letter is the closest to the Gospel in style and teaching. It may have been written about the same time and might even have been a sort of outline or preamble to the Gospel. This letter is followed by two short notes. (Chronologically, the two notes probably appeared first.) The fourth writing is called “The Apocalypse” or, in the Latin translation, “Revelation.” Finally, we have this Gospel.

Note: I would also add the Letter to the Hebrews to this Joannine tradition. This is my opinion based on the internal similarity between the teachings of this letter and the known writings of John.

CREATION -- NEW CREATION SEVEN DAYS -- SEVEN WEEKS.

There is no doubt that John was primarily interested in salvation and the Christian life as the NEW CREATION. The original account of creation was presented in Genesis as the SEVEN DAYS of creation. John developed a picture of the SEVEN WEEKS of the New Creation. In the first creation story, Yahweh spoke and all things sprang into being. It was the creative Word of God that gave rise to the universe.

John started out from this point and then quickly, in a prologue or an introduction, showed how Jesus was the full manifestation of this creative word in the new creation.

SIGNS.

John had a Semitic mind and therefore he would follow the Semitic form of history. He was interested in the facts and details of the life of Jesus only insofar as they taught or brought out a certain point. In fact, John used the Greek word “semeion” for the deeds of Jesus. This word means “sign” or “symbol.” John did not say how these actions took place. He told us what they meant in the teaching of Jesus and should mean in the life of every follower of Jesus.

COMPARISONS, NOT CONCORDANCES.

To say the least, John’s account of the life of Jesus is different from the other three and should be read separately. When all the gospel stories have been read independently, then the reader can make comparisons. However, a reader should never be so foolish as to try to write a Gospel CONCORDANCE in which all the Gospel stories are sandwiched together. This procedure only succeeds in destroying the beauty and value of each of the four gospels. It would be like taking four masterpieces by Michelangelo, mashing them all together, and then saying we have a masterpiece. We would have destroyed all four in the attempt. A concordance of the Gospels does the same to the four Gospels.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN.

“According to...”
The Greek uses the preposition “kata” which means “according to” rather than the preposition “dia” which means “by.” The word choice was deliberate. In Greek, if you say a writing is “by” a person, it means that this work, exactly as it is, came from the pen of the person named. Whereas if you say that it is “according to” a person, it means that the ideas are in harmony with his ideas but not necessarily in his exact words. So “according to” is telling us the ideas go back to John as the source of their authority but he did not necessarily say or write them exactly as they are gathered here.

DIVISION OF GOSPEL.

John 1:1-18. Jesus is the Creative Word of the New Creation: (BARA).

Chapter 1:19-2:12. First week: Precursor: Faith in Jesus Begins.

Chapters 2:13-4:54: Second week: Temple Cleansed; Nicodemus Comes; Samaritans Believe.

Chapters 5:1-6:71: Third week: Lord of Sabbath; Bread of Life; Peter Believes.

Chapters 7-8-9: Fourth week: Light of the World.

Chapters 10-11: Fifth Week: Good Shepherd; Lazarus Raised from the Dead.

Chapters 12-19: Sixth Week: Love Is Service: Courage Is Demanded. Good Fruit: Father’s Love: Our Father:It is Complete! (“TETELESTAI”)

Chapters 20-21: Seventh Week: I Send You! Receive the Breath of the New Creation.

PROLOGUE: FROM THE BEGINNING. John 1:1-18.

This part of the Gospel should be read after the whole Gospel has been carefully read. It is the prologue or preface and, like any good preface, was written after the whole work was finished. Then the authors knew exactly what they had written and the particular slant they stressed.

This preface gives the basic notion that the creative Word of Yahweh is the source of all creation, and Jesus Christ is the personification or manifestation of this Word in all its fulness. Yahweh is known as the Father throughout this Gospel. Jesus Christ is known as the Son of God.

Remember: this story was being written in the light of the Old Testament as fulfilled. The key notion about the People of God in the Old Testament was that the whole People was the SON OF GOD. Later, in the 11th century B.C., when the Kingdom was fully established, the term referred to David as King. The King was to personify the SONSHIP of the whole people. However, the title was allowed to slide into the background as the kings became progressively more self-centered and immoral. In the age of the Wisdom writers, the truly “WISE PERSON” was called the “Son of God.” When Jesus came, the term “Son of God” - in its full sense - is truly manifest.

Confusion and the imagination of theologians.
The whole notion of the Trinity, three persons in one God, the two natures in the one person of Jesus, the divine rank of the Holy Spirit: these are all questions that were imagined in the minds of later theologians. These led the teaching church off into alleys and side streets, rather than staying on the main roads. There were - and are - lots of detours, long treatises, oodles of opinions and hot air that were and are of little value in living a life according to the gospels. To follow Christ, live the gospels. That is all the information you need.

“IN THE BEGINNING...”

This phrase is the opener for both John and Genesis. This choice of words was deliberate for the writers of John. But the phrase does not mean the same thing in both places. In Genesis, “in the beginning,” means at the first moment of time. In John, the phrase means before all time, in a beginning that never had a starting point.

Literary form of John: PARABOLA:
Here is a short note about the literary format of much of the writing of John. It is called the “PARABOLA.” The parabola is a figure of speech that looks like an urn. Like an urn, the whole unit rests on the base and then fans out in all directions. The Prologue is composed as one of these parabolas. It would be divided in this manner.

John 1:1-2: God’s Word.

John 1:3: Creative Word.

John 1:4-5: Life: light in darkness.

John 1:6-8: Line of prophets to John.

John 1:9-11: Word not known, not accepted.

John 1:12-13: Power to become Children of God.

John 1: 14: Incarnation.

John 1:15: Baptism.

John 1:16: Death.

John 1:17: Resurrection.

John 1:18: Ascension.

The Word Was. The Word Was with God.
The Word Was God.

Here we have a clear statement of the identity of the Father and the Word. And we have a clear statement of the distinction between the Father and His Word, and the equality between them. The Gospel story as it unfolded, made this mysterious introduction clearly understood. Jesus Christ was this Word. He was this human being who lived, taught and died here on earth in a given time. He was the person who embodied this Word so perfectly that he established the second creation and left it as a heritage for all people to come. The Prologue did not intend to explain this statement. It merely stated the most basic truth of the life of Jesus Christ as John presented it.

Through this Word all creation came into being, and not a thing was made apart from it. Through this Word as manifested in the ideas, ideals, and actions of Jesus,-the second Creation- would be established. And the world would reach its “TELOS” or completion.

What was the effect of this Word on the whole of creation? All beings had their life in him. His life was a light for men so that they could penetrate the darkness, and the darkness could neither surround nor block out the light.

Notice how this paralleled the first account of creation. Darkness wrapped everything in its shroud. God said: Let there be light! And light shone everywhere as darkness was pushed out of the way. Then we were told how this light touched every human being in a special way in the Word. The significance of Jesus, as the Light of the World and the manner in which his followers were to continue this light, would be thoroughly developed later in the Gospel.

John the Baptist is singled out as a person SENT by God, as a WITNESS to LIGHT, so that everyone might BELIEVE through him. John was not the light itself but a witness to the light.

This short description is a summary of the work of all the prophets from Elijah to John. These men were impelled by their convictions to preach to their contemporaries to get ready for and accept the presence of God. They were all witnesses to the light - in the sense that they tried to lead their contemporaries out of the darkness of sin and idolatry into the light of God. Now John the Baptist, as the last of that line of prophets, was to point out Jesus who proclaimed himself as the LIGHT OF THE WORLD. John was the herald of the Light that would remove the darkness from the world and let the New Creation be seen.

Background information:
I think a note about John Baptist and Jesus should be inserted here for the modern readers. John Baptist and Jesus were cousins since their mothers were cousins and very close friends. Jesus and John were together much of the time. John was a serious-minded boy and felt that something should be done to bring the people back on track in their relation to Yahweh. Jesus and John discussed these ideas constantly. Then John decided to go public with his ideas of reform. He began his work and was well received by the people because he was critical of those in authority and pointed out their failures and faults.

Six months after John began his career, Jesus appeared and started his work. This fourth Gospel said nothing about these details since they were all known by the first Christians. I think they are background ideas that have to be remembered.

In general, said the Gospel, the reaction was hostile. People did not accept what Jesus offered. But to all who accepted him, who truly believed in his name, he gave the power to become the real children of God. That is, he established the BROTHERHOOD of MANKIND in the FATHERHOOD of GOD. And this great blessing started the moment that Jesus was conceived and born.

This Word became flesh and “pitched his tent among us.” Then we can look on the favor and plan of the Father because Jesus was the full personification of both.

Finally, a contrast was made between the work of Moses and the work of Jesus. Moses was great but his contribution was the Torah, which primarily imposed the burdens of Law on mankind. The Torah said, “Don’t, Don’t.” Jesus was the personification of the favor and full plan of the Father, and we shall see and feel both in our union with him. Jesus would give only one command and that was “Love each other and share with each other!”

There are a lot of “givens” in this short note about the Joannine Gospel. The rest of the Gospel is devoted to developing the details.

We need a couple more prenotes before we can get into the Gospel proper. First there is the word, “BARA,” the second word of Genesis. It is translated “create.” Then the word “create” is explained from the philosophical or theological point of view as meaning “production from nothing.”

The word “bara” is a lamed-aleph verb from the Aramaic. This means it belongs to a class of verbs in Hebrew in which the last of the three radicals is aleph. Literally, the word is an Aramaic noun, “Bar,” that has been turned into a verb. “Bar” is the Aramaic word for “son.” �ra,” the verb, means “to beget a son.”

Now put this notion into the Genesis story and the origin of all things. It reads: “In the beginning, God begot as a son the heavens and the earth.” The writer was not telling us how things came to be. He didn't know any more than we do, today. The writers were interested in telling us the MEANING of all things as they came forth from the hand of God. In contrast to the pagan gods, Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, wanted to be seen as a Father. The chosen people were his SON. All things on earth in the plan of Yahweh are to manifest his FATHERHOOD and the whole of the universe is to become the brotherhood of man in the Fatherhood of God.

Take this information into the Prologue of John. Jesus was the full manifestation of the Word of the Father in the new Creation. He established the Fatherhood of God in the Brotherhood of mankind. The whole concept of love permeates the Joanine writings. Jesus’ whole message is summed up in these words: “By this shall all men know that you are my followers in the love that you have for each other.” (J.13:35)

The sincere love of Christians for each other is the way in which the family of mankind, the Fatherhood of God, and the happiness and holiness of all people are to be established on earth.

In order to bring this tremendous utopia into being, each person must have strong FAITH. Here again, make sure we understand the notion as Jesus used it rather than as it comes to us from philosophy and theology.

The Hebrew word for Faith is “AMEN.” You have heard this word used over and over again in the course of every liturgical gathering. People sing, say, croon and shout their “Amens” - literally “I believe!”

Belief or faith in the Biblical sense is a four-step process. It involves: understanding, conviction, commitment, and follow-up (action).

When someone says “I believe in forgiveness,” he/she is expressing a strong order. He/she says:

“I UNDERSTAND” all that is involved in forgiveness. I realize all the duties it imposes on me.
I AM CONVINCED of everything that I understand about forgiveness.
I AM COMMITTED to expressing this forgiveness in my life and my contacts with others at all times.
I FOLLOW-UP my convictions by the way in which I live with other people and express my forgiveness for their faults and failures.

This thorough four-step notion of Faith will run through the whole Gospel according to John. It is far more than a mere babble of words which says I give some kind of intellectual assent to what is being said. Faith, in the Biblical sense, is THE EXPRESSION OF A PERSON’S WHOLE LIFE.

FIRST WEEK OF NEW CREATION. John 1:19-2:12.

As we said above, the 7 weeks of the new creation parallel the 7 days of the old creation. This first week gives us a story about John the Baptist as the Forerunner of Jesus, the calling of the first of the twelve apostles, and the wedding feast in Cana where the groundwork for the faith of the apostles was laid.

JOHN BAPTIST;
MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD. John 1:19-34.

“THE JEWS” -- We start this passage with a word used often in John. He referred to “the Jews.” In John’s gospel, the “Jews” were the religious authorities among the Jewish people who were hostile to Jesus from the beginning. They are called the “Jews” because this is a translation of “Judaei,” the members of the tribe of Juda. It was the tribe of Juda who had control of the southern part of Palestine and especially Jerusalem. They were despised and hated in the time of Jesus because they controlled all the money that was received by offerings and tithes. They in turn looked upon all other members of Israel as second-class citizens. They had a special dislike for the people of Galilee and Nazareth.

WHO IS JOHN?

They had one big concern: Who was this John to whom people were flocking and about whom they were raving? Was he the Messiah? Was he Elijah returned, as was a popular expectation? Was he The Prophet, the special one who was to come just before the Messiah? To these questions, John said “NO.” He was not any of these special people.

The delegates of the leaders were frustrated. They could not return empty-handed so they tried to put pressure on John. “Who are you then? We have to have an answer to take back to the people who sent us! What do you have to say about yourself?” John answered this: “I am as Isaiah said, ‘A voice crying in the desert: Make straight the way of the Lord’.”

This may not seem like an answer but it is filled with meaning. First of all, John said he was the FORERUNNER. This was a particular role that had to be carried out in the life of any important person.

Background information:
There were no real roads in the area. When an important person came, he was usually carried on the shoulders of some of the men in a sort of sedan chair. If the roads were crooked, filled with dips and hills, the person would be bounced from side to side in an undignified manner. It would certainly not be in keeping with his importance.

So the forerunner (precursor) went to all the villages along the route and told them to send out their road crews to level off the hills, fill in the low spots, and straighten out the sharp curves. Then the road would somewhat befit the dignity of the person coming.

John said he was this precursor. He was out in the desert and telling everyone to prepare the “WAY OF YAHWEH,” “Yahweh’s road.”

The men who had come to John were sent by the Pharisees. They did not know what John was talking about. So they asked again, “If you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor The Prophet, then why are you baptizing?”

Again, to understand the import of the question, you have to remember what baptism meant and how it was done. Baptism was a complete submersion of a person in water. The meaning was that the person was removing all connection with his/her former life and becoming a totally dedicated follower of this particular person.

So, if John was not one of these important people, why was he attaching all these people to himself? John explained himself clearly. He pointed out that he was baptizing people only in water. There was an important person living among them, far more important than John. In fact, says John, I would not even be allowed to be the servant at the door who washed the feet of the guests who were coming to the banquet. Such a servant was considered the lowest in the household. John said I could not even hold this position in relation to the important person who was already here.

“The next day ...”

Jesus approached John. John called out “Look! THE LAMB OF GOD, he who is taking away the sin of the world. This is the one of whom I said: ‘There is a man coming after me who is greater than I because he existed before me. And I did not know him but in order that he be manifested to Israel, I have come baptizing in water.’”

How did John the Baptist know Jesus and know that he was coming? We know this from Luke’s account. Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Elizabeth, the mother of John, were cousins and close friends. Mary had been with Elizabeth for three months during her pregnancy and stayed until the birth of John. John and Jesus were only six months apart and would have spent a lot of time together. Both boys were unusually bright and deeply instructed in the Law. They had discussed their ideas many times. John started his work six months in advance of Jesus and knew that Jesus was coming soon.

In this first part of John’s testimony there are points of importance:

1: Lamb of God,
2: take away sin of the world,
3: pre-existence and greater rank,
4: manifest to Israel,
5: baptize in water.

1. Lamb of God.
In the Bible, the lamb is always a sacrificial victim. So John was saying that Jesus was the special sacrificial victim to be offered to God.

2. Take away the sin of the World.
This sacrifice was an atonement sacrifice but it would be different in that it was offered to remove the guilt of all sin. This was clearly a reference to the sin of mankind as committed by the parents of mankind in the Garden of Eden. In some way, the guilt of this sin would be removed once and for all by this sacrifice offered by Jesus.

3: Preexistence and Greater Rank.
Jesus outranked John in dignity because his mission existed before John's and gave meaning to the mission of John. John's mission was truly preparatory.

4: Manifest to Israel.
John was to point out Jesus and his mission to the people of Israel. He did this by calling for complete loyalty to himself and his teaching that lead them to the teaching of Jesus. John's teaching was basically one idea “METANOIA” - a complete change of outlook or mentality, turning from the path of sin and destruction to the path of holiness.

5: Baptize in Water.
John continued: “I saw the Breath come down upon him from heaven in the form of a dove and remain on him. I did not know him myself but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me: ‘The one on whom you see the Breath descending and remaining on him, he is the one who is to baptize in the Holy Breath. And I heard and I have testified that this is the Son of God.”

Background information:
I did not translate “To Pneuma” as the Spirit, yet. This is deliberate. I think the parallel with the first creation story continues. We have the description of the origin of the First Man or Adam. He was a lump of clay, molded by God, and then God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” and he became a living being. Then Jesus came. He would be the new Adam. His life would be publicly inaugurated shortly. This inauguration would be manifested in the appearance of the “Holy Breath.” This meant, as I see it, the Father would “breathe” into Jesus, and this Breath would remain permanently with him. This Breath would make him the New or Second Adam and he would recover the heritage lost by the first Adam. Then Jesus would “baptize in this Holy Breath.” This means he would do the work of the new or second creation for all who would accept him.

Secondly, there was a DOVE as a symbol. This refers to the Noah story. When Noah wanted to know if it was safe to leave the Ark, he sent the Dove and it returned with the olive branch in its beak. Noah knew the waters were almost subsided and soon they could be back on dry ground.

John concluded with the words that Jesus was the “Son of God” or the “Chosen of God.” The phrase varied in the manuscripts and both ideas have strong merit. “Son of God” would stress that God was Father and wanted to establish the brotherhood of mankind in Jesus. “Chosen of God” would stress that Jesus was fulfilling this aspect of Israel. They were the people specially chosen to prepare for the coming of Jesus. Jesus was the fulfillment of this quality of “CHOSEN.”

YOU ARE THE BEDROCK. ANYTHING GOOD FROM NAZARETH?
John 1:35-51

John the Baptist had referred to himself as a forerunner. His role was to point out Jesus and then John was to disappear. Now we begin to see how this would be accomplished.

Two of John's followers were with him. Jesus passed and John looked pointedly at Jesus and said: “Look, there is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples caught the implications. Jesus was someone they were looking for. In some way he was the atonement victim, or the lamb of sacrifice. They were curious and so they started to follow Jesus.

Who were these two men? We are told that one was Andrew, brother of Peter. The other was John, the apostle. As they followed behind Jesus, suddenly he turned and said, “What do you want?”

The question seemed to have startled them. They blurted out the first idea that came into their heads. “Rabbi, (which means Teacher), where do you live?” Jesus answered, “Come and see.” John said it was about 4:00 in the evening and they stayed with him the whole night.

There is no doubt about the impression that Jesus made on these two. Andrew went immediately and got his brother Simon. Andrew told Simon that they had found the Messiah and took Simon directly to Jesus. When Jesus saw Simon, he gave him the new name, Kephas, which means Bedrock. It is translated into Greek as “Petros” and comes to us in English as “Peter.” Jesus recognized from the very start the kind of man to be found in Peter, and immediately pointed out what he would help in his work as Messiah.

The next day, Jesus was walking along and he saw Philip. Jesus said simply, “Follow me.” Philip was from the same town as Peter and Andrew, Bethsaida. So it would have been easy for him to follow along and listen. Philip had a close friend, named Nathanael. He told him that they had found the person whom Moses and the Prophets were talking about. He was Jesus, son of Joseph, of Nazareth. Nathanael's reaction was one of disdain. “Can anything worthwhile come from Nazareth?” Philip didn't know how to answer so he said simply, “Come and see for yourself.” (Nathanael was probably the Bartholomew of the Synoptics)

Philip and Nathanael walked up to Jesus. When Jesus saw them, he says of Nathanael, “Now here is a real Israelite in whom there is nothing of deceit.” Nathanael was amazed. “How do you know me?” he asks. Jesus answers, “Before Philip came to call you, I saw you under the fig tree.”

Nathanael was really caught up with this statement. He said in amazement, “Rabbi, you are really the Son of God, the King of Israel.” Jesus said, “Don't make too much of the fact that I saw you under the fig tree. You are going to see a lot more than this. You will see the heavens opened and the messengers of God ascending and descending above the Son of Man.”

This was a reference to Genesis and the story of Jacob when he was on his way to find a wife. (Gen. 28:10-17) This incident in the life of Jacob was seen as the foundation point of himself as Israel, the founder of the Chosen People. By referring to this Old Testament scene that every Israelite would know by heart, Jesus was clearly referring to himself as the founder of the New Israel, the new People of God.

Following the format of the first week of the New Creation, we are told that the next incident took place three days later. We come to the Wedding Feast In Cana. We are told that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was there. Jesus also had been invited. Joseph was not mentioned. This leads us to believe that Joseph had already died.

A wedding feast usually lasted for eight days. People were invited and needed to bring nothing along. They could expect the host to provide the place to live, the clothes, the food and all the necessities for the entire week. The greatest disaster in a person's social life was to have a shortage of anything so that the guests had to do without.

It is important to note that John brought Mary, the mother, into the public life of Jesus, twice. At the beginning here in Cana, she drew the attention of Jesus to what was needed and took it for granted her son would help out in the situation. At the foot of the cross, at the end of his life, Jesus entrusted John to Mary as a son, and Mary to John as his Mother. However, he addressed her in both cases as “WOMAN.”

This was really unusual until you recalled the parallel with the story of the first creation. Eve was the first “WOMAN.” As such, she had been instrumental in the introduction of the first sin or failure. Jesus was presented as the Second Adam and Mary was addressed as the Second Eve. She would cooperate in the plan of salvation and thereby, compensate for the failure of the first woman.

This comparison, so clearly made in John, is the basis for all the recognition that Mary has received among Christians since that time. It is true, some of the so-called devotions have gotten carried away, but the basic respect for Mary in the plan of salvation, is simply a carry-over from the example of Jesus and the practice of the first Christians.

Now read this incident at Cana. Jesus and his first apostles were present. There was a good possibility that the couple did not know that these men would be coming with Jesus. They could have been part of the cause for the shortage of wine because they were not counted ahead of time. Mary walked up to Jesus and said: “They are running out of wine.” Jesus’ response sounded abrupt. “Woman, what is that to me and to you? My hour has not yet come.”

It certainly sounds surly. It surely sounds like a refusal to do anything because he had no obligation. But Mary knew her son. She went right over to the servants and said: “Whatever he tells you to do, do it.” Mary did not know what he would do but she was sure he would do something to alleviate the embarrassment.

There were six stone water jars standing there, intended for the ritual washings that went with the celebration. Each would hold from 20 to 30 gallons. Jesus told the servants to fill them with water. They did as told. Then Jesus told them to take some of it to the steward of the feast. He was the man in charge of the whole celebration.

The steward tasted the water that was now wine. He had no idea where it came from but the servants did. When he tasted the wine, the steward proclaimed: “Usually, people serve their best wine first. Then, when people have been drinking and their taste buds are a bit dulled, he serves the cheaper wine. But you have kept the best wine until now.”

Now John summed up the main reason for his telling the story. He said: “This the first of his SIGNS Jesus worked in Cana, Galilee. He began to manifest his glory in order that his disciples (the apostles) would begin to believe in him.”

It is true that the action of Jesus saved the young couple from social embarrassment. But in the plan of Jesus, his purpose was to inaugurate or engender the faith of his apostles in him. John said the apostles began to believe in him.

Then John said they left the feast and went back to Capernaum with his mother and relatives and stayed a few days.

That is the first week of the new Creation.

To summarize:

1. John the Baptist was presented as the last of the prophets of the Old Law and the first of the prophets of the New.

2. John was the bridge between the Old Israel and the New Israel who was Jesus and he pointed out Jesus as the New Israel.

3. Jesus gathered the first of his special followers, the twelve apostles. The number twelve was a special fulfillment of the 12 tribes in the old Israel.

4. Jesus was clearly pointed out as a Sacrificial Lamb in some kind of atonement sacrifice.

5. The importance of Mary in this work of Jesus was as the New Eve who made amends for the failure of first Eve at the beginning of time.

6. The faith of the apostles in Jesus began at this time.

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This is only the Introduction of author’s Commentary on
Gospel According to John. Full text is 50 pages.