John 20:30-31 (NIV)
Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John concludes the main part of his gospel with a disclaimer: he didn’t include everything that Jesus said or did in his gospel. Instead, he focused on those signs and miracles that he found significant in building his own faith, and that he believed would help build the faith of those who read it later.
Every gospel writer had a focus, and agenda out of which each chose the events that were included in their gospel. The gospels were not designed to be biographies of Jesus in the modern sense. Instead, each writer included or omitted events or teachings depending on their purpose.
Matthew, for example, structured his gospel around five main discourses of Jesus, and focused on Jesus’ identity as the Jewish Messiah. Mark copied down what Peter taught and focused most strongly on the miracles Jesus did and a few of his key teachings. Luke focused on a historical presentation of Jesus’ life and ministry, replete with events and personages that anchor the events of Jesus’ life into their correct historical moments.
John wrote his gospel long after the other three gospels were written, after they were already in wide circulation. As the last living apostle, by the time he wrote, he had had five or six decades to process and meditate not only on what Jesus said and did, but on the deeper significance of His words and actions.
John didn’t include most of the things that the other gospel writers did, not because they didn’t happen, but simply because they had already been written down accurately by the other writers and were already widely known. In fact, outside of the resurrection, the only miracle John included that was already in the other gospels was the feeding of the five thousand. But even in that, John’s focus is not on the miracle itself, but on the meaning of it as contained in Jesus teaching that He delivered afterwards.
John organized these previously-unwritten-about miracles around seven signs, miracles that Jesus performed that proved to John, and that he believed would be persuasive to other as well, that Jesus was the Son of God, the eternal Word, the Savior, the Lord. He also includes several “I Am” statements that Jesus made which clearly identified Jesus’ mission and identity.
John knew that no amount of miracles or statements would persuade those who were determined to reject Jesus, people like the majority of the members of the Sanhedrin. But for those who were open to receiving Him, those signs and teachings, recorded by a reliable eyewitness, would be persuasive. And for those who already believed, they would provide confirmation of the faith that they already had in Jesus.
Father, it is true that for those who have determined to reject Jesus, no amount of information about Him will prove effective in persuading them. But John’s eyewitness account of Jesus’ words and actions, as well as his own mature reflections on them that he included in his gospel, really do help us to see Jesus more clearly. Thank You, Lord, for his faithful testimony. Amen.
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