The Therapeutic Bible - The gospel of John: Acceptance • Grace • Truth

John 1

The Word of Life

¹ In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

1.1 In the beginning. As we turn to God, we are drawing near to someone greater than us, who is not mortal like us, who already existed before us, and will continue existing forever — in other words, an extremely solid foundation on which we can lean. This eternal God came in contact with us, and continues communicating Himself to us, through the Word that became a human being, the Word that became flesh. Word. A delicious richness of the biblical text can be savored here, as Evaristo Miranda explains: In Greek, word is logos, spiritual source of reason, discernment, intelligence, and wisdom. The Word of God, in Hebrew davar, is a feminine word that also means bee. It is the Word that nourishes like bread and honey, luminous food that sustains the traveler in the desert. John the Baptist, the man of the inspired word (davar), prophet, lived in the desert (mi-davar), nourishing himself with the energy of the bee, dvora. For every moment of life, even now, we can be sustained by the word of God, which inspires us and directs us to God's presence.

² From the very beginning the Word was with God.

1.2 was with God. To introduce Jesus, John returns to and amplifies the message of Gn 1, where, since eternity, the one who is the Word (the Divine Word) already existed. He was with God and was God. The author of life and the light of men lovingly bonds himself with humanity. He comes from eternity, appears in human time, incarnates himself, and makes history with us, calling us to his companionship in the eternal future.

³ Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him. ⁴ The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to people.

1.4 source of life. What is life? What is your life? The answer will be found in Jesus; he brings light to our existence.

⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.

1.5 darkness. There is a kind of cosmic struggle involving the person and work of Jesus on earth. Ever since humanity chose not to believe in God, humanity, along with all of nature, lives in a kind of darkness, and is overpowered by it all the way to death. Jesus was sent by God to reverse this situation and make it possible for God's light to ultimately shine over a freed humanity. John here makes it clear that the darkness has lost the struggle to the light of Jesus.

Family in God's Family

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⁶  God sent his messenger, a man named John, ⁷ who came to tell people about the light, so that all should hear the message and believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came to tell about the light. ⁹ This was the real light—the light that comes into the world and shines on all people.

¹⁰ The Word was in the world, and though God made the world through him, yet the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him.

1.10-11 did not receive him. Jesus was excluded: Jesus also endured the experience of being despised by those who should have recognized him, of being rejected by his peers, of no one believing him.

¹² Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God's children.

1.12 did receive him. The Word is the living expression of the incarnation and renews the covenant between God and humanity. Ever since the incarnation of the Word, those who received him became part of the family of God. We could say that the sons of God possess the DNA of the incarnate Word. Jesus was not accepted by the majority, but by some who received him; in these, a very powerful process took place — they were transformed into children of God, because they believed who Jesus was. Here we encounter the most extraordinary and necessary transformation possible for any person. No one becomes a child of God by natural means, i.e. it is not reincarnation, or a second birth from a human mother and father, but another kind of birth: taking Jesus into one's inmost being and following him on the way to glorious eternity. See the box Family in God's Family (Jn 1).

¹³ They did not become God's children by natural means, that is, by being born as the children of a human father; God himself was their Father.

¹⁴ The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father's only Son.

1.14 became a human being. The God who is friend and present in the world with humanity is a fundamental point in Christianity, especially remembering that the pagan gods did not draw near to human beings, unless they wanted to exploit and humiliate them. For the pagans, divinity could not be a friend, because it would thereby not be considered true divinity. The Judeo-Christian God is friend, is near, because this is his fundamental characteristic, coming to live at our side, to feel our drama, our pains, our bewilderment. The incarnate Word possessed the same human feelings, such as: agony (Lk 22.4), hunger (Mt 4.22), sleep (Mt 8.24), compassion (Mt 9.36), anger (Mk 3.5), anguish (Jn 12.27), tears (Jn 11.35), fatigue (Lk 1.35), thirst (Jn 19.28), rejection (Mt 26.69-74; Jn 6.66), and death (Jn 19.30). When you face any of these feelings, or similar ones, remember that Jesus, the Lord of life, has also experienced them. and lived among us. Literally, pitched his tent among us. God came to live with us so that we could go live with him. The idea of living together with God through Jesus is very strong in this book, especially here in the beginning: Jesus is the house of God, present among us. The question that John's disciples posed (v. 38), the reference to Bethel, house of God, in v. 51, the temple as my Father's house of that time (2.16) and its substitution by Jesus’ resurrected body (2.21), as well as the final promise to prepare a place for his disciples in the Father's house (14.2) — everything expresses God's intention in sealing an intimate and permanent relationship with his children through Jesus. It is an authentic relationship, without staging or ulterior motives, which only those who live together can experience. We saw. The eternal God, omnipresent since before creation, became a human being, visible to us, and only thus could he also become the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (v. 29), this sin that inhabits all of humanity since Adam and Eve. the glory which he received as the Father's only son. The greatest glory of the Divine Word is not his miracles, but his personality, his lifestyle, the quality of his relationship and the fruits of this relationship in the lives of those who draw near to him. His cures were as much body as soul, of feelings, of attitude facing life; this was what stood out most to all those who were healed. This is his glory: to change the soul, the attitude of people. grace and truth. Only the Son of God can show that these two sublimities work well only if they are together. Love (or grace) without truth would create a great situation, but imaginary, unreal. Truth without love does not construct anything good; it would only serve to destroy (because it would only reveal our imperfections). But Jesus is able to transmit the truth in a loving, gracious, non-judgmental way, and is able to be helpful and merciful without hiding the truth. We have here a beautiful example to guide us in our relationships: truth always with love, and love always with truth.

¹⁵ John spoke about him. He cried out, This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘He comes after me, but he is greater than I am, because he existed before I was born.’

1.15 he is greater than I am. From the beginning, John knew very well what his place was, and was content with it. It is John the Baptist, and not the Pharisees, who served as a perfect example of transition between the Law and Jesus Christ, between old and new covenant.

¹⁶ Out of the fullness of his grace he has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another. ¹⁷ God gave the Law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

1.17 the Law … but grace and truth. Here John makes it clear how important Jesus is, to the point of inaugurating a new era, celebrating a new covenant between God and humanity. He also makes clear the superiority of this new relationship, because Jesus is the only one who has seen God, and shows us as he is (v. 18). See the box Old Covenant and New Covenant (Jn 1).

¹⁸ No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

Old Covenant and New Covenant

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John the Baptist's Message

(Matthew 3.1-12; Mark 1.1-8; Luke 3.1-18)

¹⁹ The Jewish authorities in Jerusalem sent some priests and Levites to John to ask him, Who are you?

²⁰ John did not refuse to answer, but spoke out openly and clearly, saying: I am not the Messiah.

1.20 I am not the Messiah. John the Baptist reveals great maturity and knowledge of his limitations, avoiding a fall into the temptation of making himself more important that he really is. Both Messiah and Prophet (in the sense of Moses' promised successor) were titles that would fit Jesus Christ. Elijah, perhaps the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, would return to precede the Messiah, and this was a role that John the Baptist would truly fulfill — it would not be false of him to respond affirmatively to this title. But since he was not a reincarnation, and John was a different person with his own story, he humbly and sincerely replied, I am not. In this way, John the Baptist serves as a model for all servants of Jesus.

²¹  Who are you, then? they asked. Are you Elijah?

No, I am not, John answered.

Are you the Prophet? they asked.

No, he replied.

²² Then tell us who you are, they said. We have to take an answer back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?

²³  John answered by quoting the prophet Isaiah:

"I am ‘the voice of someone shouting in the desert:

Make a straight path for the Lord to travel!’"

1.23 the voice of someone shouting in the desert. Just as John prepared the way for Christ, this is also our mission. We are preparers of the way of Christ where we are: in family (sometimes the most difficult place), at work (perhaps more by the quality of relationship than by our words), at leisure, at church (where, like family, oftentimes we encounter more difficulties than we anticipate).

²⁴ The messengers, who had been sent by the Pharisees, ²⁵ then asked John, If you are not the Messiah nor Elijah nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?

²⁶ John answered, "I baptize with water, but among you stands the one you do not know.

1.26 baptize with water. John the Baptist, the most complete representative of the old covenant, completed his mission by preparing the way for Jesus, the Messiah. This preparation happens through the conscious awareness that we are sinners, through the necessity of a change, of repentance — and that is what baptism with water represents. So, in awareness before God of the problem of their sins, people become ready to receive the Messiah, who saves us from our sins and even grants us the life of children of God, through baptism with the Holy Spirit (v. 32). See the box Sin and Salvation in Jesus (Jn 3).

²⁷ He is coming after me, but I am not good enough even to untie his sandals."

²⁸ All this happened in Bethany on the east side of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing.

The Lamb of God

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

1.29 the Lamb of God. In the Old Testament, the sacrifice of a lamb was necessary at various important events. Beginning with the ram that God provided for Abraham in place of his son Isaac (Gn 22), passing to the slaughtered lamb for the first Passover, whose blood freed the Israelite children from being killed along with the children of Egypt (Ex 12), and continuing to the Law of Moses, where daily lamb sacrifices took place (Nu 28), along with special sacrifices such as those on the Day of Atonement (Nu 29). Jesus encompasses all of these sacrifices and materializes, once and for all, the death that pays for the sins of the entire world. Even in heaven Jesus will be described as the Lamb who was slain (Rev 5.6). who takes away the sin of the world. Using the same frankness with which he responded to the Pharisees, John the Baptist speaks clearly about just who is this one that God has provided to save humanity from its great problem: sin. According to Jewish law, the sinner, in order to be accepted by God, had to kill an animal (generally a lamb or a goat) and offer it in sacrifice. With this phrase, John the Baptist affirms that God sent Jesus to fulfill, definitively, the function of this lamb that will be sacrificed for the sins of humanity. See the box Sin and Salvation in Jesus (Jn 3).

³⁰ This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘A man is coming after me, but he is greater than I am, because he existed before I was born.’ ³¹ I did not know who he would be, but I came baptizing with water in order to make him known to the people of Israel."

John the Baptist, Prophetic Personality

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³² And John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and stay on him. ³³ I still did not know that he was the one, but God, who sent me to baptize with water, had said to me, ‘You will see the Spirit come down and stay on a man; he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

1.33 baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Water baptism was relatively common, signifying a public confession of faith. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was an absolute novelty, just like everything that was being said about Jesus: it represents the essential difference between the old and new covenant, an indispensable condition to have eternal life and enter into the kingdom of God (Jn 3.5-6). the son of God. The Jewish people knew, as the saying goes, like father, like son, that to be the son of God meant to be equal to God.

³⁴ I have seen it, said John, and I tell you that he is the Son of God."

The First Disciples of Jesus

³⁵ The next day John was standing there again with two of his disciples, ³⁶ when he saw Jesus walking by. There is the Lamb of God! he said.

1.36 There is the Lamb of God! With this clear preaching about Jesus, John the Baptist has just transferred the majority of his audience to Christ. Good service to God could not have a better objective than this: to direct people to stop following us and begin to follow Jesus (v. 37).

³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this and went with Jesus. ³⁸ Jesus turned, saw them following him, and asked, What are you looking for?

They answered, Where do you live, Rabbi? (This word means Teacher.)

³⁹ Come and see, he answered. (It was then about four o'clock in the afternoon.) So they went with him and saw where he lived, and spent the rest of that day with him.

1.38-39 Where do you live, Rabbi? To this introductory question, Jesus offers an opportunity for a close relationship to be experienced. The invitation Come and see demonstrates his openness to being known, to showing himself. Indeed, it has been demonstrated that when people intend to have a significant personal relationship, this type of openness is necessary. Jesus proposed an up-close and personal contact, in a familiar, relaxed environment, in which subjectivity could flow from a place beyond formal conversations. The guests accepted the invitation, came, and apparently, liked the reception and stayed with him for some time (at least, Andrew became one of his twelve disciples). four o’clock. Literally, the tenth hour, which would be 4pm in Hebrew time, or according to Roman time — which may quite possibly have been used by John — 10am (which would allow for a much longer time of approximation).

⁴⁰ One of them was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. ⁴¹ At once he found his brother Simon and told him, We have found the Messiah. (This word means Christ.) ⁴² Then he took Simon to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, Your name is Simon son of John, but you will be called Cephas. (This is the same as Peter and means a rock.)

1.42 Simon … Cephas. Jesus recognizes our first and last name, and does not deny it. But his influence can be so great that he ends up adding a new name. We can expect great changes in our life when we begin to follow Jesus.

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, Come with me! ( ⁴⁴ Philip was from Bethsaida, the town where Andrew and Peter lived.) ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, We have found the one whom Moses wrote about in the book of the Law and whom the prophets also wrote about. He is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.

⁴⁶ Can anything good come from Nazareth? Nathanael asked.

Come and see, answered Philip.

1.46 Can anything good come from Nazareth? In facing the prejudice he encounters about Jesus, Philip does not resort to arguments, nor does he accuse the speaker of disrespect. Instead, he invites him to a life experience — Come and see! This seems to be the most effective form of overcoming barriers that separate people and also indicates to us that contact with Jesus can be direct and personal, without intermediaries.

⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, he said about him, Here is a real Israelite; there is nothing false in him!

⁴⁸ Nathanael asked him, How do you know me?

Jesus answered, I saw you when you were under the fig tree before Philip called you.

1.48 How do you know me? As we draw near to Jesus, we can have assurance that he already knows us.

⁴⁹ Teacher, answered Nathanael, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!

1.49 Son of God, King of Israel. In this first chapter alone, there are about 25 different names and descriptions of Jesus Christ. It is worthwhile to take a look at each one, because there is so much to learn about Jesus.

⁵⁰ Jesus said, "Do you believe just because I told you I