Prior to this John the Baptist has been preaching and baptising. He proclaims that the one who is to come has arrived, Jesus. He points him out from the crowd saying he is the lamb of God and the spirit of God rests on Jesus in the form of a dove. So far two days have gone by since the introduction of John’s ministry.

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples;

“The next day” so this would be the third day since the start of the narrative. This is important to John’s Gospel framework as he orients everything around days/weeks. The Baptist is standing with two of his disciples. A disciple is a student and John the Baptist appeared to have many based on his influence but the text only tells us about these particular two as they are instrumental in the story as it pertains to Jesus.

36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

The Baptist looks at Jesus as he walked by and proclaims again that he is the Lamb of God. Lambs were used for the Passover meal and for sin offerings in the sacrificial liturgies of the Temple but the Baptist is positioning Jesus as this Lamb.

37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

The two disciples hear John the Baptist say this and decide they will follow Jesus. One of these disciples will be named in a few verses, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter but the other disciple is not named and never is. This would be the Beloved disciple who is John, the Gospel author himself.

This unnamed disciple being John would make a lot of sense as that would explain how he had so much more dialogue of the Baptist’s ministry, because he was literally there. It would also explain his deeper sense of theology than the other accounts, as John the Evangelist’s younger mind was formed by his discipleship of the Prophet John the Baptist, then going on to be a disciple of Jesus whereas the other Apostle Matthew and the other Gospel authors did not have the same depth of philosophical or theological formation.

38 Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”

Jesus, realising that he is being followed, asks the disciples “What do you seek?” these are the first words of Jesus’ in John’s Gospel. Considering his divinity, Jesus already knows the answer to this question, he is inviting them in to explain for themselves. It is probably important from a theological standpoint for this to be the first words that John relays of Jesus. The first thing he asks us is “What do you seek?” A question for all of us, not just the two disciples.

The two disciples respond by calling Jesus “Rabbi” and John narrates for us the meaning of the term “Teacher”. The fact that John translates this term for his audience suggests he expects his readers to not be familiar with Jewish terminology. So he perceives his audience to be mostly Gentile. The question they propose to Jesus is “Where are you staying?” they want to spend time with Jesus beyond their immediate encounter.

39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying; and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

Jesus responds to their question with an invitation. He tells them to “come and see”. Instead of just telling them the location he invites them to come with him in order to see the answer to their question. The disciples came,they saw where he was staying and they remained with him for the rest of that third day of John’s narrative. John tells his audience it was “about the tenth hour”. This would not be 10AM or 10PM as this what not their structure of time. Hours were counted from sunup which would be around 6AM. So the tenth hour would be approximately 4PM. They spent the rest of the evening with Jesus.

40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.

Now John the Evangelist introduces one of the disciples who heard the Baptist speak and followed Jesus. He introduces him as the Apostle Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Andrew is one of the peculiarly named Apostles because “Andreas” does not have an easy to ascertain Hebrew equivalent name unlike his brother “Simon” whose Jewish name was Shimon. Andreas is actually a Greek name, Andrew probably just used it because of his interactions with Greek society more than his fellow Jews, he would be the interpreter between his fellow Jews and Greeks later in their lives.

41 He first found his brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).

The first thing Andrew does is find his brother Simon and he does so in order to tell him that they have found the “Messiah” and again John narrates for us the translation as “Christ”. This is because Messiah actually comes from the Hebrew meshiah which means “Anointed One” The Greek equivalent is “Christos” from which we get Christ.

42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, “So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

Now Andrew brings his brother, Simon, to Jesus. Jesus then looks at Simon and after acknowledging him by his real name “Simon the Son of John” tell foretells the name that he will be called in the future, Jesus tells him “You shall be called Cephas”. Just like with the other Jewish or Aramaic terminologies that would be confusing to a Gentile audience, John the Evangelist translates this for us. He tells us that Cephas means Peter.

The following readings take place after John’s Prologue and the introduction of John the Baptist’s Ministry. The Baptist has been baptising near the Jordan and he has been questioned by the Jewish leadership about whether he was the Messiah. He confesses that he is not but says that someone present who they do not know is greater than he.

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

A lot of the crowd, including the Jewish leadership, assumed that the Baptist was the Messiah or was at least positioning himself to be perceived as the Messiah. The day previous, as this is “the next day” the Baptist says there is one present who he is not even worthy to untie the straps of his sandal. This individual the leadership nor the people know about. To make this clear, the Baptist upon seeing Jesus who is the true Messiah, proclaims before him. “Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the World”.

Sin offerings were a common part of the Jewish liturgy and a lamb was a the standard animal for such a sacrifice. The Baptist here though is pointing toward a man, who is the sin offering himself also instead of a sin offering for an individual or the people, he is the Lamb offered by God himself, to wipe sin from the entire world. These words are so common to us that we regularly do not take in exactly what is being articulated by the Baptist but it is extremely profound. When Abraham and Isaac are on Mount Moriah, Isaac asks “where is the lamb?” His father tells him God will provide the lamb. A lamb of God will be provided.

30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, for he was before me.’

The Baptist continues referring back to his previous statement of one who is to come who he is not worthy to even untie the straps of his sandal. Jesus comes after in the sense of chronology of narrative but he ranks before him and also the existed before him.

31 I myself did not know him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”

John the Baptist says he did not know Jesus, this is referring to them not being acquaintances. This might sound odd since they were cousins but Jesus grows up in Nazareth and John grows up in the wilderness, most likely with the Qumran Community. This means they did not grow up knowing each other despite being cousins.

The Baptist says despite not knowing him this is why his ministry exists, he comes baptising in water so that “he” (being Jesus) would be revealed to Israel.

32 And John bore witness, “I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him.

The Baptist now makes a public declaration of divine revelation. He saw the Holy Spirit descend as a dove and rest on him. The spirit resting on someone is a repeated sign of someone being favoured by God. The imagery of a dove would hearken back to Noah at the Flood, the dove being the bird that shows Noah the type of a New Earth and New Heavens after the deluge, here the true New Heavens and New Earth are in the person of Jesus.

33 I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

The Baptist continues, reaffirming his declaration that he did not know Jesus before this moment, but the one who sent him, which would be God, told him that this sign of the Holy Spirit and the dove would reveal who he was to be waiting for. He will be the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit,

34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

The Baptist gives his witness that he has seen and proclaims that this individual, this Lamb of God, this new Passover, Sin offering, one who baptises with the Holy Spirit is the Son of God.

John begins his Gospel with his Prologue, a sequence of hymnlike creedal statements emphasising the divinity of Jesus and his humanity. Following his prologue John introduces John the Baptist in his ministry, he has previously referred to the Baptist, pointing out his importance in the coming of the Messiah whilst clarifying that he absolutely is not the Messiah himself.

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

John introduces the Baptist’s through an interaction he has with the elders and priests. These are those who operate the Temple cult and occupy or are connected to the governing seats of Sanhedrin, the religous ruling authority of the Jews. The evangelists articulates this as the Baptist’s “Testimony”.

This word in Greek is martyria, coming from the root word martys . Both serve as the origin of the word “martyr”. It means to give an official witness to something but with the advent of the New Testament we see martyr being expressed in the ultimate sense of giving witness with your life itself, not just verbal declarations. The Baptist will follow out this ultimate expression of martyrdom in his defence of marriage against Herod Antipas.

When making a case, you need witnesses and the evangelist is essentially in written form employing the Baptist as his witness. To what is he witnessing? To his own identity. The Levites will ask “who are you?” The Baptist’s fame proceeded him, so much so that Herod feared his influence. This means this question is not to do with the general “Who are you” that you would ask if you did not know someones name but a deeper question in the context of divine revelation. The Messianic fervour in Judea in the first century led many to assume the Baptist to be the Messiah.

20 He confessed, he did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

The repetitive structure emphasizes John’s clarity and unambiguous response. This phrase underscores his integrity and directness in rejecting any claim to be the Messiah. In Greek, the verb for “confessed” (homologeō) implies a public declaration, which aligns with John’s role as a witness. The more you dig into this first chapter of John’s Gospel the more apparent is the desperation on the author’s part to demonstrate that the Baptist is not the Messiah, using the Baptist’s own words as a witness to it. This may seem excessive but when you realise what the Evangelist was dealing with it makes a lot of sense. The Baptist’s fame was massive, he was likely the most famous Jewish figure outside the Temple cult and to this day there are still followers of John the Baptist who reject Jesus called the Mandaeans. After the destruction of the Temple this group would settle in communities based out of Ephesus, where John the Apostle would be the first Bishop. Now his emphasis should be making a lot of sense.

21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

After stressing that he is no the Anointed one who is to come, now the Jews press him on whether he is one of the other significant individuals who were predicted to arrive..They ask if he is Elijah. He answers “I am not” because the substance of the question is ‘Are you the man who was taken up into in heaven in a whirlwind of fire that later prophets said would arrive to make way for the Christ?’ He is not literally this great prophet but he does arrive in his spirit, meaning he carries the mantle of Elijah, just like his successor Elisha did.

Then they ask if he is “the prophet”. This can be confusing with its Mosaic backdrop. Moses promised “the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren” Deuteronomy 18:15. By the Second Temple Period this prophecy was considered to be Messianic by many but based on the questioning of the Priests and Levites they perceive it to be a different figure to the Christ (Anointed one) and the Elijah who is to come. This helps us see the diversity of Judaic belief as it pertains to the Messiah, it was not a unified belief but all of these different beliefs contrast with modern understanding of what Jews actually expected because Modern Judaism abandoned these ideas many centuries ago. John does respond in the negative, he is neither Elijah or the Prophet predicted by Moses.

22 They said to him then, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

The Jews are getting impatient with John and demand him to tell them who he is. They decide to ask by his own words, how does he consider himself?

23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

John responds with the substance of the prophecy itself, he is the fulfilment of Isaiah 40:3. The Jews preoccupations with particular people and identities led them to much confusion and incorrect assumptions so the Baptist cuts to the point. I am the fulfilment of this prophecy from Isaiah, my name is not important, your perceptions are warped.

24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.

The Levites were sent by the Pharisees, the leading faction in Judea. By leading faction I mean purely by membership, they were the most populous group, followed by the Qumran Community, also known as the Essenes. The Pharisees occupied what Jesus calls the Seat of Moses, the rightful teaching authority position of the Jews. The Levites and priests occupied the seat of Aaron if such labelling existed.

25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

They press further on the Baptist, asking if he is not any of the significant figures they are expecting then why is he baptising? Baptism was a ritual purification action used by Jews but in particular the type of baptism John was using was more like the introductory baptisms for proselytes (people being converted) but John was using it on people who were already Israelites. This meant he must be doing something significant. The Baptist also likely came from the Essene community which practised routine baptisms for purification which would have been confusing to the Levites. The general idea of their question is “you’re doing something new, if you’re not a significant figure who has the right to introduce a new ritual, why are you doing it?”

26 John answered them, “I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know,

27 even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

John now looks toward the future by explaining the presnt, “I baptize with water” implying “I baptise with just water” there will be a baptism to come that will be with spirit and fire in the future. He is merely preparing people for this future ritual.

Among the crowds observing this altercation is an individual that unknown to them. He will come after John but will be greater than John. The Baptist tells us that this individual is so great that he, the Baptist, is not even worthy enough to untie his sandals. The untying of sandals was a job for slaves and house servants, the Baptist is emphasising his position in contrast with the one who is to come. He is not even worthy to be a slave to him because he is so great.

28 This took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The precise location of this “Bethany” has been debated:
This is a different place from the Bethany associated with Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, located near Jerusalem (John 11:1). A Many scholars and archaeologists identify this Bethany with a site called Al-Maghtas in modern Jordan, east of the Jordan River. This aligns with descriptions of John’s wilderness ministry (Matthew 3:1).

What follows is the Prologue to Saint John’s Gospel. It is one of the most extensively written about sections of the Gospels because of it extremely deep theology and spirituality. It has been the fount of many contemplatives and theologians through the millenia. It is read several times throughout the liturgical year, especially around Christmas, it was the Christmas day Mass reading and the Gospel reading for the seventh day in the octave of Christmas. John’s prologue is sometimes considered a hymn of sorts, it has the components of both Canticle, Creedal statement and refutation to the earliest of the Churches heretics, the proto-gnostics , who by no coincidence, were VERY active in Ephesus, where John’s See was located. His Gospel and especially its introduction is a love letter to Christ and a rebuke to all those who hate him.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John mirrors the beginning of the Bible itself. Genesis 1:1. In the Beginning, En Arche. John is establishing Jesus as the beginning and the end of all, he does this by calling him the Logos which can made just mean “word” and is translated as such but as we can see we ,typically capitalise it as Word. In the beginning was Logos, Order, a Command, a Way. This Logos was with God and it was God. This is John’s expression of what would come to be known as the Trinity, he does not have the language just yet to articulate it and it would take a few centuries to develop fully but what John is clear about is that it is somehow simultaneously “With God” and “Was God”.

2 He was in the beginning with God;

The Word is now personified by John, it is not actually an “it” but a “He” and He was was in the beginning with God. A person, not an idea or concept as a Logos was typically considered by Greek philosophy.

3 all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

Everything that has ever existed was made through this Person, this “He” who is with God and is God. Nothing that exists was made without him saying so. A person who is with God and is God allows and causes all things to exist.

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

In this person is life, this notion of life is the light of men, that means the light of men known as life finds its very source in the Person of the Logos.

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

This light that proceeds from him and is the light of men shines in the darkness, evil, the absents of good, has not overcome this light. John is writing this after all the atrocities that have occurred including the crucifixion itself, darkness did not win against this light that is the life that was in the Him of the Logos.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

Now John introduces the Baptist as a man sent from God. This officially qualifies John the Baptist as a prophet as the evangelist tells us that God has sent him specifically. He tells us his name is John.

7 He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him.

The evangelist establishes his purpose, to be a witness to this light that has come into the world. He would act as a stepping stone for all others to believe in the light. He would be a human link, like all the Saints are, that connects people to the Christ.

8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.

Clarifying again so there should be no confusion, He is not the light that has been previously described that finds its source in a different “He” that is with and is God. This figure of John the Baptist was sent to bare witness to the light but he is not the light. This may seem like a lot of unnecessary clarification but St John the Evangelist and Apostle, is most likely writing from Ephesus where tradition holds that he lived with the Virgin Mary after Jesus bestowed her upon him at the crucifixion. Ephesus will be a hotbed of proto-gnosticism that found it’s roots in the disciples of John the Baptist that rejected Jesus, they exist today in modern times under name “Mandaeans”. They still reject Jesus but see John the Baptist as the penultimate prophet of God. John the Apostle is making a painstakingly clear rebuke to his audience that this belief is wrong and is actually taking away from the Baptists actual mission.

9 The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.

John the Baptist is a light in a sense but the true light that enlightens every man will be entering the world, people should not see John as the true light as that is someone entirely different.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.

11 He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.

Jesus came into the world, the very world that was made through him but that world does not known him as he is. He was born into a homeland and the people he was born into did not receive him as who he really was. They rejected him,

12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God;

All those that do receive him and believe in his name, which is not just agreeing with him. To believe in a name is take the person into your heart in its entirety to live exactly as they instruct, his name is a symbol of the covenant, to believe in his name is to submit and enter that covenant. By doing this Jesus gives them the power to become children of God. Adam was the last true Son of God, his children would be made in his image but he was made in God’s image. This was lost in the fall. This relationship of sonship to God is being reintroduced in the person of Jesus. This is one of the main reasons for the incarnation, we were too broken so the Word descends to raise us up.

13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

No longer are promises like the old Covenant which were dependent on being born of the right blood or will of men and flesh but a New Covenant through a divine being, through the God-Man, we become born of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

The Word, who is with God and is God and is also a Person, a “he” became flesh and dwelt or tabernacled among us. The witnesses to this, his disciples including the apostle John beheld this glory, the glory that is of him because of his true sonship to the Father in Heaven.

15 (John bore witness to him, and cried, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.’ ”)

The Apostle John now quotes the Baptist directly, the entire prologue of John’s Gospel might seem like high theology couched with what seem like desperate distancing between Jesus as the Messiah and John the Baptist as the witness to him and that can seem odd to us because we already know this very clearly but as I have previously stated we have to understand the context of who John the Evangelist is writing for. The Evangelist is himself a previous disciple of the Baptist before he follows Jesus, based on the Baptist’s own instructions. John the Evangelist and Apostle sits at the crossroads between those who accepted Jesus and those who thought the Baptist was the Messiah himself. He now directly quotes John to indicate to his audience just how clear this distinction is, John himself says he ranks lower than the Word who became flesh, Jesus Christ.

16 And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace.

The Evangelist, his fellow Apostles and the other followers of Jesus have all received grace and the full of the Word by direct contact. They received his fulness from him in the flesh.

17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

The Mosaic Law was given by God through the mediation of Moses, they were guiding points toward the fullness of the future Messiah but now grace and truth itself has arrived and not through stone tablets but through the person of Jesus the Anointed One.

18 No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

John makes clear to his audience that no one has ever seen God, this means all theophanies of the Prophets, what Moses saw when he was “face to face” with God was still just a dim shadow of what God really is. He was condescending to them in these “appearances”. The only Son however, in some manuscripts “The only begotten Son” who is in the bosom of the Father or in the heart of the Father has manifested in his person the appearance of God on earth. When you see Jesus, you see God in fulness that we can comprehend with our senses. It is greater than all other theophanies and manifestations that have occurred.

Chapter 20 of John’s Gospel is the early portion of the resurrection account. Mary of Magdala has come across the tomb, with the rock sealing it now removed, and rushes away to the pillars, Peter and John.

2 So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

Mary of Magdala after seeing the unsealed tomb rushes to the chief apostles, Peter. John, as tradition asserts, leaves out his own name when referring to himself, always saying the other disciple or the beloved disciple. Many reason have been given for this ranging from John’s humility to John wanting the reader to see themselves as this beloved disciple.

Mary tells the partial inner circle of the apostles after seeing the unsealed tomb that “they have taken the Lord out of the tomb”. She does not assume a resurrection, but assumes a safer more “natural” explanation, that someone has stolen Jesus’ body and she and the other women are unaware of where the body has been taken.

3 Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb.

Upon hearing this news from Mary of Magdala, Peter and John go toward the tomb.

4 They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first;

They both run toward the tomb but John, being the younger disciple and perhaps filled with more emotion as the beloved disciple outruns his senior, the apostle Peter. John reaches the tomb first.

5 and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.

John stoops looking into the tomb, he sees the linen clothes lying in there but does not go in. Theologians have suggested that the sepulchre is like a new Holy of Holies and that John, being the immature priest to the senior high priest Peter, is unable to enter despite his zeal.

6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying,

Peter is the first to enter the tomb. He too, after entering, sees the linen cloths lying.

7 and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself.

A separate cloth, which was used a face covering was also seen by Peter. It was not with the other cloths but rolled up separately. This word often gets translated as napkin but the modern connotations of napkin make this seem like a weird choice of words. The Greek word is soudarion which is essentially just a cloth, typically made of linen. It was used to describe a cloth with multiple purposes, and what you translate it as depends on the context. In the case of this verse, it should be translated as face-covering, as that is what it was.

A Jewish burial in this time, require a person to have a cloth folded over them from top to bottom. This was bound with cloth bands. A face-covering was applied to…the face. All these linen cloths were found in the tomb, the facial cloth, separate to the body shroud and the linen bands that bound the shroud to the body.

8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;

John, who actually reached the tomb first but did not go in, now enters after Peter. After he enters he sees the cloths and “believed”. John is letting his audience know that for him, it was this experience that convinced him of the resurrection. The disciples will have later experiences of proofs of Jesus’ resurrection but John wants his audience to know that entering the empty tomb was the moment that sealed his belief.

The Gospel reading for Christmas day is the beginning of John’s Gospel. Why not the Nativity readings of Matthew? Good question. Although much of the focus of Christmas is on the Nativity and it is the traditional day of Jesus’ birth, it acts as an icon of sorts of the true meaning of Advent. Which is our waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus, not just remembering his first. John’s introduction to his Gospel serves as the highest theological statement of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ coming into the world for the first time on the cosmic scale. He does not detail the being born in the manger, but the grander invisible elements of the arrival of the king at the fullness of time. This again points us toward the eschatological Second Coming that we are waiting for.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John mirrors the beginning of the Bible itself. Genesis 1:1. In the Beginning, En Arche. John is establishing Jesus as the beginning and the end of all, he does this by calling him the Logos which can made word and is translated as such but we can see we typically capitalise it as Word. In the beginning was Logos, Order, a Command, a Way. This Logos was with God and it was God. This is John’s expression of what would come to be known as the Trinity, he does not have the language just yet to articulate it and it would take a few centuries to develop fully but what John is clear about is that it is somehow simultaneously “With God” and “Was God”.

2 He was in the beginning with God;

The Word is now personified by John, it is not actually an “it” but a “He” and He was was in the beginning with God. A person, not an idea or concept as a Logos was typically considered by Greek philosophy.

3 all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

Everything that has ever existed was made through this Person, this “He” who is with God and is God. Nothing that exists was made without him saying so. A person who is with God and is God allows and causes all things to exist.

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

In this person is life, this notion of life is the light of men, that means the light of men known as life finds its very source in the Person of the Logos.

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

This light that proceeds from him and is the light of men shines in the darkness, evil, the absents of good, has not overcome this light. John is writing this after all the atrocities that have occurred including the crucifixion itself, darkness did not win against this light that is the life that was in the Him of the Logos.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

Now John introduces the Baptist as a man sent from God. This officially qualifies John the Baptist as a prophet as the evangelist tells us that God has sent him specifically. He tells us his name is John.

7 He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him.

The evangelist establishes his purpose, to be a witness to this light that has come into the world. He would act as a stepping stone for all others to believe in the light. He would be a human link, like all the Saints are, that connects people to the Christ.

8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.

Clarifying again so there should be no confusion, He is not the light that has been previously described that finds its source in a different “He” that is with and is God. This figure of John the Baptist was sent to bare witness to the light but he is not the light. This may seem like a lot of unnecessary clarification but St John the Evangelist and Apostle, is most likely writing from Ephesus where tradition holds that he lived with the Virgin Mary after Jesus bestowed her upon him at the crucifixion. Ephesus will be a hotbed of proto-gnosticism that found it’s roots in the disciples of John the Baptist that rejected Jesus, they exist today in modern times under name “Mandaeans”. They still reject Jesus but see John the Baptist as the penultimate prophet of God. John the Apostle is making a painstakingly clear rebuke to his audience that this belief is wrong and is actually taking away from the Baptists actual mission.

9 The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.

John the Baptist is a light in a sense but the true light that enlightens every man will be entering the world, people should not see John as the true light as that is someone entirely different.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.

11 He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.

Jesus came into the world, the very world that was made through him but that world does not known him as he is. He was born into a homeland and the people he was born into did not receive him as who he really was. They rejected him,

12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God;

All those that do receive him and believe in his name, which is not just agreeing with him. To believe in a name is take the person into your heart in its entirety to live exactly as they instruct, his name is a symbol of the covenant, to believe in his name is to submit and enter that covenant. By doing this Jesus gives them the power to become children of God. Adam was the last true Son of God, his children would be made in his image but he was made in God’s image. This was lost in the fall. This relationship of sonship to God is being reintroduced in the person of Jesus. This is one of the main reasons for the incarnation, we were too broken so the Word descends to raise us up.

13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

No longer are promises like the old Covenant which were dependent on being born of the right blood or will of men and flesh but a New Covenant through a divine being, through the God-Man, we become born of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

The Word, who is with God and is God and is also a Person, a “he” became flesh and dwelt or tabernacled among us. The witnesses to this, his disciples including the apostle John beheld this glory, the glory that is of him because of his true sonship to the Father in Heaven.

15 (John bore witness to him, and cried, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.’ ”)

The Apostle John now quotes the Baptist directly, the entire prologue of John’s Gospel might seem like high theology couched with what seem like desperate distancing between Jesus as the Messiah and John the Baptist as the witness to him and that can seem odd to us because we already know this very clearly but as I have previously stated we have to understand the context of who John the Evangelist is writing for. The Evangelist is himself a previous disciple of the Baptist before he follows Jesus, based on the Baptist’s own instructions. John the Evangelist and Apostle sits at the crossroads between those who accepted Jesus and those who thought the Baptist was the Messiah himself. He now directly quotes John to indicate to his audience just how clear this distinction is, John himself says he ranks lower than the Word who became flesh, Jesus Christ.

16 And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace.

The Evangelist, his fellow Apostles and the other followers of Jesus have all received grace and the full of the Word by direct contact. They received his fulness from him in the flesh.

17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

The Mosaic Law was given by God through the mediation of Moses, they were guiding points toward the fullness of the future Messiah but now grace and truth itself has arrived and not through stone tablets but through the person of Jesus the Anointed One.

18 No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

John makes clear to his audience that no one has ever seen God, this means all theophanies of the Prophets, what Moses saw when he was “face to face” with God was still just a dim shadow of what God really is. He was condescending to them in these “appearances”. The only Son however, in some manuscripts “The only begotten Son” who is in the bosom of the Father or in the heart of the Father has manifested in his person the appearance of God on earth. When you see Jesus, you see God in fulness that we can comprehend with our senses. It is greater than all other theophanies and manifestations that have occurred.

Jesus has been apprehended, brought before the high priest where he is accused and Peter has denied the Lord three times just as was prophesied. Then Jesus is taken from the house of the high priest Caiaphas to the Praetorium to be tried by Pontius Pilate. Pilate asks them what Jesus is guilty of and their response is evasive “If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have handed him over.”, Pilate turns to pragmatism and states they should just judge him under their own law but then they reveal their hand, they want Jesus killed and this seems to spark Pilate’s curiosity and Roman sense of justice.

33  Pilate entered the praetorium again and called Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 

Pilate re-enters the praetorium because he had to go outside of it to talk to Jesus’ accusers. They refuse to enter the gentile governed building because it would make them unclean and therefore unable to celebrate the Passover, the fact they have no such issues with Jesus being thrown in there means they had already made up their mind, he would not be celebrating the Passover and had every intention of having his execution rushed before the dusk of Good Friday. A praetorium is a roman headquarters for the general or commander-in-chief, sometimes they were temporary structures like tents for planning battle strategies or well furnished palaces for council meetings and official business. In the context of Pilate it was the latter and was originally built by King Herod the Great but was co-opted by the Romans.

Pilate proceeds to question Jesus, commentators note that in the Gospels there are three leading charges against Jesus namely sedition, anti-fiscal agitation and claiming to be Christ the King. (Luke 23:2) . Pilate does not seem to be interested in the other charges but is very interested in the one of sovereignty that Jesus claimed. This could be because he was worried about a revolutionary figure behind Jesus’ peaceful exterior or it could be to do with what he thinks his accusers are referring to. Pilate would not understand the divine and spiritual implications of “Christ the king” or “anointed king” but he does understand the worldly framework of Kingship so he asks “are you king of the jews?”

King of the Jews is actually an official title in this time period and was not a title invented by the Hebrews although there were ancient titles like ‘King of Israel’ or ‘King of Judah’. ‘King of the Jews’ is the title designated by the Romans and was the individual that Caesar had extended power to rule the region and population of Judea, hence the name. Herod the Great was the first to receive this title which was ironic since he was neither of noble heritage nor a Jew, he was an Edomite racially, as were his sons. So the Roman perspective of who was King of the Jews had little to do with divinity, ethnicity or even popularity but to do with a legal declaration of the Roman government, enforced by the local prefect who would be Pilate, he is essentially asking Jesus “are you contending the throne?”.

34  Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 

Jesus being fully aware of who has what authority in the mortal framework asks Pilate if it is himself proposing the question or if he is just repeating Jesus’ accusers. This is important, as the governing of this region was under Pilate’s jurisdiction. He has the authority to deal with the political issue of the Roman designated title “King of the Jews” but if he is just repeating his accusers then it has nothing to do with this century old political office. What is interesting about this theory is that when followed to the later passion narrative, Pilate, the Roman authority in the land, will proclaim in Latin, Hebrew and Greek that Jesus is King of the Jews, an office that had been empty since Herod the Great’s death. Jesus is asking “what do you mean by king? if you’re thinking from your perspective, no. If you’re asking about what the Jews are saying then, yes.

35  Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me; what have you done?” 

Pilate answers Jesus’ question with another question. “Am I a Jew? as if to say, “do I look like I understand your religion? I do not understand what it is your own people are accusing you of” This lets us know that Pilate was just repeating the accusers and is letting go the position that Jesus might be contending the legal office designated by the Romans. He says Jesus’ own nation and chief priests have given him over to him for judgement but finds the accusations unintelligible so he asks Jesus himself “What have you done?”.

36  Jesus answered, “My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingship is not from the world.” 

37  Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.”

In order to answer Pilate’s question in verse 35b, Jesus does what he does best. There is no separation between who he is and what he does. So instead of giving a long list of what he has done Jesus says exactly who he is. He establishes that his authority does not come from the world, which is where all other authority comes from. He cements this statement by saying if it were of this world, it would act like the other authority structures built from the world i.e. the use of violence. “My servants would fight”. He then completes his response by repeating the declaration that his authority, his kingship, is not from this world. Just like many throughout his ministry, Pilate is unable to understand a king outside of the worldly framework. So in verse 37 Pilate proposes the question “So you are a king?” and Jesus responds with “You say that I am a King”. Jesus responds this way as if you say “that is the highest way you can understand it”. Since Pilate is limited in his comprehension Jesus elaborates further by saying “For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.” The truth is interpreted as God’s will. Jesus’ very incarnation (For this I was born) and his ministry (come into the world) is to “bear witness” to God’s will. The Greek word this phrase is translated from is Matureó which means to To bear witness, testify, give evidence, affirm that one has seen, heard, or experienced something. Jesus is not from the world but came into it, he is to affirm the authority of God and the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. His very earthly existence and actions are to be the sign of God’s dominion on earth itself. We always forget that up until this point the earth has been drawn up into principalities and dominions by God himself.(see Deuteronomy 32) The incarnation and kingship of Christ is to be the conduit through which all humanity is reunited with God, the authority not from this world.

“Pilate, surprised at an avowal of kingship of any kind, asked: ‘Art thou a king then?’ The answer given by Jesus is Yes. He is a Teacher-King, born and present in the world to proclaim the royal authority of truth. ‘Every one who is of the truth (joined to it by the filial sympathy of true goodness, cf. 3:21) heareth my voice’, i.e. obeys me.”

Leonard, W. 1953. “The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St John.” In A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, edited by Bernard Orchard and Edmund F. Sutcliffe, 1012. Toronto; New York; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson.