I’m looking again at the personal spiritualities of the writers of scripture. Considering how their unique relationship, and identities with Jesus affected their language, emphases and the particular aspects of The Father they revealed, which we can tap into through their writings and lives.
Daniel, for instance, had a passion to know The Father’s Mind and Patterns, and he and God were intimate; John was very close passionate friends with Jesus Himself. That was his motivation for tracing into the Mystical aspects of who His Friend Jesus was, is and will continue to be!
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
“..and the darkness has not overcome it!”—Here, John is stating a fact; sort of bragging on Christ–The Light. The darkness is here, but its not been able to overcome The Light–Jesus. John is so close to Him, that he can speak this way without being arrogant. John implies: My Friend here is undefeated! Even the darkest evils cannot overcome Him. So this is another aspect of His credentials. John who knew Him in physical form, also sought Him out in metaphysical or cosmic trans-historical form. Just like you desire to know everything about a new friend, so John wanted to know Jesus’ past and present and future! John knew the Jesus at the start and at the end. He traced into Jesus’ Being, because John could not leave His side-even into the heavenly realms. Because of this desire to fully know Jesus’ whole life, John could not just have a few years with Jesus–he wanted to know everything about Him. He wanted to know His whole trajectory, and The Father granted Him that knowing!
So John speaks from that place of knowing the whole Christ. He pours out his words to convince, to invite, to even channel Jesus’s Life. He is impassioned by the being of his Friend, and wants to convince the whole world that they too must meet this Person! This is why he is able to start his words with, “In the beginning…” This had not been done since Genesis! Here John goes, starting to paint an image of His Friend from the beginning! John, this intimate witness, is the ultimate evangelist! For he knew Jesus in the flesh, but also stayed with Him before and after–there is this image of Jesus in and beyond his words, that gives us a picture of the Cosmic Christ. The One with the Father in perfect union before the world existed! John kept leaning into Jesus to know who He was before He came to earth, and what He would do then within earth’s history. John’s motivation was his intimacy with Jesus–I won’t leave you; so I will go beyond this world to find out your past and your future. And that wild passionate intimacy makes John’s writing extremely different than the other apostles!
Each apostle had a unique motivation coming from their personal spirituality with Jesus. And these streams come out from their personal relationships with God; and each of us touches into these on some level. We tend towards one or the other depending on our own relationship with Jesus; but there are clear streams especially coming from Jesus most intimate apostles. These core relational symbols are worth understanding. In this, the apostles, symbolized ways of relating to Christ. It’s not rigid, but rather more like streams or ways of communion.
John’s is motivated by close proximity. He wants to stay glued to Jesus regardless of circumstance–even space and time. He wants to know the Word that was with The Father at the beginning. He wants to know The Word coming at the end as well. He wants to teach of the sustainer of all being metaphysically, who happens to be his personal friend. And in this he models for us what life in Christ is to be.
John is like a lover of Jesus. And this stream leads into some of the highest revelation in all of scriptures! Something worth noting. He is not just in love with Jesus’ teaching–but Jesus Himself as a person! Now, look what types of writings come out of this core motivation in his spirituality. Wow!
