A BIG MAN IN A LITTLE BOOK

“Because of this the rumour spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; He only said, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?’

“This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for all the books that would be written.” John 21:23-25.

What a strange way to end his story! It’s almost as though John could not think of anything more to say, so he ended with a rather weak statement which could possibly fit any other busy and famous person.

First of all, it seems that John had a perfectly good reason for including his bit about the misunderstanding that Jesus’ words had spawned. The story became twisted in the telling, like most stories do, and John needed to correct it because the rumour that had spread that he would remain alive until Jesus returned would set off a chain reaction among believers. They would give up on life and sit around waiting for Jesus to rescue them from the evil world. That was never Jesus’ intention.

What about the final paragraph? Was it just an inane statement to end the book because John didn’t know what else to say? At face value it might seem like that, but let’s look at his declaration.

“Jesus did many other things as well.” John had so much material to work with, written records, perhaps; memories that he treasured from his years in the company of Jesus; little incidents that took on new meaning as he thought about them. He had plenty of time to ponder on the many things he had seen and heard. He must have felt overwhelmed at times as he wrote and wrote about this amazing man.

Without a set purpose for writing, John would have got lost among the mass of material he had to work with. Talk about writer’s block! John surely knew what that was! Fortunately he had worked out a plan before he started so that he would use only that which served his purpose for writing.

As he thought about his life with Jesus, he felt overwhelmed by the enormity of this man. John was utterly convinced that He was the Son of God, and nothing would ever again shake that conviction, especially after what he had seen in the empty tomb. That was his “light-bulb” moment. The burial cloths spoke volumes about the miracle that had just happened. Jesus had left them undisturbed, as though His body had melted right out of them! Only God could do that.

Yes, John realised, as he looked back, that Jesus was a really, really big person, and that everything He said and did had significance. It’s no wonder that he marvelled at Him so that, to do justice to His story would take all the paper, all the ink and all the energy of all the people of the whole world to write it down! And that was impossible. People would have to be content with what he and his fellow authors had written because it was enough to convince their readers that He really was who He was.

John could not help but assure his readers that he was telling the truth because he was an eyewitness of what he had written. For John, this was an important affirmation of the authenticity of his story because, in a Jewish court of law, there were severe penalties for anyone who gave false information.

And so John ends his book, not with a weak statement that makes his story fizzle out, but with a ringing affirmation that he was carefully selective with his facts, that he was a faithful eyewitness and that he was attempting to tell about someone whose life story was too big for this world.

He makes a grand exit with words something like this, “Hey guys, I did my best to squeeze this huge man into the pages of a small book. I know it’s impossible, but what I have told you is enough to show you that Jesus really is the Son of God. If you believe Him, you’ll know what it’s like to live, really live!”

Acknowledgement

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