More to Come

John's gospel is unique in many ways.  Aside from all the obvious things such as narratives and images, he is the only one who includes a prologue (John 1:1-18) and an epilogue (John 21:1-25).  Mark does include some additional writings at the end of his gospel, but there is more than a fair amount of controversy concerning authorship.  Rather than an epilogue, it seems like a later addition.  As we read the epilogue John wrote for his gospel, we get the impression that John, like any good preacher fighting with a sermon, had more material to use than he could get on the scroll.

 

Actually, he makes a couple of references to this possibility.  Before the epilogue begins, he wrote, "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book...(John 20:30)  And, then with the very last words of the epilogue, he wrote, "But there are also many other things that Jesus did, if everyone of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written."  Of course, there is no surprise here for any of us.  We know there is always more to the story than what is found on the printed page. 

And, even as Jesus did many things which were not recorded by the gospel writers, whatever they might have recorded would be a paltry collection compared to what the living Christ has done since those first days of resurrection appearances.  It is staggering to think about.  It brings to mind a Word of Jesus in which we hear Him saying, "Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father."  (John 14:12)  The story about Jesus is not limited to the years He spent on this earth as one like us, but has spanned the centuries constantly revealing His presence among us and His work within us.  What is truly staggering to consider is that His mode of operation involves folks like you and me.