On Line Bible Study - For the Week August 22-28, 2011

Lesson 507

John 1: ¹ In the beginning was the Word ...

I love to ride a road bike, but I don't know the first thing about the gears, or what kind of 'cassette' I have, or even the tire size. I know when something isn't working, and I am good about taking it in for maintenance; but some could say I ride irresponsibly, given my ignorance.

I heard a clergy colleague say recently that, when it comes to our sacred texts, Jewish Rabbis are more scholarly as a group than are their Christian clergy counterparts. Though I have no scientific basis for making a determination, my gut tells me she is correct.

With this 507th lesson in this series of studies we step into the amazing world of the Gospel of St. John. We will be using Father Raymond E. Brown's two-volume commentary as our scholarly launch pad for our studies. How much do we need to know in order to be informed and faithful followers of Jesus? Fr. Brown is one of the most renowned New Testament Scholars of the 20th century, and his work is exhaustive (and, some would say, exhausting...). For all his scholarship, was he a better Christian than anyone else?

Here are some interesting challenges we face as we head into this Gospel:

1. Intense debate as to when it was put together in the form as we now have it.
2. Was it a scroll? or a codex (book)? (And one might ask: Why is that important? You'll see!)
3. Are the main sources for the gospel written, or oral?
4. Why are there two endings?
5. The language at the beginning of the gospel is so different from the rest of it - why?
6. Who wrote it?
7. Why is it so different from the other three gospels? (Just how different is it, really?)
   

You may also be asking the question: Who cares?

How important is it to know about the bicycle you are riding? Just how 'scholarly' do we want our clergy to be?

John 1: 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 it.

What happened that inspired someone to write those words? And I find myself wondering: Why do those words sound so beautiful to me, and give me so much hope? What do they even mean!

Now we step into the amazing world of light and darkness, of life and death, of water and wine, of being 'born again' and 'the way, truth, and life'. Scholars or not, this amazing text has wonderful things to teach us. And so we begin...