When reading the Gospels, it could be easy to forget why they were written. While the Matthew and Mark do not state a purpose, and Luke states that he is mainly writing for Theophilus, the Gospel According to John gives a general purpose statement. It can be found in John 20:30-31 and it is this, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.” The meaning of the word “Gospel” is “good news!” And that “news” is that Jesus, the Son of God, has come down from heaven, taken the punishment for our sins, set up a new covenant, and established God’s Kingdom here on earth.
This is something that we should be shouting from the roof tops! Which is exactly what John does. John 1:1-18, known as the prologue, starts off the book by talking about the Word that was with God, and created everything, then becoming flesh and dwelling among us. Not only did He dwell among us, but He brought grace and truth, and revealed God the Father to us. The rest of John’s Gospel goes on to show Jesus doing all of that. Jesus has one on one teachings with people, such as Nicodemus and the woman at the well. Jesus’ encounters with the Jewish leadership are more pronounced in John. They even pick up stones to stone Him because He makes Himself God (John 10:33). What did Jesus say to provoke this? In John 10:30 He said, “I and the Father – We are one.” John shows Jesus offering love and compassion on those who needed it, and being a little harsher with those who should have known better (aka – the Sanhedrin).
What can we learn from this? When we read the Gospels, we should remember that they are not just a story about the life of Jesus. They are to show that He is the Messiah, that He fulfilled the law and the prophets, and that He loves His people. Each of the Gospels proclaim these in different ways, though the Synoptics are very similar to one another. We should follow suit when proclaiming the Gospel to others. That is, we need to tell them the good news, and then back it up. Backing it up may entail answer their questions, confronting their doubts, or even pointing out their logical short comings, all in a loving manner of course. This will not be easy, and you should be prepared, or at least know someone who can help you. There is one other thing, which we get from John 21:24, “This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.” We should always be speaking the truth, especially about the Bible, Christianity and God. And it should be a truth that we have looked into for ourselves, as much as possible, not some spiel that we have memorized from someone else.
Proclaim the Gospel with a purpose!
