Growing up I was fortunate enough to know my great-grandmother on my momma’s side. Her name was Karen McClaeiry, but I knew her as GG (pronounced Jee-Jee, for those of you who are phonetically impaired).
She was from the deep swampland south of Louisiana; she had an accent thicker than molasses and cooked the most delicious baked ham, black-eyed peas, seafood gumbo and cornbread this side of the Mississippi River.
Unfortunately, GG had some issues with her memory which ultimately meant she needed to be placed in assisted living. Which, frankly, really sucked. But the thing that always astounded me was that despite her deteriorating mental condition, GG still told the BEST stories about the “good ol’ days.” She, like so many of the other elderly folk in that nursing home[1], had a way of telling a story as if she was still there within it, and drawing her listeners back to that time with her to experience it for ourselves. Names, dates, times, seasons, events, who was president at the time – you name it. She remembered all of it.
Couldn’t remember how to put her own pants on, but could remember every fine detail of a particular Tuesday afternoon in the spring of 1934 when she was visiting her cousin in Arkansas[2].
It always blew my mind how GG was able to remember so much about things that had happened so long ago. How did the details come back so clearly to her? Were they that distinct? Or were they simply that important to her that she committed them securely to memory?
Which is where we step off of Memory Lane and onto the “Isle of John”.
Why (you might be asking yourself) am I referring to the Gospel of John as an island? Well, there are several reasons:
(1) It’s mostly agreed upon that the apostle John wrote this gospel.
(2) The Apostle John was exiled to an island all his own (called Patmos) during Roman emperor Domitian’s rule.[3] Hence…the island.
(3 [and probably the most important]):
This gospel is unique to the other gospels we’ve studied. It has stories and details that the other gospels didn’t include. There are stories found in the other three gospels that John doesn’t include in his at all – they aren’t even mentioned.
Why?
Well, John likely wrote his gospel account much later in his life, like…as late as 80 or 90 A.D.[4] If this accurate (and most agree that it is) then John would have had access to the other three gospels. He would have been able to see which stories were already included.
Also, John was super close to Jesus. Like, best friends close. And being so close to Jesus, he would have likely had access to stories that the other gospel writers may not have.
Most importantly, John had a VERY specific purpose when he wrote this gospel account. He gives his purpose statement actually toward the end of the gospel, after sharing some nitty-gritty details that would have been brand new to the early church:
“Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life in His name.”
John is pretty crystal clear. His whole purpose in writing down his gospel account is to reaffirm to the reader that Jesus = God, and that believing in Jesus’ name = eternal life. Does this theme sound familiar?
*cough cough FAITH ALONE IN CHRIST ALONE cough cough cough*
And So John (with significant help from the Holy Spirit, I’m sure) recalls the details of everything that happened while Jesus was on earth with a dumbfounding clarity. He, in many senses, was a lot like my GG.
Super old, likely deteriorating in his conditions, and yet the best story teller of all time.
So I invite you to gather around at the feet of Great104 Grandpa John as he tells us his story about who Jesus really is and how to have everlasting life in Him.
Until next post, stay classy!
[3] The Apostle John, Biblepath.com, Copyright 2011, <http://www.biblepath.com/john1.html> Accessed 12.4.2011
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