A New Creation
As We Begin
This book is the output of a small bible study group in a sleepy little beach town in Florida. We are made up of Christians across the spectrum of churches – Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants – we gather to sip on good bourbon and study the sacred scriptures. We felt the Holy Spirit bless us with insights, for “when 2 or 3 are gathered in my name, I am present with you,” and this small meditation you are about to read are some of the nuggets revealed to us as we gathered to consider God’s work in nature and God’s word in scripture.
For Christians, one of the many beauties of God’s word is that our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus of Nazareth is a historical figure. There are many great men in this world, but only one great God. And as fitting for our Word made flesh, our heavenly Father prepared the way to reveal his only begotten Son. And he was preparing the way since the dawn of humanity.
The result is found in the culture and traditions and scriptures of, specifically, the ancient Jewish people. Through them, we have a very clear witness that announced the plan of God’s salvation thru his son Christ Jesus. Of course, there were markers and pointers in the world’s other cultures and pagan religions, but while the Greeks and some Gentiles sought wisdom, the Jews sought signs. Signs because the God of the universe had set signposts in their covenants and ancient stories – whether it was the Passover feasts celebrated every year, or the story of the bronze serpent, or even the story of King David and his sons – God had been uniquely meticulous and miraculous in working thru his people, Ancient Israel, to prepare the way for our Messiah, his beloved Son. From Ancient of Days he had prepared his witness, the ancient Hebrews with their culture, traditions, and scriptures. He had announced his plans long before he set to accomplish them. As the Prophet Isaiah wrote,
Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare.
Before they spring forth, I tell you of them.
A little later the Prophet expounds on the Lord’s message,
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
“I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
Who is like me? Let him proclaim it,
Let him declare and set it forth before me.
Who has announced from of old the things to come?
Let them tell us what is yet to be.
Fear not, nor be afraid;
Have I not told you from of old and declared it?
Are you not my witnesses!
Is there a God besides me?
There is no Rock; I know not any.
So, when Christ came on the scene thru his nativity more than two thousand years ago, he didn’t appear suddenly like a blazing comet in the sky burning bright and disappearing. He appeared like a solitary bright star, that rises to its zenith across the heavens, that tracks a path through the skies that can be monitored and witnessed. Slowly. A star that won’t burn out until the end of time. The little star of Bethlehem.
And the first stories of mankind hide in them the stories of Jesus our king. Even before we could see the star, the track was set in motion. A seed was planted and cultivated; the vineyard of the Lord was cared for. When this seed, born in Bethlehem, sprouted in Nazareth, grafted onto a dead tree outside Jerusalem, and buried in a rich man’s tomb, when this seed sprouted three days after his death into eternal life, these Ancient Jews were able to use Roman and pagan infrastructure to rapidly spread the message of God’s salvation throughout all the Empire and much of the world. The little rebel religion revealed by a Carpenter and spread by fishermen was, in truth, the divine way to come into the family of God.
And this magnificent story about God’s family is what our small group of outcasts and sinners decided to study. The story of Jesus – our Savior, our soul’s Beloved, our Bridegroom. We decided to study it as told by the old friend of Christ, Saint John the Beloved, the friend who stood with his mother at the cross in his moment of apparent death and doom, the friend who wrote a gospel to spread his message. This was the lens we used to hear insights on Jesus. We sought the testimony of John.
One of the reasons we chose to see Jesus through John’s eyes was also because of Saint John’s masterful and poetic understanding of Ancient Jewish culture. And whereas other gospel writers have a testimony that aligns very closely with each other, John takes a different point of view. His testimony is unique and makes explicit for those outside of an ancient Jewish context Christ’s divine nature. Throughout his gospel, he poetically weaves in the Old Testament stories to shine deeper insights into the words and stories shared by Christ.
And whereas Saint Matthew might clearly state, “as the scripture says,” John would simply take the Old Testament scriptures and make them new, like his reuse of “in the beginning.” Rather than saying “as Moses wrote” or “like the Prophet said,” John simply states, “in the beginning” and in our mind’s eye we hold both what the Prophet Moses spoke as well as the new things Saint John says. John does this frequently. He quotes the Old Testament not explicitly, but implicitly. He doesn’t tell us he’s doing it; instead, we recognize and see it. He expects us to see. Saint John trusts that the Holy Spirit will enlighten us through the light of Christ, “the light that has come into the world.” And so, the small group in Jupiter gathered as a small community intent on seeing by the light of the Holy Spirit. This book is a small part of what we see.
So, dear reader, this the background to our meditations and why we chose Saint John’s gospel as our foundation to study and learn about the life of Christ Jesus. Now, let us understand a little more about Saint John before we meditate on his sacred writings.