The Evangelists Mark, Matthew, Luke and John wrote the canonical Gospels under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They related the story/history of Jesus of Nazareth as both the “Son of God” and the “son” of Joseph and Mary and His message of salvation, by selecting some of the many elements which had been handed on, either orally or already in written form, through the Holy Spirit (= inspiration).
- FROM EXEGESIS TO THE “HEARTS” AS THE HERMENEUTIC OF THE WORD OF GOD
The Bible is like a library. We find two parts in the Holy Scriptures: the “Old Testament” – the “Hebrew Bible” – and the “New Testament” which were written between 1000 B.C. and about 100 A.D. The Holy Bible is based on factual information, and at the same time it is from the eternity of God and it leads us back to His eternity. On the other hand, the reader or the listener of the Bible who wants to understand the words and deeds in it, should read, study, and understand the texts of the ancient world in their original historical context, and project herself/himself into Antiquity, 2000 or even 3000 years ago.
People today find themselves in the same situation as the first century Ethiopian in the Acts of the Apostles. They need an interpreter to understand the biblical texts (cf. Acts 8:30–313): Philip asked the Ethiopian: “Do you understand what you are reading?” The Ethiopian replied: “How can I unless someone guides me?” Therefore the “Word of God” has to be made understandable in our time and culture with the help of the Holy Spirit by the works of the scholars, preachers, teachers/professors, catechists, and parents. For example, in the New Testament, what is the intention of John? The distance between this ancient text of the end of the first century/beginning of the second century and the reader of the 21st century has to be bridged in order to arrive at the authentic sense of the sacred text. Christians also hear Christ’s voice in the readings and homilies which explain the texts of the Bible in today’s language. They are thus invited to apply these inspired biblical words/texts in their lives. Their different forms – parables, healings, the narratives of His Passion and Resurrection as well as their context (who wrote it, to whom, why), are a personal message from God. We must enter the ancient world so that the written text – the Bible – can become living word in the context of today’s people in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Muscat, Kuwait City, London, New York, Munich ...
The Apostle Paul (1) spoke “on Christ’s behalf” (2 Corinthians 5:20) as God’s “mouthpiece” (Galatians 1:10) and placed himself completely at the service of the proclamation of the Gospel. He preached the Good News (2) of the Crucified and Risen Lord Jesus Christ without compromise (cf. Romans 8:35–37 or 2 Corinthians 11:23–27).
As His “servant”, Paul was His instrument because he only wanted God and Christ to be the focus of his life. He was not a self-centred “minister of the Word of God”. The Spirit of God and Jesus Christ lives in us and is taught through us in words and deeds by means of personal testimony.
According to the “communication model”4, our role as a SENDER/transmitter (1) and as a “minister of the Word of God” is to reach the members of the Church, the RECEIVERs/ addressees (3) of the apostolic MESSAGE – the Good News (2).
Bishops, priests, deacons, professors, catechists, parents (1) and all the faithful should learn, through frequent reading of the Sacred Scripture(s), to bring the message of the Bible (2) to the ears and hearts of people (3) of our own time. First, we are receivers (3), and then we can act as God’s servants and Christ’s disciples, and co-workers (1) in the preaching and/or teaching of the message of the Good News (2). A faithful and true minister of the Word of God receives and hands on what has been received. The truth that saves his life inflames the heart of the receiver with neighbourly love, and motivates him to pass on to others what he has freely received. The principal functions in the pastoral ministry can be distinguished: catechesis, preaching, and the biblical apostolate; the Word of God has to be made understandable in our time and culture – in preaching and/or teaching as well in the biblical apostolate.
How can we guide the people who want to hear and understand the Good News? We have to avoid two extremes5 when interpreting the Bible:
- on the one hand, we have to protect the interpretation of the Bible from attacks by science which analyses words of the Bible – the so-called “historical-critical methods” – as if they were ordinary writings without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit;
- on the other hand, there is the so-called “mystical exegesis”. This way of understanding the Bible is all symbolic and spiritual as if it had nothing to do with historical facts and the world we live in, and believes that there is no need for science to help in interpreting the Bible. So the Bible is read as if the Spirit dictated it word for word.
“For the words of God, expressed in human language, have been made like human discourse, just as the word of the eternal Father, when He took to Himself the flesh of human weakness, was in every way made like men” (Dei Verbum 13)”. That is the task of all preachers in the Church and teachers and catechists in schools.
May we be guided in our preaching and teaching by Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God who opened the minds of the disciples of Emmaus (cf. Luke 24:27) and the other disciples (cf. v. 45) to the understanding of scripture(s), making their hearts burn within them (cf. v. 32):
“Christ has no hands, only our hands to do His work.
He has no feet, only our feet to lead people on His way.
Christ has no lips, only our lips to tell people about Him.
He has no help, only our help to bring people to His side”.
So runs the prayer of Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582 A.D.).
In this way, we Christians have to present and represent – with body and soul – Jesus Christ, the “Son of God”, the “Christ”, the incarnate “Word of God” so that we already bring a little bit of Heaven to earth.
0. The Macrostructure/Composition of the Gospel according to John
The Gospel according to “John” composes his story about the life of Jesus who is the “Christ” and the “Son of God” (11:27; 20:31), in two6 parts after the “Prologue” (cf. 1:1–18):
- The so-called “Book of Signs” (cf. 1:19–12:507) as Jesus’ public ministry in the world and
- The so-called “Book of Glory” (cf. 13:1–20:318]) as Jesus’ return to His heavenly Father.
With John 21:1–25, we have a second conclusion of “John” in the form of an “appendix” which was later (probably in the second or third century) added to the original Gospel to “John”.
The Fourth Evangelist tells about Jesus’ public ministry in words and deeds in Galilee, in Samaria and in Judea/Jerusalem (cf. 1:19–12:50) as a “teaching about His role” as the “Son of God” concerning His Passion (cf. 13:1–19:42) on earth. The Evangelist as an ancient author concludes with the Crucified (cf. 19:16b–42) and the Risen/Glorified Jesus (cf. 20:1–31/21:25).
We agree – more or less – with the renowned catholic biblical scholar Raymond E. Brown’s structure of John’s Gospel. Therefore we slightly modify the composition of the Gospel “according to John” in allusion to Raymond E. Brown as follows:
1.