We’ve reached our final Gospel in the Basics series:
John.
The Gospels are where a lot of people choose to read first. If you’re wondering why, allow me to tell you:
Jesus.
I don’t give a heck of a lot of summary for the Gospels because it would be impossible to summarize Jesus’ entire human life in a way that would help you. This is me gently nudging you to read it yourself.
So, read about Jesus’ life yourself.
Perhaps through…
The Gospel According to John.
John. John. John.
This guy was so passionate about making sure people knew Jesus was God that he decided to pull an audible and throw out his standard introduction by starting off with absolute chaos:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Just to get my point across, the Greek word used for “Word” is logos (law-goss), and logos is a way of talking about divine speech, as in God creating something and it being created immediately. I’m not gonna give you too many spoilers, but read those verses again with that context and prepare to either understand it as “wow, that’s intense” or not understand it at all and still think “wow, that’s intense.” Either way, it’s intense.
This was the most wild way to start a book.
He could’ve said something like:
“Hey, I’m John. 5’10’’, 190 lbs, quarterback for the University of Jerusalem. I grew up not too far from here. I love fishing and hanging out with my friends. Here’s my version of what happened when one of my friends ended up being God!”
But no.
He just comes out the gate RUNNIN’.
So, without further ado, in John’s honor, let’s get into the basics.
Our Dude, John
Theologians argue about which “John” John is, but at the end of the day, we know two major things about him:
He was an eyewitness.
He was a BFF of Jesus.
No one, on this giant floating marble in space, knows someone quite as well as their best friend. This is a fact. That’s one of the reasons why John is so much fun to read. It’s almost a peek behind the scenes. If you read it with intent, you can see the friendship of John and Jesus through his writing.
Little Opinion from the Reverend Doc: Something I can also say, with absolute certainty, is that this John would’ve never invited Yoko Ono on stage with Chuck Berry.
(If you don’t understand that reference…I’m sorry.)
We do know that the “John” who wrote the Gospel wasn’t John the Baptist. That, at least, limits our “John” options. In my opinion (because you absolutely didn’t ask), the Gospel of John was written by John the Apostle, i.e. “the one Jesus loved” (because they were besties)…so, there you have it. The Reverend Doc’s opinion. It’s most peoples opinion, to be honest, but it’s important to ME that you know that not EVERYONE thinks that. Have you picked up on the trend that authorship of each book of the Bible is highly contested? Further proof that no one can agree on anything, ever.
“Wow! She’s so unbiased!” - you
Aw, shucks, that’s awfully kind of you.
The Gospel According to John
Here’s the thing about John: while Matthew, Mark and Luke all claimed Jesus was the Messiah, John claims Jesus was the Messiah…and also God (a lot of the framework for the Trinity comes direct from the book of John).
He focused a lot on who Jesus was and less of what Jesus did. While the other Gospels were avid about the miracles and the this and the that of Jesus’ every day, John had his eyes set on the character of Jesus and what He came to do.
It makes sense. If I had to write a book about my best friend, I would absolutely not write about her every day. I would write about who she is as a person; her attributes, her humor, how she loves me more than her other friends, etc.
So, the Gospel according to John is inherently a bit heavier. It’s not as light-hearted as the other three, but I’d argue that almost every verse is insanely profound.
It’s one of those reads that you should probably take a lot of breaks in between or you may or may not get a little overwhelmed. Good writing tends to do that.
AND, THIS IS HOW YOU SHOULD READ IT!
THE STANDARD WAY
Intro to Jesus (John 1:1-1:18)
Jesus is God (John 1:19-12:50)
Jesus is God and He just DIED (and then resurrected) for you (John 13-20)
Outro of Jesus (John 21)
THE COOL FACTOR™ WAY
The major pro of this method is that you can intake a lot of information and not feel overwhelmed. Standard bible studies tend to either give you one verse to read a day, or four chapters to read a day. This is a happy middle ground. You’re welcome.
With this way, you get to see the Seven Fancy Signs of the Messiah™ (more on this later).
*clears throat* ATTENTION! (John 1)
Sign #1 Why Jesus is the Messiah (John 2:1-11)
Jesus Does Stuff (John 2:12-4:45)
Signs #2 and #3 Why Jesus is the Messiah (John 4-5:15)
Jesus Says Stuff (John 5:16-47)
Signs #4 and #5 Why Jesus is the Messiah (John 6:1-21)
Jesus Says and Does More Stuff (John 6:22-8:59)
Sign #6 Why Jesus is the Messiah (John 9:1-7)
Jesus Says and Does Even More Stuff (John 9:8-10:42)
Sign #7 Why Jesus is the Messiah (John 11:1-44)
Another Day in the Life of Jesus (John 11:45-13:20)
*Jesus stares at Judas and Peter* (John 13:21-38)
Jesus Says and Does Things for a Final Time (John 14-17)
The End of Jesus (John 18-19)
JUST KIDDING! HE LIVES! (John 20-21)
Listen, there’s a reason why so many churches focus their preaching from the Gospels: they’re easier to digest. They’re easier, yes, but that doesn’t make them easy.
If you have ever been someone who has read anything in the New Testament and thought, “what in the HECK does that mean,” you are not alone. Anyone who says they’ve never felt that way is lying.
LYING!
If at any point you are reading something and it confuses you, underline it. Take some time away and then go back to it. Give yourself the time and grace to understand it. You wouldn’t expect a 4 year old to remember the entire alphabet after singing the song once, would you? Exactly. This is MUCH more challenging than the alphabet song, so give yourself a friggin’ break.
Just do me a favor: don’t pretend you understand something in the Bible because you feel like you should. Odds are that if you don’t understand something, a majority of folks don’t understand it either…they just don’t wanna admit it.
Jesus really loved to speak in parables and stories in a vernacular that is absolutely foreign to us in 2025.
IT’S OKAY TO NOT GET IT!
Give yourself time.
GIVE.
YOURSELF.
TIME.
And most importantly, don’t give up just because the Bible can be a little confusing (in the Bible’s defense, you can be a little confusing too).
Go read with confidence. Thanks for being here.