The Gospel of John

The other Gospels begin on earth. John begins before creation: "In the beginning was the Word." That Word became flesh, and this Gospel tells what he did and said so that we may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and have life in his name (20:31).

John gives us things no other Gospel has: the wedding at Cana, Nicodemus by night, the Samaritan woman, the man born blind, the raising of Lazarus, the washing of feet, the long words at the Last Supper, Mary and the beloved disciple at the Cross, Thomas's "My Lord and my God". He tells fewer stories and goes deeper into each.

Its words are few and simple: light, life, truth, glory, love, abide. A child can read them, and the greatest teachers of the Church have never reached the bottom of them.

The land and the feasts. John knows Palestine well: the pool of Bethesda with its porticoes (5:2), the pool of Siloam (9:7), Solomon's Portico (10:23), Jacob's well (4:6). He sets Jesus' teaching in the rhythm of Jewish worship: Passover (2:13, 6:4, 11:55), the Sabbath (5:9), Tabernacles (7:2), Dedication (10:22). The mention of three Passovers is why we speak of a ministry of about three years. Jesus fulfils what these feasts celebrated: he is the bread, the living water, the light, the Lamb.

After the Temple. Rome destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple in the year 70. By the time this Gospel reached its final form, the Jewish people were rebuilding their life around the synagogue, and those who believed in Jesus were separating from them, often painfully. The story of the man whose parents feared being put out of the synagogue (9:22) seems to speak to that pain. Scholars see in this why the Gospel's disputes are so sharp.

Ephesus and the Greek world. Tradition places St John at Ephesus, a great port city of the province of Asia. "Logos", the Word, would have spoken to Greek ears of reason in the universe, and to Jewish ears of the word by which God made the world. John says that this Word is a man who ate bread and wept at a friend's tomb. Some also see a warning here against early teachers who said that Christ only seemed to have a body; 1 John speaks to that error (1 John 4:2).

On the words "the Jews"

This must be read rightly. John often uses "the Jews" for the religious authorities in Jerusalem who opposed Jesus. The Catechism says so plainly: they are those "whom the Gospel according to John often calls simply 'the Jews'" (CCC 575). It is not a word for a whole people. Jesus, Mary, John and every first disciple were Jews, and in this very Gospel Jesus says that "salvation is from the Jews" (4:22). Many among the authorities believed (12:42), among them Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea (CCC 595). Harsh lines such as 8:44 belong to a bitter dispute of that time and must never be turned against Jewish people. The Church teaches that Christ's Passion cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that the Jews are not to be presented as rejected or accursed by God (Nostra Aetate 4). Sinners, all of us, were the authors of Christ's sufferings (CCC 597 to 598).

The Church's tradition. St Irenaeus, who as a boy had listened to St Polycarp, says about 180: "John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia" (Against Heresies 3.1.1, Ante-Nicene Fathers translation). St Clement of Alexandria reports what the older teachers handed down: that John, seeing that the outward facts were already told, wrote a "spiritual Gospel" (in Eusebius, Church History 6.14). The Muratorian Fragment, an early list of the sacred books, also names John as the writer, at the urging of his fellow disciples and bishops. Dei Verbum 18 holds that the four Gospels are of apostolic origin.

The man himself. John was mending nets with his father Zebedee and his brother James when Jesus called him (Mark 1:19 to 20). Jesus called the brothers "Sons of Thunder" (Mark 3:17). He was with Peter and James at the raising of Jairus' daughter, the Transfiguration and Gethsemane. In Acts he stands beside Peter (Acts 3:1, 4:13, 8:14). Paul lists him among the "pillars" (Galatians 2:9). Benedict XVI gave three catecheses on him (5 July, 9 August and 23 August 2006), and notes that according to an ancient tradition he worked for many years at Ephesus, where the emperor Justinian later built a great basilica in his honour. Irenaeus says he lived there until the time of Trajan (Against Heresies 3.3.4), so he died an old man, about the year 100. The Book of Revelation has a John exiled on Patmos (Revelation 1:9). St Jerome, in his Commentary on Galatians (on 6:10), tells a well-loved story: when John was too old to preach, he was carried into the assembly and said only, in substance, "Little children, love one another." Asked why he always said the same thing, he answered that this is the Lord's command, and if this alone is done, it is enough.

The beloved disciple. The Gospel never names the Apostle John. It speaks of "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7, 21:20), who leaned close at the Supper, stood by the Cross, ran to the tomb and knew the Lord on the shore. Its last lines say: "This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true" (21:24). The "we" shows that others stand behind the final book. Benedict XVI says: according to tradition John is this disciple, and "this identification is disputed by scholars today" (Audience, 5 July 2006).

A scholarly note. Traditionally by John the Apostle; many scholars today think of a beloved disciple whose witness was shaped and edited by his community or his own disciples, and some think of the "John the Elder" mentioned by Papias. Older Catholic writers, such as the Catholic Encyclopedia, argue for the Apostle himself. Many also think the book grew in stages; chapter 21 reads like an epilogue after the ending of 20:30 to 31. Yet eyewitness testimony behind the book is a strong possibility, given its exact details. None of this weakens the Gospel. Dei Verbum 11 teaches that God is the author of the sacred books, using human authors in the full use of their powers, so that what they affirm is taught without error for our salvation; Dei Verbum 19 affirms the historical character of the four Gospels, without hesitation. John's way of giving Jesus' words, long and meditated, is the fruit of what Jesus promised: the Spirit will remind you of all that I have said (14:26).

Scholars often call the two main parts the Book of Signs and the Book of Glory. Chapter 13 is the hinge: "Jesus knew that his hour had come" (13:1).

The signs

John calls the miracles "signs" (2:11, 4:54, 20:30), for each points beyond itself. Readers usually count seven: wine at Cana (2:1 to 11), the official's son (4:46 to 54), the man at the pool (5:1 to 9), the loaves (6:1 to 14), the walking on the water (6:16 to 21), the man born blind (9:1 to 41), Lazarus (11:1 to 44).

The "I am" sayings

I am the bread of life (6:35), the light of the world (8:12), the gate (10:7), the good shepherd (10:11), the resurrection and the life (11:25), the way, and the truth, and the life (14:6), the vine (15:5). Above them all stands "before Abraham was, I am" (8:58), which echoes the divine name of Exodus 3:14; the Catechism names it among the claims that only his divine identity can justify (CCC 590).

Two textual notes. The woman taken in adultery (7:53 to 8:11) is missing from the oldest manuscripts and some Bibles put it in brackets. The Church holds it as Scripture and proclaims it, for she receives the sacred books "in their entirety, with all their parts" (Dei Verbum 11). And John's dating of the Passion differs from the first three Gospels, since he places the Crucifixion on the day of Preparation (19:14); scholars have offered various ways of explaining it.

• Jesus is God and man. John says that "the Word was God" (1:1), and "the Word became flesh" (1:14). The book begins with this and rises to Thomas's "My Lord and my God" (20:28). Yet this same Jesus is tired at a well (4:6), weeps (11:35) and thirsts (19:28). The Church's faith holds both together: true God and true man (CCC 464).
• God is love, and the Father sent the Son. "God so loved the world" (3:16). The Son reveals the Father: he who has seen me has seen the Father (14:9). Benedict XVI calls love the central theme of these writings (Audience, 9 August 2006).
• The Father, the Son and the Spirit. The Son is one with the Father (10:30) and is sent by him, and the Spirit comes as "another Advocate" (14:16). No Gospel gives more for the Church's later faith in the Trinity (CCC 241, 729).
• Believing, and eternal life. The verb "believe" runs through the book, for faith here is a movement toward a person. Eternal life begins already now (5:24, 17:3). Still, the resurrection on the last day remains (6:40, 11:24 to 25). Those who refuse the light are judged by that refusal (3:18 to 19), yet God sent his Son to save the world (3:17).
• The hour and the glory. "My hour has not yet come" (2:4). Then it comes (12:23, 13:1). In John, the Cross is itself the glory, the lifting up (3:14, 12:32), and Jesus goes to it as one who lays down his life of his own accord (10:18). His last word is "It is finished" (19:30).
• The new commandment. Love one another as I have loved you (13:34 to 35; 15:12). Benedict XVI notes that the newness is in the measure: Jesus' own love (Audience, 9 August 2006). See CCC 1823.
• Baptism and the Eucharist. Born of water and the Spirit (3:5). Living water (4:10 to 14, 7:37 to 39). Eat my flesh and drink my blood (6:51 to 58), a saying so hard that many left, and Jesus let them go rather than soften it (6:60 to 69; CCC 1336, 1384). John has no words over the bread at the Supper; he has the washing of feet there and the Bread of Life at Passover in chapter 6. The Catechism sees the blood and water from the pierced side (19:34) as types of Baptism and the Eucharist (CCC 1225).
• The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. Five passages at the Supper promise him: he remains with us, teaches, witnesses, convicts and guides into all the truth (14:16 to 17, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7 to 11, 16:13 to 15; CCC 729). On Easter evening Jesus breathes the Spirit upon the disciples.
• The forgiveness of sins. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them" (20:23). The Catechism gives these words at the head of its teaching on the sacrament of Penance (CCC 1485).
• Abide. The vine and the branches (15:1 to 8; CCC 787). Life in Christ is not only imitation. It is union.
• Unity. The Lord prays "that they may all be one" (17:21), his prayer for the Church on the night before he died.
• Mary, "the mother of Jesus". John never uses her name. She appears twice, at the first sign and at the Cross, and both times Jesus calls her "Woman". At Cana she tells the servants: "Do whatever he tells you" (2:5). At the Cross she becomes mother of the disciple (19:26 to 27). The Catechism sees here her intercession (CCC 2618), her union with the Son in the work of salvation (CCC 964), her spiritual motherhood extending to all (CCC 501), and Mary as the Woman, the new Eve (CCC 726). John also speaks of Jesus' "brothers" (2:12, 7:3 to 5). The Church has always understood such passages as not referring to other children of the Virgin Mary; they are close relations, according to an Old Testament way of speaking (CCC 500).

New Revised Standard Version, word for word.

The eternal Word. He was with the Father before the world, and all things came into being through him (1:3; CCC 241, 291). He became flesh so that we might know God's love (CCC 458) and share in the divine life, as the Fathers loved to say (CCC 460).

The one who knows. In John, Jesus is never taken by surprise. He knows what is in everyone (2:25). He goes to meet those who come to arrest him (18:4), and before Pilate it is the governor who seems to be on trial. "My kingdom is not from this world" (18:36).

The tender friend. And yet this majestic Jesus is the most personal figure in the Gospels. He talks alone with a Samaritan woman whom others avoid. He finds the blind man after he is thrown out (9:35). He weeps for Lazarus. He kneels and washes feet, with Judas still at table. He calls his disciples friends (15:15). On Easter morning he says one word, "Mary" (20:16). On the shore he cooks breakfast and asks Peter three times, gently, for his love (21:9, 21:15 to 17).

The Lamb of God. John the Baptist points to him on the first day (1:29). He is condemned on the day of Preparation for the Passover, about noon, and no bone of his is broken (19:14, 19:36).

The High Priest in prayer. Chapter 17 is the longest prayer of Jesus in the Gospels. Christian tradition rightly calls it his "priestly" prayer (CCC 2746 to 2747, 2758). Benedict XVI gave it a catechesis on 25 January 2012.

The Heart that was pierced. The soldier's spear opens his side (19:34). The Church's devotion to the Sacred Heart, the sign of the love with which he loved us all with a human heart, looks to this scene (CCC 478).

The Catechism

• CCC 125 to 127, 514 to 515: the Gospels are the heart of the Scriptures, written so that we may believe (20:31).
• CCC 241, 291, 458, 460, 464: the Word, creation, why the Word became flesh, true God and true man.
• CCC 575, 595, 597 to 598: the religious authorities and the Passion, and why no blame may be laid on the Jewish people.
• CCC 694, 729: water as a sign of the Spirit; Jesus' promise of the Paraclete.
• CCC 1225, 1336, 1384, 1485, 1524: Baptism, the Eucharist, Penance, and viaticum as the seed of eternal life.
• CCC 2615, 2746 to 2751, 2758: prayer in Jesus' farewell discourse and his priestly prayer.

Fathers and Popes

Origen (Commentary on John 1.6, Ante-Nicene Fathers translation) calls John's the firstfruits of the Gospels, and adds: "No one can apprehend the meaning of it except he have lain on Jesus' breast and received from Jesus Mary to be his mother also."

St Augustine preached 124 Tractates on this Gospel. He speaks of John as "not undeservedly in respect of his spiritual understanding compared to the eagle" (Tractate 36.1, translation of John Gibb). In substance: the other three walk with the Lord on earth; John soars. The eagle became his sign in art. St John Chrysostom left 88 homilies on it.

Benedict XVI, Audience of 9 August 2006, on John's writings: "It is not merely asserted that 'God loves', or even less that 'love is God'!" John says what God is. In Deus Caritas Est 1 he begins his first encyclical with John's words from 1 John 4:16.

In the liturgy

Syro-Malabar. In the lectionary of 2025 to 2026, John 13 is read on the Thursday of the Passover (the seventh Thursday of the Great Fast), and John 20 at Easter and on the Second Sunday of Resurrection (20:24 to 31). John is read on many weekdays and feasts, across the seasons. Readings differ between the first and second sets, so check the current calendar.

Latin. John has no year of his own in the three-year Sunday cycle, and is kept especially for Lent and Easter. Year A has the Samaritan woman, the man born blind and Lazarus on the third, fourth and fifth Sundays of Lent. Year B takes John 6 for five Sundays (the seventeenth to the twenty-first in Ordinary Time). The Mass during the Day at Christmas reads 1:1 to 18, the Evening Mass of Holy Thursday 13:1 to 15, and Good Friday always the Passion according to John (18:1 to 19:42).

Syro-Malankara. The Sunday Gospels of the Sacred Lectionary take John at Kothine Sunday, the opening of the Great Fast (Cana, 2:1 to 11), at Samio Sunday (the blind man, 9:1 to 41), at Hosanna (12:12 to 19), at Qyomtho (20:1 to 10) and on New Sunday (20:19 to 29). John 19:25 to 27 is read on the feasts of Our Lady on 15 August and 8 September.

Read a chapter a day for three weeks. John is written to be read slowly, more than once, with long stops. Each time, ask: who do I say he is?

1. Day 1: chapter 1. Read verses 1 to 18 aloud.
2. Days 2 to 4: chapters 2 to 4. Watch who understands and who does not: Nicodemus at night, a Samaritan at noon.
3. Days 5 to 6: chapters 5 to 6. Read chapter 6 as a person who goes to Communion.
4. Days 7 to 10: chapters 7 to 10. Read chapter 9 as a drama in scenes.
5. Days 11 to 12: chapters 11 to 12. Stand with Martha.
6. Days 13 to 17: chapters 13 to 17, the Upper Room. One chapter each day, as his last words to you.
7. Days 18 to 19: chapters 18 to 19. Stand at the Cross with Mary.
8. Days 20 to 21: chapters 20 to 21. Answer with Thomas, and with Peter.