The key to understanding the gospel of John is not studying but meditation. At least for me it turned out to be that way. I have always had a hard time getting into this book. It finally opened up to me when I meditated on it rather than studied it. Therefore, after three long and studious issues on the atonement, I now shift to something entirely different. This issue (and the next) deals with John and with the practice of Bible meditation. As such, it is the fruit of our pilgrimage in Italy last year. And so, I start with that story of pilgrimage.
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Via di Francesco
Franziska and I had planned the pilgrimage a year in advance: five weeks in September and October 2020. It has been one of her dreams for a long time. And I… well, I figured, let’s give this a try. Our original plan was to do the Camino Ignatiano in the north of Spain, a lesser-known pilgrim’s way that commemorates Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order who lived in the 16th century.
And then came COVID-19. Although conditions improved after the first wave and lockdown in the spring, with borders opening again, the north of Spain quickly succumbed to a second wave. Long before September, it was clear that a pilgrimage on the Camino Ignatiano was not a realistic option.
However, whenever we prayed about what to do with the weeks that we had reserved, we felt clearly that we should not give up on pilgrimage. It was only some weeks before our scheduled departure that it dawned on me that the COVID-19 numbers for Italy were consistently low, lower than for most European countries. So we switched to the Via di Francesco: an ancient route of pilgrimage that connects places where Francis of Assisi had been active in the early 13th century, launching a spiritual movement that continues to impact our world today.
We started near Florence and walked to Assisi, the midway point, where we spent three days of rest. From Assisi, we continued our walk to Rome. All in all, this made for four weeks of walking, covering a bit over 500 kilometres (plus 16,000 meters up and down).
As for spiritual practices on the way, we stuck with an Ignatian approach, even if in a very loose sense. In other words, we took time on the road for simple conversation with Jesus and Bible meditation in an Ignatian style. The latter concentrates on gospel stories. It seeks to enter the story by either placing one’s self in it as a spectator or by identifying with one or more of the characters involved, imagining that one witnesses the events from this perspective.
In hindsight, it seems obvious to me that this is the way to ‘tackle’ the gospel of John. After all, John, as the last of the evangelists, had himself meditated long and deeply on Jesus, which is reflected in his writings. Meditating appears an appropriate way of access to the treasures stored in the final canonical gospel.
In what follows, I will first share an example of this kind of meditation (albeit one from a different gospel), to give you the idea. I will look at the events including the combined perspective of several participants. Then I will share a few highlights from my initial musings on creation, which led me to Jesus. In the next issue, I will share some impressions from my ‘pilgrimage’ in John.
Jesus Heals a Paralytic (Mark 2:1-10)
He was brought by his friends (or perhaps relatives or neighbours). They must have picked up that Jesus was healing people. Here was a chance for their friend to get well; they had to seize it. They got excited thinking about the possibility, and off they went. We are not told what the paralytic himself thought about it. He may well not have shared their excitement; if I were him, I’d be sceptical. Later in the story, we are told that Jesus saw their faith (Mk. 2:5). Whose faith, and how did he see it? It must refer to the faith of the four friends, who show faith by going to great lengths to place the paralytic before Jesus. The paralytic himself is passive. If he has faith, this remains invisible, and in fact, he may not have any.
Coming to the house where Jesus is, the four face a significant obstacle: the place where Jesus is teaching is so crowded that they cannot possibly get to him. They won’t even make it to the door. Perhaps the paralytic is relieved at this, having had misgivings about the project from the start. But the four are not so easily stopped. They deliberate and come up with plan B. If they can get onto the roof and make an opening, they can lower their friend right in front of Jesus.
As Jesus is teaching, the roof opens up. Some dirt falls down. Then a paralytic lying on a bed is let down. The disciples roll their eyes. They are annoyed at this interruption; how inappropriate! Jesus, I imagine, is amused; he likes what he sees. The paralytic, I suspect, feels uncomfortable. Suddenly, he is the centre of attention, precisely what he does not want.
Then Jesus speaks: “My son, your sins are forgiven.” The friends look at each other. They are not quite sure what to make of this. It is certainly not what they were expecting.
Since it is Jesus saying it, these words must hit the nail on the head. It is what the paralytic needs, more than healing. The paralytic feels like he is in heaven. He no longer notices what goes on around him. But the words of Jesus stir up controversy.
A sharp intake of air. Some of the scribes that are present perch up, others frown or bend down. Did he really say that? Their body language must have been hard to miss. According to the text Jesus perceives in his spirit what they are thinking, but he hardly needs supernatural gifts to know this.
Jesus produces incontrovertible evidence that he is authorised to say what he said: the paralytic gets up and walks away. Seeing this, the crowd goes through the roof, so to say. But the scribes won’t have it. Their map of truth is more important than reality. They are not open to consider ways in which Jesus may be in the right, ways in which there might be exceptions to their dogmas.
From here on, they are on the lookout for error.
Jesus provokes strong and opposite reactions. How do I respond when he challenges my boxes and pet convictions?
Meditating on Creation
The above is one example of the kind of meditation that accompanied us on the Via di Francesco. It made the gospel and Jesus come alive to me. I have not felt this close to Jesus and the gospel stories have not felt this real, perhaps ever. Often, it felt like being there, travelling with Jesus and the disciples.
However, my process of meditation started with reflections on creation and the nature around us. We were walking through the beautiful forests in the mountains east of Florence. It was mid-September and still hot. It stood out to me how the sun is the source of life, but that we are nevertheless not able to bear the sun’s full brunt. We were grateful for the shade.
It is similar with God. For our sake, he holds back and hides. We need shade. In a sense, creation is that shade. It is a shelter or cover that hides God from us and protects us from the intensity of direct and unsheltered revelation.
If the forest is dense enough, we are not able to see the sun directly. We do see patches of sunlight on the ground. Likewise, we don’t see God directly, but we do see signs of his existence. This includes the supernatural in the form of miracles.
Even on a cloudy day, when there are no patches of sunlight, it is still light. We therefore know that the sun exists. It is like this with God and creation. Creation hides and protects us from the full impact of God’s glory and simultaneously, through its existence, shows that God also exists. God hides behind the screen of creation and at the same time reveals himself through it.
Those first few days of pilgrimage, it felt to me as if God were constantly asking: Can you see me? Even the rocks and stones under our feet that hold us and provide a place to stand or a path to walk hide God and simultaneously reveal him, whispering: Can you see him? He made us so you can walk!
From Creation to Jesus
So how are God and his glory revealed? At this point of our pilgrimage, I recognized three levels:
1. Direct revelation of God. This is a rare event. Moses and Elijah experienced it at Mount Horeb. Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel, and John (Rev. 4) saw God’s glory in prophetic vision. That is about it.
2. Signs and wonders (including extraordinary timing and cases of striking coincidence). These are like patches of sunlight on the forest floor and in the trees. They are the most direct evidence of God’s existence and revelation of his glory apart from the previous category.
3. Creation, which is much less direct, and hides at least as much as it reveals.
And then it struck me that Jesus completely breaks this mould. He functions on each level to reveal God’s glory. Obviously, he performed signs and miracles (level 2). He became human and therefore part of this creation (level 3). But he continued to be God, so much so that he could say: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). He is the direct revelation of God (level 1).
But how is he the latter? How does Jesus reveal God and his glory directly? We often associate glory with light, majesty, and radiance, but with one exception (Mt. 17:2), Jesus did not radiate light. And likewise with one exception (John 18:6), he did not knock people over, the way God’s glory sometimes did in the OT. So what is the glory that Jesus makes known?
It must be God’s love and condescension. Or more theologically, the incarnation and the crucifixion. Through Jesus, God came down to our level. He communicated in a form that we can grasp and that we can bear: the light trimmed down to such a level that it does not blind or destroy us. And through the cross, he demonstrated the extent of his love.
If we want to know God, we have to turn to Jesus, who makes him known.
My meditation on creation and God’s glory thus led me to the gospel of John, which begins with precisely this kind of language. From there on, our pilgrimage through Italy turned into a pilgrimage through John’s gospel. In other words, the gospel of John took over. More on this in the next issue.
The key to understanding the gospel of John is not studying but meditation
References
All Bible quotations from: The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles)