St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

Fasts and Feasts

On Dec 27 the Church celebrates St John.
Transcript
Welcome to Fasts and Feasts, a guided tour of the church year. I'm your host, Jared Henderson, and today I'm teaching you about St John the Apostle and Evangelist.
The Gospel — the term, that is — comes from the Greek word for 'good news', which in Latin is translated as evangelium; that term is at the root of the word 'evangelical', and it also gives rise to a title: 'evangelist.' But in Church history, 'Evangelist' is a title for four men: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We call these men the Evangelists because they wrote down the Good News in the four canonical Gospels. Today, we're learning about one of them: the Apostle John.
John the Apostle is one 12 apostles, that inner circle of Jesus' followers, but he is also the writer of the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John makes elliptical references to John as its author, calling him 'the disciple Jesus loved.' I'll note here that taking John the Apostle to be the author of the Gospel of John and the rest of the Johannine literature is not uncontroversial in church history, but that the West's traditional consensus says John the Apostle and John of Patmos are the same John; thus, John the Presbyter (a posited figure in church history) is an unnecessary bit of speculation from this perspective.
We don't have a lot of rock solid information about John's life, and so today I want to focus on his greatest work: the Gospel of John. Remember that each Gospel is a retelling of Jesus' life and ministry, and each one is written for a particular audience and is addressing particular questions. The Gospel of John is written, it seems, primarily for a Greek audience, and it utilizes Greek philosophical categories to make sense of the claim that Jesus is God. One of my favorite passages of the Bible comes so early in the Gospel of John: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."Of course, many listeners will be thinking of another verse from John as one of their favorites — namely, John 3:16. It is one verse I'll probably never forget: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
John's Gospel is a dense piece of philosophy, but it is also part of the Good News. That's why it is a Gospel! As we go through this church year together, we'll say a bit about each Gospel, hopefully letting us better appreciate the gift that God has given us by telling us the story of Jesus in four different ways.
A closing collectMERCIFUL Lord, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church, that it being enlightened by the doctrine of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length attain to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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