Beyond description

My reflection today has been on the final sentence of the Gospel of John.  It’s one we don’t hear very often.  But it offers some fascinating insights to reflect upon.  All we know about the life of Christ is contained in the Gospels, but how could these short Gospel books ever come close to describing the totality of who Jesus is?  They can’t!  Take it from an eyewitness:

“There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.”  (John 21:25)

Imagine the insights that our Blessed Mother would have had about her Son.  She, as His mother, would have seen and understood so many hidden moments of His life.  She would have watched Him grow year after year.  She would have watched Him relate and interact with others throughout His life.  She would have noticed that He was preparing for His public ministry.  And she would have witnessed so many hidden moments of that public ministry and countless sacred moments of His entire life. 

So a first insight we should take from this Scripture is that we know only a small portion of the actual life of Christ.  What we do know is glorious in and of itself!  But we should realize that there’s so much more.  And this realization should fill our minds with interest, longing, and a desire for more.  By coming to know how little we actually do know, we will hopefully be compelled to seek Christ more deeply. 

A second insight we can gain from this passage is that, even though the numerous events of Christ’s life can’t be contained in countless volumes of books, we can, nonetheless, discover Jesus Himself in what is contained in the Holy Scriptures.  We may not know every detail of His life, but we can come to meet the Person.  We can come to encounter the Living Word of God Himself in the Scriptures and, in that encounter and meeting of Him, we’re given all we need.

My reflection took me to the previous 4 verses in John (21: 20-24).  It reads like a lot of Facebook posts in this day and age.  One person posts their version of a story and it becomes accepted and widely spread, until one of the other people involved (in this case, John) posts a clarification to set the record straight.

It reminds me so concretely of the humanness of all the disciples and followers of Jesus.  Not only because of John’s clarification of what actually happened, and the final words that state, so humanly, “There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written,” but also because of Peter’s role in the story.

Peter says, “Lord, what about him?” referring to John following them.  How often do we say that to God?  What about him or her, who is doing something “wrong,” or getting too many “blessings” in our opinion, or neglecting us, or …?  The list can be endless.

Jesus’ answer to us is the same as to Peter: “What concern is it of yours? You follow me.”  We need to plant those words deeply in our hearts, file them permanently in our memory, and remember them the next time we want to pass judgement on someone else, causing us to take our eyes off what we’re supposed to be doing: following Jesus.