These are the very last words to be written in the gospels.
John’s gospel is the last to be written and these are the last words written. John would have known the synoptic gospels and you can sense his knowledge, written towards the end of his long life, towards the end of the first century, that this the conclusion of the witness of life with Christ in person and the time is right to pass on the knowledge, understanding and belief in Jesus as the Risen Lord to the generations that follow.
And so we hear of the many stories that have gone unwritten. How we would love to hear those! But we can also appreciate the importance of the Holy Spirit, working in the Church since John’s last days bringing us closer to God the Son through revelation and prayer. In their way, the Fathers of the Church, the saints, the doctors and all others who have witnessed in some way to Christ have brought us to the point of having the divine word of God before us to appreciate and reflect on.
As we conclude Easter, let us reflect on those generations and give thanks to all those (both known to us and unknown) who have witnessed the faith, who have handed on the faith, have sacrificed themselves that the Word of God and his Catholic Church might survive and strive through the world.
And let us also reflect on our own Easter. Over the last fifty days have we come closer to the Risen Christ? Have we come to a greater conviction in the purpose and meaning of his death, resurrection, ascension and giving of the Holy Spirit to his Church? Do we appreciate the importance of the Church in our lives? That we cannot call ourselves Christian and be remote from the Church of Christ? Of the role of the Holy Spirit as the giver of the gifts that we need to be close to God? Of the realisation that without Jesus Christ giving himself for us and rising to defeat sin and ascending to heaven, we would have no hope for our future?
So thank God for the Easter season. Thank God for creating an Easter people. Thank God for us being part of that and let us look forward to tomorrow when we celebrate the birthday of the Church.
Gospel John 21:20-25 ©
Peter turned and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them – the one who had leaned on his breast at the supper and had said to him, ‘Lord, who is it that will betray you?’ Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘What about him, Lord?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.’ The rumour then went out among the brothers that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus had not said to Peter, ‘He will not die’, but, ‘If I want him to stay behind till I come.’
This disciple is the one who vouches for these things and has written them down, and we know that his testimony is true.
There were many other things that Jesus did; if all were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written.