I wonder how often you find yourself wishing you knew more about something. Perhaps it is some skill you wish you had acquired earlier in life and would like to pursue even now. Or perhaps it is an area of expertise where you wish you did not need to rely on others’ knowledge but were able to handle everything yourself. This applies to me in the general area of IT. I am not interested in it at all, although I use my laptop all the time as a writer. Instead, I rely heavily on my husband’s knowledge whenever I experience some computer glitch or problem with the internet. But what will happen when he perhaps cannot help me? Then I may well wish I had listened to him much more carefully.
Each day, we are surrounded by so much information, some of which we may wish we had and some we are happy to ignore. But recently, I came to some verses towards the end of John’s gospel I could not remember noticing before that definitely made me long to know more. After describing how the risen Jesus appeared to his disciples, including Thomas who had not initially believed, John continues:
Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:30–31
Then, in the final verse of this gospel, we find the following:
Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. John 21:25
At that point, I felt a little ripped off. What other signs that Jesus performed do we know nothing about because they are not in John’s gospel – or anywhere else? And what about those many other things Jesus did as well that would fill whole volumes, according to John? I wanted to know all about them and perhaps get an even clearer picture of Jesus and his ministry as a result. In choosing what to include, it seems John did not overlook any signs Jesus performed or anything else he did. He simply decided – no doubt as God led him – that he had written enough to enable us to believe in Jesus, without including anything more.
As I thought more about this whole matter, I realised two things. First, we do indeed know enough of the wonderful things Jesus said and did, as John maintains, to believe Jesus is the Son of God. Second, Jesus is even more powerful and amazing than I have already concluded! According to John, we have glimpsed only a percentage of all Jesus said and did – and I for one cannot wait to discover what we have missed out on.
For now, however, we have been shown and told enough. One day, we will find out the rest but, until then, may we all keep on believing in our wonderful Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. May we continue to declare, along with the centurion who saw Jesus crucified for us:
Surely this man was the Son of God!” Mark 15:39b
Jo-Anne Berthelsen's Blog 