WEBVTT 00:03.880 --> 00:06.360 Introduction to the Gospel according to St. John. 00:07.180 --> 00:12.080 The fourth and final Gospel, the Gospel of John, is a powerful argument that the 00:12.080 --> 00:14.080 Creator became a part of His creation. 00:15.260 --> 00:20.060 John begins by saying, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 00:20.440 --> 00:21.840 and the Word was God. 00:22.820 --> 00:26.400 Then he adds, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. 00:27.020 --> 00:31.440 The rest of this Gospel sets out to demonstrate that Jesus was in fact God in 00:31.440 --> 00:35.480 the flesh by recording what Jesus claimed and listing the miraculous signs that 00:35.480 --> 00:36.260 Jesus performed. 00:37.160 --> 00:41.780 The author of this Gospel is the Apostle John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, 00:41.940 --> 00:43.880 as he often refers to himself in this book. 00:44.740 --> 00:45.980 Sometime around A.D. 00:46.020 --> 00:50.940 85 to 90, according to the traditional view, the aging Apostle wrote his Gospel 00:50.940 --> 00:55.700 to confirm the divine identity of Jesus and to present Him as the only source of 00:55.700 --> 00:56.440 eternal life. 00:57.360 --> 01:01.260 John says that love, God's love, was the motive for the Son of God's 01:01.260 --> 01:03.720 voluntary limiting of Himself to time and space. 01:04.520 --> 01:09.240 Jesus as a man who was also God was susceptible to sorrow and death like any 01:09.240 --> 01:09.720 of us are. 01:10.700 --> 01:15.000 But John wanted us to know what he had seen, and he had seen God in the flesh. 01:16.040 --> 01:19.820 Throughout John's account, Jesus is revealed to be God incarnate. 01:20.440 --> 01:25.220 John chose to record 8 signs or miracles that show Jesus' divine nature. 01:26.180 --> 01:27.480 He turned water into wine. 01:28.180 --> 01:29.640 He healed a nobleman's son. 01:30.600 --> 01:33.540 He healed a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years. 01:34.340 --> 01:37.040 He fed the 5,000 with just a few loaves and fishes. 01:37.940 --> 01:38.900 He walked on water. 01:39.700 --> 01:41.660 He restored sight to a man born blind. 01:42.300 --> 01:44.060 He raised Lazarus from the dead. 01:44.520 --> 01:47.280 And he gave the disciples an enormous catch of fish. 01:48.240 --> 01:52.680 Beyond these miracles, the greatest supernatural sign was Jesus' resurrection 01:52.680 --> 01:53.380 from the dead. 01:53.960 --> 01:57.900 And John provides a moving eyewitness account in which his disciples find the 01:57.900 --> 01:58.420 tomb empty. 01:59.160 --> 02:03.580 Then he presents several incidents of other witnesses who saw Jesus after His 02:03.580 --> 02:04.060 resurrection. 02:05.320 --> 02:10.220 Notice how these signs confirm Jesus' own words when he says, I am the bread of 02:10.220 --> 02:15.700 life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection and 02:15.700 --> 02:20.740 the life, the vine, as well as the way, the truth, and the life. 02:21.360 --> 02:25.300 Now as you listen, note John's evangelistic purpose for telling us about 02:25.300 --> 02:25.620 Jesus. 02:26.620 --> 02:30.060 As he concludes his gospel, John states the purpose of his writing.