In today's episode, we take a closer look at the Gospel of John, the gospel from which we drew the title of this series, "Salvation is from the Jews". It is generally considered to be the odd one out among the other gospels, telling the story of Jesus from a very different angle. Some claim that it is even antisemitic, as the opponents of Jesus are often blanketly called "the Jews". Often? In actual fact, 71 times. But who's counting?
Fr Geoffrey explains how we can better understand this term within different contexts by exploring the history of Judeans, Galileans and other Israelites. We'll also see how in his gospel, John beautifully connects Jesus' words with the Jewish feasts that are occurring during his ministry (such as Passover, Purim, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Feast of the Dedication), with Jesus riffing off these festal themes and calling people back to the true meaning of the feasts. Often connected to these feasts are the "I am" statements of Jesus, also uniquely found in John's Gospel.
The more we know about Jewish history, feasts and practices, the more the gospel comes to life!
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