The Reason Why – John 20: 30-31

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.

As I write these words, I am typing on a modern laptop computer. If I make a mistake the computer corrects it for me effortlessly. Years ago, while I was in college, I owned a portable electric typewriter. It was great for typing but it didn’t know beans about spelling and neither did I. The combination meant that typing was a real chore.

Back in the days before electric typewriters, mechanical typewriters were preferred. You could make duplicate copies as you typed by inserting carbon paper between two pieces of paper. They also had a funny way of getting stuck if you didn’t pace your timing on the keys just right. If you tried typing too fast the “keys” would jam up like a freeway traffic jamb. Then everything would stop. For the next few minutes, you would have to carefully try and back out each key from the jam.

Before typewriters, there were ballpoint pens. Before ballpoint pens, there were ink pens that had a rubber bladder inside and a tiny lever on the side of the pen. You dipped the pen in ink and moved the lever to fill the bladder with ink. Then you snapped the lever back into the side of the pen and you could write several sentences before you had to refill the ink again.

Back in John’s day he probably wrote on parchment or papyrus. His writing tool would have been a reed pen or something similar. You dip it in ink and write one or two letters. Then you dip the pen in ink again and write another letter or two. It was slow and laborious work. The work was complicated by the danger of spilling ink or smudging what had been written. Writing required both having something to say and the skill to record the words in writing.

The work involved in putting together John’s gospel is phenomenal. John’s gospel contains over eighteen thousand words. (English, KJV) The Greek word count should be similar. That is a lot of writing. John made the effort to record these words so that you and I might believe.

Application: John’s work in recording the story of Jesus Christ’s life on earth is priceless. Today, most people in America are within arm’s length reach of a Bible. Shouldn’t we spend a few minutes each day honoring God by reading His Word?

Food for Thought: If John had added more words to his gospel account, how would that have affected his message?

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