J John

Evangelist & Author

 When thirteen year old David was asked what he knew about Jesus, he replied, “Why was he named after a swear word?”

Jesus. A name met with such controversy, yet the reputation of this man has withstood scrutiny for 2000 years.

Today, passing a high-street surfing shop, his name is branded across merchandise ‘Jesus surfs without a board’ and ‘Jesus is my homeboy.’ A mark of our times perhaps that this name of such power and significance can be so casually thrown around. One step even further removed from many assumed ideas that this name will evoke extreme reactions; either a trust and acceptance of the biblical view of Jesus as God’s Son or a sceptical view, belittling him to the category of a ‘good man.’ Our culture now, it seems, has broken beyond that, allowing room for its use as a faint, lethargic gag and nothing stronger.

Knowledge of Jesus is commonplace, but can we say that we know Jesus? Certainly, few it seems would deny his existence. Today, a growing body of fifteen hundred million people trace their faith back to this historical figure; historians can verify his existence against Roman records whilst theologians prove the validity of the gospels as an authoritative written account of Jesus’ words and actions. We have evidence and confirmation that he lived in Palestine, that he was considered to be the Messiah and that he was executed under Pontius Pilate who governed Palestine from AD 26 to 36. This was the man, a peasant teacher living on the edge of the map in Judea, who made an impression so big that the normal categories of history and biography did not seem enough and impelled a new literary genre to do him justice. Still, can our knowledge of this man rest and lie dormant in historical accounts?

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For more information about J John and his work, visit: www.philotrust.com