St John the Evangelist 		May 6
While others named John may possibly be involved in the history of the Fourth Gospel, the name of John became attached to it in the belief that the author was John the apostle (see 25 July). Although this cannot ultimately be disproved, the Calendar commemorates the apostle and the evangelist separately. In commemorating the evangelist we should ask what the Gospel itself reveals about the nature, attitudes and circumstances of its author. The relationship of the Johannine letters and of Revelation to the Gospel is too problematic for them to be taken into account in our knowledge of the evangelist.
The closing chapter of John (John 21) is an appendix to the Gospel and states that the writer of the material in this chapter at least, is “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, implying that, by the time of its final revision, he was no longer alive (John 21:20-24). This disciple was apparently a trustworthy witness to events at the Last Supper (John 13:23), at the cross (John 19:26-27 and, presumably, 35) and on Easter morning (John 20:2-10), and, though less probably, in the high priest’s house (John 18:15f.). The studied anonymity of this disciple suggests he is indicated as one of the two unnamed disciples by the Sea of Tiberias (John 21:2), whether or not the final editor knew his identity. He serves in the Gospel not only as a witness but also as an exemplar of being one with Christ, for he is described as lying in Jesus’ bosom (John 13:23) as Jesus is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18). At the tomb, unlike Peter, “he saw and believed”, the first believer in the resurrection (John 20:8). Notwithstanding the editorial view reflected in the closing verses (John 21:24f), many scholars conclude that this beloved disciple should not be regarded as responsible for anything like the whole Gospel. 
Taking the Gospel as a whole, the key to understanding the evangelist’s environment seems to lie in his stance towards the Judaism out of which the Gospel and its traditions clearly come. While salvation is from the Jews, for Jesus is their Messiah (John 4:22,26) and is seen regularly in the light of Moses and the Scriptures, the ministry of Jesus is depicted as a continuing conflict between Jesus and “the Jews”. This evangelist seems to belong to a time and place where the mission to Jews has failed, and the church is no longer a movement partly within Judaism. Christians are no longer allowed in the synagogue (cf. John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2). Although the evangelist himself may well have a Jewish background, the Jews during the ministry of Jesus and in the passion story stand for the hostile world which now opposes the gospel. The spiritual home of the author is not Jerusalem but the Christian community. Indeed it may be more profitable to see the Gospel not so much as the work of an individual author but as the work of a community, bound together by believing in Jesus, whose present reality overcomes the unfulfilled hopes of his return.
For Liturgical Use
The church’s tradition that the fourth evangelist was the apostle John cannot be conclusively disproved, but it is safer to deduce what we can about the evangelist from the Gospel itself. The “disciple whom Jesus loved” may have been a witness to certain events of the passion, but is presented as the ideal of oneness with Christ. The actual author of the Gospel seems to represent a Christian community whose Jewish ties have been severed; a community bound together by the reality of Jesus Christ, their whole life constituted and controlled by their believing in him.
Sentence, Prayers and Readings as in A New Zealand Prayer Book - He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa, page 676-677