“Jesus did many other things as well” John 21:25
Throughout history we have heard, seen and read famous headlines in the newspapers. With the change from newsprint to electronics we now see partial titles catching our attention, but we need to open the link to find out the story. Here are a few famous examples. “Washington crosses the Potomac.” “Japan surrenders ending World War II.” “Elon Musk set to buy Twitter.” But history books, magazines and websites don’t have the bandwidth to tell every back story or every detail that led to the headline.
The Apostle John pens something in the final words of his epistle that is only a simple headline. John 21:25 says “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
It is not the headline but it is a great sentence summary and could have easily been the headline. It’s his way of saying, Jesus’ remarkable life and ministry was even deeper, more significant, and richer than what was written.
John’s desire was to point people to Jesus the Messiah. That’s why he picked the miracles and the particular historical events to be in the Gospel of John. I believe that if his desire was to focus on Jesus’ compassion, perhaps other stories would have been recorded. If it was to demonstrate Jesus’ leadership style, maybe other encounters would have been chronicled.
However, God directed John to write with a specific purpose. He says it himself in John 20:30-31 “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 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.”
Here are two takeaways. First, be encouraged. The headline of Jesus is way more important than the headline of your life. We should uplift, remember and be thankful for the headline and the details of Jesus’ life. He is amazing and generous with His life.
Second, your headline is not finished yet and neither are the details. The Lord is doing a good work in you. Don’t be discouraged. Remember, your history and your final pages have yet to be written.
Thirdly, this is about what Jesus has done and was written to us so that we might believe in Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, the One who gives life. His grace and love covers our sin.
Question - Have you believed and trusted Him?
The one headline that God would like to have us write would be something like “SURRENDERED TO CHRIST” or “SAVED BY HIS GRACE”
