9.8

Material Not Found in John’s Gospel (Box 9.6)

John’s Gospel is notable for its lack of material that is very familiar in the other Gospels:

• no stories of Jesus’s birth
• no mention of Jesus’s baptism
• nothing about Jesus being tempted or tested by Satan
• no mention of Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners
• no transfiguration of Jesus
• no parables
• no exorcisms
• no condemnations of the rich or words about helping the poor
• nothing about loving one’s neighbor (or one’s enemy)
• no call for people to repent (from either John the Baptist or Jesus)
• no call for disciples to deny themselves or renounce their possessions
• no predictions of Jerusalem’s downfall (but cf. 2:19–22)
• no mention of Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper (but cf. 6:53–56)
• almost no mention of the kingdom of God (only in 3:3–5; but cf. 18:36)
• almost no references to a second coming (just once: 21:22–23; usually, 14:3, 18, 28 are read as Jesus coming for individuals at the hour of their death)