Models of the Church: John and the Church of Contemplation

Over at the Catholic Weekly, we continue our look at Models of the Church via John the Contemplative:

There’s a little joke about Peter and John running to the tomb.  John gets there first and says, “I beat you!”  Peter says, “Yeah, but who will ever know?”  And John replies, “Everyone will know!” followed by the verse in John’s gospel where he records the incident for all mankind and all future time.

It is a curious detail to John’s gospel and redolent of the sort of eyewitness memory that an old man brings to a story from his youth he has told many times.  It’s recorded because, well, it’s what happened.  But the way in which John (or more precisely, John’s disciples who are writing down the story for him) tells it includes peculiar details that invite the question, “Why does he tell it this way?”

Much more here.