Fulfilling What He Had Predicted
For about three and a half years, Jesus Christ traveled by foot around the land of Palestine (now Israel and some surrounding areas) teaching, preaching, performing miracles, and announcing the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah. This was the portion of his life that has been referred to as his “earthly ministry,” and it';s the time leading up to what some Christians refer to as Holy Week.
How is John';s gospel different from the other three?
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the synoptic Gospels because they more or less follow the same chain of events in the life of Jesus. John';s gospel is known for a more spiritual focus and for its emphasis on different events in Jesus';s life from the other three.
This was the final week of Jesus';s life on earth, and it included his final entry into the city of Jerusalem (John 12:12–19), his final teaching, his arrest and trial, his death on the cross, and his resurrection. These were all events he had told his disciples would come, and now that time had come. Jesus was about to fulfill the mission for which he had come to earth in the first place: his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.
John';s gospel — which was written by the apostle John, who refers to himself in the gospel narrative as “the disciple Jesus loved” — is the last book of the Gospels and it contains several incidents surrounding Jesus';s final hours before his death that don';t appear in the other three.
