Gospel of John Figures

In case being hit over the head with it throughout the gospel wasn't enough for you, we'd like to repeat: John's Gospel tells us that no one can really know God unless they know Jesus. So who is J...

God never makes an actual appearance in the Gospel of John, so we don't need to talk about him. The end. Oh, wait. This guy is everywhere—even when he's not. God sets all the events of the sto...

Peter's nickname is "The Rock," but we're guessing it wasn't because he walked around Galilee hitting non-believers over the head with folding chairs. Let's take a look, though, just to be sure.Rig...

Shmoop would like to announce a name change. We would officially like to be called "The Beloved Shmoop" from now on. Thank you for your cooperation. Now back to our regularly scheduled analysis.We...

Talk about prime seating. Mary Magdalene is only mentioned twice—very late in the Gospel—but she gets up close and personal at the most important events in the story: the crucifixion and the re...

Things never quite work out for Judas. He gets a bad rap right from the beginning of the story—but does he deserve it? Et tu, Judas? Judas's big defining character trait is that he betrays Jesu...

The Twelve? Not Quite Christian tradition tells us that there were exactly twelve disciples, no more, no less. Unless, of course, you read John's Gospel. Aside from "the twelve" (6:67) who are alw...

Rotten to the Core All in all, the religious authorities are a rather nasty bunch. They hear everything Jesus has to say about God, watch him perform miracles, and then… have him arrested and ex...

Pilate is the guy who sentences Jesus to death. Pretty big deal, right? But you might notice that the gospel authors tend to cut him quite a bit of slack. The blame is usually placed on Judas, the...

John the Baptist is like that guy who announces the boxers before the big fight (Coming to you all the way from Nazareth, it's the Lamb of God himself—Jeeeeeeesuuuuuuus!). All the gospels show...

Nicodemus is a member of the religious authorities, but he's also sympathetic to Jesus. Sounds like an oxymoron, right? Well, this guy pulls it off when he randomly pops up a few times in John:He v...

Lazarus's big moment comes when he's been dead for four days. Jesus visits his tomb, says a little prayer, and Lazarus comes stumbling out, very much alive (11:44). That's right, Jesus brings this...