Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:30-31 ESV

It is almost impossible to rank the 10 bestselling autobiographies of all time, because no matter where you look, what you actually see are the ten books that someone else likes the best or are hoping to sell to you. But if we were to rank by the number of readers, that list would certainly include the Gospel of John. Interestingly, while in these books, most authors make themselves, either the hero or heroine of their tales, John barely appears. John’s passion was to tell the story Jesus and the lives that He changed forever.

Now as we know, the original document was a scroll and was not divided into chapters. Instead, as it unrolls, we encounter the stories of many different people. First, he introduces us to John the Baptist, who we find shouting to anyone who would listen, “Prepare the way of the Lord!” Second on the list is Mary, the mother of Jesus, whose advice is, “Whatever he tells you to do, do it.” Our third person is Nicodemus, whose question about being born again, brought us perhaps the most loved verse in the Bible, “For God so loved the world…” Next in line comes the woman at the well who joyfully discovers the living water that Jesus gives. As the scroll continues unrolling, we encounter a man that Jesus heals, who for 38 years had waited by the pool of Bethesda. Then, in possibly the most dramatic story so far, we find Jesus multiplying bread for 5,000 men on a hillside, all from the gift of one special young boy. Each chapter tells us the story of another person, and though John is writing the account, he finds little opportunity to mention himself. To me, most amazing of all, though Matthew, Mark and Luke speak regularly of John, in John’s own gospel, he never once mentions himself by name. John chose to make the story of His life, about the story of those who Jesus blesses, and only includes himself as, “The disciple who Jesus loved.” So, what’s your story? What is mine? If someone were to sit down with us at a party and ask, “Tell me about yourself.” How would we answer. What stories could we tell?