is start John (John 1 - 3)

I have read through John and is it ever different from the other three gospels.

It starts by saying that Jesus is the Word and that the Word was around right from the beginning.  There is no virgin birth, no star, no wise men, no angels or stable or manger.  Jesus always was.  I actually have no idea what that means but it makes more sense to me than the Christmas story which sounds very much like a story. 

I have always wondered why God would go through the trouble of having Mary conceive through the Holy Spirit.  Wouldn’t it be just as easy to inspire somebody to spread this Word like he did with Moses and other Old Testament prophets?  None of those people had special births (unless you count Adam).  Later in the text, we learn that Jesus did have Mary and Joseph as parents as some people reject Jesus because of his humble beginnings.  I am not diminishing John’s belief in Jesus as he sees Jesus even more Godlike than the other writers.  He seems to emphasize Jesus as a part of God not just the son of God if that makes sense.

Regardless, in some way, and you can spin it in a thousand directions, Jesus to all the gospel writers was a special person who had been inspired in some manner to preach the word of God.  And like in the other gospels John has  John the Baptist introduce Jesus as this special person.  But there is no mention of John baptizing Jesus nor is there any mention of the temptations in the desert.  And this seems to make more sense as why would Jesus who comes from god need to be baptized or succumb to temptation.   

After gathering the 12 disciples, Jesus performs his first miracle which is the turning of water into wine at the wedding in Cana.  Jesus appears to be reluctant about performing this miracle telling his mother that his time has not yet come.  Then Jesus goes to Jerusalem where he clears the moneychangers from the temple in much more dramatic form than in the other gospels.  That scene occurs at the end of his ministry in the other gospels but here it starts it.

And then the text gets even more complicated.   Jesus talks about being born again, that no one can enter the Kingdom without being reborn by water and the spirit.  He says that people are unwilling to accept his message.  He asks how people will be able to believe what he says about heaven when they refuse to listen to what he says about this world.  Unfortunately, I can’t find too many details about what he says about this world and what his actual message might be.  (It might come later.)

Then we get the famous “for God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.”  And this has always stumped me.  What does it mean “he gave his only son”?  We know that Jesus dies, but Jesus came back so it is not like anything has been lost.  What are we willing to sacrifice to show our love for somebody?  Sacrificing something means we have given up something.  Serious question:  What is god giving up to show his love for the world?