weeping over john 21:25 rn
returning to this real quick,,,,
but i looked up the vulgate translation of john 21:25 and found this:
"sunt autem et alia multa quae fecit Iesus; quae si scribantur per singula nec ipsum arbitror mundum eos qui scribendi sunt libros. amen." [punctuation supplied by myself according to the RVS translation]
my RVS takes that as:
"But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. [Amen.]"
so context- initially i was moved by this passage from reading it through the lens of John the beloved; a dear friend of Christ. after all, how else do you describe the innumerable acts of your dearest friend and savior of humanity than that? too many actions to possibly record and store. it seemed to me the sentiment only possible a friend could make in witnessing to the powerful love and legacy of his own friend.
but what took me back was the latin's use of "mundum."
now i'm studying a liberal arts program and right now in my mathematical tutorial, we're studying astronomy (specifically Ptolemy, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler) as prescribed by Plato in the Republic. it's a beautiful slog that's pushed my mind in ways i hadn't thought possible- primarily thanks to the conceived models of the universe. more often than not, these men of history have aimed to describe, not only the limits of the earth and the sun, nor the solar system which we inhabit, but the entirety of creation: the world in the fullest sense of the word. how do you encapsulate all of creation? good question, it's really hard.
but why mention that? well contextually, the word used to signify this concept has been "mundum." simply, "the world." and to think that the translation of the vulgate bears the same term blew my mind - sure, the gospel wasn't written in Latin, but the connotation still follows.
John wasn't just trying to describe the earth as we know it - the shelves and libraries of men; the dunes of desserts and plains of lands beyond. no, he meant the world itself, all of creation. the vast nothingness of space, the endless expanse reaching beyond our very own comprehension. all of it would be insufficient to hold the deeds of Christ.
maybe it's just a sentiment, maybe i'm reading too deeply into these things, but i can't leave this alone. why else throw that in there? only the love of a friend could inspire someone to own their insufficiency in record yet try all the same. only someone who bore witness to the acts of God come to man, taking on flesh, and living as we ought and doing things no man ever could. not only is the witness of a friend given to us, but there comes with it the love kneaded within. not only that, but we are given an account that a being who rests in ways incomprehensible by man, the being who made all while existing eternally, personally came to earth and did more things than we can ever hope to know out of love for His children.
i personally am brought to tears by this. that love is perfect. john 21:25 is my favorite verse for that reason right there. if nothing else, i call to mind St Augustine's words in the City of God when he reminds us that even the unintended interpretation of a verse can be edifying so long as it doesn't conflict with doctrine or scripture.
tl;dr: john 21:25 capture the vast expanse of Christ's actions borne from love as only a beloved friend can and that's beautiful.
