Summary: John's gospel is one of themes over narrative, so he has to set this up, putting Jesus as Truth, God's Equal, and Light of the World. John finds witnesses to this, including John the Baptist; these witnesses recognized Jesus when many throughout time have not. By becoming human as well as divine, Jesus offers God's invitation to become part of His family. John recounts the testimony of John the Baptist to the religious leaders (i.e. he is not the Messiah) before finding Jesus and testifying about Him (i.e. He is). And this testimony is relayed from JtB through his follower Andrew and his brother Peter back to Jesus Himself. And Jesus finds yet more witnesses, who would become His disciples.
Response: So that's... a lot. But just that framing device--those who see Jesus feel almost compelled to testify on who/what He is--makes this reading fresh for me. And who is Jesus to me? I might need some time to wrestle with that question. I mean, undoubtedly He is my Savior and my Sanctifier, but I want to spend more time with Him, until I can't help but testify to who He is to me.
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