The Gospel according to John and Mary

Michael Pakaluk has opened my eyes to something hidden in plain view. Taking the fact that Mary the mother of Jesus lived with John the disciple whom Jesus loved, as per Christ's instruction from the cross, Pakaluk interprets John's soaring Gospel as informed by conversations the two must have enjoyed over thirty years of living and communing in their common home. As he writes, "it should be possible to discern the influence of Mary upon John's Gospel . . . [T]he memory of each helped that of the other; the insights of each informed the thoughts of the other." The thesis is plausible and exciting.