The Work of John

This Sunday's reading from John contains the densest beginning of any of the Gospels.

John 1:1-18In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

It is believed (by most) that the apostle John was the longest lived of the apostles, this might explain why his Gospel appears to convey a more developed theology rather than being a simple recitation of events. The recurring theme of light versus darkness may have been a part of John's style of preaching in my opinion.

John is also believed to have moved to Ephesus with Mary. The church he led there may have been to whom Paul addressed his letter, or Paul may have been writing to a separate church made up of converted Gentiles. Whatever the case, Paul's tone in his letter seems to indicate that things in Ephesus were going well which also suggests that John's work there was doing well.