John 21:1-14 Jesus crashes a fishing trip

John 21:1-3 Peter announces that he is going fishing, and six other of the disciples go with him. What's going on here? The resurrected Christ has just appeared to them, at least twice. We might speculate: they were bored; they lacked direction; their pattern of life was disrupted so they returned to what they knew; they were worried about providing for their families. But the fish weren't biting, even though they fished all night. Of course, Jesus had promised that they would fish for men (Matthew 4:19, Mark 1:17), which they weren't doing. Perhaps this was a unique period in human history, between Jesus' resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, so the disciples' actions can't be understood by standards of any other time frame.

John 21:4-11 John presents us with a complex scene, seemingly simple on the surface. Once again Jesus hides His identity from His disciples. He speaks from authority and knowledge. When they do as He commands, they have a catch so great they cannot bring it in, even though they had fished all night and caught nothing. John, referring to himself in the third person, figures out that when things like this happen, Jesus is involved. Even though his eyes cannot recognize the form of Jesus after the flesh, yet John's spirit is beginning to be sensitive to the ways of the Kingdom of God. So he tells Peter that the man standing on the shore is Jesus. Peter believes him, but his response is odd; he throws himself into the sea, evidently swimming to shore. The other disciples drag the net full of fish to the shore. Jesus had already started a charcoal fire with bread and fish upon it. Jesus tells them to get some of the fish they had just caught and add them to the meal, which Peter does. Amazingly, even though the catch was so large (153 fish) that they could not haul it into the boat, the net was not torn.

          It is certainly possible to make this a metaphor for the disciples' true calling. Jesus had told them that they would be fishers of men (Matthew 4:19), but they hadn't started doing that yet. Pentecost had not yet happened. But in discouraging circumstances, when they recognized the word of God and obeyed, even though they did not yet recognize Jesus' presence, they were abundantly successful in fishing.

          Why did Simon Peter put on his outer garment and throw himself into the sea when John told him that Jesus was the one calling him from the shore? John mentions that Peter was stripped, literally naked (gumnos), for work, so he put on his outer garment. He cast himself (ebalen) into the sea, with the implication of being uncertain or uncaring about the result. Perhaps Peter felt spiritually or psychologically naked before The Lord because of his threefold denial, and the outer garment might give him some covering, like the fig leaves that Adam and Eve put on when they realized they were naked. (Genesis 3:7) Of course, that provides no real covering for the true problem of spiritual nakedness before God. And then the hurling of himself into the sea may be symbolic of completely abandoning himself to the winds of fate or the care of God - whichever is going to determine the outcome in this case.

          Is there some significance to the number of fish? Factoring this number to primes gives 3 x 3 x 17, to which there seems no particular significance. Peter's labor to bring the catch of fish to the shore indicates that at least he still knew how to fish and bring in the catch.

John 12:12-14 Jesus served breakfast. By this time, all of them had figured out who He was. This was only the second time that He had eaten in their presence since the last supper. (Luke 24:43), and only the third time they had seen Him since His resurrection. 

John 20:19-31 The risen Christ appears to the eleven remaining apostles and commissions them

John 20:19-25 On the evening of the same day, the first day of the week, Jesus appeared to the disciples, nearly all of whom were gathered in a room with the doors shut. Jesus said to them "Shalom." He showed them His hands and feet, in which the marks of the nails must have been plainly evident. Jesus then gave them the apostolic charge by sending them. This is also recorded in the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20), although the context suggests that He was repeating this charge on more than one occasion so that they would remember it. He sent them out.

          Next, He breathed on them the Holy Spirit. This recapitulates the creation of Adam, recorded in Genesis 2:7, in which God breathed the breath of God, literally the Spirit of God, into Adam. Here Jesus breathed on His disciples. The manifestations of this filling did not become evident until the day of Pentecost, approximately seven weeks later.  The connection between the apostolic commission and the filling of the Holy Spirit is also evident during Peter's sermon on that day. There is a bit of a difference. Although this is not actually spiritual CPR, in this event, Jesus was breathing spiritual life into men who did not even understand what was going on but needed to have it almost involuntarily forced into their spiritual lungs. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came like a rushing mighty wind, revealing the power of God to create. In that day there was both an external and an internal manifestation.

          Finally, Jesus gave the apostles authority, as part of their commission, to forgive sins on His behalf. This is followed by an odd statement, that if they choose to retain the sins of anyone, they will be retained. In effect, Jesus is giving the apostles the authority to judge who will and will not receive forgiveness of sins. This authority is entrusted to those who are filled with the Holy Spirit, who move in the wisdom and anointing of God through the Holy Spirit. And perhaps it pertains primarily to the earthly implications of sin, since other scriptures indicate that either God the Father or Jesus will judge people. (Revelation 20:11-13, 2 Corinthians 5:10) We see this played out in at least one example, in which Paul instructs the Corinthians to excommunicate a man living in defiant sin from the church (I Corinthians 5:1-5). The purpose is not to send him to hell ultimately, but to allow him to experience the consequences of his sin in life on earth so that he will repent and ultimately be saved.

          As a footnote, or a transition to the next section, the absence of Thomas the twin was noted. Apparently he was not able to believe the report of the other disciples. Thomas stands in as a surrogate for all of us who have never seen the risen Lord in the body. Apart from faith in God's power, what basis is there for accepting the report of something totally supernatural? Thomas admitted that he did not have that kind of faith, and insisted that he needed hard physical evidence of the resurrection in order to believe in it.

John 20:26-31 Jesus did not judge Thomas for his skepticism, but made provision for him. When Thomas had touched and believed, Jesus went on to pronounce a blessing on those who believe without having to see the physical evidence.

          We should not be too hard on Thomas. Recall that the other disciples had already seen Jesus and so had a basis in empirical experience for their faith. John later recalls that he, too, touched Jesus, and that was part of the reason for his writing of the epistle. (I John 1:1-3) Most likely, Jesus was speaking to future believers, to those who would believe in Him based on the testimony of the apostles. The blessing that they would have is sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, to being able to accept spiritual things that are outside the natural realm. The blessing is that such sensitivity will enable them (us) to receive directly from God all that He has prepared. And in fact, at the end of this section, John records that the reason for his writing is so that the reader will believe and thereby have life in Jesus' name.

John 20:11-18 Mary meets Jesus

John 20:11-18 John records Mary's conversation with the angels slightly differently than the other gospel writers. He records only their question to her. As she explains her understanding of the events, Jesus appears and speaks to her. As on the Emmaus road, she does not recognize Him, even when He speaks to her. Why did she mistake Him for the gardener? Perhaps that was the only person she would have expected to see in the garden. Still unaware of His resurrection, but aware that Jesus' body was gone, she responded appropriately. She would care for His body.

          But when Jesus said her name her eyes were opened to recognize Him, just as the disciples on the Emmaus road recognized Jesus when He prayed. What is the significance of this apparent obfuscation by Jesus?  We do not know if this attribute of not being recognized will be present in all resurrected saints, or is unique to Jesus as God. But we should be cautious of the fact that Jesus could appear to us in disguise. He might be that homeless beggar whose appearance is unkempt, or that stranger that shows up to help us out, out of the blue. Mary says, "Teacher!" a cry of recognition, and clings to Him.

          Why did Jesus tell her that the reason she could not continue to hug Him was because He had not yet ascended to the Father? Perhaps there is a clue in Hebrews 9:11-12. The consummation of the plan of salvation had been Jesus' death on the cross. The epistle to the Hebrews indicates that Jesus entered a heavenly tabernacle of which the Mosaic tabernacle was only a copy. In the tabernacle in the wilderness, on the day of atonement, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies to pour the blood of the lamb on the mercy seat. How this would happen in the presence of God is probably beyond our earthly comprehension. But perhaps this was the final essential step in the process of atonement, and Jesus knew that although He had defeated death, the blood still had to be applied so that the redeemed would live eternally free from the stigma of sin. He must ascend to the Father to do this. He had led captivity captive, and freed  the Old Testament saints from death (Matthew 27:52-53). But they needed to be cleansed to enter the Father's presence. One can only imagine the shouts of victory and celebration in heaven when this occurred.

          Mary then reported all that had happened to the disciples.

John 20:1-10 The tomb is empty!

John 20:1-10 Perhaps the sign of the greatest devotion to Jesus was that Mary Magdalene came to the grave very early, well before sunrise. Just as in the case of Lazarus recorded in John 12, she went to the grave to mourn. When she saw that the stone had been rolled away, she did not investigate but instead went to get help. Peter and John went to investigate. The sequence of events is a bit confusing. Matthew records that the other Mary (Mark records that she was the mother of Jacob and Salome) went with Mary Magdalene. He also records that an angel spoke to them, and that there were also guards who were terrified by the angel. Mark also records the angel, but omits the description as striking terror into the guards. Luke records that there were two angels and three women in the early morning visitation, including Joanna. How do we reconcile these differing accounts?

          The easiest solution would be to infer that different authors talked to different participants and witnesses and got different pieces of or perspectives on the events. But John was a participant and eyewitness, and he omits the angels, the guards, and two of the women. Perhaps John relates his narrative from the heart, not as a court reporter. Mary Magdalene was the one who loved Jesus most strongly, and she was the one who came to him and Peter on that morning. So that is the important part of the story of the discovery of the empty tomb.

          What is the significance of the linen wrappings? The body of a dead person wrapped in linen perhaps signifies the purity of one who is dead. He can no longer be troubled by the cares of the world, its sins and temptations. Jesus had never sinned but what does leaving the linen wraps behind signify? That he had transcended the sins of humankind as well. The purification of sins had been accomplished. (Hebrews 1:3) It would no longer be necessary for people to die in order to be free from sin, because in rising from the dead, He had overcome its power.

          John's autobiographical account is confusing. He says that he went inside the tomb, he saw and believed. But the very next sentence says that neither he nor Peter as yet understood the scripture that He must rise from the dead. (Psalm 16:10) So what did John believe? Evidently John believed what he did not understand, that there is a basis for hope in faith, even when the answer is shrouded in mystery. 

John 19:31-42 Jesus' burial

John 19:31-37 The ritual of the Passover was respected enough by the Jews that even though they despised Jesus, they feared that their observance of the ordnance would be defiled by having dead Jewish bodies hanging on crosses during it. Hence the request to Pilate. In a way it was showing mercy to the condemned, shortening the agony of their terminal suffering. Men hanging from crosses by their hands but unable to put any weight on their legs would quickly suffocate. But Jesus had already given up His spirit, so the soldiers did not need to break His legs. Just to confirm that He was dead, a soldier pierced His side with a spear, but none of His bones were broken, even though that was the normal practice to hasten death. Two more prophecies were thus fulfilled. (Psalm 34:20, Zechariah 12:10)

          What was the significance of the water and blood coming out immediately? Anatomically it probably means that the heart and pericardial sac were both pierced. But more importantly,   the plan of redemption was complete. The water of the word incarnate (John 1:1, Ephesians 5:26) and the blood of the Paschal lamb (Exodus 12:21-22) were released.

          John cites this as his personal testimony. He was an eyewitness to this event. It really happened. Jesus was really dead. The Roman soldiers verified it. It is one of the essential tenets of Christianity that Christ died for our sins. (1 Corinthians 15:3) It was real death. It was the penalty of sin.

John 19:38-42 After Jesus' death, two men who were not of the twelve apostles, step forward. Both had had contact with Jesus and had perhaps higher stations in society, either through wealth or position, stepped forward to take care of Jesus' body. The record of Nicodemus' conversation with Jesus at night is recorded in John 3. As was perhaps the custom, they wrapped Jesus' body in linen with spices. Although Mary had anointed Jesus body beforehand for His burial (Mark 14:8) Nicodemus stepped forward now. Joseph approached Pilate to obtain Jesus' body. Evidently the garden tomb was very close to Mount Calvary, so they were able to quickly place Jesus' body there, before sundown, so that no one would be defiled by touching a dead body during the Passover. 

John 19:28-30 It is finished

John 19:28-30 Does the statement by Jesus that He was thirsty, followed by the sponge of sour wine, signify the last cup in the Passover Seder? The death angel would pass over those under the blood of the Lamb because the plan had been followed and completed. The blood on the door, in the shape of a cross, had been applied. When Jesus said, "It is finished," is this what He meant? He had observed the Passover with His disciples the night before, but according to many Passover ceremonies, the cup of Elijah is not drunk. Perhaps this is the prophetic fulfillment of that custom.

          When it was finished, Jesus gave up His Spirit. The cross, the loss of blood, asphyxiation did not kill Him. He gave up His Spirit. We have to turn to other passages to learn what happened next. Matthew 27:51 and Mark 15:38 record that the veil of the temple was torn in halves from top to bottom, the earth shook and rocks were split. Matthew 27:52-53 reports that tombs were opened and many bodies of the holy ones who had died were raised and came out of their tombs after the resurrection and entered Jerusalem and appeared to many people there. Matthew 27:54 and Mark 15:39 record that the Roman centurion who was guarding the crucifixion saw the earthquake and other things was frightened and made what can only be classified as an excited utterance, that truly this was the son of God.  Luke 23:47 reports that the centurion also said that certainly this man was innocent.

          Acts 2:31 and Ephesians 4:9-10 imply that Jesus' soul went to hell, as the consequence of the sins of the whole world being laid on Him, and therefore He bore the punishment for them. But since Jesus was innocent, hell could not contain Him, and in being there though innocent, He destroyed the hold the hell had on those who were identified with Him. (Identification with Christ is a separate issue, relating to salvation,) This was pictured symbolically in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, in the scene in which Aslan explains to the children that the writing on the stone table had a deeper magic which went back to before the beginning of time. When a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards.

John 19:17-27 Jesus' crucifixion part I

John 19:17-22 Jesus carried His own cross, at least part way. Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, and Luke 23:26 all record that Simon of Cyrene was pressed into service somewhere along the way. Most likely at this point Jesus was so weak from the beatings and torture that He lacked the physical strength needed. It must have been a bit scary for Simon. What if the soldiers got confused about who was supposed to be crucified? Normally the condemned carried their own cross. They came to Golgotha, the Hebrew word for skull, which was apparently the standard location for crucifixion.

          Of the two men crucified with Jesus, Matthew 27:38 and Mark 15:27 tell us they were robbers, Luke 23:33 only that they were criminals. Evidently neither was Barabbas.

          Pilate, in one final ironic act, had an inscription placed on the cross announcing that this was Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews, in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so all could read it. The priests wanted the sign to say that it was what Jesus claimed, but Pilate refused to concede this point. Whether he had an inkling of the reality of Jesus' true position, that He was born king of the Jews (cf. Matthew 2:2), or simply wanted to poke the priests in the eye, we do not know.

John 19:23-24 The dividing of Jesus' garments among the soldiers was probably a routine thing. But it tells us that He was crucified naked. The ultimate indignity? Perhaps not, but degrading nonetheless. This also fulfilled the prophecy of David in Psalm 22:18. Psalm 22 gives us a glimpse into the anguish of Jesus on the cross, from the first verse, quoted in Matthew 27:46, to the last verse, quoted in John 19:30. The intervening verses fill in the details of Jesus' interior state, which are not discussed in detail in the gospels.

John 19:25-27 Three women stood by Jesus in His hour of anguish, along with John. He speaks of himself again in the third person. Mary, Jesus' mother, must also have been broken-hearted. We have no idea where Mary had lived up to this point, since Jesus had been itinerant. In any event, He gave responsibility for her to the disciple who loved Him. The responsibility of caring for aging parents has been a social norm from time immemorial. (cf. Matthew 15:4-6) It is only since the introduction of governmental social insurance programs in the 20th century that this duty has been carelessly shirked. Jesus, as God, could have supernaturally provided for her, but that is not how the Kingdom of God works. (see Acts 6:1, I Timothy 5:1-16 for an implicit example of how the early church cared for older adults).

John 18:38-19:16 Jesus' Trial Part IV

John 18:38-40 After this initial interrogation Pilate went back out to talk to the accusers. (Parallel passages Matthew 27:15-21, Mark 15:6-11, Luke 23:13-19)  This conversation centered around the custom that Pilate had of releasing a prisoner at Passover as a goodwill gesture to appease the Jews. What was he thinking? The Jewish leaders had brought Jesus to him to be condemned to death. Perhaps he thought that the crowd did not agree with the priests and Jewish leadership. He underestimated them; they had planted people in the crowd to whip up a response that they wanted. Perhaps Pilate often tried to separate the people from the leaders and the leaders expected this ploy. In any event, the crowd cried out for Barabbas to be released.

John 19:1-3 At this point, Pilate had Jesus flogged and gave the soldiers permission to abuse Him. Most likely this was common - a side benefit of entertainment for the soldiers who were stationed in a backwater province. They mocked His statement that He was the king of the Jews with the crown of thorns and purple robe and hailing Him as king, while simultaneously physically abusing Him. The odd thing is that Pilate had not yet pronounced judgment; that does not occur until verse 16.

John 19:4-7 The abuse by Roman soldiers must have been inside the Praetorium because Pilate then brought Jesus out to the Jews and said to them, "See! I am bringing Him out to you so that you will know that I find no fault in Him." At this point, Barabbas being no longer the point, the Jews cried out for Jesus to be crucified. Pilate of course knew that the Jews could not do that legally, but he told them to do it anyway. When they reminded him of that, they also repeated the charge from the religious court, which they had not previously brought up to Pilate that He had claimed to be God, which was a capital offense in Jewish law. Most likely this was a reference to Leviticus 24:16 which called for stoning anyone who blasphemes the name of The Lord. Of course, since Jesus really was the Son of God, this was not blasphemy, but the Priests and Pharisees could not accept this. But why would Pilate care about that aspect of Jewish law? He was Rome's representative, and Rome generally tolerated a multitude of religions; besides which, Pilate worshipped power, and clearly Jesus had none.

John 19:8-11 Pilate then returned into the Praetorium for another conversation with Jesus. First question: Where are You from? Jesus did not answer. But why would Pilate ask this question? Perhaps this is the point at which Pilate sent Jesus to see Herod on the pretext that He was from Galilee and therefore one of Herod's subjects. This is recorded only by Luke, in 23:6-12. Herod quickly returned Jesus to Pilate's court.

          In any event, Pilate's next question was whether Jesus did not know that he had the authority to release or crucify Jesus. Which, from an earthly perspective, he did. But Jesus' response, from the perspective of authority in the Kingdom of God, acknowledges only human authority that has been given from above. God had chosen to give Pilate authority in human affairs, for His purposes. (Romans 13:1) The guilt of Judas and the priests is greater than the guilt of Pilate because Judas betrayed trust, the priests used authority given to them by God to commit sin, and Pilate was only attempting to administer governmental authority in accordance with human rules and principles.

John 19:12-16 It almost seems as if Pilate was bothered by this statement about his sin, because he tried to release Jesus. But he was caught in the trap that the high priests had set. Going back to the earlier charges, when they accused Jesus of setting Himself up as a king, they played on Pilate's fear of Rome, of the emperor who had appointed him, that someone claiming to be a local king might stir up rebellion against Roman authority.

          So Pilate brought Jesus outside the Praetorium to the Pavement. Gabbatha is the Aramaic word for an elevated place, so it must have been something like a hill the top of which was paved with stones. Pilate set Jesus there and said "Behold your king". Perhaps he hoped that the irony of this declaration - in effect confirming the charges - would settle the crowd down. It had the opposite effect, in that they screamed again that He should be crucified. Pilate had previously brought Him out in a purple robe with a crown of thorns and said he found no fault in Him. Nothing had changed. Pilate was out-maneuvered. In this case, the Jews, probably with their fingers crossed, said that Caesar was their king. But they had to say that to Pilate because they were a subject people, and that was the whole point of the crowd trying to get Jesus to be crucified because He said He was a king.

          In the end, Pilate conceded, and ordered that Jesus be crucified.

John 18:28-38 Jesus' trial part III

John 18:28-38 The priests and soldiers led Jesus to the Praetorium. (The Praetorium was simply the governor's palace.) They did not want to enter because they would be defiled so Pilate accommodated them by coming outside to meet them. Perhaps it never occurred to them that setting up a mock trial to have an innocent man condemned to death on false charges would defile them far more than mere contact with a gentile building. The initial discussion about the charges against Jesus are not very enlightening. The Jews' initial complaint was that He was an evildoer. (Greek kakopolos, literally an evil-doer). A bizarre characterization of Jesus. With so general a statement, Pilate could not judge Him under Roman law. The Jews indicated that they sought the death penalty, which required Roman approval. Only Luke records that the accusation the Jews brought to the Romans was that Jesus misled the Jews, forbade His followers to pay taxes to Caesar, and called Himself a King. (Luke 23:2) This is ironic given Jesus' being the truth, and that He specifically on one occasion (Matthew 22:17-21) told his listeners to render unto Caesar the coin of the realm, specifically to pay taxes, and also had Peter go fishing to find a coin to pay the taxes in the mouth of a fish, when asked about whether His disciples payed the two-drachma-tax (Matthew 17:24-27). Perhaps Pilate was aware of this, or perhaps his primary concern was Roman authority being undermined, because the only question that he asked Jesus that is recorded (John 18:33) is whether He was the king of the Jews.

          Jesus does not kowtow or fall into a defendant mode of talking. He speaks to Pilate as though they are on terms of equals, and amazingly Pilate does not rebuke Him for it. Pilate's response is actually fairly reasonable. He asks Jesus what He had done to cause His own nation and chief priests to deliver Him to the Romans for judgment. Jesus' response is from a broader perspective. His kingdom (which He had talked about at length during His ministry) was not of this world. (Greek kosmou toutou, not belonging to the earth, world, universe, world-system). Whether or not it mattered to Pilate, Jesus was explaining a key point about the kingdom of God. Pilate probably had not heard the principles that Jesus presented in the Sermon on the Mount. Clearly, how God intends to rule mankind is not through a government of people who use force to establish control, or who violently seize control. The whole Bible is about the kingdom of God and, in some sense, it is the whole story of mankind.

•    God created the universe and Adam and mankind to rule it on His behalf, and to represent Him and His authority to it and everything it contains, as the Kingdom of God.

•    Adam rebelled and attempted to run the world based on His own, without accepting God's directions.

•    Adam's self-sufficiency was doomed to failure.

•    God selected others to represent Him to the world, including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David. They presented God to those around Him but were unsuccessful in permanently establishing the Kingdom of God on earth.

•    God selected the nation of Israel to be His people, to establish His kingdom on earth.

•    Israel rebelled and refused to obey God.

•    God sent prophets to Israel, who promised that one day He would establish His kingdom on the earth through a descendant of David.

•    Jesus came to the earth as God incarnate, to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, and fulfilled the promises to Israel.

•    Jesus went about Judea and the gentile regions nearby, doing good, healing the sick, casting out demons, performing attesting signs, and teaching about the Kingdom of God.

•    Jesus always did what the Father told Him to do, and did nothing on His own initiative.

•    Jesus taught his listeners what the kingdom of God is and how people live in it.

The rest of the story of the kingdom of God, not yet unfolded at that point:

•    Jesus would be arrested, tried, and crucified, died, and was buried, shedding His blood for the atonement of sins for whoever believes in Him.

•    Jesus would rise from the dead on the third day, and after forty days of appearing in a physical body to His followers, ascended into heaven.

•    Jesus would send the Holy Spirit from heaven to His followers to empower them to do everything He had commanded them.

•    Jesus would establish the church to exercise the authority of shepherding on earth until His return.

•    Jesus will return physically and literally to the earth to establish His kingdom on the earth for eternity, and it will be glorious.

•    At the final judgment, Jesus will establish the right once and for all.

•    Every individual is invited to make Jesus king, to receive forgiveness of sins through faith in His atoning sacrifice, to know and walk with Him and serve Him, doing the things that He says to do, in building His kingdom, representing Him, proclaiming His kingdom to every person and nation, and exercising authority on His behalf, both now and for eternity.

•    Jesus promised that all who make Him king and obey all that He commanded them would have attesting miraculous signs follow them, and that He would be with them until this present age comes to an end and His eternal kingdom is established.

          Pilate's principle concern was whether Jesus represented a threat to Rome's rule or his authority as governor. Jesus' answer was ambiguous enough in his mind that it probably didn't settle the matter, but he apparently didn't immediately accept the accusations of the chief priests.   Jesus did, after all, state that He was a king. But then He immediately linked His presence to the truth. He had earlier said that He was truth incarnate. Here He says that He came to testify to the truth and that everyone who is of the truth hears His voice. In response to this, Pilate uttered the famous philosophical question, "What is truth?"

          Here we could go into a philosophical discussion about what is truth. For most people this is not an issue. Truth is saying what corresponds to reality. If you ask a child if they did something, they either tell the truth, or they lie. There is no philosophical discussion about whether the truth exists, or what it consists of, or how you prove it. They might get away with a lie, but they know it, and sooner or later a parent usually finds out as well. But from the viewpoint of worldly philosophy, there have been as many definitions of truth as there have been schools of philosophy. Partly this is because different philosophical schools have defined truth at different layers, such as metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and so forth.  Theories include correspondence, coherence, constructivist, consensus, pragmatic, performative, and redundancy.  It didn't matter to Pilate because what he lived by was power. He wasn't really asking a philosophical or theological question when he asked "what is truth"? Most likely he was expressing the opinion of the powerful that truth doesn't really matter because people in positions of authority make pragmatic decisions based on circumstances and their own priorities. For Jesus to bring truth up was irrelevant. 

John 18:12-24 Jesus' Trial part II

The trial before the religious court is recorded in stages. John 18:12-14 describes that Jesus was first led to Annas, the father of the high priest's wife. It is not clear what his exact position was, but the next passage, John 18:19-24, describes Jesus being questioned by the high priest. Since the end of this passage says that Annas sent Jesus to Caiaphas the high priest, we have to infer that both of them held that title, perhaps Annas was in an emeritus position or something like that. It is quite clear that they worked closely together and both held positions of high authority.  Luke 3:2 speaks of the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas as though they held the position jointly, even though being of different generations. The prophecy of Caiaphas that it was expedient that one man would die on behalf of the people was recorded in John 11:49-52, as discussed above.

          The questioning by Annas of Jesus was about His teaching and His disciples. Why would Jesus have told him to get witnesses because He spoke openly and there were innumerable potential witnesses to what He taught? Why not just answer the questions? We can only infer or guess. Perhaps Jesus was refusing to go along with a sham pretense of a trial, since He knew the outcome was already decided. Perhaps He knew that Annas was fully sold out to the evil one and that there was nothing He could do but give witness to the truth. Certainly, the Mosaic law required that there be two or three witnesses before someone could receive capital punishment (Deut 17:6, 19:15) And the other gospels record that in the trial before the council, they brought forward various witnesses, although their stories didn't really corroborate the charges. So perhaps Jesus was just being a holdout for actually following the Law of Moses that the Priests and Pharisees claimed to follow so religiously. 

          It seems odd that John does not record what happened when Jesus was with Caiaphas, because the next passage records that the priest sent Him to Pilate for the civil trial. The trial before Caiaphas, and the whole council, is recorded in Matthew 26:57-67, Mark 14:53-65, and Luke 22:66-71. The outcome was predetermined, that Jesus would be sent to Pilate for trial because the Jews did not have the authority to execute people according to their own law.

John 18:15-27 Jesus' trials part I, and Peter's denial

The next section interleaves the narratives of two trials and Peter's denial. Only Luke 23:6-11 records a third trial, before Herod. John records the trial before the religious court and the trial in the civil court.

Following the narrative of Peter after Jesus was arrested, John 18:15-18 and 25-27. Peter's close following of Jesus, and then his denial are recorded in all of the gospels. (Matthew 26:69-75, Mark 14:66-72, Luke 22:55-62) John speaks of himself in the third person, so he must have been that other disciple who was known to the high priest and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest. So he also arranged for Peter to come inside the court.  While they are standing around the charcoal fire, casual banter with the slaves who were standing there, one of them recognized Peter as having been with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. John mentions that this slave was a relative of the slave whose ear Peter had cut off, so it is possible that there was a bit of a threat in this recognition. In any event, Peter denied being with Jesus in the garden, or even knowing Him, in three separate statements according to the other gospels. Immediately after the third denial, a rooster crowed. This fulfilled Jesus' prophetic warning to Peter (Matthew 26:34, Mark 14:30, Luke 22:60, John 13:38). Luke records that The Lord turned and looked at Peter after the rooster crowed.

          In that day, farm animals were virtually everywhere. Roosters crow all the time during the day, but not at night. Since they will crow when the sky begins to lighten before sunrise, their crowing is often seen as announcing dawn. So Jesus' prophecy was most likely initially taken by Peter to mean that before sunrise the next morning this would happen. However, given all that transpires in this narrative after the rooster crowed, it is unlikely that Peter's denial occurred that late in the night. So the crowing of the rooster in the middle of the night was most likely a sign from God that Jesus' prophecy had been fulfilled. Matthew 26:75 records the Peter went out and wept bitterly. The guilt and self-condemnation must have been overwhelming.

          Is there even a possibility of restoration after a denial of faith, a breach of relationship? Most likely Peter did not think so. He went into hiding, and even after the resurrection, he returned to fishing. But John records that immediately after telling Peter that he would deny Him (John 13:38) Jesus told them to not let their heart be troubled (John 14:1). His love is greater than their weakness. It apparently took Peter until Pentecost (50 days later) to fully accept this.

John 18:1-11 Jesus' arrest

John 18:1-11 The arrest of Jesus is also recorded in Matthew 26:47-56, Mark 14:43-51, Luke 22:47-53. In the dark, Judas' assistance was essential to the soldiers arresting the correct person. Why did he receive Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus? Evidently the chief priests and Pharisees didn't trust the temple guard.

          Here we have another of the great "I am"s recorded in John. In this instance, there must have been a small revelation of the power of God when Jesus, God incarnate in the flesh, said His own name, the Roman soldiers drew back and fell to the ground. Why? Perhaps this was a foretaste of the phenomenon known as being slain in the Spirit. Perhaps it was that human flesh cannot bear the revealed presence of God. It only happened once.  When the conversation was repeated, Jesus once again veiled His deity in flesh and confirmed His identity as 'the Nazarene', not as 'the Christ'.

          The always impetuous Peter drew the sword to defend Jesus (mentioned also in Luke 22:38) and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant. John records the slave's name, while Luke 22:51 records that Jesus healed the slave's ear. But Matthew 26:52-56 records Jesus' perspective on the use of force. God has more than ample military power available in the legions of angels, but that is not going to accomplish the Father's plan.  The way of the world is to use swords and clubs.  The way of Jesus is to fulfill the Father's plan, according to the Scriptures (which is repeated for emphasis in Matthew 26:54 & 56). And so Jesus gives us the final example before His arrest of how God's kingdom is built: not by might, not by power, but by His Spirit, by doing the Father's will according to the Scriptures.

          The cup mentioned in John 18:11 may serve as a double metaphor, both for the specific things that the Father had given Jesus to accomplish, and for the blood that He was about to shed, which is symbolized in the communion cup (Luke 22:20). Just as the entire Passover Seder ceremony dripped with symbolism of the plan of salvation in the preceding hours, so it was now to come to pass so that we slow learners could understand it.

          It is a shame that when Jesus asked them who did they seek and they said 'Jesus the Nazarene', they did not seek Him as the Greeks earlier had (John 12:20) in order to meet the Messiah. In that instance, Jesus had immediately connected their desire to see Him to His coming death and the release of resurrection power. And so in this instance also, but in this case, those seeking Him were not looking for the Messiah.

John 17:13-26 Jesus' valedictory prayer

John 17:13-26 Jesus now makes six specific petitions for his disciples. Verse 20 indicates that these petitions are not just for those disciples in the room with Him, but for all who believe in Him at any time and place.

•    Joy - in verse 13, Jesus asks the Father that His disciples may have the same fullness of joy that He had.

•    Evil - in verses 14-16, Jesus acknowledges that the world will hate them, but He does not ask the Father to take them out of the world, but that He protect them from the evil. The will be in the world even though they are not of the world, but that does not mean they are the evil one's prey.

•    Sanctity - in verses 17-19 Jesus asks the Father to sanctify the disciples in truth, which is the Father's word. Hagiozon suggests separation and purification, in this case to the truth of the Father's word. Jesus asks the Father to set them apart to His word, just as He has Himself, and yet they are going to go into the world. How they can be separated yet in the world is implicit in His prayer - that the Father will empower them (and us) to live lives within the world yet according to the words the Father gave.

•    Unity - in verses 20-23 Jesus repeats His prayer for unity among the disciples. He repeats His statement that the world would know that Jesus had sent them and that the Father had sent Jesus, when those who believe in Him are one, just as Jesus and the Father are one.

•    See Him - in verse 24 Jesus states His desire that those whom God has given Him be with Him and see His glory. Jesus also asks the Father that His disciples may see the love of the Father for Jesus before the world was created. This love will be part and parcel of the glory that the disciples will see when they are in Jesus, which is the brightness of His magnificence, blessedness, majestic excellence. That they (and we) see this glory would seem to imply that in this life, being in the world but not of the world, Jesus wants us nonetheless to experience a part of that glory of the Father's approval of Him, which He is sharing with His disciples. This glory and this love do not appear to be separate things, but different aspects of the relationship that the Father has with Jesus - a single thing that has multiple attributes that are inseparable.

•    Knowing the Father - in verses 25-26 Jesus closes His final prayer by restating His desire that the relationship He has with the Father, the love that the Father has for Him, will be in His disciples.

John 17:6-12 Jesus' prayer for unity

John 17:6-12 Jesus now turns from glory to the name of the Father. Jesus manifested the Father's name to the disciples, and kept them in His name while He was on the earth, and now He asks the Father to continue to keep them in His name after Jesus leaves the world. The name of the Father is not a magical incantation to grant special powers or answered prayer to the one who says it. Jesus has a specific understanding of what it means to keep His disciples in the Father's name. It means that they believed that Jesus came from the Father and that everything He said and did was also from the Father. They understood the unity between Jesus and the Father. And so Jesus' request to the Father is that they continue to be united with each other in continuing to believe in Jesus' unity with the Father. Jesus had succeeded in His mission, except that Judas had been lost, but that was according to the foreknowledge of Father as manifested in the prophets. (John 17:12, a reference to Psalm 41:9).

          It is probably fair to believe that this prayer is not just for the disciples in the room on that occasion, but that Jesus was also praying for all of His followers through the ages. And generally, believers through the ages to the present time have believed that the words that He gave were in fact the words of God. It is only in recent times, since the 19th century, that some theologians began to teach that only some of Jesus' words came from the Father. But more troubling is that Jesus' prayer that His followers be one just as He and the Father are one has not been answered.

          We could, I suppose, make this into a tautology, that only those who believe everything Jesus said came from the Father and also are united with all other believers are those that God has chosen to be the property of Jesus. But that effectively changes this from a petition to God into a statement of conditions for being Jesus' disciple. It seems to run counter to Jesus' intention in this prayer. Perhaps there might be some underlying connection between doubting the words of Jesus and the dissolution of the unity of believers. But the timing seems wrong. The so-called higher criticism surfaced in the 19th century but the western church was torn apart in the 15th and 16th centuries. The deeper connection seems to be that the church leadership from 1470-1530 lived in a manner that totally denied the words of Jesus and became effectively of the world, and not of Christ. (See, for example, Barbara Tuchman's The March of Folly for a description of how corrupt church leaders provoked the protestant secession.) This suggests that the interior connection here is that those who receive and believe the words of Jesus, and take them seriously enough to actually do what He says to do, will be united in Spirit with each other as well as with the Father and with Jesus. But as for those who would use Jesus' name or abscond with the authority of the Father in order to do their own thing, or advance their own agenda under false pretenses, well, the unity thing isn't going to happen.

          There is another possible interpretation of the unity that Jesus prayed for. The Father and Jesus are two people. Perhaps this prayer is really focused on small groups of believers. Jesus prayed for His disciples, of whom eleven remained with Him. The kind of unity that He and the Father had could possibly be viewed as impractical for large numbers of people or large organizations. One interpretation of this would be that Jesus was praying for the groups of two or three that gather in His name. (Matthew 18:20) If that is the case, what does this kind of unity look like? Perhaps it is the unity of common beliefs, common goals, shared experiences, shared suffering. Such unity is possible as the elemental basis of the church. It wouldn't happen in large church services, but in small groups, in families or groups of close friends with a common faith, who live their lives together. In the case of the eleven disciples, the book of Acts records theirs lives, daily meeting for prayer and fellowship. As the church grew, people met in each other’s' houses, which couldn't have been very large groups. Perhaps this lifestyle was the obvious (to them) context in which Jesus' prayer for unity was answered.

          In mentioning the betrayal of Judas, there seems a strong suggestion of foreknowledge in Jesus' statement that He had kept those God had given Him. Judas had heard and seen everything that the other disciples had, yet he had chosen a path of treason. Perhaps he had not intended to go that path at the beginning, but Jesus' statement makes it clear that these events had been foreknown and recorded in the scripture. Judas is called the son of destruction. Whether that refers to his own destruction or his attempt to destroy Jesus, or a spiritual inheritance from the destroyer, calling him a son of that suggests that he was never one whom the Father had given Jesus. So it would not have been possible for Jesus to keep him in the name of the Father, because he was never really there in the first place.

John 17:1-5 Jesus' prayer for God's glory

John 17:1- 5 We now have John's record of Jesus' final prayer for His disciples. Every petition in this prayer meet all the contextual and heart-desires that He had previously talked about for answered prayer. Yet we will find that some of His prayer has not been answered. In many respects, Jesus' prayer is as much a sermon for His disciples as it is a petition to the Father.

          First, Jesus speaks of glory. In this petition, Jesus asks the Father to glorify Him, the Son, that He may in turn glorify His Father. And the nature of this glory is very specifically defined. Glory will accrue to the Father through the Son in the act of giving eternal life to those whom the Father has given to the Son, and the mechanism by which they are given eternal life is that they will know the Father and the Son. Jesus speaks of the glory He had with the Father before the world was. That would have been a different sort of glory because it could not have involved giving eternal life to people who were not yet created.

          In his essay title "The Weight of Glory", C.S. Lewis expounds on what glory means. The title of the essay is in itself a bit of wordplay, because the Greek word for glory means weight. What does weight have to do with God's glory? It seems to be that the presence of God's manifested approval is heavy. It weighs on us heavily. It is not something that God, or that we, take lightly. So Jesus had the Father's approval before the world was created. And Jesus now has an even greater weight of God's approval in that He has accomplished the work that the Father has sent Him to do, which is to bring those who receive Him into knowledge of the Father. And it appears when He says that they know Him, it is not book-learning or head-knowledge, but the biblical since of knowing, that is, by intimate contact and interaction. This is the glory that Jesus asks the Father to manifest, and that implicitly Jesus wants the disciples to understand. He will be glorified in their close relationship to the Father.

John 16:16-33 I have overcome the world

John 16:16-22 Once again Jesus returns to the topic of His coming passion. Whether He does so because the disciples still didn't understand (which seems evident from their questions) or because He knew they would need a lot of encouragement to get through the next few days, He basically repeats Himself. (John 13:33, 14:2-4, 14:28, 16:5) Here He uses the metaphor of childbirth to describe the coming events. The important aspect of this metaphor is not to identify who is the mother, the father, the midwife, the newborn child. Jesus' primary point is that childbirth is both painful (Genesis 3:16) and hard work. But both of these are forgotten for joy when a new person comes into the world. So it will be with His passion.

         

John 16:23-28 Jesus explains the reason that they will be able to pray with confidence. Very simply, He is going to the Father, and the Father Himself loves them. John 16:23-24 could be seen as a blank check, but that would wrench these verses out of context. Just before this and just after this He has talked about completing the plan of redemption and the Father's love for them, so this promise would seem to be applicable to prayers that are in the context of the love of God and the redemption of mankind. Prayer is not a matter of saying some magic formula like an incantation, such as repeating the Lord's Prayer or praying to the Father in Jesus' name. Prayer that Jesus and the Father will do is sincere prayer from a heart that seeks to bring glory to Jesus, and seeks to advance His kingdom by the words and actions of His disciples that accompany their prayers. Sincere care for others, carrying out His original plan of humankind being God's representative to carry His words to the world, showing His love to the world, bringing His will to the lives of people - these are the context in which anything the disciples ask, He will do, because He will be with the Father.

John 16:29-33 Jesus' disciples now think they understand Him, and reaffirm their faith in Him. Jesus' final words, before He prays for them, is to one more time encourage them in the coming time of testing. They do not need to worry about Him because the Father is with Him. His closing statement is that they can have courage because He has overcome the world. Since the world lies in the power of the devil this might mean He has defeated Satan. However, there is more. The world system implements the devil's plan but has a power that continues apart from that. Humans have devised governments and societies with organizations and behavior norms that have multiple sources (the world, the flesh, and the devil). Jesus has overcome all of this. Whatever they encounter in the world, regardless of its provenance, He has already overcome it.

John 16:5-15 The Holy Spirit will bring conviction

John 16:5-15 First, Jesus talks about His imminent departure, as a means of further explaining the Holy Spirit. Understanding this, the disciples grieve. Jesus does not try to talk them out of their sorrow. Rather, He objectively explains the enormous benefit they will derive from His going away. He does not dwell on the plan of redemption, of the fact that their sins will be forgiven through His atoning sacrifice. Not at all. The Holy Spirit cannot indwell them unless He goes back to the Father and sends Him.

          In the Old Testament, there are a few occasions when the Holy Spirit came upon select individuals. (Numbers 11:25, 24:2; Judges 3:10,11:29; I Samuel 16:13; 19:20&23; and others. ) But the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all mankind, although promised (Joel 2:28-29) cannot happen until His departure. Why is this? Jesus does not directly explain. One might theorize that the atonement was necessary because the Holy Spirit cannot indwell those who still bear the guilt of sin. But if so, how could the Holy Spirit have come upon the elders in Moses’ time, Balaam, Othniel, Jephthah, Samson, David, Saul, and Saul’s men?  Perhaps it was Jesus' physical presence that precluded Holy Spirit indwelling. I think it must remain a mystery.

          Jesus goes on to talk about how the Holy Spirit interacts with the world. He brings conviction. We often speak of convictions as ones' most strongly held beliefs but that does not seem to be Jesus' meaning here. It seems closer to the conviction that a court might render, except that in this case, it is the court of the individual's conscience. There are three aspects of the Holy Spirit's ministry to the world.

•    He will convict the world concerning sin, because the world does not believe in Him.

•    He will convict the world concerning righteousness, because He is going to the Father and they (the disciples) will see Him no more

•    He will convict the world concerning judgment, because the ruler of the world (i.e., Satan) has been judged.

          The sin of the world is not at its core breaking God's rules or violating His holiness. The core root of the world's sin is refusing to believe in Jesus. He means to believe in Him with a conviction that is strong enough to take what He says seriously, and act and live in accordance with it. The Holy Spirit will not give the world a clear conscience. They are free to reject Jesus, but they cannot escape the inner certitude that they have rejected Him and that they are guilty for this reason. When the world hears the gospel preached, the Holy Spirit bears witness that it is true. Every person of some minimal age (often called the age of accountability) has had this experience. Earlier Jesus had said that they were not guilty when they acted in ignorance, but now He has come and revealed the truth and they have no excuse. They are guilty and the Holy Spirit tells them so.

          The righteousness that the world is convicted of concerns the lives of Jesus' disciples when He is no longer physically present. The world will see the Holy Spirit-imbued lifestyle of Jesus' disciples and the Holy Spirit will bring conviction to the world that their lifestyles are right. And this is in the absence of the physical presence of Jesus. The world may not understand how Jesus' followers can live this way.  Lives of sacrificial love, untainted holiness, joy in the midst of hardship. How the Holy Spirit empowers believers is a mystery to the world. But the world cannot escape the inner knowledge that Jesus' people are different, and that difference is right and good.

          The judgment that the world is convicted of relates to the role of the devil in the world. The devil is the ruler of the world (I John 5:19), but he has been judged (Genesis 3:14-15) and the world knows that it cannot escape the consequences of partaking of his kingdom, because the Holy Spirit tells this to people in the world with the conviction of certainty. 

          That the certainty of judgment hangs over the world is evidenced in politics, economics, entertainment, even philosophy. It is not only Christians who have an eschatological view of life. The threat of World War 3 hung over the heads of a whole generation. The fear of another Great Depression haunts many economic diatribes. How many movies and books depict a worldwide catastrophe of one kind or another, a new dark age following a cataclysmic war or epidemic? Why? Because all men feel the conviction that the choices we have made to pander to the flesh, to selfishly exploit other people or the natural world, and to cooperate with spiritual forces of darkness in high places will ultimately yield the bitter fruit that God warned Adam about. (Genesis 3:17-19) The Holy Spirit gives people inner certainty of this. Even if the world avoids Ragarnok during their lifetime, there will be an accounting afterwards in front of the judge. The panache of those who deny this by denying God's existence are whistling in the dark.

          Jesus then turns to the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of His disciples. They cannot possibly remember everything He taught them. But the Holy Spirit will bring it back to them. Or, if they have completely forgotten what He told them, then the Holy Spirit will tell them directly. Just as Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing, so the Holy Spirit will only tell them the things of Jesus and the Father. This is in sharp contrast to the conviction that the Holy Spirit brings to the world. The righteousness that the world is convicted of is life and joy to Jesus' disciples. There is no fear because perfect love casts out fear. (I John 4:18).