Jesus became human and engaged with us that way. In 1:14 he “pitched his tent among us” and the twelve and others “gazed at his glory”. John testifies that “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (v. 17) and though “No one has ever seen God”, yet “the only-begotten God” “has made God known”.
Jesus consented to true things being said about him—“Look, the lamb[1] of God who takes away the sin of the world” (1:29)—that he might be revealed to Israel (1:31). Hearing John the Witness’ testimony, two of John’s disciples followed Jesus (1:37), and Jesus turned and saw them following him, and said to them, “What are you looking for” (1:38). They asked “where are you staying?” and he said to them, “Come and see”, so they went and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about the tenth hour.[2] Jesus is looking to be known, to be revealed in the course of these disciples of John the Baptist spending time with him. Jesus shares his life with and is open with these men.
When people bring their friends and relatives to Jesus, he does things that show his uniqueness, difference, and ownership of them. So on being introduced to Simon by his brother Andrew, Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called ‘Cephas’ (which is translated ‘Peter’). This is either very rude and assuming, or it is the prerogative of the owner and ruler of the world, including the man that stands in front of him (1:40-42).
Jesus found Philip and said to him, “Follow me” (1:43). Again, it is an exercise of authority, lordship, and ownership. Philip found Nathaniel (1:45), and Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him and said to him, “Look, here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” (1:47). Again, this is either arrogant, deceptive, or manipulative, or Jesus is prescient and wants to show this—that is, demonstrate his glory and reveal who he is—to Nathaniel. The statement in 1:48 where Jesus said to Nathaniel, “Before Philip called you while you were under the fig tree, I saw you” is either false or true. If it is a lie, Jesus is a deceiver. If it is true, Nathaniel is right to say in 1:49, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel”. Jesus flags that he will make further revelation—this is a promise of more knowledge of him (1:50). It is also a promise about knowledge that gives eternal life.
Jesus’ attendance at the wedding in Cana with his mother and disciples shows him involved in the normal joyful events of life. His interaction with his mother when the wine ran out involves a moderate rebuke, for in 2:4, Jesus said to her, “What is that to me and to you, woman? My hour has not yet come.” Jesus places a boundary around his ministry which his closest human relative, his mother, cannot transgress. He is taking direction from his heavenly Father, so his mother is corrected (2:4). Nevertheless, Jesus does act to remedy the problem in conformity and perhaps even beyond the wishes of his mother, but with such an abundance that it does not merely solve the problem, but it says something about him—it revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him (2:11). Thus Jesus is reactive and responsive, but also putting clear boundaries around his ministry. He does not allow his mother to dictate to him, but he still helps her and fulfils her proper desires, yet in such a way that he preeminently fulfills his Father’s commission. His interaction with his mother does not mean he distances himself from her, for in 2:12, Jesus went up to Capernaum with, his mother, his brothers, and his disciples and stayed a few days. Neither does Jesus partition his life between work and home, or friends and family, but he involves his disciples in his family life, and his family life with his disciples. Of course, some of his disciples were possibly related to Jesus in some way, but the point still stands. The brothers did not believe in him at this stage, as chapter 7 makes clear. But Jesus is quite happy to be involved in both aspects of his life and mix them together.
Jesus attends the first Passover in Jerusalem that John records (2:13), thus fulfilling the OT law for Jewish men and accordingly the contemporary cultural expectation. His discovery of the markets found in the temple drove him to fashioning a whip out of rope, and acting to throw them all out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle, and he tipped over the coins of the moneytraders, and overturned their tables (2:14-15). Jesus gave no warning as to what he was planning. His actions were aggressive, even violent. They indicate he was angry. His words in 2:16, to those who were selling the doves, were both directive, in the nature of commands, sharp, and undoubtedly angry—“Get these out of here. Don’t make my Father’s house a market house!” (2:16). His disciples characterized his actions using the OT scripture, “Zeal for your house will consume me” (2:17; Psalm 69:9). The language of ‘zeal’ and ‘consume’ speaks of passionate and even angry action. ‘Zealots’ in first century Palestine tended to be revolutionaries. Since Jesus is sinless, we cannot say that either his emotion of anger, nor the actions to which he was driven, were sinful. They were completely appropriate. Thus, Jesus shows that anger and aggression, even unannounced beforehand and without warning to the object of his anger, can be fitting and appropriate.
Jesus’ response to the Jewish leadership (2:18-22) is enigmatic, puzzling, and unclear. They ask for a sign, and yet Jesus’ answer, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it in three days” was not a clear statement of his resurrection, and bound to be misunderstood, or not understood at all. We might even call these words equivocal, at least as they were received by the first receivers. They are in the nature of a riddle. Sometimes Jesus spoke intentionally to be unclear to some of the hearers, but in time to be understood in Jesus’ intended way by the eleven. A riddle is meant to do this, to only be unraveled by time and patient thought.
The religious leaders at this stage have not decided against him, yet Jesus is not open or speaking plainly to him. This is consistent with John’s narrative comment about Jesus’ response to the “many” who “believed in his name when they saw his signs which he did” (2:23).
2:24But Jesus himself did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all of them, 2:25and because he did not need human testimony, for he knew what was in man.
Jesus does not trust people unconditionally, whether the crowd or the Jewish leadership. The reference to what was ‘in man’ and his knowledge of ‘all of them’ suggests Jesus is referring to human sinfulness.
Contextually, Jesus interacts with one such ‘man’ of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews who comes to Jesus during the night and believes that Jesus is a teacher from God because of the signs he did (3:1-2). Jesus is not flattered by this, but continues with true but enigmatic sayings to him for his good (3:3). Nicodemus wanted the conversation to be about Jesus’ identity, but Jesus turned the conversation to what is required to enter heaven, and along the way addresses Nicodemus concern indirectly (cf. 3:10-13). Jesus will set the agenda in conversations, and yet still communicate in an enigmatic way. Jesus’ abrupt change of subject (3:3) is confident, perhaps even urgent. He answers Nicodemus’ puzzled question with further true but enigmatic sayings (3:3-9). Jesus’ is happy to leave loose ends and to not have issues resolved, even though John records that this is not the only interaction Nicodemus has with or about Jesus (cf. 7:50-52, 19:39).
Jesus interaction with Nicodemus shows he is prepared to broach matters pertaining to eternal salvation in an enigmatic way. Jesus chooses his mode of speech, and persists in it, even when his hearers don’t understand. It may be that Nicodemus’ understanding is not just a cognitive issue, but a moral issue.
Jesus is astounded that “the teacher of Israel” does not understand these things (3:10). He expects more of Nicodemus, probably that Nicodemus would understand the Old Testament witness to the new birth, which Jesus regards as one of the “earthly things” (v. 12). Jesus shares the news about his coming death with Nicodemus enigmatically, using the scriptural illustration of the brazen serpent[3] (vv. 14-15), presumably because Nicodemus might understand this. Yet, it is only we who read John in the light of the end of the Gospel that could hope to properly understand his meaning. Again, what we are seeing is a riddle, a difficult to understand communication that is only understandable with time and events, after the fact.
Jesus then leaves Judea and returns to Galilee because he knew that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John (4:1-3). This journey and relocation seems to be an endeavour to avoid the Pharisees. Jesus is prepared to avoid people, presumably for good reasons, and perhaps because he wants to avoid conflict before the appropriate time. Jesus is choosing when and where he will have the inevitable conflict, and in the meantime he avoids and does work to be preferred, which here seems to be teaching and discipling.
The necessity of going through Samaria and Sychar (4:4-5) might have been a divine necessity to meet and reveal himself to the woman, because there were other paths between Galilee and Judea that didn’t involve crossing into Samaria. Jesus was worn out from his journey, and sat upon the well at 12 noon. Jesus is truly human and subject to the bodily limitations common to humanity. The woman comes to the well by herself, in the heat of the day (4:7), probably because she was an outcast. Jesus asks her for a drink (4:7), implicitly asking to use her drinking vessels because he himself had nothing with which to draw water, and this sharing of cups with such a woman undoubtedly breached various Jewish shibboleths and taboos. The disciples in 4:8 probably have gone off to buy dry food from the Samaritans in keeping with what was culturally permitted, leaving Jesus alone with a woman, heightening the unusualness, or even potentially sexually suggestive and inappropriate nature of the meeting (cf. the disciples’ surprise in v. 27 on their return to finding Jesus speaking with her). In the Old Testament, Isaac, Jacob and Moses’ wives were met at watering holes: the well is the place where you meet your wife. The culturally surprising and inappropriate nature of the request is reflected in the disciples’ surprise, the woman’s response, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”, and John’s narrative comment, “Jews do not have dealings with Samaritans” in verse 9. Jesus is happy to breach cultural patterns and expectations in ways that are not sinful, when a greater good is to be achieved for the salvation or wellbeing of others.
Jesus again enigmatically points to his ability to give ‘living water’, which is a metaphor for eternal life (v. 10, 14). He says things that indeed claim that he is greater than Jacob, who provided the well at which they speak. In the course of their conversation, Jesus is prepared to not answer a direct request that his own statements have prompted (v. 15), and raise a sensitive and personal matter about the woman’s marriages and sexual behaviour (v. 16). And when the woman attempts to equivocate and deflect from the issue (v. 17), Jesus openly says to her that he knows her deep, dark secret (which of course is not secret from her townsfolk), that she has had five husbands and the one she now has is not her husband (v. 18). The woman later characterizes Jesus’ knowledge and revelation as “telling me everything I ever did” (vv. 29, 39). So Jesus reveals his special knowledge privately to the woman, even though it is sensitive information, as a step to revealing to her who he is, and to embolden her to take hold of his offer of living water, that is, eternal life. He crosses social taboos and takes social risks so to do.
Jesus also engages with the woman’s potential distraction away from her marital failings when she raises of the matter of which mountain should be the site of worship[4] (vv. 19-20). Jesus treats the question as a valid one and not a mere distraction from her personal sins and failures (vv. 21-24). He sides with the Jews over the controversy with the Samaritans in 4:22: “You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.” Yet Jesus relativizes this debate, as a new way of worship apart from mountains but in Spirit and truth, is being introduced into salvation history, and thus renders the debate soon to be obsolete (vv. 23-24).
Jesus directly reveals his identity in response to the woman’s statement, “I know that Messiah, the one called Christ, is coming. When he comes, he will make everything known to us.” 4:26Jesus said to her, “I am[5], the one speaking to you” (vv. 25-26). This is astounding, in that Jesus does not reveal this to Nicodemus. It emphasizes the freeness of grace in Jesus revealing himself. Jesus chooses to reveal himself to who he wants, and his choice is not based on a person’s morality or social acceptability, status, or nationality. In fact, this is perhaps the clearest self-revelation of Jesus’ identity that John recalls for us, and it comes to an outcast Samaritan woman.
In the midst of all this ministry to the Samaritan woman and the townsfolk, it is easy to forget that the occasion of all this fruitful ministry is Jesus’ thirst and hunger. This has not gone away, but the needs of the hour has meant that Jesus has voluntarily put his own bodily needs to one side and lives with the discomfort, hunger, and pains that these bring (vv. 31-33). Jesus received the Samaritan townsfolk when they come to him, and is prepared to go without food and drink in the midst of him being tired and probably hungry (vv. 31-33). This shows Jesus’ self-sacrificial service even of the Samaritans. And also, he is still happy to let the disciples have to deal with his enigmatic responses or statements (cf. v. 34). Jesus also places the responsibility of ministering to the Samaritans onto his disciples, though this would have breached some of their taboos (vv. 35-37). We will see this placing the weight of responsibility on the twelve for their neighbours by Jesus again in chapter 6.
Jesus gives significant time to the Samaritans (vv. 40-41), in the sight of the twelve, even though at another level he wasn’t sent to them at all, but only to the lost sheep of Israel. This shows that Jesus’ broader mission—as the Saviour of the World—is important even when he has in focus his immediate mission of teaching the disciples and revealing himself to Israel. The great vision at the end of Revelation, of all nations worshipping Christ, is hinted at even in the midst of the Messianic mission to Israel. Jesus crosses cultural, religious and ethnic divides to do so.
When Jesus goes home (4:43-46), he does not accept his own townspeople’s reception of him, because it is a believing based on his signs. He looks through the outward response and to the heart. But his disappointment in deficient believing in signs is also reflected in his interaction with the royal official (4:47-8), where he says to him, “If you people do not see signs and wonders, you will never believe.” Jesus is disappointed at this general need for signs to believe in him, and says as much. Nevertheless, the king’s official is persistent, and Jesus responds by mercifully speaking and healing his son from long distance (4:49-53). This brief interaction was enough for the salvation of both the boy, the father, and the whole household. In the midst of his disappointment in deficient believing, he still does what is good and right to bring about a better response to him and alleviate human suffering.
Jesus again went up to Jerusalem to observe an unnamed festival, and went to the pool of ‘Bethzatha’, where a crowd of sick, blind, crippled, and shrivelled people gathered (5:1-4). He is prepared to put himself with people who are needy, even though he is only going to heal one of them. Jesus knows a lot about this man, though the man knows nothing about him (5:5-6). His question to him seems harsh and insensitive: “Do you want to become well?” (v. 6). He may have had good reasons for asking the question. The man for some reason doesn’t know who healed him (5:12-13). Jesus heals the man perhaps through the instrumentality of his command to “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk” (5:8-9). Jesus was happy to potentially expose the man to the censure of the Jews by telling him to pick up his mat and walk on the Sabbath (5:9-11). Jesus words to the man when he finds him again (5:14) are a solemn and stern warning: “See, you’ve become well! Stop sinning, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” Probably Jesus is referring to the resurrection of judgement which he speaks about later in the chapter (5:29) and the wrath of God that he has already mentioned (3:36)
Jesus speaks truthful but controversial statements about himself in what follows. Jesus’ statements about God being his Father and both of them working on the Sabbath, may be enigmatic to us (5:17), but the Jews take great offence, and understand them as a claim to divinity and want to kill him because he was not only breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God (5:17-18). So Jesus is not afraid to speak truth, to speak truth so clearly so that the hearers understand, and do so even when his hearers want to kill him as a result. And even though they want to kill him, Jesus still speaks to them at length (5:19-47), and apparently without receiving or responding to their question. He reveals the nature of the inner relationship between himself and his Father, and continues to claim God’s prerogatives for himself. He also offers them salvation from the judgement to come (5:24, 33). Moreover, he directly challenges their lack of knowledge of the Father when compared to him (5:37), and criticizes their attention to the Scriptures and yet their failure to believe him (5:39-40). He accuses them of the serious and mortifying charge of not having the love of God in them (5:42), and for accepting glory from one another (5:43-44). In fact, he rebukes them for not believing Moses words (5:45-47). These accusations must have sharply stung and offended them.
Jesus it seems intended to take some time out in Galilee with his disciples (6:1-3), but because a great crowd was following him, he seems to have used the occasion as both an opportunity to do good, and just as importantly an opportunity to teach the disciples about who he is and their responsibility for others. Jesus asks Philip as to how they could do a seemingly impossible task as a test, “From where can we buy bread so that these people can eat?” (6:5-6). Jesus tests his disciples that they know him better and trust him more. Jesus receives the small boy that Andrew brings to him (6:8-9), probably an act of kindness to both, and uses the boys offering to feed the multitude, taking a freely-given gift and making it adequate for the needs of the day. After feeding the crowd, he directs his disciples to pick up the left overs, that nothing be wasted (6:12-13). But Jesus also refuses to acquiesce to the crowds wishes and intention to make him king (6:4-15). He withdraws again to the mountain. He is not railroaded or diverted from his mission by the crowds’ desires. Jesus also has no problem leaving his disciples for a time. The synoptics tell us that Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and row to the centre of the lake, where a great storm is stirred (6:17-19). Jesus in a sense leads them into physical danger, but he also walks upon the sea and bids them “Do not fear” (v . 20). Whether Jesus is far away or close to the disciples, he is still testing them and teaching them to trust him.
Jesus is also happy to leave the crowd without telling them (6:22-25). He has an independence of movement, and his obligation to them doesn’t keep him from being beholden to their wishes. He also doesn’t answer their question (v. 25), but instead draws attention to their poor motives in looking for him (6:26). He also tells them what they should look for instead—eternal life (6:27) through faith in him (v. 28-29). Moreover, he does not obey their demand for signs (vv. 30-31). Instead, he refers them to himself, and offers them himself as the bread come down from heaven. This of course is an enigmatic statement. Yet, even in the midst of making this offer, he rebukes them for their lack of faith (6:36). Their unbelief is explained in 6:37: “Every one who the Father gives me comes to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out” (cf. v. 44). Jesus is not afraid to introduce predestinarian concepts even with those who do not believe in him.
Jesus rebukes the crowd for their grumbling (6:41-43) occasioned by his self-description as bread from heaven. He lets slide the fact that the crowd thinks that knowing his family provides a ground for contradicting his claim. In the face of the grumbling and complaints, he reiterates his statement about himself being the bread of life, as unpopular as it was, and intensifies it by his statement of the necessity of them eating his flesh and drinking his blood (e.g. vv. 6:50-58). Many of his disciples who heard him said, “This word is harsh. Who can accept it?” (6:60), but this didn’t make Jesus change his mode of speech, or deny his own words. Instead, he reiterates the truthfulness and Spirit-origin of his words (6:61-65). He also again emphasizes the gift nature of faith and being enabled to accept Jesus’ words: “For this reason, I said to you that no one can come to me unless it is given to that person from the Father” (v. 65). Again, Jesus has no problem introducing predestinarian concepts to explain why they refuse to believe.
In response to the departure of many of his disciples (6:66). Jesus challenges the twelve, “you don’t also want to go away, do you?” In the face of Peter’s confession (6:68), Jesus reaffirms his choice of the twelve (6:70), but ominously points out “one of you is the devil”, a reference to the betrayer, Judas Iscariot (6:70-71). Jesus is happy for the wheat and the tares to continue among his disciples for a time.
Jesus stays in Galilee because the Jews were looking to kill him (7:1). His brothers speak unkindly and sarcastically to him (7:2-4), telling him to go into Judea—though presumably they know the Jewish leadership wants to kill him. John narrates in 7:5, “For his brothers didn’t believe in him either.” Jesus responds in verse 6 in a similar way that he did with his mother: “My time has not yet come, but your time is always at hand.” He is not influenced or overawed by his brothers, but in 7:8, says, “You go up to the festival. I am not yet[6] going up to this festival, because my time is not yet completed.” But in 7:10, when his brothers went up to the festival, then he also went up, not openly but in secret. This is not a lie or a deception. It is keeping his cards close to his chest. That is, he doesn’t feel any obligation to tell his brothers what he is doing. He is free in his actions, and is operating and acting at the behest of another, his Father. His loyalty and affections are already directed to his Father in heaven, and he doesn’t allow earthly family demands to transgress their proper boundary in requiring his loyalty.
In 7:16, Jesus responds to the Jewish leadership. He had started teaching during the middle of the festival in the temple, and in response to the Jews’ amazement, he again declares the origin of his teaching is not his own but is from his Father. His statement in 7:17, “If anyone wants to do his will, he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God, or whether I am speaking from myself” can give us confidence that those whom God has chosen will make a correct assessment of Jesus’ teaching. Jesus’ statement in 7:19, “Moses gave you the law, didn’t he? And not one of you does the law. Why are you looking to kill me?”, combines two issues that Jesus himself raises. Yes, he has answered the question of the origin of his teaching, but then he moves to the issue of the law. No one does the law. This might be a general statement about their sinfulness and the superiority of the new covenant (cf. 1:17), or it may relate directly to their murderous desire to kill Jesus, which breaches the sixth commandment. Jesus in this way directly challenges the hatred and motives of the Jewish leadership. This is direct confrontation with plain speaking.
In 7:20, the crowd labels, and denies: “You have a demon. Who is looking to kill you?” Jesus reasserts that the crowd is angry with him because of his Sabbath healing (7:23), and reasons with them from their practice of Sabbath circumcision that it is valid and lawful to restore the whole person (7:22-24). And the inhabitants of Jerusalem in 7:25 agree that the religious leaders are looking to kill Jesus, so Jesus is not wrong in his statements.
In 7:27-29, the issue of Jesus’ place of origin is raised, in an attempt to assert that he could not possibly be the Messiah. This Jesus addresses directly with the crowd. Again, he refers back to his heavenly Father as his origin.
In the face of the attempt to seize him in the temple (7:32-34), Jesus says the enigmatic, “I am with you still for a short time and then I go away to the one who sent me. 7:34You will seek me and not find me, and where I am you cannot come.” The Jews do not understand this (7:35-36). Jesus seemingly does nothing to rectify their misunderstanding, and as readers, it is only from the perspective of the ending of the account, and the death and resurrection of Christ, that we can understand Jesus’ words. Jesus’ teaching and manner was so different, authoritative, and unique, that the attendants to the high priests and Pharisees did not arrest him because they believed that “No one has ever spoken in this way!” (v. 46).
On the last day of the feast, Jesus makes a broad and general offer of salvation to the crowd through the figure of “living water”, that for its power and effectiveness rests upon the water drawing and pouring rituals during the festival (7:37-39). These he re-appropriates to explain who he is and what he can do. Jesus shouted this, indicating urgency and a desire to be heard: “If anyone is thirsty, come to me and drink. 7:38The one who believes in me, as the Scriptures say, rivers of living water will flow from his belly.”[7] Again, it would not have been immediately clear that Jesus meant the Spirit by this offer, and even the eleven only understood it in the light of the later teaching about and receipt of the Spirit.
The next day, Jesus again went to the temple (8:1), and while he was teaching them, the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been seized in the very act of adultery, and tested him as a fishing expedition to have something with which to accuse him. The dilemma appears to be that if Jesus says “stone her”, it is not very merciful nor probably popular, and the Romans forbade the Jews exercising the death penalty. And if Jesus says, “don’t stone her”, he is not following the law of Moses, which said to stone such people. However, it is a trap, as the Jews didn’t have the power of stoning in their contemporary setting, neither had they exercised execution for adultery for a long time, and apparently many Rabbinic schools had made a form of adultery legal by their liberal attitudes to divorce and remarriage. Jesus enigmatically stooped down, and wrote in the earth with his finger. His answer in 8:7, “The one of you who is without sin may throw the first stone at her”, unveils their hypocrisy to themselves, yet Jesus still does not breach Moses’ commandment. He gives a permission, but not a command. But the permission is only for the sinless. The crowd went away in 8:9 because each member recognised that they, too, were full of sin. Jesus words to the woman neither excuse her sin nor condemn her: “I don’t condemn you either. Go, and from now on sin no longer” (v. 11). Jesus gives both forgiveness (I do not condemn you), and a charge to amend her life (from now on sin no longer). There is hope for the future, the past having been dealt with, but the future for this woman needs to be different. Jesus is thus shown to be greater than Moses—who gave the law—but here we see grace and truth coming through Jesus Christ (cf. 1:17)—truth in that the political, hypocritical, and cynical use of the law of Moses was uncovered, and grace because the potential executors were shown their own sin, as well as the woman not being condemned for hers. Christ came not to condemn the world, but to save the world, one sinner at a time, and also all at once by dying for it.
Despite the fact that the Pharisees are determined to kill him, Jesus continues to testify to who he is, and the benefits for all who would believe: So again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life” (8:12). [8] In 8:13ff, Jesus is challenged about his self-testimony. Jesus reasserts his own truthfulness (vv. 14-18). Again, Jesus speaks enigmatically about his own death and resurrection, but it is not understood by the Jews (8:21-22). In 8:24, Jesus gives a terrible and stark warning to the Jews: “you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.” Jesus’ identity is the issue here, and they do not accept he is who he says he is (8:25-26). Jesus gives a solemn warning. While they do not understand, Jesus doesn’t change his mode of communication (8:27-30), in that it was enigmatic: yet in 8:30, many believed in him, suggesting that intelligence and cognitive understanding is not the barrier to believing.
But even this positive response of believing needs to be understood in the light of what follows. For it would seem that John speaks of the response of believing as including a temporary phenomenon that does not abide, as well as the abiding response of the eleven. It would appear that it is the Jews who believe in Jesus (8:31) who end up wanting to stone him (8:59). What brings such ‘so called’ believers to this point of opposition and anger appears to be Jesus’ words. Jesus says they are slaves to sin (8:33-34), and he raises with them the issue of them wanting to kill him (8:37). He boldly says that they are of their father the devil (8:38-44), and that they are not from God (8:47). Consequently, the Jews return to saying that Jesus is a Samaritan and has a demon (8:48, cf. v. 52). He continues with his claims to be able to save people from death (8:51). Jesus calls his dialogue partners ‘liars’ (v. 55), and then appropriates the self-description of God to explain his pre-existence from before Abraham (vv. 56-59). The phrase “I am” (Greek egō eimi) is also used in this special sense in John 4:26, 6:20, 8:24, 28, 58, 13:19, 18:45. In the Old Testament, God revealed himself to Moses in the account of the burning bush as “I am who I am” and “I am” (Exod 3:14; Deut 32:39; Isa 41:4, 43:10, 45:1).
The healing of the man blind from birth in chapter 9 is probably the pre-iminent example of discipleship in John. Jesus rejects the ‘karmic’ or ‘retribution’ explanation for the suffering of the blind man offered by the disciples (9:1-3): “Neither this man sinned, nor his parents, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” While life long blindness would not popularly be seen as an opportunity for God to glorify himself, Jesus nevertheless asserts this in at least this case. It is clear that this is a ‘sign’, and thus is more than a miraculous act of mercy, but it is an illustration of who Christ is: so 9:5, Jesus says “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world”, and the miracle expounds and proves that claim.
The ‘to us’ unusual use of spittle and mud (9:6) is probably an accommodation to culturally understood forms of behaviour—it probably made sense, in the same way that at a Greek wedding, guests ‘spit’ on the bride! (see the movie, ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’). After Jesus heals him, Jesus disappears (9:8-12). Jesus is happy to let the newly healed man bear witness to the Jews without ‘holding his hand’ while doing it. Jesus’ healing him, while restoring him and making him whole, also exposes him to the anger and persecution of the Jewish rulers, and from which Jesus does not rescue him (vv. 13-15, 24-25). Moreover, Jesus is happy to expose the once blind man to Jewish persecution for Sabbath breaking. At the earliest possible moments of discipleship, Jesus allows this new disciple to ‘find his feet’ by himself, and to give testimony to Jesus. At the earliest moments of his new life of being healed by Jesus, the once blind man will testify to and metaphorically stand by the truth of what he has seen, and he will give limited but true testimony to Jesus Christ, and Jesus pretty much leaves him to it. Indeed, the independence of his witness probably served as teaching, training, and discipleship purpose for the man (vv. 30-33). Jesus exposes him to the harsh statements and actions of the Pharisees in 9:34, “You were born entirely in sin, and you would teach us?”, and then they threw him out. But Jesus will be there to pick up the pieces, for Jesus returns to meet him in 9:35 after his ordeal before the Jews:
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 9:36The man answered and said, “And who is he, Lord, that I might believe in him?” 9:37Jesus said to him, “You have even seen him, and he is the one speaking with you.” 9:38So he said, “I believe, Lord.” And he worshipped him (vv. 35-38).
Jesus seeks the man out, and rather than address the issue of his persecution before the Jews, he raises the Christological issue, who is Jesus. This is more important than the persecution he experienced, because Jesus’ self revelation can save the once blind man, and because, as Jesus will make clear later, anyone who identifies with Jesus as the Son of Man will experience that sort of hatred and persecution eventually. Jesus doesn’t put his disciples in cotton wool. He exposes them to the right amount of persecution to strengthen them.
Jesus takes an ‘if the shoe fits, wear it!’ approach to the Pharisees who are offended by his accusations of blindness in 9:39-41: Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We can see’, your sin remains” (9:41). Jesus addresses this same group, presumably with his disciples listening, in the first ‘good shepherd’ discourse (10:1-21). Since the Pharisees are listening, Jesus’ words are an implicit criticism of them as false shepherds. They are the hired hands and robbers. However, the Christological question remains central: “So Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say to you, that I am the gate for the sheep, verse 10:7, and cf. 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (v. 14). This is the case because the mission of salvation is central: “I am the gate. The one who enters through me will be saved” (10:9). Jesus’ words create a division, as to whether Jesus has a demon and is insane (10:19-21).
The second occasion of the good shepherd discourse is the festival of dedication [9] in Jerusalem in winter, and the Jews ask him, “If you are the Christ, tell us openly” (10:22-25). Jesus accuses them of not believing because they are not his sheep (vv. 25-29), but the issue of Jesus’ identity is still key: “I and my Father are one” (10:30). At this the Jews picked up stones to stone him (10:31), but Jesus challenged them as to for which of the many good works do they stone me?” (v. 32). In his quote from Psalm 82:6, Jesus is using an ad hominem argument (vv. 33-38), that temporarily adopts a minimalist though true claim to attempt to diffuse the situation and obtain some much needed common ground. Jesus is more than what he says here, but it would appear that the Jews cannot hear and handle that truth, and so Jesus takes several steps back (leaving his broader claims unretracted) to gain an agreement with them. Their continued opposition and desire to arrest him means he withdraws temporarily once again across the Jordan (10:39-42).
Chapter 11 marks the sickness, death, and raising of Lazarus. Jesus seeks glory for both himself and the Father through this event (11:4): Jesus said that “this sickness will not end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God might glorified through it.” This might sound harsh, but the pain and death of his friends is necessary to bring God’s glory in a fallen world. In 11:5, this reality is despite the fact that “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus”, yet in 11:6, John tells us “since he had heard that he was sick, he stayed in the place where he was two more days after that.” That is, he has allowed Lazarus to die, and Mary and Martha to bury him, to emphasize his Christological point. “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sake that we are not there, so that you might believe, But let’s go to him” (11:14-15). The pain of Jesus’ loved ones is less important than them understanding properly who he is. And of course, this is loving if it is for the good of those for whom Jesus is acting, which it undoubtedly is.
In the midst of her grief, Jesus is making a point to Martha about who he is:
11:25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though that person dies. 11:26And every one who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? 11:27She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
Jesus gives a pointed question about whether Martha really does believe the claims Jesus has made, and not merely that there is a general resurrection. The claim is so important that in the midst of her deep grief, Jesus refocusses her mind on the Christological question, who he is. So we must consider the death and grief of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha is less important than Jesus’ underlining the truth about who he is.
But that does not mean that Jesus is insensitive to grief, either that of his friends or the crowd. Jesus’ response to Mary’s grief (11:32-38) is that he was moved with angry emotion in his spirit, and was deeply disturbed. In fact, Jesus then broke down and cried. This shows at least empathy, but it is more—Jesus is grief stricken by the pain he sees, and the death and pain of his friend. Jesus is truly human, but this is more than mere humanity, but is engaging in the brokenness of fallen humanity and feeling the pain of it.
The resuscitation of Lazarus prompts a more immediate plan to kill Jesus (11:53-54), which means Jesus no longer travelled openly among the Jews, but he went away into the nearby desert region, into Ephraim called a city, and there he stayed with his disciples. Again, this is another temporary and strategic withdrawal.
Jesus attends a feast six days before the Passover in Bethany with Martha serving, and Lazarus reclining with him (12:1-2). Mary anointed the feet of Jesus, and dried his feet off with her hair (v. 3). And while Judas criticizes her (vv. 4-6), Jesus defends her (vv. 7-8). Jesus receives her act of devotion as his embalming (v. 7). Jesus does not fully call out the greed that is motivating Judas, but he does prevent his greed from impacting Mary. Jesus points to his uniqueness as justifying the expense. Jesus likewise receives the acclaim of the great crowd in Jerusalem (12:12-13), and indeed encouraged it by riding a donkey (12:14-16). The request of the Greeks to see Jesus marks the time for Jesus’ death and Jesus is troubled by this, and reveals it (12:17-27). Yet Jesus is still urging the people to believe in him while they still can (12:35-36, cf. 44-50). Jesus is still preaching himself and his own identity and relationship with the Father publicly up until the night before he died.
Chapters 13 to 17 focusses on Jesus’ discussions with the disciples during the last Passover meal, until his arrest. He variously responds to questions, but his agenda is to prepare the disciples for the time when he will be without them. Since he was about to transfer from this world to the Father, this last opportunity with them shows his love for them to the end (13:1). His act of washing the disciples feet—including Judas’—was at once an act of practical service but also a highly symbolic and indeed paradigmatic act (13:2-17). Jesus must urge Peter to forget his scruples and allow him to wash his feet. The symbolism is important enough for Jesus to demand it of him (vv. 6-8). Moreover, he continually gives warning of his impending betrayal (vv. 9-11, 19, 21-30), so that his disciples’ faith will not be shattered but confirmed in him. The point of the acted parable of foot washing is made in 13:14-15:
if I, the ‘Lord’ and ‘teacher’, have washed your feet, you also are obliged to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you.”
The revelation of the betrayer’s identity to John and Peter is intimate: John reclined at Jesus’ belly (13:23) and then leans upon Jesus’ chest (13:25) to make the request, clearly in a whisper. Yet even so, Jesus has kept the identity of the betrayer secret from most of the rest of the eleven (13:28-29). Jesus doesn’t necessarily tell everyone everything at the same time. Faith says he has good reasons for so acting.
Jesus’ clearly wants the eleven to be prepared for his departure, and this is a key topic throughout the discourse (e.g.13:33). This reminds us of the need to prepare our pastoral charges for our inevitable departure, and to point to the provision of God to never leave us alone by giving us his Holy Spirit, as well as the provision of God’s people, which the world and hell will never prevail against. Not that we are Jesus, but especially because we are not.
The imperative to love one another (13:34-35) is also emphasized: “A new command I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so also you must love one another. In this way everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” There is a place for commanding believers, especially in these central concerns, and this too should be adopted in pastoral practice and encounters.
Jesus in two places alludes to Peter’s death: in 13:36, where he responds to Simon Peter’s question, “Lord, where are you going?” with “where I am going, you now cannot follow me, but you will follow later”, and again in chapter 21. Reminding people of the reality of their own coming death is a Jesus-like kindness, which enables disciples to think properly about life now and act accordingly. Jesus’ revelation of Peter’s denial before it happens is of course without parallel, and no chaplain or minister can do such a thing (13:37-38). Nevertheless, it reminds us to not think of ourselves more highly than we ought, but with sober judgement. If Peter denied the Lord, so can we. If we think we are standing firm, we need to take care lest we fall.
Jesus is concerned for the disciples’ state of mind as he warns of his departure:
14:1“Do not let your heart be disturbed. You trust in God; trust also in me. 14:2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If there weren’t, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 14:3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will once again come and take you to be with me, so that you also may be where I am. 14:4And you know the way to where I am going.”
Jesus here uses three strategies to enable the disciples to moderate and regulate their distress and emotion. The first is command (don’t be troubled, trust me). The disciples have an obligation in the midst of their distress, and their distress doesn’t excuse them if they neglect the command. The second is promise (I’m going to prepare a place for you, I will come back). This is the reason or basis for the command, and points out that Jesus is for the disciples, and what will come to pass will be for their good, though it is painful now. The third is an indicative statement of their preparedness for the challenge (you know the way). Those distressed need to sometimes be reminded of their existing equipment and competence to meet the challenges with which they are presented.
The discourse proceeds through Jesus responses to a series of his disciples’ questions.
To Thomas (14:5-7), who asks to be made to know the way which Jesus is taken, there is a correction and reminder that he knows more than he thinks—Jesus is the way. Indeed, Jesus seems surprised and disappointed that Thomas didn’t understand this.
To Philip (14:8-21), who has built on the ignorance of Thomas by then asking “show us the Father”, Jesus is probably even more disappointed than he is with Thomas (vv. 9-11), and points Philip to the existing knowledge and belief that he already has. Sometimes it is appropriate to call people to the faith of their existing commitments, and to believe and think consistently with those commitments. Jesus points to Thomas’ existing commitment to believing in him, and also reminds Thomas of the basis on which he can believe in him (vv. 10-11). He also makes astounding promises that the eleven and any other disciple will do the same and even greater works than Jesus did (14:12-13). Jesus’ conditional statement in 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commands” is not manipulation but establishing the necessary conditions for discipleship and the sending of the Advocate, the Spirit of truth (14:16-17; cf. 14:21). An indicative as well as a promise is given regarding the Holy Spirit: “You know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.”[10] They have, or will be given, what is required through God’s personal presence and timely assistance. Jesus persists in enigmatic statements (14:18-20) that will probably only be understood by the disciples after Jesus himself has risen again from the dead and sent the Spirit from the Father.
To Judas not Iscariot (14:22-31), who asks “what has happened, that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”, Jesus’ answer provides the general promise for all people—“Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love that person. We will come and make our dwelling with that person” (14:23). This answer shows that the revelation Jesus is promising is wider in application than merely the eleven, and thus is an answer to the question, though not in the way Judas not Iscariot probably hoped. Jesus reiterates the promise of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who will teach the eleven and enable them to remember everything which Jesus has said to them (14:25-26). Trust in Jesus’ promise and in the sufficiency of that which he will supply is thus the fundamental response Jesus requires of the eleven. Jesus leaves peace, an almost liturgical expression of his goodwill toward them (14:27), and then after distinguishing his peace from that of the world, he again says “Do not let your heart be troubled or afraid” (v. 27). Again he uses an enigmatic statement (14:28), “I am going away and I am coming to you”, probably only understandable after his resurrection. His assertion of the Father being greater than him uses a theological indicative or teaching point to ground a conditional statement, “If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father” (v. 28). Forewarned is forearmed, and Jesus agrees with this maxim in 14:29, when he says “I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens you might believe.”
Chapter 15 contains an extended metaphor of the vine and branches, probably given by Jesus as he walks toward the Kidron valley, and perhaps even picking up the illustration from that which they can all see as they walk. The point of the illustration is: (1) the disciples need to remain in Jesus to be fruitful (vv. 4-6, 8); (2) those cut from Christ, or who remove themselves from him, will not bear fruit, and instead be burned up (vv. 2, 6); (3) those who remain in Christ will still experience the Father’s chastisement or discipline to make them more fruitful (v. 2); (4) the disciples are those who are pruned, or chosen, by the Father, a fact which should give them assurance (v. 4); (5) those who remain in Christ can ask whatever they want of the Father to fulfill that promise of fruitfulness (v. 7).
The method of remaining in Christ’s love is obedience to Christ’s commands (v. 9), and Christ says that is the way he remains in his Father’s love (v. 10). Jesus says that his purpose in saying his things is mutual joy, both his and his disciples’ (v. 11), and he reiterates his love command (vv. 12-13, 17), but this time emphasizing the extent of love required—“love one another just as I love you” and “they lay down their life for their friends”. Jesus links their friendship with him with their obedience (15:14), but also with the revelation that he has given them from the Father (v. 15). Jesus reiterates his election of them (15:16)—“You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit, and that your fruit might remain”.
Jesus prepares his disciples for the hatred of the world by warning them about it (15:18-25). Again, forewarned is forearmed. The way Jesus prepares them for this hatred is: (1) normalizing it because Jesus himself receives hatred (vv. 18, 20); (2) distinguishing the disciples from the world thus explaining the hatred (15:19) and emphasizing that they have been chosen by Jesus from the world; (3) pointing out the theological reason for the world’s hatred, that they do not know the Father, i.e. God (v. 21, 23); (4) holding the world without excuse, accountable, and responsible for their sin of hatred and unbelief because of his works (15:22, 24); (5) showing that the OT Scriptures also pointed to the liberal and free hatred of the world toward Jesus (15:25; Psalm 35:19, 69:4). Again, the way Jesus calms this fear is he reiterates the promise of the Advocate, the Spirit of truth (15:26). He foreshadows the task that lies ahead of them in 15:27, “And you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.” The disturbance the disciples feel does not mean that Jesus spares them from their marching orders.
Jesus reaffirms the goodwill of his motivation in sharing these scary and disconcerting things in 16:1: “I have spoken these things to you so that you might not stumble.” This prefatory remark is important because of the content of the disclosures that follows. For Jesus then moves from the emotion of hatred the world feels toward the disciples, to the acts of hatred that the world will perpetrate against them: “They will put you out of the synagogues” and “anyone who kills you will think it a service offered to God” (v. 2). Yet, the world’s reaction of hatred toward the disciples is not about them, but about the haters not knowing either the Father or Jesus (v. 3). Again Jesus adheres to the forewarned is forearmed maxim (16:4), and reflects back to his disciples their emotionally state: “But because I have said these things to you, grief has filled your heart” (16:6), which also serves to tell us as readers something of how the disciples are feeling. Jesus again reasons with the disciples that it is in their interests that Jesus goes away because the Advocate will expose the world’s terrible sin of unbelief, the righteousness of Christ, probably expressed in the judicial overturning of his condemnation by his bodily resurrection, and the judgement of the ruler of this world through the casting out of Satan, so that he has no longer anything with which to accuse believers (vv. 8-11).
Jesus limits the things he tells his disciples about, and tells them so in 16:12: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” Jesus in this is relying on his knowledge of his disciples, and limiting his own disclosures for their own good, for their own emotional stability. This is a recognition that even if something is true, sometimes it is not loving to disclose it to the person if they do not need to know it yet. There may be a more appropriate time to reveal that truth to them, and not when they are already overwhelmed with troubling news. Indeed, Jesus points to the opportune time for such revelations, in 16:13, when the Spirit of truth comes, he will announce to them the things that are coming (vv, 14-15).
Jesus again reminds his disciples of the same promise in 16:16: “A little while and you are no longer going to see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.” The disciples do not understand this (16:17-19).
Jesus likens their progress from mourning to joy to that of a woman about to give birth (16:20-22). Such a homely illustration bids the eleven to hope, on the basis of Jesus’ words.
16:20“Truly truly I say to you, that you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will turn into joy. 16:21The woman, when she gives birth, is grieved because her hour has come. But when she gives birth to the child, she doesn’t remember her distress any longer because of her joy that she has borne a human into the world.
It is interesting from a pastoral perspective that Jesus does not speak about what is going to cause these emotions—his betrayal, crucifixion, death, and resurrection—but the emotions and experiences themselves that the disciples will undergo—grief, distress, weeping, mourning, and then joy and rejoicing of heart. From their despair to their exhilaration, Jesus is truly empathetic, describing the experience that his disciples will endure before they go through it themselves. Emotions are such powerful things, but again, forewarned is forearmed. On top of the thing that causes the emotion, there are the emotions and experiences themselves that need to be dealt with. And Jesus recognizes this.
Sometimes joy should be turned into mourning (e.g James 4:9). But here, the arc of emotion will be the opposite—from grief and distress to joy and rejoicing of heart. This is the hope of everyone enduring mourning and grief, but who find the joy for which they long frustratingly evasive. The person in grief wonders, “Will I ever be happy again? Is my misery the new normal? Jesus responds that there is a resolution to the grief. The proper paradigm for this distress is the labour of childbirth. Weeping will give way to joy.
Jesus reiterates his promise to answer prayer in his own name (16:23-24). Jesus confesses that he has used figures of speech to communicate to the disciples (16:25), and the disciples agree that now he is speaking openly to them (16:29-30)—even though it looks to me like he is still using figures!
There is a reiterative nature to Jesus’ discourse—he continually covers the same ground, but with new revelations added to it. So we see in 16:31-33, Jesus adds that “an hour is coming and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home and leave me alone” (v. 32). This must have been heartbreaking for the disciples to hear, as it is quite a pointed prediction and implies their disloyalty, and Jesus’ consequent abandonment by them. The situation of Jesus will be much worse than that, however, and at one level, the disciples are in good company in abandoning Jesus, for God too has forsaken him at one level, though not at another. Nevertheless, Jesus paradoxically gives the reason why he tells the disciple such disturbing predictions, in 16:33—“I have spoken these things to you so that you might have peace in me. In this world you have trouble. But take heart! I have had victory over the world.” So though they will abandon him, and Jesus knows it, Jesus is still for them, and wants them to have peace in him. And despite the troubles that they will face, and of which Jesus again reminds them, he still promises them victory in him, and so directs them to take heart.
Chapter 17 is a record of Jesus’ prayer on the night before he died. He prays for himself, his disciples with him, and those disciples who will believe in him through their message.
In his prayers about himself (vv. 1-5), Jesus reveals his relationship with the Father (glory with him before the world came to be: v. 5), the agenda he is pursuing (mutual glorification of Father and Son: v. 1), the completion of his ministry which Jesus proleptically declares (v. 4); his authority over all flesh (v. 2), and even the message of salvation that he is proclaiming (vv. 2-3). In fact, in this prayer, Jesus speaks about himself in the third person, clearly aware that his prayer is not only for his own benefit, but also for the benefit of the disciples, and the subsequent generation of disciples. Thus, in 17:3, we read, “Now this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, who you sent.” This raises the issue of the way we pray for and with people. It is clear that Jesus has adapted his prayer to also be a teaching opportunity by not using the first person singular pronoun to refer to himself in verse 3. In verse 24, Jesus picks up the theme of his pre-existent incarnational glory with the Father, and wants the disciples to share in it: “Father, I want that which you gave me, so that they also might be with me where I am, so that they might see my glory which you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
In his prayers for the eleven (vv. 6-19, 24-25), those who are with him, though they can hear Jesus, Jesus does not use ‘we’ prayers, but ‘I’ prayers. He is not praying ‘we’ prayers, but ‘I pray for them’ prayers. This does create an (appropriate) distance between the disciples and Jesus—he is, after all the eternal and sinless Son of God who is doing what only he can do by becoming the lamb of God, and he is in the process of taking his leave from them. Jesus recites who they are (given by the Father to the Son: vv. 6, 9; and are ‘for’ the Father: vv. 6, 9); their situation (still in the world: v. 11) and what he has done for them (revealed the Father’s name: v. 6, they know everything is from the Father: v. 7, he has given them the Father’s words: vv. 8, 14, cf. v. 26), and what they have done (kept the Father’s word: v. 6; believed God sent Jesus: v. 8; cf. v. 25). He asks that God keep them in his name and that they be one (v. 11), clearly meaning that none perish but that they persevere in believing and be unified in that believing (v. 12). In 17:15 there is an important request: “I do not ask that you take them from the world, but that you keep them from evil.” They will continue to be in the world and suffer as a result, but Jesus prays that they be protected from falling into sin and becoming victims of the evil one, as the son of perdition Judas had. Christ also prays that they be sanctified (17:17), and states that his purpose is for their sanctification (v. 19), That is, there is an interesting interplay here between the divine power to sanctify, and the human free agency and purpose in being part of the process of the answer to the prayer. Jesus by his actions in going to the cross is fulfilling his own prayer for the sanctification of the disciples.
In his prayers for those who will believe in the message (vv. 20-23), Jesus prays for their unity with each other (vv. 21, 23), and with the Father and the Son (v. 21). The purpose is witness to the world: “that the world might know that you sent me, and you loved them just as you loved me” (v. 23).
In chapter 18, Jesus has crossed over the Kidron Valley into the much frequented garden. There he will be arrested (vv. 12-14). Jesus goes out of the garden to meet the armed detachment and give himself up, and thus protect his disciples (vv. 2-4, 8-9). Jesus reveals his identity with the loaded, “I am” (v. 5), at which his would-be arresters drew back and fall to the ground, almost certainly in worship (v. 6). Even here Jesus is revealing his divinity, and to his enemies.
The act of Simon Peter in striking off Malchus’ right ear (18:10-11) receive a rebuke and an explanation for the rebuke: “Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?” Jesus must receive the painful judgement and wrath of God, for Peter’s sake and the sake of the world.
Jesus’ interrogation before Annas shows him in a hostile judicial context (18:19-24). We already know that there will not be a fair trial, because of the plot against Jesus hatched and described in chapter 12. Indeed, chapter 9 has already had a substantial courtroom scene, where the Jews have already shown their hand. And the murderous desire of the Jews has been shown long before, during the book of signs, from chapter 5 on. Jesus’ response is bold but not rude as he speaks to the high priest in 18:20-21: “I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in synagogue and the temple, where all the Jews came together, and I said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said to them. Look, these people know what I said.” Jesus’ question and challenge has a purpose, because he is well aware that the high priest is ‘fishing’ for a case. Jesus brings out the public nature of all his teaching, and this he is not guilty of sedition or rebellion, which the religious leadership is hoping to pin on him. Jesus will emphasize the spiritual and other worldly nature of his kingdom when he speaks to Pilate.
The ‘slap’ in Jesus’ face by the attendant with the statement “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” (18:22-23) is directly challenged by Jesus as unjust with a question: “If I spoke evilly, testify about that evil: but if I spoke well, why did you hit me?” (v. 23). Jesus here shows with his own example what ‘turning the other cheek’ means—it involves not paying back, but still holding the wrong doer accountable for injustice.
John accents the discussion and hearing with Pilate (18:28-19:16), seemingly because (1) it shows how Jesus is indeed innocent and the proceedings are unjust, and (2) we get a real insight into Pilate’s thinking and the nature of Jesus’ testimony to him. Pilate’s interrogation away from the Jews (perhaps it is even or nearly private, because it is early in the morning and in the praetorium, and Jesus could have told John what had transpired after his resurrection and before the ascension) revolves around the claim that Jesus is “king of the Jews” (18:33). Jesus’ initial response (18:34) is not an answer, but seemingly seeks to ascertain upon what basis Pilate asks this question: “Do you say this from yourself, or have others spoken to you about me?” Pilate intimates that it is because of the Jewish leadership that he asks this question: “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your nation and the high priests handed you over to me (18:35). He then asks Jesus what he did to be so hated by the Jewish leaders, but Jesus ignores this and returns to the first question, which becomes a Christological question about Jesus’ identity. We learn in 18:36:
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my attendants would fight so that I would not have been handed over by the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.”
By doing this, Jesus gives a qualified affirmative answer—he has a kingdom, but it is not from here. This is why his attendants don’t fight. Now, we have just seen that one of his attendants, Peter, did just fight—but Jesus put a stop to it, and Luke tells us that he healed the injured Malchus, ensuring that his disciples never went down the path of armed resistance and imposition of the kingdom. This is not equivocation, but speaking truth. The answer Jesus gives cannot be an either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer without qualification because of the misunderstanding that would ensue. The frameworks of Pilate, Jesus, and the Jews concerning what ‘the King of the Jews’ meant were all so different. Pilate expected a political rival to Caesar and Roman rule, and thus an agitant. The Jewish leaders expected a God-backed military Davidic king who would successfully cast out the Romans—and if they really believed Jesus was it, they would never have opposed him (e.g. Pss 2, 110). Jesus, however, is the servant king who is glorified in his death and resurrection for the sins of the world. Such a conception is not within the framework of the Jews or Pilate.
Pilate reiterates his question in 18:37: “Aren’t you a king, then?” Jesus’ answer is not direct—it is much less direct than the first one—but it goes to the issue of ‘truth’. Jesus’ response, “You say that I am a king”, doesn’t really answer the question, but Jesus has just answered it previously, and he now declines to make his answer any clearer with Pilate’s renewed question. What Jesus does is moves to a new issue, the matter of truth: Jesus asserts that his life’s purpose—indeed, the purpose of the incarnation—is for Jesus to testify to the truth. More to the point, the truth divides Jesus’ hearers: “All those who are of the truth listen to my voice.” This is a bigger claim that just to be a king. This is a claim to ultimate reality, to being able to deal with existential questions. Pilate, however, is now a hardened cynic, and in 18:38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” These three words give us a deep insight into Pilate’s character. He has become so hardened and desensitized in his exercise of government that the category of ‘truth’ no longer has any meaning for him. There is only what is political expedient, only what enables Pilate to survive in a hostile world, only what is expected to keep the peace below him with his recalcitrant and difficult to rule subjects the Jews, and above him with his unreasonable and unforgiving overlords in Rome. Truth is a luxury Pilate cannot afford. He must do what he must to survive. And this means ‘truth’ is not a meaningful way for him to think about the world around him, and about which he is called to make judgements.
Nevertheless, he knows enough to know that there is no cause against Jesus (18:38). He offers the angry crowd the option that Jesus could receive the benefit of the prerogative of mercy that he customarily exercises during Passover time (18:39-40). This would let Pilate off the hook, because he wants to release Jesus. But the crowd choose the robber-terrorist Barabbas. So Jesus is first flogged, crowned with thorns, robbed in purple, mocked as “king of the Jews”, and hit repeatedly (19:1-3). Jesus’ response is not recorded—the silence in John’s account accords with the picture of him as the silently suffering ‘lamb of God’. From Pilate’s perspective, this violence and mistreatment seems to be a delaying and placating tactic, an attempt to to satisfy the crowd with beating and humiliating Jesus, so that perhaps they change their mind and Jesus can escape death. He would then be beaten and pulverised and humiliated, but alive.
Pilate by this stage wants to release Jesus, not only because of his innocence (this would only be a speedhump to such a man as Pilate), and because of his claims to be the “Son of God”, but also, as they Synoptics reveal, because of dreams given to his wife. For it is not until 19:16 that Jesus is handed over for crucifixion. Pilate in 19:8 is afraid when he learns that Jesus has made himself “the Son of God” and in 19:9, Pilate goes into the Praetorium again and says to Jesus, “Where are you from?”, but Jesus did not give him an answer. Jesus is the silent sufferer. He has already said to Pilate that he is on the side of truth. Pilate doesn’t believe in truth. So Pilate will receive no more answers from Jesus—what’s the point of speaking the truth to someone who doesn’t think of it as a meaningf ul category. But it is not just that Pilate is unworthy of the answers, though this is probably true, but it is because of his Father’s will that he is quiet, for he must die on the cross.
In 19:10, Pilate responds to Jesus’ silence: “Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” In 19:11, Jesus once again answers that Pilate’s authority had been given to you from above—from God his Father—and the Jews (certainly not God!) in handing him over have committed a greater sin. Pilate is then seen to be in a bind, for he is bound to his loyalty to Caesar, which the Jews know, and yet it has become clear to Pilate that not only is Jesus innocent of the charges, but he is dealing with something wholly beyond his competence. So in 19:12, from this point on, Pilate seeks to release Jesus, but the Jews play their trump card: “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar” (v. 12). Pilate cannot in any way be disloyal to Caesar, so Jesus must be crucified.
As Jesus hangs on the cross in mortal agony, Jesus shows that he is concerned for his mother (19:25-27) by giving responsibility for the care of Mary to John himself, who thereafter took her into his home.
The communication of Jesus in his last moments of Jesus (19:28-30) revolve around his ‘accomplishment’ of the task his Father had given him. He articulated this with his last breath, so that his disciples might remember it. He is happy to say things that don’t necessarily make sense at the time, but will make sense later on.
In chapter 20, the appearances of the risen Jesus to the woman Mary Magdelene, and then to members of the eleven, are documented. Then a further appearance to seven disciples in Galilee, and in particular the restoration of Peter after his denial of Jesus, is recounted in chapter 21.
Firstly, the risen Jesus appears to Mary Magdelene (20:1-18), (Query—Is Mary Magdelene different from Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus? Quite probably!). This appearance before Mary Magdalene is remarkable from the perspective of first century Palestine, because of the inferior value of women’s testimony. Clearly, Jesus has so arranged his appearances so that the least significant legally will be first! Mary is confused and grief stricken, standing outside the entrance to the tomb crying (20:11). She has seen the stone rolled away, the empty tomb, two disciples, Peter and John, come into it and go home again, and two angels declare Jesus risen—yet she still feels that his body has been stolen. Jesus stands near her unrecognized (v. 15) until he speaks Mary’s name (v. 16). This makes Jesus’ first use of the word ‘woman’, surprising. Jesus is gently revealing himself to her, first addressing her as ‘woman’ (as he did his mother in chapter 2), and then he uses her name and showing himself. Jesus’ statement in 20:17, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet gone up to the Father” is probably not a statement about the unpreparedness of Jesus’ body for physical contact—the body of Jesus’ is not like ‘wet paint’ which cannot yet be touched until it is cured or dried—but that Mary cannot cling onto Jesus, in the sense of keep him with her and delay his return to his Father. As he explained to the disciples on the night before he died, Jesus must go back to the Father, and this is better by far, even for the disciples, including Mary. Rather, Jesus gives Mary a commission in 20:17: “go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going up to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God’”, which Mary does (v. 18). Conceivably, Jesus could have shown himself to his disciples at this stage, but in adopting this course of action, Jesus has given Mary a special and privileged job to do, to give the disciples a warning before seeing Jesus face to face, just as the empty tomb and angels gave Mary a warning prior to Jesus revealing himself to her face to face. Jesus then would be seeking to prepare his disciples for what they are about to see through Mary. And if so, this is generous, gentle, and kind of Jesus.
Secondly, the risen Jesus appeared to the ten disciples on the evening of the first of the week while Thomas was absent (20:19-25). Jesus came through the locked doors—apparently without opening them first—and stood among them, saying, “Peace be with you” and showing them his hands and his side. ‘Peace’ is a pastorally good thing to first give in the light of such a spectacular and unusual entrance. The ten men being together meant that their witness of Jesus was a shared experience, and this has its own dynamic both for their fellowship one with another and for their witness to Israel and beyond later. Jesus repeated his ‘Peace’ in the midst of the disciples’ understandable joy, and likewise commissioned them as he did Mary Magdelene: “As the Father sent me, I am also sending you” (v. 21). Jesus gave them the Holy Spirit (v. 22), and also the power to forgive and retain sins (v. 23). While Jesus has already said he is going away and back to the Father, and then he will then ‘give’ the Spirit, this passage shows that the nature of the ‘coming’ of the Spirit at Pentecost does not preclude the Spirit being received in different ways at earlier times.[11]
Thirdly, Jesus appears to the eleven in the locked room again over a week later, this time with Thomas in attendance (20:26-29). Jesus again offers them, “Peace be with you”, probably settling them down since he had made once again an unusual and surprising entrance (v. 26). Jesus takes Thomas up on his tactile challenge to poke and prod him as proof, and calls upon him to believe (20:27). Thomas’ confession returns us to the high Christology of the prologue and Jesus’ earlier absolute “I am” statements: Thomas confesses Jesus, “My Lord and My God” (20:28), probably the climax of the Gospel of John. Jesus’ response however shows that he is not really impressed with this sort of ‘faith’: “Do you believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and believe” (20:29). Jesus’ question is disapproving. Jesus’ promise is akin to his prayer for those who believe through the disciples’ message—he looks well ahead to us and blesses us for our situation, that we might believe on the apostolic testimony rather than on the evidence of our own eyes and experience.
Chapter 21 takes us to Galilee, and to a fourth appearance (the third to the male disciples: v. 14), this time to seven of the eleven disciples (v. 2) by the sea of Galilee. The occasion is Peter’s at first unsuccessful fishing trip, in which the others tag along (v 3). Again Jesus appears unexpectedly and unrecognized on the beach (v. 4), until his Jesus-like actions revealed his identity (vv. 5-7, 12). Peter gets dressed to appear before his master, and jumps into the sea to swim or wade to him (v. 8). Meanwhile the six other disciples, including John, bring the catch ashore. Jesus is on the beach having prepared a fire of hot coals, with fish cooking on it, and bread (v. 9). This is both provision and fellowship. Jesus is caring for and providing for his friends in the most practical way, in giving them breakfast (v. 12-13). Jesus also invites the disciples to contribute to the breakfast feast with what they too have caught (v. 10). God in his kindness accepts our offerings—even though they all come from him anyway and he doesn’t strictly need them—as an act of fellowship with us.
But Jesus has some unfinished business with Peter (vv. 15-19), for it seems almost certain that Jesus by asking Peter three times about his love for him (vv. 15-17) is reminding Peter of his threefold denial. In verse 15, the word ‘these’ is likely a neuter demonstrative[12]—Jesus is asking Peter whether he loves Jesus more than fishing—and if he does, Jesus wants Peter not to be a fisherman, but a shepherd: “Feed my lambs, Shepherd my sheep, Feed my sheep.” We might think that this is manipulative, but given that Peter has sworn undying love, and Jesus is the risen king of the universe, I think it is quite fine for Jesus to command what he likes on whatever basis he thinks is just. He is, after all, God.
Jesus gives Peter a forecast of how he is going to die when he is old (21:18-19)—by crucifixion. It is pretty hard to face the fact we are going to die, but Jesus is now speaking about a specific way—crucifixion—that Peter will meet his end. This is not all that different to the common fate of humans, in that we all die, but we don’t have to worry about how it’s going to happen, and worry about the horror of it, unlike Peter, who will have to make good on his offer of willingness to die for Jesus. Jesus gives him bad news. I guess bad news has a place. But Jesus promises eternal life, so Peter and I and you have to trust Jesus in the face of our death. It’s no good flapping about our oncoming death, but we should live wisely and persevere in faith in Christ, and trust that Christ will do good things through our death, even if it is revealed that our death is going to be humiliating, horrible, and painful.
Unsurprisingly given the focus that Jesus has put on him, Peter deflects Jesus’ attention onto John’s final fate (21:20-23). Misery loves company. Given that Jesus is giving bad news (like the fact that Peter is going to die a horrible and torturous death on a Roman crucifix), Peter seems to take some comfort in the possibility that Jesus might have some similar news for others. So Peter asks what is going to happen to John (v. 21). Jesus said to Peter, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me” (21:22). In other words, Peter, mind your own business. You follow me, and trust me for yourself, and don’t worry about others. So I guess each of us needs to trust Jesus Christ and his sovereign pastoring of us through his permissive will. Whatever Christ wants us to go through should be our concern.
[1] God had commanded that a lamb be sacrificed each morning and evening in the temple (Exod 29:38-39). Lambs were also sacrificed at the Passover festival (Exodus 12).
[2] About 4pm.
[3] Numbers 21:4-9.
[4] The Samaritans—paganized descendants of Israel’s northern tribes (2 Kings 17)—only accepted an altered version of the first five books of the Old Testament. They had built their own temple on Mount Gerizim in about 400BC, which the Jews destroyed in 108 BC. By the time of Jesus, the Samaritans worshipped among the ruin of that temple. In the time of David, God chose Jerusalem as the place to put his name (Deut 12:5; 2 Chron 6:6, Ps 132:13).
[5] The first instance of an important phrase in the Gospel of John. See John 8:58.
[6] While some good manuscripts read ‘not’, there is stronger evidence for the reading ‘not yet’.
[7] By the time of Jesus, a ceremony within the festival involved drawing, processing with, and pouring water in the temple.
[8] During this festival, tabernacles, four huge lamps were installed in the court of women in the temple and illuminated Jerusalem far and wide.
[9] The festival of dedication, also known as Hannukah, was not set down by the Old Testament but arose from the re-dedication of the Second Temple in 167 BC after it had been desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes.
[10] Some good early witnesses read ‘is in you’ rather than ‘will be in you’.
[11] The view that John 20:22 was not a real receipt of the Holy Spirit but was a symbolic or parabolic breathing only as a ‘sign’, ‘in escrow’, proleptically pointing forward to a later gift of the Spirit at Pentecost was condemned and anathematized in AD 553 at the Fifth Ecumenical Council. Theodore of Mopsuestia had apparently said that “when after the resurrection the Lord breathed upon his disciples, saying, “Receive the Holy Ghost,” he did not really give them the Holy Spirit, but that he breathed upon them only as a sign” (NPNF2 Vol 14:315. See https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.xii.vii.html). This view the council anathematized. James M Hamilton Jr points out that a number of modern evangelical expositors effectively argue for Theodore of Mopsuestia’s position, but argues that the Spirit was given in a real though different way in the meeting in the locked room in John 20:22-23 on the day of the resurrection, when compared to the event at Pentecost in Acts 2: James M Hamilton Jr, God’s Indwelling Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Old & New Testament (B&H Academic: Nashville, 2006) 94-99. Hamilton’s position points us in the right direction: “Baptisms in the Spirit, fillings with the Spirit, and indwelling by the Spirit are three distinct manifestation of the eschatological gift of the Spirit. The disciples received the gift of the indwelling Spirit on the day of the resurrection in John 20:22 when Jesus breathed on them and told them to receive the Spirit. Fifty days later at Pentecost they were baptized with the Holy Spirit which was a public attestation that this messianic community had God’s approval. The disciples were then periodically “filled” with the Spirit, whereby they were empowered to proclaim God’s word with authority (Hamilton, 2006: 99). Indeed, John the Evangelist also gives indication that the Holy Spirit has been active in various ways in the lives and ministries of the disciples even prior to this point—see John 14:17, where Jesus says that the disciples “know him [the Spirit], because he remains with you and will be in you. Some good early witnesses read ‘is in you’ rather than ‘will be in you’.
[12] In verse 15, the phrase ‘πλέον τούτων’ is quite likely to refer to the fish, because even though the demonstrative might be either the masculine or neuter form of οὗτος, the comparative πλέον here is almost certainly the neuter singular form of πλείων. The words for ‘fish’ in the preceding verses are also neuter. In verse 13, the diminutive form τὸ ὀψάριον is neuter plural and denotes cooked meat, often fish meat (i.e. a morsel of fish). In verse 11, ἰχθύων μεγάλων is neuter plural and the phrase denotes large fish. In that case, the question is not whether Peter loves Jesus more than the other apostles love Jesus, but whether Peter loves Jesus more than the fish he went out to catch (v. 3), and which Jesus has enabled him to catch (v. 6).