The Trial and Execution of John's Jesus
HOW THINGS WORK – Consideration #139 (Book II Science & Religion)
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Tuesday June 11, 2014
Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus openly presents himself as the divine Son of God, not hiding his identity as he does in The Gospel According to Mark. Thus, the author of John’s Gospel does not merely narrate a series of events but singles out details that support an ordered theological interpretation of those events.
Because of its special theological character, the Gospel According to John was considered in ancient times to be the “spiritual Gospel,” and it wielded a profound and lasting influence on the development of early Christian doctrine.
Britannica.com – Gospel According to John
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
In the Gospel of John, it is clear that Jesus knows and understands what Judas is about to do. Once again, it is all part of the divine plan. For John, the Garden of Gethsemane foreshadows the next stage of their spiritual evolution. The final turning point in the Biblical redemption story.
“I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’
“I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”
After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”
John 13:18-21
The apostles are shocked by his statement; clamoring as to who the traitor might be. Jesus cryptically identifies Judas and then speaks to him directly about what he is about to do. However, the apostles remain confused about what is actually going on.
Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
John 13:26-30
John makes it clear that this is the point of no return; once Judas commits to turning Jesus over to the authorities, Jesus will have no power or control over what happens next. The end of verse thirty declares, “And it was night,” alluding to the end of Jesus functioning as the light of the world in the coming darkness that was about to unfold.
When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:31-35
When Jesus says, “Where I am going, you cannot come,” he is referencing more than just his crucifixion and death; he is also talking about the time and place between his death and resurrection. John is focusing on the idea of Jesus “returning to the Father,” and then returning to the empirical world as a new kind of empirical being. However, the apostles are not yet at this point of understanding in “their” spiritual awareness. Peter is specifically used as an example reflecting their current understanding of where they were on the spiritual path.
Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!
John 13:36-38
The cost of Peter’s declaration to “lay down his life” for Jesus, and his ultimate public denial of Jesus, is revealed at the end of John’s gospel as a unique epilogue to his narrative.
In the Gospel of John, when Jesus is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter is identified as the disciple who cuts off the ear of the guard with his sword. There is no mention of Jesus healing the man although he is directly identified by name. Once again, Peter seeks to avoid what is happening and symbolizes how even those you love will try to resist the will of God; and also try to get you to resist as well.
Here, Jesus acknowledges the necessity for the cup he is about to drink; chastising Peter for trying to keep him from drinking it.
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)
Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”
John 18:10-11
The hour had come. Only in John’s gospel, Jesus does not remain silent at his trial; once again openly expressing who he was and why he came.
CONSIDERATION #139 – The Trial and Execution of John's Jesus
In John’s gospel, Jesus does not remain completely silent. In John, there is a meeting with the high priest Annas, prior to being sent to Caiaphas. There, Jesus boldly questions Annas as to why he is being asked about his teachings when everything was taught in public; Annas should ask those who heard what he had said.
Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
“I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.”
When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded.
“If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
John 18:19-24
The same is true when Jesus is brought to Pilate. In this account, the Jewish priests bring Jesus to Pilate because they do not have the official authority under Roman rule to implement capital punishment.
Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
“If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”
Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.
John 18:28-32
In John, Jesus talks to Pilate about several key issues including the nature of “truth.”
Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.”
John 18:33-39
Hoping to appease those seeking the death of Jesus, Pilate has him flogged. In John’s account Jesus is displayed publicly in a purple robe and a crown of thorns.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.
Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”
But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”
The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”
John 19:1-7
Pilate fears Jesus, because in Greek and Roman mythology offspring between gods and human beings were considered demigods with great power. However, Jesus at one point seems to justify what Pilate is about to do, stating that the power to do it was not his, but God’s. Desperate and frustrated, Pilate eventually gives in to the demands of the Jewish leaders and the crowd.
When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”
Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar...”
Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
John 19: 8-12, 16
POSTSCRIPT
According to John, it is Pilate who insists on nailing the plaque to the cross stating that Jesus was the “King of the Jews,” over the objections of the high priests.
Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
John 19:19-22
John records that two Pharisees, who were secret disciples of Jesus, go to Pilate and claim Jesus’ body in order to give him a proper Jewish burial.
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.
John 19:38-39
Jesus’ mother and several other women are with Jesus at the cross during the crucifixion. In John’s account, Mary Magdalene, Peter, and the other disciples were confused about Jesus’ death and crucifixion. Later, while weeping by the tomb, Mary is told by Jesus what is happening.
Next week we will consider John’s interpretation and understanding of Jesus’ resurrection…
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