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John 16:1-11: The coming persecution
16:1I have told you all this so that you may not fall away [be tripped]. 2They will expel you from the synagogues, and indeed the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is doing a holy service to God. 3They will do these things because they have never known either the Father or me. 4But I have told you all this, so that when the time for it comes you may remember that I told you. I did not tell you this [these things] from the beginning, because I was with you; 5but now I am going to the one who send me. Not one of you asks, 'Where are you going?' 6Yet [sadness has filled your heart] you are sad at heart because I have told you this [these things]. 7Still I am telling you the truth; it is for your own good that I am going, because unless I go, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8And when he comes, he will show [convince] the world how wrong it was, about sin and about who was in the right and about judgment: about sin: 9in that they refuse to believe in me; about who was in the right: 10in that I am going to the Father and you will see me no more; about judgment: 11in that the prince of this world is already condemned.
Jesus wants to prepare His Apostles for the trials and sufferings that they will face. He does not want them to be unprepared.
Question: How many times has Jesus warned his disciples that they will be rejected by their own people and that they will be banned from religious assembly?
Answer: This is the third time.
Jesus repeats that those who reject Him and reject His disciples do so because they have never "known" God the Father; and do not know Him in the context of a covenant relationship.
Question: In addition to Jesus, can you think of three of Jesus' disciples whose murders in Jerusalem will be sanctioned by the Jewish religious authorities as a righteous act?
Answer:
- Stephen (Acts 7:55-8:2), who was murdered by stoning. Saul, an officer of the Sanhedrin, held the coats of those who stoned Stephen.
- James Zebedee (Acts 12:1-4), the brother of St. John was beheaded by the order of Herod Antipas.
- James Bishop of Jerusalem, the kinsman of Jesus. The Jewish historian Josephus records that he was murdered by the order of the Jewish High Priest Ananus and the Jewish Sanhedrin (The Antiquities of the Jews 20.9.1) circa 62 AD.
The Romans did not have any part in these murders. The Roman governor even removed the Jewish High Priest from his office for his part in the murder of James, the first Christian Bishop of Jerusalem.
Question: What are "these things" that Jesus did not tell them from the beginning?
Answer: The inevitability of persecution that they would have to endure for His sake. As long as Jesus was with them the persecution was directed at Him. When He has departed to the Father the burden of persecution will rest on them as the leaders of the New Covenant Church and the spokesmen of the Word of God.
The promise that Jesus the Messiah would send the Spirit of God would not have surprised the disciples. Many Old Testament texts promised the gift of the Spirit of God in the Messianic Age (for example see Isaiah 11:1-10; 42:1-4; 44:1-5; Ezekiel 36:24-27; Joel 2:28-32; etc).
Question: Why is it to their advantage that Jesus should go?
Answer: The disciples should recognize that if He is going to the Father they should be comforted because when He goes to the Father He will send them the Paraclete [God the Holy Spirit] as their Counselor and Advocate.
Question: What is the condition for the coming of the Paraclete and when will this happen?
Answer: Jesus must ascend to the Father before He can send the Paraclete.
Question: What is the world's chief sin?
Answer: The world's chief sin is unbelief. See John 8:21, 24, 46; and 15:22.
Question: How will the Holy Spirit convince the world on these three counts?
Answer: He will expose the sin of unbelief. He will reveal the righteousness of Christ, and the evil of Satan and every enemy of Christ will face judgment.
Sin | To refuse to believe in Jesus as the Messiah and in all that He has taught is a sin [verse 9 and John 3:20] |
Righteousness (Justice) | Jesus was speaking the truth when He said He came from and was returning to the Father and that heaven is His home [verse 10] and although He was condemned to die He was truly righteous [8:46] and deserved the title Son of God [10:33, 19:7]. |
Judgment | Satan and all those who chose Satan over Christ have condemned themselves and will face God's judgment [verse 11 and John 5:26-29; 12:31] |
Using judicial language Jesus is teaching that although the Holy Spirit's mission is as Advocate and Counselor for New Covenant believers, He will also be the Prosecutor who will indict the unbelieving world! In Jesus' death on the cross His ministry seemed to end in the victory of His enemies, however, there was a surprise ending! In His sacrificial death and resurrection Jesus conquered sin and death. If the "hour" of His passion and sacrificial death represented the confrontation of Jesus and the prince of this world [John 12:31; 14:30], then in His victory over death, Jesus was victorious over Satan! The fact that Jesus stands justified before the throne of God [Revelation 5:4-6] means that Satan has been condemned and has lost a great extent of his power over the world. See CCC#388 and 1433.
Question: What is the final sentence that is pronounced on "the prince of this world"?
Answer: In the very act of Jesus' sacrificial death, Satan's dominion over the world is no longer preeminent.
Question: What can bring us within Satan's grasp?
Answer: It is unconfessed sin that brings us within his reach.
John 16:12-24: The coming of the Paraclete
16:12I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you to bear now. 13 However, when the Spirit of Truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth since he will not be speaking on his own accord but will say only what he has been told; and he will reveal to you the things to come. 14 He will glorify me, since all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine. 15Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine. 16In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again. 17Then some of his disciples said to one another, 'What does he mean, "In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again," and, "I am going to the Father"? 18What is this "short time"? We don't know what he means.' 19Jesus knew that they wanted to question him, so he said, 'You are asking one another what I meant by saying, "In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again." 20 'In all truth I tell you, you will be weeping and wailing while the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. 21A woman in childbirth suffers, because her time has come; but when she has given birth to the child she forgets the suffering in her joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22So it is with you: you are sad now, but I shall see you again, and your hearts will be full of joy, and that joy no one shall take from you. 23When that day comes, you will not ask me any questions. In all truth, I tell you, anything you ask from the Father he will grant in my name. 24Until now you have not asked anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and so your joy will be complete.
The title "the Spirit of Truth" is repeated a third time [see 14:17 and 15:26]. These passages help us understand the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers:
| 14:17 | ... you know him because he is with you, he is in you. |
| 15:26 | [The Holy Spirit] who issues from the Father, he will be my witness. |
| 16:13-14 | He will lead you to the complete truth; [He] will say only what he has been told; He will reveal to you the things to come. He will glorify me since all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine. |
Question: What "complete truth" and "things to come" will the Holy Spirit reveal?
Answer: He will reveal the complete significance of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, as well as the mystery of Eucharist and the Most Holy Trinity. He will also reveal to the Magisterium of the New Covenant order the hidden depths of the mystery of Jesus Christ and the gift of grace that is our salvation. In other words, God the Holy Spirit will continue the teaching mission of Jesus to bear witness to the truth (also see 8:31-32; 18:37 and CCC# 687).
It is from this promise that the Great Councils of Vatican I and II pronounced the doctrine of magisterial infallibility. This doctrine states that the Pope alone and/or the Bishops united with the Pope, the successor of St. Peter, are divinely protected from teaching error when they define matters pertaining to faith and morals [see Lumen Gentium, 25]. The guidance and intervention of the Paraclete is Jesus' assurance that Gospel will not be distorted, corrupted, or misunderstood by the ministerial priesthood of the Church during her earthly pilgrimage. See CCC# 768, 889-892
Baroque Trinity (Hendrick van Balen)
Question: How is Jesus teaching the mystery of the unity of the Trinity in this passage?
Answer: He is teaching that the 3 divine Persons have one and the same nature when He says that everything that the Father has belongs to the Son, and everything the Son has belongs to the Father, and that the Spirit also has what is common to both God the Father and God the Son.
What the 3 Divine Persons of the Trinity have in common is the Divine essence of the Godhead: It is the same concept expressed to the Covenant people over a thousand years earlier in the Shema, the first profession of faith found in Deuteronomy 6:4: ...the Lord [Adonai] your God [Elohim], the Lord [Adonai] is ONE!
Question: What will the Holy Spirit take from Jesus, which comes from the Father, to give to believers?
Answer: When the Paraclete fills and indwells believers at Pentecost, He will give each generation of baptized believers a share in the divine life and authority of Jesus Christ. See John 6:63; Romans 8:14; and CCC#690 and 2 Peter 1:3-4: By his divine power, he has lavished on us all the things we need for life and for true devotion, through the knowledge of him who has called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these, the greatest and priceless promises have been lavished on us, that through them you should share the divine nature and escape the corruption rife in the world through disordered passion.
25I have been telling you these things in veiled language. The hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in veiled language but tell you about the Father in plain words. 26When that day comes you will ask in my name; and I do not say that I shall pray to the Father for you, 27because the Father himself loves you for loving me and believing that I came from God. 28I came from the Father and have come into the world and now I am leaving the world to go to the Father. 29His disciples said, 'Now you are speaking plainly and not using veiled language. 30Now we see that you know everything and need not wait for questions to be put into words; because of this we believe that you came from God.' 31Jesus answered them: 'Do you believe at last? 32Listen; the time will come–indeed it has come already–when you are going to be scattered, each going his own way and leaving me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 33I have told you all this so that you may find peace in me. In the world you will have hardship, but be courageous: I have conquered the world.'
Jesus' reference to "veiled language" can also be translated "figures of speech."
Question: In John 16:27-28, Jesus once again tells the disciples of what unique bond?
Answer: Jesus reaffirms that He is one with His disciples and one with God the Father.
Jesus tells the disciples: when that day comes you will ask in my name; and I do not say that I shall pray to the Father for you, because the Father himself loves you for loving me and believing that I came from God. Jesus is still the only mediator between man and God, but the disciples love and belief in Jesus which makes them one with Him also unites them to the Father. The result is perfect mediation between man and God. See CCC# 618.
By becoming God Incarnate (incarnate means "in the flesh"), Jesus established a bond of union with mankind, and now in leaving the world He returns to His Father, continuing the bond between Himself and mankind and Himself and God the Father. It is through our union with Christ that we have access to union with the Father. It is only when "His hour" is accomplished and His return is completed that the disciples will be able in confidence to make their petitions in prayer to the Father as He has promised.
In John 16:32, Jesus gives the disciples a warning. This warning is also given in Matthew 26:31 and Mark 14:27 when Jesus quoted the prophecy of the 6th century prophet Zechariah. Please read Zechariah 13:7-9
Question: How was Zechariah's prophecy fulfilled?
Answer: When the guards came with swords to arrest Jesus at Gethsemane, the disciples abandoned Jesus and "scattered like sheep." Jesus' disciples were "passed through the fire" of suffering and emerged strengthen by their experience to be able, after the Resurrection when they were reunited to Christ, to be untied to each other as One Church, to call on God, and to be called in turn "His (covenant) people."
Jesus commands the disciples and all Christians in John 16:33: "be courageous!"
Question: How can we be courageous?
Answer: We can be courageous because in the same verse Jesus assures us: "I have conquered the world!" He gives us the assurance that if He has conquered the world, then united with Him, we can also conquer the world. It is a promise repeated in Revelation 3:21: Anyone who proves victorious I will allow to share my throne, just as I have myself overcome and have taken my seat with my Father on his throne. Jesus didn't come to save us from suffering. He came to redeem us as individuals and as members of the human family, and He came as God enfleshed to suffer (Luke 24:26-27, 44-45) and to unite our suffering to His. As long as the Church remains on earth, this will be our continuous struggle: having the courage to choose Jesus over the world! This victory can only be ours through faith in Christ Jesus, because every child of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith. Who can overcome the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:4-5).
John 17:1-5: Jesus prays for Himself
17:1After saying this, Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said: Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you; 2so that, just as you have given him power over all humanity, he may give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him. 3And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, 4and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have glorified you on earth by finishing the worked that you gave me to do. 5Now, father, glorify me with that glory I had with you before ever the world existed.
Jesus raised his eyes to heaven: Looking to heaven, with arms raised, is the traditional Jewish position of prayer (see Psalms 123:1; Matthew 14:19; Mark 6:41, Luke 9:15; John; etc.). This prayer reminds us of when Jesus taught His disciples the duty and manner of praying and by example prayed the seven petitions of "The Lord's Prayer" (found in Matthew 6:9-13). Jesus' High Priestly prayer, in fact, fulfills those 7 petitions of "The Lord's Prayer: Catechism of the Catholic Church #2750-51: By entering into the holy name of the Lord Jesus we can accept, from within, the prayer he teaches us: 'Our Father!' His priestly prayer fulfills, from within, the great petitions of the Lord's Prayer: concern for the Father's name; passionate zeal for his kingdom (glory); the accomplishment of the will of the Father, of his plan of salvation, and deliverance from evil. Finally in this prayer Jesus reveals and gives to us the 'knowledge,' inseparably one, of the Father and of the Son, which is the very mystery of the life of prayer. Father, the hour has come...: Once again He speaks of His "hour." The Gospel of John refers to Jesus "hour" seventeen times. In the first half of the Gospel, called "The Book of Signs," the "hour" is anticipated as the moment of climax in Jesus' ministry (see John 2:4; 4:21; 5:25; 7:30; 8:20). In the second half of the Gospel, called "The Book of Glory," after entering Jerusalem for the last time, Jesus speaks of His "hour" as being imminent, and we understand that His "hour" is not only the climax of His ministry but that it is also the climax of His earthly life (see John 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1).
Question: What does "darkness" symbolize in John's Gospel and why is Jesus approaching passion and sacrificial death also Jesus' "hour of darkness"?
Answer: Darkness symbolizes sin and the "prince of darkness." This is also the "hour" of Jesus final struggle with Satan.
This is only the second time John has referred to Jesus by the title "Jesus Christ," which literally means "Jesus Messiah" (also see John 1:17).
Question: Up to this point in Salvation History, what had been the instrument of revelation to the covenant people? How is this changed in the New Covenant?
Answer: The Mosaic Law, the writings of the prophets, and the oral teaching of the priesthood had been the instrument of revelation to Israel in the Old Covenant. Now revelation comes to all people who believe in Jesus Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
In John 17 verses 2 and 3, Jesus speaks of the gift of eternal life.
Question: What is eternal life? Is it only survival of the righteous soul after death?
Answer: No, this is clear in Jesus' teaching of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25:41-46: Then he will say to those on his left hand, 'Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.' [...] "And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the upright to eternal life. Everyone will share survival of the soul, but the conditions of that survival are the vital difference. Eternal life for believers in Christ is to enter into the fullness and intensity of the life of the Most Holy Trinity to know you, the only true God...: Once again, this is "covenant language". In the biblical context, "to know" is not merely the result of an intellectual process to access and store information. It is to have intimate, personal knowledge that results in a covenantal relationship. When a man and a woman marry, they not only come to know each other in the sense that they are familiar with each other's likes and dislikes and goals and dreams, but that their knowledge is intimately expressed when they are joined in a covenantal union which results in the marital act that will provide the next generation. That is why biblically "to know" means sexually intimacy as well as covenantal union.
Question: According to Jesus in John 17:3, what are the characteristics of the believer's knowledge of God in His glory?
Answer: The intimate covenant relationship with God the Father, through His Son and the Advocate/ Teacher sent by the Father through the Son, God the Holy Spirit, who is to lead covenant believers to complete truth (John 15:26; 16:13): this is the New Covenant in Christ:
John 17:6-19: Jesus' Priestly Prayer Part II; Jesus prays for His disciples
6I have revealed your name to those whom you took from the world to give me. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7Now at last they have recognized that all you have given me comes from you 8for I have given them the teaching you gave to me, and they have accepted it and know for certain that I came from you, and have believed that it was you who sent me. 9It is for them that I pray. I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. 10All I have is yours and all you have is mine, and in them I am glorified. 11I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your name, so that they may be one like us. 12While I was with them, I kept those you had given me true to your name. I have watched over them and not one is lost except one who was destined to be lost, and this was to fulfill the scriptures. 13But now I am coming to you and I say these things in the world to share my joy with them to the full. 7I passed your word on to them, and the world hated them, because they belong to the world no more than I belong to the world. 15I am not asking you to remove them from the world, but to protect them from the Evil One. 16They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. 17Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world, 19and for their sake I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in truth.
We have discussed that in Scripture the "name" indicates the entire person.
Question: What confidence is Jesus now expressing in His disciples?
Answer: That they do understand His mission as well as His true identity.
Question: Once again Jesus expresses His unity with the Father, but there is also a remarkable revelation that Jesus makes concerning His relationship and the Father's relationship to the disciples. What is that revelation?
Answer: The revelation is that one cannot accept Jesus unless one belongs to God, and one cannot belong to God unless one accepts Jesus Christ: for those you have given me, because they belong to you. All I have is yours and all you have is mine. The equivalence between those who belong to God the Father and those who belong to God the Son indicates that it is not the creation of an individual that makes a person belong to God, but it is instead that individual's response to Jesus as Savior and Lord that makes him or her a child of the Father.
It is this verse that gives us the sense that Jesus has already begun His walk to Calvary. Contrast Jesus' statement: I am no longer in the world, with His statement in verse 13: and I say these things in the world. Even though the statements seem to contradict each other, the important key may be that in both verses Jesus says to the Father: I am coming to you. Some ancient manuscripts add: I am no longer in the world, yet I am in the world, which seems to unite verses 11 and 13 and express a Jesus in a state of transition to the Father.
It is also interesting that in verses 10 and 11 the Greek word kai, which means "and," is used in two sets of threes for a total of 6 times: three times in the first three lines of verse 10 and again in the first three lines of verse 11. The literal translation is: And things my all thine [yours in the singular] are and thine mine and I have been glorified in them and no longer I am in the world and these in the world are and I to thee come.
Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your name, so that they may be one like us.
Question: What is Jesus' petition in this verse?
Answer: Knowing the temptations the disciples will face to reject Him in favor of the world, Jesus prays that the disciples will be kept safe from those temptations and the contamination of the world. He prays that they will persevere, that they will remained true to the Father's commandments, and that their bond to each other will be a unity that is a reflection of the oneness of the Most Holy Trinity (see John 10:30).
Jesus guarded and protected His disciples except the one who was destined to be lost. The literally translation is "except the son of perishing." This Semitic expression, in the literal Greek text, is a play on the word "to perish" = not one has perished except the son of perishing. This passage is sometimes translated as "the son of perdition."
Question: Who is the "son of perishing?" In what Old Testament passages was this betrayal prophesized?
Answer: Judas, the man of Kerioth [Iscariot = literally ish (man) Kerioth (town of his origin)]. Judas' betrayal of Jesus the Messiah was prophesized in such Old Testament passages as Genesis 3:15; Psalms 41:9; 69:25; and Zechariah 11:12-13 (also see Acts 1:16-20 and Matthew 27:3-10). You may recall that during the Last Supper (John 13:17-18Jesus quoted Psalms 41:9. The literal Greek passage is: "He who eats bread with me lifts up against me his heel" (New Jerusalem note "l", page 1775; Interlinear Bible: New Testament, volume IV, page 295). It is interesting that this "son of perishing" carries the name of Jesus' tribe: the tribe of Judah or Yehuda. The Hebrew name Yehuda means "Yahweh's people." Isn't it ironic that it was Yahweh's people who rejected Him, with the exception of a faithful remnant who answered God's call, and within the Apostles there was both a "true Judah" and a "false Judah"? The true Judah who believed in the Messiah was the Apostle Judas, son or brother of James, also called Thaddaeus or Jude to distinguish him from the other Judas (see Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:19; Luke 6:16; Acts 1:14), and the false Judah was the Judah from the town of Kerioth.
Question: Who is the Evil One? What other similar petition has Jesus made in a prayer which He taught the Church to pray?
Answer: Satan, the Evil One who is the prince of this world.
Question: Is it possible to belong both to the world and to Christ?
Answer: No. In this discourse, Jesus has repeatedly made the distinction between belonging to God or to the world; there can be no compromise between the two.
John 17:20-26: Jesus prays for the Church–He prays for us!
20I pray not only for these but also for those who through their teaching will come to believe in me. 21May they all be one, just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me. 22I have given them the glory you gave to me, that they may be one as we are one. 23With me in them and you in me, may they be so perfected in unity that the world will recognize that it was you who sent me and that you have loved them as you have loved me. 24Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they may always see my glory which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25Father, Upright One, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me. 26I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and so that I may be in them.
The Apostles and the disciples, who are consecrated for "the priestly service of the Gospel" (Romans 15:16 and CCC#611), will witness for Christ both orally and in writing (Matthew 28:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:2; 15:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 2:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:15-17; 2 Timothy 2:2; 3:14-15; 1 Peter 1:25), as the Age of the Messiah begins the gathering of the great harvest of souls into heaven. These men are called to priestly service in much the same way that the old covenant hereditary priesthood of Aaron served God (Exodus 29:1; 40:12-13, Matthew 23:1-2). But the priesthood is no longer only hereditary as it was in the Old Covenant. Now, in the New Covenant, Christ our High Priest and King calls forth a priesthood of believers (1 Peter 2:9-10), and from within the greater priesthood He also calls a spiritual priesthood of men in ministerial service to serve His Bride, the New Covenant Church (Matthew 19:12). The priestly order of the New Covenant, not based on heredity and service to Israel, but on a spiritual call in which worship will be extended to all nations, was promised by Yahweh to the 8th century BC prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 66:18-21: I am coming to gather every nation and every language. They will come to witness my glory. I shall give them a sign and send some of their survivors to the nations: to Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coasts and islands that have never heard of me or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory to the nations, [..]. And some of them I shall make into priests and Levites, Yahweh says.
Jesus' high priestly order established in the Apostles is an order that is superior to the priestly order of the Sinai Covenant that was based on heredity (see the chart comparing the Old and New Covenant priesthoods at the end of this lesson). Instead, the new priestly order it is like the priesthood of Melchizedek, the priest-king of Genesis 14:18, who was a priest not by virtue of earthly descent through Aaron but who was, like Christ, a priest-king by virtue of God's call, serving an earthly ministry ordained by God as a spiritual priesthood. It is for this New Covenant priesthood and the future generations of believers who will become children in the family of God in the "catholic" (means "universal") Church that Jesus now prays.
Note: The name "Catholic" for the Church of Jesus Christ dates back to the second century AD. The oldest record of the use of this name comes from the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch who was martyred circa 107-110AD. St. Cyril, the great Bishop of Jerusalem [born 315AD] and Doctor of the Church, wrote about the "catholic" nature of the Church of Jesus Christ: We call it catholic not only because it is spread throughout the world, from one extreme to the other, but because in a universal way and without defect it teaches all the dogmas which men ought to know, of both the visible and the invisible, the celestial and the earthly. Likewise because it draws to true worship all types of men, governors and citizens, the learned and the ignorant. And finally, because it cures and heals all kinds of sins, whether of the soul or of the body, possessing in addition–by whatever name it may be called–all the forms of virtue in deeds and in words and in every kind of spiritual life (Catechesis, 18, 23 as quoted in the Navarre Bible Commentary, St John's Gospel, page 212).
Question: What is Jesus' petition to the Father for these future children of the New Covenant Church in John 17:20-21?
Answer: That they may be unified as One: one Church–one Body in Christ, just as He is One with the Father (see Romans 8:10; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 2:20; 4:19).
In this discourse Jesus will use the Greek word for "one" (hen) to express unity with God the Father and the unity of the Church 7 times in verses 11, 21 (twice), 22 (twice), 23, and 26. It is for the spiritual perfection of the Church indwelled by God the Holy Spirit that Jesus prays.
The Navarre Commentary lists three dimensions to Jesus' glorification (see page 206):
- God the Father is glorified: Jesus' glorification promotes the glory of God the Father through Christ, who in obedience to God's redemptive decree makes the Father known and so brings God's saving work to completion.
- God the Son is glorified: Jesus' divinity, which is disguised by His humanity, will at last be manifested through His human nature after the Resurrection and will be invested with the full power and authority of God over all creation.
- Man will be glorified: Jesus' glorification gives humanity the opportunity to receive God's gift of eternal life, to enter into an intimate relationship with God the Father and God the Son, and this in turn reflects the glorification of the Father and the Son while also inviting humanity's participation in that divine glory.
Question: What is the final consequence of the giving of His glory to the disciples?
Answer: That the disciples and all who believe in Him would, through grace, become partakers of the divine nature in unity with Him, and that through their transformed lives the world would recognize and be assured of His divine mission from the Father (2 Peter 1:4).
BOOK 5 – THE CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION OF
Chapters 18 and 19 of St. John's Gospel tell the deeply moving story of the Passion and self-sacrificial death of the Savior. As is his custom, John does not often repeat the events covered in the other Gospels except to add new details. He locates the events of Jesus' Passion and death in five settings:
Returning to the events of the Last Supper:
Luke is the only Gospel writer to mention any of the other cups: When the time came he took his place at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, 'I have ardently longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; because, I tell you, I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.' Then, taking a cup, he gave thanks and said, 'Take this and share it among you, because from now on, I tell you, I shall never again drink wine until the kingdom of God comes' (Luke 22:14-18). This cup is either the first cup, the Cup of Sanctification, or the second cup, the Cup of Forgiveness, but it is more likely that this is the second cup since Jesus drinks from this cup. Luke's account continues: Then he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying. 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.' He did the same with the cup after supper, and said, 'This cup is the new Covenant in my blood poured out for you' (Luke 22:19-20). We know from the Gospels that the offering of Jesus' Body in the breaking of the bread, and His Blood in the Eucharistic cup was offered as the traditional meal was coming to an end (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22). St. Paul provided the information that the Eucharistic cup was the 3rd cup, called the Cup of Blessing or Redemption: The blessing-cup [the Cup of Blessing] which we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ; and the loaf of bread which we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16)? According to the rules of the Passover meal, the 3rd cup was consumed after the eating of the Passover lamb or kid (no more food was to be consumed after eating the sacrificial victim) and before the singing of the rest of the Egyptian Hallel Psalms: Psalms115-118 (Mishnah: Pesahim, 9.2D; 10.2-10:9). What is interesting is that in each of the Synoptic accounts, Jesus' states that He will not drink again of the "fruit of the wine" until He comes into His kingdom (Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:17-18). After making this vow, it is obvious that Jesus could not have taken the 4th cup. According to the ritual of the Passover meal the Cup of Acceptance is passed and then the host closes the meal with the words: "It is finished" ("It is fulfilled"). Jewish scholars rightly point out that in the Seder, or order of the Passover meal, the participants must drink from all four cups. They insist that if Jesus did not drink from the 4th cup the Passover meal could not be completed and, therefore, this meal could not have been a Passover sacrificial meal. But is there a reason why Jesus did not take the 4th cup in the Upper Room that would seal the ritual of this sacred meal which was both a sign of Israel's covenant union with Yahweh and a sign of covenant continuation for another year? The question that must be asked is "when would Jesus come into His kingdom?" The Synoptic Gospels record that after the Passover Supper and the Institution of the Eucharist, Jesus spoke with His disciples and then: After the psalms had been sung they left for the Mount of Olives (Matthew 26:30 & Mark 14:26). The psalms that were sung were the remainder of the Hallel Psalms 115-118. This is the same psalms which were sung the day Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem to be hailed as the promised Messiah and the same psalms sung at the Temple liturgical service where the Passover victims were sacrificed. Psalms 118:22-29: 22The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23This is Yahweh's doing, and we marvel at it. 24This is the day which Yahweh has made, a day for us to rejoice and be glad. 25We beg you, Yahweh, save us (Hosanna!), we beg you, Yahweh, give us victory! 26Blessed in the name of Yahweh is he who is coming! We bless you from the house of Yahweh. 27Yahweh is God, he gives us light. Link you processions, branches in hand, up to the horns of the altar. 28You are my God, I thank you, all praise to you, my God. I thank you for hearing me, and making yourself my Savior. 29Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good, for his faithful love endures for ever. The rabbis tell a story to explain the meaning of this psalm. According to the story, when the Temple of Solomon was being built all the stones for the foundation of the building we cut and laid out, but there was one stone which was not the same shape as the others and it was discarded. When the building was begun, the architects discovered they were missing the foundation or corner stone of the Temple. Then they realized the missing stone was the one which they had discarded. However, keep in mind that this psalm pointed to the coming of the promised Messiah, the "blessed of Yahweh" the "he who is coming!" Question: In Acts of the Apostles, St. Peter quotes Psalm 118:22 in his trial before Sanhedrin, the same Jewish Law Court which condemned Jesus (Acts 4:11-12). Who, according to St. Peter in his trial before the Sanhedrin, are the "builders" who rejected the "cornerstone"? Question: Who, according to St. Peter, is the stone which the builders rejected? Question: Jesus is the cornerstone of what? The "cornerstone" or "foundation stone" that may become a "stone of stumbling" is a messianic theme in Old Testament Scripture:
The New Testament writers will also describe Jesus as the "stone which the builders rejected," which became for many Old Covenant believers "a stone of stumbling," but also the Rock upon which the New Covenant Church was built:
Jesus of Nazareth is also the stone prophesized by the prophet Daniel. He is the stone, "untouched by human hands" (having divine power), that broke away from "the mountain" (the Old Covenant Church centered at the Temple on Mt. Moriah), who became the foundation stone of the New Covenant Kingdom of God –the Universal Church that shattered all other earthly kingdoms. Prophesying four successive empires that will dominate the old covenant people from the Babylonians to the Romans, Daniel promises the rise of a fifth kingdom that will last forever and whose king whose "kingship will never come to an end": In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not pass into the hands of another race; it will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms and itself last for ever, just as you saw a stone, untouched by hand, break away from the mountain and reduce iron, bronze, earthenware, silver and gold to powder (Dan 2:44-45; also see 4:13-14). After eating the Passover meal Jesus spoke with His disciples in a discourse we have been studying in the last several chapters of St. John's Gospel, which Bible scholars refer to as Jesus' "High Priestly Prayer" (John chapters 14-17). Before leaving Jerusalem to return to the Mount of Olives, St. Luke recorded Jesus' last instructions to His Apostles: He said to them, 'When I sent you out without purse or haversack or sandals were you short of anything?' 'No, nothing,' they said. He said to them, 'But now if you have a purse, take it, and the same with a haversack; if you have no sword, sell your cloak and buy one, because I tell you these words of scripture are destined to be fulfilled in me: He was counted as one of the rebellious. Yes, what it says about me is even now reaching its fulfillment.' They said, 'Lord, here are two swords.' He said to them, 'That is enough!' He then left to make his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, with the disciples following. When he reached the place he said to them, 'Pray not to be put to the test (Luke 22:35-40). After the close of the sacrificial meal, and without consuming the 4th cup, Jesus and the Apostles left the city of Jerusalem. The great doors that gave access to the Temple Mount had been closed just as the sun was setting on Nisan 14. The sacrificial meal of the Passover began at sundown, which was for the Jews, the beginning of Nisan 15 and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now at midnight the doors to the Temple Mount were opened again to allow the faithful to come into the Temple to pray.  Kiss of Judas (Giotto) John 18:1-11: Confrontation in the Garden 1 After he had said all this, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron valley where there was a garden into which he went with his disciples. 2 Judas the traitor knew the place also, since Jesus had often met his disciples there, 3 so Judas brought the cohort to this place together with guards sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees, all with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Knowing everything that was to happen to him, Jesus came forward and said, 'Who are you looking for?' 5They answered, 'Jesus the Nazarene.' He said, 'I am he*.' Now Judas the traitor was standing among them. 6When Jesus said to them, 'I am he,*' they moved back and fell on the ground. 7He asked them a second time, 'Who are you looking for?' They said, 'Jesus the Nazarene.' 8Jesus replied, 'I have told you that I am he.* If I am [if then me you seek] the one you are looking for, let those others go.' 9This was to fulfill the words he had spoken, 'Not one of those you gave me have I lost.' 10Simon 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. 11Jesus said to Peter, 'Put your sword back in its scabbard; am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?' Jesus and His disciples crossed the Kidron Valley to reach the Mount of Olives. We know from Luke's Gospel that the Mount of Olives, where the town of Bethany was located, was where Jesus and the disciples were staying each night during their last week in Jerusalem:
...where there was a garden: John is the only Gospel writer to mention "a garden." The other three accounts mention crossing over to the Mount of Olives and coming to...
The word "Gethsemane" means "oil press" or "oil valley." Since the 4th century AD a site at the foot of the Mount of Olives facing Jerusalem has been identified as the location of Jesus' arrest. At this place are ancient olive trees (some are 3,000 years old), and there is also a cave near by which archaeologists have identified as an ancient olive oil manufacturing site. It is possible that during the last week Jesus and His disciples slept at the homes of friends in Bethany or in the open near, or in, this cave. The city was so burdened with pilgrims that it was deemed acceptable by the priests for the faithful to camp outside the city walls as well as on the Mount of Olives, so long as the sacred meal of the Passover victim was consumed within the walls of the holy city. Notice that in St. John's account of the events in the garden of Gethsemane, as is his usual practice, he does not re-tell Jesus' prayer of agony in the garden that is recorded in Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:41-46. The Synoptic Gospels record that Jesus urged the disciples to stay awake and pray with Him three times: Then he came back to the disciples and said to them, 'You can sleep on now and have your rest. Look, the hour has come when the Son of man is to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up! Let us go! Look, my betrayer is not far away' (Matthew 26:45-46). The literal translation here and in verse 5 is: the one who was handing him over. In all the Gospel accounts whenever Judas is mentioned, he is always identified as the betrayer or traitor (Matthew 10:4; 26:14-16, 25, 47-48; 27:3; Mark 3:19; 14:10-11, 43-44; Luke 6:16; 22:3, 47-48; John 6:71; 12:4; 13:2; 21-30; 18:2-5). Question: When did Judas first conspire with the chief Priests to turn Jesus over to them? Did they first approach him or did he first approach them? This was the moment Satan has been waiting for since Jesus defeated him in Satan's attempt to tempt the new Adam: Having exhausted every way of putting him to the test, the devil left him, until the opportune moment (Luke 4:19). Satan's opportune moment had come. It is what St. Luke called "the hour of darkness" (Luke 22:53). Question: Whom does Judas bring with him? See verses 3 and 12.  Jesus Struck in front of Annas (Madrazo) John 18:12-18: Jesus is taken to Annas and Peter's first denial of the Master 12The cohort and its tribune and the Jewish guards seized Jesus and bound him. 13They took him first to Annas, because Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews, 'It is better for one man to die for the people. 15Simon Peter, with another disciple, followed Jesus. This disciple, who was known to the high priest, went with Jesus into the high priest's palace, 16but Peter stayed outside the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the door-keeper and brought Peter in. 17The girl on duty at the door said to Peter, 'Aren't you another of that man's disciples?' He answered, 'I am not.' 18Now it was cold, and the servants and guards had lit a charcoal fire and were standing there warming themselves; so Peter stood there too, warming himself with the others. John will include the information that after He was interviewed by Annas, they then took Jesus to the High Priest Joseph Caiaphas and then to the Roman governor, Pontus Pilate, but he will not, as is his custom, repeat the events of Jesus' trial before the Sanhedrin that is dramatically covered in all the Synoptic accounts (see Matthew 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65; Luke 22:66-71). Caiaphas has hastily convened a session of the Jewish Law Court, known as the Sanhedrin. The regulations for the court of justice are found in Deuteronomy 17:2-13. Question: For what offenses would a covenant member be tried by the court of justice? What are the requirements for a death sentence? John 18:19-28: Peter denies Jesus three times 19The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. 20Jesus answered, 'I have spoken openly for all the world to hear; I have always taught in the synagogue and in the Temple where all the Jews meet together; I have said nothing in secret. 21Why ask me? Ask my hearers what I taught; they know what I said.' 22At these words, one of the guards standing by gave Jesus a slap in the face, saying, 'Is that the way you answer the high priest?' 23Jesus replied, 'If there is some offence in what I said, point it out; but if not, why do you strike me?' 24Then Annas sent him, bound, to Caiaphas the high priest. 25As Simon Peter stood there warming himself, someone said to him. 'Aren't you another of his disciples?' He denied it saying, 'I am not.' 26One of the high priest's servants, a relation of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, 'Didn't I see you in the garden with him?' 27Again Peter denies it; and at once a cock crew. 28They then led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the Praetorium. It was now morning. They did not go into the Praetorium themselves to avoid becoming defiled and unable to eat the Passover. An informal examination of Jesus begins. Annas is clearly the real political power. John identifies Annas as the high priest in 18:19 and the guard calls Annas the high priest when he slaps Jesus in 18:22. Annas has probably had Jesus brought to his house in order to give Caiaphas the time to assembly the Sanhedrin court at this late (or very early) hour. Jesus' response to Annas recalls the words of the prophesized future Messiah in Isaiah 48:16: Come near and listen to this; from the first, I never spoke obscurely; when it happened, I was there, and now Lord Yahweh has sent me with his spirit. Question: Jesus ignores the question about His disciples, but He tells his interrogator that He has spoken openly in both the Synagogue and the Temple. What is the difference between the Jewish Synagogue and the Jerusalem Temple? Question: Do you see any link between the Synagogue and the Temple and the two parts of the Catholic Mass? The "cockcrow" follows Peter's second and third denials as Jesus predicted (Matthew 26:34-35; Mark 14:30; Luke 22:34; John 13:38). Between the residence of Annas and the trial before the Sanhedrin (the Jewish Law Court), Peter has denied Jesus three times. John, along with the Synoptic Gospels also records the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy in Peter's denials three times followed by the words immediately the cock crowed (RSV translation: Matthew 26:74-5; also see Mark 14:72; Luke 22:60-61; John 18:27). However, the "cockcrow" may not have been the crowing of a live fowl but a trumpet signal which identified a time in the early morning before sunrise. The "cockcrow" was a trumpet blast that signaled the end of the third night watch and the beginning of the 4th. In 1st century AD Jerusalem, as in all the cities of the Roman Empire, the nighttime hours were divided into 4 time periods called "Watches". The 4 Roman watches of the night:
The end of each watch, and the beginning of the next was signaled by a trumpet blast. The Third Watch was from Midnight to 3AM. At the close of the Third Watch a signal was given by the Roman guards --a trumpet was blown to signal the end of the Watch and the change of the guard. This trumpet blast at the end of the Third Watch was called the "gallicinium" or "the cockcrow". If Jesus was identifying the time of Peter's last denial as just before "a the cock crows," it could not a specific time–roosters are notoriously unpredictable in their crowing, and there was a rabbinic ordinance against keeping chickens within the walls of the Holy City because it was feared that their scratching would produce "unclean things," thereby violating the purity laws (J. Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, page 47, note 44). However, if Jesus was referring to the gallicinium, "the hour of the cockcrow" this was a precise military signal (Anchor Bible: The Gospel According to John, page 828). St. Mark's Gospel includes an additional detail. In Mark 14:30 Jesus says: In truth I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will have disowned me three times. And then records the fulfillment of Jesus prophecy in Mark 14:71-72: But he started cursing and swearing, 'I do not know the man you speak of.' And at once the cock crowed for the second time... The Mishnah, the record of the oral traditions and Temple service, identify the "cockcrow" as a signal. In the Jerusalem Temple, it was at the signal of the cockcrow that the priest who was the superintendent for the morning service alerted the priests who were serving in the morning liturgical service to ritually bathe and dress in their liturgical garments (Mishnah: Tamid 1:2). If this is the correct interpretation, the word proia = "early morning" or "dawn" used in the next verse (28) is very appropriate. According to Roman reckoning, the Fourth Watch, which followed the Third Watch, was called proi = dawn, and covered a time period of 3AM to Dawn (our time)'the "cockcrow" was sounded at 3AM our time.
If the "cockcrow" Jesus prophesized was the horn that sounded the end of the third watch in the Roman fortress of the Antonia and also in the Temple, then this would mean that the inquiry by Annas and Peter's denials had come to an end at about 3AM. This would leave more than enough time to complete Jesus' trial by the Sanhedrin and for Jesus to be taken to Pontius Pilate by the end of the Fourth Watch, which was approximately three hours later at sunrise. See the Mishnah, Baba Kamma 7.7 for the restriction against keeping chickens in Jerusalem, and Mishnah, Sukkot 5.4; Mishnah, Tamid 1.2; and Mishnah Yom 1.8 concerning the trumpet blast from the Temple at the end of the 3rd watch. Also see Fr. Brown's Commentary page 828. St. John's Gospel does not relate Jesus' trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin, found in all the Synoptic Gospels, or Matthew's description of Judas' suicide as a fulfillment of prophecy (Matthew 27:3-10; Zechariah 11:12-13; and Jeremiah 32:6-15). The most dramatic scene in Jesus trial before the Sanhedrin is when the High Priest said to Jesus: I put you on oath by the living God to tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.' Jesus answered him, 'It is you who say it. But, I tell you that from this time onward you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.' Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, 'He has blasphemed.' What is your opinion?' They answered, 'He deserves to die' (Matthew 26:63-66). Question: How did Jesus blaspheme? Blaspheme was a capital offense; see Leviticus 24:10-14. Question: What is the significance of Caiaphas tearing his garments? Caiaphas is not wearing his liturgical garments. Liturgical garments are only worn within the Temple precincts during the worship service. What is the significance of the Mishnah statement that the garment can never be re-sewn? It was a common Jewish practice to execute criminals during the festival days when many of the covenant people would be present to witness the execution of the condemned: They put him to death not in the court in his own town or in the curt which is in Yabneh, but they bring him up to the high court in Jerusalem. And they keep him until the festival, and they put him to death on the festival, as it is said, "And all the people shall hear and fear and no more do presumptuously (Dt. 17:13)" (M. Sanhedrin 11:4A-C).  Ecce Home (Antonio Ciseri) John 18:29-40: Jesus is condemned 29So Pilate came outside to them and said, 'What charge do you bring against this man?' They replied, 30'If he were not a criminal, we should not have handed him over to you.' 31Pilate said, 'Take him yourselves, and try him by your own Law.' The Jews answered, 'We are not allowed to put a man to death.' 32his was to fulfill the words Jesus had spoken indicating the way he was going to die. 33So Pilate went back to the Praetorium and called Jesus to him and asked him. 'Are you the king of the Jews?' 34Jesus replied, 'Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others said it to you about me?' 35Pilate answered, 'Am I a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me: what have you done? 36Jesus replied, 'Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. As it is, my kingdom does not belong here.' 37Pilate said, 'So, then you are a king?' Jesus answered, 'It is you who say that I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.' 38'Truth?' said Pilate. 'What is that?' And so saying he went out again to the Jews and said, 'I find no case against him. 39But according to a custom of yours I should release one prisoner at the Passover; would you like me, then, to release for you the king of the Jews?' 40At this they shouted, 'Not this man,' they said, 'but Barabbas.' Barabbas was a bandit. It is interesting that at first the Jews avoid pronouncing what crime Jesus has committed. Pilate taunt to Jews to try him by your own Law. Their reply is that under Roman law the Jews cannot condemn a man to death. Their statement is supported by the Jewish 1st century AD historian Flavius Josephus who records that from the time that Judea became a Roman province this was the law. The jus gladii was reserved to the Roman governor (Wars of the Jews 2.8.1). Unlike the Synoptic Gospel accounts, John does not bother to explain Pilate's rank and title. Most of what we know about Pontius Pilate from the writings of the Jewish historians Josephus [37-100AD] and Philo of Alexandria [d.50AD] is not very favorable. They portray him as autocratic, excessive and dishonest. Josephus confirms the slaughter of the Galileans that is mentioned in Luke 13:1 and the Roman historian Tacitus reports Pilate's action against Jesus in Annals XV, 44 where he reports: The Christ had been executed in Tiberius' reign by the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate. Of all the existing documentation of Pilate, the Bible gives the most favorable account of this man. In fact, in the writings of the early Church Fathers, he is regarded as a man who cooperated in God plan of salvation. His image is found in early Christian art in the catacombs in Rome, and Pilate's, wife Procula Claudia, is believed to have become a Christian and a patroness of the Church (she is mentioned in Matthew 27:19 urging he husband to spare Jesus' life) . The Orthodox Greek Churches list both Claudia and Pilate in their Catalogue of Saints, and some Fathers of the Church believed Pilate's wife Claudia was the Roman Christian lady who sends her regards to St. Timothy that St. Paul mentions in 2 Timothy 4:21. It has been suggested that Pilate was ordered to commit suicide because he and his family embraced Christianity. Question: Why do the Jewish authorities say that they cannot conduct Jesus' sentencing themselves? This was to fulfill the words Jesus had spoken indicating the way he was going to die. Question: When did Jesus indicate the manner in which He would die? The Praetorium (see Matthew 27:27 and Mark 15:16) was the Roman governor's judicial court and the scene of Jesus' judgment by Pilate. It is identified by John in 19:13 as the site called the Gabbatha, in Aramaic gabbeta. Scholars have identified two possible sites that Pilate may have occupied while he was in Jerusalem. One is the palace of Herod, which was located near the northwestern angle of the Upper City near the modern Jaffa Gate, and the other is the site of the fortress of Antonia, which was adjacent to the northwest corner of the Temple Mount. Many scholars favor the Antonia Fortress since the meaning of the Aramaic word gabbeta is "height" or "mound" and the Antonia fortress, located on the height of Mt Moriah, was built to overlook the Temple area making it the highest point in the ancient city. This fortress, which was named by Herod the Great for his friend, the Roman general Marc Antony, was destroyed during the Roman assault on Jerusalem in 70 AD. Other scholars favor Herod's palace, which had more luxurious accommodations for a ruling governor and his court of justice. Wherever the ruling governor resided was the site of Roman justice. Since St. Luke records that Jesus was passed from Pilate to Herod Antipas and back again to Pilate, it does seem reasonable that the two men were occupying the Herodian palace (Luke 23:6-12). Question: Pilate removed Jesus from the presence of His Jewish accusers and privately asked Him what question and why? Question: What was Jesus' response to Pilate? Pilate answered, 'Am I a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me: what have you done? Question: What is it that Pilate's reply indicated? John 18:36-38: Jesus replied, 'Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. As it is, my kingdom does not belong here.' Pilate said, 'So, then you are a king?' Jesus answered, 'It is you who say that I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.' 'Truth?' said Pilate. 'What is that?' And so saying he went out again to the Jews and said, 'I find no case against him.' Jesus' response to Pilate: it is you who say that I am king, is a variant of Jesus reply to Pilate in the Synoptic Gospels. In the Synoptics Jesus' response was: You say so, which is understood as an affirmative "Yes" answer to Pilate's question. In this dramatic exchange Jesus does not deny his royal status and explains His mission to the Roman pagan Pilate as a non-political mission. In fact, His coronation begins with His Passion and is completed in His Ascension (see Ephesians 1:20-23), from which He rules from heaven His earthly dominion that spreads across the earth through the preaching of the Gospel and the sacramental ministry of His Kingdom of Heaven on earth, the universal Church (Matthew 28:18-20). Question: What did Jesus mean when He said He had come to bear witness to the truth? Hint: see Jesus' discourse on His mission in John 9:39 Question: What is the answer to the question Pilate asks: Truth? What is that? Pilate has judged Jesus to be without sin: I find no case against him. This is the first of the three times Pilate will judge Jesus and find Him innocent, using this same phrase (John 18:38; 19:4, 7). The irony is that any animal offered to Yahweh in sacrifice had to be judged as perfect and without flaw. Caiaphas, the High Priest had chosen Jesus as the sacrificial victim (Caiaphas announced that Jesus had to die three times in John 11:50, 52; 18:14), but Pilate, a heathen Gentile, judged the intended sacrifice as without fault! In the Gospels, Barabbas is describes as a robber, a revolutionary or insurrectionist, and a murderer (Mark 15:7; Luke 23:19). Question: What does the name Barabbas mean? What is the irony here? Question: What did Pilate understand to be the motivation for the Jewish authorities to hand Jesus over for execution? What is the connection to the first murder recorded in Salvation History? See Matthew 27:18 and Genesis 4:8 Nicodemus, the Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin who privately visited Jesus at night in John chapter 3, complained to his associates in John 7:51 that they hadn't even taken the trouble to give Jesus a hearing to discover for themselves what He was teaching. The sin of envy can defy both justice and reason. Was the sin of spiritual envy, which was what motivated the Old Covenant priesthood and hierarchy to condemn Jesus of Nazareth to death, prophesized in the Old Testament? Read the Old Testament Book of Wisdom 2:12-24 for a description of the malice that led to the condemnation of the Messiah and to the persecution of other righteous men and women who take up their crosses to follow Him down through the centuries. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CHALLENGE: “If Jesus’ speech on the Mount of Olives referred to the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 (see Day 69), then he falsely prophesied that he would return before then, saying that people ‘will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory’ (Mark 13:26; cf. Matt. 24:30, Luke 21:27).”
DEFENSE: There are other ways of understanding this passage.
Material in the Gospels is not always chronological. The evangelists had the freedom to arrange material by other criteria, such as topic. They could have grouped a saying about the Second Coming with other prophetic statements because they all involve prophecy.
If Jesus originally made this statement in a different context, then its fulfillment would not be governed by the statements about the temple. But this may not be a reference to the Second Coming. The Bible describes God and the Son of Man “coming” in different ways. Thus God is depicted as riding the clouds when he comes in judgment on a people (Ps. 104:3; Isa. 19:1–2; Jer. 4:13–14). This may be the kind of “coming” Jesus had in mind—a visitation of divine judgment on Jerusalem in A.D. 70. His statement also reflects Daniel 7:13–14, where the Son of Man is brought before God in heaven to receive his kingdom. The prophecy thus may refer to Jesus ascending into heaven (Acts 1:9), where he received his kingdom (Acts 7:55–56) and where he now reigns (1 Cor. 15:24–26).
Both explanations may apply. Jesus may invoke Daniel 7’s imagery to indicate he will be reigning with God in heaven and this will manifest in divine judgment on Jerusalem with the destruction of the temple. Theologians have also explored the idea of an adventus medius (“middle advent”) of Christ between the First and Second Comings. This is a spiritual “coming” of Christ in which he is preached to the world to prepare for his definitive, final coming. If this is what Jesus refers to, he might have in mind the evangelization that would lead many to recognize him as the Son of Man and also the authority of his kingdom (cf. Matt. 24:31, Mark 13:27).
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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