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Day 99: The Word Became Flesh
The Study of the Gospel According to John
AUTHORSHIP
The overwhelming abundance of testimony of the Apostolic Fathers (disciples of the Apostles) and their successors down through Christian antiquity and the internal evidence of the fourth Gospel itself, all support evidence in favor of St. John the Apostle as the Holy Spirit inspired writer of the fourth Gospel. It is for these reasons that the Catholic Church has always held that the fourth Gospel is the Gospel according to St. John.
The Dating of the Fourth Gospel
Scholars, ancient and modern, do agree that the fourth Gospel was the last to be written. When it was written is another issue. Scholars fall into 2 camps: the "early daters" and the "late daters." External evidence offers some help in the debate. If John were the author of the fourth Gospel, it would have to have been written prior to 98AD.
The "early daters" place the composition of the fourth Gospel before the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem by the Roman army in 70AD; perhaps as early as 60 or 68 AD. They point out that there is no mention of that catastrophic event which began with the Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire and which ended with such brutal devastation of Judea that it signaled the "end of the world" for the Jews of the Old Covenant. Instead the fourth Gospel makes reference to a site in Jerusalem, in the present tense, that no longer stood after the 9th of Ab, 70AD when the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. In John 5:2 it is written "Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda, and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades." This pool was rediscovered by archaeologists in the late 1800's. It had been buried in debris since the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. It proved to have 5 colonnades just as it was described in the fourth Gospel.
The Gospel according to St. John can be divided into 5 books:
BOOK 1 – THE PROLOGUE 1:1-1:18
| C | I. THE DIETY OF CHRIST | 1:1, 2 |
| R | II. THE PREINCARNATION OF CHRIST | 1:3-5 |
| E | A. He is the foundation of all life (vs. 3) | |
| A | B. He is the light (vs. 4) | |
| T | C. The darkness cannot overcome Him (vs. 5) | |
| I | III. THE FORERUNNER OF CHRIST | 1:6-8 |
| O | IV. THE COMING AND REJECTION OF CHRIST | 1:9-11 |
| N | V. THE ACCEPTANCE OF CHRIST | 1:12-13 |
| VI. THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST | 1:14-18 | |
| A. The Word becomes flesh (vs. 14) | ||
| B. John prophesizes Christ (vs. 15) |
The beautiful hymn that comprises the opening 18 verses of this Gospel introduces the main themes of the 4th Gospel much like a symphony overture sets the musical theme for a symphony. Verses 1-18 reveal seven themes that will be developed as the Gospel message unfolds in subsequent chapters:
This is the first of a series of sevens in the fourth Gospel. Other sevens will include 7 days, 7 statements of Jesus to the Samaritan woman, 7 "signs", etc. According to Hebrew sacred Oral Tradition the number 7 carries the value of fullness, completeness or spiritual perfection.
The prologue identifies Jesus as the "Divine Logos" but also provides the first and clearest declaration of the deity of Jesus the Messiah, Son of God. In the Greek language of the 1st century when this Gospel was written, the word logos/ word was associated with the order and the design of the universe and with the intelligible expression of the Greek gods as they interacted with and governed man and creation. But, as so often happens in the New Testament, the inspired New Testament writers who came from the cultural, ritual, and spiritual traditions of the Old Covenant people of God, used Old Covenant concepts and traditions to transform Greek words beyond their commonly understood Greek value. For example, there was no Greek word to adequately express the Hebrew concept of the Messiah, the "Anointed One" of God. Christians adopted the Greek word for "one who is smeared", christos, and transformed it to mean the promised "Messiah" who is the Anointed One of God, God the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Christos [Christ].
In the Old Covenant tradition of the Children of Israel, the divine Logos was:
- The creative divine will and power of the one true God "By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made, by the breath of his mouth their array." Psalms 33:6
- The expression of the wisdom of God "Every word of God is unalloyed, a shield to those who take refuge in him." Proverbs 30:5
- God the source of all life: "True to your word support me and I shall live.." Psalms 119: 116.
But John weaves together Greek and Hebrew thought to express the Logos/Word as a Divine Person. The Word is the second person of the Most Holy Trinity, God the Son, the eternal Logos who was from the beginning eternally with the Father and who was the mediator of all creation and who has now, through His incarnation, become the mediator of eternal salvation:
- John 1:14 "The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth."
- John 3:17 "For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through him the world might be saved."
The Prologue Part I: The Deity and Pre-Incarnation of Christ
John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
With these opening words of John's great prologue he traces the origin of "The Word" backward into eternity to where God the Son was present with God the Father before time as we know it began. It is what Jesus expressed in His High Priestly prayer in John 17:5 Now, Father, glorify me with that glory I had with you before ever the world existed. In this opening verse John is teaching the Church that time, the universe and the earth, which was once created through the Word of God, will now be renewed through the same Word, the Word who has come in the flesh-Jesus the Christ:
- The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
- Revelation 21:1-5 (vs.4-) "Look, here God lives among human beings. He will make his home among them; they will be his people, and he will be their God, God-with-them [Emanuel]"
Question: Jesus also revealed this mystery to His servant John in the Book of Revelation. In three passages Jesus reveals His preexistence by using what two Greek letters and what do they signify?
Answer: The alpha and the omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. In Revelation 19:13 Jesus is identified as the "Word of God". He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end of creation. Revelation 11:13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End."
(Also please see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC #241 & 291).
Question: Look closely at the first few words of John 1:1. Do the opening words of John's Gospel remind you of any other opening words of an Old Testament book?
Answer: Both John 1:1 and Genesis 1:1 begin with the same words: "In the beginning". (Actually, in the literal translation the definite article "the" is missing. The Greek words that begin St. John's Gospel are literally "in beginning," en arche, while the first Hebrew words of the book of Genesis are also "in beginning," or b'reshith, in Hebrew. The Old Testament Greek translation used at the time Jesus walked the earth also began Genesis with en arche, "in beginning."
Question: In linking Christ, the Incarnate Word [the Word made flesh], in John 1:1-5 to Genesis 1:1-5 what theological truth is revealed?
Answer: God the Son was present with God the Father before time and creation began.
Question: Looking carefully at Genesis 1:1-3 do you see the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity hidden in the first 3 verses? The Hebrew word ruah can mean "wind," "breath" or "spirit".
Answer: Hebrew words are in bold print:
God the Father | "In the beginning God [Elohim] created heaven and earth." Genesis 1:1 |
God the Holy Spirit | "Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, with a divine wind [ruah] sweeping over the waters." Genesis 1:2 [divine ruah = God the Holy Spirit] |
God the Son | "God said, 'Let there be light, and there was light." Genesis 1:3 |
It is also interesting to note that the Hebrew word elohim is the plural of the Hebrew word for god (el and eloha can mean god as in a pagan deity, but they are capitalized when referring to the One true God).
Question: Jewish scholars teach that the plural form is used for the One True God because He is greater than all other so-called gods, but do you see a theological truth revealed in the use of the plural form?
Answer: The plural form of the Hebrew word "Elohim" in the Old Testament reveals the hidden mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, a concept not revealed to mankind until the coming of Jesus Christ.
Jesus revealed that Elohim-Yahweh is God the Father in a sense kept hidden from the Church of the Old Covenant. Through Christ He is revealed as "eternally Father" by His relationship to His "only begotten Son". It is because God the Father eternally "fathers" God the Son that He is God the Father. See the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) #240.
Even though the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity was not revealed to man until the coming of the Messiah, the truth of that revelation was hidden in Sacred Scripture before the Incarnation as the connection between Genesis 1:1-3 and John 1:1-5 reveals. The great Catholic theologian and Scripture scholar St. Augustine taught "The New [Testament] is hidden in the Old [Testament] and the Old [Testament] is fulfilled in the New [Testament]." When we study Sacred Scripture it is important to study with this concept in mind.
John 1:1-2 continued: the Word was with God
Question: What is the theological importance of this statement?
Answer: The theological importance of these words is that they distinguish God the Son from God the Father. In other words, John is telling us that although the Godhead is One Holy and Eternal God, God the Word and God the Father are not the same Person even though they show the same nature in the Most Holy Trinity. Literally in the Greek text this phrase is and God [Theos] was the Word [Logos]. John only uses the Greek word Logos for the personal Christ here and in verse 14. These words are the first and clearest declaration of the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth in the New Testament. These words are the climax of the two preceding statements and they declare the unity and diversity of the Godhead. (See John 5:18; 10:29-38; 20:28).
The key phrase in this verse, and the Word [Logos] was God [Theos], has been mistranslated by some to read "and the Word was a God." Using this mistranslation certain groups have promoted the heresy that there have been a series of gods, not acknowledging One Holy and Eternal God. The argument used in this interpretation is that in the Greek text the word theos, [in English "God"] should be accompanied by the part of speech known as an article ["a" and "an" are indefinite articles; "the" is a definite article], and since the word God in this part of the Greek text does not have the definite article "the" , or ha in the Greek, as the word "Theos" does in most cases, it must be intended to have the indefinite article "a", indicating that "the Word" was one of many gods.
Why is this translation unacceptable? In the literal translation, the Greek word order is reversed and reads: "and God was the Word". It is true that the noun "God" does not have the definite article "the". However, the word "God" is the predicate and not the subject of the proposition. The subject must be "the Word" ["The Word was with God and the Word was God"] because John is not trying to show 'who is God' but 'who is the Word'. The first "Theos" [God] in the sentence is the object of the preposition "with" and the second "Theos" the predicate nominative. It is without an article which could not have been omitted if John had meant to designate the Word as God because in that event Theos would have been ambiguous' suggesting "a God." To translate this phrase the Word was a God" also ignores a basic rule of Greek grammar called "Caldwell's Rule" [named for E.C. Caldwell of the University of Chicago] which states that an anarthrous noun [a noun without an article] in the predicate nominative position does not take a definite article. Moreover, John is not contradicting his previous statement by which he had distinguished God from the Word. He is not using the word logos only to signify an attribute of God. Instead, John is signifying a separate person of the Godhead who is at the same time distinct from the Father and yet so intimately related to the Father that He even shares His divine nature: the Word is one in substance [homoousios] with the Father. In 1967 Pope Paul VI designated that year the "Year of Faith" and summed up the truth concerning the Most Holy Trinity in what is called the Creed of the People of God: "We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. He is the eternal Word, born of the Father before time began, and one in substance with the Father, homoousios to Patri, and through him all things were made. He was incarnate of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, and was made man: equal therefore to the Father according to his divinity, and inferior to the Father according to his humanity and himself one, not by some impossible confusion of his natures, but by the unity of his person." [Creed of the People of God n. 11].
Question: Can you name three dogmas (truths) that the Catholic Church teaches about the Most Holy Trinity?
Answer:
- The Most Holy Trinity is ONE,
- The 3 Divine Persons of the Most Holy Trinity are distinct from one another, and
- The 3 Divine Persons of the Most Holy Trinity are relative to one another
The theology of John's statement is expressed more clearly in the Catechism # 253-255: The Dogma of the Holy Trinity. A dogma is a truth the Church teaches which we must believe in order to be Catholic.
- CCC#253 "The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the 'consubstantial Trinity'[Council of Constantinople II 553AD]. The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire: 'The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e., by nature one God.' ......etc.
- CCC#254 "The divine persons are really distinct from one another. 'God is one but not solitary.' 'Father', 'Son', and 'Holy Spirit' are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one another: 'He is not the Father who is the Son, nor is the Son he who is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit he who is the Father or the Son.'[Council of Toledo XI 675]. They are distinct from one another in their relations of origin: 'It is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds.' The divine Unity is Triune.
- CCC# 255 "The divine persons are relative to one another. Because it does not divide the divine unity, the real distinction of the persons from one another resides solely in the relationships which relate them to one another. 'In the relational names of the persons the Father is related to the Son, the Son to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to both. While they are called three persons in view of their relations, we believe in one nature or substance.'[Council of Toledo XI 675AD]. Indeed 'everything [in them] is one where there is no opposition of relationship. [Council of Florence 1442AD]. 'Because of that unity the Father is wholly in the Son and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Son is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is wholly in the Father and wholly in the son.' [Council of Florence 1442]."
John 1:2: He was with God in the beginning. The Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity was not "waiting in the wings" for the right time in Salvation History to interact with man and creation. He is co-eternal with the Father. Not only is the Word co-eternal with the Father, but He is eternally in active communion in a personal relation to God the Father.
The Prologue Part II: The Pre-incarnation of Christ
John 1:3-5: Through him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through him. What has come into being in him was life, life that was the light of men and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it.
The opening verses of the Prologue have shown us that the Word is both united with and yet distinct from the Father. Now we address His relationship to created things. The work of creation is an activity that is common to the three divine Persons of the Holy Trinity.
Question: What is the basic element of creation? Is creation basically good or evil?
Answer: The Church teaches that creation is good because the Most Holy Trinity caused creation to come into being. Each part of creation possesses its own particular goodness and perfection. Nothing God has created is, by its nature, evil. For each one of the works of God Genesis chapter 1 recounts that: "...and God saw that it was good." The Church also teaches that creation is an act of divine love. It is good because it has been created by God and has been invested with a purpose and a meaning.
Question: Can you name two chief purposes for creation?
Answer:
- One purpose is to manifest the perfection, glory, and holiness of God (Psalms 19:1 The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork).
- The second purpose in God's plan for the universe is that it share in His life, goodness, and limitless love.
God's plan from before creation is to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth (Ephesians 1:10). Creation, in the final analysis, is good because it is centered on Jesus Christ, the Word, who came in the flesh to unite all of creation to Himself.
Question: Returning to John 1:5: What is the contrast that is being symbolized between the light and the darkness imagery?
Answer: Good [the Light/Christ the Word] and evil [darkness].
Question: There is a promised victory at the end of John 1:5. What is it?
Answer: The promise that evil cannot overcome good. It is a promise we need to remember when the world seems full of evil and many innocent people are suffering. We can take courage by remembering this verse and others like it including Jesus' promise to the suffering church at Philadelphia in Asia Minor in Revelation 3:10-12 I will keep you safe in the time of trial which is coming for the whole world, to put the people of the world to the test. I am coming soon: hold firmly to what you already have, and let no one take your victor's crown sway from you. Anyone who proves victorious I will make into a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, and it will stay there for ever.....
The Prologue Part III: The Forerunner of Christ
John 1:6-8: A man came, sent by God. His name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that everyone might believe through him. He was not the light, he was to bear witness to the light."
All of God's holy prophets who were sent as God's messengers before the coming of the Word were not the true Light, but instead they were His reflection. They prepared the world by proclaiming [witnessing to] the coming of the true Light, the Messiah.
Question: Who is "John" who came to witness?
Answer: John ben Zechariah, son of a high priest and therefore a high priest himself. He was the last of the Old Testament prophets.
According to the Law, a high priest served as a Deacon for 5 years from the age of 25-30. In his 30th year he assumed his full duties in the hereditary priesthood (see Numbers 4:3 and 8:23).
Question: The Gospel of Luke tells us that John was 6 months older than Jesus was (see Luke 1:36-38). If Jesus was conceived circa March 25 and born December 25, as we calculate the months, (I tell you how we think the Fathers of the Church calculated that date later during Advent) when would John have been 30 years old?
Answer: late in June. As a matter of fact, John's feast day is June 24th.
Question: How is the fourth Gospel's first mention of John the Baptist different in the other 3 Gospels? See Matthew 3:1; Mark 1:4; Luke 3:2.
Answer: In both Matthew's and Mark's Gospels, John is identified as "the Baptist" and in Luke as "John the son of Zechariah". Only in the fourth Gospel is he identified only as "John".
The other Gospel accounts clearly identify John as the Baptist and as the son of Zechariah to avoid confusion between the John the Baptizer and John the Apostle.
Question: Why didn't the fourth Gospel author find in necessary to avoid this confusion?
Answer: If was understood that John the Apostle, the Bishop of Ephesus was the author of the fourth Gospel (as the Fathers of the Church testify) it would not be necessary to distinguish between them because it would be obvious that this account is about the Baptist.
Question: What was John the Baptist's kinship relationship to Jesus? See Luke 1:36
Answer: His mother, Elizabeth, was Mary's kinswoman. Most Bible translations render this kinship word as "cousin". The Greek word is sugenes [pronounced su-gen-ace] which in Greek is literally translated as "kinswoman or relative. The word for "cousin" in Greek is anepsios [pronounces ah-nep-see-os]. This is not to say that Elizabeth was not a "cousin" of Mary but perhaps the more general term sugenes is used to indicate that she was not a "cousin" of the first degree. Elizabeth was much older than Mary, perhaps considering how early girls married, older by two generations.
Question: What else do we know about John the Baptist's parents? See Luke 1:5-25
Answer: Both John's parents were descendants of the hereditary priesthood. Zechariah traced his descent from Abijah (or Abia, 8th of the 24 divisions or courses of the Temple priesthood. See 1Chronicles 24:10)) and Elizabeth traced her lineage all the way back to the first high priest, Aaron, brother of Moses. It should be noted that ultimately all high priests could trace their line back to Aaron and his sons because, according to the Law, the priesthood belonged to the descendants of Aaron of Aaron. The importance of Luke's account is that Elizabeth was the daughter of a chief priest so John's hereditary claim to the priesthood was impeccable.
The Prologue Part IV: The Coming of Christ and the Rejection of Christ
John 1 verses 9-11: The Word was the real light that gives light to everyone; he was coming into the world. He was in the world that had come into being through him, and the world did not recognize him. He came to his own and his own people did not accept him.
The Word is the true light because He is the light from which all other light/ revelation of God comes. He comes into the world to enlighten all men so that through Him all the world will be transformed. Just as in the first natural creation His light brought creation into being so now will His coming transform men and creation.
Prologue Part VI: The Acceptance of the Christ
John 1:12-13 But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believed in his name who were born not from human stock or human desire or human will but from God himself.
Question: "...to those who believed in his name.." What does this phrase mean?
Answer: To those who believed Jesus is the Son of God the Messiah of Israel. To these who believe God gave the power of divine son [and daughter]-ship. 1 John 5:1 "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God..."
It is also important to understand that to the ancients one's name expressed the sum of the qualities that marked the nature or character of that person. To believe in the name of Jesus Christ is to accept as true the revelation contained in that name: that Jesus is fully man and fully God come to redeem the world. St. Thomas Aquinas, the great biblical scholar and theologian wrote about this passage: "those who believe in his name are those who fully hold the same of Christ not in any way lessening his divinity or his humanity." [St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary of St. John, 1:12-13].
"he gave the power to become children of God.." The Greek word that is translated here as "power" is exousia . In other Bible translations it may be rendered as "right". That Christ gave us the "power" is the same way of saying that He gave us a free gift and that gift was sanctifying grace.
Question: How is this "free gift" extended to us through the Church?
Answer: This gift is a supernatural infusion of grace, which is extended through the sacrament of Baptism to everyone. The only condition is that we have faith.
This is purely a supernatural birth from above; a free gift of faith and grace.
Part VII: The Incarnation of Christ and John's Witness of Christ
John 1:14-18: The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. John witnesses to him. He proclaims: 'This is the one of whom I said: He who comes after me has passed ahead of me because he existed before me.' Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received, one gift replacing another, for the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.
Verse 14: The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth."
A more literal translation is "only begotten from the Father.
| John 1:14 | "the glory that he has from the Father as the only [begotten/monogene] Son of the Father,.." |
| John 1:18 | "No one has ever seen God; it is the only [begotten/monogene] Son, who is close to the Father's heart..." |
| John 3:16 | "For this is how God so loved the world: he gave his only [begotten/monogene] Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." |
| John 3:18 | "No one who believes in him will be judged; but whoever does not believe is judged already, because that person does not believe in the name of God's only [begotten/monogene] Son." |
| 1 John 4:9 | "This is the revelation of God's love for us, that God send his only [begotten/monogene] Son into the world that we might have life through him." |
In each case the Greek texts use the word "monogene" = mono/only and gene/begotten.
Question: Why is the meaning of this word "only begotten" so crucial to a correct understanding of these passages?
Answer: This word clearly signifies that Jesus is not one of many god/sons and that He comes directly from the Father and not from an earthly father. He is "begotten" He is not created.
Question: What theological truth does this verse teach about the nature of Jesus: The Word became flesh.....the only begotten Son of the Father..?
Answer: That the Word who is God became man. Jesus is completely God and completely man. Two natures and two wills, existing in perfect harmony in the one Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity [See CCC 467 & 475]. This passage expresses the unfathomable fact of the incarnation of the Son of God. Galatians 4:4 "..but when the completion of the time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born of a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law, so that we could receive adoption as sons." It is what we profess in the Nicene-Constantinople Creed: "We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, one in Being with the Father..."
In the 5th century the Church met in a Great Council to address the heresies that denied either Christ's true humanity or His true divinity. The Council pronounced the Church's teaching on the divinity and humanity of Christ: The Council of Chalcedon 451: "Following the holy Fathers, therefore, we all with one accord teach the profession of faith in the one identical Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We declare that he is perfect both in his divinity and in his humanity, truly God and truly man, composed of body and rational soul; that he is consubstantial with the Father in his divinity, consubstantial with us in his humanity, like us in every respect except for sin (cf Hebrews 4:15). We declare that in his divinity he was begotten in this last age of Mary the Virgin, the Mother of God, for us and for our salvation."
The Title "Son of God"
In the Old Testament the title "son(s) of God" indicated a special relationship with the Almighty. The heavenly messengers [in Greek angelos] are called "sons" of God in Job 1:6, 2:1; 38:7. It was also a title given to a Judahite king at his enthronement [see Isaiah 9:5; Psalm 2:7; 89:27; 110:3] based on God's promise to David that his heir would be a "son" of God, beginning with Solomon [see 2 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chronicles 17:13]. It is for this reason that Jesus deserved the title "son" of God both in His divinity and in His humanity as the Davidic heir and rightful King of Israel. However, the chosen covenant people of Israel were also designated collective "sons" and "daughters" of God. In Exodus 4:22, Hosea 11:1, and in Jeremiah 31:20 the term "son" is used in the singular for the collective sonship of Israel and in Hosea 2:1, Isaiah 1:2, and Jeremiah 3:19 in the plural.
In the New Testament the title "Son of God" takes on a meaning not conveyed in the Old Testament. In the New Testament the title expresses a unique relationship with God as the Father's "only begotten son," Jesus of Nazareth.
In the Gospels Jesus called God "My Father" [i.e. Matthew 10:32-33; 12:50; 16:17; 18:10, 19, 35; 26:39, 42, 53; Mark 14:36; Luke 10:21-22; 22:29, 42; 23:34, 46; John 5:17; 6:32, 44; 8:19, 38, 54; 14:28; 15:15; 20:17; etc.], but He distances Himself from the controversy surrounding the title "Son of God" until His trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin. He finally acknowledges His unique relationship to God as "Son" of the Father in the Gospels by quoting from the prophecy of the Davidic Messiah in Psalms 110:1 and Daniel 7:13-14, sending the High Priest into a rage [Matthew 26:63-66; Mark 14:61-62; Luke 22:68-71] which results in Jesus' condemnation with the charge of blasphemy.
But in the end, it is the Gentile Roman officer in charge of Jesus' crucifixion who announces to the world: "Truly this man was the Son of God" in Mark 15:39, a fulfillment of the prophecy that the Gentile nations would come to do homage to the promised Davidic Messiah [see Isaiah 66:18-21; Ezekiel 34:13]!
After His Resurrection His disciples recognized Him as Davidic Messiah and Lord and the true "Son of God." It is for this reason that His title as "Son" is primarily used by the Church after Easter for it was after His Resurrection and Ascension that Jesus is enthroned in the Heavenly Sanctuary as the "Son of God" and King of Kings: ...but in our time, the final days, he has spoken to us in the person of his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the ages. He is the reflection of God's glory and bears the impress of God's own being, sustaining all things by his powerful command; and now that he has purged sins away, he has taken his seat at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high. So he is now as far above the angels as the title which he has inherited is higher than their own name. [Hebrews 1:2-4].
John 1:15: John witnesses to him. He proclaims: 'This is the one of whom I said: He who comes after me has passed ahead of me because he existed before me.'
Question: When was John chosen to witness to Jesus as the promised Messiah?
Answer: Before his birth. John identifies himself as the one the prophet Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 40:3. John will quote this passage himself in John 1:23. The prophet Malachi also prophesied the one who would announce the Messiah in Malachi 3:1-2 Look, I shall send my messenger to clear a way before me. And suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his Temple, yes, the angel of the covenant for whom you long, is on his way, says Yahweh Sabaoth. Who will be able to resist the day of his coming...
John 1:16-18: Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received, one gift replacing another, for the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.
The words "grace for grace" in verse 16 can also mean that Jesus brings a super-abundance of grace (gifts) which adds on to the existing graces of the Old Covenant and all of which are poured out in superabundance through Christ through which the "waters of eternal life" flow unceasingly.
John 1:17 for the first time John names Jesus, Yehosua in Hebrew, whose name means 'Yahweh saves' or more literally, 'I SAVE!'
Question: What is the difference between the Law of Moses and the grace that Jesus brings?
Answer: The Law was necessary to guide the people to a holy life but then no further. The Law in itself was imperfect and could not offer "salvation" because original sin and other sins could not be removed only "covered" through animal sacrifice. The grace brought by Jesus has the power to not only to conquer and heal sin but to save those who receive His grace. See CCC #1963.
John 1:18: No one has ever seen God.. In the Old Testament no one could see God and live. Men saw God indirectly and they could contemplate God's "glory" as it was revealed in the burning bush or the Glory Cloud. But through the mystery of the Incarnation God reveals Himself to us, and God the Son dwells among men. "Dwells" in Scripture has the meaning of to "Tabernacle" as God tabernacled with the children of Israel in the desert so now He fills and indwells us as His holy Tabernacle. In our Christ effused lives we have become the Temple or Tabernacle of the Holy Spirit.
John 1:18b: it is the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.
Question: According to verse 18 from whom do we receive the revelation of God the Father?
Answer: only from the God the Son.
BOOK 2 – THE PRESENTATION OF THE SON OF GOD 1:19-4:54
JORDAN RIVER – JUDEA
THE FIRST WEEK
| I. THE PRESENTATION OF THE SON OF GOD | 1:19-34 | |
| DAY 1 | A. John's witness to the Old Covenant authority | 1:19-28 |
| DAY 2 | B. John's witness at Christ's baptism | 1:29-34 |
| II. THE PRESENTATION OF THE SON OF GOD TO JOHN'S DISCIPLES | 1:35-51 | |
| DAY 3 | A. The two disciples talk with Jesus | 1:35-39 |
| B. Andrew and Peter talk with Jesus | 1:40-42 | |
| DAY 4 | C. Philip and Nathaniel talk with Jesus | 1:43-51 |
The Baptism of Jesus:
In St. John's Gospel he does not record the events of Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River performed by Saint John the Baptist. He assumes you have read the other Gospel accounts; therefore, he picks up the thread of the story where the other accounts ended.
But John wants to make sure that we understand how Jesus will bring about the redemption of creation and mankind in fulfilling His role of Prophet, High Priest and King of Kings.
BACKGROUND STUDY ON JOHN, SON OF THE PRIEST ZECAHRIAH, CALLED "THE BAPTIST"
It was just across from the city of Jericho, on the east bank of the Jordan River, that a young 30 year old priest who has just begun his priestly ministry (see Numbers 4:3) will call the people to repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Luke testifies that John began his ministry in the 15th year of the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. Tiberius succeeded his step-father, Caesar Augustus (Octavian, the great-nephew of Julius Caesar) on August 19th, 14AD. The 15th year is, therefore from the 19th of August 28AD to the 18th of August 29AD. However, if Luke is using the Syrian (Assyrian) method of determining the year of a king's reign, the 15th year is from September –October 27AD to September-October 28AD.
Of all the places Yehohanan ben Zechariah (John son of Zechariah) could have chosen to begin his ministry why this desolate part of the Jordan River Valley? Wouldn't he have reached more people in the densely populated region of the Galilee or in the holy city of Jerusalem? The Jordan River flows from springs in the Golan Heights down through the Sea of Galilee southward through the barren wilderness into the lowest point on the entire face of the earth, the Dead Sea (approximately 1,200 feet below sea level). Why would anyone want to travel all that way from the lush Galilee or even the 20 odd miles from Jerusalem through a desert wilderness to ford the Jordan River near Jericho and submit to some young priest who had separated himself from the Temple priesthood, and who was wearing such unattractive apparel as a camel-hair tunic and living on a meager diet of locusts and honey as he ritually purifies the covenant people in the muddy Jordan River? Any modern real estate agent could tell John that it is a question of location, location, location, for any such an adventure. Actually that is exactly true in this case....location is the answer to the question "Why did the people come?" It was all about "location" and the way this young priest dressed in a camel hair tunic with a leather belt.
For the Jews and Israelites of the Roman provinces of Judea and the Galilee the location of the ritual baptism and the attire of the priest would have spoken volumes symbolically. This location was the exactly where these people expected God to do great things:
- This was the place where the 9th century BC prophet Elisha cured Naaman, the servant of the King of Syria (2 Kings 5:1-14), and
- This was where a young Elisha saw his master, the prophet Elijah, assumed into heaven in a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2:1-10).
- But most important, for these 1st century Jews and Israelites oppressed by the Roman Empire, this site would recall a period in their history when their people were freed from oppression and were given sanctuary and freedom in a new land, the Promised Land.
Question: What past event, which resulted in the redemption and salvation of the children of Israel, would the 1st century AD people of Judea and the Galilee connect with John's selected site on the east bank of the Jordan River? Hint: read Exodus 13:17 and 18 then Joshua 1:10-11; 2:1; 3:1-17; and 4:19.
Answer: They would remember that Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and out into the wilderness and his successor, Joshua (Yehosua) led the people across the Jordan River (from the east to the west) into the Promised Land near the city of Jericho.
The history of the children of Israel is why "location" is everything! This is the location of the "place of the crossing" (Beth Abarra in Hebrew) where God's holy nation crossed over the Jordan River into the land God had promised them. As God's holy prophet, and as a legitimate descendant of Aaron, John had called the people out into the wilderness to be purified with a baptism of repentance and afterward to re-enter their land [Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:3; Acts 19:4]. For the people this action of symbolically reenacting the Exodus experience signaled a new beginning with hopes for freedom from their current oppressors-the Romans!
Question: But what was it about John the Baptist's dress that would have symbolic meaning for the people? Please read this passage from Matthew 3:1-6, compare the Matthew passage with the description of Elijah in 2 Kings 1:7-8 Answer: In John, son of Zechariah, the people saw the prophetic return of the prophet Elijah.
Question: Why would this connection between John and Elijah have been so significant? Hint: read Malachi 3:1 and 23-24(4:5-6 in some translations): Look, I shall send my messenger to clear a way before me. And suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his Temple;...;[vs. 23-24] Look, I shall send you the prophet Elijah before the great and awesome Day of Yahweh comes. He will reconcile parents to their children and children to their parents, to forestall my putting the country under the curse of destruction.
Answer: Elijah's return would signify the coming of the Messiah. The book of the prophet known as Malachi ("my messenger") was the last message of prophecy God gave His Covenant people (written sometime after the return from the Babylonian exile; circa between 561 and 445BC). For approximately 500 years the people had waited for the promise to be fulfilled. The timing of John's call to repentance was also significant. It was approximately 2,000 years since Father Abraham had been called by God and 1,000 years since King David had established Jerusalem as God's holy city. The timing was auspicious and the messenger had the right location and the correct attire.
Question: What other similarities do you recognize between John the Baptist and Elijah in addition to the similarity in dress [incidentally, most prophets may have dressed this way. See Zechariah 13:4].
Answer:
- Both men were prophets (and according to Jewish tradition Elijah was also a priest).
- They both challenged evil kings (John vs. Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and Perea; Elijah vs. Ahab, king of Israel).
- Both John and Elijah prepared the way for prophets even greater than themselves [Elijah prepared the way for Elisha and John for Jesus].
When Jesus submits to John's baptism in the Synoptic Gospels and He comes up from the Jordan River, He comes out of the water as Israel's royal Messiah-King, anointed by God's Holy Spirit, ready to begin His ministry at the age of 30 years. Moses led the children of Israel out into the wilderness but his successor Joshua led the people across the Jordan and into the Promised Land. Jesus is the new Yehosua [Joshua and Jesus had the same Hebrew name which means "Yahweh is salvation" or more literally, "I am salvation!"]. He is the "new" Joshua who will lead the children of the New Israel out of sin and into the Promised Land of the Heavenly Father. Isaiah 52:7: How beautiful on the mountains, are the feet of the messenger announcing peace, of the messenger of good news, who proclaims salvation and says to Zion, 'Your God is king!'
The Presentation of the Son of God by John
John 1:19-23:
John 1:19 This is the witness [martyria] of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?'
Question: This is a repeat of what theme from the Prologue?
Answer: In John 1:6-7 we were told that "John" was sent to witness to the light...now this is his testimony. See CCC# 717
John 1:20: He declared, he did not deny but declared, 'I am not the Christ'.
Question: It is curious how John answers them. He uses a triple combination of positive and negative clauses; how does he phrase his answer? Note: the literal translation is "he avowed and did not deny, and avowed.."
Answer:
- positive [he declared];
- [did not deny];
- positive [declared].
This may count as a significant 3 combination, which in Scripture always indicates that the next phrase or event is of great theological importance.
Question: What did he "avow" or declare?
Answer: That he is not the Messiah (Christ).
John 1:22: 'Are you the Prophet?' He answered, 'No.' So they said to him, 'Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who send us. What have you to say about yourself?' So he said, 'I am, as Isaiah prophesied:...'
Notice that in their questions to John that the Priests connect the prophecies concerning Elijah and the Prophet-like-Moses passage.
John 1:23: A voice of one that cries in the desert: Prepare a way for the Lord. Make his paths straight.. This Old Testament quote is from the book of the Prophet Isaiah.
Please read Isaiah 40:1-11.
Question: In quoting this passage from Isaiah what is John claiming?
Answer: John identifies himself as the preparatory voice of Isaiah 40:3. This passage originally prophesizes the forgiveness of the tribes Israel and their return from exile. Isaiah had prophesized the destruction of both the Northern Kingdom of Israel, [722BC] which took place in his lifetime, and the future destruction of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, which would be fulfilled 135 years later [587/6BC]. This message of hope promises God's forgiveness, and in effecting that in their return through the desert the hills would be leveled and the valleys filled in to prepare an eschatological superhighway for God's people. This prophecy was only partially fulfilled with the return of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to the land of Judah. There is no recorded of return of the 10 northern tribes but there obviously was a small return to the region of the Galilee. Now John is to prepare a road, not for God's people to return to the land of Israel, but for God to come to His people. John's call for repentance and his baptizing of the multitude in the desert was opening up the hearts of men, leveling their pride, filling in their emptiness and preparing them to receive the Messiah. See CCC# 719-20
John 1: 24-28
John 1:24-25: Now those who had been sent were Pharisees, and they put this question to him, 'Why are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the Prophet?' verse 24 should read the Pharisees questioned him further..(a repeat of verse 21).
This seems to be a second group of emissaries from the Sanhedrim. The first group was composed of Priests and Levites. Perhaps they went back to Jerusalem to report on John's responses to their questions and now the "big guns", the theologians are being sent to question John again.
Question: Considering John's previous answers, what are they really asking him this time?
Answer: They want justification for his baptizing. If John the Baptist is not claiming any eschatological role, why is he performing an eschatological action like baptizing?
John 1:26-27: John answered them, 'I baptize with water but standing among you –unknown to you--is one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandal.'
To undo the strap of his sandal is a slave's task. This is a phrase repeated from the Synoptics (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:7 and Luke 3:16) except there it is expressed in the plural [sandals].
Question: John is making a distinction between his baptism and the baptism that will be performed by Jesus. See John 1:33; Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:7-8; Luke 3:16. What is the difference?
Answer: John baptizes with water for repentance. [Note: John is not forgiving sins but is instead preparing the people for a future forgiveness that will come through Christ's sacrifice]. The difference is that Jesus is to baptize with a Holy Spirit and with fire. This distinction between the two types of baptism is common to all four Gospels and it is a theological break from traditional Old Covenant belief. In Hebrew thought baptism or cleansing with water and with a holy spirit come together. This distinction between the Old Covenant concept and the New Covenant reality is also emphasized in Acts 19:1-6 where some disciples of John who were baptized with John's baptism are encountered by the Apostles and it is discovered they have not received "the Spirit". This distinction between ritual cleansing with water and a new kind of spiritual blessing recalls the prophecy of the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36:25-26 I shall pour [sprinkle] clean water over you and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your filth and of all your foul idols. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you.
John 1:28: This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing. "The far side" indicates the eastern shore of the river. This is not the same Bethany as the town of Lazarus and his sisters on the Mt. of Olives near Jerusalem. Bethany means "place [or house] of grace."
This is the end of the first day and John closes this passage with this geographic reference of the name of the site. As you will notice, closing a section of his narrative with a geographic reference will become common in John's Gospel.
John 1:29-31:The next day, he saw Jesus coming towards him and said, 'Look, there is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. It was of him that I said 'Behind me comes one who has passed ahead of me because he existed before me.' I did not know him myself, and yet my purpose in coming to baptize with water was so that he might be revealed to Israel.'
Question: Assuming the day before was the first day, what day is this?
Answer: The second day.
Question: What does John mean when he identifies Jesus as "the Lamb of God." Of which Lamb is he speaking?
Answer: There were 5 kinds of animals used for ritual sacrifice in the Temple of God: cattle, goats, sheep, turtle-doves, and pigeons. A "lamb who removes sin" would be indicating a lamb of sacrifice, but which lamb of sacrifice?
Most Biblical scholars and commentators identify this symbol of sacrifice with the Passover lamb; however, the Passover lamb was not a single lamb but thousands of lambs or goat-kids sacrificed on one day and only once a year (Ex 12:5). St. Paul does identify Jesus as the Passover Lamb in 1 Corinthians 5:7 and indeed, Jesus was the perfect Lamb of sacrifice that every lamb in the Old Covenant sacrificial system symbolized.
Question: Why does John say: "He existed before me.." in verse 30 ?
Answer: John affirms Jesus' pre-incarnation: Physically Jesus was born 6 months after John but the Holy Spirit had given the Baptist the knowledge of Jesus' eternal existence.
John 1:31 "so that he might be revealed to Israel." The Messiah is promised to redeem Israel.
John 1:32-34: And John declared, 'I saw the Spirit come down on him like a dove from heaven and rest on him. I did not know him myself, but he who sent me to baptize with water had said to me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is to baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and I testify that he is the Chosen One of God.' (most ancient texts read "Son of God" instead of "Chosen One").
I did not know him myself.. seems a curious statement because we know from Luke's Gospel that they are kinsmen. John's ignorance of this relationship may be necessary to show that there was no collusion between Jesus and John. That Jesus is the Messiah is purely a revelation from God.
The Fathers of the Church will associate the "dove" hovering over Jesus at the time of His baptism with the "divine ruah" [ruah is Hebrew for wind, breath or spirit] of God hovering over the parting of the waters of Creation, bringing order out of chaos in Genesis 1:2 and with the "dove" that flew from Noah's ark, hovering over the chaotic waters of the great Flood, symbolizing baptism of God's Spirit over a new creation. The dove will become one of the symbols of God the Holy Spirit [others are water, fire, anointing, and cloud and light]. See CCC # 694-701.
Each of the Gospel accounts includes this description of God's Spirit descending like a dove: (literal Greek translations). John differs with the other Gospels only in that he does not describe the baptism itself, and in describing the descent of the Spirit John has the phrase "from the sky." CCC# 438
Matthew 3:16 "God's Spirit" | "descending like a dove coming on him" |
Mark 1:10 "The Spirit" | "like a dove descending on him" |
Luke 3:22 "The Holy Spirit" | "descends in bodily form like a dove on him" |
John 1:32 "The Spirit" | "descending like a dove from the sky on him" |
The next day as John stood there again with two of his disciples, Jesus went past, and John looked towards him and said, 'Look, there [here] is the Lamb of God.' And the two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.
We sometimes forget that John had disciples of his own. They were a group set apart by his form of baptism. They had their own rules of fasting (Mark 2:18; Luke 7:29-33) and their own prayers (Luke 5:33, 11:1). Some of them continued as John's disciples after his death (Mark 6:29; Acts 19:3) while others became Jesus' disciples like St. Andrew (John 1:35-40) and perhaps the other disciple was St. John. This is the second time John identifies Jesus as a sacrificial lamb.
Question: Counting the days from the first day prior to verse 34, which day is this?
Answer: Day 3
Question: Who are the two disciples?
Answer: One is Andrew and the other is unnamed although we are told that they both become Apostles. The majority of scholars, ancient and modern, identify John the Apostle [or the inspired writer of this Gospel] as the unnamed disciple of the Baptist. All the lists of the Twelve Apostles name Simon, Andrew, James, and John as the first four.
John 1:38-39 Jesus turned round, saw them following and said, 'What do you want?' they answered, 'Rabbi''which means Teacher''where do you live?' He replied, 'Come and see;' so they went and saw where he lived, and stayed with him that day. It was about the tenth hour.
John is writing this Gospel for a late 1st century congregation in Asia Minor [modern Turkey] that is largely composed of Gentile Greek/Roman culture converts. They are not familiar with Jewish customs and so he explains the meaning of the word "Rabbi." A more literal translation of rabbi is probably "my great one, or my honorable sir." This title as used by the Jews in addressing their teachers and is formed from a Hebrew root meaning "great." Jesus himself explained the term as "master" in Matthew 23:8.
John 1:40-42 "One of these two who became followers of Jesus after hearing what John had said was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother and say to him, "We have found the Messiah" - which means the Christ, and he took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas" -which means Rock.
"Cephas" is the Greek transliteration of Peter's Aramaic name "Rock" = Kepha, or perhaps in Galilean Aramaic "Qepha". Only John among the Gospels gives this form of Peter's name but it is also the preferred name that St. Paul uses when he writes about Peter.
John also uses the Greek form "Petros" which we translate as Peter. "Peter" would have been well know to the churches of Asia Minor at the time John wrote his Gospel so he uses the Greek translation of "Rock" (Peter's title) in the masculine form as Peter along with the Greek name "Simon" which is similar to his Hebrew name. "Simon" was a genuine Greek name. "Symeon" would be a better Greek transliteration for his Hebrew name which would be Sim'on. Since Symeon is never used and since his brother Andrew has no Hebrew name equivalent it seems these brothers were known by their Greek names.
Another possible translation for verse 41 is "Andrew was the first to find his own brother.." This reading has been taken by many scholars to imply that the unnamed disciple (John) had also gone to also find his brother (James).
"We have found the Messiah.." John gives his good friend Andrew the credit as the first of the disciples to identify Jesus as the Messiah.
Jesus finishes the 16:17 verse by saying in Aramaic: 16:18 "So I now say to you: You are Peter [Kepha] and on this rock [kepha] I will build my church [ekklesia]." The key to understanding why Jesus called Peter the son of Jonah comes from the building up of the Jonah passages that come before his final announcement of Simon as Kepa = Rock in Aramaic.
John tells us that Jesus told Simon he was "rock" very early in their relationship. It is later in Matthew's account in chapter 16 that Simon/Peter is given formally the title "Rock" in the presence of all the other Apostles. "Rock" is one of God's titles. In the Song of Witness that Moses and Joshua are instructed to teach the Children of Israel to sing as part of their liturgical worship the title "Rock" for God is used 5 times. Christ is also identified as the "Rock" in 1 Corinthians 10:1-5. But only 2 men in Salvation history are called "rock". They are Abraham [Isaiah 51: 1-2] and Peter. Abraham was the physical "rock" from which the Children of Israel were formed but Peter is to be the spiritual "Rock", the father of the New Covenant children of Israel, the universal [catholic] Church! When God changes a man's name it is an indication of a change in destiny. Simon's name change indicated God's plan for his destiny. He will be the "rock," that is a firm foundation upon which the Church will be built [Matthew 7:24-27].
John 1:43-51 The next day, after Jesus decided to leave for Galilee, he met Philip and said, 'Follow me.' Philip came from the same town, Bethsaida, as Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, 'We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.'
Question: This is the 3rd repetition of the phrase "the next day." What day is this?
Answer: It is the 4th day since John the Baptist's witness of Christ.
These men, Philip (a Greek name with no Hebrew equivalent) and Nathanael are returning home to the Galilee after having come to Judea for one of the Feast Days or John's baptism or perhaps both. The Galilee is a good two days journey from Jericho. Philip is the 3rd disciple to be named in John's Gospel after Andrew and Simon. In the oldest list of the Apostles still in existence, which is the list of Papias, Bishop of Hieropolis a disciple of St. John, Philip is also listed after Andrew and Simon. Philip lived at Hieropolis and Papias relates that he is buried there with his daughters. Although Philip is mentioned in all the Gospels, only John gives him any role in the narrative. Andrew, Peter, and Philip were all from the same home-town, Bethsaida. Later, Peter and Andrew moved their fishing business to Caperanum and Peter married a local girl. The fish-salting factory was located in the town of Magdela which is next to Caperanum. The move was probably a wise business decision. If Peter had stayed in Bethsaida, which was part of Gaulanitis and not the Galilee under Herod Antipas, he would have had to pay double taxes to both the sons of Herod the Great who rules these two provinces.
"Philip found Nathanael" This disciple's name is only found in John's Gospel.
Most scholars identify him with the Apostle Bartholomew because, just as Nathanael comes after Philip in John's Gospel, Bartholomew's name follows Philip's name in all the other lists of the Twelve Apostles except in Acts 1:13. His name means "God [El] has given" and Bartholomew means "son of Tolmai" so we may have Nathanael son of Tolmai(?) from the city of Cana which is near Nazareth in the Galilee.
"Jesus son of Joseph" This is the normal way of distinguishing one man from another. Joseph was Jesus' legal father under the Law. He became his legal father when Joseph named Jesus at His circumcision. There is no suggestion here that Joseph is Jesus' birth father.
John 1:46-50 "Nathanael said to him, 'From Nazareth? Can anything good come from that place?' Philip replied, 'Come and see.' When Jesus saw Nathanael coming he said of him, 'there, truly, is an Israelite in whom there is no deception. Nathanael asked, 'How do you know me?' Jesus replied, 'Before Philip came to call you, I saw you under the fig tree.' Nathanael answered, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel.' Jesus replied, 'You believe that just because I said: I saw you under the fig tree. Your are going to see greater things than that.' And then he added, 'In all truth I tell you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending over the Son of man.'"
Nazareth is a little, obscure town in the Galilee located in a valley a few miles from the Via Maris, the great Roman road. The word "Nazareth" or "Nazara" as Matthew records the name in Matthew 4:12, is from the Hebrew root word "netzer" [netser], which means branch.
Jesus' comment takes Nathanael by surprise and he asks Jesus how does he know him?
Jesus said: "I saw you under the fig tree." The leading question is, of course, what did Jesus see Nathanael doing under the fig tree? Rabbis taught or studied under a fig tree. The fig tree in Scripture had always been a symbol for fruitful Israel and the Law was also compared to a fig tree. It has been suggested by Biblical scholars that he was studying Scripture when Jesus saw him. The mention of "the Law" in verse 45 has been used to support this theory. What ever Nathanael was doing, Jesus' revelation has a profound affect on him.
Question: What is Nathanael's response?
Answer: He immediately professes Jesus to be the Messiah!
Verse 51: "In all truth I tell you, you will see heaven open and angels ascending and descending over the Son of Man." The literal translation is "Amen, amen, I tell you.." The Synoptic Gospels use either "I say to you" or "Amen, I say to you". The single "amen" occurs 31 times in Matthew, 13 times in Mark, 6 times in Luke. Only John uses the double "amen" and he uses it 25 times. Jesus uses "amen" like the swearing of an oath!
The title "Son of Man" is Jesus' favorite title for Himself. In this statement Nathanael would have realized that Jesus was linking two visions from Scripture: one from Genesis 28:10-16 when Jacob/Israel dreamed and saw angels ascending and descending from heaven as God stood beside him and the prophet Daniel's powerful vision of the Messiah, "the Son of Man," in Daniel 7:13-14 I was gazing into the visions of the night, when I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, as it were a son of man. He came to the One most venerable and was led into his presence. On him was conferred rule, honor and kingship, and all peoples, nations and languages became his servants. His rule is an everlasting rule which will never pass away, and his kingship will never come to an end.
Jesus will quote from this verse several times including at his trial before the High Priest in Matthew 26:64 (also Luke 21:27).
Nathanael could not have missed the implications of Jesus' statement. Just as God stood beside Jacob and made him a promise so too does God now stands beside Nathanael. The oath Jesus makes to Nathanael is that the Son of Man is now "the heavenly door" of Jacob's vision. He is the center of God's glory and the point of contact between heaven and earth. He is the Priest-King promised in Zechariah's prophecies and the Son of Man the Divine King of Daniel's vision who has come to remove the sins of the people and to establish an everlasting kingdom! Zechariah 13:1 When that day comes, a fountain will be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to wash sin and impurities away'a prophecy identifying the Messiah as a descendant of the great King David of Israel. No wonder Nathanael declared Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel.
III. THE PRESENTATION OF THE SON OF GOD IN THE GALILEE | 2:1-12 | |
| DAY 7 | GALILEE – Cana (3 days later) | |
| " | A. The wedding at Cana | 2:1-11 |
| " | 1. The Woman and her Seed | 2:1-5 |
| " | 2. SIGN #1 (Old Covenant vs. New Covenant) | 2:5-10 |
| 3. The Disciples believe | 2:11 |
| A few days later | GALILEE –Capernaum | 2:12 |
John 2:1-12
John1:1-2: On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited.
Cana in Galilee is probably the modern village of Keb Kenna, which is about four miles northeast of Jesus' hometown, Nazareth. The Jewish Talmud directs that the marriage of a virgin should be on the fourth day of the week, our Wednesday. The only day with a "name" was the Sabbath, Saturday. Sunday was the "first" day of the week [Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1-2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1], therefore, as the ancients counted the "fourth" day is Wednesday [there was no concept of a 0 mathematical place-value in the 1st century AD]. Today this custom is still observed and marriage feasts are generally held in the afternoon or evening. If this custom was observed in Jesus' day that would make the day Andrew and John were called as disciples the Jewish Sabbath, Saturday. That they "stayed with him the rest of the day" would certainly make sense since travel was (and still is for Orthodox Jews) restricted on the Sabbath.
John 2:1: On the third day...
Question: On the third day from what?
Answer: On the third day from the previous day mentioned in 1: 43. In chapter 1 verses 29, 35, and 43 you may have noticed the repetition of the words "the next day." In each case the Greek word epaurion is used. The literal translation of this word is "on the morrow." If there is "a tomorrow" that suggests that there was a previous day:
- Day #1 took place in chapter 1:19-28,
- Day #2 in verses 29-34,
- Day #3 in verses 35-42, and
- Day #4 in verses 43-51.
The next verse, which is John 2:1, begins 3 days later, "on the third day" from the last day mentioned in verse 43.
It is important to notice how St. John's Creation imagery from the prologue is continued. In John 1:1-5 of the prologue John gave us Creation imagery in his use of the words "light" and "darkness" and in the "Word" of God who brought Creation into being. Then in verse 32 [I saw the Spirit come down on him like a dove from heaven and rest on him] there is the imagery of God the Holy Spirit descending from heaven and hovering above the waters of the Jordan River over Christ just as God's spirit descended and hovered over the waters of creation in Genesis chapter 1. Chapter two is a continuation of that creation imagery.
Question: What day is it then, numerically, at the beginning of chapter 2?
Answer: The fourth day (v. 43-51) plus three more days yields the 7th day.
| Day #1 | 1:23-28, This was the witness of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem..." "This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing. |
| Day #2 | 1:29-34, The next day,.." "I have seen and I testify that he is the Son of God. |
| Day #3 | 1:35-42, The next day.." "You Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas, which means Rock. |
| Day #4 | 1:43-51, The next day.." "...you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending over the Son of man. |
| Day #5-6 | |
| Day #7 | 2:1, On the third day...[from the last day which was day 4] there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. |
Question: Recalling the "Creation" imagery from Genesis chapter 1 in St. John's prologue with words like "light" and "darkness" and the creative Word of God, what is the connection between Genesis' seventh day and the 7th day of John 2:1?
Answer: In the story of Creation on the 7th day God rested. Yes, but there is more. On the 6th day of Creation God created the beasts and Adam, and then knowing that Adam needed a companion [in chapter 2 of Genesis] God put Adam into a deep sleep and created the woman [Adam would not name her Hawwah, "Eve," "the mother of all living," until after their fall from grace in Genesis 3:20]. According to Old Covenant Hebrew tradition Adam and the woman awoke from their deep sleep the next day, the 7th day, and God joined them together with Adam acknowledging the union by saying these words: "This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh! She is to be called Woman because she was taken from Man." And Scripture continues: This is why a man leaves his father and mother and becomes attached to his wife and they become one flesh [Genesis 2:23-24].
On the 7th day of Creation, according to tradition, there was a WEDDING! This is why, in the Old Covenant tradition, a wedding celebration lasted 7 days. It was the father of the groom who would decide when the wedding could take place. The usual festivities consisted of a procession in which the bridegroom and his friends would escort the bride to the groom's house. The blowing of a trumpet (shofar) signaled the beginning of the procession [see 1 Thessalonians 4:16 where the shofar announces Christ the Bridegroom coming for His Bride, the Church]. After the Bridegroom escorted the Bride to His Father's house, the wedding feast would last 7 days.
According to the ancient custom, it was on the 7th day of the feast that the bridegroom finally lifted the veil that covered the face of his bride. For the first time she would be fully revealed to Him and the marriage could be consummated. In the first century this moment of revelation in the lifting of the veil was called "the apocalypse," which means, "the unveiling." Understanding the significance of this moment is a significant key to understanding St. John's other great book: "The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ to His Servant John." It is the last book in the New Testament and it is a book about the "unveiling" of the Bride as she is received by Christ, the Bridegroom. The Bride is the Church.
In John chapter 2 St. John brings the Creation imagery established in chapter 1 to the 7th day of Creation which recalls the wedding of Adam and Eve and now unites that imagery to the wedding at Cana. It was immediately after that first wedding that Adam and Eve fell from grace. Now Jesus, the "new Adam" [1 Corinthians 15:22-45] will begin His ministry and restore the grace that was lost through Adam and Eve's sin.
The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited.
We will discover in verse 12 that Jesus' brothers (and perhaps sisters) also attend this wedding: After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and his brothers and his disciples. The Greek word "brothers", adelphoi (meaning from the womb, plural) can be used to refer to both kinds of siblings, brothers and sisters, when used in the plural form. This however, does not mean that Jesus had brothers and sisters born of the marriage between Mary and Joseph. It has always been the tradition of the Church from the time of the Apostles that Mary remained a virgin all of her life [CCC# 496-7; 499; 502-507]. In Hebrew and in Aramaic (the common language spoken at the time of Jesus) there is no single word for cousin or stepbrother or stepsister. All of these relationships were expressed with the Aramaic word "brother", which we would translate as "kinsmen". Even though there are words in Greek for "cousin" or stepbrother, etc., the sacred writers used the Aramaic/Hebrew tradition. This is obvious in Acts 1:16 where Peter addresses the 120 believers of the New Covenant Church in the Upper Room, both men and women, as Adelphoi—"brothers." In the Western Rite Catholic tradition these kinsmen are assumed to be cousins but in the Eastern Rite tradition they are believed to be both cousins and stepbrothers and stepsisters from Joseph's earlier marriage (see the ancient document The Protoevangelium of James). Since Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, is not mentioned it is assumed that he is already dead. [For more information on Jesus' "brothers" and the use of the word "brother" for kinsmen in Scripture there is a good article in This Rock magazine, September 2003 issue, entitled "Bad Aramaic Made Easy: there is no word for cousin;" and CCC# 500].
John 2:2-3 And they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the feast had all been used, and the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.'
During the seven days of feasting the women in attendance would have looked after the food preparation, therefore it is not unusual that Mary would have been aware of the emergency caused by the lack of wine.
John 2:4 Jesus said, 'Woman, what do you want from me? My hour has not yet come?'
This verse is a scandal to some and a stumbling block to many. It becomes a stumbling block to those who incorrectly interpret this passage as an expression of Jesus' separation from Mary, that she is not any more important to Him than any other sinner in need of salvation. It is also a scandal for Catholics who love Mary and cannot understand why Jesus would speak so disrespectfully to His mother! The problem lies in the interpretation of a Hebrew idiom, which is rendered in Greek as ti emoi kai soi. This idiom should be literally translated: 'What to me and to you?,' which means, "What has it to do with you and me?" This expression implies a divergence of views but the precise meaning must be determined, as always, from the CONTEXT of the passage. The context of this passage clearly shows that His comment to His mother was not a rebuttal much less a rebuke!
Question: Did Jesus keep the Laws of the Sinai Covenant?
Answer: Yes, he kept them perfectly...He was the only one who could keep them perfectly.
Question: What is the Commandment that concerns a child's relationship to his parents? Hint: see Exodus 20:12; Leviticus 19:3; Deuteronomy 5:16.
Answer: The commandment is to honor one's parents. Did you know that this is the only commandment that contains a promise? The promise is long life. However, the penalty for not showing honor and respect to one's parents was death [Leviticus 20:9].
Question: Is it possible that Jesus rebuked his own mother publicly in this passage?
Answer: Absolutely not. He would have been in violation of the Law and a scandal at the wedding feast. It is unthinkable that He should do such a thing!
Question: What did Jesus mean by the statement my hour has not yet come?
Answer: References to "the coming hour" will be made repeatedly in John's Gospel. I have counted 12 references to the "coming hour."
| Scripture reference in John's Gospel | Scripture passage referring to the "coming hour" |
1. 2:4 | Jesus: "hour has not yet come" |
2. 4:21 | Jesus to the Samaritan woman: "Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem." |
3. 4:23 | Jesus to the Samaritan woman: "But the hour is coming–indeed is already here–when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth..." |
4. 5:25 | Jesus to the Jewish crowd: "In all truth (amen, amen) I tell you, the hour is coming–indeed it is already here–when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and all who hear it will live." |
5. 5:28 | Jesus to the Jewish crowd cont.: "Do not be surprised at this, for the hour is coming when the dead will leaven their graves at the sound of his voice..." |
6. 7:30 | They wanted to arrest him then, but because his hour had not yet come no one laid a hand on him. |
7. 8:20 | He spoke these words in the Treasury, while teaching in the Temple. No one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. |
8. 12:23 | Jesus replied to them: "Now the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. |
9. 12:27 | Jesus to His disciples: "What shall I say: Father, save me from this hour? But it is for this very reason that I have come to this hour. |
10. 13:1 | Before the festival of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father, having loved those who were his in the world, loved them to the end. |
11. 16:25 | Jesus to the disciples: I have been telling you these things in veiled language, The hour is coming whin I shall no longer speak to you in veiled language but tell you about the Father in plain words. |
12. 17:1 | After 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... |
To some scholars this reference to "the hour" refers to the "hour" of his glorification. To others it is the "hour" that marks the beginning of His public ministry and His manifestation as the Messiah. But all scholars will agree that in John's Gospel the reference to Jesus' "hour" most often points to the "hour" of Christ's passion and death on the cross, an hour that man will not determine but an "hour" that completely in God's control. That interpretation fits in the context of this passage where He mentions the "hour" of his death in association with the "best wine" in John 2:10 that was provided through Jesus' miracle at the wedding at Cana, for it will be His blood that is shed that will become the "best wine" of Holy Communion that provides the blessings for all of mankind through His sacrificial death.
Question: The question remains if Jesus isn't rebuking His mother, why does He call her "Woman"? Hint: Remember the reoccurring Genesis imagery and see Genesis 3:15: I shall put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring [seed] and hers [her seed]; He will strike at your head while you strike at his heel. This prophecy is known as the Protoevangelium = the first Gospel. It is the first prophecy of the future Messiah who will redeem mankind and defeat the serpant.
Answer: Jesus calls Mary "Woman" because that is her title. She is the "Woman" whose seed will defeat the serpent. Only two women in salvation history have been given the title "Woman," Eve and Mary. (see Genesis 2:23; John 2:4, 19:27).
Question: Who is the "serpent" in the Genesis 3:15 passage? See Revelation 12:9.
Answer: The devil
Question: Was it part of Jesus' mission to defeat Satan?
Answer: Absolutely. See 1 John 3:8: Whoever lives sinfully belongs to the devil, since the devil has been a sinner from the beginning. This was the purpose of the appearing of the Son of God, to undo the work of the devil.
Question: How is it that sin and death (spiritual death) have been defeated by Jesus Christ? See Romans 5:12-21, CCC# 504
Answer: Through Christ's sacrifice He has defeated sin and death. He is in effect the "new Adam". CCC# 504 Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary's womb because he is the New Adam, who inaugurates the new creation: 'The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven' [1 Corinthians 15:45, 47]..."
Question: If Jesus is the "new Adam" [see Romans 5:12-14; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 45] what role does Mary have in the "New Creation"? See CCC # 411
Answer: Mary is the "new Eve." St. Irenaeus writing circa 180AD expressed Mary's role as the "new Eve" this way: Eve, however, was disobedient; and when yet a virgin, she did not obey. Just as she, who was then still a virgin although she had Adam for a husband,--for in Paradise they were both naked but were not ashamed; for having been created only a short time, they had no understanding of the procreation of children and it was necessary that they first come to maturity before beginning to multiply,--having become disobedient, was made the cause for death for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race...Thus, the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the virgin Mary loosed through faith. St Ireaneus, Against Heresies 3,22,4 written circa AD 180.
This view of Mary's role in the plan of redemption is also expressed in the Catechism # 411, 511 and 975.
- CCC# 511: The virgin Mary 'cooperated through free faith and obedience in human salvation; (Lumen gentium 56). She uttered her yes 'in the name of all human nature' (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III, 30, 1). By her obedience she became the new Eve, mother of the living.
- CCC# 975: We believe that the Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the members of Christ. [quoting Pope Paul VI, solemn Profession of Faith: Credo of the People of God # 15].
- CCC# 411 links the prophecy of Genesis 3:15, called the Protoevangelium [the first Gospel] to Mary as the new Eve: The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the 'New Adam' who, because he 'became obedient unto death, even death on a cross,' [1 Corinthians 15:21] makes amends superabundantly for the disobedience of Adam. Furthermore many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the woman announced in the Protoevangelium as Mary, the mother of Christ, the 'new Eve.' Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ's victory over sin: she was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.
The two Eves contrasted:
THE VIRGIN EVE | THE VIRGIN MARY |
Daughter of the first Covenant | Daughter of the Sinai Covenant |
Pledged obedience under the covenant | Pledged obedience under the covenant |
Eve's disobedience resulted in the fall into sin of the entire human race. The result was death, physically and spiritually. | Mary's obedience to God resulted in the offer of the gift of salvation to the entire human race. The result was eternal life |
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 1991 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.
Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC# 494 ..... 'Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.' Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert 'The knot of Eve's disobedience was united by Mary's obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith.' Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary 'the Mother of the living' and frequently claim" 'Death through Eve, life through Mary.
[CCC quoting St. Irenaeus, Epiphanius, and St. Jerome]
Question: How is it that Mary is, as expressed in CCC# 511, the "Mother of the living," the meaning of the Hebrew name "Eve" [see Genesis 3:20]?
Answer: Because of her "yes" to the angel Gabriel the Virgin Mary became a part of God's plan of salvation.
However, there may be more to Mary’s petition than simply helping out a young couple in an embarrassing situation during their wedding celebration. Her petition has theological significance. What she is asking Jesus to provide is wine that is a divine gift at a wedding banquet attended by the covenant people.
John 2:5-6: His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you.' There were six stone water jars standing there, meant for the ablutions that are customary among the Jews: each could hold twenty or thirty gallons.
Question: What is it about Mary's directions to the servants that indicates her understanding of Jesus comment to her in 2:4?
Answer: That she has understood from Jesus' response to her that He will solve the problem of the wine. She has confidence that her Son will fulfill her request and so she instructs them to do exactly as He tells them. This is the same advice Mary gives to all her spiritual children in the family of God: to do as her Son tells them to be obedient to the will of God in their lives.
John 2:7-9 Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water,' and they filled them to the brim. Then he said to them, 'Draw some out now and take it to the president of the feast.' They did this; the president tasted the water, and it had turned into wine. Having no idea where it came from–though the servants who had drawn the water knew..
Since this event took place part way through the feast some of the water had already been drawn out of the jars for the purification of hands before the meal. Now Jesus instructs the servants to make sure the jars are filled to the brim, which emphasizes the superabundance and magnificence of the gift produced by the miracle.
Sacred Scripture promised that the Messiah would bring an abundance of gifts to the people: Psalms 85:12; Joel 2:24; Amos 9:13-15, etc. These passages emphasize the superabundance of the riches of Redemption and Salvation.
Question: In order for the miracle to be performed Mary stressed to the servants that they must be obedient to Jesus' commands. What does that suggest to us?
Answer: It suggests to us the importance of obedience to the will of God in even the smallest details of our lives.
John 2:10 The president of the feast called the bridegroom and said, 'Everyone serves good wine first and the worse wine when the guests are well wined; but you have kept the best wine till now.'
The president of the feast is not a servant but is a friend of the groom.
Question: What does this superior wine coming at the end of the feast suggest to you symbolically?
Answer: St. Thomas Aquinas and other Fathers of the Church saw this abundance of good wine kept for the end of the celebrations as symbolizing the crowning moment in Salvation history when God has sent His own Son whose teaching will perfect the old revelation of God received by the patriarchs and Old Covenant Church. Now the graces Christ brings will far exceed their expectations. The wine replacing the water in essence symbolized the replacement of the Old Covenant and the superabundance of the New Covenant–the temporal blessings of the Old Covenant with the eternal blessings of the New. They also saw this good wine coming at the end as prefiguring the reward and the joy of eternal life, which God grants to those who desire to follow Christ in obedience. [St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on St. John].
John 2:11-12 This was the first of Jesus' signs: it was at Cana in Galilee. He revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Caperanum with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, but they stayed there only a few days.
This was the first of Jesus' signs: John uses the term "signs," semeion in the common Greek, 17 times in his Gospel [Fr. Brown, The Gospel of John]. Since these "signs" or miracles are concentrated in chapters 1-12 many scholars call the first half of John's Gospel the "Book of Signs."
Question: Why do you think John uses the Greek word for "signs" instead of the word for miracle?
Answer: John uses the word semeion, "sign," because these works performed by Jesus are not just supernatural miracles but are signs that unveil the glory and power of God working through Jesus the Messiah.
The Seven Public Signs of Jesus in St. John's Gospel
| #1 2:1-11 | The sign of water turned to wine at the wedding at Cana |
| #2 4:46-54 | The healing of the official's son |
| #3 5:1-9 | The healing of the paralytic |
| #4 6:1-14 | The multiplication of the loaves to feed the 5,000 |
| #5 9:1-41 | The healing of the man who was born blind |
| #6 11:17-44 | The raising of Lazarus from the dead |
| #7 2:18-20* | The Resurrection of Jesus that will be fulfilled in 20:1-10 |
*this sign is prophesized by Jesus in 2:18-20 but not fulfilled until chapter 20.
The private sign is found in chapter 6 when Jesus walks on the Sea of Galilee and calms the storm, a private revelation for the Apostles that identifies Jesus as the prophet "greater than Moses." In John's Gospel there are a total of 8 miracles, 7 public and 1 private. 7 is the number of symbolizing perfection [especially "spiritual" perfection], and 8 is the number symbolizing rebirth [circumcision is on the 8th day of a boy's life when he is "born" into the Sinai Covenant] and it is the number of salvation and resurrection; 8 people were saved in Noah's Ark.
Question: How did the sign at Cana reveal the glory of Jesus the Messiah?
Answer: The promise of messianic replacement of Old Covenant institutions and promise of the gift of abundance of God's grace in the prophecies of Sacred Scripture was dramatically illustrated in this first sign at Cana. Jesus' disciples were all intimately familiar with the prophesies concerning the coming of the Messiah.
Question: How did the sign at Cana complete the call of the first disciples?
Answer: Seeing, they believed! All they had read and studied in the books of the Prophets now, in their response to faith, came together to open their eyes to the understanding that what had been promised was now fulfilled.
John frames his Gospel account with Mary in the beginning of her son's ministry with the events at the wedding at Cana and again at the end of his Gospel at Calvary–from Cana to Calvary her role is significant.
Wine flowed from holy water vessels at the wedding at Cana and at Calvary blood and water flowed from the holy side of Christ, God's vessel of sacrifice, giving birth to the New Covenant Church in the Sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist. Christ is the Bridegroom of the New Covenant Church and John's other great book, The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ to John, also known as The Book of Revelation, ends with the Marriage/ Wedding supper of the Lamb when Christ takes the New Covenant people as His bride in fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. Cana and Calvary are linked to Mary, the virgin daughter of Israel (Zion) and to Christ the Bridegroom of the new Israel, the Holy Catholic (universal) Church, the spotless virgin Bride of Christ.
John 2:12 After this he went down to Capernaum: The town of Capernaum was on the lake shore of the Sea of Galilee while Nazareth and Cana were on higher ground in the hills of the Galilee; therefore, they traveled "down to Caperanum."
Please read John 2:13-25
| JUDEA | JERUSALEM (Spring) | |
| P #1; A S S O V E R | IV. THE PRESENTATION OF THE SON OF GOD IN JUDEA | 2:13-3:36 |
| A. Jesus cleanses the Temple – The prediction of the 3-day sign | 2:13-23 | |
| B. Jesus witnesses to Nicodemus | 3:1-21 | |
| C. John the Baptist witnesses concerning Jesus | 3:22-36 | |
St. John's Gospel, as we have seen, is built on Old Testament imagery. In the Prologue we had the creation imagery of "Light", "Darkness," and the creative "Word". In John the Baptist's witness of Christ John gave us the image of God's Spirit descending from heaven and hovering above Jesus over the waters of the Jordan River, just as His Spirit had descended and hovered over the waters of creation in Genesis 1:2. The Greek word John used for God's Spirit introduces us to the first of the "double meaning" words John will use repeatedly in his Gospel. In Greek the word "spirit" is pneuma, which means either "spirit," "breath," or "wind," just as the Hebrew word used in Genesis 1:2, can mean "spirit," "breath," or "wind." Then in Chapter 2 we come to the 7th day which images the 7th day of the first creation when God "rested". God presided over the first wedding of the first man and woman and blessed their union and then God "rested" on His divine Throne, the "Glory Cloud" surveying and judging His the Creation-Temple and the Holy of Holies of creation, the Garden of Eden, that He had given Adam and Eve as the place to be "in communion" with Him.
John 2:13-16 When the time of the Jewish Passover was near Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple [hiero] he found people selling cattle and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting there. Making a whip out of cord, he drove them all out of the Temple [hieron], sheep and cattle as well, scattered the money changers' coins, knocked their tables over and said to the dove sellers, 'Take all this out of here and stop using my Father's house as a market.' Note: the Greek words hiero and indicate that this was the "court" / "outer court" of the Temple area. This area is also called the "Court of the Gentiles" and was the place designated for the teaching of the Gentile nations about the one true God. It was the only place where Gentiles could offer prayer to God.
This is the first of the three Passover Feasts mentioned in John's Gospel (please refer to the Gospel outline). Passover was one of the Seven Sacred Feasts decreed by God at Mt. Sinai. It was the feast which began the liturgical year and was to be celebrated yearly on the 14th of Nisan [Abib /Aviv], which corresponds to our March/April time frame [Exodus 12:1]. The day after the Passover sacrifice began the 7 day Feast of Unleavened Bread [the next day always began at sundown]. This feast was also one of the three "Pilgrim Feasts" where every man of Israel was to present himself before God at His holy Temple in Jerusalem [Exodus 23:14-17; 34:18-23; Deuteronomy 16:16; 2 Chronicles 8:13]. Passover was held in association with the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15-21) and the Feast of Firstfruits. Eight days were spent in celebration and remembrance of the Exodus experience. Please consult the chart "The Seven Sacred Feasts of the Old Covenant" in the Charts section.
Jesus went up to Jerusalem... Jerusalem is approximately 2,600 feet above sea level and is built on three mountain ridges. God's Holy Temple was built on the mountain known as Moriah on the site when Abraham was willing to offer up his son Isaac to God as a sacrifice. The Temple in Jerusalem was the only place where sins could be atoned–covered by the blood of a sacrificed animal, so that communion with God could be restored.
and in the Temple he found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves..
Question: What was the significance of these animals?
Answer: These animals were sold to be sacrificed. The doves and pigeons were the sacrifices of the poor (Leviticus 5:7).
and the money changers sitting there.. It was required by the Law of the Covenant that a Temple tax of a half-shekel was to be paid once a year. Coins that bore the portraits of the Roman Emperors or other pagan portraits were not permitted to be used in paying the tax [Exodus 20:4] and so moneychangers, for a profit, exchanged these coins for legal Tyrian coinage which was not stamped with an image.
making a whip out of cord he drove them all out of the Temple.. The Temple police strictly enforced the rule that no weapons or sticks were allowed in the Temple precincts. Jesus may have taken the rushes used as bedding for the animals to fashion his whip. The area where the "market" had been set up was called the Court of the Gentiles. This court was the place where the Gentile peoples were to be instructed in the Covenant of the One True God and where they could pray. They were prohibited from any other part of the Temple precinct. Since they had not been received into the Covenant, Gentiles could not offer sacrifice at the Temple altar or attend Temple services. This was the one place where the Gentiles had the opportunity to come close to God in His Sanctuary.
...and said to the Dove sellers, 'Take all this out of here and stop using my Father's house as a market.'
Perhaps because the doves were the sacrifices for the poor Jesus seems to be less harsh with the dove sellers and offers an explanation for his behavior.
Question: Why did this activity in the Temple make Jesus angry? Does it surprise you that Jesus should experience real human anger?
Answer: Jesus is both full God and fully man. He experienced all the human desires and conditions that we experience, but unlike us, He was not tempted to sin nor did He sin. His anger is righteous anger. He is angry at the pollution of His Father's house.
Question: What claim is Jesus making here?
Answer: He is the Messiah and He is God's Son. Did you notice when John the Baptist identified Jesus as "THE Son of God" in John 1:24 he was not identifying Jesus as "a son of God" like David or the other Kings of Israel but as God's only begotten Son (1:18). Jesus is affirming this claim. The early Church father, Origen, in his Homilies on St. John writes: And from thenceforth Jesus, the Anointed of God, always begins by reforming abuses and purifying from sin; both when he visits his Church, and when he visits the Christian soul.. [Homily on St. John, 1].
John 2:17 Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: I am eaten up with zeal for your house.
This is a reference to Psalms 69:9(10). This passage expresses the suffering of the righteous who call out to God to save them from the wounds they suffer through the insults that sinners heap upon God. This Psalm ends in a promise that God will save Zion. Zion always refers to Israel but in the sense of a redeemed Israel – The Church. The disciples connect this passage to Jesus' righteous anger in response to the misuse of His Father's house and the promise of Psalms 69 that He will redeem His people.
John 2:18-19 The Jews intervened and said, 'What sign can you show us that you should act like this?' Jesus answered, 'Destroy this Temple [naon], and in three days I will raise it up.' Note: the Greek words naon/naos indicate the Sanctuary of the Temple area, which includes the Holy Place and the "inner sanctum" or place where God dwells, which is usually called the Holy of Holies.
Question: What is the Temple that Jesus will raise up in 3 days?
Answer: This is a prophetic statement of His death and resurrection.
The body of the risen Christ is one of the great symbols of Christianity (see Revelation 21:22 and 1 Corinthians 12:12ff). Christ's resurrected body is the focus of worship "in spirit and truth" (John 4:21ff), it is the shrine of the Presence of God (John 1:14), and it is the spiritual temple from which the living waters of salvation flow (John 7:37-39; 19:34; Revelation chapter 22).
Question: What is the declaration that Jesus is making about His Body in John 2:18-22?
Answer: In this passage Jesus is declaring His Body, Himself personally and His Body the Church–to be the true Temple! The physical resurrection of Christ's Body is the foundation for His New Covenant people being constituted as the Temple for in receiving Christ in the Sacrament of Eucharist our bodies become the Temple. Christ lives in us, therefore, we are the Body because we have received the body of Christ [1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-17; Ephesians 1:20; 2:5-6].
John 2:20-22: The Jews replied, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple [naos]: are you going to raise it up again in three days?' But he was speaking of the Temple [naon] that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and what he had said.
Jesus is challenging the Temple authorities to destroy his own body. The irony is that the physical Temple will be destroyed in 70AD never to be rebuilt again [the Arab shrine the Dome of the Rock stands on the site today], while Jesus' Body will be raised from the grave in divine glory [ CCC# 586 & 994].
It has taken 46 years to build this Temple.. This comment can help us date this event.
The Jewish historian Josephus confirms that Herod the Great spent 46 years re-building the Temple. He records that Herod began reconstruction on the Temple in 19BC [Antiquities of the Jews, 15.11.3]. That would make the date for this event the Spring of AD28 [agrees with Luke's statement that John the Baptist and Jesus began their ministry in the 15th year of the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius = 27/28AD].
During his stay in Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he did, but Jesus knowing all people and did not trust himself to them; he never needed evidence about anyone; he could tell what someone had in him. There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, who came to Jesus by night...
| JUDEA | JERUSALEM (Spring) | |
| #1 P A S S O V E R | IV. THE PRESENTATION OF THE SON OF GOD IN JUDEA | 2:13-3:36 |
A. Jesus cleanses the Temple - | 2:13-23 | |
B. Jesus witnesses to Nicodemus | 3:1-21 | |
C. John the Baptist witnesses concerning Jesus | 3:22-36 | |
John 2:23-3:8 Jesus' Witness to Nicodemus
John 2:23-3:1 During his stay in Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he did, but Jesus knew all people and did not trust himself to them; he never needed evidence about anyone [man]; he could tell what someone [man] had in him." There was one [a man] of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, who came to Jesus by night and said, 'Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him.' *The brackets indicate the literal reading of this passage. In each case the Greek word is anthropos = man.
Many Biblical scholars consider John 3:1-21 as the first of seven major discourses that are found in the Gospel of John chapters 3-11.
Question: What does the 3-part repetition of the word "man" indicate?
Answer: It highlights human inadequacy. People saw the "signs" that gave evidence of who He was but their belief was imperfect and the repetition links those who believed imperfectly in Christ's signs with Nicodemus [the 3rd use of the word "man"] who will exemplify the "delusion of adequacy". The greatest barrier to faith for most intelligent and successful men is the delusion of self-sufficiency. This is Nicodemus' weakness. The 3-part repetition also indicates that the next section is going to be of great significance
Question: What is the significance of the word "signs?"
Answer: A sign indicates more than just a supernatural event, a sign points the glory and power of God revealed in Jesus the Messiah. To the Jews the working of 'signs' was the mark of Jesus' fulfilling his role as a prophet. 1Corinthians 1:22 [St. Paul]"While the Jews demand miracles [semeia = signs] and the Greeks look for wisdom, we are preaching a crucified Christ.."
a man of the Pharisees called Nicodemus: The Greek name, Nicodemus, means "people crusher" or "conqueror of the people".
Question: What does the description of Nicodemus as a "leader of the Jews" suggest?
Answer: He was probably a member of the judicial court called the Sanhedrin. According to the Anchor Bible Dictionary our English rendering "Sanhedrin" comes from the Greek word synedrion, which literally means a "sitting down with."
Question: Why did Nicodemus come by night to visit Jesus?
Answer: There are two different interpretations of Nicodemus' intentions. The more favorable interpretation is that Nicodemus is drawn to Christ but is hesitant to come to Him in the daylight when he could be recognized because he is a man of such importance.
Question: How does Nicodemus open his dialogue with Jesus? ,verse 3:2]
Answer: With a compliment.
John 3:3 Jesus answered: 'In all truth I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born [begotten = monogenes] from above. The literal translation of "in all truth" should be "Amen, amen.
Question: Where did you notice the double use of the "amen" in an earlier verse?
Answer: Jesus used the double amen with Nathanael in 1:51 and now He uses it again. The use of this amen saying closely parallels Matthew 18:3 [Mark 10:15].
Question: What does "amen" mean?
Answer: In English it carries the general meaning of "so be it" or "I believe" or "it is true" but the Hebrew word "emn" is a Hebrew acrostic formed from the first letters of three Hebrew words: El Melech Ne'eman which is translated "God is a trustworthy King." The word "amen" itself appears for the first time in the Book of Numbers 5:22.
Question: Jesus does not acknowledge the compliment. He is not deceived by Nicodemus' flattery. How does He respond instead?
Answer: In reply to Nicodemus' flattery that to do the signs He performs He must be a teacher approved by God, Jesus responds that one cannot see the kingdom of God without being born "from above or again."[verse 3:7]
Jesus' answer is meant to show Nicodemus that He has not come from God in the sense that Nicodemus thought: as a man who is simply "approved" by God, but instead has come in the unique sense of having descended from God's presence to raise men, like Nicodemus, to God.
John 3:4 Nicodemus said, 'How can anyone who is already old be born? Is it possible to go back into the womb again and be born?'
Question: How does Nicodemus interpret this double meaning word, as "born again" or as "born from above"?
Answer: He interprets Jesus to mean "born again".
John 3: 5-8 Jesus replied: 'In all truth [amen, amen] I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born [begotten = monogenes] through water and the Spirit; what is born of human nature [flesh] is human [flesh]; what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do no be surprised when I say: You must be born [begotten = monogenes] from above. The wind blows where it pleases; you can hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. Brackets indicate the literal wording.
Nicodemus' misunderstanding leads Jesus to explain His point slightly differently. "Born from above" is the same as "born from water and the Spirit". Jesus is using this metaphor as an explanation of the cleansing power of the Spirit in the age of the New Covenant which is a fulfillment of Ezekiel 36:25-27: [Yahweh says] I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your filth and of all your foul idols. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you... [also see Galatians 5:22-25].
Question: What prophesy made by John the Baptist does Jesus' statement concerning rebirth confirm? See John's witness in chapter 1.
Answer: It confirms John the Baptist's prophecy of John 1:33 "...but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is to baptize with the Holy Spirit.'" [also see Matthew 3:11].
Question: If our old birth came from our original parents in Eden, Adam and his bride, when we were born into the family of Adam, from whom does the new birth come?
Answer: The old birth is from Adam and his bride Eve; the new birth is from God and His Bride, the Church!
John 3:8: The wind blows where it pleases; you can hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
John 3: 9-10: 'How is that possible?' asked Nicodemus. Jesus replied, 'You are the Teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things!'
John 3:11-15: In all truth I tell you [Amen, amen], we speak only about what we know and witness only to what we have seen and yet you people reject our evidence. If you do not believe me when I speak to you about earthly things, how will you believe me when I speak to you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of man; as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
Question: What is the significance of Jesus' statement that He has come down from heaven?
Answer: He is revealing His divinity
John 3:14-15: as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
Question: What Old Testament event is Jesus referring to and what is the significance? Hint: read Numbers 21:4-9
Answer: Jesus is comparing Himself to the image of the bronze serpent God had Moses construct and raise up above the heads of the people on a standard. In the wilderness journey when plagued by the bites of deadly snakes all the people had to do was to look at the figure raised above them on the standard and be saved.
so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
This incident is a foreshadowing of Christ's crucifixion. We must look to the crucified Christ, believe that He is the only Son of God and be "lifted up with Him" in order to be saved from the "bite" of eternal death. If we believe, then we can receive true salvation, the gift of eternal life [John 3:18]. When this happens we will be cleansed by the purifying water that flowed from the Savior's pierced side [John 19:34; Zechariah 13:1]. This is why St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:23 "we preach Christ crucified" and it is why in every Catholic Mass an image of the crucified Christ must be present. Then Jesus uses the title "Son of man," twice in this passage. It is Jesus' favorite Messianic title for Himself. In verse 14 the title stresses Jesus' humanity while verse 13 stresses His divine origin as the one who has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of man.... This verse may be a reference to the prophet Daniel's vision of the divine Messiah who had the appearance of a son of man (looked like a man) in Daniel 7:13-14 which Jesus will allude to at His trial before the Sanhedrin before His crucifixion.
John 3:16-17: Jesus speaking: 'For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only [begotten / monogene] Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.'
John 3:16 is one of the best known verses in the Bible. It is the verse you often see displayed by Christian fans in sports stadiums. It is the witness of the Gospels summed up in one sentence.
Question: What does Jesus mean when He says God the Father did not send Him into the world to judge the world?
Answer: Jesus, Yehosua, "Yahweh is salvation", was sent into the world to offer us the gift of salvation. Judgment comes later and judgment depends on whether or not one receives Christ as Savior.
John 3:18-21: Jesus continues, 'No one who believes in Him will be judged; but whoever does not believe is judged already, because that person does not believe in the Name of God's only Son. And the judgment is this: though the light has come into the world people have preferred darkness to the light because their deeds were evil. And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, to prevent his actions from being shown up; but whoever does the truth comes out into the light, so that what he is doing may plainly appear as done in God,'
To believe in His "name" is to believe everything that Jesus revealed to us about His true nature, human and divine. It is to believe He is the Son of God, it is to believe that He died for our sins and that He was raised from the dead to raise those who believe in Him to eternal life.
Question: What is Jesus calling Nicodemus, who came to Him in darkness, to do?
Answer: To come out into the "light"—to come to believe in Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.
Question: When Adam and Eve sinned in Eden what happened to them personally and what did mankind inherit from them?
Answer: They became "dis-graced". Our original parent's fall from grace deprived them, and all their children of the grace of God's divine son-ship. We inherited from them their original sin, which is the absence of divine grace. Christ came to return to us that grace through the gift of divine sonship, the intimate participation in the life of God. That which was returned to us was so much greater than that which was lost to us by our original parents. Which is why, in the Latin version of the Easter Vigil, attention is drawn to "the happy fall" which caused us, through God's grace, to receive the far greater gift of God's Son, Christ Jesus. See CCC#389; 396-97; 402; 404-05; 407-09.
Grace in its most intimate definition in terms of Christ, is nothing less than divine sonship. CCC# 1997 "Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life..."
This gift of the grace that God gives to us is his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our souls to heal them of sin and to sanctify us. This is the sanctifying or deifying grace we receive in Baptism. It is a gift of His life that God makes to us and in turn we become a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18: So for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see. It is all God's work; he reconciled us to himself through Christ and he gave us the ministry of reconciliation. I mean, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not holding anyone's faults against them, but entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. See CCC # 1999.
In the beginning of our lives we are made as creatures, fashioned after God's own image, made in His image, but we are still creatures none the less. Christ is the eternal Son who is begotten of the Father. He is the image of the Father while we are created in the image of the Father. In the New Creation, Christ gives to us, through His own life, re-birth into permanent sonship. In 1 John 1:3 John writes: You must see what great love the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called God's children'which is what we are! We are no longer just called children of God by virtue of being part of His creation. We ARE children of God by virtue of the blood of Christ which unites us in our re-birth, anothen/ "from above", to God as His children. This is the most distinctive feature of Christianity and the most distinctive feature of Catholicism. It is what Pope Pius XI expressed when he said: Ours is a religion of Divine Sonship. We are made partakers of the divine nature. St. Peter writes in 2 Peter 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." Also see CCC# 1994-5.
God's grace "is a participation in the life of God" [CCC# 1997] through which we receive the gift of divine son-ship and by His grace we are justified. Catholic Christians define justification as that which has been merited for us by Christ's passion on the altar of the Cross. Like conversion, justification has two aspects: Moved by grace we turn away from sin and to God and in doing so we accept forgiveness and righteousness in our transformed souls which have been infused by the Holy Spirit with the very life of Christ. Justification includes the remission of our sins, sanctification, and the renewal of the inner man, which is for us an on-going process in our life long journey toward salvation. CCC#1996 "Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life." [see John 1:12-18; 17:3; Romans 8:14-17].
As we have noted, the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines grace as "... a participation in the life of God. .." # 1997; and defines justification as"... not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man." CCC # 1991 identifies the spiritual process associated with our justification: With justification, faith, hope, and charity are poured into our hearts, and obedience to the divine will is granted us.
We are not just called "children of God" as creatures of the Creator like the people of God in the Old Covenant. The distinctive feature of divine sonship in the New Covenant is that we are no longer children in the family of Adam but we become, through our baptism by water and by the Spirit, reborn from above as true children in the family of God infused with the life of the Son. Many of our Protestant Christian brothers and sisters believe when a Christian is justified that he or she is declared to be "just" through Christ's sacrifice, but not transformed and made just. The Catholic Church teaches that justification and salvation consist of nothing less than not just being declared the children of God and thereby being only "declared just" but of actually receiving a mystical infusion of the life of Christ through which we are in fact justified. It was the opinion of St. Augustine that the gift of salvation and the justification of the wicked was a greater work of God than the creation of heaven and earth because heaven and earth will pass away but the salvation and justification of the elect...will not pass away. He also believed that the justification of sinners surpasses the creation of the angels in justice, in that it bears witness to a greater mercy.
Our Protestant brothers and sisters rightly place great importance on being "born again" in order to be "saved".
Question: If you were to be asked by a Protestant friend if you had been "born again" and are you "saved" how would you answer? This is a confusing question for many Catholics. Our Protestant brothers and sisters are using the Greek word Jesus used in John 3:3 &7, anothen, to mean "born again" which is one of two meanings for this word [the other is "from above"].
Answer: You could answer that in the baptism of Jesus Christ we have been "born from above" or "born again" [the double meaning of the Greek word anothen] through the power of water and the spirit into the family of God. In that sense Catholics have absolutely been "born again." This sacrament of our re-birth, our baptism, was our entrance into the New Covenant and many of us enter that Covenant shortly after birth just as babies of the Old Covenant entered the Covenant as babies. Jesus entered the Covenant as a baby [8 days old] through the Old Covenant sacrament of circumcision. Catholics feel that such a grace should not be withheld from a child [as Jesus' example shows us], but our baptism is completed in the Sacrament of Confirmation when we become old enough to understand our obligations and the necessity of obedience to Christ's Covenant. As to whether you are "saved" the answer is Jesus has given us the gift of salvation through His sacrifice, His death, burial, and resurrection and has promised us eternal life. We are all in the process of being saved by His grace. I am personally promised that salvation and so I am being saved now, I plan to continue on the path to salvation and it is my hope that in persevering in faithfulness to the end, I shall be saved.
John the Baptist bears witness for the last time
John 3:22-23: After this, Jesus went with his disciples into the Judaean countryside and stayed with them there and baptized. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, where there was plenty of water, and people were going there and were being baptized. For John had not yet been put in prison.
At this stage in his ministry John seems to be moving up and down the Jordan River offering baptism for the repentance of sins.
Question: What kind of baptism would Jesus' disciples be offering? Was Jesus baptizing? See John 4:2
Answer: Since the baptism of Jesus could not be offered until His death on the Cross when the water of baptism poured out from His side, this must also be a baptism of repentance. Jesus was not baptizing; only His disciples were offering baptism. St. John Chrysostom writes both baptisms, that of St. John the Baptist and that of our Lord's disciples [...], had a single purpose–to bring the baptized to Christ [...] and prepare the way for future faith. Homilies on St. John, 29, 1.
In offering this information John is anticipating the future baptism that will come through God the Holy Spirit when all who accept Christ will receive a baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity and die to sin in order to be resurrected to "new life" in Christ.
Question: When will Jesus' disciples begin the baptism unto Christ Jesus?
Answer: After the resurrection when Jesus commands them in Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.'
This command is called "The Great Commission." At the Ascension Jesus will give the Apostles and disciples their "marching orders" to carry the Gospel message when He tells them in Acts 1:8b ... 'you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judea and Samaria, and indeed to earth's remotest end.'
Question: In what order does Jesus command the Apostles and disciples to take the Gospel message to humanity?
Answer: They are commanded to take the Gospel first to the Jews, and next to the Samaritans and finally to the Gentile nations of the earth.
John 3:27-28: Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew about purification, so they went to John and said, 'Rabbi, the man who was with you on the far side of the Jordan, the man to whom you bore witness, is baptizing now, and everyone is going to him.' John replied: 'No one can have anything except what is given him from heaven. Your yourselves can bear me out. I said, 'I am not the Christ; I am the one who has been sent to go in front of him.'
The identity of the Jew debating John's disciples is not revealed but that they are debating the practice of purification is an indication of the importance place on ritual purification in the Old Covenant faith.
Question: Why are John's disciples concerned?
Answer: They feel they are in competition with Jesus' disciples but John assures them this is all part of God's plan. John reminds them that he is only here to prepare the way for the Messiah.
John 3:29: It is the bridegroom who has the bride; and yet the bridegroom's friend who stands there and listens to him, is filled with joy at the bridegroom's voice. This is the joy I feel and it is complete.
This teaching of John the Baptist's can be compared to other teachings of Jesus, for example in Mark chapter 2 verses 19-20 where Jesus tells the Pharisees: Surely the bridegroom's attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is still with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then, on that day, they will fast. These wedding metaphors are common through Christ's teaching [also see Matthew 22:1-14; 25:1-13] and illustrate the continuing Biblical symbolism of God as the Bridegroom and the Church as His Bride.
Question: John's symbolic language of the bridegroom and the bridegroom's friend takes us back to an earlier episode in John's Gospel. What is the connection?
Answer: At the wedding at Cana. Many Biblical scholars see John as the bridegroom's friend who served as the Steward of the wedding feast, who tastes the wine of the bridegroom, and who is glad that it is the "best wine". Jesus is the bridegroom and John is the steward of the feast in the sense that he has announced the bridegroom and he anticipates the "best wine" that will come with Christ's sacrifice. He will taste death himself when he is martyred for his faith by Herod Antipas. He surely deserved the epitaph that Jesus gave him in Matthew 11:11 when Jesus said that up to that point in salvation history that: In truth [amen] I tell you, of all the children born to women, there has never been anyone greater than John the Baptist...
John 3:30-36: St. John the Baptist says: 'He must grow greater, I must grow less. He who comes from above [anothen] is above all others; he who is of the earth is earthly himself and speaks in an earthly way. He who come from heaven bears witness to the things he has seen and heard but his testimony is not accepted by anybody; though anyone who does accept his testimony is attesting that God is true, since he whom God has sent speaks God's own words, for God given him the Spirit without reserve. The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything to his hands. Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life, but anyone who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life. God's retribution hangs over him.'
John announces that his ministry must diminish as Jesus' ministry grows and then John makes 7 statements about Christ and His ministry.
Question: What 7 statements does John give about Jesus' true nature and mission?
Answer:
He comes from heaven = He is divine | |
His testimony will be rejected | |
He speaks God's own words | |
He is filled with God's Spirit without limit | |
He is God's Son | |
Whoever believes in Him has eternal life | |
Anyone who does not believe in Christ has no life |
It is interesting in light of St. John's greater and lesser imagery that the Church celebrates the birth of St. John on June the 24th and Jesus' birth six months later on December 25th . John's birth is just after the summer solstice when the days begin to grow shorter -less light and more darkness; and Jesus' birth is just after the winter solstice when the days begin to grow longer again with more daylight. A solstice occurs twice a year, whenever axis of the Earth tilts the most toward or away from the sun causing the sun to be farthest north or south at noon. The name is derived from Latin word for "sun" sol and sistere, "to stand still", because at the solstice, the Sun appears to stand still, that is, its movement north or south is minimal. The term solstice can also be used in a wider sense as the date that such a passage happens. The solstices, together with the equinoxes are related to the seasons of the year. In the case of Jesus' birth, He literally brings the "light" as the days of the year grow longer.
John the Baptist witnesses for the last time of Christ's divinity, of Christ's relationship with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. And finally, he testifies to the promise of the abundance of the "best wine" in the marriage supper of the Lamb for those who will share in God's eternal life because they believe in Jesus Christ. In chapter 3 Jesus will witness to a man who comes to Him in darkness about coming into the "light" and then in chapter 4 Jesus, the bridegroom, will witness to a woman about the abundance of God's grace. But if we live in light, as he is in light, we have a share in one another's life, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 1John 1:7
CHALLENGE: “God imputes righteousness to us; he doesn’t infuse it, as the Catholic Church teaches.”
DEFENSE: This involves several misunderstandings. The words “impute” and “infuse” are derived from Latin terms—imputare and infundere—that respectively mean “to reckon” and “to pour in/on.” The image of God imputing righteousness suggests a legal or commercial context where God either legally declares us righteous or credits righteousness to our commercial accounts. The image of God infusing righteousness suggests a context in which God pours righteousness into us like water into a vessel.
Despite the way this challenge is posed, Catholics don’t deny God imputes righteousness to us. They have the same verses saying this in their Bibles that Protestants do (e.g., Gen. 15:6, Rom. 4:3–6, Gal. 3:6, James 2:23). Also, the image of infused righteousness isn’t frequently used in Catholic documents. It’s only mentioned once in Trent’s Decree on Justification (chapter 16), and not at all in the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification and its Annex.
The Church more commonly uses the language of infusion concerning the Holy Spirit and the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity (cf. Acts 2:17–18, Rom. 5:5, Titus 3:6).
Ultimately, both the images of imputation and infusion can be used to describe God’s saving action. They don’t need to be understood as mutually opposed, so we need to be on guard against mere quarrels about words (1 Tim. 6:4; 2 Tim. 2:14).
Although Catholics don’t deny God reckons people righteous, they do understand God’s word as effectual, so it brings about the effect God declares (Isa. 55:11).
Thus, when God reckons or declares people righteous, they become objectively (metaphysically) righteous (see Day 350). This does not mean their behavior instantly changes (though God does begin a work of sanctification that leads them to behave more righteously over time). It does mean that they “are made innocent, immaculate, pure, guiltless, and beloved of God, heirs indeed of God, joint heirs with Christ; so that there is nothing whatever to hinder their entrance into heaven” (Trent, Decree on Original Sin 5).
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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