Eric J. Thomas First Baptist Norfolk The Gospel of John · Eric J. Thomas First Baptist Norfolk 1...

Eric J. Thomas First Baptist Norfolk

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The Gospel of John “That you may have life in His name.”

Introduction and Outline

Through this in-depth study of John’s Gospel, God strengthens our faith in Jesus so that we as His followers might taste abundant life each day.

I. Prologue (1:1-18) II. Book of Signs (1:19-12:50)

A. Prelude to the Ministry of Jesus (1:19-51) B. Early Ministry of Jesus: From Cana to Cana (2:1-4:54) C. Opposition to Jesus: The Sabbath and Festivals (5:1-10:42) D. Moving Toward the Cross (11:1-12:50)

i. “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:1-44) ii. The Plot to Kill Jesus (11:45-57) iii. Anointing in Bethany (12:1-11) iv. Triumphal Entry to Jerusalem (12:12-19) v. Gentiles and “The Hour” (12:20-50)

III. Book of Glory (13:1-20:31) A. The Last Supper (13:1-38)

i. Washing the Disciples’ Feet (13:1-17) ii. Prediction of Betrayals (13:18-38)

B. Farewell Discourse, Part 1 (14:1-31) i. “I am the Way, Truth, Life” (14:1-14) ii. The Promise of the Spirit (14:15-31)

C. Farewell Discourse, Part 2 (15:1-16:33) i. “I am the Vine” (15:1-16) ii. The World and the Work of the Spirit (15:17-16:15) iii. Joy in the World (16:16-33)

D. Prayer of Jesus (17:1-26) i. Prayer for Glorification (17:1-5) ii. Prayer for His Disciples (17:6-19) iii. Prayer for Those Who Will Believe (17:20-26)

E. Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus (18:1-19:42) i. Arrest (18:1-11) ii. Trial Before Annas and Peter’s Denials (18:12-27) iii. Trial Before Pilate (18:28-19:16) iv. The Death and Burial of Jesus (19:17-42)

F. The Resurrection of Jesus (20:1-31) i. At the Empty Tomb (20:1-9) ii. Appearance to Mary (20:10-18) iii. Appearance to the Disciples (20:19-29) iv. Purpose of John’s Gospel (20:30-31)

IV. Epilogue (21:1-25)


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A. Appearance to the Disciples by the Sea (21:1-14) B. Jesus and Peter (21:15-24) C. The Greatness of Jesus (21:25)

Moving Toward the Cross (11:1-12:50)

“I am the resurrection and the life” (11:1-44) Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were living in the cycle of discontent and despair. Lazarus was at the point of death, and he knew it. He could feel death stealing life from his body as he lay upon the mat in his room. He knew that death was knocking, and his mind drifted to Jesus. Where was the One who had given sight to the blind? Why wasn’t Jesus by his side as he embarked upon this journey into the unknown? Lazarus lay dying, and Jesus never showed. Lazarus slipped quietly into the darkness, and the Light of the World never blazed. Mary and Martha went through their own struggle as well. They had sent word to Jesus that His friend and their brother was about to die. Why didn’t He come? Where was He when they needed Him the most? Their brother was dead, the arrangements were made, and the mourners arrived. But Jesus never showed. They wrapped the one they loved in his burial clothes, tears of grief dropping upon the cotton cloth, mingling with the spices and perfume of bereavement. They placed him in the tomb, and said good-bye. But where was Jesus? The uncertainty of life can fill us with fear. It creates a whirlwind of frustration. It saturates our body and soul with fatigue.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26, NKJV)

Jesus is the King of life… and death. When He is at the center of our lives, when we surrender all the details of our relationships and experiences and failures and actions into His hands, then we can take another step closer to a satisfied life that is not dependent upon our circumstances. When we follow Jesus, Jesus gives us hope. The Evangelist takes us on a journey with Jesus through the graveyard and tombstones of life. It is not a pleasant journey for those of us who have experienced the trauma of loved-ones lost, but the journey with Jesus fills our souls with hope and confidence even in the face life’s frailties. 1. Jesus already has the right plan. Family trips are so much fun. Sometimes we go in one car, but now in our life we most often drive two cars. Eydie and I will be in the lead, and the girls will follow. Because Eydie and I are driving ahead of my daughters, we see things that they don’t. We know things that they don’t. So, we call them to give them the insight they need and protect them.


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In the same way, Jesus sees and knows things that we can’t see and don’t know.

When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” . . . Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”” (John 11:4, 9–10, NKJV)

If Jesus really loved Lazarus and his sisters, then why did Jesus wait two more days? What is

urgent to us is not always the same as what is urgent to Christ.1 Here is a painful picture for

us to grasp.2 Jesus understands perfectly what our life and death moments mean, and He has

the perfect plan to show us more about Himself and God’s power.3 Because of His love for Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, Jesus went to the family at the moment when His appearance

would be most fruitful for them and for God’s glory (11:4).4 Because of His love, Jesus went

back to Bethany in Judea, even though it was dangerous for Him.5 In the face of impending danger and difficult challenges, we must cling to Jesus. He is the

light that shines in our darkness (11:9-10).6 He sees what we can’t see, and He knows what we don’t know. To escape the cycle of distress and despair that the darkness delivers, we need to wait with faith on Jesus.

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord More than those who watch for the morning— Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD; For with the LORD there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption. And He shall redeem Israel From all his iniquities. (Psalm 130:5–8, NKJV)

We wait for God’s deliverance. Each day that we live is a day filled with the eager expectation that God is working, and we stretch out our hearts to hear His word of

deliverance and salvation.7 He is moving to inspire obedience in our hearts toward Him

through intimate fellowship with us that has been purchased through His forgiveness.8 2. Jesus loves us powerfully. The second thing about finding hope in our cycle of struggle is trusting in His love. Mary and Martha feel the deep pain and disappointment of life (11:21,

32).9 When Jesus saw the tears of the ones He loved, His heart was filled with pain (11:33-36). The picture we find in this passage is that Christ is driven by the powerful love for His own

and for the supreme regard for God’s glory.10 Then Jesus wept.11 Moved in His heart for the terrible pain written across the soul of those He loved, He wept. Longing for their comfort,

He cried.12 Overwhelmed with grief for those who grieved, Jesus went to the tomb.13 What He did next was unexpected. His love sent Him on a mission to rescue Lazarus from death’s grip. His love sent Him on a mission to rescue sinners from sin’s grip through His own death.


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3. Jesus is the King of life and death. Jesus takes the walk to the tomb and does the unimaginable. He tells the care-takers to roll the stone away. Now Martha reminds Jesus about the facts. Lazarus is dead four days. There will be a smell. And Jesus once again calls her to faith that opens our eyes to the glory of God: “Did I not tell you that you would see the glory of God if you believe?” (John 11:40). Although the despair and pain of our lives consume us, we have hope in the power of God brought to us by Jesus Christ. Can you hear those words ringing through the canyon of death’s abyss? Can you feel those words piercing through the shadows in your soul? Jesus has brought us life with God, and through fanatic faith in Him, we experience the love of God piercing the darkness. Jesus calls us to have a faith that is fanatically focused on His power to give life in the face of death. Jesus makes a claim that either places Him on the throne or puts Him in an asylum, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” Life will belong to all who have His life pulsing through their hearts. Death will never touch them. He is the answer to our fragile existence. There is no waiting for this moment, for

death’s darkness is looming. Now is the time to believe in Jesus with a fanatic faith.14 There will be those who deny that Jesus cares, but don’t listen to their voices. There will be those who deny that Jesus can, but don’t listen to their voices. For Lazarus, there was but one voice he could hear. It was the one voice that could do the unimaginable and the unexpected. It was Jesus.

The Plot to Kill Jesus (11:45-57)

The miracle of raising Lazarus from the death inspired faith in those who saw it.15 It also set the stage for the arrest and death of Jesus. In an eternal paradox, the giving of life to Lazarus

leads to His own death.16

Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. (John 11:45–46, NKJV)

Many of the Jews who had gathered around Mary came to faith in Jesus.17 At the same time, the reputation of this miracle reached the religious leaders in Jerusalem. Immediately, the Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin, got together to consider what to do about Jesus. Their fears were that the miraculous work of Jesus would inspire faith in a greater number of people, creating a movement. This movement would threaten the power structures and

influence of the Sanhedrin.18 The description of “chief priests” most likely refers to the Annas family who controlled the office of chief priest. The Romans distrusted the Annas family because they were self-

serving. Caiaphas of the Annas family held the position of chief priest for almost 19 years.19 The argument of Caiaphas is that they shouldn’t “fixate” on Jesus, but they should understand “that sometimes one has to put up with a lesser evil to prevent a larger one, here


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the death of one for the sake of the nation as a whole.” The Sanhedrin, therefore, should

seek the death of Jesus (the one) to protect the nation (the many).20 John the Evangelist gives his theological commentary (11:51-52). He declares that Caiaphas’

words represented the very mind of God.21 Indeed, Jesus would be the sacrificial victim, but not merely for the nation. He would be the sacrificial victim whereby “He would gather

together all the children of God scattered abroad.”22 The death of Jesus, the Messiah, is the force by which those who are far from God would be brought into God’s family (Eph 2:13-

14).23 1. People reject Jesus, all evidence to the contrary. What is amazing is that the religious

leaders could willingly ignore the miracles that Jesus did.24 They were more interested in

protecting their status and their power.25 After Caiaphas spoke, the Sanhedrin plotted to put

Jesus to death (11:53).26 What was true then remains true today. People whose hearts are hard and minds imprisoned refuse to accept the miraculous transformation that Jesus brings to people around them. Even when they see the evidence of Jesus working powerfully, they cannot embrace Jesus for fear that they would lose control over their own lives. We need the Spirit of God to melt hearts and unlock minds so that those who are far from God might find life in Jesus. 2. God’s purpose of salvation will never be thwarted. Like the prophet Isaiah prophetically proclaimed, people of every tribe and nation would come to the mountain of

the Lord (Isa 2:2-3, 56:6-8, 60:6).27 Even with the plotting of the religious leaders to kill Jesus, God’s rescue plan would be fulfilled through the nefarious scheme. God’s purpose is that the death of Jesus would gather together the scattered to make us His children. Even though many did not receive Him, as many who received Him, who believed on His name, would become the children of God.

Anointing in Bethany (12:1-11) Jesus is the King of the universe. He deserves nothing less than absolute allegiance and devotion. He is the King of all creation, and we must not follow Him with half-measures. Lazarus was dead and is now alive. Through the narrative of Mary with Jesus, we discover that we must audaciously adore and worship Jesus our King. The people gathered in the home of Simon the leper, who had been diseased and now is

healed (Matt 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9).28 Those who had gathered in the home had experienced the power of Christ’s love in their lives. They followed Jesus, the Author of life, the King of

their lives.29 1. Audaciously adore Jesus. Mary expressed her love for Jesus through an extravagant act

of worship.30 We don’t know the details of that part of her life, but we do know that she

loved Jesus with an extravagant love.31 She spent her fortune for a bottle of perfume with which she anointed the feet of Jesus. What is witnessed in chapter 12 is a picture of the extravagant love in worship. Mary loved Jesus and would pay any price to show it. This was


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a sign of her absolute faith and unconstrained joy in the presence of Jesus.32 She gave

herself in extravagant worship, humbling herself before her Audience of One.33

Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. (John 12:3, NKJV)

When the seal was broken, she poured the ointment upon her Lord. She covered him with the sweet fragrance of costly perfume. Immediately those who were outside the house could smell the aroma. Those on the roof could catch its fragrance. But in that moment the fragrance lifted beyond the realm of this world and floated to the throne room of heaven and gave pleasure to God as Mary worshipped her King.

Extravagant worship means that we fall down before the King and pay homage to Him.34 We must let go of our pride and respectability to become foolish and childlike in our worship. Extravagant love demands an extravagant expression. We break the seal of extravagance and the aroma of love begins to drift through our soul. When we worship Christ through extravagance, the cynics, skeptics, and complacent people just don’t understand. But God is glorified. God is honored. God is pleased with our extravagance. Sitting in a room of worshipers, we are overwhelmed with the desire to express our love for Jesus, but then we start thinking about the other people in the room. So we restrain ourselves. We learn about worship from Mary. Her extravagance was met with disdain and criticism, but Jesus commended Mary’s extravagance. She had the wisdom to seize the opportunity she had with Jesus to honor Him in a special way. She ministered to Jesus in ways that she

couldn’t even comprehend.35 Worship the King through extravagant love. Not everyone will

like it,36 but our love expressed in extravagant ways can help others put their faith in Jesus as

King.37 2. A changed life is a strong witness. Beginning with 12:9, John the Evangelist gives a summary of the current situation for Jesus. The Jewish people discovered that Jesus was in Bethany and set out to see Him. They wanted to see Lazarus as well, for he was the recipient

of the greatest of miracles. The result was that increasingly many believed in Jesus.38 Although some suggest that this faith was fleeting (mainly because it was tied to a

miracle?),39 the concern of the religious leaders suggests otherwise.40 The religious leaders who were seeking the death of Jesus determined that it would be expedient to kill Lazarus as

well.41 What is apparent, however, from this passage for us today is that a transformed life leads to audacious worship and provides a strong witness. When our lives have been changed by Jesus, we have a heart that longs to worship Him with extravagant love. When our lives have been transformed by Jesus, our new life becomes a powerful testimony to those searching for life.


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Triumphal Entry to Jerusalem (12:12-19) On August 24, 1944, the 2nd French Armored Division made its way entered the Arc de Triumphe to the cheers and celebration of the citizens of the city. Paris had been liberated from Nazi forces! The war was not yet won, but the Parisians recognized that liberty was on its way. Today, we celebrate the victory through Jesus Christ. The crowds were in Jerusalem for

either the Feast of Tabernacles or for Passover.42 But when they heard that Jesus, the One who had raised Lazarus from the dead, was on His way, they prepared to welcome Him with shouts of praise and cries for help. As He enters Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, the people of Jerusalem flocked to celebrate the victory that He would bring as the Lord of all. Through the picture of the triumphal entry, we learn that we must courageously praise Jesus our King. 1. Rescue has come through Jesus. Hosanna is a prayer for help and deliverance. During

Tabernacles it was a cry to the Lord to bring rain.43 Here, the crowd cried out Hosanna as a declaration of their praise for the deliverance from God that they saw in the person of Jesus. They declared that Jesus was indeed the King who came in the name of the Lord! 2. Jesus is the King who delivers. As the colt is untied and brought to Jesus, the picture of

the Messiah, the King, comes into view.44 Jesus is the King who has come to bring about the rule of God in the world. Jesus riding into the city on a donkey was the fulfillment of Zech 9:9, proclaiming that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah who has come to bring peace and

salvation to God’s people.45

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9, NKJV)

The unridden colt portrays a sacred purpose, for only a colt that hasn’t been ridden can be used for such a purpose. Ultimately, it is a declaration to the watching people that the king for whom they had longed and looked was coming. The Evangelist notes that the disciples didn’t understand at first, but they came to understand after the resurrection of Jesus. This section (12:17-19) is parallel to the previous

summation (12:9-11).46 The people gave witness to the miraculous power of Jesus over life and death because they had witnessed it first-hand with the raising of Lazarus. People,

therefore, came to gather around Jesus because they had heard about the miracle.47 The Sanhedrin’s anxiety increases concerning Jesus (12:19).

In truth the aim of Jesus’ mission was to save the world (3:17). The crowd that acclaims Jesus as the King of Israel anticipates the broader sweep of humanity that will enjoy

Jesus’ saving reign.48


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Again, John the Evangelist shows that the purposes of God will not be thwarted. Jesus has come to bring salvation to those who are far from Him, and that mission would take Him through the cross to the empty tomb.

Gentiles and “The Hour” (12:20-50) When Jesus entered Jerusalem, He revealed Himself as the Messiah. The transition from the “Book of Signs” (1:19-12:50) to the “Book of Glory” (13:1-20:31) paves the way for the final

rejection of Jesus by the Jewish people and the suggestion of an imminent Gentile mission.49 The Greeks who ask to see Jesus represent the broader world of people beyond the Jewish people. They were “God-fearing” Gentiles who came to Jerusalem to worship at the Feast of

the Passover.50 Upon hearing of the Gentiles’ wish to see Him, Jesus began to teach the crowd about Himself, what He has come to accomplish, and the demands of following Him.

And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” (John 12:23–28, ESV)

In order for us to understand our place in this world, we need to understand God’s purpose in Jesus. Jesus clearly comprehended His place in the world through God’s purpose for Him. He came to glorify God and be glorified by God through His death and resurrection. Through His sacrifice, Jesus produced the fruit of eternal life for sinners. 1. Jesus is glorified by His Passion (12:23-24). Jesus speaks about the “hour of His

glorification.” The “hour” refers to the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.51 The focus that permeated the heart of Jesus wasn’t the adulation of the crowds nor the opposition of the religious leaders. He was consumed with the purpose of His incarnation: the glory of God and salvation for humanity through His death and resurrection. This was

His glory.52 This death and resurrection of Jesus produces the fruit of eternal life. Jesus is the grain that

dies and bears fruit.53 We find the picture of sowing seed in the Gospels (Matt 13:24-30; Mark 4:3-9) and also in Paul’s letter to the believers in Corinth (1 Cor 15:36-38). Paul’s use of the imagery when he writes about the resurrection from the dead; namely, that “what you

sow does not come to life unless it dies” (1 Cor 15:36).54 Paul applies the metaphor to followers of Jesus, who cannot experience true life (resurrection) unless it dies. Jesus applies

the metaphor to Himself. He has come to give His life so that we might live.55 This is the purpose for which He had come, and even in the midst of His anguish, He willingly chased God’s glory to accomplish the salvation of sinners.


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2. Following Jesus demands unselfish service to Jesus (12:25-26). Jesus transitions from Himself to those who follow Him. Jesus, as well as His followers, must live by the law of sacrifice.

“He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:25, NKJV)

Jesus lives with a heart of unselfish sacrifice for the purpose of God.56 Verse 25 applies to

Jesus, but it also applies to His followers.57 Those who serve Jesus follow Him in the way of

self-sacrifice, serving the glory of God as one’s greatest purpose in spite of the cost.58

Westcott writes: “The selfish man works his own destruction.”59 We worship the King when we follow Him despite the cost. Jesus understood fully the cost He was about to pay, but He called on His followers to serve Him with that same kind of sacrifice. When we are unwilling to follow Jesus in sacrifice for the purposes of God, then we fail to taste the pleasure of God’s honor. 3. We focus beyond the struggle to the purpose of our life (12:27-28a). In the face of the struggle that loomed over Him, Jesus declared that He was “troubled.” Like the picture of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest (Mark 14:34), Jesus was in the grip

of grief and sorrow and pain and horror of what lay before Him.60 Jesus saw the agony of the crucifixion, and His soul was filled with despair. His soul was literally shaking and

quaking.61 Yet, Jesus set His focus beyond the struggle of His soul to the purpose of His life. God had given Him this purpose. Rather than exalting His emotions as the directive of His actions,

Jesus affirmed His purpose as the lodestone directing His steps.62 Rather than giving way to the trouble in His soul seeking the Father’s deliverance from the horror of the cross, Jesus prays for the Father’s glory to be magnified through the horror of the cross. God’s glory is

the principle that has guided all that Jesus has done and will do in His earthly ministry.63 Jesus calls all of His followers to serve Him by following Him in the path that He has walked (12:26). We look beyond the struggle of sacrifice to the joy of God’s honor in fulfilling His purpose in the world. Discipleship in this passage “looks ahead to the later missionary

activity of the disciples.”64 As followers of Jesus, we live to continue the mission that Jesus inaugurated, following Him as the pioneer and perfect “finisher” of our faith (Heb 12:2). Just as Jesus lived sacrificially to fulfill God’s purpose, we too must live sacrificially to fulfill

God’s purpose.65 With Jesus, we must cry out, “Father, glorify Your name!” This means our commitment to obey Him, for this is the pathway to bring God glory and for God to be glorified through

us.66 The goal of the glory of God is His rescuing love bringing eternal life to sinners (John

17:1-4).67 In the same way, we follow Jesus in obedience to the Father in pursuing the salvation of sinners for the glory of God.


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4. The significance of “the hour” and the mission of Jesus (12:28b-36). The heavenly

voice affirms the cry of Jesus: “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”68 The crowd

heard the sound from heaven; some thinking it was thunder and others a voice of an angel.69 Jesus declares that this voice was for the benefit of the crowd, to understand that the Father had sent Him. Although the crowd didn’t understand the voice, the voice itself stands as

affirmation of Jesus’ mission from God.70

Even though the crowd did not understand the voice, the very fact that a voice from heaven spoke should have been sufficient to alert those with any spiritual sensitivity that a turning-point in redemptive history was impending. For those with ears to hear, Jesus’ next words consequently take on fresh urgency. Jesus’ unpacking of the implications of what the voice said – that is the burden of vv. 31-33 – inevitably gained extra authority

and urgency in the minds of his followers.71 The “hour” is the time of judgment on the world (12:31a). Although Jesus has come to deliver God’s love into the world by giving His life for the world (3:16-17), the consequence is that the “hour” means judgment for the world for those who love darkness rather than the

light.72 The “hour” also is the time when the ruler of this world will be driven out (12:31b).

The “hour” will result in drawing all people to Himself (12:32).73 The picture of Jesus being “lifted up” harkens back to the conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus (3:14). The imagery points to the death of Jesus on the cross as well as His exaltation. The double reference to the physical “lifting up” in crucifixion is matched by the figurative “lifting up” in the

exaltation.74 The result is that Jesus will draw “all people” to Himself.75 “When He has been lifted up, exalted and glorified, He will (like a spiritual magnet) draw to Himself Gentiles as

well as Jews, all without distinction.”76 The crowd asked about the nature of the Son of Man (12:34). They contend that they have

been taught that the “Son of Man abides forever.”77 The concept of the Messiah in Palestinian Judaism was one of triumph. They believed that the Christ would be the Son of

David of whom God would “establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Sam. 7:13).78 In Psalm 89:36-37, we hear the promise from God:

His seed shall endure forever, And His throne as the sun before Me; It shall be established forever like the moon, Even like the faithful witness in the sky. (Psalm 89:36–37, NKJV)

God declares that His commitment to the Messiah will endure forever, and this commitment

will extend to those who are the “seed” of the holy one (89:29).79 God will forever remain

true to His promise and commitment. He cannot break His oath to the Messiah.80 Thus, the crowd was somewhat confused by the words of Jesus, whom they had envisioned in their

minds as Messiah.81 Jesus responds to their questions by calling them to walk in the light (12:35-36). There are no half-measures when it comes to following Him. He is the Light of the World. There is no

hope to escape the darkness unless we believe in Him.82


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5. The theology of unbelief (12:37-43). This section presents the “denouement of Jesus’

public ministry to the Jews.”83 We see the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish people, as well as

hear the message of His mission.84 Those who did not believe in Jesus despite the miracles

that He had done grew hardened in their unbelief.85 The signs recorded by John, culminating

in the raising of Lazarus from the dead, were significant.86 Yet, the people did not believe in Jesus. The explanation of this unbelief comes from the prophet Isaiah (Isa 53:1; 6:9-10). Just as the

people rejected the message from Isaiah, they also reject Jesus.87 The phrase, “they could not believe” (12:39), needs greater explanation. Literally, the verse reads:

Therefore [dia; touto; dia touto] they were not able [oujk hjduvnanto; ouk ēdunanto] to believe [pisteuvein; pisteuein].

As we unpack these words to understand better the mind and heart of the Father as well as the unbelief of the Jewish people, there are several factors that we need to consider. First, Israel’s rejection of Jesus is in view (Isa 6:9-10; Mark 6:1-6; Acts 7:51; Rom 10:1-4). Second, Israel’s rejection of Jesus occurs despite the miraculous work of God. Third, the hardening of hearts occurs following Israel’s persistent rejection of God’s miraculous work.

“Therefore” [dia; touto; dia touto] is causal.88 The debate is whether this cause of inability to believe has already occurred or whether it is about to be explained. One view suggests that unbelief in Jesus despite the nature of the signs that He performed leads to inability

[oujk hjduvnanto; ouk ēdunanto] to believe [pisteuvein; pisteuein].89 The other view suggests

that inability [oujk hjduvnanto; ouk ēdunanto] leads to unbelief.90 The evidence could go either

way, but the weight of support is on the latter view.91 The meaning is not “they could not believe,” as though they were “fated to be incapable of

belief.”92 As Augustine wrote: “If I be asked why they could not believe, I answer in a word,

because they would not.”93 This verse does not depict God’s sovereignty absent human

responsibility.94 According to John Calvin, every person’s choice is “self-determined.”95 Unbelief here is a result of God’s “judicial hardening,” not from the “capricious manipulation of an arbitrary potentate,” but rather as “holy condemnation of guilty people

who are condemned to do and be what they themselves have chosen.”96 The inability to

believe is punishment from God for the willful rebellion of those who rejected Him.97 What is clear in this passage is that God’s sovereignly blinds those who are rebellious to

accomplish a greater redemptive purpose.98 “Even unbelief has some place in the purpose of

God.”99 The purpose of this unbelief cited here served the greater purpose of atonement through the death of Jesus on the cross (Acts 2:22-24). John reports, however, that there were some rulers who did believe on Jesus, but they refused to confess it publicly.


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Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. (John 12:42–43, NKJV)

Many within the Sanhedrin who “believed in Him” did not confess Him out of fear. They

allowed “the decision of faith to be affected by a desire for personal security.”100 So often, we too fail to confess Jesus publicly because of our desire to play safe with those who do not know Him.

It is a bitter comment on the quite natural hesitation of men in influential positions, who cannot lightly go against the opinion of the majority of their collegues. John tends to see issues in black-and-white contrast, and does not easily make allowances for anything in

between.101 The greater crime in this passage, however, is the idolatry that impedes our faith. Because these rulers loved the praise of people more than the praise of God, they failed to confess Jesus. Their god was the approval and applause of others rather than God who could give

them life.102 6. The Message of Jesus (12:44-50). Jesus responds to the unbelief of the Jews with a statement of His message. He had come to give life to everyone who believed on Him. Through Him, believers escape the dark shroud of death and sin and live in the light of salvation. Those who reject Him ultimately reject the Father who has sent Him. Jesus speaks His Father’s words in His Father’s authority, and what He speaks is eternal life. 1Borchert [John 1-11, NAC (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1996), 351] notes rightly that “humans generally interpret any delay in rendering help as cruel because of our perspectives on the avoidance of all pain and because of our general commitment to the immediacy of action as it pertains to time.” 2See J. Sanders, “Those Whom Jesus Loved (John XI, 6),” New Testament Studies 1 (1954): 29-41. 3The phrase, uJpevr th`~ dovxh~ tou` qeou` [huper tēs doxēs tou theou], indicates the benefit of the waiting. It is “on behalf” of God’s glory. As Carson [The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 406] rightly notes, the sickness itself is not in order for God to be glorified, but rather it occasioned the opportunity for God’s glory to be revealed. 4B. F. Westcott [The Gospel According to St. John, 2 vols. (London: Murray, 1908), 2:82] writes: “Because the Lord loved the family He went at the exact moment when His visit would be most fruitful, and not just when He was invited.” 5Andreas Köstenberger, John, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 329. 6As Laney [John, Moody Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody, 1992), 205] notes, the statement concerning light of the world in verse 9 suggests that as long as the disciples are with Jesus, they are secure. 7Hans-Joachim Kraus, Psalms 60-150: A Commentary, trans. H. C. Oswald (Minnesota: Augsburg Press, 1989), 467. Kraus declares that the “correct attitude of the one who fears Yahweh is ‘to have hope.’” The intense yearning of the God-fearer is for the word (rbd; dābar), which, according to Kraus, is the “oracle of salvation . . . the proclamation of salvation.”


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8The verb in verse 5, hwq [qāwâ], literally means to look expectantly and eagerly for something. It carries with it the significance of hope. BDB, s. v., “hwq,” 875. 9Ridderbos [The Gospel According to John, trans. J. Vriend (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 395] notes the disappointment in the words of Martha (11:21). Wallace [Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 703] suggests that these words, “although formally a second class condition,” were a rebuke of Jesus. 10Ridderbos [1997: 388-89] writes that 11:5-7 “shows how the human and the divine – his love for his own and his regard for the times appointed for him by the Father – are inseparably intertwined in Jesus’ conduct and therefore in his glorification as the Son of God.” 11Concerning 11:33, Morris [The Gospel According to John, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 494] proposes that Jesus had “deep concern and indignation at the attitude of the mourners.” Barrett [The Gospel According to St. John, 2d ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 399] notes that Jesus was angry. Brown [The Gospel According to John, 2 vols., AB (Garden City: Doubleday, 1967, 1970), 1:435] proposes that Jesus was angry at the realm of Satan revealed by death. Keener [The Gospel of John, 2 vols. (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2003), 846] suggests that Jesus was angry at the unbelief of the mourners. Schlatter [Der Evangelist Johannes, 2d ed. (Stuttgart: Calwer, 1948), 254], however, comments that Jesus is posturing Himself for a hostile encounter with death. The agitation that we read is the preparation for event. 12Carson [1991: 416] proposes, along with Morris [1995: 495], that the weeping of Jesus preeminently comes from a heart broken over the unbelief that surrounded Him and the presence of death itself. 13Schnackenburg [The Gospel According to St. John, trans. C. Hastings, 3 vols. (New York: Crossroad, 1990), 2:337] proposes that Jesus wept in light of the presence of death and the need for salvation from its grip (Heb 5:7). 14Concerning Thomas’s declaration in 11:16, I side with Carson [1991: 410] who proposes that his words describe “raw devotion and courage.” Yet, we must give merit to Witherington’s [John’s Wisdom (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1995), 202] proposal that his comment appears to be more along the lines of “fatalistic resignation to what seemed inevitable.” 15Westcott [1908: 173] writes: “The miracle was the decisive test of faith and unbelief in those who witnessed it.” 16Brown [1967: 442] writes that the session of the Sanhedrin “creates the paradox that Jesus’ gift of life leads to his own death.” 17Morris [1995: 499] suggests that the connection between polloi; ejk twn jIoudaivwn [ek tōn Ioudaiōn; “many

of the Jews”] and oij ejlqovnte~ pro;~ th;n Marivan [oi elthontes pros tēn Marian; “who had come to Mary”] in 11:45 is appositional. Thus, for Morris, the Jews who came to Mary also believed in Jesus. Brown [1967: 438] proposes that even though the participle agrees with “the many,” one need not grammatically conclude that all those who came to Mary believed on Jesus. 18Concerning 11:48, Ridderbos [1997: 408 n. 88] writes that one can “render hJmwvn simply as a possessive genitive: ‘take away both our place and our city.’ But what is obviously at issue is the stake that the Sanhedrin had in all this. For that reason, and also because of the possibility that a pronominal genitive could be placed earlier than its expected position (BDF §473.1), it is better to link hJmwvn (‘us’) with the verb in the sense of a so-called ‘sympathetic dative.’” The reference to “place” could point to the Temple. 19Gerald Borchert, John 1-11, NAC (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1996), 364. 20Ridderbos 1997: 408.


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21In 11:51, the Evangelist uses the phrase ajf j eJautou` [aph heautou; “on his own”]. His point is that Caiaphas, though responsible for his words, did not speak merely on his own. Ironically, Caiaphas was speaking as a prophet [Carson 1991: 422]. 22Barrett [1978: 407-408] notes that there are two possibilities in identifying the “scattered children of God,” depending on what one sees as the background of John’s Gospel. The first option is that the scattered are those who are gathered together by the death of Jesus because they are by nature children of God. The second option is that those who are gathered together are made the children of God through the cross. The difference between these two options is that the first depends upon a stoic or gnostic background and the second sees that people are made children of God through faith in Jesus alone. 23Borchert [1996: 366] writes: “The Lord’s sacrificial death he [John the Evangelist] viewed as the foundation for the gathering not only of Israel but for the ‘children of God’ (cf. 1:12) who were scattered everywhere on earth. The early Christians interpreted themselves (not the physical descendants of Abraham) as the children of God (cf. Matt 3:9; John 8:39) and the dispersed people as those who would be gathered by the Lord from every nation (cf. Jas 1:1; 1 Pet 1:1-2). These children of God would be reassembled at the Lord’s return (cf. Mark 13:27; 1 Thess 4:13-18; 2 Thess 2:1), and they would be the ones whose destinies would be forever with Jesus (John 14:2-3; 17:24).” 24As Carson [1991: 420] notes, “the religious leaders find it impossible to dispute that Jesus is performing many miraculous signs.” 25Borchert 1996: 365. 26The verb, sumbouleuvw [sumbouleuō], describes an ongoing plot. 27See Andreas Köstenberger, John, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 353. 28See Carson 1991: 425-27. Although John does not record that they gathered in Simon the leper’s home, I have taken this narrative to be the same event as recorded in Mark 14:3-9 and Matthew 26:6-13. For suggestions on how to correspond the differences between John and the synoptic account of Mark and Matthew, see Carson. I do not, however, believe that this account is the same event as recorded in Luke 7:36-38. The details of Luke’s narrative show that he reports an event in the home of a Pharisee. The woman in Luke’s narrative was an immoral woman who wipes the feet of Jesus with her tears and hair, and then anoints them with perfume. These details indicate that Luke was reporting a different account than John or the other synoptic Gospel writers. See I. H. Marshall, The Gospel of Luke, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 304-307. 29J. Ramsey Michaels, “John 12:1-11,” Interpretation 43 (1989): 287. Michaels suggests that the setting of this anointed occurs “between a celebration of life and an ever-present and growing awareness of death.” Jesus has gathered with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus to celebrate Lazarus’ life brought to him at the hands of Jesus. Jesus and Lazarus, however, were under the threat of arrest and imminent death at the hands of the Pharisees (11:57, 12:10-11). 30J. Ramsey Michaels [1989: 288] suggests that Mary understood that Jesus was going away, so she pours out “her love for him today because he may not be with her tomorrow. Here, if anywhere in the Bible, genuine human love is shown and defined.” 31J. F. Coakley, “The Anointing at Bethany and the Priority of John,” Journal of Biblical Literature 107 (1988): 246. He dismisses the arguments of B. Lindars [The Gospel of John, NCB (London: Oliphants, 1972), 414], who suggests that Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were something little more than fictional figures. He concludes that “it is a more economical hypothesis that the three were actual friends of Jesus in Bethany, who naturally appear in any scenes in which Jesus comes to their village.”


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32J. Edgar Bruns, “Note on Jn 12:3,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 28 (1966): 219-22. In a form-critical analysis, Bruns travels an unnecessary path to unearth the intent and meaning of 12:3 through the lens of Mark’s account (which he considers the source) and Luke’s account (which he considers was used by John, although I do not). In the end, though, I agree with his concluding remarks: “Altogether the details of this single verse, if read in the light of Athenaeus and Polybius, to say nothing of Jn 19,39, richly illustrate the evangelist’s proclivity and his lavish regard for the person of Jesus.” 33F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John (Eerdmans, 1983), 256. Bruce writes: “The outpouring of all this expensive perfume was extravagant enough, but for a woman to let down her hair and wipe a man’s feet with it would have been at least as extraordinary in the eyes of that company as it would be for us on a comparable occasion. . . .The shock of what they had seen must have caused a brief embarrassed silence, which was broken by one voice giving expression to the sentiments of many.” 34See David Peterson, “Worship in the New Testament,” in Worship: Adoration and Action, ed. D. A. Carson (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1993), 52-53. He notes that the most common word in the NT for worship is proskunevw [proskyneō], which means to surrender and submit to Jesus in an act and attitude of homage. 35Barrett [1978: 341] indicates that the anointing of Jesus by Mary is not the preparation for burial, but it is the anointing of the King who will ride into Jerusalem. 36Ridderbos [1997: 421] writes: “The Evangelist’s concern now is to point to the miracle as the cause of growing support for Jesus among the people, who no longer allow themselves to be intimidated by the authorities. This support will manifest itself in unprecedented ways in the events of the following day.” 37F. F. Bruce [1983: 258] suggests that the phrase, uJphgon twn jIoudaivwn kaiv ejpivsteuon eij~ tovn jIhsoun [hypēgon tōn Ioudaiōn kai episteuon eis ton Iēsoun; “the Jews were going and believing in Jesus”], “may be a Semitism, meaning ‘were increasingly believing in Jesus.’” 38Bruce [1983: 258] proposes that the phrase, “were going and believing,” is a Semitism that means that many of the Jews who saw Lazarus “were increasingly believing in Jesus.” 39See the argument of Schnackenburg 1990: 2.370. 40Thus Barrett [1978: 415] proposes that these believing Jews aligned themselves with Jesus as disciples. 41Köstenberger [2004: 365] proposes that “the presence of the resurrected Lazarus constituted a major embarrassment for the Sadducees (many of whom were among the chief priests), who held that there was no resurrection.” 42Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John, 2 vols., AB (Garden City: Doubleday, 1967, 1970), 1: 456-57. 43Brown 1970: 457. 44See J. Blenkinsopp, “The Oracle of Judah and the Messianic Entry,” Journal of Biblical Literature 80 (1961): 55-64. 45As Morris [The Gospel According to John, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971), 587] suggests that “John sees accordingly not only a fulfillment of prophecy, but such a fulfillment of prophecy as indicates a special kind of king.” 46Francis Moloney, The Gospel of John, Sacra Pagina (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1998), 350. 47Köstenberger [2004: 374], however, suggests that o[clo~ [ochlos; “people”] in 12:17 is identical to the o[clo~ [ochlos; “people”] of 12:18, indicating, according to Köstenberger, that rather than seeing the miracle, they had


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only heard of the miracle. Carson [1991: 435], unlike Köstenberger, suggests that “two crowds are depicted in these verses.” I have followed Carson. 48Carson 1991: 435. 49Köstenberger 2004: 374. 50Carson [1991: 435-36] suggests that the {Ellhn [Hellēn; “Greeks”] “stand in contrast to the Pharisees who are exasperated by Jesus’ growing influence.” The term refers to Gentiles in the Greek-speaking world, not merely Jews who speak Greek. 51Ridderbos [1997: 428] rightly notes that by w{ra [hora; “hour”] “is meant the whole of Jesus’ passing out of this world to the Father (13:1), which would have its beginning in his now imminent death and its completion in his return to heavenly glory.” 52Westcott [1908: 181] writes that “the glory of the Son of man lay in bringing to Himself of all men (v. 32) by the Cross and rising through death above death.” 53On the imagery, see Brown 1970: 423. 54C. K. Barrett 1978: 423. 55Dodd [The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953), 372] suggests that this is the key of the whole discourse; that Jesus must die in order to gather humanity to God. 56C. H. Dodd [Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963), 338-43] traces this saying through the Synoptic Gospels and finds five similar attestations (Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33; Matt 10:39; 16:25). Dodd’s conclusion is that “this very fundamental saying has a place in many separate branches of oral tradition, and that the variations belong to its pre-literary history, originating, it may be, in varying attempts to translate the Aramaic in which it was first handed down.” 57Barrett 1978: 423. 58As Beasley-Murray [John, WBC (Dallas: Word, 1987), 211-12] suggests that the “Son of Man must give himself in death if he is to produce a harvest of life for the world.” This “law” is then applied to Christ’s followers. They serve Jesus and follow Him when they make life possible for others through their own sacrifice. The promise is that Jesus will always be with those who follow Him, “for Christ draws men to fellowship with himself, alike in suffering and in the presence of God.” 59Westcott 1908: 181. 60In Mark 14:34, Jesus proclaimed that His soul was sorrowful [perivlupo~; perilupos]. Here in John 12:27, He states that His soul is troubled [tetavraktai; tetaraktai], which is the perfect tense of taravssw [tarassō]. Lindars [The Gospel of John, NCB (reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 430-31] connects John 12:27 to the Gethsemane tradition, noting however that “John is not directly dependent on the Synoptic version of this tradition, but rather on a variant form.” 61BAGD, s. v., “taravssw,” 812-13. The verb literally means to shake together or stir up. 62Bruce [1983: 266] suggests that the disquiet of cross elicits a “spontaneous prayer to be saved from this hour.” Yet, that prayer is quickly replaced, according to Bruce, with another prayer: “that in the Son’s endurance of all that ‘this hour’ brings, the Father’s name may be glorified.”


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63The glory of God is “an articulation of the principle that has controlled his life and ministry” [Carson 1991: 440]. 64Rudolf Schnackenburg, The Gospel According to St. John, trans. C. Hastings, 3 vols. (New York: Crossroad, 1990), 2.385. 65Carson [1991: 440] rightly notes that “this passage is tied to the themes of glorification (v. 28) and of the hour (v. 31), and provides incentive to follow (v. 26) the one whose death we must in some measure emulate, assured he did not find the path easy himself.” 66Köstenberger [2004: 381] notes that “God is glorified by the Son’s obedience (10:17) and by his exercise of delegated authority.” 67Ridderbos [1997: 435-36] suggests that “the name” is the revelation of God’s glory in obedient fulfillment of the Son’s duty for the salvation of sinners. 68Ridderbos [1997: 437] suggests that “in this answer the Father vouches for Jesus.” 69Schnackenburg [1990: 2.390] contends that the lack of understanding the voice from heaven was a picture of the crowd’s deafness to God. Bruce [1983: 266] points to the heavenly voice as the bath qôl, the “daughter (or echo) of the voice of God.” Köstenberger [2004: 382] notes that thunder often spoke of the “power and awesomeness of God in the Old Testament which often is tied to Israel’s redeemer (Ex 9:28; 1 Sam 7:10; Ps 29:3). 70Barrett [1978: 426] and Brown [1967: 477] cannot reconcile the voice from heaven being for the crowd, yet the crowd is unable to understand it. Tasker [The Gospel According to St. John (London: Tyndale Press, 1960), 152-53] notes that this statement in 12:30 represents a common Semitic contrast. The voice came more for the benefit of the crowd, but it did not mean that it had no benefit for Jesus. 71Carson 1991: 442. 72Ridderbos [1997: 438] writes: “Because he has come as the light of the world, he brings out the sin of this world in its aversion and estrangement from God. His coming means judgment for those who love darkness rather than light.” 73“As He spread out His hands on the cross, He drew the ancient people of the old covenant with one hand and the Gentiles with the other, uniting them in Himself.” [Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 25:3-4]. 74Brown 1967: 468. 75Morris [1995: 531-32] concludes that pavnta~ [pantas] here in 12:32, when in connection with the Gentiles of this passage, refers to “all kinds of men.” Ridderbos [1997: 439-40] suggests that this refers to “the entire human world” and “all without distinction of people or race.” 76Bruce 1983: 267. 77Barrett [1978: 427] suggests that the reference of the crowd wasn’t so much to a particular passage as it was to the general Messianic teaching of the Old Testament. 78Köstenberger 1994: 385. 79Marvin Tate, Psalms 51-100, WBC (Dallas: Word, 1990), 424. 80T. Veijola, “Witness in the Clouds: Ps. 89.38,” Journal of Biblical Literature 107 (1988): 413-17, esp. 416.


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81Carson 1991: 445. 82The appeal of 12:35-36 is, according to Lindars [1982: 435], a “word-picture of a traveler at sunset. He must make an effort to finish the journey before the darkness overtakes him, or he will lose his way.” This is a moment of crisis for the hearers of Jesus. Either they will embrace by faith Jesus, who is the Light of the World, or their moment to escape the darkness will be lost. 83Köstenberger 1994: 389. 84R. A. Whitacre [John, IVPNTC (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1999), 326] proposes that this section (12:37-50) can be divided into “Jesus’ deeds” (12:37-43) and “Jesus’ words” (12:44-50). 85Following Ridderbos [1997: 443], the imperfect tense, oujk ejpivstuon [ouk epistuon; “they continued not believing”], demonstrates the progressive nature of unbelief. 86The use of tosau`ta [tosauta; “so many, so great”] modifying shmei`on [sēmeion; “sign”] indicates either the quality or the quantity of these miracles [Morris 1995: 536 n. 103]. As Schnackenburg [1990: 2.413] proposes, John presents the most significant miracles. 87Ridderbos 1997: 444. 88C. F. D. Moule, An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek, 2d ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959; reprint, 1994), 58; dia; tou`to [dia touto] means “for this reason.” 89Westcott [1908: 134] proposes thusly that dia; touto [dia touto] normally refers back to what has been discussed. 90Bernard [A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel of John, 2 vols, ICC (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1928), 1.450] suggests that dia; touto [dia touto] “refers to what follows, not what precedes.” 91According to most examples in John’s Gospel, dia; touto [dia touto] is “explained by the o{ti clause” that follows [Barrett 1978: 431]. 92Bruce [1983: 271] writes: “Not one of them was fated to be incapable of belief.” 93As quoted by J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: St. John, Volume 2 (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1870), 367. 94Carson [1991: 447] suggests that “such unambiguous predestinarianism is never set over against human responsibility: v. 37 presumes there is human culpability, and v. 43 articulates an utterly reprehensible human motive for the unbelief.” 95John Calvin, The Bondage and Liberation of the Will: A Defense of the Orthodox Doctrine of Human Choice Against

Pighius, trans. G. Davies (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002), 69. 96Carson 1991: 448-49. 97Ridderbos [1997: 444-45] suggests that “unbelief is not thereby blamed on God in a predestinarian sense, but is rather described as a punishment from God.” 98Barrett [1978: 430-31] writes: “It can hardly be questioned that John meant that the hardening of Israel was intended by God.”


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99Morris 1995: 536. 100Barrett 1978: 433. 101Lindars 1982: 439. 102Brown [1967: 433] notes that to love the praise of men rather than the praise of God is “to love darkness rather than light.” It is to exalt the praise of men above God. It is idolatry.


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Book of Glory: The Last Supper (13:1-38)

Washing the Disciples’ Feet (13:1-17) We have traveled from Bethany to Jerusalem. It is Thursday evening and the disciples have met with Jesus in an upper room. As they walk into the room, Jesus set His love upon His

followers.1 In the final hours of His life, Jesus poured out Himself in love toward His friends and followers. He prepared them for the despair of the cross and the delight of the empty tomb. Christ prepares our hearts for what is coming. He prepares our hearts for the day of His sacrifice that would bring salvation to all who come to Him by faith.

1. Jesus knows. So, Jesus knew that His hour was coming.2 In light of His knowledge, He prepared His disciples for the cross and the empty tomb and the days after He had ascended

to heaven.3

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father. (John 13:1a, NKJV)

Jesus still knows what’s happening, even at this time in history. He knows what’s coming on the horizon. He knows what’s happening in your heart and your relationships. Jesus knows and He is preparing you for what comes next. He is preparing you and me to make a difference in our world for God’s glory.

2. Jesus loves. Not only does Jesus know, but He also loves.4

Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. (John 13:1b) Jesus loves us to the very end. To the end of His humanity, He pours out His love upon us. To the very end of our lives, Jesus pours out His love upon us. Jesus loves us completely and absolutely. There is no greater measure of love than His love for us, and just as He poured out this love toward His followers 2,000 years ago, He pours out His love to us today. It is a love that cannot be quenched by evil. It is a love that is active, not merely words on

display. It is a love that touches our lives in the details of our day.5 3. Jesus serves. Jesus knows and He loves. He prepares us to make a difference in our world by His service.

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around His waist. Then He poured


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water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around Him. (John 13:2-5, NKJV)

He humiliated Himself in love for us. Jesus had received all authority from the Father. He recognized His power as King, and yet He humbled Himself to be the servant who showers

His followers with love.6 He gave a taste of the love that He was about to shower down

upon the world.7 He takes off His outer garments as a sign of His humility and the greatest

act of His love, laying down His life.8 And there was Judas. What did Judas think as this Master and King knelt before him? The

love in His gaze and burning touch?9 What was Jesus thinking as He knelt before the man? As He caressed the feet that were stomping upon His heart? That’s amazing love!

Peter was indignant.10 He wouldn’t have any part of this! His Master was not going to wash

his feet. His pride would not allow himself to be the object of this kind of love.11 But Jesus declared that this love was a cleansing love. Without it, there could be no cleansing. Without

cleansing, there could be no relationship. Without relationship, there can be no salvation.12 4. We are moved to action. The love of Christ for us moves us to action. If we are truly followers of Christ, then we will follow His example of love. We must wash one another’s

feet.13 Our hearts must beat with the cadence of Christ to serve others as Christ has served

us.14 We must find someone today and serve them. We must pick up the towel and the basin and seek to help others just as Jesus has helped us.

Prediction of Betrayals (13:18-38)

“I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.’ Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” (John 13:18-20, NKJV)

The passage cited by Jesus is Psalm 41:9 which in rabbinic interpretation is reference to the

conspiracy of Ahithophel and Absalom against David.15 It is a statement of betrayal.16 The

“lifted heel” could be a picture of one taking advantage of another,17 a horse preparing to

kick someone,18 or a show of contempt.19 Yet, Jesus was well aware of the plans that lay in

the heart of Judas.20 Jesus loved others without condition. He didn’t love them when they met certain conditions to merit His love. He loved them even when they were hostile toward Him. Remember, He

also washed the feet of the one who would betray Him.21 1. His love glorifies God. Jesus loved with passion, and He was committed to fulfill the

mandate of His passionate love.22 Christ’s passionate love led Him to die upon a cross for God’s glory and the salvation of sinners (13:31-32). The selfless love of Jesus brought glory


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to God, and we are the recipient of that love. The kind of love that brings glory to God is the love that matches the character of Christ’s love. 2. His love empowers us to love. God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ brings forgiveness and new life. With this new life through Christ, we receive from Jesus a new commandment. It is a portrait of our obligation as God’s people living immersed in His

grace.23

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35, NKJV)

We live in a world where counterfeit conversations, guarded hearts, and secluded souls sit. And Jesus calls us to change their lives and change our world with His love. Jesus lived out this command to love when He took the bowl and the towel and washed the feet of His

followers.24 Jesus displayed His unfailing, unreserved love to His disciples.25 He loved them “to the end.” Jesus knelt down before His disciples to show His love and to cast their vision

toward His ultimate act of service on their behalf; His own death.26 When we love like Jesus,

we show the world that we are His followers.27 This is Christ’s vision for us. We give ourselves to serve others in order to change their lives and change the world. We need to ask the Spirit to show us how to love others to match their need. When we love without condition, then others will know that we are followers of Jesus Christ. It is not, “I love you if you act this way or that…” It is not, “I love you if I feel like it…” It is not, “I love you if nothing better comes along…” We must love one another without reservation, even as Christ has loved us. He loved us even though we were

hostile toward Him.28 Like Jesus, the goal of our love is to glorify God. We glorify Him when we serve Him and others selflessly and sacrificially. And by this, the world will know that we are His followers. Jesus declared that the world comes to the understanding that we are His followers by our

love for one another.29 1F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 278. Jesus determined to “concentrate on a few who did recognize and receive him; it is they who are now called “his own people’ (hoi idioi). On them he had set his love in a special degree, and in the ministry of the upper room that love is poured out in action and word, as in the sequel it is poured out in suffering and death.” 2Ben Witherington III [John’s Wisdom: A Commentary on the Fourth Gospel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1995), 235] suggests that “it is important to the evangelist to portray Jesus being in control every step of the way.” 3Gerald Borchert [John 12-21, NAC (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2002), 77] suggests that Jesus already was prepared for His Passion (12:27-28), and “has now begun the preparation of the disciples for the death of the Passover Lamb of God.”


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4D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 460-61. The Greek in verse 1, eij" tevlo" hjgavphsen aujtouv" [eis telos ēgapēsen autous], has two possible translations. The first possibility is that eij~ tevlo~ [eis telos] is temporal, meaning that Jesus loved His followers to the very end of His earthly life. The second possibility is to take eij~ tevlo~ [eis telos] adverbially, meaning that Jesus loved His followers to the fullest measure. M. Lattke [Einheit in Wort: Die spezifische Bedeutung von ajgavph, ajgapan und filein im Johannesevangelium (München: Käsel-Verlag, 1975), 143-45] argues that John’s intent is to make both meanings accessible to the reader. 5See Merrill C. Tenney, John: The Gospel of Belief, An Analytic Study of the Text (reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 198-99. 6C. K. Barrett, The Gospel According to St. John, 2d ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 439. “The primary intention here and in the next clause is to emphasize the humility of the Lord and Master, who stoops to serve his servants. Jesus washes their feet in the full knowledge that he is the Son of God. . . . The Father parevdwke ta; eJautou` pavnta dhmiourghvmata to the Heavenly Man whom he had begotten. . . . The Father gave the Son authority for his mission.” 7Claus Westermann, The Gospel of John in the Light of the Old Testament, trans. Siegfried Schatzmann (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998), 12. The foot-washing “represents a parabolic action which is already part of the conclusion.” See also, D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 467. “The footwashing was shocking to Jesus’ disciples, but not half as shocking as the notion of a Messiah who would die the hideous and shameful death of crucifixion, the death of the damned. But the two events – the footwashing and the crucifixion – are truly of a piece: the revered and exalted Messiah assumes the role of the despised servant for the good of others. That, plus the notion of cleansing, explains why the footwashing can point so effectively to the cross.” 8Barrett [1978: 439] notes that “When Jesus lays aside his garments in preparation for his act of humility and cleansing he foreshadows the laying down of his life.” 9George R. Beasley-Murray, John, WBC (Dallas: Word, 1987), 233. “The reference to Judas in this ‘minor prologue,’ anticipating his further mention in vv 18-19 and the scene in vv 21-30, is an indication of the shock to the primitive Church that Jesus was betrayed to his enemies by an apostle, who proved to be an instrument of the devil. His appearance in this introduction serves to contrast his appalling action with the humble and loving service of Jesus, and sets the latter in yet greater relief.” 10Carson [1991: 463] and Barrett [1978: 441] suggest that the phrase, kuvrie, suv mou nivptei" tou;" povda" [kurie, su mou nipteis tous podas], indicates indignant pride. This is contra George R. Beasley-Murray [1987: 233], who suggests that the “impression is given of Peter spluttering in astonishment and incomprehension.” 11C. K. Barrett [1978: 441] writes: “Peter for all his apparent devotion to Jesus is in danger of taking the wrong side. His objection to receiving Jesus’ love and service is in fact Satanic pride.” 12Beasley-Murray 1987: 233-34 suggests that Peter had great concern for his Master, but he didn’t grasp the importance or significance of what Jesus was doing. Jesus declared the necessity of this cleansing action of love – without the cleansing, there will be no relationship. 13Barrett [1978: 443] writes: “The purity which Jesus effects consists in an active and serviceable humility. Those who have been cleansed by him do in fact love and serve one another, and there is no other test of their having been cleansed than this. . . . The death of Christ is at once the means by which men are cleansed from sin, and the example of the new life which they must henceforth follow. Moreover, so far as the feet-washing represents the whole redemptive work of Jesus the disciples must enter into this work.” 14D. A. Carson [1991: 468] notes that “no emissary has the right to think he is exempt from tasks cheerfully undertaken by the one who sent him, and no slave has the right to judge any menial task beneath him after his master has already performed it.”


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15Andreas Köstenberger, John, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 411. 16As Bernard [A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel of John, 2 vols, ICC (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1928), 2:467] suggests that “to betray one with whom bread had been eaten. . . was a gross breach of the traditions of hospitality.” 17D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 471. 18Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971), 553. 19Raymond E. Brown [The Gospel According to John, 2 vols., AB (Garden City: Doubleday, 1967, 1970), 2:554], who writes that to lift up one’s heel is to show contempt. “To show the bottom of one’s foot to someone in the Near East is a mark of contempt.” 20Morris [1971: 553] writes that Jesus wasn’t “the deceived and helpless victim of unsuspected treachery, but the One sent by God to effect the divine purpose going forward calmly and unafraid.” 21Paul Duke, “John 13:1-17, 31b-35,” Interpretation 49 (1995): 399. Duke notes that in this intimate encounter with His disciples, Jesus would unveil secrets of His love. He suggests that “agape is clearly the frame (vv. 1, 34f) of the footwashing scene.” But in this moment of bright clarity, Jesus also encountered treachery. Judas would betray Him and Peter would deny Him. 22G. B. Caird, “The Glory of God in the Fourth Gospel: An Exercise in Biblical Semantics,” New Testament

Studies 15 (1968-69): 266. Caird notes concerning verse 31 that “all the actors [including Judas who has just departed] in the drama, and Jesus in particular, are committed to their courses of action, which make the crucifixion virtually accomplished.” These words in 13:31-33 are a reflection of His commitment to the cross. 23George R. Beasley-Murray, John, WBC (Dallas: Word, 1987), 247. Beasley-Murray suggests that the “newness” of this command is seen as “the obligation of the people of the new covenant in response to the redemptive act of God and his gracious election which made them his new people.” 24Francis Moloney, Glory not Dishonor: Reading John 13-21 (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1998), 25. He rightly notes the connection between the command Jesus gives in verse 34 and the example He has set in washing the feet of His disciples. Moloney states that “both the example and the commandment are closely associated with Jesus’ demand that his disciples follow him into a loving self-gift unto death.” 25George R. Beasley-Murray, John, WBC (Dallas: Word, 1987), 232-33. Beasley-Murray notes the meaning of w{ra [hora; “hour”]. It was “that for which he came into this world (12:27); the hour wherein God would glorify Jesus and Jesus would glorify God through a death for the world’s salvation (12:24-26); the hour of judgment for the world and defeat of the devil and of the exaltation of Jesus to exercise the divine sovereignty (12:31-32); hence the hour of his ‘crossing over’ from this world to the Father’s side (17:5). Such is the context wherein he shows to his own his ‘love to the limit.’ Inasmuch as ‘his own’ include all who belong to him, this demonstration of love embraces them as well as those who immediately received this ministry of love.” 26Sandra Schneiders, “The Foot Washing (John 13:1-20): An Experiment in Hermeneutics,” Catholic Biblical

Quarterly 43 (1981): 81. She writes: “Jesus is presented as acting in full awareness of his origin and destination, i. e., of his identity and mission as agent of God’s salvific will and work in the world (13:1, 3). The introduction, therefore, makes clear that what follows is not simply a good example in humility but a prophetic action.” 27Ray Ortlund, “A Biblical Philosophy of Ministry, Part 3: Being the People of God Together,” Bibliotheca Sacra 138 (1981): 196. Ortlund suggests that “love is the chief mark of the believer’s authenticity.” He further indicates that the Spirit of God equips His people to love one another.


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28Mary Coloe, “Welcome into the Household of God: The Foot Washing in John 13,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 66 (2003): 410. She notes that the footwashing is a portrait of Christ’s love ei\~ tevlo~, for “love is given in the knowledge that those who receive it will fail. Such love is utterly gratuitous, given unreservedly – which shows that the dynamism of this love lies solely with the lover.” 29Francis Schaeffer, The Church at the End of the 20th Century (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1970), 136-37. Schaeffer writes: “In the midst of the world, in the midst of our present dying culture, Jesus is giving a right to the world. Upon his authority he gives the world the right to judge whether you and I are born-again Christians on the basis of our observable love toward all Christians.”


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Book of Glory: Farewell Discourse, Part 1 (14:1-31)

We search for some relief; just a little comfort. You find comfort in a shot of whiskey at the end of a long day, but the buzz eventually wears off. You find comfort in a hot cup of tea or coffee sitting in your best chair while the kids take a nap, but the kids will wake up. You find comfort in a warm fire snuggled under a warm blanket reading a good book or watching a movie, but the fire dies, the book ends, and the credits for the movie rolls. You find comfort on a long run or strenuous hike in the mountains, a workout at the gym, sitting in a tree stand, or fishing in a pristine stream; but the real world with real troubles await. Where can you find the comfort of a secure tomorrow? The comfort of an empowered today? The comfort of perfect counsel? The comfort of satisfying intimacy? Jesus gives us exactly what we need for life and fulfillment. In the narrative of the Farewell Discourses, we find Jesus teaching His followers in private to give them what they need in

the face of His coming departure.1 Jesus seeks to bolster His followers with His words.2

Through His teaching, we discover what we need for living in a dangerous world.3 We have

all that we need through the personal presence and power of Jesus in our everyday world.4

“I am the Way, Truth, Life” (14:1-14) We hear the lessons from Jesus today that will prepare us for our journey through this life. It is this teaching that equips us individually as Christians and corporately as His church with strength and courage to engage a lost world with the gospel, to stand firm for God’s glory in the face of despairing difficulties, and to fulfill God’s mission on this earth.

The disciples were troubled. They were literally shaking and quaking inside.5 What was causing their distress? Jesus was telling His followers that the time for His departure was

close at hand. They would seek Him, but they would not be able to go with Him.6 Imagine

the searing struggle that His words created in their hearts.7 Jesus understood the terror that His words would strike in the souls of His disciples. He softens the blow by addressing His

disciples with the term of gentle endearment, “little children.”8 But they were filled with

foreboding.9 Maybe you, like the eleven men in the room with Jesus on that night 2,000 years ago, are

filled with terror and doubt because of the difficulties you face.10 Jesus gives us the comfort we need every day of our life until we hit forever. When the challenges of this world are overwhelming and the deep darkness of death’s threats swirl in the shadowed recess of our soul, we instinctually cling to that which is life-giving. 1. We need the comfort of a secure tomorrow (14:1-6). Jesus answered the shattered

dreams of His followers with a command to remain calm.11 The antidote to the shaking and

quaking of their souls was to trust God and to trust Jesus Christ.12 We need to know someone more powerful than the craziness that would threaten our future. The key

ingredient to a secure tomorrow is tied to a relationship.13 So, Jesus teaches us that in a


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world gone mad, we must stop being troubled and keep on trusting God in all His glorious

power and might.14 Jesus is equipping us with the hope that we need individually and corporately as His church. It is a hope built upon the glorious promise and preparation that He makes for us. God’s

house is filled with many dwelling places.15 When Jesus used the word “mansions” to describe the place He prepares, He contrasted where His followers were living to where they were going to live. They were living in places that were temporal. They were going to live in “mansions” that were eternal.

This is the core of John’s Gospel.16 Jesus is the only way to rescue, for He is the one and

only path to the Father.17 He is the supreme revelation of God, He is One with the Father,

to know Him is to know God, and through His life and work, we see God (14:8-11).18 2. Comfort of an empowered today. Jesus makes the promise of our heavenly home, but He also makes a promise about the strength that we need to continue His mission.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:12-14, NKJV)

Between here and heaven, Jesus gives courageous confidence in troubling times. When we think about these works, some would immediately think about healings and miraculous

signs.19 Yet, it is better to see this as a reference to what will occur in and through those who

believe upon Him because of His death and resurrection.20 He will perform even greater

works through His followers as they seek His help in prayer.21

The Promise of the Spirit (14:15-31) 1. Comfort of constant, perfect counselor. Jesus enters the world of humanity to

accomplish God’s redemptive plan.22 As Jesus had strengthened and helped His disciples

during His earthly ministry, He promises the Spirit to perform that function.23

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17, NKJV)

The Spirit who helps us tells us the truth.24 He teaches us all things (14:26). Through the constant Counselor, we discover Christ’s will and find the strength to fulfill it in our world. Through faith in the Spirit’s work, we experience the authority and help for health and

strength to fulfill God’s mission.25 Through Christ we live (14:19-20). Without clinging to Jesus, we miss life completely. The One who dies and lives again brings life to those who

believe in Him. Jesus gives us life!26


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2. The comfort of satisfying intimacy. Jesus painted the picture with crystal clarity. If we

say that we love Him, then we will be obedient to Him.27 Where there is love for God, there will also be obedience to God (14:15, 21, 23-24). Loving obedience leads to intimacy. Our obedience to the Father fosters the experience and inspiration of our love for Him. The more we love Him, the more we desire to obey Him.

And the more we obey Him, the deeper the intimacy we experience with Him.28 Jesus sets the example in His love for the Father that leads Him to obedience, and the powerful picture

of Christ’s faithful love and obedience is that He is going to the Father (14:28).29 When we cling to Jesus we experience His peace. He pours out His presence in our lives so

that anxiety and fear will be chased away (14:27).30 What is the unique peace that Jesus gives?

It is more than a promise. It is real power through His resurrection from the dead.31 Jesus gives us real peace that is powerful, for if God can raise Jesus from the dead, then He certainly can deal with the troubles that we experience each day. 1This is the position of many scholars, including Takashi Onuki, Gemeinde und Welt im Johannesevangelium. Ein

Beitrag zur Frage nach der theologischen und pragmatischen Function des johanneischen “Dualismus,” WMANT 56 (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1984), 109-11. 2C. Clifton Black [“’The Words That You Gave Me I Have Given to Them’: The Grandeur of Johannine Rhetoric,” in Exploring the Gospel of John: In Honor of D. Moody Smith, eds. R. Alan Culpepper and C. Clifton Black (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1996), 223-24] considers the “Farewell Discourse” to resemble epideictic oratory “whose primary concern is the induction or bolstering beliefs and values held among one’s audience in the present (Aristotle, Rhet. 1.3.1358b; Cicero, Inv. 2.59.177-78).” 3C. Clifton Black [1996: 229] writes: “The sublimity of John 14-17, moreover, comports with and even transports Jesus’ obvious concern for the consolation of his followers, the strengthening of their resolve under fire, and the maintenance of their integrity in love after his departure.” 4W. H. Griffith Thomas, “The Plan of the Fourth Gospel, Part II,” Bibliotheca Sacra 125 (1968): 322. Thomas suggests that in the Farewell Discourse, John the apostle “lays special stress on the personal presence and spiritual power of the living Christ.” 5Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Christian Literature, trans. W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich, 2d ed., eds. F. W. Gingrich and F. W. Danker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), s. v., “taravssw,” 805; hereafter cited, BAGD. The verb literally means “to shake together.” It is the picture of inward disturbance and anxiety. 6Carson [The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 483] suggests that 13:33 points to a continuing theme in the farewell discourse (13:31-17:26) is Christ’s “concern to prepare his disciples for his departure.” 7Merrill C. Tenney [The Gospel of Belief: John, An Analytic Study of the Text (reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976), 212] writes: “Terror must have gripped them, and have appeared on their pale faces and in their frightened eyes.” Tenney suggests that Christ’s words in 14:1 reflect His answer to Peter’s question in 13:36, but the answer is for His contingent of disciples (11 in audience, since Judas left in 13:30). 8The Greek word, tekniva [teknia], is a diminutive that expresses affection. Morris [The Gospel According to John, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971), 632] writes that “Jesus knows that this teaching is difficult, but He wants them to be sure of His tender concern for them.” Thus, Moloney [Glory not Dishonor: Reading John 13-21


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(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998), 25] writes that the disciples “remain his disciples, his ‘little children,’ lost yet loved in their misunderstanding, failure, and ignorance.” 9Bruce [The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 297] rightly suggests that the entire room was filled with an uneasiness and distress. 10Schnackenburg [The Gospel According to St. John, trans. C. Hastings, 3 vols. (New York: Crossroad, 1990), 3:58] looks upon the Semitic background of kardiva [kardia] and rightly concludes that the heart is the seat of a person’s will and emotion. 11This is brought out significantly by Morris [The Gospel According to John, 637] who highlights that the present imperative, tarassevsqw [tarassesthō], is not for “trouble-free men” so that they will not start worrying. Rather, this imperative speaks to men who just received earth-shattering news of their Leader’s departure. 12I have followed Wescott [The Gospel According to St John, 2 vols. (London: Murray, 1908), 2:167], Carson [The

Gospel According to John, 487-88], Morris [The Gospel According to John, 637], Beasley-Murray [John, WBC (Dallas: Word, 1987), 249], and others who consider the two uses of pisteuvete [pisteuete] to be imperative. It need not be so, however. It could be that the first use is indicative and the second imperative, both indicatives, or even, as Bultmann [The Gospel of John, trans. George R. Beasley-Murray (Oxford: Blackwell, 1971), 600] suggests, the first could be interrogative and the second imperative. 13Köstenberger [John, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 425] notes that pisteuvw [pisteuō] “denotes personal relational trust, in keeping with OT usage.” 14Beasley-Murray [1987: 249] writes: “The world may appear to have gone mad, but the disciples must continue to believe in God as the sovereign Lord of creation.” 15Gundry [“In My Father’s House Are Many Monai (John 14:2),” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 58 (1967): 68-72] proposes that oijkiva [oikia; “house”] is reference to a “spiritual house,” and that monaiv [monai; “dwellings”] relates to the spiritual fellowship that exists within God’s house through the Spirit. It is better, and more natural, however, to see 14:2-3 referring to the “transcendent dwelling of God” [Beasley-Murray 1987: 249] and Christ’s preparation for His followers to dwell within that eschatological dwelling. 16Herman Ridderbos, The Gospel According to John, trans. J. Vriend (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 493. 17Rudolf Schnackenburg [The Gospel According to St. John, trans. C. Hastings, 3 vols. (New York: Crossroad, 1990), 3:65] proposes that “truth” [ajlhvqeia; alētheia] and “life” [zwhv; zōē] are epexegtical to “way” [oJdov~; hodos]. “By revealing the truth that leads to life and mediating that true life to the one who accepts and realizes that truth in faith, Jesus takes everyone who believes in him to the goal of his existence, that is ‘to the Father’; in this manner he becomes the ‘way.’” 18For succinct summary of the significance theological and christologically concerning 14:8-11, see especially Carson [1991: 494]. According to Woll [“The Departure of ‘The Way’: The First Farewell Discourse in the Gospel of John,” Journal of Biblical Literature 99 (1980): 230], 14:10-11 states that “Jesus is one with the Father.” 19With Beasley-Murray [1987: 254], I contend that the phrase, meivzona touvtwn [meizona toutōn], points not to more miraculous miracles. 20Carson [1991: 495-96] looks to John 5:20 as a key to interpreting 14:12 and concludes that Jesus is speaking of the greater understanding of Christ’s followers after His death and resurrection and the application of that understanding in the “new eschatological age that will then have dawned.” 21As Köstenberger [2004: 433-34] notes, this does not “involve magical incantations but rather expresses alignment of one’s desires and purposes with God (1 John 5:14-15).”


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22Calvin Mercer, “Jesus the Apostle: ‘Sending’ and the Theology of John,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 35 (December 1992): 462. As the “sent one,” Jesus “reveals the truth, confronts the world, and leads to salvation those who respond. His mission is continued through the Paraclete and the disciples.” 23Carson 1991: 499-500; Tenney; 1997: 220. 24C. K. Barrett [1978: 463] suggests that to; pneu`ma th`~ ajlhqeiav~ [to pneuma tēs alētheias] is best rendered “the Spirit who communicates truth.” 25Woll [“The Departure of ‘The Way’: The First Farewell Discourse in the Gospel of John,” Journal of Biblical Literature 99 (1980): 225-39] considers this discourse to draw connection between Jesus as the agent of the Father who then commissions His disciples as the agent of the Father, and the Spirit is the authority of this agency. 26Moloney [1998a: 43] writes: “Because Jesus still lives, a consequence of his departure from the world is his life-giving presence to the disciples.” 27C. K. Barrett 1978: 476. “The parallel shows that love and obedience are mutually dependent. Love arises out of obedience, obedience out of love.” 28Lindars [The Gospel of John, NCB (reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 482-83] notes that the idea of Christ’s manifestation [14:21; ejmfanivsw; emphanisō] that Christ makes of Himself is explained further in His statement of 14:23 that He and the Father “will come to him and make Our home with him.” Lindars concludes that this is not merely resurrection appearances, but it is “an interior apprehension of Jesus and the Father in the hearts of those who love Jesus.” 29C. K. Barrett 1978: 476. “The joy of Jesus springs out of His obedience to the Father and His unity with Him in love. The seal upon obedience and love is His ascent to the Father, and this should make His disciples rejoice.” 30Bruce [1983: 305] notes that Jesus offered “peace at heart which would banish anxiety and fear.” It is the peace of Christ which produces harmony among God’s people (Col 3:15). It is the peace of God “which stand sentry over their hearts and minds, preventing anxiety from gaining an entrance (Phil. 4:7).” 31Lindars [1982: 484] notes that this power is “the whole positive content of the abiding effects of the Resurrection.”


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Book of Glory: Farewell Discourse, Part 2 (15:1-16:33)

“I am the Vine” (15:1-16) Jesus used the imagery of the vine to show the powerful nourishment that we can have if we

are rightly connected to Him.1

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” (John 15:1-3, NKJV)

In the Old Testament, the vine was a symbol for Israel as the people of God.2 Yet, this imagery painted the negative side of things. God was showing through the picture of the

vine how that Israel had failed to produce fruit.3 In contrast to the failure of Israel, Jesus declares that He is the true vine. Jesus declares that He is the one true source for heavenly

life.4 1. The Work of the Vinedresser. As the Vinedresser, God is in control of every aspect of

the relationship between the vine and the branches.5 He has complete authority and control over the vineyard. Without God’s intervening care, there would be no life in the vine or in

the branches.6 God plows, plants, provides, and prunes the vineyard for His purpose and

glory.7

God removes the unproductive branches.8 Although some have suggested that the term points to lifting up branches so that they might receive greater exposure to the sun and

produce abundant fruit,9 it is more likely that the meaning is “to remove.”10 The Father

removes the branches that do not bear fruit.11 These are people who declare the name of

Jesus for their own, but they have no fruit-bearing evidence of a life transformed by Christ.12

It does become clear, however, that true Christians bear fruit.13 The second verb used in this verse is kaqaivrw [kathairō]. This term points to the process of pruning and cleansing the productive branches so that they might produce more fruit. The Father examines the lives of His children and removes those things that hinder the

productivity necessary for His glory.14 The disciples had already gone through the process of

purification.15 For those in whose hearts His words have taken root, Jesus has given them

the cleansing that they need.16 2. The Call to Abide. The theme in this passage is “abide.” In the original language, it

means simply to make your home in a particular place.17 To set down roots. To dwell in that

place.18


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“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:4-6, NKJV)

Jesus told His followers that the key to a nourished life is an abiding relationship with

Himself, in which He surrounds us and we immerse ourselves in Him.19 Our productivity comes through our surrender to Christ, living in the embrace of His love and in concert with

His will.20 Apart from Him, we can do nothing.21 For those who do not abide in Jesus,

destruction is promised.22 Communication (15:7-8). Our connection to Jesus grows as we listen and obey His Words. The connection between abiding in Christ and His words abiding in us is the strong

connection between Jesus and His words.23 Prayer that is dominated by Christ’s presence in

our lives will be answered, for our hearts will be consumed by His desire.24 Our hearts become fertile fields for the unleashing of God’s power and the display of His glory when we are constantly connected to Jesus. Abide in His love (15:9). The bearing of spiritual fruit in 15:8 is intricately connected to the

necessity of love in 15:9.25 The love of the Father through the Son is planted into our

hearts.26 The way the Father loved the Son is the model for how Jesus loves us.27 Jesus who loves us will also care for us. We live in Christ’s love and find a satisfied life. We find supreme comfort and joy when Jesus grips our hearts with an amazing love. Obey Him (15:10). Our obedience to the Father fosters the experience and inspiration of

our love for Him. If we say that we love Him, then we will be obedient to Him.28 The more

we love Him, the more we desire to obey Him.29 And the more we obey Him, the deeper the

intimacy we experience with Him.30 His joy (15:11). It’s a joy that is full and running over. This is the thought behind a joy that is full. It means that we have satisfaction regardless of the circumstances or pain that envelopes our hearts. We find joy on our journey through an intimate connection with Jesus

Christ that spills over into our hearts.31 We find joy when we embrace and savor the lifestyle of love – receiving love from Christ and giving His love to others. Love one another (15:12-17). Jesus loved with passion, and He was committed to fulfill the

mandate of His passionate love.32 Christ’s passionate love led Him to die upon a cross for God’s glory and the salvation of sinners. And it is this love that we must display for the world to see and others to experience.

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:12-13, NKJV)


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Jesus Christ’s death is more than an example of how to live. It is the payment price for our sin. He came to die for us because His love and our sin called Him to the cross. Jesus said, “I’m going to show you all the greatest love displayed by the greatest measure of loyalty. I will die for you!” Jesus chose us and gave us purpose (15:15-16). The mark of a follower of Christ is producing fruit. Our attitudes and actions reveal the life we have in Christ or its absence. Christ has chosen us to be His so that we might bring God pleasure with our lives.

Application 1. Make our home in Christ and His love. The way we taste love in all of its power is through connection with Jesus. He alone satisfies the soul with the love that we long to know. We need to focus on how Jesus has loved us. One reason we have such withered souls that lack a satisfying love is that we are not connecting to Jesus.

2. Cut away all conflicting affections. God prunes us for greater productivity.33 The Father examines the lives of His children and removes those things that hinder the

productivity necessary for His glory.34 What are the passions that need to be removed? Perhaps you’re thinking of those things in your life that you enjoy. They keep you from investing 100% of your life in God’s pleasure. 3. Share His love with others. One of the great questions we need to ask is how Jesus has loved us, and then share that same kind of love with others.

The World and the Work of the Spirit (15:17-16:15) Jesus blazed a trail. He set a path. He built a road for sinners to travel. In the final hours of His life, Jesus embarked upon a road of suffering, of pain, and of sorrow. But Jesus taught His followers that this road He traveled was a road to victory. Jesus was building a road to hope for humanity. This is the road that He traveled, and it is the road that we must travel in the midst of our confusion and chaos. If we are going to have hope today, then we must get on the road with Jesus. In the final days of Christ’s life on earth, He prepared His followers for the challenges and

crippling chaos they were about to face (15:18-20).35 When we live as representatives of

Christ in the church and in the world, we will face opposition.36 Our allegiance to Jesus will bring opposition from those who love the world more than they love God. But the pain of their rejection and opposition remains. The Spirit awakens hope in us (15:26-27). When we face persecution, Jesus gives us hope

because He has given us the Holy Spirit.37 The Spirit gives us the ability to proclaim the

gospel to the world that stands in opposition to us.38 Our response is to love well and witness. Now remember what Jesus commands us. He tells us to love one another (15:17). In a world in which God’s truth is maligned and opposed by


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the world, we must excel in love. As we love well, the Spirit awakens hope in God’s rescuing love for us. As we witness, the Spirit communicates to the world the truth of God’s rescuing

love for humanity through Jesus Christ.39

“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (John 16:8-11, NKJV)

Jesus gives us hope through the Spirit’s work in our lives and in the world. He unveils what God wants so that our hearts might be overwhelmed with the presence and purpose of

God.40 The Holy Spirit is on mission “to bear witness to Christ and to make Christ real to

men.”41 The Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.42 The Spirit reveals the truth of sin, demonstrates the pathway to righteousness, and warns of impending

judgment.43

Joy in the World (16:16-33) The disciples didn’t understand. They were confused by Christ’s words. But nothing that they heard on this night could have compared to the chaos that was going to erupt in their

world in a few hours.44 Jesus knew the confusion that swirled in the minds and hearts of His

followers, so He brought some clarity.45

“A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.” (John 16:21-22, NKJV)

1. Jesus gives hope that sorrow gives birth to joy. In the midst of crippling chaos and confusion, we need hope. Jesus declared that there would be sorrow for His followers, but their sorrow would be transformed into joy. The pain and confusion was about to hit them with unabated severity. Jesus was about to be

killed. And they would mourn and weep over His death.46 But Jesus declared that the sorrow of the cross would meet the everlasting joy of the empty tomb. The cross was a pathway to victory. He could see beyond the suffering to the new life that would result. The picture of a mother in anguish in child-birth is the picture of the sorrow that Christ’s death will create. The joy in the birth of her child is the picture of what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection. The same is true for those of us on this road to hope with Jesus. The pain may be unbearable. It may send us into a whirlwind of despair. But

Jesus promises joy that no one can take away.47 Perhaps, we’re on a road where we can see only the pain. And we can’t understand why God would stand around and let it happen. But Jesus begins to open our eyes toward the hope.


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Our pain has a purpose, just as His pain had a purpose. Our struggle will lead to one result when we follow Jesus faithfully. That result is joy! 2. We have hope in help from God. A portion of the joy that Christ’s followers will experience after His death and resurrection is intimate fellowship with the Father who will

help them personally and powerfully.48

“And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:23-24, NKJV)

“In that day” is the day of Christ’s resurrection and exaltation. It is the day in which He has gone to the Father and sent the Spirit. And through Jesus Christ, we have access to the

Father by the Spirit.49 Because we have loved Jesus and placed our faith in Him and live in

obedience to Him, God moves heaven and earth on our behalf and for His glory.50 3. Jesus gives hope in His victory. We will have troubles in the world. But the only way to find peace in this chaotic world and victory in our daily lives is to jettison the fear, the complacency, the self-sufficiency and come to Christ.

“Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:32-33, NKJV)

Jesus promises suffering and victory in these two verses. The certainty of suffering is apparent through the impending suffering of the Savior. Elsewhere, Jesus confirmed that His followers would suffer just as He suffered. But there is peace in the face of suffering.

Jesus declares that His followers may find peace in the midst of suffering (16:33).51 We find

peace when we follow Jesus on the road of hope.52 Friends, you and I will never find peace by avoiding God’s mission for our church. Jesus Christ is the One who brings peace to the believer in the midst of suffering. As the believer submits to Christ, suffering will certainly

come, but Jesus Himself brings the peace that overcomes the suffering.53 Jesus used this opportunity to warn His followers of impending suffering so that their minds would be

“calm and easy in the midst of affliction.”54 Jesus brings peace to His followers in the midst

of suffering by His victory over the world’s system of sin.55 For the believer, overcoming is

connected to Christ’s victory through faith (Rev 12:11).56 1The picture of this saying connects with the vine imagery of OT literature concerning Israel. Carson [The

Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 513], along with C. K. Barrett [The Gospel According to St. John, 2d ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 472-73], notes the plethora of ancient literature employing the vine imagery. He then suggests: “Two factors decisively decide the issue in favour of an Old Testament background: (a) the frequency of John’s appeals to the Old Testament, both in allusions and quotations; (b) the dominance in the Fourth Gospel of the ‘replacement’ motif (cf. notes on 2:19-22), for that motif strongly


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operates in this passage.” This “replacement” motif is the proposition that Jesus replaced the OT type (i.e., temple, vine) and fulfilled its purposes completely. 2See Ps 80:9-16; Isa 5:1-7, 27:2-6; Jer 2:21, 12:10-13; Eze 15:1-8, 17:1-21, 19:10-14; Hos 10:1-2. 3Carson 1991: 513. 4Merrill C. Tenney, John, The Gospel of Belief, An Analytic Study of the Text (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976; reprint 1997), 227. Tenney indicates that the adjective, ajlhqinhv, means “genuine” or “real.” In this sense, he concludes that the first essential ingredient in relationship to life is the possession of the “right stock.” Jesus, therefore, declares that He is “the one true stock . . . the source of the heavenly life of the spiritual vine.” See, Merrill C. Tenney, “Literary Keys to the Fourth Gospel – Part IV: The Imagery of John,” Bibliotheca Sacra 121 (1964): 18. Here Tenney writes: “The dominant position of Christ is stated in the initial sentence, ‘I am the true [real] vine’ (15:1). The purity and vigor of the original stock is of prime importance, for no vine can produce better fruit than its nature will create. Christ is the ultimate source of the Christian life, since its vitality and incentive are derived from Him. The greater part of the discourse on the vine concerns the function of the disciples. In order to bear fruit they must maintain a direct connection with the stock, which supplies their nourishment. Dead wood, which can never be productive, and which may harbor disease, must be removed, and even the live shoots must be pruned in order that they may yield a larger crop.” 5C. K. Barrett [1978: 473] suggests that gewrgov" [geōrgos] shows that God “is in supreme control of the whole process.” 6Westcott [The Gospel According to St John, 2 vols. (London: Murray, 1908), 217] suggests that there would be no life in the vine if the vine-dresser did not tend it. 7J. Carl Laney [“Abiding is Believing: The Analogy of the Vine in John 15:1-6,” Bibliotheca Sacra 146 (January 1989): 56] notes that “He does the plowing, planting, watering, and pruning. The vineyard is under His sovereign care and authority.” 8Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Christian Literature, trans. W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich, 2d ed., eds. F. W. Gingrich and F. W. Danker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), Hereafter cited; BAGD, s. v., “ai[rw,” 24. The significance of ai[rw [airō] in verse 2 is important. The term can mean to lift up, take up, take away, or remove. 9James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of John, 5 vols. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978), 4:228. 10A. Plummer, The Gospel according to St. John (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1889), 287; R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1961), 1029; Leon Morris, The Gospel according to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971), 669. 11Barrett [1978: 473] sees this removal in reference to apostate Christians. However, Köstenberger [John, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 452] insists that “the NT as a whole acknowledges the existence of those who sustain some type of connection with Jesus but who nonetheless end up failing to exemplify the perseverance that would mark them as truly transformed, spiritually reborn individuals.” 12For a summary of these views and those who hold them, see Laney 1989: 60-64. Morris [1971: 603] calls this “transitory belief” by which an individual has an outward profession of faith but who does not surrender to Him in the fullness of faith. 13Carson [1991: 515] rightly notes that this is the “transparent purpose” of this verse. He concludes that “fruitfulness is an infallible mark of true Christianity.”


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14Laney [1989: 57] writes: “As the vinedresser cuts away what would hinder the productivity of the vine, so God the Father, through loving discipline (cleansing, purging, purifying), removes things from the lives of believers that do not contribute to their spiritual fruitfulness.” 15Barrett 1978: 474. 16Indeed, as Bruce [The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 308-309] suggests, Christ’s word “is the means used by the Father to perform his work of pruning.” 17Beasley-Murray [John, WBC (Dallas: Word, 1987), 272] suggests that the “deeper significance” of mevnw [menō] moves beyond “simply to continue to believe in him.” It describes our “continuing to live in association or union with him.” 18Hauck, s. v., “mevnw, ktl,” in TDNT, 4:574-76. “After the analogy of the personal statement Jn. uses mevnein ejn for the abiding of the expressions of divine life in believers. . . . Believers, too, abide in divine things. . . . Here again the relationship of salvation is both enduring and present.” 19Moloney [Glory not Dishonor: Reading John 13-21 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998), 57] demonstates the importance of mevnw [menō] in this passage, appearing in various forms seven times in 15:1-11. He suggests that “to abide means to bear fruit and to live in the love of Jesus (see vv. 4a, 5, 7, 9, 10); not to abide means to die and to be destroyed (see vv. 4b; 5b; 6).” 20Spiritual faithfulness demands “continuous dependence on the vine, constant reliance upon him, persistent imbibing of his life” [Carson 1991: 516]. 21Köstenberger [2004: 454] notes that “external, apparent growth, that is not fueled by pulsating life within is not indicative of true spiritual life.” 22Segovia [“The Theology and Provenance of John 15:1-17,” Journal of Biblical Literature 101 (1982): 121-22] considers 15:1-8 to be a controversy surrounding the person of Jesus among His followers. He concludes that “believers must not abandon the original message, the original understanding of the Christ that made them believers. A failure to abide in that message, he warns, will mean not only separation from ‘the vine,’ but ultimate destruction as well.” Thus, Segovia promotes the loss of salvation for believers who are apostate. Köstenberger [2004: 454-55] concludes the matter differently. He suggests that the judgment falls upon those “who appear to be members in good standing in the Christian community” but in reality were “never truly to have been part of it in the first place” with Judas Iscariot as the “paradigmatic example.” Thus, Köstenberger does not consider this verse pointing to the loss of salvation for believers, but rather a judgment befalling those who only appeared to be followers of Christ. Beasley-Murray [John, WBC (Dallas: Word, 1987), 273] considers the imagery of 15:6 and remarks that it “vividly portrays the useless of such as do not remain in the Vine and their rejection by the Vinedresser.” He acknowledges that such a general statement would have brought to mind Judas and the “many Antichrists.” 23Brown [The Gospel According to John, 2 vols., AB (Garden City: Doubleday, 1967, 1970), 2:662] writes: “Jesus and his revelation are virtually interchangeable, for he is incarnate revelation.” 24Köstenberger [2004: 455] writes: “Because of growing conformity to Jesus’ teaching, obedient believers will be effective in their prayers, since these will be uttered in accordance to God’s will.” 25Rudolf Schnackenburg, The Gospel According to St. John, trans. C. Hastings, 3 vols. (New York: Crossroad, 1990), 3: 103. 26Ridderbos [The Gospel According to John, trans. J. Vriend (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 518] suggests that “verses 9-17 are linked closely with vss. 1-8 and need to be understood completely within that context. The vine is not mentioned again apart from an allusion in vs. 16, but with the aid of the vine imagery vss. 1-8 have described a framework that is filled in vss. 9-17.”


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27Köstenberger [2004: 456] suggests that this love of the Father is “the basis for his entrusting the Son with his mission.” 28C. K. Barrett 1978: 476. “The parallel shows that love and obedience are mutually dependent. Love arises out of obedience, obedience out of love.” 29Paul Minear, Images of the Church in the New Testament (reprint, Philadelphia: Westminster, 1977), 42. The power of obedience breeds a powerful love. And this powerful love for Christ demands obedience. The two fit hand in glove with one another. Minear suggests that this image of vine and branches is a minor picture of the church. He further suggests that this image demonstrates the relationship of intimacy through showing the “interdependence of obedience and love (vs. 9-10).” 30C. K. Barrett [1978: 476] writes that “the joy of Jesus springs out of His obedience to the Father and His unity with Him in love. The seal upon obedience and love is His ascent to the Father, and this should make His disciples rejoice.” 31Ridderbos [1997: 519] writes: “To remain in Jesus’ love is at the same time to share in his joy, a joy Jesus finds in being loved and sent by the Father and in carrying out the Father’s commandments.” 32G. B. Caird, “The Glory of God in the Fourth Gospel: An Exercise in Biblical Semantics,” New Testament Studies 15 (1968-69): 266. Caird notes concerning verse 31 that “all the actors [including Judas who has just departed] in the drama, and Jesus in particular, are committed to their courses of action, which make the crucifixion virtually accomplished.” These words in 13:31-33 are a reflection of His commitment to the cross. 33The second verb used in 15:2 is kaqaivrw [kathairō]. This term points to the process of pruning and cleansing the productive branches so that they might produce more fruit. 34J. Carl Laney [1989: 57] suggests that “as the vinedresser cuts away what would hinder the productivity of the vine, so God the Father, through loving discipline (cleansing, purging, purifying), removes things from the lives of believers that do not contribute to their spiritual fruitfulness.” 35On the division of this section (16:4-33), see R. E. Brown, The Gospel According to John (XIII-XX1), AB (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970), 709. The passage we are examining is the final portion of this discussion (16:16-33) is preparation of the disciples for Christ’s departure and His appearance. Jesus promises peace to “his disciples as they face the tribulations of the in-between time” [Francis Moloney, Glory not Dishonor: Reading John 13-21 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998), 79]. 36The picture of persecution becomes clear in John 15:18-16:4. Because Christ has chosen them, they are not “of the world” (15:16, 18-19). This electing love of Christ to choose them for His own, not according to their merit but according to God’s purpose, is the basis for continuing humility as they live as Christ’s ambassador’s in the world [See D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 525]. Because of their relationship with Christ, the world will persecute them just as the world persecuted Christ. If the world persecutes Jesus, then His followers can expect persecution; if, on the other hand, individuals receive His message, then they will receive the message brought to them through Christ’s followers (15:20). As Ridderbos [The Gospel According to John, trans. J. Vriend (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 524] rightly notes, the disciples have no control over how people will receive the message they proclaim, but the response of people depends upon their view of Jesus Christ Himself. 37Ridderbos [The Gospel According to John, trans. J. Vriend (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 523] notes that Jesus departs so that He might send the Spirit, “as the Spirit of truth and the guide for the future, [who] will continue Jesus’ work on earth and provide his disciples with everything that they will need for that future.” 38Peter Stuhlmacher, Vom Verstehen des Neuen Testaments: Eine Hermeneutik (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1986), 53. “The Gospel of John emphatically declares that the testimony of Jesus of the post-Easter


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community was empowered and born by the Spirit-Paraclete (John 16:7ff.). With the biblical martyria it is generally a question of a word-testimony which equips humanity for the knowledge and proclamation of God in the power of the Holy Spirit.” (My translation) The German Text: “das Johannesevangelium erklärt ausdrücklich, das Jesuszeugnis der nachösterlichen Gemeinde sei vom Geist-Parakleten bevollmächtigt und getragen (Joh 16,7ff.). Bei der biblischen martyria handlet es sich also durchgängig um ein Wortzeugnis in der Kraft des den Menschen zur Erkenntnis und zur Verkündigung Gottes befähigenden hl. Geistes.” 39Rudolph Bultmann, The Gospel of John, trans. George R. Beasley-Murray (Oxford: Blackwell, 1971), 553-54. Bultmann suggests that “the Spirit is the power of the proclamation in the community.” 40John Frame, “The Spirit and the Scriptures,” in Hermeneutics, Authority, and Canon, eds. D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986), 231. The role of the Spirit, according to John Frame, is to meet the need in believers “for inward change, a need to reconcile ourselves to what God has already revealed.” 41W. T. Conner, The Work of the Holy Spirit (Nashville: Broadman, 1940), 89-90. 42This is the work of the Spirit in 16:7-11. The key term in these verses is “convict” [ejlevgcw; elegchō]. Büchsel [s. v. “ejlevgcw,” TDNT, 2:474] suggests that ejlevgcw [elegchō] usually means “to show someone his sin and to summon him to repentance.” Bultmann [1971: 564-65] posits a legal setting in which the Spirit stands as the prosecuting attorney. I. De la Potterie [La Vérité dans Saint Jean, 2 vols. (Rome: PBI, 1977), 2:404: “démontrer l’erreur ou les torts de quelqu’un.”] indicates that “to convict” in this passage is “to demonstrate the error or the wrongs of somebody.” 43Walter Bauer, Das Johannesevangelium (Tübingen: Mohr, 1933), 149. He writes, “die drei o{ti-Sätze 9-11 gehen an, inwiefern der Geist bezüglich der genannten Dinge die Welt zu ihrer Beschämung überführt.” The translation is: “the three o{ti-sentences concern, in what way the Spirit condemns regarding the named entity the world to its humiliation.” 44The significance of the term, mikro;n [16:16; mikron; “little while”], is debated among interpreters. D. A. Carson [The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 542-43] suggests that the “little while” that the disciples will not see Him refers to His crucifixion, and the “little while” when they will see Him again refers to the resurrection. Another possibility is that the time in which the disciples will not see Jesus refers, not to His death, but to His ascension. The time when they will see Him again refers, not to His resurrection, but to His second coming. Francis Moloney [Glory not Dishonor, 90 n. 30], however, indicates that the “little while” that the disciples will not see Jesus refers to His ascension, and the “little while” when they will see Him again “will be associated with the worshiping community in the time of the Paraclete.” C. K. Barrett [The Gospel According to St. John, 2d ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 491] points to the tension of the two possible options. He notes that “by this ambiguity John means to convey that the death and resurrection were themselves eschatological events which both prefigured and anticipated the final events [at the parousia].” I have opted for Carson’s view, although Moloney’s position is attractive. 45D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 543. Carson suggests that Jesus recognizes their confusion and “repeats his comment while preparing to address their confusion. That John includes double repetition of the words in v. 16 (vv. 17, 19) argues that he sees this departure ‘in a little while’ and return ‘after a little while’ as utterly central to the themes he has been developing in these chapters.” 46George R. Beasley-Murray, John, WBC (Dallas: Word, 1987), 285. He notes that the verb, qrhnhvsete [thrēnēsete] “indicates the singing of funeral dirges; in Luke 23:27 it is conjoined with the beating of breasts by women as they follow Jesus to his crucifixion.”


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47Jesus is speaking not merely of the end-time in this passage; but more specifically He refers to seeing His followers again in His resurrection. As Ridderbos [The Gospel According to John, 539] suggests, with His resurrection, “the great joy of seeing him again will put an end to the torment of uncertainty.” 48Andreas Köstenberger [John, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 477] writes: “Not only will seeing Jesus again on the other side of the cross put an end to the disciples’ confusion as to Jesus’ departure and the two ‘little whiles,’ but also Jesus having died and been raised will open for them the way to prayer to the Father in Jesus’ name.” 49Bruce [The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 323] considers the use of ejrwtavw [erōtaō]. It signifies asking a question, asking for something from someone. In the context of this passage, then, Jesus is pointing out that His abiding presence will be a reality in their lives through the presence of the Spirit. As such, we will go directly to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ because we have been given access to Him through the presence of the Spirit (see Eph 2:18). 50I concur with Carson [The Gospel According to John, 547] that 16:26-27 is a restatement of John 15:9-16. 51D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 550. The key phrase in this verse is ejn ejmoi; [en emoi]. Carson states, “Whatever the trouble, the peace prevails” through connection with Christ. Carson notes that this phrase points to Christ’s earlier image of the vine (15:1-6). 52Joseph C. Dillow, “Abiding is Remaining in Fellowship: Another Look at John 15:1-6,” Bibliotheca Sacra 147 (January 1990): 47-48. Dillow contends that this phrase [ejn ejmoi;; en emoi] points to “unity of purpose and fellowship” rather than the organic unity found in Pauline epistles. This unity of purpose and fellowship is demonstrated by a lifestyle of obedience to Christ. He writes: “The experience of peace in the midst of persecution comes only to believers who are obediently walking in His commandments and aligned with His purposes. “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace” (John 16:33). John’s writings and the rest of the New Testament confirm that salvation does not automatically result in an experience of peace in the midst of trials. Only when a believer is in Christ in the sense of walking in fellowship with Him does he have peace (Phil 4:6–7).” 53Gary Meadors, “John R. W. Stott on Social Action,” Grace Theological Journal 1 (Fall 1980): 138. Meadors further writes, “The NT predominantly uses peace in a spiritual, salvific, and ecclesiastical context (cf., e.g., Rom 5:1; 12:18; 15:13,33; 14:19; 1 Cor 14:33; Eph 4:3; 2 Tim 2:22; Heb 12:14). Deity is referred to as ‘the God of peace’ (Rom 16:20; 2 Cor 13:11) and Christ is the founder of peace (John 16:33; Eph 2:14ff; Luke 2:14 ASV). There is a distinct absence of political usage. Peace in the NT is related to Deity and to those who have submitted to the Deity. It is not a term for the unsaved man or the secular world.” 54John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel of John, at John 16:33. CO 47.374: “Volumus…in mediis afflictionibus tranquillas habere et solutas mentes.” 55Note the perfect tense of nikavw [nikaō]. In Aristophanes, the papyri, the inscriptions, and Josephus the term means to conquer in a legal action. In the Rom 3:4 it has the legal sense of “winning the case.” In 1 John nika'n [nikan] is used to refer to the participation of Christians in Christ’s victory over Satan and the world (1 John 2:13-14; 5:4a, 4b, 5). 56See A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures, 6.300. He writes, “nikāo [is] a common Johannine verb (John 16:33; 1 John 2:13f; 4:4; 5:4f; Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 5:5; 12:11; 15:2; 17:14; 21:7). Faith is dominant in Paul, victory in John, faith is victory (I John 5:4).”


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Book of Glory: Prayer of Jesus (17:1-26)

Prayer is calling upon God.1 Powerful prayer comes through intimate honesty with God. Jesus got alone with God to receive the power He needed to accomplish God’s purpose. He was facing the greatest challenge of His earthly life: the cross. And so He talked with God about it. The very content of His prayer contains the power we need to taste joy, even in the face of troubling circumstances. Jesus found joy in the face of the cross (Heb 12:1-2), and His prayer for us shows us how we can taste His joy each day (17:13). In John 17 the prayer of the Lord Jesus to His Father reveals His own personal priorities. In verses 1–5, the emphasis is on God the Father. “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” Then in verses 6–19, He prayed for “those whom you gave me out of the world” (v. 6). He prayed for their protection (vv. 11, 15) and their joy (v. 13). And in verses 20–26 His praying extended to the world (“that the world may believe,” [v. 21 ], “to let the world

know” [v. 23 ]).2

Prayer for Glorification (17:1-5) Jesus submitted Himself to God so that He might be a living, visible demonstration of

God’s presence, power, honor, and love in the world.3 Jesus displayed God’s splendid activity of love to the world. Jesus describes in His personal moment with the Father the purpose that we are to have as we follow Him. We are here to shine for God’s honor and fame, to live for Him in this

world, to display His honor, fame, and love in such a way that others seek to praise Him.4 The supreme ambition of Christ was to glorify God by delivering eternal life to others. He

came to bring those far from God near to Him.5 God sent Jesus to change lives for eternity. He gave His Son authority to bring humanity the most extravagant display of love ever

imagined. This is Christ’s supreme mission: to bring eternal life to all humanity.6 Just as it was for Jesus, so it is for His followers. We exist to clothe the Father in splendor so that the world might see His love and fame and honor. We exist to shine and to share, to bring eternal life to those who are stuck in darkness so that they might know God personally and intimately. Changed lives through Jesus is our priority.

Prayer for His Disciples (17:6-19) As Jesus began to pray for His followers, He revealed how that He had shared eternal life and the pathway to a joyful life. Jesus has unveiled God to the disciples (17:6). This “revealing” has come through His entire ministry, including His impending death and

resurrection.7 The “name” of the Father, which Jesus revealed, encompasses the essence and

nature of God.8 Jesus imparts to us the instructions and implications of the divine message

so that we live each day knowing that He came from the Father.9


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1. Joyful Purpose (17:10). Jesus prayed for His followers. They believed that Jesus was sent

by God to show them the way to God.10 And Jesus prayed for them. He had an urgency that they would continue to pursue God’s purpose in the world. Jesus brought glory to God by

doing the work God had given Him to do.11 What is that work? To give eternal life to as many as the Father had given to Him. In verse 10, Jesus declared that His followers, the church, would bring Him glory. We bring Him glory in the same way that He brought His Father glory: giving eternal life to others. God invites us to join Him in His grand purpose. His purpose becomes our purpose. Christ prays that we might put on the front-burner of our hearts God’s purpose fulfilled in our lives and through our church. This is the pathway to joy. A joyful church is the gathering of God’s people committed to glorify God through continuing Christ’s mission on earth. 2. Joyful Protection (17:11-19). Jesus prayed that His followers would be protected from evil as they pursued God’s passion. In verse 11, Jesus already asked the Father to keep His

followers secure by the power of His name.12 Now, in verse 14, Jesus declares that His followers need protection because they are living in hostile territory. So, He asks the Father, not to remove them from the world, but to protect them from the enemy (17:15-17). We live in hostile territory as followers of Christ. We’re in a battle, but it’s not a battle against flesh and blood. It’s a spiritual battle and we need God’s help. Jesus teaches us to pray for protection from evil (2 Cor 10:4), so that we might continue Christ’s mission on the

earth (17:18).13 A joyful church is the gathering of God’s people committed to honor God through continuing Christ’s mission on the earth, not cocooned from the world, but living powerfully for God’s glory in the world.

Prayer for Those Who Will Believe (17:20-26) Our church brings God glory as we unite together as His people consumed by His love for God and for others. Not consumed by our own desires, intentions, or agenda. Consumed by His love and walking together with His heart beating so loudly in our ears that all other passions are driven from our thoughts. Jesus brings us together in a beautiful unity with the Father and the Son. The unity we experience is not in conformity to one another. Rather, it is the unity of purpose: “that the

world may believe.”14 Jesus asks for the Father to immerse His followers in the glory that the Father had given Him. The love of the Father for the Son was active even before the

foundations of the world were laid.15 The wondrous message that gives us joy is that God sent Jesus to rescue us by His death. It is the message of His love toward us that brings powerful unity of life and purpose and heart among His followers. The Father loved the Son and His love empowered Jesus to fulfill the mission of rescue. And the love of the Father pours through the Son to His followers so that

we may declare God’s glory and life to our world.16


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A joyful church is the gathering of God’s people committed to honor God through continuing Christ’s mission on the earth, not cocooned from the world, but living powerfully for God’s glory in the world, united with Him and with one another in His glorious love. Jesus is ready to fulfill His mission and go to the cross, for His disciples are filled with the

joy that He has given them and ready to take on His mission to change the world.17 1H. Greeven, s.v. “eujcomai ktl.,” TDNT, 2:800-808. The verb, proseuvcomai [proseuchomai], denotes the act of calling on God. 2Ray Ortland, “A Biblical Philosophy of Ministry, Part I: Priorities for the Local Church,” Bibliotheca Sacra 138 (1981): 5-6. 3Gerhard von Rad, s. v., “dovxa,” TDNT, 2:238-42. Von Rad suggests that the use of dwboK; [kābôd] in the OT signifies the self-manifestation of God to the world of humanity. In relation to the theme of hope, it signifies God’s salvation made available to us. 4D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 556. Carson writes: “Throughout his ministry Jesus has brought glory to God on earth – i.e. Jesus has so clothed the Father with splednour that many human beings (creatures of the earth, not of heaven) have come to praise him.” 5Ronald E. Man, “The Value of Chiasm for New Testament Interpretation,” Bibliotheca Sacra 141 (April 84): 150-51. He offers the following chiastic structure to the High Priestly prayer:

A Father, glorify the Son (v. 1c) B The Son will glorify the Father (v. 1d) C Those given by the Father to the Son (v. 2a–c) D Eternal life (v. 2d) D’ Eternal life (v. 3a) C’ Those who know the Father and the Son (v. 3b) B’ The Son has glorified the Father (v. 4) A’ Father, glorify the Son (v. 5).

He writes: “The central elements (D and D’) speak of eternal life, and the C and C’ elements describe those who receive it, from a divine perspective (given by the Father and the Son) and a human perspective (they know the Father and the Son). This central emphasis is an important observation in this first section of Christ’s high-priestly prayer, for it is only in this section that Christ asks anything for Himself. Yet even here the emphasis is on believers (those who have received eternal life), who are the focus of the rest of the prayer. The center point of the chiasm prepares for this focus in the prayer as a whole. “Being given” and “knowing” are prominent themes in the rest of the prayer as well (vv. 6–9, 12, 22–26). The emphases of this introductory structure in John 17 set the tone and theme of the whole chapter.” 6Carson [1991: 556] writes: “the gift of authority to the Son, consequent upon his death and exaltation, has as its end that all those whom the Father has given to the Son should be given eternal life (v. 2).” 7Carson 1991: 558. 8See especially Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John, 2 vols., AB (Garden City: Doubleday, 1967, 1970), 2: 755. 9On 17:8, Lindars [The Gospel of John, NCB (reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 522] notes that Jesus had given His disciples “the words which You have given Me.” These “words” are the rJhvmata [rJhma; rhēma], as


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distinct from lovgo~ [logos] in 17:6. The latter refers to divine message, or the gospel. The picture of rJhvmata [rhēmata] is “the various specific injunctions of the divine message.” 10Carson [The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 558-59] examines the claim of Jesus about these followers, that they to;n lovgon sou tethvrhkan [ton logon sou tetērēkan; they have guarded Your word]. The disciples had not to that point been the epitome of obedience to the commands of Christ. And yet, according to Carson, when Jesus uses the singular “the word” He is most often pointing to the whole of the message from God, almost synonymous to the “gospel.” Carson notes that the disciples “had not displayed the mature conformity to the details of Jesus’ teaching, but they had committed themselves unreservedly to Jesus as the Messiah, the one who truly reveals the Father.” 11Carson [1991: 556-57] evaluates the intent of Christ’s words, “I have glorified You on the earth.” The question is whether Jesus thought of His earthly ministry up to the point of His prayer, or “proleptically includes His obedience unto death, the death that lies immediately ahead.” With Carson, I believe that Jesus was envisioning the fulfillment of His earthly ministry, included the upcoming passion of the cross. 12F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 332. Bruce notes that the phrase in verse 11, ejn tw/ ojnovmativ sou [en tō onomati sou; by Your name], is synonymous with God’s power. He demonstrates that “the name of God in the OT denotes not only his character (as in verse 6 above), but also his power.” 13George Beasley-Murray, John, WBC (Dallas: Word, 1987), 298. He notes that Jesus prays for His disciples, for they “have been chosen to help the Church to fulfill its calling, which is none other than to reveal and to continue the mission of its Lord to the world.” 14Herman Ridderbos [The Gospel According to John, trans. J. Vriend (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 560] notes that the unity of the Son with the Father and Christ’s followers toward each other is “the unity and reciprocal immanence between him and the Father as it comes to light in the performance of the divine work of salvation.” 15B. F. Westcott [The Gospel According to St John, 2 vols. (London: Murray, 1908), 2:260] rightly notes that this points to the “personal pre-existence of Christ. The thought of an eternal love active in the depths of divine Being presents, perhaps, as much as we can faintly apprehend of the doctrine of the essential Trinity.” 16Gerald Borchert [John 12-21, NAC (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2002), 208] writes: “Oneness is a means to enable the world to realize what God has been doing. The marvelous message is that God sent Jesus on an important mission to the world and that he not only loved his beloved Son but that he also loved the train of disciples who are fulfilling that continuing mission to the world. Accordingly, this verse [17:23] reflects the significance love plays in the Farewell Cycle (cf. 13:34-35) and particularly in the core at 15:12-17.” 17Andreas Köstenberger [John, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 499] writes: “As he concludes his prayer, Jesus reiterates his conviction that his disciples have truly come to know the Father in him. With this assurance, Jesus is prepared to die, for he had ensured that subsequent to his departure there remains a circle of his followers able to proclaim the true knowledge of God to others.”


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Book of Glory: Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus (18:1-19:42)

For some the cross is a sign of nostalgia, reminding them of a family heritage. For others the cross is a spiritual talisman, creating some link to supernatural forces. Many see the cross as merely a decorative item to help them glam up for the Oscars. Yet, the meaning of the cross

is not so flippant as mere decoration.1

The cross stands preeminently in the life of the Christian.2 Indeed, the cross stands at the

center of the gospel of Christ.3 To understand the cross is essential to find fulfillment in

life.4 Jesus died to fulfill God’s plan and to offer forgiveness to you and me.

John writes to a church under pressure.5 The cast of characters in John 18 stood in the courtroom of eternity and had to decide the answer to the question: “What is True?” and “What will I do with it?” Is what Jesus said and did true?

Arrest (18:1-11) Jesus revealed Himself to be the fulfillment of God’s promise to the world.

• Promise of Love that pays the ultimate price for our salvation (John 3:16).

• Promise of Life and Forgiveness, our Sustenance and Strength (John 6).

• Promise of Light that gives us the power to live (John 8:12).

• Promise of Care that gives us the Best Life (John 10:10).

• Promise of Resurrection and Life, a fantastic future for a fanatic faith (John 11:25-26).

• Promise of Strength and Comfort in Extravagant Worship (John 12:1-8).

• Promise of Joy on our journey through this life (John 15:1-17). We come to the close of Christ’s earthly ministry. His walk through the streets of Jerusalem and down the hallway of humanity leads to the cross. It is at this crossroad that the folly meets the future. For Judas, Jesus didn’t act right (18:2-3). He should have brought about a glorious revolution to overthrow the Gentiles. Judas wanted profit instead the Bread of Life. Some choose to reject Jesus because they don’t see the profit that He can deliver in this life or in the future. Like Judas, they refuse to accept that He is the true Bread from Heaven who satisfies. Judas teams with the Pharisees, who then deploy temple officers and Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus. The imagery of this scene is unmistakable. Judas, “the Jews,” and the Romans combine forces; “the world did not know Him” and “His own people did not receive Him” (1:10-11). The Jews and the Romans, carrying their own torches of light, came to extinguish

the light of the world.6


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The portrait of Jesus in this passage is one of grief, but not one of surprise. As Judas gave Jesus over with a betrayal, Jesus approached the soldiers who had come to arrest Him

knowing what was about to happen.7 When the soldiers said that they were searching for Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus answers, “I am” (18:5). Although not all scholars consider this to be an “I am” statement, yet for the readers of John’s Gospel those two words “I am” [ejgwv eijmi;; egō eimi] are now filled with the significance of the God Himself operating as

Savior to the world.8 Jesus, in the face of His own torturous death, continues to care for those around Him (18:8-9). In His prayer, Jesus declared that He had lost none that the Father had given to Him (17:12). He, therefore, protects His disciples’ freedom from His fate by calling the soldiers to

let them go their way, for they have a mission to fulfill.9 Jesus declared His mission and message: to pursue humanity with the power to experience

life through His own death. This is the cup that He had to drink (18:11).10 Peter’s

revolutionary desire would not stop Jesus from fulfilling His mission.11 Rather than focusing upon His own struggle, Jesus set the cup of God’s wrath for humanity’s sin to His lips as He initiates His Passion.

Trial Before Annas and Peter’s Denials (18:12-27) There were two trials to convict Jesus: a Jewish trial and a Roman trial. Taking Jesus to Annas (18:12-14, 19-24) was an informal hearing while the Sanhedrin was assembled. In John’s Gospel, we have record of the meeting before Annas, while the Synoptic Gospel record the formal Jewish trial before Caiaphas (Matt 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65; Luke 22:66-71). For Annas and the Sanhedrin, Jesus was a threat to their power. The Sanhedrin wanted power and influence, not the radical work of Jesus. Some choose to reject Jesus because He gets in the way of their way of life. They would rather keep on with their delusional living than submit to the glorious life that Jesus offers.

Jesus is questioned by Annas (18:19).12 Such a procedure was improper in formal Jewish trials, because the case against someone rested on the testimony of others. If this were a

formal trial, then the questioning bespeaks the farce that it was.13 It is more likely, however,

that the appearance before Annas was informal.14 Annas asks about His “doctrine,” which

demonstrates that the concern of the Jewish leaders was the theological teachings of Jesus.15

However, the underlying concern was the size of His following.16

Jesus does not rise to the bait. Annas was hoping for Jesus to incriminate Himself.17 He

already knew what Jesus was teaching.18 Jesus makes the point that what He taught was consistent throughout His ministry. Even though He taught His disciples privately, He did not teach them in such a way as to plot a conspiracy. His teaching was consistently the same

in public and private.19 Annas therefore sent Jesus to Caiaphas (18:24).


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Peter’s denials of Jesus are well-known (18:17, 25-27). The atmosphere for his denial had been set. His leader was arrested and the struggle and stress of the clamoring to kill Jesus was weighing on his heart. When confronted by individuals, including a relative of the man whom Peter injured with his sword, Peter denied Jesus. This is the one who said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Unlike Jesus, Peter wilts in the

face of the pressure.20 And then the rooster crows (13:38).

Trial Before Pilate (18:28-19:16) For Pilate, Jesus was a hindrance to his position. Like Pilate, some reject Jesus because accepting Him would cost too much. Even though Pilate didn’t see anything wrong with Jesus, he wouldn’t put himself in a position to accept Him because of the political backlash it would create. Some reject Jesus because the backlash of accepting Him is too great.

With all its drama and its theology, John’s account of the trial is the most consistent and intelligible we have. Only John makes it clear why Jesus was brought to Pilate in the first place and why Pilate gave in and had Jesus crucified. . . . John makes it lucidly clear that at the outset Pilate is asking Jesus about a political charge that has been made against

him, a charge that would make him a threat to the Emperor.21

Jesus was born to unveil the truth of God to the world (18:37).22 Yet, Pilate was mired in the mud of uncertainty, even declaring that he couldn’t comprehend truth itself. He refuses to

embrace “Jesus’ revelation-invitation” to enter into the kingdom of God.23 The crowds also failed to embrace the life that Jesus offered (18:39-40). Pilate ironically offers them a choice between Barabbas, a known criminal, and Jesus, “the king of the Jews.”

The title that Pilate gives Jesus is mocking, not Jesus, but the charges leveled against Him.24

The crowd chose Barabbas.25 Even though he saw no fault in Jesus, he sentenced Him to die

due to his political desire to compromise and maintain order in the fear of chaos.26 Jesus was sentenced to death. He was flogged and mocked (19:1-3). Pilate again contended that he found no fault in Jesus (19:4). He sought to escape the noose he felt tightening around his neck. But the Jewish leaders called even louder for the death of Jesus. In a stunning moment, Pilate asks Jesus:

Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” (John 19:10–11, NKJV)

Jesus contends that God’s sovereignty is still supreme.27 Although Pilate was the one who could order His death, Jesus declared that God was in charge and that Caiaphas (or perhaps Judas) was more at fault than Pilate in sinning against God in this event. Ultimately, Jesus sees God’s hand moving though the stench of evil to bring about His loving purpose.


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The Death and Burial of Jesus (19:17-42) Imagine with me the setting. Jesus has been cruelly beaten and tortured. He has been led away to be killed upon the cross. As He hangs upon the beam, Jesus looks down and sees His mother. In that moment of deep sorrow and suffering, Jesus thought of His mother’s pain and her future (19:26-27). Today, we follow Christ’s example of selfless concern. It is most likely that Joseph has already died, and that the care for Mary was relegated to the oldest son, Jesus. With the biblical mandate bursting in Christ’s compassionate heart, He considers how to honor His

mother as He is being killed. He entrusted His mother to the disciple whom He loved.28 As He hung upon the cross, Jesus knew that He had completed all that God had given Him

to do.29 His death was the final note to His song of fulfillment. The final prophecy to be

fulfilled under Christ’s watch was the acknowledgment of His thirst.30 Now, He could cry,

“It is finished!”31 We live under the banner of guilt and shame because of our sin. God is holy and He demands holiness. How can a sinner offer the necessary payment for sin? He cannot. We

owe God a debt that we cannot pay.32 We have nothing with which to offer God as

satisfaction for sin.33 Our entire being, every particle of our person, has been infected with

the corruption of sin.34 Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” He had satisfied the holiness of God

and made a way for the forgiveness of sinners through His death.35 Jesus covers our sin with His sacrifice. Jesus Christ has completed the work of covering

sin.36 He has fully satisfied the demands of God’s holiness.37 He has shed His blood to offer

forgiveness to sinners like you and me.38 For God’s purposes to be fulfilled, Jesus died to cover sin with His sacrifice. Jesus came,

God-in-flesh, to defeat the devil and set things right between humanity and God.39 Jesus

took your place on the chopping block of sin. He is our substitute.40 He had satisfied the holiness of God and made a way for the forgiveness of sinners. Jesus sets us free from sin’s chain. Sin has bound us and we cannot set ourselves free from

the bondage. Jesus gave Himself in a supreme act of love to set sinners free from captivity.41

Jesus Christ gave Himself sacrificially to defeat the enemy and set sinners free.42 The ransom

price for our freedom is His blood.43 He has purchased our freedom.44 Redemption is found

in Jesus Christ.45 Jesus Christ offers fulfillment to sinners held captive. He shatters our chains and takes them as His own. He is the ransom for humanity’s freedom. Jesus died in

the place of those who deserved death.46 Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” All the work has been done. On the cross, Jesus removed the chains that bound us and covered the sin that condemned us. He died so that we might live in fellowship with God.


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Christ came on mission to reconcile humanity to the Father. The Father sent the Son to make God known to humanity (Revealer) and to provide the path to know the Father

(Reconciler).47 The purpose of the Father is a mission of reconciliation to the world. Jesus has completed that mission! 1The shedding of blood is an uncomfortable and disturbing scenario to many in the Christian community. See S. Mark Heim, “Why Does Jesus’ Death Matter? Christ Crucified,” Christian Century 118 (March 2001): 12-17. Much of this discomfort focuses on the atonement theory of Christ’s substitution for the sin of humanity. Joel B. Green and Mark D. Baker [Recovering the Scandal of the Cross: Atonement in New Testament and Contemporary Contexts (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2000), 92], for example, “admit straightforwardly that, on biblical and traditional grounds, this contemporary manifestation (penal substitution) of atonement theology is both deficient and disturbing.” 2Alister E. McGrath, The Mystery of the Cross (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), 19. McGrath writes: “The point of reference for deciding which theological statements are Christian and which are not is ‘given’ to us in the crucified Christ. The cross of Christ is the point of reference for Christian faith; Christian faith is based upon it and judged by it – in short, the cross is the foundation and criterion of Christian faith.” 3Ibid., 23. 4Leon Morris, The Cross in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 5. Indeed, Morris writes, “unless we are right here it matters little, or so it seems to me, what we are like elsewhere.” 5George R. Beasley-Murray, John, WBC (Dallas: Word, 1987), 319. “The Evangelist, however, was not publishing a tract for all times and peoples without regard for his own time and people. The churches to whom his Gospel was first addressed were under pressure, and their faith was being attacked precisely at the point of the passion narrative. The modern Jewish desire to dissociate the Sanhedrin from responsibility for the death of Jesus was not shared by Jews in the early centuries of our era. Part of the polemic against the Christian preaching of Jesus as Messiah and Son of God was precisely his rejection and condemnation by the Jewish leaders of his time.” 6R. Alan Culpepper, Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983), 192. 7Francis Moloney [Glory not Dishonor: Reading John 13-21 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998), 129] writes that the “event in the garden (vv. 1-11) are dominated by the initiative of Jesus.” 8See D. M. Ball, “I Am” in John’s Gospel: Literary, Function, and Theological Implications, JSNTSS, 124 (Sheffield: Shefffield Academic Press, 1996), 137-45. 9This is the conclusion of Moloney 1998: 131. 10C. K. Barrett, The Gospel According to St. John, 2d ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 522. “John, who omits the prayer in Gethsemane before the arrest, shows his knowledge of it, but emphasizes two further points. (a) He uses the expression not in a prayer that the cup may pass but in a calm determined acceptance of it . . . . (b) The cup is the Father’s gift; Jesus’ suffering is not the arbitrary and unfortunate result of circumstances but the work appointed him by the Father. It is right to note the freedom with which John handles the synoptic material, but alsi his faithfulness to its meaning, and the fact that behind the peculiarly Johannine language there lies the common vocabulary of the primitive tradition.” 11J. P. Heil, [“Jesus as the Unique High Priest in the Gospel of John,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 57 (1995): 736-37] contends that Peter’s use of the sword was an interference in the plan of God for Jesus to perform His high priestly sacrifice.


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12Annas receives the title of “high priest” because he has served in that position previously. See Köstenberger, John, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 515-16. 13Barrett 1978: 528. 14Ridderbos 1997: 582; Brown 1970: 826. 15The use of didachv [didachē] in 18:19 is specific in terms of content. They were looking for insight into what He is teaching the masses. 16Carson 1991: 583. 17Köstenberger 2004: 516. 18Ridderbos 1997: 582-83. 19Westcott [1908: 2. 276] notes the inconsistency of Annas and the religious leaders who were seeking a secretive and surreptitious demise of Jesus while Jesus was open in His teaching ministry. 20Witherington [1995: 289] writes: “Jesus confronts His critics denying nothing, Peter wilts before his inquisitors denying everything.” 21Brown 1970: 861. 22D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 595. “In this context, truth is understood in more than an intellectual sense (cf. de la Potterie, 2.624ff.); it is nothing less than the self-disclosure of God in his Son, who is the truth (14:6). Disclosing the truth of God, of salvation and of judgment, was the principle way of making subjects, of exercising his saving kingship.” 23Moloney 1998: 138. 24Ridderbos [1997: 597-98] suggests that “king of the Jews” is a given to Jesus from the mouth of Pilate to express “what he regards as the absurd nature of the charge made by the Jews.” 25Köstenberger [2004: 531] writes that “the irony is plan: the crowd prefers someone who had a track record of political subversiveness over someone who had no such record but who, to the contrary, had refused to define his mission primarily in political terms and who hardly represented a threat to the Roman Empire.” 26Culpepper [1983: 143] suggests that Pilate “represents the futility of attempted compromise.” 27Carson [1991: 600] writes: “typical of biblical compatibilism, even the worst evil cannot escape the outer boundaries of God’s sovereignty – yet God’s sovereignty never mitigates the responsibility and guilt o moral agents who operate under divine sovereignty, while their voluntary decisions and their evil rebellion never render God utterly contingent.” 28Köstenberger [John, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 549] notes that “in keeping with the biblical injuction to honor one’s parents (Exod. 20:12; Deut. 5:16), Jesus makes here provision for his mother.” Köstenberger further adds that the most probable reason for the care not to have gone to His brothers is because of their unbelief. 29The use of the verb, tetevlestai (tetelestai), is significant. The term itself rings the bell of completion in the task undertaken [BAGD, s. v., “televw,” 810-11]. The object of the verb is the adjective, pavnta (panta). Jesus


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had completed the mission that God had given Him. As Barrett puts it, “the revelation and deed of love were complete” [The Gospel According to St. John, 2d ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 553]. 30F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 372. Bruce indicates that Jesus knew that He was doing all of these things in fulfillment of Scripture. Everything Jesus did was to ring the bell of completion to God’s purpose and plan. Bruce, however, indicates that Jesus really was thirsty. This is no mere “histrionic impression of our Lord’s utterance.” In His thirst, Jesus finished His part in God’s plan. 31Once again, the verb, tetevlestai (tetelestai), is used. Barrett [The Gospel According to St. John, 2d ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 554] concludes that this cry is more than the “announcement of the imminence of death.” It carries with it the declaration from Christ that “His work was done.” 32Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) rejected the notion that a ransom had to be paid to the Devil to set humanity free. He believed that humanity owed a debt to God [Anselm, Cur Deus homo 1.11]. He writes: “Anyone who sins must return to God the honor which has been withdrawn from Him, and that is the satisfaction which every sinner owes to God.” This is the expression of the satisfaction theory of the atonement. 33Anselm, Cur Deus homo 1.20. Anselm considered that we make satisfaction to God’s honor by defeating Satan, for we robbed God of honor by being overcome by Satan. This is an impossibility, for humanity was born in sin [Anselm, Cur Deus homo 1.23]. He writes that man cannot be reconciled to God “without first honoring God by defeating the Devil, as he dishonored Him by being overcome by the Devil. . . . But he cannot do this, for as a result of the first sin he is conceived and born in sin.” Only God, who Himself is without sin, can offer satisfaction for sin. Therefore, satisfaction “which cannot be given by anyone but God, and ought to be given by no one but man, must be given by a God-man” [Anselm, Cur Deus homo 2.7]. 34W. T. Conner, The Gospel of Redemption (Nashville: Broadman, 1945), 24. 35Stanley Grenz, Theology for the Community of God (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1994), 452-53. He writes that the emphasis of “propitiation” and “expiation” is the “activity resulting in God’s mercy or forgiveness.” Through the cross, Jesus covers sin, and “God is now able righteously to forgive our sins and to declare us righteous, resulting in a restored relationship.” 36See Grenz’s discussion on the meaning of propitiation and expiation. Stanley Grenz, Theology for the Community of God, 451-53. 37Leon Morris, The Cross in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 251. Leon Morris states, “Notice that this is a distinctively Christian idea. The other religions of the world, in either ancient or modern times, lack a deep sense of the purity and holiness of God and of the ill desert of sin. It is a thought unpalatable to man that God’s holiness must be taken seriously in an attempt to solve the problem of reconciliation.” P. T. Forsyth, The Cruciality of the Cross (London, 1948), viii. P. T. Forsyth wrote: “By the atonement , therefore, is meant that action of Christ’s death which has a prime regard to God’s holiness, has it for its first charge, and finds man’s reconciliation impossible except as that holiness is divinely satisfied once for all on the cross…This starting-point of the supreme holiness of God’s love, rather than its pity, sympathy, or affection, is the watershed between the Gospel and the theological liberalism which makes religion no more than the crown of humanity and the metropolitan province of the world.” 38See, Stanley Grenz, Theology for the Community of God, 447. Grenz highlights Anselm’s arguments and suggests that “according to Anselm, the satisfaction our Savior rendered could not consist in his holy life. Perfect obedience to God was also Jesus’ human duty. The point of atonement lay in Jesus’ voluntary death as the sinless one, which brought infinite honor to God.” 39Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 816.


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40Leon Morris, The Cross in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 175. “Christ took our place, as the sacrificial victim took the place of the worshipper. I realize that the significance of sacrifice is widely disputed, and that there are some who reject any substitutionary aspect. Here there is no space to go into the matter fully. I can only state dogmatically that in my judgment sacrifice cannot be satisfactorily understood without including an aspect of substitution. And as Christ died as our sacrifice, He died accordingly as our Substitute.” 41“Ransom” in the Greek is the term, luvtron (lutron). Otto Procksch [s. v., “luvtron,” in TDNT, 4:330-31] notes that in the OT, the term, when used in the LXX for rPk, “always denotes a vicarious gift whose value covers a fault.” Friedrich Büchsel [s. v., “luvtron,” in TDNT, 4:341-49] further emphasizes the use of the term in Mark 10:45. He notes that it expresses the idea of the payment to cover sin. Jesus died to give “His life as a ransom for men.” In this manner, He offered Himself “as a substitute.” It is the finished work of freedom that Christ provides. 42See Gustaf Aulen, Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of the Atonement, trans. A. G. Hebert (New York: Macmillan, 1931), 20. Aulen employs the model of atonement called the ransom theory, declaring that this is the classic view of the atonement. Millard Erickson [Christian Theology, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 812] suggests that this theory declares that God, in the cosmic struggle with Satan, gained “victory over Satan and deliverance of humankind from bondage to him” through Christ the Conqueror. 43The construction of the prepositional phrase, dia; tou` ai{mato~ aujtou`, in Eph 1:7 depicts the means through which redemption has been accomplished. See C. F. D. Moule, An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek, 2d ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959; reprint, 1994), 56-57. 44Fritz Rienecker, A Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament, trans. Cleon Rogers (reprint, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980), 522. He notes that ajpoluvtrwsi~ means “purchasing with a price.” For further commentary, see F. Büchsel, s. v., “ajpoluvtrwsi~,” in TDNT, 4:351-56. I do not agree, however, with Büchsel’s conclusion that there is very little trace of “ransom” as Paul uses the ajpoluvtrwsi~ in his letter to the Ephesians. Büchsel contends that there is no “act of virtue” in view which purchases freedom in Eph 1:7. I do not concur, since dia; tou` ai{mato~ aujtou is certainly a description of the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross. 45Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 827. He notes that Paul’s use of this phrase clearly demonstrates that Paul viewed Christ’s death as a sacrifice (See Rom 3:25; 5:9; Eph 2:13; Col 1:20). 46See A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (Nashville: Broadman, 1934), 573. He discusses the use of ajntiv, declaring that it teaches “the substitutionary conception of Christ’s death.” 47Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 782-86, 787-97. Erickson translates the orthodox nomenclature – prophet, priest, and king – to revealer, reconciler, and ruler. In this examination, I have focused upon the role of Christ as Revealer and Reconciler. See Erickson for a more in-depth examination.


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Book of Glory: The Resurrection of Jesus (20:1-31)

What if you had a famous artist, like Da Vinci or Matisse, who was painting on the canvas, and you took the palate and the colors and the brushes away from him and said that you felt like you could paint better than he. You have the Master here painting your portrait, but you decide to paint a selfie because you can do it better. That’s the story of humanity. God is the Master who has made us in His image. He is the Master who makes us as a masterpiece, but we take the palate and the paint from His hand and do it ourselves because we feel like we can do it better. On our best days we make a mess. On our best days, we paint ourselves into a corner. Our perspective is wrong. Our balance is out of whack. Our colors are nightmarish. Because we’ve taken our life out of God’s hands and put it in our hands, we have a life with missing parts, mangled relationships, and meager strength. Because we’ve taken life out of God’s hands and put it in our hands, we’re upside-down wanting to be put right-side-up, we’re chasing hurtful habits, we’re freaking out in fear, we’re messed up. The story of Easter is the truth that Jesus has come to set things right. After Jesus was killed on a cross, He rose from the dead. But why?

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31, NKJV)

1. Jesus offers us life without any missing part. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we see

God’s glory unveiled.1 Jesus wants to transform our mess-up to a masterpiece. That’s why

John wrote the book: to change our lives by giving us life without any missing parts.2 John was writing to show those who were not yet followers of Jesus that Jesus is the Christ, the

Son of God.3 The ultimate proof is in the death and resurrection of Jesus.4 The signs that

John includes in his book refer to all the signs of Jesus in the book.5 The greatest sign of all

that Jesus can give us life is the cross and resurrection.6 Jesus is the One sent by God to straighten out the mess we’ve made with our lives. He is the

One who is uniquely and intimately connected to God the Father.7 He is the One who has come to make God known to you and me and to the world. He covers the mess up’s that we’ve made with our finger-painting ways through His own death on the cross. Humanity stands helpless in the face of sin and weak in the face of the

adversary.8 Jesus came, God-in-flesh, to defeat the devil and set things right between

humanity and God.9 Jesus did not deserve death, and yet He willingly laid down His life on behalf of humanity. 2. Jesus rose from the dead to offer us life. He takes our lives in His hands and as the Master, He paints the beautiful masterpiece God intended to replace the mess-up we’ve

created by our sin. This is the bedrock of our faith as followers of Jesus Christ.10 He is


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Risen! The One who was dead is now alive! The purchase for our freedom and forgiveness has been received. The risen Christ is the visible display of God’s glory, and His resurrection

declares for all to hear that He is the conqueror of sin and Lord over death.11 There is nothing more important in life than to give ourselves to Jesus, to believe in Him, and to follow Him forever.

Because Jesus lives, we can live.12 But we have to give Jesus our palate and our paints. We have to turn our palate and paints over to the Master who can transform our mess-up into a masterpiece. To believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, means that you and I must trust Him as our Master. It means that we believe He died in our place on the cross to forgive our sin and that He rose from the dead to give us life without any missing parts. We’re like Mary (20:2, 13) who sees the empty tomb but don’t recognize the power behind

its removal.13 Or we’re like Thomas who missed the appearing of Jesus to the disciples and didn’t believe them even after they told him about it. Jesus came to the disciples again, and this time Thomas was there.

Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:27-29, NKJV)

When John saw the empty tomb and the abandoned grave-cloths, he believed.14 And in our faith, we have come to celebrate. Jesus is risen! The celebration of the victory over death is the crescendo in John’s Gospel. He has written, not exhaustively but sufficiently. Through the penning of this portrait of Jesus the Christ, John gives room for faith to erupt in the souls of those who read it, and with the eruption of this faith we have life in His name! 1Jürgen Moltmann [“The Presence of God’s Future: The Risen Christ,” Anglican Theological Review 89 (2007): 579] expresses beautifully this event: “In the resurrection of Christ we see the sunrise of the glory of God.” 2See Gerald Borchert, John 1-11, NAC (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1996), 30-31. Francis Moloney [The

Gospel of John, Sacra Pagina (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1998), 181] suggests that “the book wsa written so that a narrative telling the reader how Jesus has lived his story might confirm what was proclaimed in the prologue.” 3Carson [The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 662] suggests that the i{na clause in 20:31 syntactically should be rendered “that you may believe that the Christ, the Son of God, is Jesus.” Carson further suggests that such an identity-question would be preeminently in the mind of unconverted Jews and proselytes / God-fearers. 4Jonathan Edwards, “A History of the Work of Redemption,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 1 (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2005), 583-86. Edwards suggests that the resurrection is the proof that the


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redemption for sinners had been purchased. He indicates that the incarnation was “necessary” to purchase redemption for sinners, and the resurrection was “requisite” for the success of His purchase. Where the death of Jesus was sorrowful, the resurrection transforms sorrow into joy. “The Head of the church, in that great event, enters on the possession of eternal life; and the whole church is, as it were, begotten again to a lively hope, 1 Pet i.3.” 5The question is to what the shmeià [sēmeia; “sign”] in 20:30 refer. I follow Schnackenburg [The Gospel According

to St. John, trans. C. Hastings, 3 vols. (New York: Crossroad, 1990), 3: 337] who believes that shmeià [sēmeia; “sign”] is a “look back over the whole book.” Yet, I would suggest, with Barrett [The Gospel According to St. John, 2d ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 78] that the cross and empty tomb represent the “supreme revelation” as a declaration of God and the salvation He brings through Jesus. 6Barrett [The Gospel According to St. John, 2d ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 75-78] evaluates the significance of shmeià [sēmeia; “sign”] in John’s Gospel. He suggests that the term is a mark, such as on a shield or signet ring, signifying identity. As such, the shmeià described in John’s Gospel reveal the character of the Miracle Worker as “the Son of God” who is “equal to God himself.” Barrett [Ibid., 78] concludes that “in the death and resurrection of Jesus, sign and its meaning coincide.” And the meaning is that the suffering and sin of the world are “dealt with in their totality” by God through Jesus. Thus, the cross and the empty tomb are no longer shmeià but ajlhvqeia [alētheia; “truth”]. 7Carson 1991: 162 8Anselm, Cur Deus homo 1.11. He writes: “Anyone who sins must return to God the honor which has been withdrawn from Him, and that is the satisfaction which every sinner owes to God.” 9Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 816. Anselm [Cur Deus homo 2.7] notes that satisfaction “which cannot be given by anyone but God, and ought to be given by no one but man, must be given by a God-man.” 10D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 631-32. Carson correctly notes: “For John, as for all the early Christians, the resurrection of Jesus was the immutable fact upon which their faith was based; and their faith in large part depended on the testimony and transformed behaviour [sic] of those who had actually seen the resurrected Jesus.” 11A. H. Strong [Systematic Theology, 3 vols. (Philadelphia: Griffith and Rowland Press, 1907), 2:599] writes that “the resurrection proclaimed Christ to men as the perfected and glorified man, the conqueror of sin and lord of death.” 12Millard Erickson [Christian Theology, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 812] writes that God, in the cosmic struggle with Satan, gained “victory over Satan and deliverance of humankind from bondage to him” through Christ the Conqueror. 13In the application here and that which follows, I am indebted to Andreas Köstenberger [John, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 567-68] who writes: “Mary’s failure to recognize Jesus continues the pattern of misunderstanding that characterizes the Fourth Evangelist’s portrayal of Mary throughout this chapter up to this point. Neither the removal of the stone (20:1) nor the angels inside the tomb (20:12) nor even the risen Jesus himself fail to remove it.” 14Beasley-Murray [John, WBC (Dallas: Word, 1987), 373] considers the use of pisteuvw [pisteuō] in verse 8 to be a description of genuine faith in John. Lindars [The Gospel of John, NCB (reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 602] proposes that “the Disciple has reached Resurrection faith without an appearance of Jesus.”


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Epilogue (21:1-25)

The coming of Jesus on the shores of the Sea of Tiberias was a call to a new way of life for

His disciples out in the fishing boat.1 In fact, the entire encounter was a reminder to them of how they began their journey with Jesus just a few years before. They had been fishing all night when Jesus tells them to cast their nets into the deep. They caught so many fish they had to get help to haul them in. Peter fell down at the feet of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” When we fall and fail Christ, what can we do? In order to experience the power and presence of God in our lives, homes, and church, we need to find forgiveness. As Jesus prepared His followers for Pentecost during the 40 days between His resurrection and ascension, He had to deal with the failure of one of His best friends, Peter. Peter had blown it, and he knew it. His story was one of failure, being swept away in the current of his pride and sin. If that were the end of the story, then Peter would have been a footnote in God’s plan for humanity at best. He would be a man who blew it and never got over it. 1. Our failure can derail us from God’s plan. When we blow it, we return to the things we know we’ll do well. Peter said, “Let’s go fishing!” He knew his potential, but it was for a lesser purpose. He was saying, “There’s a pounding in my heart each time I see Jesus. It hurts even to think about what I did. He needed me at the end, and I failed Him. I did worse than fail Him. I denied Him three times. I just can’t think about it! I’m going back to what I know I can do! Hey, guys, let’s go fishing!” How can we find forgiveness when we’ve walked away from Christ? The answer is that Jesus walks toward us. Jesus walked up from the tomb and out of death to make things right with Peter. He went to have a heart to heart with His friend. 2. Jesus takes time to help us. Jesus took the time to make breakfast so that He could restore hope in Peter’s broken world. Jesus wants a “real” conversation with you and me. He wants to talk to you and me about our walk with Him about our failure and about our relationship with Him. He wants to have a “heart-to-heart” with us, but we have to open our heart to Him. We have to take off our mask and allow Him to probe the depths of our soul with His hand of love. 3. Remember our love. Jesus gave three questions for each denial. He asked Peter three

times about the disciple’s love for his Master.2 Jesus doesn’t try to pound our hearts in the

dirt, but He wants to resurrect our love for Him.3 The theme of Christ’s life was God’s glory. From the beginning of this Gospel to the close, God’s honor and fame are at center. The story of Christ’s rescuing love is also the story of God’s glory. Jesus came to make much of God on the earth. He came to show the world the glory of God. Now Jesus tells Peter that he must live for God’s glory, and die for God’s glory. Through His encounter, calling out Peter’s love, Jesus was preparing Peter to stay the


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course for the glory and fame of God.4 Peter had promised to lay down his life for Jesus

(13:37), and now Jesus declares that Peter will fulfill that promise for the glory of God.5

“Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. (John 21:18-19, NKJV)

We give our lives for the honor and fame of God. Everything that we are flows into the current of God’s glory. Whatever we do, whether eating, drinking, living, or dying, we must give all that we are to make much of God. 4. Set our focus on Jesus and follow Him. If we are going to taste the great life in connection with the story of Jesus, then we have to get our head on straight, focus on Jesus, and follow Him.

Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?” (John 21:20-21, NKJV)

Jesus tells Peter to not worry about John, but to obey Him.6 In the end, it’s not any of

Peter’s business what Jesus has in store for John or anyone else.7 Every follower of Christ

has a special assignment from the King.8 Even though Peter wanted to know about John,

Jesus wanted Peter to get busy focusing on his role, not another’s.9 We cannot focus on others and Jesus at the same time. When our focus is on others, we are seeking something for ourselves. What they have that we don’t. What they get to do that we don’t. We won’t bring God glory like that. In order to glorify God in life and in death, we must abandon the comparison trap.

Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.” (John 21:22, NKJV)

Jesus calls Peter to stay focused on following Him.10 Jesus is clearly calling Peter to stop looking around at others. His task will be too great if his focus is on everyone else. He must set his heart and gaze upon Jesus Christ and follow Him. In the same way, we must be

persistently focused on Jesus and follow Him.11 Here’s where the power comes in life and through death. Our gaze is forever fixed on Jesus. In the end, Jesus restores Peter. He sends His forgiveness to the one who had denied Him. But the forgiveness, although free, comes with responsibility of passion: a passion to continue the work of the Good Shepherd and to follow Jesus, even to the death. Our Lord also looks for an “I love You” from His children that is backed up by action. When He asked Peter, “Do you love Me?” He was not satisfied with a casual, “Sure, Lord,


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You know I do!” He responded to His disciple’s reply by saying, in effect, “Peter, if you love Me, care for those I care for. Peter, if you love Me, follow Me.” Jesus restores our passion when He forgives our failure. When my heart is turned and tuned toward Christ, His passion becomes my life’s work to continue His work in the world and follow Him no matter where He leads.

The Greatness of Jesus (21:25) The last words of John the Evangelist in his theological biography of Jesus contains a clear statement that the biography isn’t complete. Indeed, there is not enough room in all the world to contain the miraculous works of Jesus. John concludes his Gospel with the clear understanding that this portrait of Jesus was not “exhaustively comprehensive but sufficiently complete.” 1Merrill C. Tenney, [The Gospel of Belief: John, An Analytic Study of the Text (reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976), 289] suggests that the “manifestation of Jesus was, then, a call to a new reality.” 2I follow Carson [The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 676-77] and Köstenberger [John, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 596] who suggest that there is no real distinction in the different words for love [ajgapavw (agapaō) and filevw(phileō)] in this passage. 3The phrase, “more than these,” has excited some questions. Is Jesus asking if Peter loves Him more than “these men” (i.e., the disciples) [Ben Witherington III, John’s Wisdom (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1995), 356]? Is Jesus asking if Peter loves Him more than he does fishing [Craig Keener, The Gospel of John, 2 vols. (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2003), 1236]? Or is Jesus asking if Peter loves Him more than these disciples love Jesus [Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971), 768]? Perhaps there is ambiguity to elicit an evaluation of all three possibilities. Yet, the most likely option is the final one, in which Jesus prepares Peter for service that will cost him his life. 4Herman Ridderbos [The Gospel According to John, trans. J. Vriend (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 667] suggests: “Jesus has sought not so much Peter’s triple retraction of his denial, and even less to embarrass him again before the other disciples; it is rather what awaits Peter in the future that prompts Jesus to reinforce his ties with him as never before.” 5F. F. Bruce [The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 406] remarks that Peter will do what he promised to do in John 13:37. “So Peter’s protestation, though deferred, will yet to be fulfilled.” 6D. A. Carson [The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 681] writes, “Peter has been informed what will befall him: let him therefore obey, regardless of the specific forms of obedience others must pursue.” 7Bruce [1983: 407] writes: “Peter is told that his business is to follow the Lord and be faithful to his own commission; the Lord has his own plans for the beloved disciple, but it is not necessary that Peter should know them.” 8This is Carson’s [1991: 681] point when he writes: “There is no belittling of either disciple. One of them may be called to strategic pastoral ministry (vv. 15-17) and a martyr’s crown (vv. 18-19), and the other to a long life (v. 22) and to strategic historical-theological witness, in written form (v. 24).”


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9Barnabas Lindars [The Gospel of John, NCB (reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 639] suggests that “Peter must accept the fact that the Beloved Disciple has a special intimacy with Jesus, and should strive to emulate it. He will do this by his own loyal discipleship.” 10Andreas Köstenberger, John, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 601. Note the emphatic use of suv [sy; “you”] that Jesus uses in response to Peter. 11Carson [1991: 680] powerfully summarizes: “Jesus’ concluding words to Peter, Follow me, may invite Peter for a private walk along the beach (cf. v. 20). But in the context of this book they do more: they tie this step of discipleship to Jesus’ initial call (1:43), challenge Peter to consistent discipleship until the martyrdom he now faces comes due, and implicitly invite every waverer, ever reader, to the same steadfast pursuit of the risen Lord.”

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