Part
1 on this series on John’s Gospel is here.
Part
2 is here.
Part
3 is here.
With
the closing of chapter 12, we have come to the end of Jesus’ ministry and we
come to what amounts for the last supper in John’s Gospel. John doesn’t narrate the institution of the
Eucharist as the other Gospel’s do at the last supper, but he does narrate two
striking scenes. Let’s look at the
second scene first. I find interesting
that we see Jesus handing bread out in John’s last supper, only the bread is not
His body and He hands it only to Judas Iscariot. When Jesus announces that one of the
disciples will betray Him, and they ask Him who it is, Jesus uses bread signify
the guilty one.
“It is the one to whom I
hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and [took it
and] handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After he took the morsel, Satan entered him.
So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” (John 13:26-27)
What
to make of it? Perhaps if you approach
the Eucharist with an unworthy heart, it actually becomes the inverse of the
body of Christ.
Any
thoughts on why John doesn’t narrate the institution of the Eucharist? Obviously he knew about it. The fact that there’s a last supper, that he
goes to great length in chapter 6 on eating the
body of Christ, and this “inverse” morsel of bread He gives to Judas
shows John’s knowledge of it. My hunch
is John doesn’t narrate it because it’s been done already. He seems to go to great length not to repeat
the other Gospels, and I think he doesn’t feel the need to repeat the
institution narrative.
The
other striking scene is the foot washing scene.
So, during supper, fully
aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come
from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer
garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began
to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand
now, but you will understand later.”
(John 13:3-7)
Later
Jesus explains the significance.
So when he had washed
their feet [and] put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said
to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and
rightly so, for indeed I am. If I,
therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one
another’s feet. I have given you a model
to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater
than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if
you do it. (John 13:12-18)
He
calls Himself “teacher” and “lord” but that doesn’t quite do it justice. He is King of the universe, God Himself who
will come to judge the living and the dead, and He lowers Himself to do the
lowest menial task, the washing of people’s feet. And He says, this is the model we are to
follow. To follow Jesus then is to be
servant to each other, to find dignity in what appears to be undignified.
This
is another example of Jesus inverting the norm.
The poor become exalted, a slave becomes king, love becomes power, the
dead come to life.
Every
parish recreates the foot washing scene every Holy Thursday. Have any of you had the honor of being
selected to be one whose feet get washed?
I was selected a few years ago.
It was a great moment.
###
All
the narrative scenes and the chapters of the signs in John’s Gospel are
memorable, from chapters one through thirteen, and then the passion narrative
of chapters eighteen and nineteen are extremely engaging as are the
resurrection scenes of twenty and twenty-one.
But the chapters in between the signs and passion narrative, fourteen
through seventeen, become a blur. They
are filled with discourse and Jesus’ prayer, and so I think become
indistinguishable. At least for me. As a unit, it is referred to as Jesus’
Farewell Discourse. I put together this
little table to capture the gist and highlights of those four chapters in the
hopes of them being more distinct in the mind.
Chapter
14:
Themes:
(1)
Jesus as the way
(2)
The Holy Spirit as the Advocate and Spirit of Truth
Key
Sayings:
(1)
No one comes to the Father except through me
(2)
Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do
(3)
If you love me, you will keep my commandments
(4)
I am the way and the truth and the life.
Chapter
15:
Themes:
(1)
Discourse on the vine and the fruit
(2)
Discourse on being hated on account of Jesus
Key
Sayings:
(1)
I am the vine, you are the branches.
(2)
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you
can do nothing.
Chapter
16:
Themes:
(1)
Discourse on the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth
(2)
Discourse on Jesus Going and Returning
Key
Sayings:
(1)
I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world
and going back to the Father.
(2)
I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will
have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.
Chapter
17:
Themes:
(1)
Prayer that His disciples may know the Father
(2)
Prayer that His followers may be one
Key
Sayings:
(1)
Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be
one just as we are.
(2)
I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through
their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you
I
have found that chapter 17 to come up in debates. Jesus prays that His Church be one. All those who have splintered off from the
original Church are really in violation of Jesus’ wish.
I
hope this summary helps as the readings from these chapters come up at Mass.
###
Two
scenes have always caught my interest in John’s passion account. First is the scene when the soldiers come for
Jesus.
So Judas got a band of
soldiers and guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees and went there
with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus,
knowing everything that was going to happen to him, went out and said to them,
“Whom are you looking for?” They answered
him, “Jesus the Nazorean.” He said to
them, “I AM.” Judas his betrayer was also with them. When he said to them, “I AM,” they turned
away and fell to the ground. So he again
asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” They said, “Jesus the Nazorean.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I AM. So if
you are looking for me, let these men go.”
(John 18:3-8)
I
always get a kick out of the way the soldiers fall to the ground when Jesus
says the divine name, “I AM.” It’s a
little slapstick moment. It shows that
Jesus has the power to walk away from this if He so wished. He is in control. He commands the situation: “Who are you
looking for?” “That’s me.” “Let these men go.”
This
recalls a moment earlier in John’s Gospel in chapter ten. After the Good Shepherd discourse, Jesus
says, “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have
power to lay it down, and power to take it up again” (John 10:18). He has the power. His life is not taken from Him. He freely allows them to take it. So when they come to arrest Him, the soldiers
falling down to the force of His words, it is a manifestation of His power.
The
other scene that captures my imagination is the interrogation scene before
Pilate.
So Pilate went back into
the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the
Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this
on your own or have others told you about me?”
Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief
priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong
to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants [would] be
fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my
kingdom is not here.” So Pilate said to
him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I
was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone
who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
(John 18:33-38)
Here’s
a bit of a confession. Pontius Pilate is
the person in the New Testament with who I most identified. Pilate here is the model of efficiency. Get to the facts. Understand the situation, and come to a
decision. “What have you done?” “Then you are a King?” What is truth?” He is a Roman officer ready to administrate. Pilate is me in charge of an engineering
project. Figure it out, get the facts,
find the truth, and make it work.
But
Pilate is baffled. This criminal before
him doesn’t behave like a criminal.
There is something mystical here.
He is trying to understand Jesus.
He can’t penetrate the situation.
He’s trying to calculate. I’ve
had that so many times in trying to figure what physics are doing in a
design. Why isn’t it working? The design is talking back to me. “There is a truth.” And I say, “What is truth? Truth is what works.” That is the life of an efficient
engineer. But at least there isn’t a
moral problem with what I’m doing. It’s
only an inanimate design, mere metal, electrical, or chemical parts. Pilate has before him a human being. He wants to do what’s moral. But when the situation gets close to a riot,
then the calculation becomes what’s moral is to keep stability. And so Jesus has to die. Efficiency finds an answer.
They
changed the words a bit, but Rod Steiger plays a great Pontius Pilate in Jesus
of Nazareth. Here’s that scene.
Always
good to see that movie.
Kerstin
Replied:
I find it interesting
that you identify with Pilate, Manny. I suppose as a German I fall into this
category too ;-) I like efficiency. Right now I am thinking of re-arranging
some stuff in my kitchen because the way I organized it doesn't quite fit the
work flow...
Looking at your argument
of efficiency, we do get carried away and push God out of the way. Pilate
rightly calculates that a riot is never good, but he misses that by doing so he
pushes God out of the way. How many times - despite the niggling feeling to the
contrary - do we push God out of the way? Probably more often than we care to
admit.
My
Reply:
Haha, Germans have made
some very good engineers over the last few centuries.
If I were in Pilate's
shoes with Pilate's knowledge, I doubt I would have followed a different course
of action. Pilate tries to get Jesus off, but it just got out of control. If I
were to do something different, I guess I could have let Jesus go and lock down
Jerusalem. But in all likelihood, the Romans would not have had enough soldiers
to restrain the mob.
