Banannery Public » John

Do not cling to me

Dave — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 20:06:21 +0000

My favorite resurrection account is from the gospel of John. I like it because it’s the most vivid, emotional, and personal account of Jesus’ appearances that morning. It’s very moving. I also love what Jesus said to Mary Magdalene once she recognized Him:

Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
–John 20:17

Jesus’ focus was His ascension to heaven—and rather than viewing His ascension as separating Him from His followers, He saw it as one that would bring them closer to Him. He told Mary that she shouldn’t cling to Him in His present form (apparently, she was a hugger). Instead, Jesus’ ascension would unite Him with her and with His “brothers.” His Father would be their Father, and His God would be their God.

Jesus was simply echoing the words that He spoke to them during the Last Supper, when He told them, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:18-19).

The problem with Jesus

Dave — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:27:51 +0000

What a powerful exchange between Pilate and the Jewish leaders!

John 19:19-22
19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

This inscription was to describe “the charge against him” (Mark 15:26). The chief priests were claiming that Jesus was being crucified for something He did—He claimed to be the King of the Jews. Pilate saw through that. He knew that Jesus was being crucified for who He was—the King of the Jews. That was His crime: being the Holy One of Israel sent from God. (Of course, Pilate cared more about saving his own hide.)

Jesus was always at odds with the world. He had told His disciples that “if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). He was “despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). The world would never love Jesus. Even today, it doesn’t love Him but only respects Him—as long as His teaching is watered down, neutered, or ignored. Jesus said many hard things that would cause a lot of people to dislike or hate Him…if they were to read what He said.

Jesus did not come into this world to survive. He did not come to fit in. He came to die. We are called to be holy like Jesus, which means we are called to die to this world. I confess that I get too comfortable here. May God help me to live as a stranger in a world that hates Jesus, my Lord.

The King of the Jews

Dave — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:29:38 +0000

Throughout His ministry on the earth, Jesus chose to reveal who He really was only to a select few people. He hid the truth to the public, speaking in parables so that “Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand” (Luke 8:10). He silenced demons who identified Him as the Son of God, and He did not refer to Himself as the Messiah except in indirect ways (as in Matthew 11:2-6). The truth was not revealed until He was crucified:

John 19:19-20
19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek.

The moment when Jesus was finally announced as the King of the Jews — the descendant of David who was to rule Israel as its Messiah — was the time of His greatest suffering and shame. How painfully ironic it must have been to His followers to see the truth finally revealed, plain as day, broadcast in many languages to all who passed by…but its Author mocked and crucified. They didn’t realize how important it was for Jesus to reveal Himself as the Suffering Servant from Isaiah — that He had come to bleed and die for the sin of the world. His suffering did not disqualify Him from kingship; rather, it was the mark of His kingship and reign over all the earth.

UPDATE July 3: It just occurred to me that I totally forgot about the Triumphal Entry, where people were calling out, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” (John 12:13). So despite what I said above, Jesus was announced as King and Messiah before the cross. However, the inscription on the cross still shows the link between His suffering and His kingship.

From top to bottom

Dave — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 04:15:38 +0000

Here is an interesting parallel between a couple of gospel accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion:

“But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be’” (John 19:23-24).

“And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Matthew 15:38).

I doubt there’s much significance in this since neither author tries to draw this parallel. But I thought it was interesting anyway.