There are similarities and differences between the ending of
John and the other gospels. There is no
last supper although Jesus did mention earlier that he was the bread of
life. I can’t remember if he
symbolically eats bread at that time. Jesus
is betrayed by Judas and denied by Peter.
He is questioned by the Jewish authorities and sent to
Pilate and Pilate cannot find anything wrong with Jesus. The big difference at least for me in the
Pilate scene is when Pilate asks if Jesus is a king. Jesus replies that his kingdom is not of this
world, that he was brought here to bear witness to the truth. And Pilate asks, “What is truth?” Unfortunately Jesus does not answer; at least
John does not provide an answer. I for
one would have appreciated an answer.
Pilate asks the crowd what they want him to do and they
demand that Jesus be crucified. Instead
he has Jesus whipped and dressed with the purple robe and a crown of
thorns. Pilate again brings Jesus out
and tells the crowd that he can see nothing wrong but they continue to demand
his death. Pilate becomes frightened
when he learns that Jesus has been called the son of God and tries to find a
way to set him free. But the crowd also
taunts Pilate by claiming that he would not be a friend of the emperor if he
set free somebody who claimed to be a king.
Pilate finally relents and Jesus is sent to be crucified.
All of the gospels have Pilate very unwilling to have Jesus
killed. But, John seems to be
emphasizing the political side of the controversy more than the other gospels
did. I would have to reread those scenes
in the other gospels but memory tells me that the other gospels emphasize the
threat Jesus had for the religious authorities rather than the political
leaders.
When Jesus is crucified, “King of the Jews” is written on
the cross. The Jewish authorities want
it to be rewritten to say that this man claimed to be king of the Jews. Pilate refuses. Again this must be another nod to the idea
that Jesus did have power over the Jews and the Jews are responsible for the
death of their king.
In the other gospels,women (notably Mary and Mary Magdalene) are present at the cross. In
John, there is also a disciple. The
conversation from the cross is very different.
Jesus does not call out to god about being forsaken nor does he ask god
to forgive the people. Instead, he tells
his mother that the disciple with her is now her son. (More on this tomorrow.)
John emphasizes that Jesus is definitely dead. When the guards go to break the legs of Jesus
and the two bandits (their only mention) to speed up the death, they realize
that Jesus is already dead. Instead they
pierce his side. John adds that these
actions (not breaking the legs and stabbing the side) fulfill old
scripture.
Joseph of Arimathea takes the
body and places it in the tomb.
No comments:
Post a Comment