JOHN REFLECTION - Week 2
Wow! I was thinking about what to write about for the reflection this week, and there is just so much interesting stuff happening early in John’s gospel. There are some of the classic stories, such as Jesus feeding the five thousand and walking on the water, and one of the big I AM statements (you can listen to me explore ‘I AM the Bread of Life’ in a talk from our series last year here).
But there is also lots going on theologically. John 5:19-29 caught my eye, examining the relationship between God and Jesus and their differing roles. The story of Jesus healing on the Sabbath is also packed with good stuff.
What I resolved to reflect on, however, is a passage at the end of John 6 – after the miracles and bread of life teaching. Let’s revisit these verses now;
60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” 61 But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the ones who did not believe and who was the one who would betray him. 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”
66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
(John 6:60-71, NRSV)
It’s affirming when someone say’s what you’re thinking and, in this instance, many of disciples are our advocates – The teaching that immediately precedes this bit of text is Jesus talking about how whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood will have eternal life. That teaching is difficult! But, more than that, Jesus’ response is interesting. “Does this offend you?” You can almost hear his tone of voice as you read it.
Jesus continues by inviting the disciples to envisage what we would now call the Ascension. He’s talking, it appears, about the distinction and perhaps separation between flesh and spirit. One of the things that John’s gospel seems to be aiming for is presenting a challenge to contemporary Gnostic ideas, one of which was that Jesus only appeared to have a physical body. This bit of John 6 could be read in such a way as to inform such a position, but equally we can understand it to be Jesus speaking specifically about his physical form. ‘The flesh is useless’ has the ring of someone who’s been around the block a few times and who understands the limits of the human body!
Shifting gears slightly, Jesus then goes on to say that he knows that there are ‘some’ who do not believe.
Now, this is interesting!
The narrator explains this by saying that Jesus knew all along the ‘ones’ (note the plural) who didn’t believe him and the ‘one’ (now singular) would betray him. That suggests that there were several disciples who didn’t, at that point at least, believe what Jesus was teaching. Not that they didn’t understand, but they seem to have understood, but not accepted it. This is reflected in the opening verse of our passage – this teaching is difficult, who can accept it?
I’ll you to reflect for yourselves on the implications of a model of discipleship where people can have times where they struggle to believe in some of what Jesus was saying.
The writer is really keen to make sure that not only do we know at this point that Jesus will be betrayed (maybe because it was written later, there isn’t so much ‘spoiler warning’ needed), who it will be (name checking Judas) and that Jesus knows all this too.
This is continued in v.70-71;
Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
Before we come back to that fascinating deployment of “devil”, the verses in between contain some more juicy theology.
And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”
I wonder if, as you’ve been reading along this week, this stood out to you in the same way as it did for me? This phrase feels familiar, but on closer inspection can be confusing. A little later in John’s gospel, Jesus says
“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
So to connect up John’s ideas, no one can come to the Father except through Jesus, but no one can come to Jesus unless it’s granted by the Father?
Is this to say, therefore, that no one can come to the Father unless it is granted by the Father?!
If so, what does that mean? Is this an argument for election/pre-destination?
Back to our passage, and we get a little glimpse behind the scenes of the lives of the disciples. We’re told that;
Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.
So we are told about a greater cohort than just the twelve who considered themselves Jesus’ disciples, but who leave. It’s hard to tell from the text whether ‘because of this’ is referring to the ‘difficult’ teaching, or Jesus’ response and explanation. Maybe people felt conviction when Jesus said there were some who didn’t believe, and so left? It isn’t clear.
Let’s finish with the Devil accusation. There is a helpful verse for comparison in Matthew’s gospel, where Jesus, speaking to Peter, says ‘Get behind me, Satan!’
In English, we have the concept of The Devil, otherwise known as Satan. These two words describe the same idea, the same person. In the Greek in which these texts were written, there are two words ‘DIABOLOS’ for Devil and ‘SATANAS’ for Satan.
We know that in the Ancient Jewish tradition, The Satan was not a title but a role – the accuser or the adversary. This is legalistic language of opposition. But the DIABOLOS we have in John 6 refers more closely to one who brings false accusations or spreads malicious gossip.
So whilst Peter was an adversary in that he was vocally against what Jesus said, Judas is given the name devil because he was to bring specifically false accusations against Jesus.
But, where John’s writer wants to talk all about that now, I’ll leave that for later…