JOHN REFLECTION - Week 6 // Easter
I know it’s at Christmas that we usually give gifts, but I’ve got a little gift for you today!
Not one, not two, but FIVE blogs for the price of one!! Granted, four of them were written four years ago, but if we’ve got a stock of blog posts about the Easter story and the significance of Jesus on the Cross, why not reshare them at this time of year?!
So, if you’ve got a little more time over the bank holiday weekend, or even just if your interest is spiked, then here are the links to the previous blog series on the ‘Theology from the Cross’;
Pt 1 – It is finished: https://www.resoundbristol.co.uk/blog/theology-cross-one
Pt 2 – Why have you forsaken me?: https://www.resoundbristol.co.uk/blog/theology-cross-two
Pt 3 – We know not what we do: https://www.resoundbristol.co.uk/blog/theology-cross-three
Pt 4 - Jesus, the Scapegoat: https://www.resoundbristol.co.uk/blog/theology-cross-four
Now, whilst that’s plenty to get your teeth sunk into over Easter, I couldn’t just leave it there. We are still working through John’s gospel and none of those touch on John’s approach to the death and resurrection accounts. So this blog will look at that.
Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:25-30)
Each of the gospels place Mary, mother of Jesus, at the cross as he died. The synoptic gospels each also mention other women that were present. John stands alone in saying that any of the named disciples was there too – the infamous ‘disciple whom Jesus loved’. Whether or not it is true, the claim of John’s gospel is that the ‘disciple whom Jesus loved’ authored the account, and so he pops up in various stories to offer a kind of guarantee of authenticity. When it’s mentioned that ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’ was present, it can be read as the author saying ‘Look, I was there, I promise you this is how it happened!’
It also treats us to this fun little interaction between this disciple, Mary and Jesus on the cross. In the middle of his pain and suffering, bearing the weight of all sin on his shoulders, Jesus is said to have noticed the two of them stood by the cross and encouraged them to support one another. You could even say that it seems like ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’ is being substituted into Jesus’ place as Mary’s son. Even though we understand that Mary had other sons, here we see that this disciple is both adopted as a son and adopts Mary as a mother.
Matthew and Mark both include a story about the wine, but in their accounts, it is in order to see if Jesus is calling for Elijah. In John, it is to fulfil something that originates in Psalm 69:
You know the insults I receive and my shame and dishonor; my foes are all known to you.
Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. (Psalm 69:19-21)
In general, it is Matthew’s gospel that is concerned with the fulfilment of various Jewish scriptures, but now John is having a go. If you’re Jesus on the cross, it seems an odd time to throw in one last reference to a Psalm. It’s not even an obvious Messianic prophecy, instead it just comes across as a rogue citation of an ancient poem.
But, this is a Psalm of David. It’s a Psalm about David being persecuted and feeling under attack, crying out to God. In that light, it feels more relevant for Jesus to be noted as mirroring David. David was the King of Israel. You could say David was the King of the Jews.
Now it is Jesus, under a sign declaring he is the King of the Jews, who is being persecuted and under attack.
Let’s wrap up, for now, with Jesus’ last words. I wonder, before re-reading John, if you were asked what Jesus’ last words were, what would you have said?
Perhaps ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’
Or ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’
Or ‘It is finished.’
Well, if you said any of those, you’d be right. In fact, this is one more time when the gospels are not all in agreement. Mark and Matthew both opt for ‘My God, my God…’, in another reference to a Psalm (22). Luke takes a different route, having already included the famous ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do’, which is also unique to Luke, and then ends with ‘into your hands I commend my spirit’.
But John chooses to report that, having tasted the sour wine, Jesus’ final words are ‘It is finished.’
So, one more time, we can ask not which was true, but why might they have said different things and what did John want to communicate through their choice?
Just as the start of John’s gospel is theologically rich, so is this conclusion. ‘It is finished’ is a statement which holds great weight. We can read it now and understand the breadth of what Jesus meant, but who knows what it might have felt like to hear those words spoken. This Shakespearean final statement offers a view to John’s theology- that Jesus is central to a spiritual battle, a fight for the salvation of our souls, and that in his death on the cross, the battle is finished.
You could make a case that it was truly finished at the moment of resurrection, but for now we’ll take John’s Jesus at his word!
Happy Easter everyone!