From the Daily Lectionary for Monday in the Thirteenth Week after Pentecost
John 8:21-32
Again he said to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.” They said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all? I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.” As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
All of the Gospels were written decades after Jesus’ life and ministry. Mark is the earliest, written around 70 C.E. Matthew and Luke come a few years later. John’s Gospel is the latest. It was written in the latter years of the first century, and edited well on into the second century. All this to say that these are not first-hand accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. Moreover, the Gospels are not history, but rhetorical presentations as to the understanding of the theology of Jesus and the movement that followed and still follows him.
John’s Gospel is the most overt in its theology, that is to say that John doesn’t put much energy in a logical narrative structure as do the Synoptic writers. John doesn’t tell a “story,” as it were. John’s energy centers on what Jesus, the person, his life, his death, and his resurrection mean. In the passage above Jesus begins speaking of his inevitable death, but for John, this impending death doesn’t carry the tragic weight it has in Mark, Matthew and Luke. Jesus refers to his death as his being “lifted up,” a term not used by the other Gospel writers. It is a paradoxical reference. He will be lifted up upon a cross, a particularly inhumane form of execution; but the reference would also evoke in the hearer the story of Moses “lifting up” the serpent in the Sinai desert. This story in Exodus depicts Moses transforming a poisonous snake into an icon of healing for the wandering people of Israel. It is a symbol of life after death. John is drawing on the typological roots of the biblical tradition.
For John, the crucifixion is merely the means of, the first step toward, resurrection. It is as if Jesus’ life radiates from the cross. It is an image of the profound power of sacrifice. Sacrifice is a chief theological theme for this writer. When Jesus speaks of his being the “way,” he is speaking of sacrifice. And for John this is a revelation onto the very nature of God, Godself; that God’s life is a life of sacrifice… loving the world to a fault, if you will… laying down God’s life for the world. Paul, the apostle, writes that Jesus “emptied” himself for the good of the world, which is a visceral representation of sacrifice.
The way of Jesus, which is the way of God, is the way of sacrifice: ”laying down one’s life” for the good of the other; and in living in such a way, there is freedom… freedom from the illusory snares of this world, freedom from fear, freedom from shame and degradation… Shalom, in short. The first words out of Jesus’ mouth at his resurrection are: “Peace (Shalom) be with you.” Sacrifice is the first and necessary step to live in the raised life of the Christ, for ourselves, and for those to whom we are sent. We, like the one we follow, are to live the life of God on earth, persisting in sacrifice, lifting up others into a life of well-being and dignity. Sacrifice is the midwife of Love, and Love is not aloof in the heavens, but something we know, something we have to give, the thing for which we were made. Perhaps the most important reason we gather as the people of God is to remind ourselves of just that: that we are made for Love. This, good people, is just one more reminder.
A Collect for Fridays (on a Monday… BCP p. 99)
O God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Savior. Amen.
